While its true that NASCAR is a mostly southern thing its not true that muscle cars are a Southern thing, its more that drag orientated cars are moe popular up North.
The thing is that by the start of the 1970 insurance went sky high for muscle cars due to the number of accidents. Talking to "good old boys" and the like I'm hearing tales of guys who had stuff like a 4-4-2 or a 440 Roadrunner for their first car when they were 16, 17, 18. Low rate finance helped fuel the muscle car boom but it also put the cars in the hands of kids with little driving experiance. They were out killing themselves on those old 14" bias ply tyres and especially up north when it rained after summer sun there'd be more Chargers in ditches, wrapped round telgraph poles, etc. than there were on the road. And they tried to drive them in the snow in winter...
The next thing that happened was the fuel crisis. In most of the USA there was petrol rationing. Now if you have a car that does 6 MPG when you hoon it about and you can only get 10 gallons of fuel every fortnight then you're not going far (well, 60 miles I guess....)
The next next thing that happened was there was a huge enviornmental movement in the US in the late 60s and early 70s. This lead to the smog era and mandatory catalytic converters, etc. The fashionable young folks who a couple of years before were buying big ass muscle rides were now preachig about clean air and buying the fresh slew of Japanese imports or Pintos.
All of the above caused a massive price crash for muscle cars. They were next to impossible to insure, difficult to get fuel for and massively unfashionable. theres one guy whos a long term muscle car collector who was featured in a magazine says he was buying 1 or 2 year old muscle cars for less than a 10 year old station wagon back in the early 1970s.
During the 80s they started to come back with cheaper fuel, collectors insurance etc. but "fashionable" Americans have always regarded them as kitch/tacky/redneck (I read in lots of places in books or refferences in movies about how Camaro drivers all sleep with their sisters and stuff like that). Kinda like Novas and Saxos have now. "Chavmobile". Recently there is a new generation with money who don't remember the dark days and also the guys who were into them back in the day have the $$$$ to restore them and get back into it and also theres a definite fashion value to them for rappers and movie stars with nothing better to do than flash some cash on a '71 'Cuda convertible... So prices have gone huge.
The thing is that by the start of the 1970 insurance went sky high for muscle cars due to the number of accidents. Talking to "good old boys" and the like I'm hearing tales of guys who had stuff like a 4-4-2 or a 440 Roadrunner for their first car when they were 16, 17, 18. Low rate finance helped fuel the muscle car boom but it also put the cars in the hands of kids with little driving experiance. They were out killing themselves on those old 14" bias ply tyres and especially up north when it rained after summer sun there'd be more Chargers in ditches, wrapped round telgraph poles, etc. than there were on the road. And they tried to drive them in the snow in winter...
The next thing that happened was the fuel crisis. In most of the USA there was petrol rationing. Now if you have a car that does 6 MPG when you hoon it about and you can only get 10 gallons of fuel every fortnight then you're not going far (well, 60 miles I guess....)
The next next thing that happened was there was a huge enviornmental movement in the US in the late 60s and early 70s. This lead to the smog era and mandatory catalytic converters, etc. The fashionable young folks who a couple of years before were buying big ass muscle rides were now preachig about clean air and buying the fresh slew of Japanese imports or Pintos.
All of the above caused a massive price crash for muscle cars. They were next to impossible to insure, difficult to get fuel for and massively unfashionable. theres one guy whos a long term muscle car collector who was featured in a magazine says he was buying 1 or 2 year old muscle cars for less than a 10 year old station wagon back in the early 1970s.
During the 80s they started to come back with cheaper fuel, collectors insurance etc. but "fashionable" Americans have always regarded them as kitch/tacky/redneck (I read in lots of places in books or refferences in movies about how Camaro drivers all sleep with their sisters and stuff like that). Kinda like Novas and Saxos have now. "Chavmobile". Recently there is a new generation with money who don't remember the dark days and also the guys who were into them back in the day have the $$$$ to restore them and get back into it and also theres a definite fashion value to them for rappers and movie stars with nothing better to do than flash some cash on a '71 'Cuda convertible... So prices have gone huge.