Mecum H/O

[UNGN]

I had a stock '89 Convertible 5.0L that ran 8.9's in the 1/8th with the top down in 1991. My only mods were bald Dunlop 225/60 tires and a Short belt I put on at the track and a cold towel I put on the intake manifold. The one time I borrowed some old slicks it ran 8.7's.

By the early '90's anybody bringing a stock appearing classic muscle car to the track with any regularity had designs on Muscle car review stock racing, which means they had ported exhaust manifolds, free flowing exhaust, electronic ignitions and other things that would make them quicker than the '60's magazine tests. If a guy with a 383 B-body ran a 15 at the drag strip, that would be the last time he went to a dragstrip.

 

[UNGN]

Stock they ran 15s.

Vintage Muscle Car Test: Motor Trend Wrings Out the 383 Plymouth Road Runner in 1968

Vintage road test of 1968 Plymouth Road Runner.

www.hotrod.com

Impressive.

The article shows them using a wheel for performance tests. If they used a wheel for 1/4 mile, you have to subtract .2 from the ET for rollout. 14.8 would be within .1 seconds of the generally accepted ET of an Auto 383 Road Runner.

The same dorks at Motor Trend tested my dad's 427 Cobra kit car in Pasadena with Carroll Shelby around '92:

They couldn't keep the wheel stuck on the car so they said it ran a "13.9 @100" in their article.

It ran 7.8's @ 88 mph in the 1/8 mile all day. F@ck those guys.

 

[motorheadmike]

The article shows them using a wheel for performance tests. If they used a wheel for 1/4 mile, you have to subtract .2 from the ET for rollout. 14.8 would be within .1 seconds of the generally accepted ET of an Auto 383 Road Runner.

The same dorks at Motor Trend tested my dad's 427 Cobra kit car in Pasadena with Carroll Shelby around '92:

They couldn't keep the wheel stuck on the car so they said it ran a "13.9 @100" in their article.

It ran 7.8's @ 88 mph in the 1/8 mile all day. F@ck those guys.

Umm... thanks for confirming my point? LOL.

The known ETs from the 60s and 70s are all the result anecodotal evidence, bias, and non-standardized testing methodologies. So take everything you see about the glorious stock muscle cars with a grain of salt.

 

[fleming442]

Modern tire compounds would rewrite the books.

 

[motorheadmike]

Modern tire compounds would rewrite the books.

But are not stock.

Hence why the subject is so subjective. Of course a high compression 400+ cube engine has a tonne more potential than a smogger sub-6L engine. Hell, look at the list I posted, only 3 cars have engines below 352 cubes.

It really is a question of power (60s) vs traction/efficiency (80s+).

 

[UNGN]

Umm... thanks for confirming my point? LOL.

The known ETs from the 60s and 70s are all the result anecodotal evidence, bias, and non-standardize testing methodologies. So take everything you see about the glorious stock muscle cars with a grain of salt.

I completely agree with you.

99% of the cars from the Muscle car Era ran 14's in Stock form. Stock Z28's ran HIGH 14's/low 15's stock. If a car ran 13's it was at a prepped track and it likely had slicks and mods. The '71 Boss 351 is the best example of Motor Trends BS (they ran a car with slicks and Headers - prepped by Hot Rod into the 13's but claimed it was stock). Stock '71 Boss 351's didn't run 13's.

Magazines like Motor Trend got paid big bucks in advertising/magazine sales if they put up big numbers. Carroll Shelby was basically paying for the article to put his cobra replica against other replicas. Dad's Cobra was probably as fast as Carroll's, but I was working and couldn't go to California to tell them they were full of sh*t and didn't know how to drive. The car was an easy 12 second car with street tires. I ran a best of 7.8 in the 1/8 the a couple months before the photo shoot (IRP wouldn't let us run 1/4 because it was a Kit Car shoot out and some of the cars were deemed unsafe) and it was consistent and super easy to launch.

When I was 14 my dad's friend gave me his collection of Hot Rod Magazines going back to about '68 because they were taking up space in his garage.

If stockish W31's ran anything near 12's in quarter mile, Hot Rod Magazine wouldn't have an article about a Twin Turbo Big Block '69 Chevelle that ran 12.9's. They did, Stockish W31's didn't.

 

[UNGN]

Modern tire compounds would rewrite the books.

Modern Tires would lower the ET's a little, but they aren't going to raise the mph. If the magazine used an actual 1/4 mile track, the traps went 66 feet past the finish line, so the MPH should even be faster than a modern track. Not many of the Muscle car era road tests are running over 100 mph in the 1/4. The 383 Roadrunner only ran 93 mph.

My dad's cobra had old @ss NOS Goodyear Blue dot bias ply tires (he was going for the original Shelby look). At a '92 Kit car shootout of 117 cars it was top 15 in both the autocross and the drag strip. Tires are better now but apparently they weren't much better in the 1980's/early 1990's.

An L69 MCSS or '85 GN would be "14 second cars" with "modern tires"

 

[Ribbedroof]

To get back to the original topic, I think it's called "market correction"

I look at classifieds every day. Most of the pricing these days is (pardon the expression) batshit crazy. Sure, new cars are expensive. Doesn't mean old cars are made of gold. Simple fact is, most guys with SERIOUS money that are "collectors" are not, and likely will never be, interested in G body cars. They have those rose colored glasses that see the perceived "performance" of the "classics". Some have recognized the new muscle, and again, for them, no point in malaise-era anything.

True story: we have a customer that just paid over 100K for a 1970 Shelby GT500...that doesn't run.

 

[UNGN]

This Rusty 114K Mile '87 442 sold for $10K in October.

A 39K Mile, but just a Calais also sold for $10K

I think "Mecum Sucks to sell a car at" is probably why it didn't sell for $15K - $17K. Unless the car has rust, the buyer is probably pumped it was only $13K.

The description on the car in question kinda sucks so there's that.

And when people ask me "Why do you have such a Hard-on again Mecum?

Its because Mecum Sucks:

 

[olds307 and 403]

As I said, a W31 with a 3.91 4spd ran mid 14's. You can extrude hone and port Olds SB manifolds all you want, they still leave power on the table, probably around 30 hp. Do you believe the 325 GROSS HP number? The W31 actually dynoed at 350 or 360 GROSS HP. We are missing the point, their value. Buy one because you love it, not for an investment unless need a loss for tax time.