But for more and more Yellowknifers, muscle cars can't be beat.

"Back in the '60s and '70s cars had a style of their own," explained Tim Forbes, owner of a 1969 GTO. "Now all cars look the same."

Muscle cars took North America by storm starting in the early '60s. In an attempt to appeal to a younger car-buying market, the automakers redesigned their large family sedans, adding sporting touches and more, much more, power.

"The GTO was the first muscle car produced, in 1964," noted Forbes. "John DeLorean designed it to save the Pontiac LeMans, a big, family-oriented car."

The oil crisis of the mid 1970s and the arrival of cheap gas-sipping Japanese imports brought the brief reign of muscle cars to an end.

But the love for that era is not limited to those who were teenagers then.

"It's my favorite all-time car," said 18-year-old Robin Sorenson of his '69 Mustang coupe. "It's the car I've always wanted, just the look of it, the minute differences from regular Mustangs."

Forbes son, Dave, owns a '67 Chevelle Malibu he plans to restore from the frame up.

Part of the agony and ecstasy of muscle-car ownership involves the urge to eliminate the wear of time, to return 30-year-old vehicles to the same condition, or better, that they were in when they first rolled off the assembly line.

Though he still has a ways to go, Steve Higgs is well along in the process of returning his '66 Chevelle SS to better than new condition.

"I've been working on it for two years this summer. I've had the body right off, every piece off the whole frame, and every piece I took off was painted, and put back on with new bolts."

Higgs said he's invested about $17,000 in the car so far, some of the bigger ticket items being a new motor, transmission and rear end.

Reputedly the fastest muscle car in the capitol, Higgs plans to test his Chevelle against Edmonton's best when it's completed, likely next year.

Using the power that muscle cars possess is only a small part of the joy of owning them -- "It's nice to know it's there," said Higgs -- and a very small part in a place like Yellowknife.

"There are too many possibilities of hurting yourself or someone else," said Forbes of the racing that sometimes goes on downtown. "If you want to act like an idiot go out of town where you're not endangering anybody else."

Both Higgs and Forbes said the ideal solution would be to have a place -- say, the DND runway -- where fast cars can stretch their legs.