Old cars that kick new car and FI a$$

Jaydee · 01-16-2001, 03:26 PM

MercDude - I take it that you don't really believe what you read when your looking at the times posted in various mags for the new stangs, camaros etc. Well your probably right. Its an old trick by the auto manufacturers to "enhance" the performance of the cars they release to the magazines for testing. In the old days, "stock" cars were given to magazines with increased cubic inches, bumped compression and blue printed motors were common occurances in the game. Pontiac slipping in warmed over 421's into otherwise stock GTO's back in 1964 for the infamous Car and Driver Pontiac GTO Vs Ferrari GTO comparison test is probabbly the most famous case of this. It is not beyond the imagination that some of this slight of hand would still occur today. The ultimate truth in performance however can be found at your local drag strip. I frequent both E-Town in N.J and Lebanon Valley in N.Y. and routinely see stock LS1 camaro's run consistiant low to mid 13's and high 12's with minor bolt on's as well as 5.0's and mod motor cars running anywhere from 10's to 14's depending on their level of mods. I became a believer when my 87 5.0 ran 14.4's bone stock with 2.73 gears while spinning the tires badly and 13.8's with simple bolt on's, 3.55's and a slipping clutch. Believe me, I love the old iron, I grew up with it, owned it (still do), modified it and beat the **** out of it and I plan to have my old HiPo until they stick me in the ground. But I firmly believe that there has never been an easier breed of car to modify to run hard than a late model stang or LS1. It is not hard to create a throughly streetable car capable of running in the 11 or 12 second zone that will still get you home at 20+ mpg with the a/c on.

01-16-2001, 03:26 PM	#28
Jaydee Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Conn. Posts: 220	MercDude - I take it that you don't really believe what you read when your looking at the times posted in various mags for the new stangs, camaros etc. Well your probably right. Its an old trick by the auto manufacturers to "enhance" the performance of the cars they release to the magazines for testing. In the old days, "stock" cars were given to magazines with increased cubic inches, bumped compression and blue printed motors were common occurances in the game. Pontiac slipping in warmed over 421's into otherwise stock GTO's back in 1964 for the infamous Car and Driver Pontiac GTO Vs Ferrari GTO comparison test is probabbly the most famous case of this. It is not beyond the imagination that some of this slight of hand would still occur today. The ultimate truth in performance however can be found at your local drag strip. I frequent both E-Town in N.J and Lebanon Valley in N.Y. and routinely see stock LS1 camaro's run consistiant low to mid 13's and high 12's with minor bolt on's as well as 5.0's and mod motor cars running anywhere from 10's to 14's depending on their level of mods. I became a believer when my 87 5.0 ran 14.4's bone stock with 2.73 gears while spinning the tires badly and 13.8's with simple bolt on's, 3.55's and a slipping clutch. Believe me, I love the old iron, I grew up with it, owned it (still do), modified it and beat the **** out of it and I plan to have my old HiPo until they stick me in the ground. But I firmly believe that there has never been an easier breed of car to modify to run hard than a late model stang or LS1. It is not hard to create a throughly streetable car capable of running in the 11 or 12 second zone that will still get you home at 20+ mpg with the a/c on.