Tempus Fugit

The other day, I found myself behind what – to me – is a relatively new and certainly modern Mustang GT from the mid-’90s wearing “antique” tags. Holy tempus fugit!

Was 1994 really 25 years ago?

Yup. It was.

And this ’94 Mustang  GT is now  . . . an antique. Which means I am, too.

Both of us began our careers at the dawn of the Modern Car Era. Port fuel injection was just then replacing Throttle Body Injection – which was basically an electronic carburetor – often mounted on an intake manifold the same as the ones that actually had carbs underneath them since the era of the Model T.

They were “wet flow” – air and fuel – just like a carb except more accurate and finely sprayed.

No more choke. And no more “warming up,” either. You just got in – and went. The switchover to TBI – and the overdrive transmission – changed everything and ushered in the era of the Modern Car. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $25.00 (as of 11:14 UTC - Details)

Overdrive gave the best of both worlds. Leverage down low, for good acceleration – and gearing reduction once rolling, which made it possible for a car like the Mustang GT in this short video to cruise-control for hours at 90 with its engine turning the same RPM as a pre-modern car with a non-overdrive transmission would have at 60.

High speed legs – and great gas mileage.

I drove a brand-new same-year Mustang GT press car from the DC ‘burbs to my sister’s wedding in Tahoe – almost all the way across the country. It averaged 28 MPG on the open road. With a V8 under its hood.

Have cake – and eat, too.

This was a glorious time for cars. They were just modern enough to be vastly better as cars than all the cars which preceded them, in terms of ease of use, ease of starting, absence of stalling and long-haul running . . . but without the suffocating, nudging, nannying electronic effrontery which afflicts current cars.

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