Technical How much is enough for you?

guess whatever floats your boat, and have a deep wallet - as stated above, any fool can buy a new very high HP car - but, knowing how to drive it and when and where to use that power is another story - older Hot Rods that have high HP are usually built to be able to work with the HP - but, none of them do much good on congested stop'n'go roadways - who doesn't love the sound of a HP motor?

 

But the newer cars with big HP also have modern steering and suspension geometry with giant disc brakes. Not like driving a 66 Dodge with 426 ci., shitty steering and drum brakes.

 

"Look at me look at me"...it all about being first in line at the next stoplight....I putter to and from my 2 jobs with a 4 cylinder 5 speed...they roar by me and cut me off to turn in front of me....then I have to slow down for them...

I don't understand it either...

MikeC

 

My '40 Plymouth Business coupe with a '55 DeSoto 291 hemi in flat black with red interior with white piping and pin stripes was cool enough for me. My '27 T Tudor with a 240 six with 300 internals and a 4.88 cam will get me down the road and give me the rumpity rump my ears like to hear. but... I need an old truck ,so the '27 probably needs to go.

 

And what's with all this penis talk. All I can say is high HP cars certainly help get the wrinkles out.

 

I like HP enough to feel it in your seat. What that is depends on the car I'm building. My current two cars have 400 plus HP and to me that's enough.

 

High horsepower.
Just the natural transition to the ultimate goal in impracticality..which of course are what our Hot Rods really are, besides fun.
I've always had the desire to do a blown engine in a Hot Rod, but so far my practical side has won that war.

 

Driving an underpowered Hot Rod is the same as dating a lesbian; you have the form but not the function. If the car doesn't raise your heart rate when you punch it, you don't have enough power.

As to the insurance thing, when I bought my DD '13 Mustang GT (420 HP) I asked how much more the insurance would cost me compared to a six-cylinder version. I was told at my age it didn't matter....

 

You mean like this (in my red 40 ) ?

 

Except we had to really drive, now it's a toe and a finger. No offence meant.

 

There are several videos of new Hellcats crashing while showing off . I'm sure there are Camaro and Mustang videos too. I expect that the insurance companies are taking notice and charging the appropriate premiums. Would I love to have 800 HP under my right foot?.....You bet but I'll just have to be happy with 300-400 and not crash into the curb like the knobs in the videos.

 

That's funny right there, I don't care who you are!
Credit to Larry the cable guy.

 

Because of overpopulation and high traffic, there is no place on the open road that you can actually use a lot of power anywhere near where I live so since I don't race and I am in my latter years, I find a car with about 350 HP is all that I need.

 

Like others have said; unless you are involved in drag racing, where do you get to use all that horsepower? 300hp or so does it for me... Of course my T weighs around 1700lbs, so it's all relative. I can't imagine driving this thing with a "blown big block " like some I've seen.

 

Couldn't agree more!

 

It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Sent from my SM-G977U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

And now Deep Thoughts with Bandit Billy;
Sometimes when I read through posts like these I'm transported back in time where gentlemen sitting around the barber shop (the internet chat room of the day) are going on about the new cars with their ridiculous 200 or 300HP when the 60 or 80 horses in their flatheads was all that was needed. Then I wake up and come to the realization that you guys are really old!

 

Nowhere. If you get caught doing something stupid your really up shit creek, where I live anyways.
I have around 530 hp in my 57 but drag race it at a track. On the street it gets driven the same way as my wife's 2014 Esacape.

 

I'd love to try my car at an 1/8th mile track, it could be a lot of fun. The top end at a 1/4 mile track may be on the hairy edge for me.

 

Well my opinion about this current auto age would set off a shitstorm and ruin a perfectly good thread, so I will keep it to myself (doesn't belong on the HAMB anyway). But the factory high HP trend is a good thing, are you kidding me? Granted, a lot of folks are ill-equipped to handle 600 hp, but a lot of folks were ill-equipped for 400 hp back in the day.

Jim, I agree with you that we have no need for anything in excess of about 350 hp, but we're old men! How would we have felt about this 40 years ago?

Have a friend who traded in his Mercedes for a 600 hp Camaro a few years ago. He got rid of the Camaro within a year, scared him to death. But you know, for me, that is how I have always felt riding a 1000+ cc motorcycle - oh my god, I am on the edge of potential tragedy here - it is a great self-discipline lesson.

 

I don't know how much would be too much, I've never driven anything that had too much! Most of the time 200 is enough, but occasionally it is so much fun to push the loud pedal and feel that exhilaration brought about from excess HP that nothing else can match! As I get older, the need to do that becomes less frequent, but just the knowledge that it is there when I want to do it is nice. Just the sound of a high HP engine is often enough to satisfy me.

 

I like enough power that you need to consider the parts its connected to.....

 

Faster, faster, till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death. Lippy

 

My hero is Carrol Shelby. Ford execs invited him to take a test drive in one of the new Shelby or GT Mustangs for a photo-op when he was like 90 years old. He gets in and proceeds to roast the tires in the Mustang all around the parking lot in full view of the nervous execs.
So my roadster runs 10’s and I drive it responsibly on the road.
r


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

The current trend will collapse under pressure from the insurance industry. Same as it did at the start of the '70's. Insurance companies are going to either raise their rates on high hp vehicles or start denying coverage on them. There will always be people who can't handle that kind of power responsibly, and they are the ones who drive insurance up for everyone.

 

I need enough HP to make me respect it. I don't want to go fast, I just want to get to 9 over the speed limit immediately! I'm currently driving a 2019 Challenger Scat Pack 392, with the wide body kit. It's a buddies car he wanted me to drive until he moved down here. It has around 500 HP, and that seems to be just right. The T-bucket on the other hand weights about 1/3 of the challenger, so I would imagine that 300 would be magical. R/S, Mike

 

I'm stuffing a non-HAMB friendly 1000cc engine in my '34 Austin. That should double its original horsepower.

Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

If you are totally honest with yourself all HAMB friendly cars are RESTORATIONS, how fast could anyone go before December 31st of 1965?

 

....and that's what worries me with my new car...

 

I got my driver license suspended for 3 months for speeding in my Prius and it's only 75hp. Imagine what will happen with the hopefully 100hp 4 banger I'm building for my mild custom. So 400 or 800? I'll be banned from driving.