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Muscle car?You don't know the meaning
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 Muscle car?You don't know the meaningMy best friends were "motor heads" and I hung around many speed shops..the kind you will not find anymore.Went to the drags a thousand times and entered many cars in the drags. I owned mainly Dodge,not Ford and then many Chevy's from Camaros to Corvettes. My 71 Camaro was a Balwin Motion Camaro,454 engine,custom from the factory including cheater slicks.Quarter mile time:10.5 seconds.Fast,right?Yes...enough to beat everyone on the street.The ring and pinion was also low,about 410 or around that.But I am not finished yet! My 1970 dodge challenger had a custom 528 CI crate motor engine in it(no,not 426 CI a 528!!) engine that was later modified with everything from a Supercharger to Nitros Oxide canisters,fiberglass quarter panels,fiberglass hood(to lighten the weight).High rise intake,racing cam,Jans pistons creating over 13/1 compression,An aluminum Winters quick change rear with fast changing ring/pinion gears for longer drag distances(optional)and many more goodies,down to the 10mm solid core spark plug wires!Headers were usually full open when I took my monster out on the street...late at night!Slick tires...of course!Suspension was a modifed sliding ladder bar suspension of types for next to zero spin on launch!Those who call "burning out"the tires for show with smoke and all...do NOT know what they are talking about! For THAT "show"will only slow you down as you sit there for a second or two,while I have already launched my car perfectly to the quarter mile marker!!! The end result? 8.87 seconds in the quarter mile!Now that is just bit slower(fractions of a second)than the fastest street car on earth for quarter mile times... The Pininfarina Battista that shows an 8.55 seconds in the quarter mile. So,all this chat about Ford mustangs or perhaps the new 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon that is indeed fast and would put any Mustang to shame....8.91 seconds in the quarter mile,is reality.Yes...but at a cost out of the pocket books of most. Why did I not buy a Mustang?Well I could NOT because of the "kill stickers"I had on the side front quarter panel of my Challenger!It had vinyl pictures of several Mustangs with X's through them!!!Meaning that they were killed like notches of a gun and proudly shown on the side of my car!!!A few times I caught up to two Mustangs racing like the one time....one Mustang had a 351 Cleveland engine and the other one...a 429ci.I passed BOTH of them in the emergency lane of the highway like they were standing still! When I mentioned above about my Challenger reaching 8.87 seconds quarter mile times... that was confirmed many times at the drag strip and I have the slips to prove it.Dyno reached ABOVE the new 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon which is rated at 1025 HP.My Challenger was,with all the goodies activated...reaching in excess of 2,000 HP!!Now,depending upon the temperature outside,the wear on the tires and a few other things,like being low on the Nitros...I did not always consistently get an 8.87 seconds/quarter mile.Some days it was a 9 seconds which made me mad.But for the street?No one could beat me.And that 2023 SRT was not born yet,until decades later!Yes...I was the King!The nickname on the side of my car was:"Bad News". And back in those days,it my total package cost was about 20,000 dollars,excluding the cost of the car when I purchased it. Was the car street legal?Actually No.Did it pass emissions....No. Did I still manage to get inspection and emission stickers on the windshield? Yes! But the guy who placed them on illegally(back in the day) asked me to please arrive without open headers and that he will close the garage doors to all. Mustangs?Ha...No!I use to eat them for a snack!!! Plus,in my opinion the Chargers and Challengers looked more evil and dangerous with that front end looking like the jaws of a shark!! So,you had a fast car years ago?Well,you never met ME in the street!!Lucky you did not! My last race against a 1970 GTX,also had nitros and other goodies.I let him actually get the hole shot on me BEFORE I even stepped on the gas pedal!So,I let him get about 3 car lenghs in front of me!As I passed him in about 4 seconds,I looked in my rear view mirror and seen him throw his cap down on his floor quite violently!!!! So you know muscle cars you think? Think again. |
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Do I have those cars anymore?No,but just rekindling some thoughts. Now,I have a new Corvette,fast by many of todays standards.But not fast enough for my monster years ago!!I also own a 1985 Mercedes convertible exactly like the time signature YouTube mark(3.39)in one of Sandra's music video's.Same color as well.Slow as a turtle waddling around in thick pancake syrup!But I had to have it!Its a car that I cherish.After I seen her drive that Mercedes,I had to have one. www.youtube.com 1985 You And I. Her Mercedes at time signature 3.39 |
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euro_pop_legend 01-Jun-23, 13:25 |
Deleted by euro_pop_legend on 01-Jun-23, 13:31.
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Many cars on the road are actually "pro comp"cars for the serious road racers.A funny car will need special fuel or alcohol,so that is out.But a Pro comp car can "slide by"and be well,kind of street legal,at least in some states of the USA! I am not up on all the costs anymore of building a motor,boring it out(the engine for larger CI),blueprinting it and more.But I DO KNOW that within reason,an ultra fast car can be built without fancy rockets or a V-12 engine and still reach the 1/4 mile in 6 or 7 seconds at speeds near 200mph.And at what cost?Much,MUCH less than the cost of a Lambo or fancy rocket car! And if one of those fancy cars that cost 600,000 or a Rocket needs to be repaired...good luck, and be prepared to max out 12 credit cards to pay for the issues that WILL appear. In the good old days,there were rocket rail cars and more.That was fun to watch as they reached the 1/4 in about 4 seconds.But to the average "Joe"like you and I,having or building a car that can do 9 or 10 seconds in the 1/4 mile and still be a "family car" is really what counts!My guess,after just being on the phone to my old racing friend...was about 25,000,you can build a monster,that is,IF you have the car already like an old Nova,Challenger,Charger,Mustang and even a Pinto!Won't be the fancy looking lambo,but the insurance will be MUCH MORE affortable.Many people do not even know that if you purchase a Lambo or Ferrari,especially overseas(where most of them are outside the USA)that modifications to the engine and emmisions have to be done beforehand in order to make them street legal in most USA states!What that boils down to is:Less overall HP rating and less performance! Save your $$! Buy an old rusty Camaro ZL1 from 1969,unless you can afford the 2017 ZL1,add some paint,take off some weight,add in about 20 grand to the engine and suspension,change the rear gears,add in a blower or twin turbo chargers(I used the twin T years ago)and your monster will be complete.You do not need to go 200MPH and then kill yourself on some highway in the midwest of the USA!Much less $$ and twice the fun without killing your pocketbook on rocket cars or exotic euro cars. What do I know?Well,its been years,but I was a very serious road racer and spent thousands of dollars to be the fastest,at least in my regional area.I met many road racing engineers that told me much. |
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euro_pop_legend 01-Jun-23, 14:28 |
Deleted by euro_pop_legend on 01-Jun-23, 14:31.
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euro_pop_legend 01-Jun-23, 14:31 |
Deleted by euro_pop_legend on 01-Jun-23, 14:35.
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0-60 in 3 or 4 seconds?Well...so what? One of my old Chargers from 1971 had a STOCK 440 Magnum engine in it.Very fast,very quick,but the weight was a bit of a negative.I raced many cars with that respected gem of mine!It had a book HP rating of ONLY 375 back then.But those HP numbers were not as accurate as you may think.Two notable races of mind were against against a 1970 Mustang with a 351 Cleveland engine and another race the following week with a 1970 Dodge Demon with a 340 Magnum engine in it.The Demon was rated at 275HP a hundred HP less than me.But with his headers and a few ignition tricks,I remember him bringing it up to about 300HP.Still,his weight of the car and other things gave me a challenge...briefly!!!! So,lets pick on the Demon for now.The Demon was a lighter car,had some modifications done to the engine(nothing major,just a larger carb,better wires,better ignition coil,headers,ect.) and had a faster 0-60 MPH time than me!But I beat him 3 times at 3 different locations in Pa!Full quarter mile race! And my car was much heavier and totally 100% stock.So,was it just a bit more HP,or "something else"?He should have beat me,with all that ligher car of his! Its called"Torque"!!! As the race progressed out of "the hole",the Demon got about 2 to 3 car car lengths ahead of me.But when my trans and torque took over(which is the trademark of a 440 magnum engine), I began to pass him fairly quickly!So,while his 0-60 time was faster than mine,he STILL lost the race...and 3 times!!!!If I was using my other Charger with a modified engine and a 410 rear instead of a 323 ring and pinion(stock),that 3 car lead he had on me out of the hole would have never came about. Now...my 70 dodge Challenger I mentioned above,with a stall speed converter and many more "goody's" was many times used AGAINST motorcycles!!!If you think that a crotch-rocket is fast (and they are!),not everyone of them was going to beat my Challenger in the 1/4 mile!Sure...they launched on me,but usually could not keep up that pace of theirs by the time I went those lovely 1/4 mile distances.After a while,even the cycle drivers stayed clear of me. Just a note on those who brag up those fast 0-60 times! 0 to 60 achieved in just a few seconds is one thing.But "maintaining"that edge all the way down the street or track is another thing!!!My "torque"made a "dork"out of many a road racer! |
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0-60 fast times are one thing... but 60 -140 MPH is another thing! That is where many street racers lose it!!!Its the midrange RPM and torque,not as much the 0-60 that actually counts more!That is where the smart engine builders will look at your engine,its car weight,torque and HP rating,rear gears.solid lifters vs hydraulic lifters and more.Many recommend a high end mid range cam over a higher end cam designed for the speed ranges of over 100mph. It depends upon the engine and car....and even the driver. I never used a stick shift!!!I never needed it!How about that!? Only a 3 speed automatic "T shifter" with a shift kit and a stall speed converter!!!Still had to shift the gears manually with the stall speed converter installed but that actually gave me an advantage!How?Many of those guys shifting gears were not perfect.They might have missed a gear,redlined too far and many other factors...that cost them the race against me.My tach was "preset"(depending upon the race situation)to shine a quick read light at the appropriate shift points in 1st,2nd and 3rd gear.I did NOT need 4 or 5 gears to beat the pants off of 99% of them!And a Dodge transmission with a 727 torqueflite was one of the strongest trans on the market back then...even more than BOTH Chevy and Ford!!Well.that was in the 1970's.As to the junk they build today and because you cannot even work on your car anymore with all that computer stuff that todays cars offer,then the story changes.I am from the "old school"and glad that I am!!! |
