I'm an old guy but i have owned over 150 muscle cars and a couple of supercars in my long life. The Shelby never had 670 HP from the factory and not even close. More around 390. This guy is just saying you could build the engine up to possibly get that kind of power, but they never came from the factory with that kind of horsepower at all. That was a bit deceiving to the viewer. I had so much fun drag racing. I just love muscle cars. Thanks for the video!
I had a 68 Dodge with a 383 and my friend had a new Charger. I could do 120 (the CHP was using them at the time) but he blew my doors off even with a factory package. Both 4 barrel carbs but he just had more juice.
Poked around the comments and ain't seen some stuff brought up, so I figured I would. Tires and transmissions were a big factor in making these cars "slow." Most classic muscle cars had 3-speed automatics and 4-speed manual transmissions, so they were mostly geared very long so they got better gas mileage and were more driveable. What that means is that they can't keep their engine in the powerband as they accelerate and shift gears like a modern car with a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed DSG like that Golf R. Additionally, tire technology has evolved massively in 60 years. A lot of those classic cars were on bias ply tires, which are pretty much worse than radials than every possible way. Counter- intuitively rubber compounds are softer but the tires themselves are stiffer, meaning they have a lot more grip and handle a lot better at high speed now. Additionally, a lot of muscle cars came with very narrow tires; a 1970 Camaro came with like 215/70r15s stock, whereas a Golf R uses 235/35R19s stock. If you have wider, grippier tires, you can put down more power off the line without the wheels spinning and accelerate faster. All that said, if you take a 1970 Z/28 Camaro, swapped in a 6 speed manual transmission, a better rear gear, and some modern sporty tires, it's gonna go a good bit faster than it did 54 years ago.
What you are forgetting about horsepower is that these cars were produced 50 years ago. These horsepower numbers were impressive back then. It’s easy nowadays to produce cars with 600 horsepower. Not so easy 50 years ago
Very true and definitely something I should have considered during the time of reacting to this. Those HP numbers are INSANE for the year they were built 🙏
Not just that but just put modern tires and suspension on them and see what they would run🤘 my family runs old school muscle on the drag strip and it is amazing what the old cars do against the new with just a few upgrades
Even in modern times they sure don't make them like they used to and everything is plastic and downgraded. But that'll all change next year when we get back our real President. Bye China 🖕
The first car (GT500) didn’t have over 600hp. He said it was capable of making it. That just means you can modify the car up to that amount before you have to worry about changing anything with the engine to still withstand the power output.
My father and I took out a dying 350 cu in engine out of his 1969 Chevrolet C-10 1/2 ton truck and put in a 1971 Cadillac 472cu in engine and transmission (the Turbo 400). The truck was the only automobile he bought brand new with only 100 miles on it when he bought it. Today, the truck still runs like a champ.
Bro the way she smiled at him when he was talking about how “fast” his golf R is at 3:08 and the way she laughed when he said 1969 at 10:23 and when he set the facts at 3:31 is hilarious
First car, at 15, a "73 Dodge Charger. Bought a "68 Plymouth Sport Satelitte conv. A '67 Dodge Coronet. At 24, bought a Buick Grand National. Brand new. Currently have a "72 Dodge Challenger that I'm dropping a crate Hellcat into.
i own a '16 Golf R as a daily, a Shelby GT350 (2017) as race car, and a 09 Audi S5 as a just a car.... the R is fantastic, but it's a modern piece. What you have to remember and appreciate about the cars you're reviewing, is that some of them are 50-60 years older than your Golf R. THAT is mindblowing the performance they were packing back then....
My first car was a 1971 Pontiac Formula 400, but I installed a set of RamAir IV heads and cam, and that was a crazy powerful car. It's hard to compare cars back then with today's cars. Back then we used carburetors which was good, but nothing compared to today's fuel injection. Tire technology has increased as well. The first car I was ever in that exceeded 110mph was a friend's 69 Charger with a 440 6-Pack (3 x 2 barrel carbs, so on the streets, you were using just a single 2 barrel car, but stomp had on the gas, then the second and eventually the 3rd carb would kick in!) The Hemi's mentioned came standard from the factory with 2 x 4 barrel carbs!
My daily driver is a 2 door 1969 Impala SS. Triple black, 4 speed. I bleed muscle 😅. I've had mustangs, impalas, torinos, rancheros, a camaro, a cougar, and a GTO Judge.
Two things to take into consideration. First, 60's/70's production V8 horsepower, as opposed to European high performance strategies, came at roughly half the RPM's. The American production performance V8 was a TORQUE MONSTER. And, make no mistake, it is TORQUE which PLANTS you in the seat when you tap the gas pedal. The first car shown was never a production car, but could be special ordered from Shelby for about four to five times the price of the basic mustang and you had to have connections just to get on the waiting list for one of about ten cars made as shown in the video. Normally, when we talk American Muscle cars, we're talking about cars that teenagers who saved their money for a couple of years could buy off the show room floor. The rest of the examples shown in the video were the more optioned/expensive versions priced out of the range of most teenagers save those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. This would include all Hemi cars. However, one example was somewhat moderately priced. The 1970 Chevelle SS with the LS6 454. This was the epitome of all Chevelles made before or after. For that one year only, that engine was rated at 450 horsepower @5600 RPM. But here's the deal, maximum TORQUE was well over FIVE HUNDRED FOOT POUNDS @3600 RPM. NONE of these cars came off the showroom floor with tires anywhere NEAR approaching the kind of traction needed to keep from being shredded or melted to the rims by simply stepping on the gas pedal either from a standing start or almost any speed in any gear. It took a skilled driver to KEEP from burning up the tires. It was the tires which limited both zero to sixty as well as standing quarter mile times. With today's compounds and size options, all of these cars were on average two seconds faster through the quarter, from mid thirteens to mid elevens, with commensurately faster zero to 60 times.
I remember when Hot Rod tested an LS6. I still have the magazine. In full stock trim it it was actually faster after several runs with a hot engine. They noted that the higher underhood temp killed some of the lowend torque, allowing it to launch a bit better.
The missus has and aunt and uncle that has a 396 Chevelle. They bought it new back in 1970 and wss their daily driver back in the day. It was restored many years ago with only 155,000 miles on it the last time I inquired. Beautiful Car!!!
An Impala was not a muscle car. Some enthusiasts would argue that none of these cars except the Chevelle SS is a muscle car because they are pony cars, named that after the Mustang debuted in 1964, but I do consider them that. The most powerful ones were the Buick GSX 455 Stage 1, Chevrolet LS6 454, Oldsmobile 442 W30 455. Also note that even the same body style does not make it a muscle car, the 1969 Mustang for example had an engine range from a 120HP straight 6 cylinder to a 375HP BOSS 429.
Back in the late 1990’s, as a teenager here in Los Angeles, I’d buy and sell a bunch of these muscle cars and for dirt cheap too! Muscle cars like Chevelles, Camaros, Mustangs, El Caminos and many for under a thousand dollars. Good vid!👌👏👏
My Dad had 2 1965 GTO Tri-power Goats. The Black one he purchased when he got out of the Air Force in 1968. It had the Hurst Shifter and Tachometer. He upgraded the Cams, Heads, and exhaust. I cried when he sold it before I was about to head into the Marine Corps. I wanted that car so bad.
Those werent GTOs. Those 1964 & 1965 were Tempests with the GTO package. The GTO was released (completely separate car from the Tempest base model) in 1965 for the 1966 model year.
My 1965 Chevy van weighs 2300 pounds (1043 kg) The transplanted GM performance 383 engine produces 468 horsepower and 493 ft lb torque. That's a Power-to-weight ratio of 0.2035. For reference, A Ferrari 812 Superfast has a power-to-weight ratio of approximately 4.81 pounds per horsepower. Bonus it has a full size bed, a sink, a refrigerator and satellite TV. Perfect for when you are in a hurry to go camping!
In college I had a 1976 Buick Electra with a 455 big block. It got 9 miles to the gallon and it weighed God knows how much. It was a HUGE heavy car with two doors. But that damn engine got that thing up and going like it was weightless. I loved that car with its red cloth interior and "supernatural" cruise control. The cruise control would kick in out of the blue and scare me to death. This was the late 90's and gas was dirt cheap. It had 60K miles on it and I bought it from the original owner for $900. To this day I regret selling that car. Okay not a muscle car but still a great car.
"Hey" from Tampa, Florida ! Enjoyed y'all reaction to the Muscle Car video. The last muscle car I owned was a 1999 Pontiac Trans Am / WS6 Package with 600 HP Ram Air Induction engine and a six speed manual 3.71 ratio transmission. Top speed was only bout 130 mph, but it got there real quick My driving habits had me replacing $1,000.00 set of tires bout every 20K miles. Ahhhhh, the old days ! ;) Best of luck in planning ya near future trip to the USA. Enjoy and be safe.
I owned a few muscle cars. A 1957 Belair with a 396 cid engine, a 66 Impala SS with a 396 and a 1968 Firebird with a 400 cid engine and it was the most exciting to drive. When you opened the hood of these cars there was a generator a power steering pump and an engine. There was even room to work on the engine except the Shelby Cobra, that engine was tight. My brother owned a 68 Mustang that had a 390 engine and was most impressive. My friend had the Shelby with a 427 engine and big radial tires on the back which were unusual in those days. He would place a 50 dollar bill on the dash and if you could reach up and get it off the dash while he was going through the quarter mile you could have it. I never got one. There are G forces at play. The true beasts in those days were the hemi's and the Ford Fairlane with the 427 cid cammer engine.
My 56 chevy was a 2drhdtp it had a power pak 265 with a 3/4 cam. It was an Ed Bingeli engine. It had a 3spd with overdrive and a hurst synchro loc shifter. There was a Sun Tach on the column and Oil and Amp SW guages in the dash. It had black tuk n roll in the interior. Tge car was a factory black and white Bel Aire.
That video missed one very important engine choice for the early Camaro Z-28's. It was the DZ-302 which was a 302 c.i. destroked from a 350 c.i. block. This little monster produced upwards of 400 hp. and revved close to 7000 rpm. (from the factory), despite the fact they were only 'officially' rated at 290 hp. With some massaging of the valvetrain, upgraded ignition, and a few other go-fast parts, it was not unheard of them cranking out 480 hp. at 8500 rpm!! I had the privilege of riding in a modded '69 model DZ-302 while I was in high school in the early 70's, and it was downright scary fast!😄💪👍👍👍
The "Split window" was 1963 and came with a 327 (you could get the 360HP fuel injected version) The Corvette is not considered a Muscle car because it was a 2-seater. They would have included the Shelby Cobra as well but that was also a 2-seater and not a true muscle car.
Horsepower was measured before 1971 in gross HP, which means it was an engine tested by the SAE with no car around it, no AC, no pulleys, no exhaust, etc. It changed to what you know today as net HP, which is at the wheel. You really can't compare the eras. That BOSS 429 would do 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, a Honda sedan can do that today. But it was a lot more fun in the BOSS.
You guys should check out a video called “most insane powerful modern muscle cars in the world” for the special editions of new versions. It’s on a channel called Millie Jackson
It is funny that you said the Shelby GT500 cause I used to have a 1967 Shelby GT350 that was blue with white stripes and a 1968 Shelby GT500 that was red with white racing stripes! Unfortunately I had to sell both of them when the market crashed in 2008 to help pay my bills and my family’s bills as some of my family lost their jobs, but I hope to get another 1967/1968 shelby GT500 to rebuild. Great vid guys!
I’m an old school muscle car guy! Those Lamborghini are for the rich guys who as a lot of money to hire 6 people who charge $1,000’s of dollars to fix or work on and do the up keep! No thanks I’ll keep my old car that I can work on myself!
The '67 Chevy Impala is "Baby" to everyone in the Supernatural tv series fan base. The 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS is my ultimate muscle car dream because that's the year I was born so would love to have one.
It was a 428, not 427. Basically a Thunderbird motor with two fours. Quarter mile was very high 14's. In 68 they went to the 428 Cobra Jet which was actually a performance motor with 427 heads. Quarter mile was closer to 14 flat on a good day.
My dad had the little brother of one of those when I was a kid, he had a 69 mustang cobra jet 428 but it was built with 2 4’s sticking outta the hood! Was the car that began the family racecar business! My fastest street legal one is called a terminator mustang with quite a bit of work, fastest drag is an 86 fox with a tube chassis big tires and a nitrous fed sonnys 727! Our gti’s are around 2000cc/2l in your terminology 727ci is almost a 12l engine! PS- your girl has taste Eleanor is a very sought after car
The one of a kind '67 Shelby GT500 Super Snake prototype had a 600hp Ford 427 SOHC racing engine. But at $8K it was simply too expensive to produce 50 of them as a separate model. Instead, they offered it as an optional upgrade package for the '67/'68 GT500.
What needs to be pointed out is that the horse power of these engines were factory installed, and they were not modified. These were cars you could walk into a dealership and buy.
👍👍👍👍👍 Roy Jones Jr. The only boxer in modern history to become champion in 4 different weight classes. You guys gotta show my man some love by reacting to some of his highlights.
One thing you have to realize is that many of these have mega torque at low RPM. Even though their HP is not super impressive by today’s standards, the instantaneous snap from the 6+ liter engine is awesome.
Whoever put that video together clearly had no idea what they were doing. These are modern day power figures being used to represent 60s muscle cars that put out power figures at most maybe the mid 400s for certain top spec models from certain manufacturers. If you guys really want to know more about cars in far more accurate detail, there’s a channel called 337 Speed that does serious in detail breakdowns of popular performance cars. It’s way more reliable than watching some generic “top ten” video done by some schmuck who probably googled “how much power does a GT500 make” to get all of his information and still be wrong.
I can't believe they put a 2nd gen Camaro on the list and not a 1st gen!!! The 1969 Z28 Camaro was pretty awesome. The 69 also had a COPO version that had a 427 Cubic Inch w/ 4 speed tranny. It was pushing 425 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. Can't believe they had a 70 z28 over the 69.
Had multiple muscle cars during the early 70s. Two of more iconic were: The fastest (top end) was a 64 Tempest GTO - ther first year wearing the GTO badge. I had a 389 cid with 3x 2-barrel holley carbs. With tricked out engine ( bored and stroked to 402 cid, high lift, high duration Isky cam, Hooker custome headers, etd) was clocked at 149mph by Illinois State Police (ended up with verbal warning). Don't know actually top end, because their radr only went up to 149 mph. Unfortunately about 6 weeks later a tie rod seized an destroyed the engine block during street race. The quickest and best handling (for the day) was a 70 AAR 'Cuda with 340 cid and progressive 3x 2-bbl carbs. With some engine mods, consistently ran low 9's in quarter mile. Had a switch to disable rear lights (including brake) when outrunning the police. Never caught in the act, though they knew it my car (Plum Crazy) color. Received mulitple verbal warnings because they never proved it was me. 😁😁
What a load of BS. First of all, how does a tie rod seize and destroy an engine block? Secondly no Tri-power 340 Cuda could run close to 9's regardless of what you do to it. That is 2024 Dodge Demon territory.
There was a Shelby dealership in San Francisco. You could just buy one there. I almost bought a mustang convertible. It was the only convertible that was sent to Shelby. It was never made into a shelby. It was a factory hipo with a 4 spd and a ralley pak. I was buying it. But when the guy was delivering it a guy bought it out from under me, he offered more money. He obviously didn't appreciate what the car was. He immediately repainted it rootbeer brown and gave it to his daughter.
Big differance between old horsepower vs modern is you can take a 60s or 70s muscle car and drive it wide open across whole country without letting off any. Try that with a modern power plant and youll blow it up in just a couple hundred miles.
Shelby was a boutique builder. The z/28 was a factory car. The hp was under reported for insurance purposes. Remember this is 50 to 60 year old tech as well. How about a Deamon 170 with 900hp or the new ZR1 Corvette with 1065 hp factory. Make your little Golf to an air cooled 1600 bug.
The first Shelby Mustang prototypes were built at Shelby American's facility in Venice, California. The all American American American muscle car the Shelby Mustang GTO
Another major reason for slower 0-60 & 1/4 mile times was due to extremely poor tire technology, and suspension that was just leaf springs in the rear for most cars. That's why people do resto-mod builds.
All I got is an old Ford diesel pickup. It has a ton of torque behind that 650 ponies. There have been a few cars that have wondered how that old 3/4 ton pickup just ate their lunch. Just dreaming out loud because I always follow speed limits and laws of the road.😎😎
Remiember these car are from almost 60 years ago. They had pretty fast times for that era. And the tires were not as good for racing back then. And they were (5) passenger cars.regular production models.
I owned a dark green '69 GTO with a white vinyl roof. I loved that car but it was a gas guzzler. I went through Goodyear raised white letter G70-14 tires A couple times per year.
I owned several classic cars (at the time - classic) in my time to include 64 1/2 Mustang, 1963 Chevrolet Chevelle, and also more to include 1967 BelAir Wagon. BUT! I will never own the Fats "Vroom Vrooom", that killed me. Thanks for the Vroom Vroom Fats made my week.
One thing this video does not mention is the insane amount of torque these engines produced. usually in the 400 to 475 pounds-ft of torque. When you !ash the throttle you will be slammed into the back of your seat!
I watch Mecum Auto Sales, the was a 1967 Shelby GT that sold for 1.5 million. My Muscle car of choice would be the 1955 Bel Air. If you want see more classic American cars, check out the movie American Graffiti.
When I retire, I'm going to buy a 1970 Chevelle LS6 SS. Low miles, rotisserie restoration. And I'm going to absolutely ruin it. I'm going to daily drive it until it's nearly worthless. If I get bad health news? I'll take an exit at max speed and find a cliff or tree.
There were way more muscle cars in America than the ones they showed you and there were way more body styles for different years of each model. They didn't even scratch the surface on all of the muscle cars we had. Plus American companies made American muscle cars in other countries under subsidiary names. Like GM / Chevrolet corporation which includes Pontiac Buick Oldsmobile Chevrolet GMC Hummer and Cadillac, they had companies like Holden in Australia and all of these different American muscle car companies had cars made for specific markets like countries in South America and Australia and Canada and even Britain. There are plenty of muscle cars that we made back then that were sold in those markets and you probably think they are made by companies from those other countries but they may be made there in factories but they are basically an American company. You need to check out a video about all of those amazing muscle cars that were made for those markets as well because I would love to have some of those here in America and I wish they would have sold them here but you can have some of them imported now.
Hey guys, I had a 1969 GTO. It had 400 hp. I loved that car. I remember in college out running a psycho girl chasing me with a gun. It was my fault for calling her a fat chunk-a-lunk 😂
Alil tibit. Contrary to the move Ford vs. Ferrari, in order to get the Ford GT40 program to be a winner at Le Mans, Ford brought in NASCAR teams, like Hoolman and Moody to shoehorn in the most famous FE engine the 427 side oiler. It took their know how to turn the car into a winner. Also another lil know story, when a windshield was needed for the GT 40, at one time, Henry Ford II sent a Ford excutive on a first class fight to Europe bringing the windshield with him on the plane. The first small block that was placed into the original AC Cobra was a 260 V8 and was done by Dean Moon at Moon equipment in Santa Fe Springs CA, not far from me. Another famous garage that is still in business is AK Miller's garage in Pico Rivera CA. Southern California was not only the beginings of the Hot Rod era but had deep roots in racing.
Maybe if you built an FE motor from purely modern parts, and, fully blueprinted, and, balanced it, you MIGHT get 625HP out of it, but, no 60s 427 made anywhere near that kind of power.
I'm an old guy but i have owned over 150 muscle cars and a couple of supercars in my long life. The Shelby never had 670 HP from the factory and not even close. More around 390. This guy is just saying you could build the engine up to possibly get that kind of power, but they never came from the factory with that kind of horsepower at all. That was a bit deceiving to the viewer. I had so much fun drag racing. I just love muscle cars. Thanks for the video!
always thought under rated HP for insurance.
A factory stock FE 427 high rise dual 4 barrel had 425 horsepower.
Yes Ford partnered with Shelby to modify and upgrade the mustang to get that type of horsepower. Didn’t come from factory like that.
Wasnt it the race engine the referred to?
I had a 68 Dodge with a 383 and my friend had a new Charger. I could do 120 (the CHP was using them at the time) but he blew my doors off even with a factory package. Both 4 barrel carbs but he just had more juice.
Poked around the comments and ain't seen some stuff brought up, so I figured I would. Tires and transmissions were a big factor in making these cars "slow."
Most classic muscle cars had 3-speed automatics and 4-speed manual transmissions, so they were mostly geared very long so they got better gas mileage and were more driveable. What that means is that they can't keep their engine in the powerband as they accelerate and shift gears like a modern car with a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed DSG like that Golf R.
Additionally, tire technology has evolved massively in 60 years. A lot of those classic cars were on bias ply tires, which are pretty much worse than radials than every possible way. Counter- intuitively rubber compounds are softer but the tires themselves are stiffer, meaning they have a lot more grip and handle a lot better at high speed now. Additionally, a lot of muscle cars came with very narrow tires; a 1970 Camaro came with like 215/70r15s stock, whereas a Golf R uses 235/35R19s stock. If you have wider, grippier tires, you can put down more power off the line without the wheels spinning and accelerate faster.
All that said, if you take a 1970 Z/28 Camaro, swapped in a 6 speed manual transmission, a better rear gear, and some modern sporty tires, it's gonna go a good bit faster than it did 54 years ago.
What you are forgetting about horsepower is that these cars were produced 50 years ago. These horsepower numbers were impressive back then. It’s easy nowadays to produce cars with 600 horsepower. Not so easy 50 years ago
Very true and definitely something I should have considered during the time of reacting to this. Those HP numbers are INSANE for the year they were built 🙏
Not just that but just put modern tires and suspension on them and see what they would run🤘 my family runs old school muscle on the drag strip and it is amazing what the old cars do against the new with just a few upgrades
Even in modern times they sure don't make them like they used to and everything is plastic and downgraded. But that'll all change next year when we get back our real President. Bye China 🖕
@@yassandfats and the bodies of these cars were steel not plastic.
These cars were measured in gross HP, that stopped in 1971 when it went to net.
The first car (GT500) didn’t have over 600hp. He said it was capable of making it. That just means you can modify the car up to that amount before you have to worry about changing anything with the engine to still withstand the power output.
The 427 Holman Moody Ford had 435 hp
I owned a Camaro 71' RS and I should have never got rid of it...
My father and I took out a dying 350 cu in engine out of his 1969 Chevrolet C-10 1/2 ton truck and put in a 1971 Cadillac 472cu in engine and transmission (the Turbo 400). The truck was the only automobile he bought brand new with only 100 miles on it when he bought it. Today, the truck still runs like a champ.
Remember.
These are 1960s horse power ratings. At the time, these were some of the fastest cars on the planet in the 1960s.
Bro the way she smiled at him when he was talking about how “fast” his golf R is at 3:08 and the way she laughed when he said 1969 at 10:23 and when he set the facts at 3:31 is hilarious
Newer cars with a million horses don't feel as ballsy as an old car with 400hp.
The "grunt" of a 1970 Chevelle was visceral. 😊
First car, at 15, a "73 Dodge Charger. Bought a "68 Plymouth Sport Satelitte conv. A '67 Dodge Coronet. At 24, bought a Buick Grand National. Brand new. Currently have a "72 Dodge
Challenger that I'm dropping a crate Hellcat into.
i own a '16 Golf R as a daily, a Shelby GT350 (2017) as race car, and a 09 Audi S5 as a just a car.... the R is fantastic, but it's a modern piece. What you have to remember and appreciate about the cars you're reviewing, is that some of them are 50-60 years older than your Golf R. THAT is mindblowing the performance they were packing back then....
My first car was a 1971 Pontiac Formula 400, but I installed a set of RamAir IV heads and cam, and that was a crazy powerful car. It's hard to compare cars back then with today's cars. Back then we used carburetors which was good, but nothing compared to today's fuel injection. Tire technology has increased as well. The first car I was ever in that exceeded 110mph was a friend's 69 Charger with a 440 6-Pack (3 x 2 barrel carbs, so on the streets, you were using just a single 2 barrel car, but stomp had on the gas, then the second and eventually the 3rd carb would kick in!) The Hemi's mentioned came standard from the factory with 2 x 4 barrel carbs!
3:20 Your vw has the same horse power, but that camaro is NA probably has 400 ft lbs of torque from 2500 rpm
I grew up in theses cars....its a lifelong love! I had a 78 Trans Am with a positrac rearend....the thing was a BEAST!
My daily driver is a 2 door 1969 Impala SS. Triple black, 4 speed. I bleed muscle 😅. I've had mustangs, impalas, torinos, rancheros, a camaro, a cougar, and a GTO Judge.
cool. had a 67 ss/rs convertible camaro for 8 y4ars.
Two things to take into consideration. First, 60's/70's production V8 horsepower, as opposed to European high performance strategies, came at roughly half the RPM's. The American production performance V8 was a TORQUE MONSTER. And, make no mistake, it is TORQUE which PLANTS you in the seat when you tap the gas pedal. The first car shown was never a production car, but could be special ordered from Shelby for about four to five times the price of the basic mustang and you had to have connections just to get on the waiting list for one of about ten cars made as shown in the video. Normally, when we talk American Muscle cars, we're talking about cars that teenagers who saved their money for a couple of years could buy off the show room floor. The rest of the examples shown in the video were the more optioned/expensive versions priced out of the range of most teenagers save those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. This would include all Hemi cars. However, one example was somewhat moderately priced. The 1970 Chevelle SS with the LS6 454. This was the epitome of all Chevelles made before or after. For that one year only, that engine was rated at 450 horsepower @5600 RPM. But here's the deal, maximum TORQUE was well over FIVE HUNDRED FOOT POUNDS @3600 RPM. NONE of these cars came off the showroom floor with tires anywhere NEAR approaching the kind of traction needed to keep from being shredded or melted to the rims by simply stepping on the gas pedal either from a standing start or almost any speed in any gear. It took a skilled driver to KEEP from burning up the tires. It was the tires which limited both zero to sixty as well as standing quarter mile times. With today's compounds and size options, all of these cars were on average two seconds faster through the quarter, from mid thirteens to mid elevens, with commensurately faster zero to 60 times.
I remember when Hot Rod tested an LS6. I still have the magazine. In full stock trim it it was actually faster after several runs with a hot engine. They noted that the higher underhood temp killed some of the lowend torque, allowing it to launch a bit better.
Owned a 69 Mustang fastback with a 351 Cleveland that generated over 360 Hp . . . because it was no where near stock. Was an amazing car to drive.
The missus has and aunt and uncle that has a 396 Chevelle. They bought it new back in 1970 and wss their daily driver back in the day. It was restored many years ago with only 155,000 miles on it the last time I inquired.
Beautiful Car!!!
An Impala was not a muscle car. Some enthusiasts would argue that none of these cars except the Chevelle SS is a muscle car because they are pony cars, named that after the Mustang debuted in 1964, but I do consider them that. The most powerful ones were the Buick GSX 455 Stage 1, Chevrolet LS6 454, Oldsmobile 442 W30 455.
Also note that even the same body style does not make it a muscle car, the 1969 Mustang for example had an engine range from a 120HP straight 6 cylinder to a 375HP BOSS 429.
Back in the late 1990’s, as a teenager here in Los Angeles, I’d buy and sell a bunch of these muscle cars and for dirt cheap too! Muscle cars like Chevelles, Camaros, Mustangs, El Caminos and many for under a thousand dollars. Good vid!👌👏👏
My Dad had 2 1965 GTO Tri-power Goats. The Black one he purchased when he got out of the Air Force in 1968. It had the Hurst Shifter and Tachometer. He upgraded the Cams, Heads, and exhaust. I cried when he sold it before I was about to head into the Marine Corps. I wanted that car so bad.
Those werent GTOs. Those 1964 & 1965 were Tempests with the GTO package. The GTO was released (completely separate car from the Tempest base model) in 1965 for the 1966 model year.
@@aaronpatterson2369 Well it may have the same body but to me its a GTO.
My first car was a 79 Trans Am. I loved that car.
My 1965 Chevy van weighs 2300 pounds (1043 kg) The transplanted GM performance 383 engine produces 468 horsepower and 493 ft lb torque. That's a Power-to-weight ratio of 0.2035. For reference, A Ferrari 812 Superfast has a power-to-weight ratio of approximately 4.81 pounds per horsepower. Bonus it has a full size bed, a sink, a refrigerator and satellite TV. Perfect for when you are in a hurry to go camping!
The Trans am is the Smoky and the bandit car. A classic movie!😊
In college I had a 1976 Buick Electra with a 455 big block. It got 9 miles to the gallon and it weighed God knows how much. It was a HUGE heavy car with two doors. But that damn engine got that thing up and going like it was weightless. I loved that car with its red cloth interior and "supernatural" cruise control. The cruise control would kick in out of the blue and scare me to death. This was the late 90's and gas was dirt cheap. It had 60K miles on it and I bought it from the original owner for $900. To this day I regret selling that car. Okay not a muscle car but still a great car.
"Hey" from Tampa, Florida !
Enjoyed y'all reaction to the Muscle Car video.
The last muscle car I owned was a 1999 Pontiac Trans Am / WS6 Package with 600 HP Ram Air Induction engine and a six speed manual 3.71 ratio transmission. Top speed was only bout 130 mph, but it got there real quick My driving habits had me replacing $1,000.00 set of tires bout every 20K miles. Ahhhhh, the old days ! ;)
Best of luck in planning ya near future trip to the USA.
Enjoy and be safe.
I owned a few muscle cars. A 1957 Belair with a 396 cid engine, a 66 Impala SS with a 396 and a 1968 Firebird with a 400 cid engine and it was the most exciting to drive. When you opened the hood of these cars there was a generator a power steering pump and an engine. There was even room to work on the engine except the Shelby Cobra, that engine was tight. My brother owned a 68 Mustang that had a 390 engine and was most impressive. My friend had the Shelby with a 427 engine and big radial tires on the back which were unusual in those days. He would place a 50 dollar bill on the dash and if you could reach up and get it off the dash while he was going through the quarter mile you could have it. I never got one. There are G forces at play. The true beasts in those days were the hemi's and the Ford Fairlane with the 427 cid cammer engine.
My 56 chevy was a 2drhdtp it had a power pak 265 with a 3/4 cam. It was an Ed Bingeli engine. It had a 3spd with overdrive and a hurst synchro loc shifter. There was a Sun Tach on the column and Oil and Amp SW guages in the dash. It had black tuk n roll in the interior. Tge car was a factory black and white Bel Aire.
That video missed one very important engine choice for the early Camaro Z-28's. It was the DZ-302 which was a 302 c.i. destroked from a 350 c.i. block. This little monster produced upwards of 400 hp. and revved close to 7000 rpm. (from the factory), despite the fact they were only 'officially' rated at 290 hp. With some massaging of the valvetrain, upgraded ignition, and a few other go-fast parts, it was not unheard of them cranking out 480 hp. at 8500 rpm!! I had the privilege of riding in a modded '69 model DZ-302 while I was in high school in the early 70's, and it was downright scary fast!😄💪👍👍👍
Love that you guys are car people! They are so much fun. Currently have a 2016 Shelby GT350 and never want to give it up. Long live petrol cars.
How on earth did they not include ANY corvettes????? The ‘66 427 Split Window Corvette, one of the coolest muscle cars ever!
It's a GT rather than a muscle car. Different class.
The "Split window" was 1963 and came with a 327 (you could get the 360HP fuel injected version) The Corvette is not considered a Muscle car because it was a 2-seater. They would have included the Shelby Cobra as well but that was also a 2-seater and not a true muscle car.
Horsepower was measured before 1971 in gross HP, which means it was an engine tested by the SAE with no car around it, no AC, no pulleys, no exhaust, etc.
It changed to what you know today as net HP, which is at the wheel. You really can't compare the eras. That BOSS 429 would do 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, a Honda sedan can do that today. But it was a lot more fun in the BOSS.
Sounded a lot better too 😁
You guys should check out a video called “most insane powerful modern muscle cars in the world” for the special editions of new versions. It’s on a channel called Millie Jackson
It is funny that you said the Shelby GT500 cause I used to have a 1967 Shelby GT350 that was blue with white stripes and a 1968 Shelby GT500 that was red with white racing stripes!
Unfortunately I had to sell both of them when the market crashed in 2008 to help pay my bills and my family’s bills as some of my family lost their jobs, but I hope to get another 1967/1968 shelby GT500 to rebuild. Great vid guys!
I’m an old school muscle car guy! Those Lamborghini are for the rich guys who as a lot of money to hire 6 people who charge $1,000’s of dollars to fix or work on and do the up keep! No thanks I’ll keep my old car that I can work on myself!
I just watched Smokey and the Bandit again after many years. East Bound and Down by Jerry Reed deserves the Nobel Peace Prize!
Another sweet ride was the LeMans and Tempast, very goodlooking profile, the dual front headlamps looked bad ass!
Nothing slicker than a 67 or 68 mustang fastback.
I once owned a 1965 Buick Riviera GS Super Wildcat with a 425 cubic inch two four barrel carbs.V8 engine.Wish I still had it .
My daughter is driving around in a 400hp VW Polo It's the onle car I've ever bought that came with Dyno readings
The '67 Chevy Impala is "Baby" to everyone in the Supernatural tv series fan base.
The 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS is my ultimate muscle car dream because that's the year I was born so would love to have one.
No such thing as a 625HP engine in any 60's or 70's muscle car. That is not a Mustang engine. Stock 68-69 GT500 428 was 355 bhp.
It was a 428, not 427. Basically a Thunderbird motor with two fours. Quarter mile was very high 14's. In 68 they went to the 428 Cobra Jet which was actually a performance motor with 427 heads. Quarter mile was closer to 14 flat on a good day.
Remember though this was back in the 70's it was kindof nuts to have over 300 hp from the factory
Plymouth Superbird and Corvette Stringray should make any muscle car list as well.
My first car was. 1970 Chevelle. Many of these others cars my friends had. Life was good!
My dad had the little brother of one of those when I was a kid, he had a 69 mustang cobra jet 428 but it was built with 2 4’s sticking outta the hood! Was the car that began the family racecar business! My fastest street legal one is called a terminator mustang with quite a bit of work, fastest drag is an 86 fox with a tube chassis big tires and a nitrous fed sonnys 727! Our gti’s are around 2000cc/2l in your terminology 727ci is almost a 12l engine! PS- your girl has taste Eleanor is a very sought after car
The one of a kind '67 Shelby GT500 Super Snake prototype had a 600hp Ford 427 SOHC racing engine. But at $8K it was simply too expensive to produce 50 of them as a separate model. Instead, they offered it as an optional upgrade package for the '67/'68 GT500.
What needs to be pointed out is that the horse power of these engines were factory installed, and they were not modified. These were cars you could walk into a dealership and buy.
I've heard that one cylinder on these have the same displacement as a entire mini Cooper engine
Can’t believe they didn’t even bring up the Buick grand national GNX
👍👍👍👍👍
Roy Jones Jr. The only boxer in modern history to become champion in 4 different weight classes. You guys gotta show my man some love by reacting to some of his highlights.
One thing you have to realize is that many of these have mega torque at low RPM. Even though their HP is not super impressive by today’s standards, the instantaneous snap from the 6+ liter engine is awesome.
Whoever put that video together clearly had no idea what they were doing. These are modern day power figures being used to represent 60s muscle cars that put out power figures at most maybe the mid 400s for certain top spec models from certain manufacturers. If you guys really want to know more about cars in far more accurate detail, there’s a channel called 337 Speed that does serious in detail breakdowns of popular performance cars. It’s way more reliable than watching some generic “top ten” video done by some schmuck who probably googled “how much power does a GT500 make” to get all of his information and still be wrong.
Just say no to schmucks.
I can't believe they put a 2nd gen Camaro on the list and not a 1st gen!!! The 1969 Z28 Camaro was pretty awesome. The 69 also had a COPO version that had a 427 Cubic Inch w/ 4 speed tranny. It was pushing 425 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. Can't believe they had a 70 z28 over the 69.
Had multiple muscle cars during the early 70s. Two of more iconic were:
The fastest (top end) was a 64 Tempest GTO - ther first year wearing the GTO badge. I had a 389 cid with 3x 2-barrel holley carbs. With tricked out engine ( bored and stroked to 402 cid, high lift, high duration Isky cam, Hooker custome headers, etd) was clocked at 149mph by Illinois State Police (ended up with verbal warning). Don't know actually top end, because their radr only went up to 149 mph. Unfortunately about 6 weeks later a tie rod seized an destroyed the engine block during street race.
The quickest and best handling (for the day) was a 70 AAR 'Cuda with 340 cid and progressive 3x 2-bbl carbs. With some engine mods, consistently ran low 9's in quarter mile. Had a switch to disable rear lights (including brake) when outrunning the police. Never caught in the act, though they knew it my car (Plum Crazy) color. Received mulitple verbal warnings because they never proved it was me. 😁😁
What a load of BS. First of all, how does a tie rod seize and destroy an engine block? Secondly no Tri-power 340 Cuda could run close to 9's regardless of what you do to it. That is 2024 Dodge Demon territory.
In those days the warranty was honored by the manufacturers. My friend had a Mercury Cyclone CJ and he went through 6 engines that Ford paid for.
The 71 hemi cuda convertible sells for over 3 million dollars as they only made 8
I been to Europe and it turns there is alot of fans of muscle cars in The U.K, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Romania, and France
There was a Shelby dealership in San Francisco. You could just buy one there. I almost bought a mustang convertible. It was the only convertible that was sent to Shelby. It was never made into a shelby. It was a factory hipo with a 4 spd and a ralley pak. I was buying it. But when the guy was delivering it a guy bought it out from under me, he offered more money. He obviously didn't appreciate what the car was. He immediately repainted it rootbeer brown and gave it to his daughter.
I had a 70 Chevelle, 70 and 71 Firebirds, 68 Goat, and a 68 Mustang a long time ago. If we knew then what we know now right.
Buick GSX, Olds 442, Plymouth Roadrunner, AMC Javelin, Mercury Cyclone...there were tons of muscle cars in the late 60s & early 70s.
Big differance between old horsepower vs modern is you can take a 60s or 70s muscle car and drive it wide open across whole country without letting off any.
Try that with a modern power plant and youll blow it up in just a couple hundred miles.
You should do a whole video on the Corvette C7 Z06. Such a great car.
Shelby was a boutique builder. The z/28 was a factory car. The hp was under reported for insurance purposes. Remember this is 50 to 60 year old tech as well. How about a Deamon 170 with 900hp or the new ZR1 Corvette with 1065 hp factory. Make your little Golf to an air cooled 1600 bug.
The first Shelby Mustang prototypes were built at Shelby American's facility in Venice, California. The all American American American muscle car the Shelby Mustang GTO
All the 65 and 66 GT350's were built in Venice.
My all time favorite was the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner....
Shelby GT 500, great taste in cars!
You don't put hydraulics on a muscle car 😂
Fats will 😂
@@yassandfats 😅😅😅😅
Oh God no!!!! Please no!
Impala?
The thing about the big American engines was the amount of torque they produced. Just about anything over 400 cubic inches was called a torque monster
You’re probably thinking of the car from “Gone in 60 seconds”
Check out the cars designed by George Barris, one of his car designs was the original Batmobile.
Another major reason for slower 0-60 & 1/4 mile times was due to extremely poor tire technology, and suspension that was just leaf springs in the rear for most cars. That's why people do resto-mod builds.
The first Shelby was a car someone personally modified
Beautiful car
The first black one was stock, the black 2nd one was modified.
There are a lot of drag racing vids on RUclips showing sportsman racing the cars they use are mostly muscle cars from that time period
All I got is an old Ford diesel pickup. It has a ton of torque behind that 650 ponies. There have been a few cars that have wondered how that old 3/4 ton pickup just ate their lunch. Just dreaming out loud because I always follow speed limits and laws of the road.😎😎
I had a 1967 Cadillac hearse with 427 and a 73 hearse wiTH a 472 engine ❤😊
Remiember these car are from almost 60 years ago. They had pretty fast times for that era. And the tires were not as good for racing back then. And they were (5) passenger cars.regular production models.
I owned a dark green '69 GTO with a white vinyl roof. I loved that car but it was a gas guzzler. I went through Goodyear raised white letter G70-14 tires A couple times per year.
I had the Chevelle SS
1967 mustang GT500 Eleanor from the movie gone in 60 seconds is the only one classic car i wish i had
I love you kids. Awesome video. I own a 67 GT500 and a ‘21 Mach 1. Love that you young kids love American Muscle. ❤
I owned several classic cars (at the time - classic) in my time to include 64 1/2 Mustang, 1963 Chevrolet Chevelle, and also more to include 1967 BelAir Wagon. BUT! I will never own the Fats "Vroom Vrooom", that killed me. Thanks for the Vroom Vroom Fats made my week.
Chevelle came out in '64.
One thing this video does not mention is the insane amount of torque these engines produced. usually in the 400 to 475 pounds-ft of torque. When you !ash the throttle you will be slammed
into the back of your seat!
That Charger is SWEET!!!!!
And today people are racing Honda Civics with a 2 liter put out 2,000 hp. That’s 500 hp per cylinder.
I watch Mecum Auto Sales, the was a 1967 Shelby GT that sold for 1.5 million. My Muscle car of choice would be the 1955 Bel Air. If you want see more classic American cars, check out the movie American Graffiti.
Did she really say that she would put hydraulics on a Dodge Charger! BLASPHEMY!!!!!
I'd like to see you guys react to the show (Battle 360 USS Enterprise) it's a great show and not many have ever reacted to it
I’m surprised they left out the Buick Grand National.
A video like this without the cars' sounds, should be illegal.
how big the power band is in the rpms matters not just the peak hp rating.
When I retire, I'm going to buy a 1970 Chevelle LS6 SS. Low miles, rotisserie restoration. And I'm going to absolutely ruin it. I'm going to daily drive it until it's nearly worthless. If I get bad health news? I'll take an exit at max speed and find a cliff or tree.
You can't take it with you? Maybe you can get buried in it. Good Luck and God Bless. I like your way of thinking.
You're going to need a stage 3 kit to be my American muscle car
Well Yass you my lady have good taste. May you achieve your dream.
American Muscle Cars are
absolutely Awesome🤘 Especially the old school 🏴☠️🔥MOPAR 💪🔥🏴☠️
Yeah I didn't see nothing in there about the 63s 6465 mopars does the 413 or the 426 wedge they had some torque
There were way more muscle cars in America than the ones they showed you and there were way more body styles for different years of each model. They didn't even scratch the surface on all of the muscle cars we had. Plus American companies made American muscle cars in other countries under subsidiary names. Like GM / Chevrolet corporation which includes Pontiac Buick Oldsmobile Chevrolet GMC Hummer and Cadillac, they had companies like Holden in Australia and all of these different American muscle car companies had cars made for specific markets like countries in South America and Australia and Canada and even Britain. There are plenty of muscle cars that we made back then that were sold in those markets and you probably think they are made by companies from those other countries but they may be made there in factories but they are basically an American company. You need to check out a video about all of those amazing muscle cars that were made for those markets as well because I would love to have some of those here in America and I wish they would have sold them here but you can have some of them imported now.
this was awsome ty gto yes fats i gree when you guys come to amercia check out cars shows bye
Aw, hell yeah! EveryBody knows that...and they don't smell like saurkraut!!!😮😂😂😂
Hey guys, I had a 1969 GTO. It had 400 hp. I loved that car. I remember in college out running a psycho girl chasing me with a gun. It was my fault for calling her a fat chunk-a-lunk 😂
Alil tibit. Contrary to the move Ford vs. Ferrari, in order to get the Ford GT40 program to be a winner at Le Mans, Ford brought in NASCAR teams, like Hoolman and Moody to shoehorn in the most famous FE engine the 427 side oiler. It took their know how to turn the car into a winner. Also another lil know story, when a windshield was needed for the GT 40, at one time, Henry Ford II sent a Ford excutive on a first class fight to Europe bringing the windshield with him on the plane. The first small block that was placed into the original AC Cobra was a 260 V8 and was done by Dean Moon at Moon equipment in Santa Fe Springs CA, not far from me. Another famous garage that is still in business is AK Miller's garage in Pico Rivera CA. Southern California was not only the beginings of the Hot Rod era but had deep roots in racing.
Maybe if you built an FE motor from purely modern parts, and, fully blueprinted, and, balanced it, you MIGHT get 625HP out of it, but, no 60s 427 made anywhere near that kind of power.