Musclecar Shootout!
Popular Mechanics, August 1997
SHOWDOWN!
The best of today's musclecars square off against a bevy of classics.
Are the musclecars of the '60s and early '70s really as fast as we all remember? Are today's high-performance automobiles really fast enough to ba called musclecars? We wanted to know, once and for all. Can high tech beat high torque? Can a 450-hp 1997 Dodge Viper GTS really outrun a 450-hp 1970 LS-6 Chevelle? We were determined to settle it, once and for all.
So, while many car collectors might condemn what we did as blasphemy, millions of other car guys will see it as fitting reverence. And what we did was gather together eight musclecars from the time of bell-bottom hip-huggers and psychedelic love, and four of today's strongest offerings from Detroit. Then we took them all to the dragstrip and ran the wheels off them.
On a recent morning, Raceway Park, in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, was sucked backward in a time warp. On its starting line, waiting to do battle, sat a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-454 LS-6, a 1970 426 Plymouth Hemicuda, a 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air 409, a tri-power 1965 Pontiac GTO, a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 SCJ, a 1974 Pontiac Trans Am SD-455, a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30, a 1970 Buick GS-455 Stage 1 and--just for kicks--a 1987 Buick Regal T-Type, twin to the famed Grand National, the ultimate musclecar from the time of junk-bond kings and leg warmers.
The owners of these collector cars were warned: no car shows, no trophies and no cruising. Anyone caught wiping their car with a diaper would be flogged.
What we did offer was clouds of tire smoke and a chance to uphold the honor of their marques against the hottest of today's modern musclecars.
And we had a fine array of them, these modern computerized musclecars spawned by a world of cell-phones and anything.com. Detroit sent out a Dodge Viper GTS, a Ford Mustang Cobra SVT, a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 SS and a Pontiac Firebird Firehawk.
Testing the classics on their original bias-ply tires would have been like asking Michael Jordan to wear 30-year-old Chuck Taylors. So we evened things up by mounting brand-new, stock-size BFGoodrich Radial T/As on stock-looking wheels supplied by Coker Tire (800-251-6336), of Chattanooga, Tennessee, on all the old cars. Then, we ran all 13 cars through our usual acceleration, slalom and 60-0-mph braking exercises.
The results will surprise you. And they'll certainly make you wonder: Were the good old days then or now?
The cars appear in order of dragstrip ET, the quickest car listed first.
1997 DODGE VIPER GTS
With 488 cu. in., 450 hp and 490 ft.-lb. or torque, not to mention a quarter-mile run of 11.97 seconds at 118.88 mph, the Dodge Viper GTS sounds like it was built in 1970.
But dig deeper into its stat sheet--V10 engine, direct port fuel injection, 6-speed transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, steamroller 35-series rubber and, of course, its $69,300 sticker price. There's no question this is a car of the '90s.
It's also the quickest and fastest car POPULAR MECHANICS has ever tested.
Have any '60s muscelcars ever equalled that performance? Legend says the 1969 ZL-1 Corvette (two were built), ZL-1 Camaro (69 were built) and the 1966 427 Shelby Cobra could run such times, although no such times have ever been actually published. But think about it. The Viper GTS has air conditioning, power windows, dual airbags, a CD player and a sixth gear for some-what respectable economy on the highway. And it'll sit there and idle smoothly for hours in Death Valley without overheating or fouling its plugs.
The Viper wears the largest rubber in this test, and the largest rubber ever mounted on a musclecar. But tire spin is still a problem with 450 hp. Those big Michelins also helped the Viper set the pace through the slalom and the skidpad, easily outrunning the other modern cars. But the Viper's lack of ABS and its tendency to lock its front tires put it in third place in the braking contest. Still, the Dodge Viper GTS is the baddest of the bad--the ultimate.
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Base Price: |
$69,300 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
8.0-liter ohv V10
450 hp
490 ft.-lb.
9.6:1
Direct Fuel Injection |
| Gearbox: |
6-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.07:1 |
| Tires: |
F: 275/40ZR17, R: 335/35ZR17 |
| Wheels: |
F: 17x10, R: 17x13 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Disc |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
11.97@118.88 mph
3.89 sec.
124 ft.
47.2 mph |
|
1987 BUICK REGAL T-TYPE
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Bob Hansen |
| Base Price: (when new) |
$14,857 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
3.8-liter turbocharged V6
245 hp
355 ft.-lb.
8.0:1
Sequential Fuel Injection |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed automatic |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.42:1 |
| Tires: |
215/65R15 |
| Wheels: |
15x7 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
12.52@110.35 mph
4.28 sec.
163 ft.
43.0 mph |
|
1970 BUICK GS-455 STAGE 1
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
John Chamberlain |
| Base Price: |
$3283 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
455-cu.-in. ohv V8
360 hp
510 ft.-lb.
10.5:1
4-barrel carburetor |
| Gearbox: |
3-speed automatic |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.64:1 |
| Tires: |
P275/60R15 |
| Wheels: |
15x7 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
12.56@111.78 mph
4.31 sec.
163 ft.
38.6 mph |
|
1970 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE SS-454
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Ron Banach |
| Base Price: |
$2809 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
454-cu.-in. ohv V8
450 hp
500 ft.-lb.
11.25:1
4-barrel carburetor |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
4.10:1 |
| Tires: |
215/70R14 |
| Wheels: |
14x7 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
13.35@104.16 mph
N/A
194 ft.
40.4 mph |
|
1970 PLYMOUTH HEMICUDA
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
John Kett |
| Base Price: |
$3164 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
426-cu.-in. ohv V8
425 hp
490 ft.-lb.
10.25:1
2 4-barrel carburetors |
| Gearbox: |
3-speed automatic |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.55:1 |
| Tires: |
215/70R14 |
| Wheels: |
14x7 |
| Brakes: |
Drum/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
13.75@101.24 mph
5.47 sec.
178 ft.
35.3 mph |
|
1997 FORD MUSTANG COBRA SVT
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Base Price: |
$27,490 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
4.6-liter dohc V8
305 hp
300 ft.-lb.
9.85:1
Direct Fuel Injection |
| Gearbox: |
5-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.27:1 |
| Tires: |
P245/45ZR17 |
| Wheels: |
17x8 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Disc |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
13.89@101.92 mph
5.62 sec.
110 ft.
46.6 mph |
|
1969 FORD MUSTANG MACH 1 SCJ
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Regina Reiter |
| Base Price: |
$3139 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
428-cu.-in. ohv V8
335 hp
440 ft.-lb.
10.6:1
4-barrel carburetor |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.91:1 |
| Tires: |
P205/70R14 |
| Wheels: |
14x7 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
13.99@101.83 mph
6.05 sec.
194 ft.
40.8 mph |
|
1997 PONTIAC FIREBIRD FIREHAWK
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Base Price: |
$31,473 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
5.7-liter ohv V8
310 hp
325 ft.-lb.
10.5:1
Direct Fuel Injection |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed overdrive automatic |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.42:1 |
| Tires: |
P275/40ZR17 |
| Wheels: |
17x9 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Disc |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
14.21@96.40 mph
5.95 sec.
123 ft.
45.8 mph |
|
1974 PONTIAC TRANS AM SD-455
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Nunzi Romano |
| Base Price: |
$4446 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
455-cu.-in. ohv V8
290 hp
395 ft.-lb.
8.4:1
4-barrel carburetor |
| Gearbox: |
3-speed automatic |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.42:1 |
| Tires: |
P255/60R15 |
| Wheels: |
15x7 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
|
14.31@105.03 mph
6.06 sec.
157 ft. |
|
1997 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z28 SS
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Base Price: |
$29,801 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
5.7-liter ohv V8
310 hp
325 ft.-lb.
10.5:1
Direct Fuel Injection |
| Gearbox: |
6-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.42:1 |
| Tires: |
P275/40ZR17 |
| Wheels: |
17x9 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Disc |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
14.45@98.19 mph
6.18 sec.
128 ft.
45.5 mph |
|
1962 CHEVROLET BEL AIR 409
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Nick DeMartino |
| Base Price: |
$2668 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
409-cu.-in. ohv V8
409 hp
420 ft.-lb.
11.0:1
2 4-barrel carburetors |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
4.11:1 |
| Tires: |
205/70R14 |
| Wheels: |
14x6 |
| Brakes: |
Drum/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
14.55@99.05 mph
6.37 sec.
179 ft.
36.6 mph |
|
1965 PONTIAC GTO
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Vinnie Green |
| Base Price: |
$2816 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
389-cu.-in. ohv V8
360 hp
424 ft.-lb.
10.75:1
3 2-barrell carburetors |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.23:1 |
| Tires: |
P215/70R14 |
| Wheels: |
14x6 |
| Brakes: |
Drum/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
14.56@104.67 mph
6.80 sec.
197 ft.
37.8 mph |
|
1970 OLDSMOBILE 442 W-30
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Owner: |
Ed Fochi |
| Base Price: |
$3376 |
| Engine:
Horsepower:
Torque:
Compression Ratio:
Intake System:
|
455-cu.-in. ohv V8
370 hp
500 ft.-lb.
10.5:1
4-barrel |
| Gearbox: |
4-speed manual |
| Axle Ratio: |
3.91:1 |
| Tires: |
P215/70R14 |
| Wheels: |
14x7 |
| Brakes: |
Disc/Drum |
| Performance:
¼ mile:
0-60 mph:
60-0 mph:
Slalom:
|
14.80@97.47 mph
6.75 sec.
1978ft.
38.9 mph |
|