Fitting your screen name is 427FE, the Ford engine was not the newest, but it found a home in another classic performance vehicle the 427 Shelby Cobra. The VMax and the 427 Shelby Cobra are two great performance icons.
The article makes a great read.
https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1985/5/1/v-max-vs-427-cobra
The idea for the 0-100 mph-0 mph had its creation when Aston-Martin wanted to display their GT's all-around sporting abilities, and around 1960, they advertised their
gran turismo as capable of accelerating to 100 mph from a standstill, and then being able to brake back to 0 in an elapsed time of 25 seconds. Now recall that the cars of that time were not especially fast, the biggest Ford was a 406 cu. in. engine, the performance-leader Chevy was sung-about by the Beach Boys, the 409, and the Mopar was the 413 cu. in. 'wedge.' American Motors had a 327, and no, it was
not "the same as" the Chevy, and besides, they were busy beating the Big Three to the compact car marketplace with the Nash Rambler in the 1950's, also the Metropolitan, and the American, first offered in 1958. Known as Rambler, and then AMC, their cars were advertised as 'sensible cars,' as the CEO referred to them; the Rambler SC/Rambler, the AMX and the Rebel called 'The Machine' (capable of 14 second 1/4 miles off the showroom floor) performance models were almost a decade in the future. Even their import-fighter Gremlin was available with a V8, and it could do high 13 second 1/4 mile runs as stock. Like specialist tuners Callaway, Steeda, Yenko, Baldwin Motion Performance, Royal (Oak MI) Pontiac, (Mister Norm) Grand Spaulding Dodge, Jack Roush, Lingenfelter, Saleen, and Hennessey, and others, you could buy parts for turning your car into a dragstrip terror, or at-least, something far from what it was capable of, off the showroom floor.
That 25 seconds 0-100-0 was admirable, for the Aston-Martin which had its roots in the 1950's. An American car's drum brakes would be pretty-much used-up by the time it made it to 100 mph and braked back to a standstill. Trying a successive run to 100 mph and another brake effort to 0 would reveal the pitiable state of the brakes on most cars. Sure there were 'police' options for wider, better-compound drum brakes, also known as 'fleet-use,' but most cars' abilities in this type of performance contest would be producing noticeably longer distances for the second stop and accompanied by acrid fumes evident to the intrepid driver abusing their domestic car's stopping power.
If you saw
Ferrari vs. Ford, you know 'who is Ken Miles.' He was the guy who drove the Shelby Ford 427 Cobra from 0-100 mph-0 in 13.8 seconds. Quite an improvement on the 'gentleman's express' Aston-Martin, but the Aston-Martin also had two more seats, but they were more for children than adults.
Bottom line the Shelby Ford 427 Cobra is a historic benchmark in performance. So is the VMax.
