'64 Cuda
Well-Known Member
Had to take the kids shopping out of town last night & it was almost 10:30 when we got home. Got ready to settle down & watch people waste their money at Barret Jackson. As I was flipping channels I came across a show I hadn't heard of before on the National Geographic Channel. Didn't catch the name but it was kind of like the Wrecks To Riches show but with different people.
They had found a 1969 Z28 in a junkyard or something. Pretty much just a shell, but it had a couple of -- marks or something where the paint code should have been on the body tag. They said this meant that you had to know somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody at GM because this let you order the car in any GM color. They sanded down to find the original color & then completely restored the car. They did EVERYTHING down to ordering correct nuts & bolts, finding some rare 302 Z engine block etc. to bring this car back to as new. Built the engine & dyno tested it at 400 something horsepower. The main guy said he probably had over $100,000 in the car when they were done.
The idea was to take it to an auction & get the money back, but they wanted to be able to say the car was "Track Tested" before they sold it. The show tried to make a big deal about the risk they were taking by drag racing the car, & how they could wreck it or damage the motor or whatever. Showed a video 3 or 4 times of a similar car hitting the wall in a race.
So, they ran the car & it did a 16 something quarter at 88. something mph. They were happy & the announcer said that was "Pretty Snappy" performance. Then they ran it against a 1969 Mach I. They didn't show any numbers that I saw but the Mach I blew the Camaro away.
Then they took it to the auction & he finally lifted his reserve & the car sold for $60,000 something.
Now my question. 16 something at 88 mph???? Am I losing it? Is it because it didn't have headers? I seem to remember those cars running better than that. We might have been off in our numbers but it was pretty much a given that you needed to run in the 14's or you were going to be laughed at. But even high 15's if you were a second off or just overly optimistic about what you could run. 16 plus for a 302 Z28? Pretty Snappy? Am I just getting old & senile?
They had found a 1969 Z28 in a junkyard or something. Pretty much just a shell, but it had a couple of -- marks or something where the paint code should have been on the body tag. They said this meant that you had to know somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody at GM because this let you order the car in any GM color. They sanded down to find the original color & then completely restored the car. They did EVERYTHING down to ordering correct nuts & bolts, finding some rare 302 Z engine block etc. to bring this car back to as new. Built the engine & dyno tested it at 400 something horsepower. The main guy said he probably had over $100,000 in the car when they were done.
The idea was to take it to an auction & get the money back, but they wanted to be able to say the car was "Track Tested" before they sold it. The show tried to make a big deal about the risk they were taking by drag racing the car, & how they could wreck it or damage the motor or whatever. Showed a video 3 or 4 times of a similar car hitting the wall in a race.
So, they ran the car & it did a 16 something quarter at 88. something mph. They were happy & the announcer said that was "Pretty Snappy" performance. Then they ran it against a 1969 Mach I. They didn't show any numbers that I saw but the Mach I blew the Camaro away.
Then they took it to the auction & he finally lifted his reserve & the car sold for $60,000 something.
Now my question. 16 something at 88 mph???? Am I losing it? Is it because it didn't have headers? I seem to remember those cars running better than that. We might have been off in our numbers but it was pretty much a given that you needed to run in the 14's or you were going to be laughed at. But even high 15's if you were a second off or just overly optimistic about what you could run. 16 plus for a 302 Z28? Pretty Snappy? Am I just getting old & senile?