Remember the birth of the pony cars; the Mustang, Challenger, and the Camaro? These were the cars many of us drove to school, picked up our high school sweetheart in, and raced each other on Saturday nights. In fact, just about every family had one in their driveway at sometime. They were as affordable as they were fun. They were cars anyone could own.

What happened? The new versions of these retro beauties are so far out of reach for the average Joe, priced right up there with all the high end cars. The pony car wars were all about affordable performance cars with hot engines and no frills options. Nowadays, to get a big performance engine in the new Challenger, Mustang, or Camaro, you have to get the fully trimmed R/T, GT or SS model replete with leather seats, satellite navigation, deluxe interior light packages, sunroofs, heated and cooled cup holders, and individual climate controls for each passenger.

Yes, we know all about the Drag Pak Challenger that you can’t even register, and the $70,000-plus Cobra Jet Mustang package; they are more than out of reach for many.

We don’t think the Big Three have gotten the whole picture: how many of us would like to go to the dealer and buy a plain Jane, stripped down, no option Mustang or HEMI Challenger without being forced to accept all the options that put the prices up through the stratosphere?

I think they are missing the real picture on what and who these cars were intended for. Many buyers are being forced to settle for V6 imitations of the real deal muscle. If they did offer a low optioned, high performance version of these models, I think you would see sales skyrocket, like they did for Plymouth when they came out with the Road Runner, making it an instant success.