Your favorite muscle car or high performance car

Not since the late 70's, I'm afraid. LX Torana would have been one of the last (A9X variant in particular), unless you're counting Commodores as being a small car (which would be a uniquely American point of view).

Please don't speak to me about Commodores. Even the name engenders visions of black men wearing white spangly suits singing R&B. If you were to ask me the last dying gasp of the true Australian muscle car, I'd say it was when some company executive thought that a good name for the new flagship model was "Commodore".

Gone were the days we were proud to say out loud we owned a Falcon, a Charger, Monaro or Torana. Rarely, these days, do we see cars named for Mustangs, Brumbys, or one of a dozen varieties of deadly snake or predatory bird.

After 1978, we had to admit we'd bought a "Commodore", half disguised with a semi-cough and afterwards being questioned about whether or not we'd just said "Crumpledoor".
It speaks volumes that when the V8 2-door sports version was released some years back Holden reverted to the "Monaro" name. It was sold in the USA as a Pontiac GTO in the mid-naughties, I believe.

The Falcon lived on, for a while, but mostly all we have these days are the Yaris, the Aurion, and the Prius. Who can become emotionally attached to a Yaris? How are you going to pick up in one of those? Are the girls going to jump in the passenger seat of a guy who drives a Yaris, or a Viper? I ask you. Although these days, to be sure, it's as likely to be the girl in the Viper laughing at the guy earnestly gunning a Kluger down the road as it might the other way around.

Not to mention they look and feel identical to one of a hundred other cars, all bearing names consisting of three random letters suffixed with "-is", "-ion" or "-uger" or, in some cases, dispensing with the name altogether and simply giving the car a number. I suppose at least BMW put the little "i" in front of their number, so you can be sure you haven't paid three times too much for a Mazda.



Nope. The only rear-wheel drive V8's in Australia now are mostly high performance versions of standard large cars, manual transmission an option only, and those will soon be history - Holden and Ford in Australia are on the verge of collapse, being held up mostly due to government subsidies. Chrysler Australia died decades ago, sold to Mitsubishi who promptly discontinued all production of anything larger than a four-cylinder. The news in recent weeks has been full of the demise of the large family car in Australia. The standard option V8 was history 35 years ago at least, other than in the aforementioned sports models.

 

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Ford V8 gets 30 - 35 mpg
..1932 - 35...

3-way independant suspension

Seats 8 -12

dry ice air conditioning

areo-dynamic
...1932 -35.....

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