Most aerodynamic Muscle Cars?

[hoffman900]

AC Cobra
67 Vette

From personal experience, both of those had dangerous lift at speed.

A family friend / mentor raced a 289 Cobra back in the day. Plenty of lap records, 2nd to a newer psuedo factory backed ‘69 Vette at the SCCA National Championship in 1970… they were bricks.

Corvette was more slippery but had lift problems. All well documented stuff.

Aerodynamics isn’t as intuitive as people think..

[wwmtlineman]

#rd gen Firebirds are pretty stout at Bonneville in the production classes

[PackardV8]

#rd gen Firebirds are pretty stout at Bonneville in the production classes

Agree; if one is racing a SBC or BBC at Bonneville in a doorslammer class, he'd probably want to be in a 3rd or 4th generation Camaro/Farburd.

[Art]

CD isn't nearly as important as lift and all of those cars would try to fly at higher speeds. Add to that the awful underbody shapes with the body on frames. There was so much junk hanging out there to create drag underneath. Poor engine bay air management, hence why they all tended to over heat on a regular basis. Nose high attitude also hurt them at higher speeds, the exposed rain gutters and trim on the glass all stuck out and created turbulence. They looked good to people, but not to the air.

I remember that my 69 Corvette 427/435 felt like it was barely on the ground at 145 mph. It had just enough lift to be a bad airplane. My 70 AMX topped out at about 125 and it was stable. Now, if it would have gone 145, who knows?

[Fusion Works]

They talked about the C2 Grand Sports being so light on the long straights, the drivers could turn the wheels with no effect.

[Monzsta]

I had a 1969 455 Toronado. Despite it's size it was pretty slippery. At 125 mph the engine was just starting to pull hard. That was when I realized I didn't really didn't need to know what top speed it was capable of.

That car does look pretty slick.

1969-Oldsmobile-Toronado.jpg

Always thought a modern AWD drive line in these cars with the complete restomod treatment would be really neat. it would take away some of the original design character by adding a tranny hump. The lack of a transmission hump in the passenger compartment along with it being a longitudinally mounted V8 made these cars way ahead of their time in so many ways. The ingenuity and efforts to maintain brand identity at gm back then, with all the body by Fischer made for some really timeless classic looks during the 1960-1976 era. Shame the bean counters got their way and killed olds, Pontiac, and gutted Buick. The only make that stands out among what's left of the gm brands is the Cadillac division. And it's watered down, many corporate parts etc.

A fun fact, the ubiquitous Ford 9" was brought to us due to Ford wanting to lower the transmission tunnel. They developed the differential with as low a pinion as possible for a flatter floor in the cars. They also pointed the transmission tailshaft and diff pinion down and used double cardians on the driveshaft ends.

[Monzsta]

How did the Monza'a rate with the 350?

I don't know how correct this. Just throwing it out there.
http://www.v8monza.com/drawing.htm

A pic of my old car is still on that site. I had the engine out of it at the time, hence the slightly nose up attitude.

[rgalajda]

I bought a 1970 Z28 when I was 17 years old. That car was perfectly stable at 145 mph. It had the optional Copo spoiler package. You wouldn't know you were going that fast. I owned a 1970 Nova SS also. That car was scary at 110 mph.

[plovett]

Good points about not just drag, but stability and lift. I once had a 1976 Porsche 914 2.0L. It would do about 120 mph. At that speed it felt like the front tires were barely touching the ground.

[PackardV8]

I once owned a '86 Porsche 944 which took forever to reach 130 MPH, but there was no sensation of speed. It was quiet and stable, moreso than the '86 'vette.

[Bill Chase]

I once owned a '86 Porsche 944 which took forever to reach 130 MPH, but there was no sensation of speed. It was quiet and stable, moreso than the '86 'vette.

Always felt that way about the small euro/japanese sports cars. That is until I spent 3 months in the uk. Most of the country roads there are about as wide as a single lane of a county road here in the states. Rolling hills, hairpin turns make for a lot of fun in a smaller car, and when they are not over powered you can just mash the pedal to the floor and concentrate on steering, braking. Here in the states we are used to big wide open roads, generally well paved, and too much power is just about right. Ever cruise through Montana on I-94 doing 100-120? On the flat stretches it is almost boring, the only sensation of speed you get is if overcoming a slower traveling car. Had more fun navigating rural roads in the uk at 75-80 mph and when you actually hit a stretch of road that you could travel at 100-120 it felt like warp speed. By the way, I was in a Renault Megane turbo diesel 1.9L. It is all relative to environment, terrain, not just the car and amount of power or torque it is capable of delivering. Please don't misunderstand me, having an overpowered corvette capable of melting the tires, and traveling at 130+ mph is fun too. but on the roads over in the uk? doesn't sound like much fun at all.

[PackardV8]

I once owned a '86 Porsche 944 which took forever to reach 130 MPH, but there was no sensation of speed. It was quiet and stable, moreso than the '86 'vette.

Ever cruise through Montana on I-94 doing 100-120? On the flat stretches it is almost boring, the only sensation of speed you get is if overcoming a slower traveling car.

For true, I drive I-94, I-90 and I-15 regularly and that's one of the reasons I sold all my fast cars. On a fast road in a fast car, every other driver just pisses you off; he won't get the f*ck out of your way so you can continue on at twice his speed. Two fast curves and you're running up the ass end of a log truck or a motor home.

The scary part is the gomers who looked in their mirrors a minute ago and you weren't there, so they just ease out into the left lane at 60 MPH as you're closing on that lane at 120 MPH.

Life was too short to spend it pissed off all the time, so now the 80 MPH speed limit is fast enough.

[Bill Chase]

Be nice if one of the major east/west and a north/south interstate was built like the Autobahn. We have the largest amount of car owners, and the largest car culture per capita bar none in the states, yet we are stuck with 65-70 mph posted speeds through most of the country. Hardly seems right. instead of carpool/express lanes they should be barricaded with a nominal speed of 85 mph.

[Dave B]

i like 63 vettes, pulled eng out of it and put in gen 5 vette. Def gained in aero

[PackardV8]

FWIW, I drive I-90 to I-15, Spokane to Salt Lake City and a good share of the 725-miles is 80 MPH speed limit. Before the pandemic, set the cruise control at 80 and would seldom get passed. Today, at 80, better stay in the right lane because jacked-up-wide-tire 3500 brodozers are running 90+MPH. From experience, that results in single digit fuel economy. If they're getting 8 MPG with $4 fuel, that's 50 cents a mile just for fuel cost. Maybe they're on a company credit card.