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Original Message
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| RE:the facts....as I see 'em |
| By McQ - 10/30/2003 12:01:02 AM; IP 65.176.105.209 |
Great question blinker! You may have stirred someting up here.
I'm going to contribute a little something based on some degree of personal experience with the engines/cars you've mentioned in comparison.
I was very fortunate to be working for a small town Ford dealer in Central Wash. State in the summer-o-'69. Just an alley away was a vaunted Mopar dealer that stocked all the best iron that Chrysler built in those days which needless to say was tremendous.
Mopar and GM really had it together. We could make quite a list here of what was available from Plymouth, Dodge, Buick, Chevy, Pontiac and Olds. And their equipment was readily available to anyone. I was a fanatical Ford fool back then. My wife would say I'm still .... a fool but that's not what this forum is about. But I loved Ford products and it wasn't easy to be one of those fans then.
Sure the 427 Ford was absolutely killer in all respects. But it was nearly a grand for that option and it wasn't easy to order and get. The 390 GT just wasn't up to the second option muscle packages being offered by the competitors. The 390 GT could beat the standard package, i.e., 325 horse 396, 335 horse 389, 383 Roadrunner/Superbees but couldn't touch a 350/360/375 horse 396, 360 horse 389/400 Poncho, 375 horse 440 GTX/RT. I know first hand because I bought a '66 Fairlane GTA brand new. Had a ton of fun beating a lot of cars...but always the "standard" HP package, never the next option cars.
So in '69 I talked the sales manager into ordering a black on black Fairlane Cobra formal roof (coupe) with 3.91 geared drag-pack, ram-air, automatic. It was a beautiful sight to see at this little Ford dealership that rarely had anything performance oriented on the lot. Which was tough on me having to look across the street at all the 'birds & S-bees with 440 six-packs under their very cool lift off fiberglass hoods.
How'd our dealership Cobra run? In pure stock form it ran consistent 13.7s/100-101 mph. This was at Deer Park Drag Strip North of Spokane, just a mere 250 miles from our podunk Grandview, WA dealership. Generally five of us would pile into the cramped confines of that hot black beast mid day on a summer Saturday afternoon. All we'd take with us is a set of BF22 Autolites. We'd drive 70 mph most of the way. Dump in half a tank of Ethyl in Spokane and finish the trip up to Deer Park. With the engine hot two of us would each take a side and pull the BF32's for the 22's. That was it! I was elected driver because I was the only one who'd ever pulled to a staging line before. And this was heads-up drag racing in C Pure Stock.
We lost just once and it was my fault - a red light in the trophy round. And there was a lot of competition in C Pure Stock. Mostly Roadrunners, Chevelle 396's, Superbees, GTX/RTs, 442's, Gran Sports and lots of Goats. We had a shelf full of trophys by September of '69.
Now B stock was dominated by the new six-pack 440 'runners & Bees. But we had our share of them in the practice/time runs. We did not lose to one that was pure stock. Again these cars were pure stock with street tires, closed exhaust and exhaust manifolds, etc. It was so common to see nearly new brand new cars lined up that had just been purchased that week and were out for their first run.
A-Pure Stock in '69 was basically the realm of the 426 Street Hemi cars. It would take a Fairlane 427 to deal with them and really there was very few in this class.
But here's the kicker. I did get to run one of our competitor's best. I hate to admit ... it was a country road drag race. It was an orange Super Bee with the flat black lift off fiberglass hood, six pack 440 and a 4 speed. I was on my own in our Cobra. The 'bee was driven by the Mopar dealer's best/mouthiest salesman. Couldn't stand the guy. We ran it four times. The Cobra won two by a fender, the Mopar won two by a fender. Literally it was that close. The two out of four races I lost there were the only two times we ever saw any tail lights with that Fairlane.
Compared to a 429SCJ? I'm sorry the Lima boys won't like this....there wasn't any comparison. Our parts man liked the '69 Cobra so much he couldn't wait to order a '70. His came in very similar to the '69: Drag Pack 3.91s, very cool shaker ram air, automatic, Calypso Coral & black interior, sports slats on the rear window. Beautiful Torino. But in pure stock form we could never get it to break out of the low 14's. It did hit 14.0/100 but that was it. Parts Man Bud did go the headers, slicks route and broke into the mid 13's with some tweaking. But really the 428SCJ was a much stronger package off the showroom floor. The 429 had and continues to have a ton of potential but its development was just beginning and alas was cut short.
But the brute to be reckonned with on the street/strip in '70 I will admit was.....the marvelous SS454-450 horse LS-6 Chevelle. I didn't like to see it but they were an easy mid 12' car with little more than a set of Firestone Drag 500s & Hookers.
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