Displays of high-performance cars at the New York Auto Show are drawing record crowds – Shades of the 1960s!
In recent years the biggest attractions at auto shows, both here and abroad, have been politically correct “green” cars: Hybrids, plug-in electrics, plus fuel-cell-powered vehicles that won’t be available for some time. This year, carmakers from mass marketers Chevrolet and Ford to uber unaffordable Bugatti and the usual suspects from Italy and the UK, are pushing horsepower and displacement, most boosted by superchargers and turbochargers. Chevrolet has its track-ready 550-horsepower Z/28 Camaro, packing 427 cubic inches, while Shelby is taking orders for its Shelby Mustang 1000 SC, top, with a supercharged 1,200-horsepower V8. Bugatti, above, with its engine compartment stuffed with copious cylinders, camshafts, valves and turbochargers offers similar horsepower at ten times the Mustang’s sticker!
The Detroit Bureau’s Paul Eisenstein blogs about the global return of muscle, http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2013/04/muscle-car-wars/