1960s muscle cars (70s ok) - which was the fastest?

Question

A friend of mine had a Plymouth Superbird and swore it was the fastest thing on the road ... until he got drunk and wrecked it. I always thought the Chrysler products were the fastest on the road at that time, but I knew a guy with a Javelin who never lost a race.

There may not be a "right" answer. I would love to hear your stories. I had a 69 Plymouth ... with a 318. Barely enough to pull that behemoth around. Looked like a muscle car but wasn't.

Answer 1

That Superbird was built to satisfy Nascar ruling that at least 500 copies had to be sold to customers. It went on to set records at Talledaga and other tracks. It had the 426 hemi engine. I believe it produced 425 horsepower and 490 lbs of torque in basic form. That was what Chrysler claimed but many people were certain it made more power then that. So, yes it was probably the fastest car on the street.

Between the factory cars it was a cat and mouse game in the 1960's. Whenever one company would come up with a winner the others would call in the engineers and find a way to soup up something to throw back at them. The fastest car you ask? I reckon it depends on what year!!!!!! Hot ones I recall were the mustang 390 and then the 427, There was a small buick skylark that came with a 401, then a 430, a pontiac GTO was awesome in 1966 - 69. Chevelle had a 454 cube in 1969 or 1970. It suffered from too little weight in the back and had trouble getting off the line but when it was moving at about 40 mph and punched it oo mama mia. Camaro had a 396 in 1968 that was a real ripper. The Javelin had a 401 and a few had a 430 cube they were haulers!

Wow this has been like a trip down memory lane.

Dodge had a super bee 440 with three two barrels called six pack. It was a beast to reckon with! It showed tailights to many hot cars.

Once you got into the 400 plus cubic inch engines the most important thing was the state of tuning and the ability of the driver to get the beast moving without smoking the tires. I drove hot cars in the 1960's and 1970's and several of my friends did too. With a few clever modifications a 400 cube olds could be made to outrun a 427 Mustang. Do the same to the Mustang and its so long sucker. The fastest car I ever drove was a 1969 dodge charger with a 426 that had been prepped by Mr. Norm of Grand Spaulding Dodge. He had a performance based dealership in Chicago, Ill. It wasn't a Hemi, but it had what were called magnum heads. I called and asked about the car before I drove it at the dealer. It had the biggest valves that would fit in the heads, a monster high rise intake that had been hand polished internally. A sun machine calibrated dual point distributor from Mallory ignition. A reworked Carter four barrel carb and exhaust headers that were so huge it is a wonder they fit in the car. The exhaust pipes were three inch diameter all the way to the rear bumper. It had a super high lift cam with a gear that reduced the degree of the cam at idle and advanced it at higher rpms. With a 3:23 axle the engine only turned 4000 rpms at 105 MPH and Mr. Norms tech told me the car could push 6200 in top gear which would put it at about 160mph!!
There were three of us guys in the car when we went for a ride. It was an automatic transmission car with three speeds. In top gear at 70 mph on the interstate, I punched it and it shoved my head back against the headrest. The front end came up about a foot higher and it sounded like a big bear was under the hood trying to get out. The exhaust sounded like two machine guns hammering away. The guy in the front seat could not reach up and touch the dash. In only a few seconds the speedometer was touching 140. Fearing the cops would hear us I backed off and went cruising through town. Even a modest tweak of the gas pedal from a stop would have the tires complaining. If we cruised up to about 35 mph and mashed the gas the front end would come right up and when it shifted to second gear it would spin both tires for about ten or fifteen feet. It banged like someone hit us in the rear end. Unreal! That car was deadly fast. I went to the bank the next day to talk about a loan but when I went to the dealer to tell them I thought I had it the car was sold. I should have given them a down payment! Rats!

Answer 2

There were several different ways to measure the "fastest" one was from a standing start to a distance of a quarter mile, another way a car could be called "Fastest" was the top speed it could attain. From what I have heard and seen and experienced the 1/4 mile had several contenders for top slot. I am not referring to modified cars, just straight production cars, The Hemi s were a force to be reckoned with but so were the Pontiacs. Ford had some real ground pounders as well. Chevy had the Camaro, the Chevell and in the mid to late 60 s the little Nova was available in the SS trim package which included the famous 396 CI big block, again a wicked ride. As far as top end goes the big cruisers were the ones to hold most of that glory, Buick had the Wildcat, Pontiac had the Bonneville there was Fords 460 CI in the Lincoln and Cadillac had a 518 CI monster. I don t know if any one car could ever be hailed as the "Fastest" but Man what an era!

Answer 3

The 60's Shelby Cobras were--and are still--some of the fastest cars on the planet.

http://www.supercars.net/garages/RLQ/77v2.html

The Superbirds were nice, but no way can they compare with the Cobras' factory 427 side-oiler and ultra-light frame. There's a reason that engine won Ford three Le Mans victories in a row.

There are very few modern cars that can beat an AC bodied Cobra to this day. I should know--I was there when a 1966 Cobra absolutely whipped a 4.2-liter E-type at an SCCA vintage race. And did it again matched against modern cars! Awe-inspiring performance from a landmark car.

Answer 4

I would have to say the 429 Shelby Cobra was the fastest. I had much more power than the 440 or 383 or even the 318.. I know mopar quite well, and yes they were fast, but not faster than the 429 Carroll Shelby built. It was beating European cars hands down at Le Mans. Even the 426 Hemi was good, but there Fast Engine from Both Ford and GM that were right there with Mopar

Answer 5

Had a 70 Monte came stock with 402.Wasn't as fast as the beefed up 396 I dropped in it.l Never lost a race.Didn't do 1/4 though.Quickest car was 76 chevelle it had a 6 cyl originally.Can you believe a 400 small block bolted up to the trans.Went like hell,not much for anything but light to light. Burnt the tranny up in about 3 weeks. My money as far as stock is on the early chevelles.The fastest street car I ever saw that I didn't own was a pinto with a big block in it. It was like putting a 350 in a go cart.

Answer 6

I saw a showdown on all those old muscle cars you mention plus more - like the 442 olds. mustang etc

The mustang (with the really big motor) boss or shelby or what ever - won most of the competitions and was deemed the best.

That's not to say the fastest.... they tested quickness, burnouts, sloloms etc.

I was convinced and I dont like fords much.

Answer 7

If I found a girl who knew about cars, I would probably fall in love with her. And I prefer her to be driving sports cars, not muscle cars. I myself just do not like muscle cars because of their poor handling capabilities and heavy weight and low top speeds. All they really have is quick acceleration.

Answer 8

I had two 1965 Mustangs, and was never once beaten in a race. I wouldn't argue with anyone about which car was faster, I would just stomp them.

It was my often-expressed opinion at the time, that it wasn't so much the power under the hood as it was the balls behind the wheel.

grin.

Answer 9

ok the way i see it it all depends on the race , the driver, the car, and the power at the back and the gears to go with it all

i have a beat to crap 79 cougar it has factory 351, factory auto, factory gears(2.47 look it up), i kept up with about a 89ish pontiac firebird that nothing around could touch. he beat me in the 1/4 he beat me in the 1/2 mile but when it came down to about a 5 mile streach he had nothing on me becouse of the gears that came factory in it

my cougar was out ran by a little mid 80s thunderbird once got to talking to him he had a 2.3 with a turbo .

Answer 10

depends on the engine,, the alluminator,, does 0 to 60 in 3.1 sec,, its a 4 cyl volkswagen and that is in the sand,, anymore questions