Detroit street racer's 1-owner 1970 426 Challenger 4-speed

[Fire-medic]

A good story, well-documented. Dunno if I believe everything I heard, but the package with the family history is fun to watch. Lots of period tv clips, and ads, and a lot of the car's time in the family.

I'm sure there are a lot of highly-modified street racers in Detroit that would hand this car its defeat, but for a car in what seems to be stock condition, it probably won a lot.

I heard Marvin Hagler had a bad street-racer, for $$$ grudge-matches.

 

[Fire-medic]

And another Detroit street-racing legend:
https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/heritage/2019/09/the-king-of-woodward.html
http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/woodward-aves-silver-bullet-last-words/
There were plenty of dealerships turning-out hot versions of the OEM cars which were themselves 'hot' for the time. Check out the links at the end of this article.

Back in probably the 1980's I visited an acquaintance who had a garage in Pembroke Park FL and he was working on a pretty-unusual car, a '61 I think it was, Ford Starliner, which was sporting a very-unusual 'accessory,' a SOHC Ford 427 engine. This was a NASCAR engine, not really meant for street use, and of course it was not stock in that car, as the engine was built long-after the car was. Still the Starliner was the fastback early Galaxie, and that someone took the time to build that combination was an impressive undertaking.

https://www.dragzine.com/features/c...ould-know-67-hemi-plymouth-gtx-silver-bullet/

 

[Parminio]

Now that's my kind of muscle car. VERY nice!

 

[Mike200251]

That was excellent! Thank you for posting.

 

[one2dmax]

I whooped a LOT of ass in the 80's with our 70 LS6 Chevelle. Not doing much racing with it anymore but I do feel the occasion to spin the tires every now and then lol.

 

[Fire-medic]

The 1960's and early '70's cars are iconic, though a tuned 4 cyl built today w/one or two turbos would probably out-perform 'em today. So-what? It's what you grew-up with, or what attracts you. Just like a built small-block is probably faster in many cases than a big-block. I recall my friend racing his '66 SS396 4-speed Muncie (the 325 HP, not the 375 HP version) when it was at-most, 3 years old, against a local hot-rodder who had an early '60s Chevy II Nova built w/a 327, two 4-bbl carburetors, race gas, and all the suspension to make it a potent straight-line machine (straight front axle, 90/10 front shocks, well-located rear axle, etc). The cars went a couple of times, and both times the Chevy II Nova won easily.

There was a local racer running a AWD Eagle Talon w/a big single turbo, and he was running low 10-second times. It was traction-limited even-with AWD.

 

[one2dmax]

Small blocks and imports can and do beat some big blocks. Turbo's, Nitrous, and Superchargers all help even the playing field until you put those on the bigger motors lol. The issue with most older chassis big blocks if they haven't updated the suspension is getting traction. For an NA car there is no replacement for displacement.

I've had some close races back in the day with highly built small blocks in LIGHT cars. But, in a heavy car the small block still doesn't make the torque to get it all moving as efficiently. I'm possibly a bit spoiled as I didn't typically drive an "average" low HP big block lol.

The original engine in the Chevelle (has a semi duplicate in it now) has the solid lifter motor and I can tell you 8k is not unachievable for revs. Those who say big blocks can't rev simply aren't building them right.

 

[sdt354]

Yep, a Big block in a light car usually does the trick.

 

[VMAXXIMUM]

With a 4or5 speed, I’ll take it over any import except the Porsche 911 variety with a couple of turbos. Lol
The automatic is a little faster in a drag race but It’ll never be half the fun of banging gears up and down. Big block lightweight manual transmission shit ton of fun.

 

[VMAXXIMUM]

Sean do you think I could get a tour of your ahem “shop”. That is a fine looking space.

 

[one2dmax]

Sean do you think I could get a tour of your ahem “shop”. That is a fine looking space.

You can stop by anytime but I will say it's a jumbled mess right now lol!