Most Under-Performing Musclecar Ever Produced?

[Paul Ceasrine]

I think Modified Production became an NHRA class in 1964.
Hot Rod Magazine (April 1964) gives out the specs.
X-Techman,,,,Yes, back in the 'Stone Age'
When Eric Clapton was in "The Yardbirds'
Paul

[X-TECH MAN]

Paul is correct on the year M/P began. All of the limited production FX cars from 1963 that had alum. front ends were put into Modified production in 1964 and had to run 7 inch cheater slicks. I remember Malcom Durhams 63 Z-11 Impala setting the A/MP record at some point. The 63 421 SD Tempests (coupes and wagons) ran A/MP also.

[Travis Miller]

I have to agree about the '69 Boss 429 Mustang being a dog on the street. A brand new one in full street trim with zero modifications showed up at the track the first year I was a techman. The driver was so disappointed after his second run he drove it out the front gate never to return.

When it came to street racing (yes I did a lot of it before becoming a techman) the baddest of the musclecars was the 66 Chevy II with a 327/350. The car magazines never showed good times out of them but many a street racer found out what the backend of a Chevy II pulling away looked like. Light weight body, a 4-speed and a stout factory small block made them almost unbeatable on the street. Did I happen to mention light weight?

Modified Production classes did not have a year limit. The 1967 year limit was for the Super Modified classes. Besides the front end on a 66 Chevy II having to be changed, other items not mentioned here were single to dual brake master cylinder, door locking mechanism (in 66 you pushed the interior handle down while 67 had a seperate knob that twisted), and most of the exterior trim.

The 60's musclecar era was a great time to be had by all who lived through it. Today some of the younger "experts" who write about those days can only go by articles that the car magazines published. Drag tests back then are now being questioned today as it comes out that some GTO's were powered by 421's, a few 396 Chevelles had 427's slipped into them, and some new 390 Mustangs were powered by 428's for the press to wring out. Wrong as it may have been back then, the real drag tests of those early musclecars were on the street from stoplight to stoplight.

Travis

(Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by me on this forum are exactly that, my opinions. This thread also brings back memories of a few guys I knew who did not survive their street racing days. Rest in peace fellows.)

[hemidup]

Being a Mopar fan, I've owned some dogs. 65 Plymouth Satelite 383, 69 Plymouth 440 GTX. Switched over to A body 340 Darts and the wow factor was back. My 69 327 Camaro was also a dog as well as my 76 455 Trans Am.

[Geerhead55]

I can remember back in the day, I never saw a slow 340 car. The first car I ever rode in that made me wake up and take notice was a 64' 289/ 4spd Fairlane. I was in 8th grade in the middle 60s and watching the driver grab a gear blew me away.
As far as the 66-67 Chevy IIs go, there were 6 of us that had them in the early 70s, with 2 of them real L-79 350 hp 327 cars. They had those mono leafs that shook your teeth out every time you grabbed a gear, until you went out and bought some traction bars. Then you could grab second gear and the keys would pop out of the ignition!
Mine was a 275 hp/ Glide SS car that I eventually swapped to a Super T-10 with 4:88s and a real healthy 331 and it wasn't even fair how it mopped up on the street. Getting in the 12s was no problem and it ran 11s with a little work and some 9inch M&Hs.
Jim Parsons and Terry Harmon had their SS/O 66 Chevy II in the NW at that time and I idolized that car and tried to pattern my car after them. I think Jim still has his car to this day,,I wish I still had mine. My 2 cents,,,Danny Durham

[larrylomascolo]

A friend of mine bought a brand new 72 chevelle SS,350 auto do not remember h.p but it was lazy ,at the same time another friend had a yellow 69 340 4spd dart swinger with dog dish hub caps ,it was a factory jewell ,he cleaned up sunday nights and he pounded that car ,bone stock with good year polyglass bias tires,.,he wrapped it around a tree ,totalled it.

[John Leichtamer Jr]

Had a 69Dart 340 4-speed .did my fair share of street racing
and not to many cars beat it. Made alot of guy very unhappy.
only paid 2650 new at the dealership. Those were the days.

Hammer

[Rory McNeil]

The way that the performance cars from the 60`s to early 70`s were ordered by the dealerships could easily make the differance between a fast car, and a slug. Although I was a few years to young to buy a musclecar new, (born in 1957), I was able to buy a number of them as fairly late model used cars. Among them were 2 70 Mustangs with the 300HP 351 Cleveland 4 barrel engine (1 had the Ram Air Shaker hood scoop), a 66 Fairlane GT/A 390 auto, and a total of 5 R code 428 Cobra Jet Ram Air Mustangs and Fairlane Cobras. From the factory, none of the cars I just listed had a rear gear ratio lower than 3.50, most were 3.00 or 3.25, and the 351 & 390 cars didn`t even come with a limited slip (Traction Lock) diff. So in stock form, mediocre ET`s, and lots of wheelspin resulted. At that time, it seemed that very few non Cobra Jet or Boss cars had decent gear ratios, despite the fact that they were available. Among the cars that I took to the track, 1 of the 70 351C Mustangs ran 14.72@94 MPH bone stock, with a 3.25 open diff and FMX auto. I installed a set of $79. Cyclone headers,hooked into the factory exhaust system, and the OE Holley 600 from my 390 Fairlane, and it ran a best of 14.22@99 mph. I never ran my 66 Fairlane 390 in stock trim, but with just gears,headers, slicks, a mid 500" lift GK hyd cam, and a Holley 780, and a pair of stock 428CJ heads, it ran 12.6@110MPH thru the mufflers, with the stock torque convertor. The slowest of the 428CJ cars was the 69 Fairlane Cobra fastback, with a C6, PS & PDB& A/C, and 3.00 gears, which went 14.3@96MPH, all stock, at 4150lbs with me in the car. My 70 Mach1 428 4 speed with 4.30`s (added afterwards), and my 69 Mach 1 automatic with 3.50`s, would each run 13.4 -13.5`s thru the crappy exhaust and on 14" 60 series tires, with little more than timing & jetting fiddling. I was doing quite a bit of "for fun" street racing in the 70`s and early 80`s, and some of the stronger cars were the MoPar 340`s,& 440 six packs, 375HP 396 Novas, 427 & 454 Vettes, and other 428CJ Fords. Some of the Street Hemis ran strong, but like many of the solid lifter, hi performance cars at the time, keeping them well tuned was more than the average guy was willing to deal with.