The threads title says it all but Im going to explain it a bit :Brow: I drove to a Car show for American cars here in Austria. I had my Centurion for sale for over a year at a local dealer now. Last week I went there and took her home again :beers2: The Centurion runs real good and powerful. Details: 455, 9 to 1 CR, ported heads, portmatched performer intake, modified and re-jetted Q-jet, long tube headers, 3" X-pipe dual exhaust, recurved distributor, K&N filter The car show was about 180 miles away from my hometown. I arrived there at 2.30 pm today. I parked the car in the show area with the hood opened. Most people looked at it and just said "why is the hood open, looks totally stock" :Brow: I painted everything to look stock. If you take a close look you can see the heat wrapped headers. I also saw the frame off restored 440 six pack Cuda there. 4 speed car. wide tires. 18" wheels with sport tires.... I was told that its really quick has lots of power. I talked to the owner of the cuda. He also saw my "stock" Centurion. When I told him that the Centurion also runs strong and has much power he just smiled a bit while he recognized my TA-Perfromance T-shirt :grin: I left there about 10 minutes before he did. I was cruising down the highway with about 65-70 mph when I saw him coming up in my rear view mirror. I pulled into the right lane and let him pass. Then I open the throttle pulled back into the fast lane and followed him. He accelerated as hard as he could every time the cars in front of him drove aside. But he couldnt win and distance to me. We were driving a avarange speed of 90 - 95 mph. Then the highway went up the hills and had some "sharp" turns (sharp for a highway). But up the hill the torque of the 455 was unbeatable for him. We increased speed a bit over 100 mph. We were passin by all other cars like the were standin still. Finally we had a short pull up to nearly 120mph. Just a short time. When the cuda slowed down we passed him by :Brow: :grin: :beers2: After that I had to stop and get some fuel:grin: Damn, Im so proud that my 4500lbs boat was fast enough to beat a 440 Cuda 4-speed. Haha, Im sure that he will think of the sea mist green Centurion for a long long time :TU:
Very nice! It's the best when people who have no idea brush your car off, or even make fun of it, and then you embarrass them!
The Cuda is no match for a full size Buick on the highway. Im sure you still had at least 20-30 mph left in her top end while he was topped out due to the gearing.
Im not sure. I put new tires on. With the old tires she ran 120 mph. But the tires I put on are bigger in overall diameter. I didnt buy correct tires because I had them lying around in my garage since a year. They are like new and came off a Cadillac where I put white walls on. So the Centurions speedo reading isnt correct at the moment. When i compare with the navi I would say the car runs about 10 mph faster than the speedometer says. I think I had approx. 20 miles up to op end. maybe faster, but that would take longer time to get her up there. But you really have to keep your eyes open for damages on the road at speeds over 100 mph. When you go into thight highway turns with 95 - 100 mph you shouldnt make any mistakes :Smarty:
Just curious - are these cars that that made it over to Europe in the 70's for original use, or were they brought over as collectors cars? Also, just curious, was that a highway with a speed limit, or without? In other words, do you have to worry about police stops as much when running fast there on the highway?
There are several GM dealers around here. About 5 in Austria. In many cases they cant sell every car you would like to order. For example, you cant buy a new Camaro in Austria because its not in GMs export program. Back in the 70s austrian GM dealers could order and sell everything of the whole GM line. But most cars sold here were Chevrolets or Cadillacs. 90% were 4 doors. Because the dealers used to buy a number of new cars every year at a time and sold them over the year. Nearly no "special ordered" cars. My Centurion is no Europe car. It was a "under cover" police car in NYC I still have the old parking licence :Brow: The car came to Austria in 96 and was parked here in Austria. No garage or cover over it. It was sitting outside for about 7 years until I bought it and made it "shine again" This was a highway WITH speed limit of 70 mph But I couldnt let that Mopar go without showing him that he should think better about laughing on a Buick 455. I know that the Buick is a good highway car. And even if the Cuda had a lower top end speed as the Buick, he should be able to get me off his tail while acceleration. Everytime he had a car in front of him, he had to slow down to 65 ~ 70 mph. And when we accelerated from 65 to 95 mph he wasnt able to get me off. Not even an inch :bla:
thanks for the info. I find it interesting how the cars make it to different countries. Very interesting info about the dealers over there in the 1970's. I was also curious about the speed limits. Not that I don't exceed speed limits myself, but curious how it goes there. My parents had a 1970 Limited Coupe as a daily driver in the late 80s and early 90s that had excellent acceleration and also ran smooth as silk at very high speeds; a mean car in elegant drapery. We also had a 1972 Olds 98 when I got my license in the late 70's - that was less aggressive, but still smooth at high speeds. Both were stock, so I can imagine your car is even better at top end.
Will you were modified a bit. Now if you were stock ,and you whipped the Cuda now that ,s worth posting. What do you think the out come would be if you and the Cuda were modified the same,geared the same?
That lost all importance when the Barracuda owner showed a bit of ego by blowing him off when he was trying to talk to him.
My car just has little mods. It even doesnt have a performance cam. Still running the stock 72 cam, standard valves.... So my car definitly was not designed and introduced as a "high perfromace car", but the Cuda was. And the 440 6 Pack had headers, speed pro pistons and re jetted carbs. Also I would say that the 440 - 6 had more compression and more cam form the factory. Im sure the Cuda would be able to out perform my Centurion if it is a good build with a nice tune. But were not talking which car performed better from the factory. Were talking about a man who laughed about a full size Buick and had to realize that he doesnt belong the few around who are able to laugh :Brow:
IF elephants could fly, we'd all be carrying steel umbrellas. What IF they both had JATO rockets welded to their vehicles? IF, if, if. So what about the ifs? This about a race as is and the "underdog" beating the alleged "king". The Cuda owner was convinced the Buick was better used as an anchor. He was wrong. He chose to race and lost. That is all that matters.
What about the weight difference? The fact of the matter is Buicks run better than what the other car brands owners think they "should" but they they never realize it till they run one! Keep makin belivers out of them.
American cars were also built in Europe. Buicks were built at GM factories in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland and Antwerp, Belgium.
