Before 1981, performance was simple. Auto manufacturers just created bigger engines, more cylinders, and louder exhausts like the Pontiac 7.5L V8 engine, used in models like the GTO, Firebird Trans Am ...

For a long time in the automotive world, simply having a turbocharger on a street car was sufficient for bragging rights, as evidenced by the massive “TURBO” badging endemic to early Eighties machines ...