Most Under-Performing Musclecar Ever Produced?

[kennyd]

Originally Posted by W J

I could be mistaken, but think some of these cars were made to be pretty good 1/4 mi. performers and are worth some pretty serious $$ these days...?? Anyone? WJ

not saying they didn't have potential, but stock they were not a great performer

[Paul Ceasrine]

Ron,
Yes, the Road Runner was little over-rated.
Saw many of them run 14.90's, in stock trim.
Geococcyx correct term.
Plymouth did market them well.
Plymouth actually wanted to call them 'The La Mancha'.
Wonder how many would have been sold with that name?
Oh, the 340's ate them alive, including the rubber floor-mat.
PC

[blkjack]

Originally Posted by k.pascoe

1976 Trans Am 455 4 speed; hurt my feelings it was soooo slowwwww

IF you think that was slow should have driven a stock "corporate" 6.6L in 79. 16 sec is an awful long time.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Bobby Z,
Yes, I guess I utilized reverse verbage.
I meant to say a mechanical-drive tachometer.
My friend bought a 64' Plymouth Belvedere with a 426-S
Street-Wedge,in 1974 for $350 and it came through with a mechanical drive tachometer.
An old Mopar tech. said they never came through with one, but I saw it
with my own eyes, and it worked.
By the way, for true 1964 performance, 'Doc' Burgess of 'Black Arrow' fame had a red 64' Belvedere 426-S in 1964. Ran A/SA, and ran dead-on 14.00's @101 with 3.91 gears, and virtually nothing else. Of course a true street-driven car.
Paul

[hemicop]

I think what's geting some of the Boss '9 fans so upset is that it actually did pretty well in NASCAR but not at the drags.
You guys gotta realize that these things were made for sustained running at high RPMs, not sprints like a drag race is. Also Ford, like other companies put more money into their NASCAR teams than drag racing so they could fool around with these motors more.
No one doubts a Boss's ability--Hell, I'd buy on of Kaase's tomorrow if I could, but dolloar-for-dollar it just wasn't the "silver bullet" (catch the sarcam?) that Ford hoped it would be.

[Bobby Zlatkin]

In '64 a friend (OS Brannon) ordered a strippo Belvedere II 2 dr. HT with a 330 HP 383 and a 3 speed column shift (so his parents didn't think it was a Hi-Perf car)
It ran B./S and was quick. 13.8's with very little done A tall pinion snubber, clamp the front half of the leaf springs, headers & slicks. Drove it to work every day and his parents never did know he raced it.
I remember the 365 HP 426's ran A/S and were not fast.

[W J]

I'm still sticking to my guns on those '82-84 Corvettes and Camaros w/the cross-fire injection systems being amongst the worst of the under-performers....Heck, they would hardly even run smoothly, never mind run fast.....Maybe they're out there, and surely I'm not meaning to insult anyone who owns, or ever owned one of these cars, but I know of NONE that were thought of as anywhere near fast, or made into drag cars w/that cross-fire injection setup..... Just another opinion....WJ

[Paul Ceasrine]

Bobby Z,
Lots of things not right with the 426-S Street-Wedge.
10.0-1 compression
Small-port heads with 1.60 exhaust valves (same heads as the 361/265HP 2-barrel)
Weak single-coil valve springs
Mild hydraulic camshaft (.431/.431 lift)
Poor flowing exhaust manifolds
Restrictive cast iron intake
575 cfm AFB (too small) with 1 7/16" primaries x 1 9/16" secondaries (same size as the
little 273/235HP Commando)
What could have been?
They just flat out got creamed in C/Stock in 68', and D/Stock in 69'
Paul

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Bobby Zlatkin

In '64 a friend (OS Brannon) ordered a strippo Belvedere II 2 dr. HT with a 330 HP 383 and a 3 speed column shift (so his parents didn't think it was a Hi-Perf car)
It ran B./S and was quick. 13.8's with very little done A tall pinion snubber, clamp the front half of the leaf springs, headers & slicks. Drove it to work every day and his parents never did know he raced it.
I remember the 365 HP 426's ran A/S and were not fast.

13.80's must have been in the 1/8th mile......lol. He should have bought an automatic to hide the Hi Performance factor from his parents......Thats what I did. Much better than a 3 speed stick.

[Geerhead55]

I don't recall the Boss 429s doing well in NASCAR,,they had the Torino Cobras on the Ford side(remember Richard Petty was stolen away for one year from Plymouth and drove a Cobra) and on the Mercury side there were the Cyclones( David Pearson and Buddy Baker? I could be wrong) that were the dominant body styles from Dearborn on the NASCAR tracks. If there were any Boss 429s out there I've forgotten about them.
I think Sam Auxier ran one in a class called Ultra/Stock (a forerunner to Pro Stock),in another association. I'm sure someone more NASCAR savvy than me will come on here and set us straight. Danny Durham