1976 buick electra vs. dodge rt4

Well this is a couple months ago but i had a freind that i worked with that thought my car was to big and slow to race. Well one time on the way home from work going about 60 mph he pulled up next to me and we took off now i will admit he got me right away but after i hit 80 mph i was pullin on him(2 56 gears) so i am pullin and we start going really fast like the needle was buried in the dash he said his speedo was reading about 135 mph but i did get ahead of him. I'll tell u one thing when u are going that fast cars start pulling over for u.

 

I'll tell u one thing when u are that big and going 130 cars start pulling over for u.

there, fixed that for you. :laugh:

frankly, i'm surprised that the Electra went that fast and whupped up on the RT. did you mod it any?

 

A kid driving a new sunfire Gt with his little g'friend, he talked a buch of trash about how old and slow Mine was(58 buick 2 door) He reved and took off so did I. I cought up at 25mph and passed...and left in the dust. at 70 I let off and waited at the next light. never heard a peep from him...Sweet.

 

no mods just low miles very good runner. at sixty i put in first gear and got to seventy in first then ninty in second and so on and so on. He told me the next day that he looses power after 4th gear.

 

HA!!! :grin: Lame excuse. err my car looses power when i drive, honest

 

You were going 70 in first gear? Ahhh

 

Don't be fooled by the size of those mid 70's electra's. My dad had a 76 Limited 4 door hardtop that ran hard well above the 100mph mark. Years ago a friend and I took it up to Atlantic, Iowa to pick up a 1950 ford F-1 pickup he bought. We loaded it onto a u-haul car dolly behind the 76' and headed back south on 71 highway. it wasn't long before we got tired of following traffic, and started passing cars. Eventually our speed crept up near the century mark, just cruising along and listening to the radio. That was about the time we both spotted an Iowa state trooper coming over a hill toward us, about half a mile away.
The stark realization that (a) we were waaayyyy over the speed limit, (b) we were towing a truck on a dolly designed to go a maximum of 60 mph, (c) a ticket at this speed meant jail time, made those big old buick brakes come on pretty quick. We got it slowed down to about 60 by the time the trooper reached us. Believe it or not, he just shook his finger at me and mouthed the words "SLOW DOWN!!!" as he went by. He probably got a good chuckle out of the shocked look on our faces.

 

Awesome kill! Buick engines, especially big block Buicks, love top end speed when geared right.:Brow: I have a 350 Buick engine and it seems to pull harder at 60+ MPH than from 0-60 MPH. Wether low end torque is there or not, I don't care, these things pull hard on top end w/ nice low gearing, such as 2.56's.:bglasses:

 

I never tried going really fast with the 1976 Electra I had (2.56 gears) or with my actual 1975 Electra (with 2.73 gears). I did about 125 MPH with my 65 Wildcat (with 3.07 gears) a few times but even with lower gear ratio, I don't think my Electra would go that fast. Maybe I'll try it!

What I know is that the speed alert can't be turned off on my Electra. I can set it to 100MPH but once I go faster than that, the speed alert goes on. Is it normal?

I like driving in the 80-90 MPH range, I feel it's safer for the engines than higher speeds. And even driving at 85 MPH for long periods seems a bit fast for my 1967 Riviera with a 3.42 axle. I never had the courage to go faster than 115 MPH with it...

 

I took mine up to 100 once, just to see how it went. A little too sketchy to be doing it again. Once I do a total restoration, I will try it again. I'm sure the car will go over 100 as the '76 Town Coupe did 126mph in a vintage magazine ad I read a while back. They have similar gearing.

 

Mike, you have a 350 in your Park Avenue right? I have a 350 in my '76 Century that was pulled from a '70 skylark, 2 barrel/single exhaust, my car may not be as heavy as yours or it might be pretty close, but my car will do well over 100 MPH and the body/suspension is very shaky at 100 but I still had the courage(or stupidity, whatever you want to call it) to take it past and had it over in the L2/L1 range on my speedo, it's a round speedo and it only goes to 100 but the needle will continue to move at a fast pace still over 100 MPH, and I am pretty sure I got a 2.56 gear; or at least I would assume so. I am sure your car would do pretty good on top end if it's stock and has a lower rear end gear.

 

No, the 78parkavenue name is a car we used to have...I have a '76 Electra, it has a 455, not one of those GM strike 350s.

It has 2.56 gears, and I don't know exactly how fast the car was going, because the tires have a 75 sidewall, instead of the 70 sidewall, which I guess is the correct size, so my speedo is a bit off. I don't know how much the speedo is off by when the needle is at the 95-100mph range though.

 

A 455 should be able to do well over 100 mph with no problem w/ the 2.56 gearing.o No: Even if it's a smog junkie, it should still pull over 100.p

 

The car did do 140 mph but it took a long time for me to even do that to the car i had the car 8 months then i tried it. When i was going that fast i heard wind comeing from the windsheild don't know whyo No: . If anyone wants pics of the car let me know i can send pics i sold the car cause she had to much cancer on top. She was solid as hell under neath the vinal roof did her in.

 

HUH? 70mph in 1st? Wtf kinda transmission does this car have?

 

an unmodded 76 Electra would have a TH-400 with top drive ratio of 1:1. i agree, even with a 2.56 rear and tall tires that sounds painful... :shock:

 

1st is 2.48:1 top is 1:1 like you said.

 

remind me to never let him drive my car :3gears: :3gears: :3gears: :spank: :grin: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

My brother's GTo was stolen once and when it was found in cornfield 3 months later it had all the rubber burnts down to the radial chords and a Rod had been
thrown causing all sorts of damage which led to the idiot to running off the road 500 feet up into a corn field. Farmer found the car while harvesting in his corn combine thingy some 3 or 4 months later. Car was demolished by an advantageous power braker nuetral dropper High revving non-oil checking car thief..
He shoulda been hung.. Car was totaled and lost to the scrap heap. Transmission was pretty much toast too.

 

got my 62 electra up to 130 ish only reason i have a clue its 130 is that i was following my buddy he decided to let his corvette unwind so punched it to the floor and passed him he said he was doing 127 so i had to be near 130 he said all heard was this god awful noise roar above his small block 350

 

Me and a friend of mine were at the local Quaker Steak and Lube for a cruise in. We were disusing the weight of our cars. When we left we decided to go to the local Pilot truck stop and put them on the scales. We headed West on I-90 he got next to me to race. At the time we were doing about 55, I was
not going to race him because the Police in this town would shoot you and bury your car if you were caught racing. My buddy pulled in front of me and the next thing I know I'm overtaken by peer pressure , he hit it and started to pull on me. I punched it and caught him I held him at about 25 ft. to the next exit. When we got out of the car he said all he saw in his mirror was a lot of black. He said do you know how fast we were going? I told him I never looked down I was watching him, he told me 125 mph. He could not believe my 5040 lbs. Riv. could hang with his 4200 lbs.67 Dodge R/t 440 . He has backed off the Buick jokes.