Who Is Faster? The Legends Of The 60's Or Todays Grocery Getters?

What was the Heyday of automotive performance? The longtime enthusiasts will have you believe the 1960’s with big block 427 Chevys or the awesome Shelby Mustangs.

But a quick look at 0-60 times of over 1800 entries in the 0-60 database from the 60’s to today show us, that we are living in that heyday right now. To further add insult to injury we are doing it with smaller engines pushing more horsepower than the big guns of the 60’s!

To give a better perspective below is a general summary of 0-60 times broken down by decades for reference:

While the 60’s only 46 samples to go by, many of these entries are the faster muscle cars indicative of the performance era. As the 70’s emissions controls took effect we saw a massive degradation on both 0-60 times, but by the 90’s the industry had come full circle and overall performance had surpassed the muscle car era. The trend also continues into this decade with cars that are overall the fastest we have historically seen.

Through the peak and valleys of the decades, the fastest back then still can stand the test of time, and by even today’s standards are pretty respectable.

Even looking at these figures really doesn’t tell the whole picture. Here are few indicators of how far the industry has actually progressed and put thing in perspective:

Did you know that the legendary that 1970 Corvette 427 can easily be dispatched by a modern 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4 in a 0-60 match by half a second?

How about a 1988 Ferrari Mondial getting spanked in a 0-60 match by a garden variety Ford Mustang GT V6 driven by a cheerleader?

Think a 1973 Dodge Charger with the huge 440 might fare better? Well a Lexus 2006 IS250 can match it in quite a bit more comfort.

Sometimes memories are fonder than reality.