Recently there have been a lot of articles with headline quotes such as “V8 On The Way Out” “Big blocks doomed” “Muscle cars a thing of the past” and so on. Yeah sure, and I have some beach front property in Iowa I will make you a great deal on too. This is simply a trend of the times not all all unlike those hard times with high fuel cost and gas lines back in the 70’s. I should know, I was there and I owned three service stations at the time.

Some more recent quotes have been made by Bob Lutz who has been a vocal opponent of the regulations which he believes will harm the U.S. auto industry. Lutz said, “This is going to be a net average of cost of $6,000 per vehicle which will have to be passed onto the consumer. CNN reports, “Newer luxury cars are shifting toward smaller, more sophisticated engines for power.” and Chrysler says, “The Hemi in not the powertrain of the future.”
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We’re always looking for great content to share with our readers here in The Garage. Recently, we’ve been speaking with the folks at Muscle Car News about helping to spread the word about their mag. If we can help out some fellow Canucks and score some new content at the same time, we are more than happy to oblige.

Today’s spotlight on a 1970 Road Runner was written by Bill Holder with photos by Phil Kunz

High performance and low cost were Plymouth’s design goals for a brand-new model in 1968. The company believed that the time was right for a factory hot rod for the youth market, and its guess was right on the money. It would have the macho name of Road Runner. It was also a very “B Body” budget-friendly machine which made it another very important reason for purchasing. The high cost ruled out many of the muscle cars of the era.
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Unfortunately, Vegas is more than an afternoon jaunt from Toronto, so we weren’t able to make our way down this week for the 2007 SEMA show. Fortunately for us, the viral spin doctors over at Car Crazy Central are working hard to get the word out and have supplied us with a few images that they haven’t published themselves at SEMA Insider.

The shot above is a super tricked out Scion Xb, but there was more than just news school at this year’s show. After the break, there are a couple of more traditional rides for us old guys!
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Some people like to look at cars, others, like to drive them. Some believe in a car’s character, for others, its a needy utility, an expense, a liability…

They don’t know what they are missing.

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The Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise is one of the longest standing cruise events around. It is the home of street racing, as we used to know it. Heck, the muscle car wars of the Sixties were born and bred on Woodward. Once a year this stretch of pavement is visited by cruisers and spectators from around the world.

Real life friend of The Garage Jim Toumaris visited the cruise last weekend and snapped a TON of pics for us. Jim is a Nissan tech with a penchant for old American muscle who has decided that he should take a car down for next year’s cruise. Will it be the Chevelle of the 66 Mustang? Who knows, but let’s hope next year’s pics are as great as these.

A bunch more pics after the break

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With news coming last weekend that DaimlerChrysler has given the new Challenger concept the green light, plant workers all over North America must be drooling at the thought that they may get to build the beast. The blogosphere is alive with the news and so is traditional media. Over at Leftlane News, they have reported that the Brampton, Ontario plant will built the Retro Rocket, but hold on a minute there bucko. They’ve actually misread the Globe and Mail article they are quoting from. The globe reports that the Brampton plant is the leading contendor in the race to win the gig. Their production numbers, along with the fact that the other models on the same platform are built here. As sales on the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C have dropped, the extra 30-40,000 Challengers would allow the plant to add another shift.

Now, if GM would just announce that Camaro production will come back to Oshawa, all will be right in the muscle car world.