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VERY interesting article on the history of the Mustang in 0 to 60 times.

4K views 36 replies 9 participants last post by  FortyBrandon 
#1 ·
Some of these 0 to 60 times really surprised me. Especially as to how slow some of the "muscle cars" from the late 60's and early 70's really were.
Surely the 12.2 second 0 to 60 time of the 1974 Mustang II must be a low point in automotive history.........and yes, I had one of those.....:eek:

Car and Driver
 
#12 · (Edited)
LOL:lol:...........I wonder what the 1/4 mile time was on that car! I do remember mine was a white over black MACH I (!!) V6 automatic (and SURELY everyone here over the age of 45 remembers the T-shaped chrome handle and curved PRNDL floor display on that transmission, right?)--- and it couldn't get out of its own way...SLOW doesn't begin to describe the experience.
:nonono:

Here's a good one for you to have as well.....

http://mustangattitude.com/mustang/1974/1974_00034_09.shtml
 
#6 ·
Looking back, we all chuckle about the Mustang II, but it was actually a very successful car for Ford, selling nearly as many units in it's first year of production as the first generation did!
If you remember, everyone was buying imports at that time, due to the oil crisis of the early 70's. It was the right car, at the right time.
 
#7 ·

In the 60's and early 70's the automobile manufacturers used to think that it was clever to send highly tuned "ringer" cars to the automotive publications for performance testing. In 1965 Pontiac sent the magazines a Catalina, powered by a 421 tri-power, that did a 3.9 second 0-60... On skinny bias ply tires no less!
 
#8 ·
Aside from a few exceptions, the performance numbers of cars from the muscle car era were pretty uninspiring, by today's standards anyways. I believe that this was largely due to the tire technology of the day. Radial tires didn't become widely available until the mid-70's, and by that time even the big block engines were so choked down by emission controls that they weren't even breaking 300 hp. On top of that, the government regulations for improved safety typically added a couple of hundred pounds of extra weight to the vehicles. It wasn't until the mid-80's that things started to pick up again.
But look at us now! You have a Mustang that will almost do a quarter mile in the time that it took your old Mustang II to get up to 60 mph.
 
#10 ·
I'm not sure how many of you lived the late 60's and early 70's or how many of you raced with these cars...take a stock Mustang GT and what are the 1/4 mile times?
My "real" 68 Z28 ran mid 13's on stock tires and through the exhaust with nothing but a tune...slicks and headers and it was in the 12.8's. My 68-1/2 CJ Mustang was in the high 11's although I bought it as a drag car and it was setup fairly well.
70's SS 454 Chevelles and hemi Road Runners were turning low 13's and over 110 through the traps on stock tires, with a set of slicks and headers they were almost into the 11's.
I'm basing what I saw and ran at the strip, not on the street.
Tires and headers were what you needed to wake most muscle cars up back in the day, now both of these technologies have advanced quite a long way in the past 30+ years.
So...I assume that most of you guys weren't even a twinkle in your parents eye when we were racing and tuning muscle cars...Without Computers!...and a 13 second street car was Very Fast!
 
#11 ·
I was there. Born in '64 with a gear head brother born in '51. I saw the death of the muscle car due to the gas crisis and rising insurance rates. Very sad time. Fortunately, even though the manufacturers were changing things, the enthusiasts stuck with the old stuff and kept running them. My first car was a '70 Cutlass followed by a '73 'Cuda.


Sent from my iPhone using Mustang Evolution
 
#14 · (Edited)
Man, I would think that short Pinto wheelbase and lack of a frame would have made them a handful with that kind of HP and torque.:eek:
Not much different than the Vega's or Pinto's that they made into Pro Stock cars then though.
I do think that the longer wheelbase Maverick's made better looking racers than any of the above............
 
#20 ·
The cool thing about 60's and early 70's cars, is that you could order various displacement engines. And you could get those engines in different configurations, as far as compression ratios, induction, cylinder heads, etc. This makes it difficult to interpret quarter mile and 0-60 times, since there were so many power plant options. The performance numbers of a particular vehicle could vary wildly, depending upon how the car was optioned.
 
#22 ·
The real cool thing was if you had a connection at Chevrolet they could feed you the special option packages the general public never saw...kind of like the COPO, and on my 68 Z28...I don't remember what the CO number was but the Z came with cowl-plenum-fed cold air filter and either Jardine or Hooker headers in the trunk from Chevrolet and were installed by Fields Chevrolet in Portland, OR..this was done so Chevy could run this in the TransAm/SCCA racing because there were X number sold to the public.
The list of Corporate options numbered in the dozens each year for each model car from the late 60's until the early 70's.
Maybe because I lived in the time I still think we had the best of the best Muscle cars and you really had to know how to work on them...not just make a phone call and plug in your laptop...IMHO
 
#21 ·
Although high power muscle cars died around 72, the factories changed the way they factored HP. I ordered a new 76 Firebird TransAm, no AC, no consul, if I could have ordered it without PS I would have but you couldn't. It came with the last year of the 455 that was re-rated at 200HP and 350lbft of TQ. It had a 4spd with 3.23 posi and Firethorn Red...the Bird came in the trunk. It was a basic no nonsense car with no power anything except brakes. It had the G70-15 body colored wheels with trim rings.
The car in stock for turned the quarter in the high 14's...with a tune from Major&Murray in Portland, Oregon it turned 14.2's. With the addition of hooker headers, 7qt Moroso pan and windage tray and a complete real deal 74 SD exhaust with single transverse muffler like the Camaro...and another tune it was turning 13.2's through the muffler and on stock tires...she was a pretty potent new car in the day. This was really my wifes car so I got to take it to PIR only when she was away on trips...I used to have the 77/78 TransAm guys coming over to me and asking what the #%ll I had done to it...they were turning in the high 15's and even low 16's with the 400.
It just takes a little work to make any car perform...just has to well thought out.
 
#23 ·
The first car I ever purchased was in high school. I graduated in 93. I had a 71 Chevelle with a highly modified 396. That car would twist the chassis and pull a front tire off the ground.

I would love to have that car back.
 
#26 ·
Just a handful of pictures of my personal favorite cars..fantastic memories.
 

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#28 ·
It was a Cyclone. If you look at the hubcaps on the Cyclone they looked from a distance like chrome wheels. It was a late build 64 with factory 4spd, tach and original 289 HiPro. If you notice the chrome traction bars going to the rear instead of the front...we used to call those SS bars, and they were supposed to pull the rear of the car down and raise the front. This picture is taken just after I bought it as the ForSale sign was still in it. I later put a Schneider Cam, 69 4v 351w heads that were shaved to almost nothing along with steel shim head gaskets, Weiand intake and 735 Holly off a 428 CJ. It already had Hooker headers and 4:56 gears. There weren't too many cars that could keep up from stop light to stop light...was a fun little car with a trunk the size of my first living room.
 
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