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| Photo credit: Car and Driver |
Small, front wheel drive four-pot high performance cars are some of my favorite vehicles on the road. These “pocket rockets” have the
daily drivability and gas mileage of a basic four cylinder economy car, with a
little bit of something else thrown in the mix. One analogy that often comes to
mind with these pocket rockets is a bowl of grits. Plain grits, without any
seasoning or additions, are inherently quite bland. Basic econobox sedans and
coupes unfortunately fall under the umbrella of these “plain grits”. They get
the job done, but are quite joyless about it. There is no pizzazz, no verve,
and no spirit about the way they get you to point A. Now, these performance
models are the spicy, seasoned grits that require half a gallon of water just
to choke down. With the exception of slightly warmed over “sport” models that
change nothing but the wheels and badges, these feisty powerhouses often take
high performance engines, sport tuned suspensions, and beefy transmissions, and
cram them into the cheap, light shell of an econobox. Cars like the Cobalt SS
Turbo, Shelby Omni GLHS, and the Integra R cement the whole “cheap and
cheerful” mentality for those who want performance AND usability. Often with
huge wings, flashy graphics, and large wheels, I always stop to admire these
tuned terrors.
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Whenever I stumble out of my dorm building on my way to
class, I always cast a sideways glance at the Flame Red Dodge Neon R/T sedan parked front and center in the student priority parking section. With its “2.0
Magnum” and “R/T” badges, 5 speed
tranny, dual exhaust, and large wheels, the R/T Neon seems to play the part of
a hard-line sportscar, but unfortunately falls prey to lackluster performance
figures. Its 150 horsepower engine fails
to divvy up the power necessary to move the 2800 lb. bulk in anything but a
moderately nippy pace. Despite these dreary performance handicaps, the Neon
always catches my attention for a few reasons. One, it is quite uncommon. And
two, it carries the storied R/T badge, which I find a bit ironic.
Back in the 60’s and early
70’s, any Dodge cars wearing the R/T badge were tarmac burners who terrorized
pony cars from stoplight-to-stoplight. The Road/Track designated muscle car
bruisers were known for their big engines, big bodies, and beefy suspensions
set for the drag strip. As Dodge continued to slap the R/T badge on to models
well into the ‘80s and 90’s, the R/T badge began to show up on some less-than
stellar performers. Models like the Durango and Aspen were limp underachievers
that slowly undermined the respect that R/T had built up from the ‘60s, with
R/T eventually finding its way on the Stratus, Journey, and the car in
question, the Neon. Virtually every Dodge vehicle found a sporty sibling with a
shiny R/T badge. In the mid 70’s when the gas crisis struck a V8-obsessed
America, the scramble for small, front wheel drive cars contributed to the
death of the large, heavy, and quite thirsty muscle car formula. The Neon is a
direct descendant of this malaise-era mentality of small engine, low
performance, high mileage economy models. Not content with contributing
to the downfall of the muscle car era, the Neon becomes an unholy abomination
who unsuccessfully attempts to cannibalize the identity of its fallen brethren.
It becomes, in my mind, the complete opposite of what it tries to mimic.
Instead of causing me to recall the epic 426 Coronet, Challenger, or Charger, I
think of bailouts, outdated chassis, and poor quality. The R/T badge is
something to be venerated, not slapped willy nilly on any four wheeled product
that rolls out of Detroit.
This extreme badge dilution
brings a bit of melancholy to my mind. While I am well aware that the “true”
modern performance Dodge vehicles proudly wear the SRT badge, I find the R/T
badge a bit more meaningful. In my mind, it’s something akin to the memory of
an old friend. The badge is a remainder from the “good ‘ol days”, days full of
quarter miles and stoplight burnouts. The Street Racing Technology line doesn’t
do much for me. It’s right there, in the name: Street. While yes, these modern
cars are more powerful than their R/T counterparts, R/T signifies something a
bit wilder, a demon not quite comfortable with life on the street. Road/Track
signifies a duality within the name that holds so much more power than other
competitors. SuperSport (SS), GT, GTO, these names, outside of those in the
know, don’t signify much. Road/Track bluntly outlines what this vehicle was
created to do. R/T cars from yore were delegated to track duty on
weekends, followed by a splash of racing between the lights on the drive home.
In short, Dodge, it’s time to reclaim the crown. Put the Track back into
Road/Track!
This is a well written submission. But, to go one step further I submit that the demise of the fabled R/T, AAR (of which I owned an outstanding bright green sample), GTO and many others did not come at the hands of the "gas crisis" but rather at the hands of the Federal Government via the alphabet soup of federal bureaucracies primarily the NHTSA and the EPA both of which very nearly strangled the life out of Detroit. In a scramble to meet the onerous regulations our vehicles became heavier, got worse gas mileage, became more complicated, more difficult and more expensive to maintain. They were less efficient, less fun to drive, more expensive to insure (there is a great story behind the government mandated 5 mph bumpers that few people in the general public are aware of where the insurance institute and the NHTSA teamed up to seriously ramp up our insurance rates). Noted journalist and radio host Ed Wallace states that approximately 40% of the cost of a new vehicle is meeting government regulations. Now you have to pay $60,000 for a new 650 hp Mustang SVT Cobra instead of $36,000. Thank your congressman. And by the way, the wonderful performance cars we have today are the result of hard working engineers and technicians NOT some petty bureaucrat with an agenda. One has to wonder just what kind of cars we would be driving without the heavy hand of bureaucrats. Would we have completely destroyed our environment? Would the R/Ts and GTs and RSs have strangled us in a cloud of noxious fumes just barely worse that a neuclear holocost? I sincerely doubt it but that's another subject and the R/Ts stand as a beacon from our chequered past.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! I completely agree. The EPA and its stringent regulations caused the onset of sickly engines like the late '70s 350, which had a paltry and frankly lame 180 HP. I myself have a car which suffers from a restrictive emissions system. My '81 911, in US trim, produces 180 HP. Conversely, a European 1981 911 with the same engine, produces 238 HP, enough to propel the Euro 911 from 0-60 in over 2 seconds faster than its catalytic converter choked US brother. However, this massive regulation shift caused automakers to adapt and "work around" the mandates, going through what would appear to be an evolution in engine design. Think of the fabled Grand National, the '82 Turbo Trans Am (Same engine), the Shelby Omni GLHS, and the Mustang SVO. All of these turbocharged wonders came about because of the "changing times". As you said, however, cars became heavier, uglier, and needlessly complicated. I attended a small car show the other day, and upon glancing under the hood of a '67 Camaro, noticed how I could easily see the pavement through the engine bay. I could have tossed a penny to the pavement without any contact with engine or components at all. As I peered under the raised hood of a nearby Fox Mustang, there were so many wires, belts, boxes, intakes, and general debris packed in the bay that I could hardly see the bottom of the engine itself. This trend of complication continued, as new cars today are becoming increasingly heavier as more and more mandatory safety equipment is bolted on. Take the new Camaro and Challenger. While they are both supremely impressive examples of modern automotive engineering, both of these bruisers tip the scale at over two tones, with the Challenger particularly fat at an embarrassing 4300 lbs. It was a sad spiral from the performance heyday of the Muscle car era, but at least we can take solace in mind boggling performance capabilities of modern muscle.
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