Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
......The fact that many muscle cars could run 13s on skinny, stock tires was a feat in itself.
I agree! Along that line, are you aware of the F.A.S.T. (factory appearing, stock tire) drag racing? Those folks are getting those former 13 second cars down into the mid-10 second range, on "repo" G60-15s!!
Correct the T bird never came in a FWD, the retro 2 seat T Bird was made at Fords Lincoln assembly plant in Wixom Michigan. The olds tornado, and the and the Cadillac Eldorado were all big FWD luxury vehicles that came out in 1967, the Buick Rivera came out in 1963. The engine was a longitudinal design back then not a transverse like today’s FWD vehicles.
But the Riv was not FWD until '79, when it became just another E-body clone, along side the Toronado and Eldorado.
It was the first FWD "Buick", and laid the groundwork for Buick's eventual demise.
The first car I bought right out of college and had my first job was a leftover new '73 Luxury Lemans 4 door with skirts. Metallic green with white top. A pretty car. It had a 400 V8 4 barrel and could go around anything but the gas station. Unfortunately the gas crisis hit about 2 months after I bought it. I learned to "feather " the gas pedal and if lucky, I could get around 12 mpg around town. The best I did on the highway was 18 mpg. My brother drove it around the hills of San Diego and got 8 mpg! I wasn't too happy especially with high gas prices there. I will say that the car was reliable and held up . I kept it until '85 when traded it for a new Camry.
I agree! Along that line, are you aware of the F.A.S.T. (factory appearing, stock tire) drag racing? Those folks are getting those former 13 second cars down into the mid-10 second range, on "repo" G60-15s!!
Yes, good point. In most cases, what prevented those muscle cars from running 12s or better was not the lack of power but more like the lack of traction.
This is an old thread created by rlrl, a poster we haven't heard from in over 4 years. But I remember him as a good guy who did a lot of posting about 60s and 70s classic cars, creating threads like this one.
In some of his last posts, he mentioned his cancer treatments. And that, added to the fact that he last posted in November 2015, makes me fear the worst. Does anyone happen to know any more about his status and how he doing? I pray that he's ok and doing well.
This is an old thread created by rlrl, a poster we haven't heard from in over 4 years. But I remember him as a good guy who did a lot of posting about 60s and 70s classic cars, creating threads like this one.
In some of his last posts, he mentioned his cancer treatments. And that, added to the fact that he last posted in November 2015, makes me fear the worst. Does anyone happen to know any more about his status and how he doing? I pray that he's ok and doing well.
I didn't think of that. I do remember his postings a few years ago. Hope is doing okay.
I agree! Along that line, are you aware of the F.A.S.T. (factory appearing, stock tire) drag racing? Those folks are getting those former 13 second cars down into the mid-10 second range, on "repo" G60-15s!!
That's interesting, they must have figured how to get fantastic weight transfer. I know that guys like this will do minuscule changes both to the chassis and engine and over time these refinements add up.
That's interesting, they must have figured how to get fantastic weight transfer. I know that guys like this will do minuscule changes both to the chassis and engine and over time these refinements add up.
Although I'm a bigger fan of oval track racing, I do pay some attention to the drag races, since they DO involve cars, and from what I've picked up, the key word in F.A.S.T. is "appearing". I know it sounds contradictory, but those guys are getting even more power out of the engines, today, given the allowable modifications, but as you mentioned, weight transfer and traction are the keys to those great performance numbers.
My '71 Charger (with the small 318 V-8) got 13-14 mpg in local driving, and it maxed-out at 17 mpg on a long highway drive. Because of the gas shortage that we had experienced, I decided that I wanted a more economical car to replace my mechanically-perfect Charger.
I wound-up buying a '74 Volvo that turned out to be the worst POS that I ever owned, and this "more economical" car only yielded ~16-17 mpg in local driving, and ~24 mpg on long highway drives. The ongoing electrical/electronic and mechanical problems of that awful Volvo made the small increase in fuel efficiency... insignificant.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
