mespock said:
Wasn't it the Cuda that holds the fastest 1/4 time?
Man...I feel old now....I remember these cars running around.
Anyway, the 440 'Cuda was pretty hot, would run high 13's around 100 MPH pretty consistantly, the Hemi version might beat it if it was driven perfectly, but it had two 4-barrel carbs, would run on the primary of the rear carb under light throttle, then as you opened up the linkage, the front carb would open the primary, then, if you pushed it harder, BOTH carbs would open up the secondaries at the same time. If you did not balance it properly, you would either bog pretty badly or liquify the rear tires. Real hard to drive quickly.
Cobra's were rare, I never, ever saw one on the street. Chrysler/Plymouth really were the ticket for muscle car power. Relatively light with the 440 engines available in a lot of platforms. The '70 GM cars did pretty good. Chevelle with an L78 or an LS6 was about the fastest Chevy. Buick had unbelievable results from the 455 GS cars, Oldsmobile did slightly worse as they had a strange bore/stroke ratio, neither built for torque or horsepower, sorta a mix of the two instead of concentrating on one or the other, never really worked that well. Ford had a knack for taking excellant engine specs and getting really, really crappy results from them. Aside from the 429 CJ engines, any Ford would pretty much get eaten alive on the street.
The AMC 390 cars did very well, but also rare. They were very light.
I would put the LS5/LS6 Chevelle's on top, then the GS Buick's, then the Mopars, then the AMC cars. Most of the 'muscle' cars struggled to get in the high 90's as a trap speed. The good old days weren't that good.