Ain't manual transmission a bitch...

[Tsuru]

[yt]-ZT5mQLy5C4[/yt]

Power is nothing without control

[KanpaiQuigley]

What was the deal with that thing? It was hideous to begin with... They welded an old Shelby to a new stang front end? Thats like putting a BMW front end on a Civic (and I've actually seen this...)

People that retarded shouldn't be given licenses, let alone new cars. Too bad he wasn't aiming into oncoming tractor trailer traffic.

[Big Booger]

I'd have had to have stomped a mudhole in his ass after that.

[Tsuru]

What was the deal with that thing? It was hideous to begin with... They welded an old Shelby to a new stang front end? Thats like putting a BMW front end on a Civic (and I've actually seen this...)

It's a 2006 Mustang, special Shelby GT500 edition, and I happen to think it's fucking gorgeous and the single best thing to come out of Detroit in a very, very, very, very long time.

People that retarded shouldn't be given licenses, let alone new cars.

He was 14 years old, too young for a license, even in the US as far as I know I think that also means pop doesn't get his insurance money to have it fixed.

[IkemenTommy]

Dahahaha! That was great.
That's like one of my college friends who wrecked his brand new Mustang GT he got on the same day he got it on his 18th Birthday after drinking one too many.

[Big Booger]

[quote="Tsuru"]It's a 2006 Mustang, special Shelby GT500 edition, and I happen to think it's fucking gorgeous and the single best thing to come out of Detroit in a very, very, very, very long time.

He was 14 years old, too young for a license, even in the US as far as I know ]

But if he had home owner's insurance it might cover the car, house and all.

[Tommybar]

In '96 I picked up a '95 Fatboy CHEAP ($6,000) from a chief in the navy after he unbox it and rode it from the parking lot, across 2 lanes of traffic into a concrete wall (a straight line from the parking lot). Some people just have too much money and not enough brains...

[This is a pen]

[quote="Tsuru"]
Power is nothing without control ]
I did this once when I was about 10 years old, But it was with a 1971 Yellow Super Beatle
like this one

Needless to say my parents were none too happy.

[IkemenTommy]

Back to Japan, have you guys noticed that most of the new "sports" cars are all automatic or the paddle shift psudo-manual transmission? It's such a shame.

[Charles]

Back to Japan, have you guys noticed that most of the new "sports" cars are all automatic or the paddle shift psudo-manual transmission? It's such a shame.

Nothing wrong with that. The fastest car I ever drove was a friend's 1967 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi with the legendary TorqueFlite automatic. Nobody can handle that much power with a manual transmission, and it was hard enough to get all 8 carburetor barrels to kick in even in automatic.
On the other hand, I could easily beat my friend's Hemi off the line in a drag race with my 65' Mustang GT convertible with the 289 HiPo engine and a manual 4-speed. But he'd easily catch up and pass me.

Oh.. BTW, the old Hemi 426 engine had 465 horsepower, one of the few rare engines that had more horsepower than CCs displacement (for comparison, my 289HiPo only had 271hp). The new Shelby GT500 only has 450hp. 40 years of engine development, and THIS is the best they could do on a consumer-grade production car?

[Tsuru]

Nobody can handle that much power with a manual transmission

Actually, you have that the wrong way round. From an engineering perspective it's easier (and lighter) to fit a very big engine with a manual gearbox and perhaps a hydraulically actuated clutch than to design a conventional automatic transmission (one with a torque converter) to handle that amount of power. Not without oil coolers and having to have it serviced every 1000 miles, at least ]Oh.. BTW, the old Hemi 426 engine had 465 horsepower, one of the few rare engines that had more horsepower than CCs displacement (for comparison, my 289HiPo only had 271hp). The new Shelby GT500 only has 450hp. 40 years of engine development, and THIS is the best they could do on a consumer-grade production car?[/QUOTE]It's probably got something to do with the fact that this car has a 5.4L V8 (331 in³) instead of 7.0L (426 in³)

Oh.... and 7.0L is of course 7000 cubic centimeters.

[Charles]

Actually, you have that the wrong way round. From an engineering perspective it's easier (and lighter) to fit a very big engine with a manual gearbox and perhaps a hydraulically actuated clutch than to design a conventional automatic transmission (one with a torque converter) to handle that amount of power.

No, I'm not talking about the transmission handling that amount of power, I'm talking about the driver being able to handle that much power. It was a lot harder to drive those early muscle cars, they were big and stiff and drove like a tank, and it took considerable effort to control a high horsepower engine to get optimum traction, even with an automatic transmission. Hell, back in those days, even positraction was still pretty new.
Anyway, these 426 Hemi/TorqueFlite Automatic cars were designed for stock car racing. My friends Coronet Hemi was rebuilt by a local stock car driver who specialized in racing Hemis, his best stock car, a 1970 Challenger 426 Hemi, was an automatic. These engines were also a favorite of top fuel dragsters, where they did use manual transmissions, but that is a whole different level of engineering and driving.

Oh.... and 7.0L is of course 7000 cubic centimeters.

oops, I guess I had my c.i. and ccs mixed up. Dammit they should have stuck with ci, Detroit only switched to ccs as a marketing trick when they started making tiny engines, so they'd sound bigger to people used to ci.

[Tsuru]

No, I'm not talking about the transmission handling that amount of power, I'm talking about the driver being able to handle that much power.

Yes, of course... sorry about that