Bear with me as I step back in time to formulate what I believe are three terrific American built performance cars: the Ford Mustang, the Dodge Challenger, and the Chevrolet Camaro. Currently, only the Mustang is in production with the Challenger coming back by 2009. GM hasn’t committed to building the Camaro just yet, but the company is likely to make a decision in favor of the car and its sibling, the Pontiac Firebird, by this summer. So, what is it about American performance cars that set them apart from the rest? In one word: muscle. Read on as I compare and contrast these three vehicles and share with you my feeble attempts to explain the culture behind the cars.

So, you think I forgot the Chevy Corvette and Dodge Viper when talking about performance cars? No, I did not. Both models are performance cars as well as race cars. On the other hand the Mustang, Challenger, and Camaro are mass produced performance cars with muscle. There is a difference in the way a typical race car handles, rides, and performs vs. a muscle car.

Typically, a muscle car was a coupe version of some of the larger cars that were pervasive on U.S. highways in the 1960s and 1970s. The Mustang and Camaro, however, were designed separately [although they both heavily borrowed parts from other models] and these “pony” cars were a category all to themselves. For comparison’s sake, they join the Dodge Challenger, a performance version of Mopar cars of its time. All three were compared by critics of that time and all three will once again be compared in a few years when production has been ramped up.

<b>Ford Mustang</b> -– Step back in time with me to April 1964 to an era when America was heavily involved in the space race, Lyndon Johnson was president, and General Motors ruled autodom. Ford, for its part, had been nipping at GM’s heels for years, but the failed Edsels of the late 1950s had cost the company dearly. Still, it was the time of the New York World’s Fair and Ford used the fair and television technology to promote its newest offering, the Mustang. A 2+2 coupe borrowing parts from the Fairlane and Falcon, the 1964 ½ model was the first one sold and is widely credited with being the best introduction of a new vehicle ever. With a V6 engine standard and V8 optional, the all new Mustang quickly broke sales records and has been a hot seller ever since. Indeed, with the introduction of the “retro” look Mustang in 2005, the car once again has spawned interest in the muscle car segment as both DaimlerChrysler and General Motors craft competing models of their own.

<b>Dodge Challenger</b> -– After the success of earlier muscle cars including the Dodge Charger and Plymouth ‘Cuda, the Dodge Challenger was launched as a 1970 model. The car borrowed heavily from the ‘Cuda although the sheet metal was somewhat different and the wheelbase was stretched by a couple of inches. Because the muscle car era was in decline at the time of its introduction, the Challenger lasted only five model years before it was cancelled. The concept Challenger currently on display at many auto shows is based on the 1970 design and is the talk of message boards and blogs across the nation. Look for Hemi powered engines as being favored by many owners; the car is likely to share some technology with the current Magnum wagon and Charger sedan.

<b>Chevrolet Camaro</b> -- GM was asleep at the wheel when the Mustang came out. It took nearly three years before the company could respond and when it did the Camaro and Pontiac Firebird were the result. Although both cars sold well over the years, neither one could match the Mustang’s sales levels and by the time the last cars were sold in 2002, production dropped to a trickle. Still, the end of the Camaro after 35 years has stirred renewed interest in the name and thanks to the retro Mustang, the entire muscle car category is growing once again. Look for a 2010 Camaro to be the first Camaro since 2002; a ragtop version is also being considered.

So, just who can be expected to purchase a muscle car these days? People just like me: middle aged men who grew up with the original models. In addition, a whole new generation of younger drivers tired of the “me too” look of so many of the compact cars out there. Muscle cars of today are so much different from earlier era cars as they incorporate the look of the originals while harnessing today’s technology. Thus, fuel savings will be decent without sacrificing performance: a true win-win situation.

No, I cannot wait to see a Mustang, Challenger, and Camaro lined up at a traffic light waiting for the light to turn green. A new muscle car era is upon us and for that I am very excited.

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The quick answer to how to find a hot, money-making niche is you have to know how to do research. If you want to be successful selling online you have to know what people want and what people are buying. Sell what people wish to buy and you won’t go far wrong. It is the fast route to failure if you try to sell something that no one wants to buy.

Finding or creating large numbers of buyers waiting to buy your products has to be the ultimate as far as most sales folk are concerned. Tapping into the interest of the online buyer is the key, they only want to buy what they are interested in. They don't care who is selling it and they don't care if you are selling it. Your chances of successfully selling your product if you are the lucky one to correctly your position your product increase dramatically doing this.

Quite often the first mistake online sellers make is to try and sell a product that there is little or no market in. They create a product or start selling someone else's product and then try to find a market for that product. Do you see that this is the wrong way to start your online business?

This is why market research is so important. There are hundreds of ways to find out what people are looking for and what people are buying and there are hundreds of websites where you can do free market research. You just need to know where to look.

There is an excellent product on the market that will teach you how to become a market research sleuth. It's called, “How To Research A Product”.

This training program comes with nine videos and four ebooks all targeted to how to do market research.

Do yourself a favor and do the research into what people are buying before you start selling any old product. You'll be very glad you did and your bank account will thank you too.

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Every body is after Recession Proof Stocks and indeed is there such a thing as recession proof money?. With today’s sparkling (well OK better than expected) results from the UK leading Grocer Tescos where UK like-for-like sales are according to Andrew Wade of Numis  "marginally better" than expected, and UK margins are a touch ahead of expectations, However, possibly the only small blot on the horizon might be that fact that the group's net debt of GBP9.6B is pushing interest costs up, he adds.

Tesco apparently plans to cut net debt in the current year by lowering capital expenditure, selling some property, reducing stock levels and other improvements in working capital. Numis also expects to cut forecasts by around 5% for FY' 10, due in part to Tesco's net debt position. Numis is also reviewing its 420p target price and retains a buy on the stock. Shares closed at 332p Monday.

As of the time of this posting, its shares were trading around the 349 in early trading in London.

For further details see recession proof finances, recession proof mortgages, investing a recession.

There was further progress for the FTSE 100 to end the week, as it began what should be its final bear market rally if you are a bear, and starts to accelerate to the upside if you are a bull.

Either way there is resistance from the top of the February ascending price channel at 4,200, but above that one can probably expect a quite direct spike towards the black 200 day moving average at 4,500 plus. Either way, common sense trading will keep you right.

Only below the blue 50 day moving average at 3,913 on an end of day close stop loss basis would now even begin to suggest failure.

Trading with the Index as opposed to trading against it in these situations does help.

As far as Forex Investment Strategies were concerned the US dollar closed down 0.7% at Y98.87 and up 0.2% at $1.2999 against the euro. This would tend to dictate which Free Forex Strategies and any Free Forex Trading Strategies that you would care to try to map out. WTI lost 8 cents to $49.69 as Gold lost $5.2 to $869.8 oz.

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