"Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver" + other road tests

[Hellride 6.2 HO]

Muscle Car Confidential is an awesome read. Joe Oldham is my favorite auto journalist. Told it like it was. No pulled punches New York style.
RIP Joe.

 

[RetiredFirefighter]

108 mph says it all! I used to get 110 out of my 69 Sixpack 4 speed but that was open headers and so-so used slicks. That was faster than most other 440-6’s. The carbs and distributor were modified. 13.4 @108 on belted tires for the stock 454 Chevy is awesome.

110 mph for a weighty '69 car with mods is impressive. Do you remember what she ran 100% bone stock?

 

[SilverBillet]

It wasn’t stock when I bought it. I bought it with 9100 miles on it in 1972. It had custom “Headers by Ed”, carbs were modified with progressive Eelco linkage, the distributor was reworked by TNT ignition on Rt 9W somewhere between Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, NY and it had Lakewood competition traction bars that went from the front of the springs to behind the axle and a pair of 7” JC Penny F/X slicks in the trunk. It had slotted chrome wheels and a set of Kelly Springfield belted tires on it. The hood was painted gloss black. I asked him about the original wheels and tires and he had got rid of them at some time prior. I never thought much more about black steel wheels and the Goodyear redlines at that time. I paid $1,750 for it off the original owner: a 36 YO IBM’er in Manassas, VA! It ran 12.6’s at 109-110 mph. A heck of a street machine. I sold it in 1995 with 24,000 miles on it. I’ve posted photos before but here’s another from 1995. The car was always impressive and a winner and I’m glad to say I owned it.

 

[2ndAmend]

Sooooo many choices back then.....

 

[RetiredFirefighter]

It wasn’t stock when I bought it. I bought it with 9100 miles on it in 1972. It had custom “Headers by Ed”, carbs were modified with progressive Eelco linkage, the distributor was reworked by TNT ignition on Rt 9W somewhere between Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, NY and it had Lakewood competition traction bars that went from the front of the springs to behind the axle and a pair of 7” JC Penny F/X slicks in the trunk. It had slotted chrome wheels and a set of Kelly Springfield belted tires on it. The hood was painted gloss black. I asked him about the original wheels and tires and he had got rid of them at some time prior. I never thought much more about black steel wheels and the Goodyear redlines at that time. I paid $1,750 for it off the original owner: a 36 YO IBM’er in Manassas, VA! It ran 12.6’s at 109-110 mph. A heck of a street machine. I sold it in 1995 with 24,000 miles on it. I’ve posted photos before but here’s another from 1995. The car was always impressive and a winner and I’m glad to say I owned it. View attachment 154274

Thnx for the pic. Nice ride, reallllllly nice ride.👍

 

[rookerrobert]

I'll bet today's UHP street tires have more traction than slicks from 60 years ago. No way to test that, just a gut feeling.

yeah we use to call them cheetah slicks......lol some of the guys would say cheater slicks

 

[RetiredFirefighter]

a more "modern" muscle car ...

I know it's apples to oranges, but it's interesting that my DSRT392 is faster, brakes better, corners better, has a higher top speed,
and costs ~same (adjusted for inflation) as the GNX. Just FYI ...

1987 Buick GNX


Window sticker from a Buick GNX
($11k for GNX option)

 

[Prange]

I'm still amazed that the Buick guys snuck that one out. Kudos to them.