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Yeah instead of ricers, why not just go with a 80s or 90s American
Probably because most American cars from the 80s and 90s truly sucked. There are very few good American cars from those decades - part of why Japanese cars made such inroads.
FWIW, I never had any interest in domestic muscle cars ... never owned one, didn't care for the way they drove or their road manners. It wasn't a big deal that I didn't have the HP, speed, or quickness in the cars I drove in comparison. I found most 'vettes to be very hard riding and uncomfortable, and thirsty to boot. If I really wanted to go fast, it was in an aircraft .... no speeding tickets there.
The biggest thing is the character of the cars for me - The Japanese tend to copy the Europeans when it comes to sports cars, and European cars have trended to small, light and agile, vs power and top-end speed.
It started with the Nisan Fairlady copying the British Sunbeams and TVRs and went from there. The Corvette started out as a European-influenced roadster but became a mega-pony car of sorts before finally molding to a supercar standard. Other than the 60s Vette and a couple on-offs throughout the years, there really hasn't been a good sports car from American companies, just pony cars.
The MX-5 is the funnest cheap car and has been for the past 20 years, but most people refuse to even drive one based on its size and power numbers alone, which is a real shame. As for the OP's question, old cars take money to keep up, especially when fighting rust and electrical problems, and when you're young and poor, you can't afford a really old car. Plus most people want modern conveniences like air conditioning, to say nothing of airbags and three point belts. They are great as second or third cars, but as a primary car, they are not good choices.
like others said, more of a money problem. I'd love to drive a muscle car but the cost of finding one in good running condition that won't fall apart is simply prohibitive to my age group. It's either that or find the cash and time to fix one up (which would be fun) but I couldn't afford that either..
whereas I've seen used Infiniti G35 coupes with the Sport package go for around 10-13k.
A running 68 Camaro RS is what, $30k anymore? $30k can get you a used Porsche Boxster that will run circles around that Camaro. If you're too young to be emotionally attached to these older cars, you aren't going to spend that kind of money on them.
I see young kids in sports cars though - its just that there aren't very many sports cars as options. When sports car prices got out of hand in the late 80s-90s, only the well-off could buy them, and kids turned to cheap economy cars and modded them for fun. These were cars like the CRX, Civic, Integra, Prelude, etc. Not sports cars at all, but they could at least be made to be fun. There is a whole generation of people with no real connection to sports cars because they were all way to expensive when they were growing up.
It's a problem of disposable income. It's sad to say but I had more disposable income when I was 19 years old than I do now in my early '30's (getting married and having kids does that).
So for me...my days of owning and wrenching on hot rods are on hold until I can get these darned kids out of my hair....
...which will be thinner and greyer...
...and therefore I will be one of the old guys the op was talking about.
It's a problem of disposable income. It's sad to say but I had more disposable income when I was 19 years old than I do now in my early '30's (getting married and having kids does that).
So for me...my days of owning and wrenching on hot rods are on hold until I can get these darned kids out of my hair.
Priorities...Wait till their in college all at the same time! Fun!
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. Damn I must've been sippin' on the bottle a bit too much yesterday
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...Wait till their in college all at the same time! Fun!
