vintage muscle car strip info

[Fire-medic]

Here is a database from contemporary car magazines of hot Detroit iron, usually listing car specs and 0-60 & 1/4-mile times, as well as rated HP.

You can debate the 413 Mopar Wedge vs. the 406 FE Ford, the 260/289 Ford Police Interceptor vs. the 327 Chevy, the Buick 455 Stage 1 vs, the Pontiac Ram Air IV 455, or the Chevy 454 vs. the Mopar 426 Hemi in whatever car they were available in.

What's humbling is that a six-cylinder 2017 Mustang would spank many of these bad boys, and be much safer doing it! Not to mention being able to out-handle nearly anything on the list.

Still, in the 1960's there was little else as-satisfying as running a Detroit V8 hard and catching a good second gear, while Mitch Ryder was playing over a set of 6 x 9's in the rear parcel shelf.

Have fun reading and comparing. Remember these were car enthusiast magazine road tests, and not just car company p.r. unk:

http://roadtests.tripod.com/

 

[42Below]

Nice.
A for modern cars - a turbo rotary would beat a lot of them but who the heck wants to listen to that noise when you can have a V8?
That sound is half the reason I got a Vmax, they sound like a crisp revving small block with a manual behind it. I cant afford a good V8 and I love riding so here I am.

 

[Traumahawk]

That is very cool. Thanks for posting.

 

[dannymax]

Nothing sounds like that old Detroit Muscle....not quite as fast as they seemed at the time.....but a 426 Hemi under hard accel....without equal!

Great read Philip, thanks!!

 

[SpecOps13]

My 05 Mustang will do 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds with it's 4.10 gear, 5 speed stick, CAI and a Performance tune. There are so many other cars that will blow my doors off it ranks pretty low. Skullduggery however can whoop most of their asses.:confused2: Need more Power in the Mustang.:clapping:

 

[caseyjones955]

Nice.
A for modern cars - a turbo rotary would beat a lot of them but who the heck wants to listen to that noise when you can have a V8?
That sound is half the reason I got a Vmax, they sound like a crisp revving small block with a manual behind it. I cant afford a good V8 and I love riding so here I am.

No doubt that modern technology has made cars significantly better, Not as cool though. Bikes on the other hand have benefited and become absurdly cool with technology.

I'm an oddball and I know it. Everyone has V8s, I love them too but I had a couple rotaries throw in there. A ported 13b with center bearing, doweled, robust torsion bolts, worked rotors and a big fat turbo/FMIC can be very deadly to traditional V8s. The sound was annoying in my first NA RX7 but the single turbo street ported RX4 I had was too loud but when you associate that sound with that kind of brutal acceleration it becomes a conditioned response. On the rare occasion I hear WAP WAP WAP WAP WAP somewhere it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. 600+hp at 10krpm+ on a car that weighs just slightly more than a skateboard with a bag of groceries on it is pretty impressive. Give me an RX3/4 with a single turbo 20B to play with and I can quickly be weened off V8s :clapping: What folks that have never owned rotaries dont know is that they are about as damn thirsty as V8s. A single turbo rotary pounds through the fuel.

 

[Jan Bee]

69 javelin was a screamer at 5.20 in the 1/4
68 hemi dart pictured has no time-i'm sure was quicker than the charger at 13.50 as it was lighter.

 

[caseyjones955]

69 javelin was a screamer at 5.20 in the 1/4
68 hemi dart pictured has no time-i'm sure was quicker than the charger at 13.50 as it was lighter.

Big block A bodied cars are wild, even by todays standards.

 

[one2dmax]

I know the old 70 Chevelle of ours is plenty fun!

 

[rusty]

We bought a 64 GTO with tri power brand new/ I was 14 years old/ Didn't get to drive it till I was 16/ It was fast in those days:biglaugh:

 

[sdt354]

Thanks for that Phillip. What a trip down memory lane. I'm glad I grew up in the muscle car era. It was an exciting time to be a teenager. My 64 impala SS ($400) inspired me to start wrenching. I was in love with Chevy small blocks. But the car was heavy and had no chance against the Mustangs & other light cars. My 68 Charger RT was a dream to drive. And a mover. The amazing thing to me has always been how Ford developed their 289 to such big HP numbers. There was an AC Cobra in my neighborhood with a 289 c.i. engine, and it was just untouchable.
Steve-o

 

[old timer]

Just a thought on that era...those magazine tests were done with showroom stock cars . Once anyone bought one of those cars there was an unspoken ' list ' they followed , most of us anyways , according to what we had for money .

!. Air cleaner
2. Tires ( and wheels if money was avail )
3. Mufflers ( preferably headers )
4. Carburetor
5. Shifter
6. Whatever your wallet allowed...unk:

Ah , the good old days...

 

[Kronx]

I know it's not car of the "muscle car" era, but I couldnt help but think of the ole Vector W8. Such a cool car in its day.

 

[Jan Bee]

I know it's not car of the "muscle car" era, but I couldnt help but think of the ole Vector W8. Such a cool car in its day.

http://www.rmsothebys.com/mo14/monterey/lots/1992-vector-w8-twin-turbo/1067559

 

[Fire-medic]

https://youtu.be/5PEJqi8WgCw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ETPoc2aSbM

http://www.rmsothebys.com/mo14/monterey/lots/1992-vector-w8-twin-turbo/1067559

 

[Traumahawk]

I know it's not car of the "muscle car" era, but I couldnt help but think of the ole Vector W8. Such a cool car in its day.

I remember reading about the W2, during the early 80's and was just WOW'd at its capabilities then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_W2

 

[SpecOps13]

Had a 1970 Olds Cutlass with a 455 CID. 0 TO 60 wasn't great. Cause it smoked the street tires to almost 90. Never put slicks on. Mostly Street Racing.

 

[[email protected]]

Had a 1970 Olds Cutlass with a 455 CID. 0 TO 60 wasn't great. Cause it smoked the street tires to almost 90. Never put slicks on. Mostly Street Racing.

Had a 69 with 455 and TH350. It definitely liked to smoke the tires. Blew the 350 out in short order. Rebuilt it myself then blew it up again. Then I built up a TH400. I was around 19 years old and had no clue what I was doing. I read the ASTM manuals and went to town.

Car was equipped with a F-block, C-heads, 292/292 cam, offenhauser 360, thermoquad 750. Nothing radical but fun.

It just died one night while cruising at 55mph up the freeway. Post mortem analysis indicated a piston shattered and sent shrapnel through the engine which resulted in the cam shearing in half and an oil pan full of chunks.

Bought a complete rebuild kit from Mondello. A friend was enrolled at the School of Automotive Machinists. He used it as a class project. Bored and honed the cylinders, decked the block, align honed the mains, ARP main studs, crank work, oil restrictor kit.... the plan was to mimic a build Joe Mondello did for car craft. 500+ HP, 550+ lb ft of torque.

I got married, moved, and shoved it all in a corner. After a handful of years of doing nothing I gave up and sold my gold mine of Olds artifacts an older guy in his 70's.

We exchanged emails/calls sporadically for a couple years. He was doing a ground up restore. He sent over some photos of it all painted up. New vinyl roof. New interior.. beautiful. He said he was almost done as was going to bring it by someday.

Never heard from him since.
Always wonder what happened to Al and the car

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[caseyjones955]

I had a 70 Torino GT 351 street boss that had some real traction problems.

 

[tothemax93]

Had a 69 with 455 and TH350. It definitely liked to smoke the tires. Blew the 350 out in short order. Rebuilt it myself then blew it up again. Then I built up a TH400. I was around 19 years old and had no clue what I was doing. I read the ASTM manuals and went to town.

Car was equipped with a F-block, C-heads, 292/292 cam, offenhauser 360, thermoquad 750. Nothing radical but fun.

It just died one night while cruising at 55mph up the freeway. Post mortem analysis indicated a piston shattered and sent shrapnel through the engine which resulted in the cam shearing in half and an oil pan full of chunks.

Bought a complete rebuild kit from Mondello. A friend was enrolled at the School of Automotive Machinists. He used it as a class project. Bored and honed the cylinders, decked the block, align honed the mains, ARP main studs, crank work, oil restrictor kit.... the plan was to mimic a build Joe Mondello did for car craft. 500+ HP, 550+ lb ft of torque.

I got married, moved, and shoved it all in a corner. After a handful of years of doing nothing I gave up and sold my gold mine of Olds artifacts an older guy in his 70's.

We exchanged emails/calls sporadically for a couple years. He was doing a ground up restore. He sent over some photos of it all painted up. New vinyl roof. New interior.. beautiful. He said he was almost done as was going to bring it by someday.

Never heard from him since.
Always wonder what happened to Al and the car

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Great story. I had a 69 w-31. had the 350, snorkle holes in the inner fenders for ram air. Snorkles were gone. The I got a 71 442. Had a 455, turbo 400. I can't remember if it had 4:88 or 4:33. It had poor top end, but it got there in a hurry. With 9" slicks it ran a best of 12.64 in the 1/4. 8.24 in the 1/8. I know they are 1972 tail lights. I just liked them better. I sold it 15 yrs ago. Supposedly still around, with a make over.