Horsepower and 1/4 mile times for Old Muscle Cars

Yeah these are the things I am talking about..

I used (when I had my blue 70 V8 Maverick) to really $hit stomp a lot of 305 and an occasional 350 Nova, I really embarrassed the hell out of a SAAB 900 turbo that ran his mouth at a light about how his ugly little car would eat a $hitbox maverick and I waxed his booty. Mustangs of the day (late 80's) could keep up occasionally. Bottom line is I showed a lot of cars what Maverick Taillights and a Grabber spoiler looked like when it is walkign away from them. Hahahaha

 

Well if make you guys feel any better, my 1984 Nissan 300ZX Turbo run a best 1/4 of 13.2 I can't rember the speed. It's a whopping 3.0L with a T-5 tranny!

I plan on making my Maverick a good cruiser!

Oh and my Z factory would run the 1/4 @14.7 acording to car and driver.

 

hahaha "Fords little bastard child econobox" ahahaha that sounds funny

 

Keep the stories comming! im loving them.....alot of us missed the 70/80s

 

Back when I first got my combo together, I took it out and had a ZR1 pull up next to me. We hit it from a 30mph roll and I pulled him pretty hard. We got to the next light and he asked me if I sprayed it. I told him I did not have spray on the car....all motor....a .030 over 302. Then he asked how much money I had in the car and I told him about $3500.00......Including the car. He got a little upset and said "You mean I just spent 40 something thousand dollars on this vette and cant outrun an old Ford?" I repied "Yup....I guess you get what you pay for". Then I turned off and headed back home. Guess that was right around 1990.......Dang......That makes me feel a little old now.

 

Well, one of my dad's stories, was before we had a Mav, it was when he had his 55' Fairlane with a Boss 351 in it.

A guy in a 440 Challenger was nodding to race at a light, so my dad nodded back in approval and when the light turned green, my dad as ahead of him all the way, then my dad let off, and the challenger went flying past at about 120, they stop at the next light and the guy in the Challenger was going "Pull that thing over" so my dad pulled into a parking lot and both of them are looking under each other's hoods,and the guy in the Challenger was asking what motor it had, and my dad said "A 351 small block Ford" and the guy in the challenger said "No way, that has to be a 428" and my dad replied "If it was a 428, you would've never seen me again"

 

Some of my races in my old '73 Grabber. It had a stock '71 302 2bbl w headers/duals/c4/2.79 rear;
a '71 Chevelle 350/headers/3.42 rear-he got me by a fender
an '81-85 Grand Prix w/a 400 Pontiac-I pulled him about a carlength
a '79 Chevy pickup 327/headers-I pulled him about a carlength. But a better driver in the truck could've beat me.
a '71 Camaro 350/tunnel ram/single 4bbl/3.42 rear-he got me by half a carlength. I was happy with that-I just had a lil 2bbl 302 w/cheap chrome valve covers/yellow plug wires.
I took it to Bristol one year,it ran 16.50 1/4 mile times. Only non stock items were the headers/dual pipes and an advance kit in the points dizzy.

 

In my 75's prime, it embarrassed several cars... I think the dude with the 454 Camaro was the most surprised. Not that the Maverick was super fast, but it was apparently setup/tuned better than alot of cars that it came up against. I ate up some SS454 and Lighting pickups. No suprise there I guess.

For some reason, every Monte SS in town came out of the woodwork when I first got the engine finished (1991). Those guys thought they were the sniz back then, but those cars were apparently slugs. They literally looked like they sat still when I hit it.

I went against a really clean 66 Chevelle in the 1/8 mile my first time out.
I left him in the dust, then right before the traps he blasted by me.
Later he told my buddy that he didn't plan on using the nitrous, but he'd be darn'd if he was going to let a Maverick show him up.

I don't recall my times exactly... I was in the mid-8s with around 2 sec 60' and just under 90 mph. This was when the car still had 3.00 gears! The cam didn't make power till almost 3k rpm, so I either came off the line soft and the car bogged until the rpms got up, or I had to dump the clutch and spin half way down the track (245/60/14 BFG radials). I went through the traps with the 4 speed only in 2nd, and valves floating/engine falling on it's face right as I hit the traps. I toyed with getting into 3rd gear to see if it helped, but it didn't. I lost ET when I didn't spin the tires off the line and when I used 3rd gear.

The car was much faster/more driveable once the 4.11s got in.

 

My original Grabber (the one in the old pic) When I street raced it in the early '70s would eat 383 Road Runners,396 Chevelles,most all small block Camaros,Novas,I won a lot of money with that car,mid -upper12's in the 1/4 back then,on "street tires".They just didn't realize that extra ton lighter made so much difference! (302,4spd,cam,headers,5.14s with a Detroit in a 9",Hollet,Accel and lots of head work)

 

MNost of the old muscle cars where overrated for sales. Even the Shelbys, COPOs, Hemi Mopars and Boss 429 Stang were. But the potential was there. Slicks, tweek the suspension, headers and ignition tuneup and they screamed. I seen an article on the Boss 429 where they put slicks, headers and 850 Holley and she run mid 12s. The A/C Cobra 427 were a 0-100-0 in 14 sec flat and 12.5s at 120 in the 1/4 mile. I had a 71 Torino Cobra 429CJ, 4 sp with a 3.50 posi and it'd run mid 14s at 98. But once she was rolling 145mph was there. Tires weren't thou. Not back in 73. I built a 72 Grabber beefed up 302, AOD, 4.10 and he embarresses alot of "cars". That's why NOS is so poular, make a POS go fast without knowing much.

 

Back to the muscle car times; I had an original 1969 Z-28 that no matter how hard I tried could not get it under 13.95. The mags were calling it a 13.50 car, no way. Now, around the turns and freeway off-ramps that was a different story! That is what the car was designed to do anyway. Fun car! Even though it was a Chevy, I still wished I owned it.

 

I'm sad nobody mentioned the 1969 AMX.

 

Thats the thing i love about my grabber!It'a nothing special has fresh 302 rebuilt heads,mallory ignition, edelbrock 750 carb, and an edelbrock intake bored 30 over and i the first thing i raced was a late 80's 454 monte carlo. i thought the guy was gonna cry! And i love it when the hondas and acuras roll up and wanna race. i just laugh!