Quote:
Originally Posted by sugarwood
Why the middle hate in the first place?
They basically look identical to the SC/3.2 to me.
It's weird that a '73 is $150k and a '74 is $30k.
2 extra inches of hood are worth $120k ?
Did the middies get dramatic HP cuts due to emissions, just like the USA cars?
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There were real issues with the mid year, 1974-77 cars when they were new. Pretty much every thing has been corrected and attitudes have changed.
In 1974 the most dragon of the emission/safety laws went into effect, everybody had to have 5 MPH impact bumpers and the body design of car started to have heavy influence by the government. MG lost the chrome bumpers and got big ugly rubber bumpers, corvettes lost their chrome bumper and got some sort of body shaped plastic that is always wavy, Porsche did its best with their accordion style impact bumpers.
Also at the time the side impact protection became mandatory and a few other things, all this added weight and changed the look of the cars, not popular.
To add even more insult to the sports car enthusiast, at the same time, 1974, stricter emission requirements were mandated, cutting HP and engine life.
Porsche replace their header system and put on a restrictive log style, catalytic equipped exhaust system that also held a lot of heat next to the heads. It became mandatory to have the emission cut sooner and the cars warm up faster, Porsche quick answer was less fins on the cooling fan, now couple that with the hot catalytic converter exhaust system, overheated engines.
Porsche also had to drop their race style MFI injection for the emission complaint CIS. robbing the cars of power.
There were other problems, but I think you are getting the idea.
But today the impact look is now the "norm" and excepted, along with the weight. The fix's to the engines are well documented and legal since the cars or so old.
So today they are good cars, with a lot of nice unique features that make them special fun.