RoswellGrey

Your questions one by one.

Six cylinder: Why would I want a "Hemi" (they're not, actually, but that's an academic issue)? At one point, I was half-owner of a 1968 Coronet R/T with a 440 Magnum. Now THAT'S a REAL eight-cylinder engine. Sure today's eight-cylinder engines are good, but sorry, they just don't impress me enough to pay the extra in fuel costs and insurance. In my opinion, no matter what, today's "Hemis" lack the awesomeness quality of the Old School engines. Besides, I was using the 68 to help finance my college career before most people here were born. Am I going to be street racing now? Nope. Oh. And did I mention the price of the SRTs and R/Ts? There's no way I'm ever going to pay that much for a car, no matter what it is. I happen to like the looks of the Challenger, but not more than $25,000 worth.

Automatic transmission: Again, I point to the Coronet. It had the 727 three-speed automatic. Everything said and done, no matter who you are or what you're running, you physically CANNOT outshift an automatic. Also, I learned to drive at age 12 on a three-speed manual 1950 Ford whose carburetor was loose because of the weight of the old oil-bath air cleaner, causing the fuel to be cut off as the car came to a stop. Hence, not only was I learning to drive a manual to start with, I also had to learn to clutch-start the car whenever I came up to a stop sign. Yeah. I know how to drive a manual and thought that was the only kind of transmission to have. Till I found out about the performance of automatics. Why would I ever go back to using primitive technology? And a six-speed? Get real. I wouldn't buy a four-speed. The car is fully capable of knowing when it needs to shift.

Front plate: As stated, earlier, I think cars look better with front plates. Check my avatar. Don't you think that 70 Challenger would look strange without a front plate? Of course you do. So does an 08 or 09. Also, a prediction: watch for more and more states to require front plates. Why? Very simple: the growth of traffic-light cameras to catch scofflaws going through red lights. Forget the safety issue. What's more important is that ALL states are relying on traffic citations as a growing source of revenue. Traffic cameras take pictures of cars FROM THE FRONT. The states are going to want to know which cars are going through red lights to send the owners tickets. You'll soon be sporting front plates, too, pal.

I hope this explanation answers all your questions.