Cars aren’t the same as they were in the muscle car era. Not only do they look different, they boast a lot more horsepower, technology, control and safety now, but we don’t need to tell you that. However, if you’ve never had experience with a stock classic, you may not know just how drastic some of the performance and handling difference between old school and modern cars are. Well here’s a video reminder of just how different cars performed back in the day thanks to RideLust.

Although new cars have all the bells and whistles you could want, classic cars will always carry an appeal for many automotive enthusiasts. Something about those body lines, raw power and crazy brutish existence does something for the soul.  It would have to in order for the horrendous handling of a classic muscle car to be overlooked.

The vintage video features Bud Lindemann of Car & Track testing the ‘71 Ford Torino Cobra, a “real, honest to goodness supercar.” With a 429cui big block under the hood that pushed 370hp, the Torino was a big deal back in 1971 and we can’t blame people for liking it. However, the improved performance that Lindemann speaks of in the video is far from notable by today’s standards.

Just watching the big lug of a Ford try to weave cones is enough to make anyone chuckle, even with its “heavy-duty suspension.” Even less impressive is the cars acceleration. Although the Torino has muscle under the hood, the car only hits 30mph in 3.4 seconds and takes a full 7.0 seconds to hit 60mph.

Compare that to say the ’12 Camaro ZL1 that has a 0 to 60 time of 3.9 seconds for the automatic, and you can see just how far muscle cars have come since the classic days. It makes us wonder what Lindemann would say about modern muscle cars compared to the highly impressive Torino of the early 70s.