I am curious as to how much this writer actually knows about what he wrote in the article below. Please share your real life experiences from back in the day you had with the Hemi cuda or challenger and LS6 454 chevelles.
What Is the Most Overrated Muscle Car?
First of all I think gregcon hit it right on – articles written to push folks buttons to get clicks & ad exposure.
That said here is how I would look at it:
The ZL1 was a great combo but not a street car. First of all, with less than 100 made, it just doesn’t count. I am doing a big road test / NHRA / computer-assisted comparo right now of street and NHRA performance from the 1960s. I don’t count anything unless 1000 or more were made in a year, so even the Boss429 doesn’t make the cut. The ZL1? Well then we’d have to count the Max Wedge, Thunderbolt, even the real Hemi-Cuda, the 1968-69. Those weren’t street cars nor could the average person get one. And you’d have to sell your house to afford a ZL1 for that matter. A Cobra Roadster cost about the same.
I felt the following met the article’s criteria plus that one more of mine: 1000 or more made. I then found all the 4speed road tests in my data base, took the average, and the low & high MPH. I did not count cars with headers, open exhaust, or other mods. Headers make a HUGE difference on any of these cars because the exhaust iron just couldn’t handle the 400-plus HP level.
In place of the ZL1, I used the COPO Chevelle. Over 1000 Chevelle+Camaro COPO cars were made in 1969 so I feel it’s fair to at least count the slower of the two. And the Chev L72, like the Hemi, was in fact streetable and you SAW them on the street (not just at car shows & museums like today). I put the Boss 429 in here but do not count it in my study for the same reason – less than 1000 made in a year, and I never saw one on the street. Instead I added the 429scj as Ford’s top street engine; the heavy weight hurt these cars but at least they were there on the street and you could get one. Ford gets the top award for great engines you could never dream of having.
N= Number of Road Tests I took the average of. Note I only have 5 4spd Hemi tests but 24 Hemi automatic road tests. Go figure. GHP=Gross Horsepower, Gonkulated since we all know what ratings meant.
ET……..MPH………LOW-HIGH…..N…….GHP……Car
13.36 at 110.50……110-111……2……483……ZL1/L88 (same car weight) – I don’t count these
13.59 at 105.77……104-109……5……465…..426 Hemi 4spd, all
13.68 at 105.44……103-107……6……421……429 Boss – I don’t count this one either
13.62 at 105.17……101-108…..6…….450……COPO Chevelle
13.59 at 104.40……100-108…..6…….440……LS6 Chevelle
13.78 at 102.72……..99-107…..8..….405……429scj
15.01 at 97.28……...94-101…..5…...326……z28 STOCK road tests.
I find you cant just cherry-pick single road tests to make a point - the MPH are all over the place.
A lot of the real differences showed up in NHRA Stock, Superstock, and AHRA. Take a look at some of the MPH there – the Ford 427 probably dominated Stock class, 120-127mph on multiple occasions. The Hemi surpassed even Ford’s 129mph in Superstock – the SS Hemi-Cudas (the 68-69) turned 130-134mph. 427 Chev’s turning 126mph in AHRA F1/SS (multi-carb) but I don’t see the Rat motors really taking on the cross-bolted Fords or Hemis. These are MPH from “back in the day”, pre-1972. It is all different today of course.
Again though, you could go to the dealer and GET yourself a Street Hemi car- over 10,000 were made from 1966-71. You could NOT get a 427 Ford, not after the heavy Low-Riser Galaxies of 1963-64. Way too few made, only about 200 per year.
Overrated? Well on price, yes. I think the folks bidding $2,000,000 on ANY car are in la-la land. The whole thing about the muscle car era is these cars were CHEAP. Hemis and Shelbys were considered pricey because they cost “almost $5000” – which is like $30,000 today, about the price of your average soccer-van. CHEAP. I think it’s just nostalgia – remembering the era.
Hope this helps - from a non-Mopar guy (only had one), so no bias!
