[petevb]

A friend had a '79 Euro grey market car. 2800 lbs wet, trapped the 1/4 at 108 bone stock. In-gear times were significantly faster. Lots of turbo lag, but when it hit hold on.

It was reliably a bit quicker than the '86 944 turbo with chip, cone filter etc I had at the time, but slower than my later 944T w/ 330 whp (maf, turbo).

Look no further than traction control and tires to explain why today's sedans are as fast as yesterday's muscle cars. A six second to sixty muscle car used to be something that could turn into wheel-spin and near-death in a heartbeat, but with modern grip and seemless-shift transmissions it can almost feel slow today, and grandma can drive it just fine. I've driven a sub 3 second to 60 electric car and it did feel slow compared to my porsche- zero wheel-spin or shifting, just smooth acceleration. If people want faster cars manufacturers will continue to make them faster...