Car and Driver 1964 road test

[Fire-medic]

I was still several years shy of legally driving when this was published, but I read the magazine every month, and when September came-around every year, I made my Dad take me to the local new car showrooms to see the latest cars.

This was a real 'finger in the eye' to the imported cars of the time which were classed as 'performance cars,' because the very idea that a car company primarily known for extolling its "Wide-track" look instead of an extreme number of cylinders, Weber carbs, and hand-formed body panels in steel and aluminum, could even be mentioned in the same breath much-less actually beat one of these European sports cars, was heresy of the highest order. "Surrender your string-backed driving gloves, right-now! "

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/pontiac-tempest-gto-archived-road-test

Here is one of the articles which put Car and Driver on the map, journalistically-speaking. The fact that they dared to take on Ferrari with a MI-built production car was hard for many people to swallow. Was it prepped by Royal Bobcat of Lansing MI? Did it bear some cheater mods to enhance its performance? So-what? It shook-up the establishment, and motor-journalism was never really the same. Read the article, and see for yourself what the furor was all-about.

The fact that today, nearly 50 years later, this article is still remembered, and spoken-of, means that it will probably outlast Kanye West in popularity, relevance, and influence. No Sex-tape Mamma required!:rofl_200:

Yeah, I know, Nick Mason has two, and they're worth $20,000,000+ apiece, but if you owned a Ferrari GTO, would you dare to drive it on the street, knowing the texting, makeup-applying, cellphone using idiots allowed to operate a 5000 lb 350 hp SUV-bomb?

 

[The Beekeeper]

Awsome link FM!!...........I love those kind of articles...............Tom.

 

[Fire-medic]

Here's another one, and the outcome may surprise you! Viper vs. YZF1000R Yamaha, from 1996. Tested on the street and at Willow Springs, besides the drag strip.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/dodge-viper-gts-vs-yamaha-yzf1000r-archived-road-test

 

[Fire-medic]

Anyone who was driving in 1970-era cars remembers these vehicles, one of the most-fun cars on the road at the time. Fun to drive, good gas economy, and affordable to anyone with decent credit.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/ford-capri-1600-archived-road-test

The pushrod 1600 Ford engine was also used as the basis for the Lotus Seven, one of the best-handling cars of the era, and still available today, from Caterham.

An upgrade was the SOHC 2000 cc Ford, which made more power than the pushrod 1600, without weighing significantly-more, as-did the V-6 2600 cc Ford which was the top option. The V-6 was too-much weight, it affected the handling, and was nowhere-near as-fun to drive as the two liter four, or the 1600. The fours were snappy and quick to rev, the six was just not the smart enthusiast's choice.

In my family, we had a new Capri two liter, and my mom liked it so-much they bought a V-6 slightly-used a couple of years later to replace a Toyota they had purchased new, and were ready to get something sportier. The two liter was the one I liked to drive. The driver's seat was a good place to be, a clean, uncluttered dash, a good shifter, and a prominent tach. And rear wheel drive!

 

[CrackerRican]

Here's another one, and the outcome may surprise you! Viper vs. YZF1000R Yamaha, from 1996. Tested on the street and at Willow Springs, besides the drag strip.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/dodge-viper-gts-vs-yamaha-yzf1000r-archived-road-test

Thanks for the link, that was a great read

 

[Fire-medic]

For those of you who live or die by brand loyalty, here is a great read, also Car and Driver. It features two of the iconic brands of Detroit-Chevy vs. Ford, Camaro vs. Mustang. And better yet, from the time just-before the federal emissions cut the knees off the legs of these pony cars. You know these are special, you had to know the codes to COPO-order the homologation specials. You know these are special when either one outruns at the strip the hallowed icon of the day, a 1970 454 Corvette! And these have Trans-Am race series 305 cubic inch engines! Maybe the for the time stratospheric combustion ratios (11:1 Chevy, 12.5:1 Ford) has something to do with it, and the two-four barrel manifolds? Read how Sam Posey wrings-out these cars at Lime Rock, and how he steps out of a Group 7 race car to track test these, and still leaves impressed!

http://www.caranddriver.com/compari...-vs-chevrolet-camaro-z-28-archived-comparison

Here's what Sam Posey was driving against, the Chapparal Group 7 car which had one of the first, most-innovative "ground-effects" body designs, two, two-stroke "sucker-fans" which created negative lift from under the car, holding-onto the road like a lamprey eel, attaching itself to the Great Lakes fish, the lamprey being the scourge of the Great Lakes at the time. Soon outlawed, that Chapparal.

 

[m-cman]

In 1964 I bought a new special order GTO convertible. My first new car. Triple black, no power steering, brakes or ac. Had all the performance options including "handling kit", positraction, quick steering ratio, etc. Was a bear to drive slow with quicker steering and no ps and the brakes took a monster push to activate. However no one came close to beating me in street racing. A 1963 Corvette SS396 porcupine head, 409 Chevy's, etc. Was a monster.

Had two problems though. Tore up the trans at less than 3000 miles. The dealer asking if I had been racing but fixed under warranty anyway. The other was got 9 moving violations in 6 months. Had to get a lawyer and go to court to keep license. Paid tons of fees and fines and got on probation for a year. ANY ticket and would lose license. Had to sell the GTO and bought a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible with a 2 barrel carb V8 with automatic trans. Can't remember but think it was 352 ci. What a let down!

Shortly thereafter got draft notice and had to let the Ford go back to the bank. Didn't get dinged on credit because of being drafted though.

 

[Fire-medic]

Your Poncho sounds like a fun car. The article speaks about the manual steering vs power steering for the GTO. Also mentions the taxi-brakes which were the heavy-duty metallic drums. I had a '67 GTO convertible in the '70's and sold it for 3X what I paid for it.

There never was a '63 Corvette 396. The 396 was an engine they developed and gave to Smoky Yunick of Daytona Beach FL to run at the Daytona 500. His car was a 9/10 version of the standard race-homologated car of the day, and it had the every-which-way valve stems that earned it the nickname "porcupine-head," because of the shape of the combustion chamber.

Between the smaller body, and the no-one-else gets-one unique Chevy engine, that was the epitome of the NASCAR cheating. It worked to good effect on the superspeedway banks, and put a scare into the other racers. At the same time, Chevy was helping TX racer Jim Hall with the engineering on his Chapparal sports-racing cars. Aluminum V-8 blocks, Powerglide transmissions for sports-racing cars (the sacrilege!) aerodynamic ideas so-far ahead of the field, it took them several races just to figure-out what to do about it, all for the benefit of "win on Sunday, sell cars on Monday!"

Without looking it up, I think the first time the 396 was available was in 1965 for the '66 cars.

 

[cgswss]

I was still several years shy of legally driving when this was published, but I read the magazine every month, and when September came-around every year, I made my Dad take me to the local new car showrooms to see the latest cars.

This was a real 'finger in the eye' to the imported cars of the time which were classed as 'performance cars,' because the very idea that a car company primarily known for extolling its "Wide-track" look instead of an extreme number of cylinders, Weber carbs, and hand-formed body panels in steel and aluminum, could even be mentioned in the same breath much-less actually beat one of these European sports cars, was heresy of the highest order. "Surrender your string-backed driving gloves, right-now! "

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/pontiac-tempest-gto-archived-road-test

Here is one of the articles which put Car and Driver on the map, journalistically-speaking. The fact that they dared to take on Ferrari with a MI-built production car was hard for many people to swallow. Was it prepped by Royal Bobcat of Lansing MI? Did it bear some cheater mods to enhance its performance? So-what? It shook-up the establishment, and motor-journalism was never really the same. Read the article, and see for yourself what the furor was all-about.

The fact that today, nearly 50 years later, this article is still remembered, and spoken-of, means that it will probably outlast Kanye West in popularity, relevance, and influence. No Sex-tape Mamma required!:rofl_200:

Yeah, I know, Nick Mason has two, and they're worth $20,000,000+ apiece, but if you owned a Ferrari GTO, would you dare to drive it on the street, knowing the texting, makeup-applying, cellphone using idiots allowed to operate a 5000 lb 350 hp SUV-bomb?

I had one of these (mine was red) that I bought directly from Royal Pontaic in Royal Oak (not Lansing) MI. Mine had the "street blueprint bobcat treatment" This was really the "cheater" bobcat treatment. It included decking the block and CCing the heads. For anyone that dosen't know, when they CCed the heads they would do a multi angle valve job, then adjust the volume (by cutting the valves deeper where required). Once all the chambers hold the exact same volume (cc of liquid) they take a cut on the head to make sure they are 100% flat. On my car this "clean up" cut was .035". In other words they milled the heads. Mine wore headers and a turbo hydormatic trans. (the trans that came in the car was a two speed- big improvement switch trans) The little GTO was so quick that the NHRA had to make a new class. They were legal "B stock" cars, but they were so fast that the "other" B Stock cars (Read street hemi) insisted the NHRA create a new double B stock class just for GTOs. I won a trophy just about every weekend with that car (Remember Detroit dragway). Of course Friday and sometimes Saturday nights on Woodward was the most fun. Can't believe what we got away with back in those days! Teds to the Totem Pole, with a stop at the Big Boy inbetween. Those were the days my friend!

 

[Fire-medic]

Yeah, you're right, it was Royal Oak for Royal Pontiac. Jim Wangers, a P.R. person for GM, was a champion of Pontiac's performance image and encouraged Royal Pontiac efforts. Wangers is the guy responsible for the idea of getting studio musicians together to make the song "GTO," and Thom McAn Shoes to come-out with a shoe called the "GTO." He is still around, and has written about the glory days of Pontiac, and the demise when the brand was run into the ground.

My best friend from college in MI is about to retire from the GM Tech Center. He grew up in Birmingham, and his mom had a GTO in the '60's, when he got his license. We used-to cruise Woodward when we went to his house on weekends from college. The variety of what was on the streets was amazing, and now you see a lot of the same cars during the Dream Cruise.

Your car sounds like a fun thing to have, then or now. Yes, like the Mary Hopkins song, "those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end."

 

[m-cman]

Your Poncho sounds like a fun car. The article speaks about the manual steering vs power steering for the GTO. Also mentions the taxi-brakes which were the heavy-duty metallic drums. I had a '67 GTO convertible in the '70's and sold it for 3X what I paid for it.

There never was a '63 Corvette 396. The 396 was an engine they developed and gave to Smoky Yunick of Daytona Beach FL to run at the Daytona 500. His car was a 9/10 version of the standard race-homologated car of the day, and it had the every-which-way valve stems that earned it the nickname "porcupine-head," because of the shape of the combustion chamber.

Between the smaller body, and the no-one-else gets-one unique Chevy engine, that was the epitome of the NASCAR cheating. It worked to good effect on the superspeedway banks, and put a scare into the other racers. At the same time, Chevy was helping TX racer Jim Hall with the engineering on his Chapparal sports-racing cars. Aluminum V-8 blocks, Powerglide transmissions for sports-racing cars (the sacrilege!) aerodynamic ideas so-far ahead of the field, it took them several races just to figure-out what to do about it, all for the benefit of "win on Sunday, sell cars on Monday!"

Without looking it up, I think the first time the 396 was available was in 1965 for the '66 cars.

It was a 65 not 63. Bad typist. Thought I remembered a SS396 emblem on the car but may have just been 396. It was not a split window coupe. Was a beautiful car though. Bright red. He was po'ed when I beat him. Mine was a lot like the one in the picture above but black interior and plain wheels with chrome hub "caps" not wheel covers. Really a bad daily driver due to no ps, pb or ac. Especially bad with no ac in a black car in Texas.

 

[The Beekeeper]

The 396 was available to the 65 model year cars as was still the 409 which went away for 66............The SS "Super Sport" package was never a Corvette option.......................Tom...................Every Chevell SS equiped between 66 and 70 was big block powered!

 

[Dr.n2o]

ThE 64 Goat to many enthusiasts was considered the first "muscle" car. It is basically a mini Catalina which were beautiful cars themselves. Chevy also did the same thing with the impala in 67' and the Chevelle was the mini version. It's pretty cool how they offered SS packages for both. The Catalina also had a sport package known as the 2+2 which was the 421, 4 speed and all the goodies you could get in a big ol' boat.

 

[Fire-medic]

You could get the 396 in the Biscayne instead of the Impala, much lighter, and better for drag racing.

The Bel Air and Impala could be ordered w/the 409 in the early '60's, as Tom said.

The GM midsize bodies, the F85, Skylark, Chevelle, and Tempest, all had engines unique to their brands. Stuffing their midsize and big block V-8's into them created a halo-effect for selling all those inline 4's, 6's, and V-6's, and lots of smallblock V-8's w/two-bbl carbs. The GM performance push came earlier for the Corvette running Rochester mechanical fuel injection, 283 HP from 283 cu. in. in '57. Buick ran a turbocharged aluminum V-6 in the Skylark before the muscle cars, and Corvairs ran a turbo in their Spyders, 150 HP from 145 cu. in. (I had one, a convertible). Pontiac had fuel-injection for the Bonnevilles in '57/'58, and three deuces, if you were willing to pay the hefty premium.

 

[invalidsession]

Anyone who was driving in 1970-era cars remembers these vehicles, one of the most-fun cars on the road at the time. Fun to drive, good gas economy, and affordable to anyone with decent credit.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/ford-capri-1600-archived-road-test

The pushrod 1600 Ford engine was also used as the basis for the Lotus Seven, one of the best-handling cars of the era, and still available today, from Caterham.

An upgrade was the SOHC 2000 cc Ford, which made more power than the pushrod 1600, without weighing significantly-more, as-did the V-6 2600 cc Ford which was the top option. The V-6 was too-much weight, it affected the handling, and was nowhere-near as-fun to drive as the two liter four, or the 1600. The fours were snappy and quick to rev, the six was just not the smart enthusiast's choice.

In my family, we had a new Capri two liter, and my mom liked it so-much they bought a V-6 slightly-used a couple of years later to replace a Toyota they had purchased new, and were ready to get something sportier. The two liter was the one I liked to drive. The driver's seat was a good place to be, a clean, uncluttered dash, a good shifter, and a prominent tach. And rear wheel drive!

I had a Daytona yellow Capri 3000 GXL very similar to the one in your picture. I never heard of a 2.6 liter though. In England ours were 1.3 and 1.6 straight four, 2.0 V four and 3.0 V six. Later versions had a 2.0 straight four and a 2.9 V six.

Chris.