“Don’t want to rain on the parade of a nice article, but reading about Duster 340’s always makes me sad. Back in 1970 a close friend skrimped and saved all his money from summer and part-time jobs to buy a new 340. Three months later he was dead, losing control at high speed on a rural two lane road. I love muscle cars as much as anyone, but they had their dark side. High powered, poor handling vehicles marketed to testosterone fueled young males. What could go wrong? Around 1971 the insurance industry got wise and put the kibosh on these with monthly premiums that exceeded the car payment.”
— CPJ, Curbside Classic (2019)
RE:SOURCES
- CPJ; 2019. Commentator in “Curbside Classic: 1972 Plymouth Duster 340 — The Tweaker.” Curbside Classic. Posted Feb. 11.
BROCHURES & ADVERTISING:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Plymouth (1970)
The Duster 340 pales compared to most current compacts. The Camry V6 has got 300 hp. The Accord turbo has 265 hp. The Eco boost four in the Mustang has a bit over 300hp. The eco boost in the new Explorer has 400 hp! These cars can really accelerate to high speeds quickly. Today’s more distracted drivers are finding themselves in dangerous situations because these vehicles are so fast. They are not marketed as high performance models, just regular cars. I like fast cars and motorcycles, I rode the Superbikes of the 1970s, but I was always aware that these were high performance vehicles, not my Mom’s grocery getter Camry.It’s no wonder that accident and fatality rates are climbing.
Yup, the automakers have recently been locked into horsepower race that can make the muscle cars of yore seem decidedly old hat. But at least today’s automobiles can handle the added power better than back in the day. For example, in the late-60s or early-70s you often had to pay extra for disc brakes and radial tires. Independent rear suspension was relatively rare, and anti-lock braking even rarer.
It’s true that traffic fatalities have gone up over the last few years, but they are still lower than their peak in 1972. In 2020 there were reportedly almost 38,700 fatalities whereas in 1972 they almost hit 55,000. When I get around to it I’ll update the data in my road memorials piece.
Of course, the recent figures are hardly anything to brag about. I enjoy high-performance cars but question whether the average JoeMobile needs 300-400 horsepower. For one thing, the emphasis on power has reduced the greenhouse gas reductions that more efficient drivetrain technology made possible. It’s odd that there hasn’t as much of a public backlash against the current horsepower race as there was in the late-50s or early-70s.
There was a down side to muscle cars, but the tendency to look at the past with rose-colored glasses isn’t limited to those cars. I remember the nostalgia and paeans to the original “Bug” when VW released the New Beetle. But VWs of the 1960s were viewed as death traps by quite a few people even by the much lower standards of the day. And not without evidence.
Traffic fatality figures include deaths of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists, and, from what I remember, their percentage of total traffic fatalities has been increasing (or, at least had been before the pandemic). That is a challenge, but it has nothing to do with a Camry’s ability to accelerate from 0-60 in under 10 seconds.
Having lived through the silliness of the national 55 mph speed limit, I’m very skeptical of hand-wringing over the performance capabilities of modern vehicles. In the real world, that translates into Roscoe P. Coltrane nabbing someone for 5 miles over the limit to pay for Boss Hogg’s new Cadillac, or a State Police cruiser picking off people cruising along at 80 mph on the rural portions of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Which has nothing to do with improving safety.