Hot Rods Is your car fast?

I didn't want to keep thread jacking someone else so I'll start new. The statement that 11's and 12's in a car you can drive 3-4 times a week is fast is no longer true.

I'm not trying to talk bad about anyone's car here, but since no one here has said they actually daily drive their gasser, then it's because of the chassis/comfort/rarity/paint/value and not because it takes a uncivilized beast of an engine to run faster than 11's in a 3000lb competition chassis.

I will concede that a rolling piece of art that is only used to occasionally cruise would be fairly quick if it ran 11s and somewhat quick at 12s (quick for art).

But no one in the performance community is going to call an 11.99 second race car "fast".

I think it depends on what the car is to the owner. I consider gassers to be "badass" and "mean" machines- even "serious" considering what Heights (pun) guys went to get the performance of the day.

If you build the car for the look, then you shouldn't be defending your 12-13 second ET. Because you shouldn't have raced against a newer Mustang/Camaro anyway-that kid will clean your clock, with affordable modifications that dont hurt his driveability one iota.

MY point is that only on a traditional forum such as the HAMB is a 12 second car considered "fast anymore".

It's just too easy nowadays to get reliable, civil power in the 500-900hp range. Mild mannered 383 small blocks with modern heads painted orange and modern roller cams will easily hit that mark and look traditional doing it.

And we all know that blowers and turbos are traditional, too. I know of several modern, leather interior, sat nav equipped rolling stereos with 900-1300hp depending on the tune and octane they chose on that particular day.

My point is that I want my car to not be a sheep in wolf's clothing. If I can build a reliable 10 second car with the same manners as a 12 second car, for not much more money, then why wouldn't I?

If someone has a beautiful gasser with a stock 305 that just looks the part because he doesn't have the cash, then thats a different car. It doesnt make his car "fast" - it just has an excuse for being "slow".

In parting, if you have a vintage/recreated/resurrected racecar like a gasser, that is what it is for the SOLE purpose of putting the heat to the street, then only reason for a cast crank and lack luster performance is a penny pinching budget.

Get a solid bottom end and at least hide a bottle in the car so that when you're leaving the fairgrounds, you dont have to get schooled by some punk in a Honda.

Have your cake and eat it too. Horsepower is cheap: Get some. You've already got the chassis able to use it, which is what everyone else wishes they had....

-rick

 

And you were doing so good until...


"Horsepower is cheap: Get some."


Don't know were you get yours but around here Horsepower = $$$$$$. Always has and probably always will. Then again you may have a different opinon on what cheap means. Happy racing to you.

 

I disagree.

If that is what you want and can, to me, it depends on how you are getting there. If you don't care how you get there, then don't.

 

So how fast is your car 69fury?

 

69fury where's your shop? I want 400bhp out of my 241 red ram for cheap! I aspire to hit 11's with my baby hemi. Ya, hp is cheap when you run the sbc.

 

True...but there are still plenty of race cars trailered to the strip that run 12s and slower.

I drive my street car there and run 11s. Might not be fast compared to a lot of cars in the rest of the world, but around here it's one of the quickest cars that gets driven like a normal car, not only in town but on long trips.

There are ways to make relatively cheap hp these days that we just didnt' have back in the old days. Not very traditional, for the most part.

I've noticed that there's always someone else who has more time, money, talent, and ambition go to faster than I ever will. That's fine with me.

 

Hell . . . I have no clue as to how fast my car will be, but I'm sure it will be plenty fast enough for me. (Blown 392 Hemi - 34 coupe). I'm trying to keep to a 60's style comp-coupe build, there are certain things that "fit" and many things that don't.

I really don't want to put wheelie bars on it, so good ole' Hurst recap slicks are my gig . . . burn em' hard and don't try to hook it up too much. I'd rather have a ladder bar tire smoker than wrinkle walls, wheelie bars, a 4-link and a bunch of torn up shit.

Guess I always likes the way vintage TF dragsters ran . . . burning the hides the whole way.

I think I"m rambling . . . better get the hell off of this thread

 

if the horsepower you have to date is "cheap", then you ain't got anywhere near enough to play with the big dogs in THIS yard, sonnyboy. Granted, the first 450-450hp is fairly inexpensive, but the cost/hp increases exponentially as you creep toward that magic 600+ figure. Good example...the Ford GT (2005/2006) version makes 550 with a supercharger. Pretty dang good for a factory ride. Run along to Heffner or any of the other tuner places that slap extra turbos on those beasts to wring another 250 or so ponies out of them. Tell them you'd like one of them there CHEAP twin-turbo setups....

You need to keep your keyboard idle (read as MOUTH SHUT) until you've emptied a few wallets into some serious engines.

Now, go sit down, finish your cotton candy, and leave the BIG PEOPLE alone, LunchPail Boy.

dj

 

As my friend always said -- "There is always somebody who makes more money, gets more girls and is better looking than you . . . get over it".

Decide how fast you can want or can afford to go -- and have some fun, that is what the HAMB is all about! I'd rather see a guy trying like hell to make 200 HP in a traditional flathead, than somebody who just "purchased" 650 HP in a crate. Both guys probably spent about the same amount of money . . . but I know what most HAMBers would rather have.

 

fast at the track is different than fast on the street.

 

No Joke man yeah 11s ain't "FAST" for a brand new Mustang, GTO, Camaro and the like but those "FAST" cars have a 30,000 dollar price tag I don't know about you but 30G is not cheap to me

The cars i been jacking with cost a few thousand, by the way those cars you speak of IE gassers typically don't have the bitchin chassis you speak of these "Gassers' chassis is primitive compared to the new racecars now.

By the way Horsepower ain't cheap and nitrous ain't traditional and it breaks shit.

and by the way I sure as hell don't want to look at a traditional rod with an LS1 or 2 or 7 or 10 or whatever LS number is out now or a modular 4.6 or 5.4 or the new 5.0, or any honda junk

 

I have no idea. People tell me it sounds killer, to me not so. People tell me it gets up and boogies when I get on it, I guess it does because i'm told the back bumper nearly touches the ground. To me its not fast. My son whos really into raceing and tuning say's it should run mid 12s to 13s. I don't let it bather me, I drive it when and where ever I want and I can't remeber the last time i tuned on it.

 

Mine does 13.8's with only a 287c.i. V-8 motor with 300 h.p. 5-speed manual and 3.55's out back... The car weigh's in at around 3400+ lbs....

 

The car I am currently building should run "OK" for what it is. The bottom line is that the car will actually be ran regularly on street night. Personally, I think there are way too many cars out there that look the look, but have never seen a track.

While I do see your point, remember that many folks on here are building machines that are historically accurate to some degree. For example, I am spending a shit load of dough trying to build up an early Rocket in a heavy car. If I threw the same amount of money & efforts in a big block Chevy (or anything modern with parts readily available) than I am sure I would run a lot quicker, but that defeats the purpose.

 

Depends on how you look at it. When I was young, a 11 second rail job was extremely fast. A new Cadillac will do that now. A Indy roadster topped at about 140. My O/T Merc v6 will do that now. Land speed record was about 320. Fuelers do that in the quarter easily. Yup, fast is fast and if you haven't lived when 80 mph was really flying , you'll never know the feeling of really fast. Watching the sprints run at 120-130 on the 3/8ths leaves me with a queasy feeling because I was there when 65-70 was a real accomplishment.
We did it on a shoestring and our own abilities. You can go however fast you want, just get your checkbook out.

 

Times do change, modern wheels are a different kettle of fish. It is not a simple task, to develop a feel for an engine's tune, esp. if it's electronically based. And frankly I'm not about to let go of developing a feel for how she runs. Both schools are open, we all learn here.

 

I'm not even sure what you're trying to say here. Are you implying that an old school gasser that will run in the 10's off the street is not going to need a radical motor? I disagree. Built true to form they would be an uncomfortable car to drive around as a daily driver unless you work a block from your house. And once you start using your 10 second gasser as a daily driver, where exactly are you going to park it. On the street at a meter or in a shopping center parking lot?


I'd say 11's is still plenty fast if your talking about a Hamb friendly build with vintage parts, especially one that is actually driven regularly. On the other hand, I just talked to a guy I work with yesterday that has an OT 2008 Vette. He was telling me that with a set of Kooks headers, a custom exhaust system, an airbox kit and having a shop dyno the car and reprogram the computer it went 11.70's @ 122. He says it still drives like a stocker, A/C and all. After we spoke I couldn't get it out of my head just how easy it seems to be to get these new cars to scream. Back in the day we thought a 12 second street car was a rocket ship and they sure as hell didn't idle like sewing machines with the A/C on. The point is yes, if absolute performance is what you seek, you can build a twin turbo EFI LS small block that will idle like a honda and crush anything on the Hamb but that's not why we're here. If it was all about maximum peformance, every flathead in north america would be in a dumpster. It's not just about the destination. It's how you get there.

 

My OT/DD and my rod top out at about 90. Plenty fast for me.

 

I hope my truck will be "fast" for 1957.

 

No ... but it is the fastest car I own !

 

Fast is relevant, I look up to teh banger guys breaking 100.

 

You were doing good until "horsepower is cheap". Then the believeable bus pulled out rapidly! How cheap is your horsepower? What? $1.59 a pound? Please let us know.

 

my car is fast enough for me.

Way i figure it, i built my car. Every aspect of the car i have done myself.

I have nothing to prove to anybody else.

IF they think its fast, its fast

If they think its slow, well good for them.

I built my car to drive and do burn outs. Not to race.

 

Not my car but I have thumbed through a stack of time slips from various strips on a 60's/70's Mopar full size ragtop that not only towed his buddy's "race car" 200 miles to a strip but after he dropped the trailer ran in the low twelves and then in the high elevens on the bottle. The people running the track (Belfair Wa) had a fit because he didn't have a rollbar.
The car was a stone sleeper that had been breathed on by the right people and had a combination that worked.
Most of the poser gassers we see photos of on here from rod trots are intended more for shaking the ground when they fire up rather than hooking up at the track and running good numbers. Kinda like the shiny jacked up 4x4's around town that have never been off paved roads because they might get dirty or scratched.
And no, my truck gets timed with an hour glass when I go through the quarter. It's beyond slow.

 

My FED runs mid 8's and I say thats fast, but to the guy with the 250" RED with the blown big block in the other lane I'm a turtle, who's right? What I do know is people will walk past a dozen rear engine cars to look at mine, It's different and its cool or maybe it's cool because its different, the point is build it because its what YOU love if that means your old school gasser is just a camaro with cool sheet metal your missing on of the great parts of old school hotrodding IMHO.

 

Fast is good, their never fast enough , have fun make noise, spend money what else could a car guy want..........

 

Tman yer my HERO!!!!

 

Fast? I had the needle at 110 on my '63 Dodge Custom 880 last night with some throttle left when my nerve ran out...she may not be a 1/4 mile screamer, but I've never in my life been scared when a car pulled that hard over 100mph...hell, all my other cars struggled to get over 100, but that bitch was just waking up at that point, and the motor has 82k miles and never been touched...that's plenty fast enough for me...

 

So you got your asss handed to you in the other thread

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=515398

And now you start another one to try and prove your point?

 

depends what day you go to the track I suppose, at the antique drags, driving a car to the track and running faster than 8.0 would be considered fast. trailered in, not so much

it's all 1/8th mile here so you can figure a car running 8.0 is basicly a 12.0 car in the 1/4 mile (for the sake of this discussion) if your running under 7.99, your fast

8.0 flat will beat 90% of the cars that drive to these run what you brung old car events in san diego, now on a saturday with an open track with all kinds of cars running 8.0 might beat someone, if you get lucky and race the kid running his mom's mini-van....