
Peter Wilding had technical problems posting a comment so I’m running it as a stand-alone letter to the editor. If you experience a similar issue, send your comment here. Know that I rarely withdraw a commentator’s posting privileges — and only for egregious and/or chronic violations of our guidelines. Robust debate is encouraged as long as it is on topic, factually grounded and does not devolve into personal attacks. Indie Auto recently surpassed 5,000 comments, but over the years only four commentators have been blocked. Anyway, here is Peter’s response to our recent story, “Remembering the dark side of 1960-70s American muscle cars.”
Always with power comes the need for control. Curbs on that power, checks and balances to enable it to be used wisely. Not just the ability of the chassis to cope with the power, but the ability of the driver as well.
What checks and balances to we have on the driver? All too often it seems that dealing with driver attitude is put in the too-hard basket, and band-aid solutions are implemented. Politicians have to be seen to be doing something, so we have speed limits. But we see drivers doing stupid things around us every day.
Many of us did stupid things in our younger days, but we lived to tell the tale, unlike CPJ’s friend. My stupid things happened at lower speeds, with much less severe consequences.
I was a teenager toward the end of the muscle car era. While I pored over the magazines, reality said there was no way I could afford a car, any car. None of my friends had their own car either. That’s just how seventies Australia was. I used the family car, a ’67 Falcon; it was either that, public transport, or walk. I finally bought a car at 25, after the Falcon’s column shift hung up in peak hour traffic. Yeah, I knew what to do, I’d done it so many times before, but I was fed up with it. I never owned a car as powerful as a Duster 340.
Would I have bought a car like that Duster 340 if I could have? Probably not, but I could well understand someone doing so. Down here the equivalent would probably have been a Valiant Charger R/T with the triple-Weber Hemi six. Nobody buys a car like that it they’re not going to use the power for something. But where can you use that power safely? Can you judge when and where it is safe to plant the foot?
Judgment comes with experience. A new driver doesn’t have the experience, and often makes mistakes. The more power, the more forceful the mistake. And the consequences.
— Peter Wilding
BROCHURES & ADVERTISING:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Plymouth Duster (1971)
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Without exception, every Camaro, Mustang and Charger at my high school by the end of my senior year had some manner of bodywork degrade due to driver inexperience – including mine. I thought the handling and braking of my mother’s Rabbit to be far superior to my secretary special ’69 Camaro. At least I was lucky enough to survive my wreck, one of my classmates wasn’t when they had theirs.
Honestly, the horsepower strangled 70s probably helped some of us survive, with the horsepower available, we had to consciously work to get into trouble with them, and the hefty bodies and front disc brakes was there in case we did.