If you want an iconic movie car you don't have to spend 100K+.....

I was talking with some people the other day about legendary movie cars and I was amazed at how literal and nit-picky these people were. They were lamenting that if you wanted an iconic movie car replica it would cost you 100 grand to buy and or build one. I disagree-you could build almost anything for under 25 or 30 grand-as long as your not trying to copy it down to the nth degree. Here's some of my favorites that could be very easily done. # 1. The "California Kid." Yes, it would cost a mint to hot rod an original '34 like Pete Chapouris' classic. But Factory Five racing offers their '33 Ford Hot Rod kit for $19,995 turn-key with everything except the engine and transmission. You can have the frame and crossmember set up to accept any small-block Chevy or LS engine,or any small-block Ford or Coyote and matching tranny. You could buy a 345 hp SVT 302 crate engine and a B&M or TCI C4 for less than 6 grand. So for 25K you've got a car that runs low 12s or high 11s in the 1/4 ( they only weigh about 2,400 lbs-about 800 less than a Fox Mustang ) handles like a slot car and looks cool as hell. Even if you spent another 5 grand on a black pearl and red,yellow and orange flamed paint job you've still got only 30K in the whole shebang. Or if your a mechanic / bodyman-get the basic kit for $12,995, buy an '83-2004 V8 Mustang and pirate the running gear, suspension and electronics and probably get it done for under 20K. Now that's a bargain. # 2. "Thunder Road" '50 Ford. Again-hunting down and building a for-real '50 Ford Coupe would cost a mint. Check the internet-I can't remember the company name off the top of my head but their still in business. They offered body kits that bolt onto an '89-'97 Ford T-Bird body and look exactly like a '50 Coupe. If you got a '91-95 "5.0" V8 model-or a '96-97 4.6 V8-virtually any speed parts that fit a Mustang fit these cars-you'd have unlimited performance potential. If I remember correctly-I think the kits are $5,995 and I have seen '89 and later T-birds as low as $1999 on used car lots. If you could do the labor yourself, you could build a stompin' '50 replica for like 10 grand. # 3. American Graffiti / Two-Lane Blacktop '55 Chevy. We all know this was the same car with minor body and trim changes for each film. And no-I'm not suggesting you cut up and "Gasserize" an original '55. Hot Rod magazine did an article and so did Street Rodder-there's a company called Woody's Hot Rods-under liscence from GM-that is selling brand-new '55-57 Chevy bodies and chassis. Hot Rod built theirs with a 396 Rat Motor and a 4-speed for 25K. Street Rodder did theirs with a 350 and a TH350 for under 25K. That's what an original '55 that needs another 30 grand worth of resto work would cost!!  Purists might think it blaspehemy-but another guy built one for under 20 with a  straight front axle,radiused rear wheelwells and a stompin' 400 Pontiac / TH400 that he had in his garage out of a wrecked Tempest race car!  It's not original anyway so who cares?  A badass Tri-Five Chevy for under 25 grand?  You can't go wrong.  # 4. Burt Reynolds' "White Lightning" LTD. There's been a lot of debate about these cars. At least one was supposed to be a 429 / 4-speed.  In some scenes they show the Hurst shifter and him shifting it. It others you clearly see him or Jennifer Billingsley operating an automatic column shifter. No matter-nobody's asking a King's Ransom for '71-72 Ford Galaxie or LTD 4-door sedans. Get some black wheels with chrome lug nuts ala'-Super Bee style and white-letter tires. Most will have 351 or 400C motivation which isn't bad. Headers and loud exhausts with glasspacks will give you the sound and an Edelbrock Perfomer intake and matching carb and cam will give you the torque to do smoky burnouts. Paint it Chesterfield Brown and your there. Cheaply. Since Ford didn't offer a manual transmission in these models those of you who "Gotta Have " a 4-speed are in for a rough go. You'd either have to find Mustang / Torino Clutch linkage and pedals or F100 Truck Linkage and pedals and adapt that. Plus you'd have to find the proper bellhousing and Find a T10 or Top-Loader 4-speed and trans and figure out which disc, pressure plate and Throw-Out bearing to use-because Fords are all different-a 351 is going to need different stuff than a 390, which is going to need different stuff than a 429,-see what I'm saying. Finding all the parts and converting it would be expensive and a nightmare. Just live with the C6 or FMX auto and get a Hurst Auto Stick 1 or Mr Gasket or B&M shifter that LOOKS like a 4-speed shifter. You'll be happier and have a lot less grief and more cash in your wallet. # 5. Mad Max / Road Warrior Interceptor. Mel Gibson's Iconic ride was actually an Australian 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe. No I'm not suggesting you have a '73-76 Falcon shipped from Australia. ( Although there is a company called "Aussie Coupes" that will custom-build you one and ship it to America if you have the cash. ) No there's two ways to do this cheaply. Like I said in an earlier post when I first saw the movie I thought it was '71-73 Mustang fastback. After looking closer,-especially at the taillights-I thought it might be a '70-71 Torino.  Either car will be close enough after you de-chrome it and black out the trim. You can graft van flares onto the wheelwells and get some wide black wheels and fat tires and there's several companies on the internet that sell Top-Fuel style "Zoomie" upswept side exhausts. Depending on if you want to look badass-or actually be badass-there's companies that sell fake GMC blowers. Or you could actually put a Weiand blower on your 302 or 351 Ford V8. # 6. "Ramrod" Bronco. This 1981 Cult-Classic "Vice Squad" starred Season Hubly as a Hooker / Police informant trying to help Cop Gary Swanson nail a killer pimp / drug dealer named "RamRod" played with wicked glee by Wings Hauser-who also sang the opening title song- "Neon Slime". Ramrod was a mean MoFo-and he drove a sinister black '78 or '79 Bronco with Center Line wheels, huge tires,loud exhaust and the "Nite" flourescent stripe package that Ford offered back then. He also had a cool spare tire cover on the back that said "Ramrod" in big letters. I thought that was the coolest looking truck when I saw the movie in '81-and It still looks cool on DVD or late-night cable today-34 years later. I know it's technically a truck...But still.....Which brings up  # 7...."Lone Wolf McQuade" Ramcharger. This movie is where CBS got the Idea for "Walker: Texas Ranger"  Chuck Norris was a duh-Texas Ranger who kicked a lot of ass. He also had some cool sex scenes with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model turned actress Barbara Carrera and he drove a wicked, Supercharged '79 Dodge Ramcharger. A Ramcharger with a Roots-Type blower? If it's good enough for Chuck, it's good enough for me.  Any of these cars could be built cheaply and would be way to cool to show off in. Mastermind                        

More BAMF musclecars......

Had some people tell me about a few BAMF musclecars I missed in the last post. I aim to please so here they are.... # 1. 1968-71 Dodge Super Bee. With the cool sunglass and helmet-wearing Bee with smoking tires for an ass graphics,scooped hoods, simple black wheels with chrome lug nuts, and at least 383 cubes under the hood with the 440s and the Hemi optional these stripped-down street fighters were lean and mean. '68-70 models were based on the Coronet body; for '71 only they were based on the Charger. # 2. 1969-70 Cougar Eliminator. Cool hidden headlight styling, Boss 302 style graphics and spoilers and 428 cubes under the hood? I'd say that qualifies. # 3. 1971-73 Mustang Mach 1. With the NACA ducts in the blacked-out hood,front and rear spoilers and fat tires on the swoopy fastback body-these cars still look mean today. When I first saw "Mad Max" and the "Road Warrior"-I thought the Interceptor was one of these. ( It's actually a 1973 Falcon XB coupe-an Australian Ford Musclecar that looks a lot like a Mustang. There's a company called "Aussie Coupes" that will build you a Mad Max interceptor as mild or wild as you like ). Or you could just buy one of these 'Stang's and copy it....Most have 351C motivation and there is a ton of speed equipment still available for these engines. # 4. 1978-79 Dodge Li'l Red Express pickup. With a cool red and gold paint job,fat tires on chrome wheels, and vertical semi-style dual exhaust stacks,and a Police Interceptor 360 V8-these stepside 2WD pickups were the the third-fastest American production vehicle those years-edged out only by the L82 Corvette and WS6 Trans-Am. Dynamite if you can find one. # 5. 1989 20th Anniversary Trans-Am. These cars had a cool white and blue paint job, Recaro seats and the vaunted Turbocharged V6 out of the wicked Buick Grand National. Since the GN motor had more power and was lighter than the LB9 and L98 small-block Chevys-these cars were not only substantially faster than a regular T/A they also handled better-and the cars were nothing less than awesome handlers to start with. These command a King's Ransom-but their worth it. Let me know if I overlooked any others...Mastermind        

The most BAMF musclecars of all time....

I've said before that musclecars are definitely like Jules' wallet from "Pulp Fiction". ( The one that says Bad Mother%*r on it ). However some are way more badass than others. Some for power and handling, some for just sheer audacity, the fact that the engineers had the balls to build them in the first place. Here's my list of the greatest "BAMF's".  #1 1969 Charger Daytona / 1970 Plymouth Superbird. These slope-nosed big rear winged monsters were built specifically to top 200 mph on the big NASCAR tracks and they still look badass 45 years later. And with the mighty 440 Magnum under the hood standard, with the 440 Six-Pack and the 426 Hemi optional they can back up the image. If Darth Vader drove a car-it would be a Superbird. # 2. 1969-70 Boss 302 Mustang. Larry Shinoda's Masterpiece and again-they still look cool 45 years later. And with 11.0:1 comprsssion, a hot solid-lifter cam, Cleveland heads with ports and valves the size of a big-block Chevy,an aluminum intake and a 780 Holley-it only made 290 hp-the same as the "station wagon" 351W that was standard in the Mach 1. Riiiggghhhht. There's a reason they only came with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 or 4.30:1 gears!  Built so Ford could homogolate them for Trans-Am racing-only 1,600 were built in 1969 and a little over 7,000 in 1970 so they command a King's Ransom-but boy are they worth it. If you've ever driven one-or even just Heard One at full wail-you'd agree. # 3. 1970-71 Mercury Cyclone. Another Nascar warrior. Swoopy styling, cool graphics and 351C, 428FE or 429 Thunderjet motivation-you can't go wrong. # 4. 1969-71 GTO Judge. A play on Flip Wilson's "Laugh-in" skit "Here Comes Da Judge"-other than the Carousel Red paint,big rear wing and wild striping-these were nothing to sneeze at. With the Mighty RAIII standard and the vaunted RAIV optional they were'nt a paper tiger-you'd see taillights if you took one lightly and were driving anything but maybe a Hemi 'Cuda or LS6 Chevelle. I know-I had  a 4.33:1 geared, 4-speed RAIII model that smote every challenger in biblical fashion. Only 357 were built in '71,but they had the Mighty 455HO standard. Driving a Judge is like dating a stripper or eating a noisy bag of chips in church. People may frown at you in feigned disgust; but secretly they really,really want some too.  # 5. 1977-79 DKM "Macho T/A". The Mecham brothers took the already wildly popular Trans-Am and gave it a shot of adrenaline. Cool graphics,a re-curved distributor,a re-jetted carb, an opened hood scoop and Hooker Headers with two cats and no mufflers made these cars sound badass. And they were-Hot Rod's "Macho" test car ripped off a 14.29 et-the same day a stocker turned in a 15.20 at the same track. Options included a Chrome Rollbar in the interior, Recaro seats, and even an H/O racing specialties Turbocharger. When performance was in the darkest days-and every manufacturer was shying away-( The Freakin' Mustang II? A six-cylinder powered Hornet based AMX ? The Charger as a re-badged Cordoba?  Really? )  Pontiac, and Herb Adams and the Mecham Brothers gave the "Finger" with both hands to the EPA and the safety Nazis and the pipe-smoking, tweed-cap wearing automotive press that derided solid axles and big V8's.      # 6. Mother Mopar scores again. 1970 Challenger T/A / 'Cuda AAR. With the blacked out scooped hoods,Go-Wing,small front tires / big rear tires, LOUD side-exit exhausts and a snarling 340 Six-Pack under the hood-these cars shout "I'm Sexy and I know it".  "I work out....Look at that Body..."  # 7. Baldwin-Motion MakoShark. Remember the 'Vette Mark Hamill built in "Corvette Summer?"  When everyone else was giving up-Joel Rosen came up with these wildy styled,side-piped, flared fendered, monster tired "Vette's on Steroids. And you could order one with a fire-breathing LS6 or LS7. God, I miss the '70's.  Feel free to send in any I may have missed.  Mastermind        

Why magazines can't always do "Apples to Apples"....

After all the posts about road test ringers I had someone ask why can't the buff magazines always test "Apples to Apples"-i.e. the top option vs the top option of whatever cars their comparing. They try to, but their at the mercy of the manufacturers and what they have in their test fleet. It's been that way since the '60's and it's still that way. For example way back in 1969 Popular Hot Rodding tested a bunch of musclecars. They got a Hemi Charger with a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears. They said it was like running with one flat tire. They went through the traps in second gear and couldn't even break out of the 14s. Now if they'd had a 4-speed and some 4.10 gears it would have really rocked. They also tested a GTO Judge with a 3-speed stick! Really? The scribes bitched and correctly stated-that the car would have been much quicker with either a 4-speed or a TH400. They asked for a Ram Air IV GTO with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears. What did they get? A Ram Air III with a 3 speed and 3.55:1 gears!!  They got an L88 Corvette with a TH400 and 3.36:1 gears, when they asked for one with a 4-speed and 4.56:1 gears. Wonder why the test results weren't truly indicative of what the cars could run?  In 1971 a mag tested an LS6 Corvette against a 455HO Trans-Am. The 'Vette won the drag race easily by 3 or 4 tenths. However-the 'Vette was a 4-speed and had 4.11:1 gears and the T/A was an automatic with 3.08:1 gears. Had the T/A been a 4-speed with the standard 3.73:1 gears-the results would have been different. Or if the 'Vette had been an automatic with 3.08:1 gears it would have been different-the T/A would have won both times. The absolute worst one was a 1973 Motor Trend "Ponycar Comparo" That they declared a Javelin AMX the best peformer over a Chevy Camaro, a Pontiac Firebird, and a Ford Mustang. Except the AMX was a 401 / 4-speed model-the top performance option, and the Camaro wasn't even a Z/28-it was a Type LT with a 165 hp 2bbl 350 and a TH350!! The Firebird wasn't a Trans-Am or even a Formula 400-it was an Esprit with a 2bbl 350 and a slushbox, and the Mustang had a 351 2bbl with 177 hp and an automatic! Now if the Camaro had been a Z/28, the Firebird a Trans-Am or even a Formula 400 and the Mustang a 351CJ-the Javelin would have finished dead last!!  But that's all GM and Ford had available in their test fleets at the time. They did have an addendum on the article-that included test results of the premium models-and they added a 340 'Cuda to the mix as well-and the results were very different. The 340, 4-speed, 3.91:1 geared 'Cuda smote everyone in the drag race except the SD-455 Trans-Am! The Ford guys got the shaft a second time-The Mach 1 supplied this time did have the 266 hp 351CJ engine-but it had an automatic and 3.00:1 gears! If it had been a 4-speed with either 3.50:1 or 3.91:1 gears-which were options-it might have beaten the 'Cuda and givcn the T/A a run for the money. This still happens. As late as 2011 a magazine tested a Camaro SS, a Mustang Boss 302 and a Dodge Challenger R/T. The Dodge Boys got screwed. The Camaro had 426 hp, the Mustang had 444 and the Challenger 370. Why? Because a 425 hp SRT8 Challenger wasn't available at the time. Not that the results would have been totally different-the Boss 302 still would have won-but it would have been a lot closer because in addition to the extra hp-the SRT8 package included better tires and Brembo brakes. What you have to do as readers is gather the data and decide for yourself and take into account things like different gear ratios etc. For example-the supercharged 662 hp GT500 Mustang is only a couple tenths quicker in the 1/4 than the 435 hp base model GT. The reason-it smokes the tires all the way down the track. The car is literally doing about 90 mph when the wheelspin stops. Here's the catch 22-if you put drag radials on the GT500-the times would drop dramatically. But then you'd lose the world-class cornering of the street tires. That's where the old term "Buyer Beware" came from. Anyhow-don't be too hard on the magazine guys-their doing the best they can with what their given. Mastermind      

Even more road test ringers....

This subject has sparked a lot of interest so here's some more Road Test Ringers.  #1. 1979 Z/28 Camaro. In the late '70's the Mecham Brothers had great success marketing the "Macho T/A". In addition to cool graphics and some suspension tweaking they also had Hooker Headers and real dual exhaust ( with two catalytic converters instead of one ) a re-jetted carb and a re-curved HEI distributor and the "Shaker" hood scoop opened up. These mods were said to add 50-70 hp. Hot Rod's July 1978 Macho T/A test car ripped off a blistering 14.29 e.t. Nearly a full second quicker than the 15.20 ran by a stocker on the same day at the same track.  Anyhow nearly a year later Popular Hot Rodding had on the cover a blurb about their new Z/28 test car that ran "low 14s" right off the showroom floor. It was right off the showroon floor-of Mecham Chevrolet-Pontiac in Glendale, Arizona-the home of the "Macho T/A." The Mecham brothers had decided after the phenomenal success of the "Macho T/A" ( they were selling 300 cars a year and couldn't keep up with demand mainly because of the positive reviews from the buff magazines ) that maybe they could do the same thing with a Z/28. So this Z/28 had the full "Macho" treatment-Hooker Headers and dual cats with no mufflers, just resonators,a custom-jetted Q-Jet and a re-curved HEI distributor and an opened hood scoop. It was a "Macho Z" prototype.  Predictably it ran a string of  14.3's-substantially quicker than Car Crafts bone-stock tester which ran a 15.21 and Car and Drivers which ran a 15.60. For whatever reasons-Chevy dealers weren't as interested in selling hotted-up Cars as Pontiac was-and this was the one and only "Macho Z" know to exist. But it wasn't a stock test car!!!  # 2. 1987 Buick Grand National. High Performance Cars magazine had a drag race between a new Grand National and a 1970 LS6 Chevelle. The LS6 won the "shootout" running a 13.49 and a 13.61 vs the GN's 13.85 and 13.90. Huh?  Back in the day-Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motor Trend, Hot Rod, everyone tested '86-87 GN's and most of them ran 14.30's. Which back then was blisteringly fast-L98, 4-speed 'Vettes were running about 14.60-and LB9 Z/28's and "5.0" Mustangs were running low 15's. So how did these guys run 13.85?  Well, first they decided that since GN's were tire fryers-and since the Chevelle had drag radials on it-in the interest of "fairness" the 215/65R15 Goodyear Radials that came stock were swapped for some 235/60R15 M&H Drag Radials. And the tank was filled with 100 octane unleaded racing gas ( Which-duh-on a Turbo'd, intercooled engine with a knock sensor that backs up the timing when itn senses detonation-would certainly run way better than 87 or 91 octane pump gas! ) And the owner of the car had installed a 160 degree thermostat instead of the stock 195 and installed a fan switch that kicked the fan on at 185 degrees instead of 220. He had obviously figured out the car ran much faster when cold than hot. Oh, and they put wet towels on the intake manifold between runs.  Think that might make a wee bit of difference over one running street radials,at 220 degrees on 87 octane gas?  Yeah!!! About 4 or 5 tenths in the 1/4!!!  But that kind of pushes the envelope on "Stock" I'd say. Wouldn't you?  Which Brings up....# 3. 1989 "5.0" Mustang. I said in an earlier post that most stock '87-93 Mustangs ran between 14.72 and 15.29 in 1/4 mile testing by various buff magazines. So how did Car Craft run a blistering 14.05 with their stock "5.0" test car? It was stock....except for the 225/60R15 Goodyear Gatorback radials being swapped for some 235/60R15 M&H Drag tires,the 2.73 axle ratio being swapped for some 3.55:1's, a K&N airbox and filter being added and a Flowmaster "Cat-Back" exhaust sytem. I mean if your going to nit-pick..... # 4. 1992 Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4. This one rivals the Royal Pontiac '64 GTO for sheer balls in cheating. Mitsubishi advertised their twin-turbo, all-wheel-drive sports car as running a blistering 13.75 in the 1/4 mile "under controlled conditions with a professional driver".  Since showroom examples and test mules tested by the magazines were running mid-14's you may wonder how this was accomplished.  The "Contolled Conditions" were these-they filled the tank with 100 octane racing gas, disconnected the knock sensor,disconnected the rev limiter,and lowered tire pressure to 15 psi. Then the "professional driver" popped the clutch at 6,200 rpm and powershifted at 7,000 ( 500 rpm over the redline on the tach ). This gave them the quick time-and blew the $5,769 transaxle after three runs.  Gee, I wonder why my neighbor who had one and waved that ad in my face and was running pump gas and 35 psi in his tires,with all the electronic nannies enabled, and tried to launch about 3 grand, couldn't outrun my Hurst / Olds from a light?  Needless to say he was more shocked than I was...... Mastermind        

Still more editorial favoritism.......

Had a reader respond to the last post about another magazine blatantly favoring one car over another. The magazine was Musclecar Review and the test was Cobra vs L88. They located two guys-one who had a for-real, documented 427 Shelby Cobra and another who had a documented L88 Corvette, and they were willing to drag race them and show once and for all who was really "King Kong."  Initially both cars ran very low 13s and very high 12s depending on whether they spun the tires halfway down the track or all the way down the track. The problem was the street tires. Both cars then were equipped with drag radials. With decent traction the Cobra's time dropped into the 12.30-12.40 range. The L88 ripped off a string of 12.0's and the best was a blistering 11.88 at 121 mph!!  Then they decided to run heads up two out of three, winner take all. The L88 won the first run. On the second run the Cobra broke an axle shaft and the Corvette's clutch let go. They decided to meet again at a later date after both cars were fixed. At the second meeting, the Corvette driver had trouble with the new clutch. He couldn't make the car launch properly either slipping it or dropping it. He still ran a 12.47 which was barely beaten by the Cobra's 12.41. The second round-same thing the 'Vette ran a 12.50 and the Cobra ran a 12.39. So the magazine writers declared the Cobra the winner and still undisputed heavyweight champion....Huh?  What about the first time when they ran both cars about ten times in practice runs and 10 out of 10 times the 'Vette was at least 4 tenths quicker-which in a drag race is 4 car lengths!!!???  How about a third meeting after letting the 'Vette guys resolve their clutch issues?  Like the reader said-he's reminded of what Jimmy Stewart told the reporter in the "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".  "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."  People get caught up in this and will not listen to reason. A while back someone sent me a profanity-laced email saying I was a bald-faced liar because I said my RAIII '69 Judge had beaten my buddy's 440 Six-Pack Super Bee in a drag race and that my '73 Hurst / Olds "didn't have to take crap from little boys in "5.0" Mutangs.  Let me give you some details. My buddys Super Bee was bone-stock with a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears and G70-15 street tires. My GTO was a 4-speed and had 4.33:1 gears and N50-15 Mickey Thompson "Hot-n-Sticky" drag tires. Those things alone would give me the win, However-my car also had Hooker Headers, a hotter than stock Crane Cam, and an Offenhauser dual-quad intake with two Afbs's on it.  So yeah-I was lying when I said my pumped-up,4-speed, 4.33:1 geared GTO walked away from a bone-stock, automatic, 3.23:1 geared Super Bee. Damn! You caught me. As Wayne and Garth used to say "NOT!!!!"  As for the H / O, there were no road tests available for a '73 Hurst / Olds but I did find two on 1973 442's with the 455 / TH400 powertrain. High Performance cars ran a 14.65 in the 1/4 and Car Craft ran a 14.90. Now we all agree that the '87-93 Fuel Injected "5.0's" are the quickest ones. In researching road tests of various stock "5.0" models by various mags-Hot Rod was the quickest with a 14.72 and Motor Trend the slowest with a 15.29. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to do that math. Hmm...One car runs between 15.29 and 14.72,and the other runs between 14.90 and 14.65...Gee,which one is faster?  Before you start spewing hatred on someone because they said Car A beat Car B, make sure you have all the facts.  Mastermind              

60's and '70's Road Test Ringers re-visited......

Had some people ask about other magazine test gaffes or favoritism after the last posts. I've touched on them before, but I aim to please so here's my list of the biggest offenders. # 1. After more than 40 years Jim Wangers finally admitted what we all knew. Car and Driver's May 1964 GTO test car that ran a blistering 4.6 second 0-60 and a 13.1 second 1/4 mile time was a ringer. Royal Pontiac had pulled the 389 and replaced it with a hopped up 421. In addition to the extra cubes-the ringer had thin head gaskets to raise compression, rocker arm lock nuts and loosely adjusted valves to get another 500 rpm on the top,mechanical throttle linkage on the Tri-Power instead of the stock vacuum unit, the carbs were jetted richer and the distributor was re-curved for maximum performance. Showroom versions only ran in the low 14s-but man did that article sell a lot of cars-32,450 in the short '64 sales year-and another 75,000 in '65 and 96,000 in '66. GTO fever was so hot-That Chevrolet-with a dealer network twice the size of Pontiac's-could only sell 77,000 SS396 Chevelles that year.  # 2. 1969 440+6 Road Runner "Prototype". Car Life tested a "Prototype" 440 Six-Pak Road Runner that ran a string of very low 13 and very high 12 second e.t.s  Chrysler even used it in their ads. However the "Prototype" had been "Brought to the top of Specifications"-i.e. Blueprinted-and the carbs custom-jetted and the distributor custom-curved. And the car had 4.30 gears and slicks, and a pinion snubber. And the "Professional Driver" was Pro Stock Drag Racing Champion Ronnie Sox of  "Sox&Martin" fame. Small wonder that production examples were more than 1/2 a second slower!  # 3. 1973 SD-455 Trans-Am. This "Prototype" ran a blistering 13.75 for Car And Driver and and an even quicker 13.54 for Hot Rod. If you look at the pictures closely-you can see it's the same car-down to the Michigan liscence number!  The reasons I say it's a ringer are because the SD-455 wasn't released until April 1973 and this is why only 295 were built-252 in T/A's and another 43 in Formulas all with May or June production dates. The road tests were published in the May and June issues, but the actual tests were done in January. The car is a ringer because it had a 1972 aluminum RAIV / 455HO intake on it. Production SD-455s had an Iron Intake with an EGR valve on it. Part of the delay problem in getting the engine EPA certified was EGR valve function. Also-the prototype had the hot RAIV cam-which had 308 / 320 duration and .470 lift. ( With 1.5 rockers; RAIV's had .520 with 1.65 rockers ). It had trouble passing smog with this cam which was swapped for the much milder RAIII cam which had 301 / 313 duration and only .414 lift. Horsepower was down-rated from 310 to 290. This is why production examples could only run 14.30's. # 4. 1973 Olds 442. Motor Trend had a 1973 "Performance Car Preview". At this test a silver and red Cutlass 442 blew the doors off all comers which included an SD-455 Trans-Am, a 454 Corvette, a 440 Charger, a 401 / 4-speed Javelin AMX and a 351CJ Mustang Mach 1.  Olds engineers later admitted that the 455 in the car had the ultra-hot 328 duration "W30" cam, and the TH400 trans had a 2,800 rpm stall torque converter and a Hurst Shift kit installed, and the stock 2.73:1 gearing had been swapped for 3.42:1's! Production examples had none of those things.  Think that made a difference?  # 5. 1978 Dodge Li'l Red Express Pickup. In November 1977 Car and Driver had a "Double the Double Nickel" test-all cars which ran faster than 110 mph. The half-ton 2WD 360 V8 Dodge Pickup blew the doors off both an L82-4-speed Corvette and a WS6, W72 Trans-Am. How? This "Prototype" had Catalyst-free real dual exhausts, Nascar-style "W2" cylinder heads,the hot cam out of the legendary 340 "Six-Pack", an aluminum Holley "Street Dominator" intake manifold and a Holley 650 "Double-Pumper" carb. No surprise that production examples with stock heads,stock cam,and an Iron intake with a Carter Thermo-Quad were substantially slower!!.  It was all done in good fun and the interest of selling cars......Mastermind          

More skewed magazine results.....

Had some people ask about other magazine tests I didn't like besides the "Bandit vs General Lee."  It's not a matter of liking or not liking the results, it's a matter of objectivity. The numbers don't lie. So how is it that the car with best performance numbers doesn't win?  Because the magazine writers vote for their favorites no matter what. Car and Driver loves German cars. Anytime there's a comparo between American, Japanese, and German cars they always call the BMW, Mercedes, or Audi the winner. Even if the numbers don't bear this out. The worst was the article called "America's M3".  A base model Mustang GT which had 412 hp and cost $32,000 ran a faster lap time around Willow Springs Raceway than a $64,000 414 hp BMW M3. The 0-60 and 1/4 mile times were within 1/10 of a second and the braking distance was within 10 feet. Basically-the Mustang was equal to or better than the Bimmer in every performance category and cost half as much, yet they rated the BMW # 1!!!  Ditto for a "Supercar Shootout". Even though a Nissan GTR blew the doors off an Audi R8, a Corvette Z06, and a Porsche 911 Turbo in almost every category-the 911 had the shortest braking distance-they declared the R8 the winner. Car Craft was so bad that angry readers wrote in and said they should change the name to "Chevy Craft". For the same reason-they declared a Chevy the winner every time. In the early 90's they tested a '92 Mustang GT against a '92 Z/28. Even though the Mustang had a quicker 1/4 mile time, a higher top speed, and cost 3 grand less, they declared the Camaro the winner.  Their worst one was a "Crate Motor Shootout" a few years ago. They put up a 345 hp ZZ3 350 crate engine in a '69 Camaro with a 4-speed  against a 345 hp 302 Ford SVO crate engine in an '84 Mustang GT and a 360 hp Mopar Performance 360 in a Duster. The Duster blew the doors off both of them in the 1/4. The Mustang was the second fastest and the Camaro last. Not that the Camaro was slow-it ran something like a 12.85-but the Mustang ran a 12.47 and the Duster ran a blistering 12.11. They derided the Duster because it had a choppy idle!!!  Gee, guys a cam with .513 lift and 284 duration will do that! And were we not testing "Apples to Apples-that's why the hp ratings were so close-Ford offered a 351 with 385 hp and a 351-based 392 stroker with 450. Chevy offered a 383 with 425 hp and Mopar offered a 408 inch 360 based stroker with over 400. They were trying to keep it as fair and even as possible. Mopar guys had a right to be pissed. The Mustang was a gutted race car that weighed only 2,800 lbs and the Camaro had a 4-speed and 4.11:1 gears. The Duster had a Torqueflite and 3.55:1 gears and a full interior. And it still prevailed. Yet the CC writers all 3 said they liked the Camaro best. Like it all you want-but it was not the winner of this shootout!!!  Anyhow we all wish they'd be more objective. Like whatever cars you want-but when it gets beaten fair and square take it like a man, not like a kid with "Calvin" pissing on a Ford or Chevy emblem!!  Just had to vent that. Mastermind

General Lee vs the Bandit? How does that math work?

A while back I commented on a compact sport sedan comparo that was in Motor Trend or Car and Driver-I forget which. But I remember it because it pissed me off so badly. They compared a Subaru WRX,a VW Golf GTI, an SVT Ford Focus and a Honda Civic SI. The Subaru was the fastest 0-60, the fastest in the 1/4 mile,had the shortest stopping distance from 70 mph,and had the highest numbers on the skidpad, and the lowest price!  Yet they declared the VW the winner. Huh?  Why? Because it had more cupholders?  How in the hell, in a performance comparison does the car that won every single performance test finish second? Well, one of the buff mags has done it again. This one was the Bandit vs the General Lee. For those of you that have lived in a cave for the last 38 years the "Bandit" is a black '77 Trans-Am driven by Burt Reynolds in the classic car chase / comedy "Smokey and the Bandit" which out grossed everything but "Star Wars" back in '77. The General Lee is an Orange '69 Dodge Charger with a Confederate flag on the roof driven by John Schneider and Tom Wopat in the campy TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard".  ( There was also an awful movie with Johhny Knoxville and Sean William Scott, but real fans always think of the TV show. ) Anyhow they found a couple guys one with a Charger done up like General Lee and another with a well preserved Black and gold SE T/A and did the usual performance tests. With catalyst-free exhaust and 440 cubes it's a no-brainer to say that the Charger was quicker in a drag race than the smog-choked 400 inch Trans-Am. However-in every other performance category the "Bandit" stomped "The General". It had a way shorter 70-0 stopping distance,and the gap got larger as they tested because the Chargers 4-wheel drums faded badly and the T/A's front disc / rear drums didn't. The T/A smoked the Charger on the skidpad-staying remarkably composed and registering a blistering .82g while the Charger wallowed around like the Titanic and scored a dismal .67g-about the same as what an F250 Ford truck scores!!  In the slalom and a race up a curvy country road the Pontiac again left the Dodge in the dust because it cornered way better and braked way better, and the seats kept the driver firmly planted behind the wheel. The Charger driver complained that the flat smooth seats had him sliding out from behind the wheel during hard cornering so badly that he had to hang onto the door strap in left turns and hang onto the shifter for dear life in right turns. One of the writers pointed out that it would be pretty easy to add Horsepower to the Pontiac which would really make it an ass-whippin'. The other guy said-wrongly-that if the Charger had factory disc brakes it would have fared better. I say wrongly because in checking old magazine road tests a '77 T/A stopped from 60 mph in 144 feet, while a disc-braked '69 Charger took 207 feet. The Mopar fans said that you could by sway bars and subframe connectors and different springs and shocks to make the Charger a g-machine. That's true but if your comparing "Apples to Apples"-theirs tons of upgraded suspension parts for '70's Camaros and Firebirds as well. Either bone-stock or modified-like it or not-a '70's T/A is a much better performance car than a '60's Charger. That's simply because suspension and tire technology made huge advances in the intervening years. A 2015 Mustang GT will smoke a 1969 428 CJ in every performance category. 45 years of technology advances will do that!!  Anyway-even though the T/A bested the Charger in every single category except the drag race, these guys voted the Charger the winner. Really??  How does that math work?  I'd love to have a 1967 427 Stingray. But a 2015 Corvette will run off and leave it in any performance category.  Go ahead and love the old one-but don't say it's a better performer-the numbers don't lie!!  Anyhow, I just had to vent that.  Mastermind