Well, the tabulating is all done and we came out a distant third to the Boss 429 and Chevelle LS6. But consider our car was a convertible with a/c. That has to be worth about 200 pounds or so. Definitely would have done better if they'd had a coupe with no a/c. I'll always find something to belly ache about.
I was completely shocked it didn't win the burnout competition!:af: I can hold my brakes and basically do a burnout as long as I want to in nearly all of my cars? Oh well, it would have been called a fluke if it won. At least this way we have a solid 3rd place FAR ahead of the hiiiimmmy:error:
Hemi owners will be pissed. They did get an unlucky draw with a bad clutch. With a low gear, the LS6 would have won in my opinion. Put a top and 4 speed in the Buick and it might have won. Pretty cool show.
I would have liked to see them use a Stage 1 coupe in place of the 455 convertible. It was funny how surprised they were when the GS handled so good in the cones. The Burnout contest was a little disappointing..
Im just happy the Buick did so well, I mean most of the time the Buick isn't even mentioned when people talk about Muscle cars. Patrick
So let me get this straight. The Boss 429 was not a great car. It just had a big motor. The GS wasn't even the one with the hottest motor avaialble, plus it was a heavyweight. The Buick was a convertible without the most powerful engine option and did OK....a car that is over 4000 pounds competing against cars with a 500 pound weight advantage. Sounds like the Buick did better than OK with a handicap. Another contest in which the Buick is given not one, but TWO strikes against it before the games even begin, and it does alright for itself. How would the LS6 have done if it were a plain 454 car and a convertible? That light 455 in the Buick is a positive plus in the twisties, although I recall hearing that a '70 Torino GT was a surprisingly good handler as well.
I agree Phil! The 'distance' in the standings was due to a 'crappy' burnout in the last test. Without that last flop, we were 1 point out of a 3-way tie for first. :3gears:
How did the Boss 429 win at ANYthing? It's common knowledge that it's smaller engined siblings were better cars. Wasn't even a 429, Ford just didn't want to have two engines that displaced 428 ci
If these guys were going to include a Buick, it should at least have been a fair match. No surprise here............it's been that way since I can remember and I don't think things will change anytime soon. I think that if they ever gave a Buick the advantage instead I would fall over dead. They need all the help they can get I suppose. :Brow:
i had picked the chevelle to win the competition . i believe the boss was a 429 . we should all be pleased that the gs did so well , considering that is was a ragtop & several hundred pounds heavier than the rest . i think even peter klute was quite surprised at its performance , but he knew the facts about the engine . i believe that all the vehicles are his except maybe the dodge challenger . they restored one like it a few years ago . as a note , klute now owns bob hope's 1971 challenger ragtop .
I agree - Pete knew the engine specifics, but he gave the curb weight (3800 lbs) of a non-optioned GS coupe. The convertible tested was probably 200-300 lbs heavier. Overall, it was a very entertaining show to watch
The Boss 429 on this show was quite impressive, I thought. It won almost every test. Pete was quick to dismiss rumors that the Boss 409 wouldn't run. The Buick was a Stage 1 also. Only problem there is that the Mustang is a much smaller car compared to the A bodies. Even though the Challenger was a pony car as well, it was very close on weight to the A bodies. It would have been nice too compare apples to apples, but overall the show was pretty fair. Until the burnout contest anyway. I personally consider the contest over after the first 4 objective tests. The outcome would still be the same though, with the Buick in 3rd, only 1 point out of first. Overall I thought it was quite interesting to see just how close all the A bodies were. Even though it isn't reflected in the final standings, they were quite close in most of the tests.
I have to work on a 65 Mustang (my sister's, she lets me use the garage for my Buick) I think they are a cheap piece of crap. The front end (which I rebuilt) is an abortion, leaf springs in the back. No matter what you do it rides like a golf cart. I do like the way axel tramp you get on the burnout. The other thing, my daughter wondered why they got all sideways on their burnouts. She was at the Buick event a Milen last year and everyone there could go straight. I just told her we are just far superior drivers.
The Boss 429 had its weight and manual transmission that helped it out alot. I'm kind of dissapointed to lose to the Ford, but if all the cars were 4 speeds, hardtops and had somewhat similar gear ratios, the Number one spot would have been a fight between the Stage 1 and the LS6. BTW I do beleive that all the cars used in the contest belong to Legendary Motor Car. The Challenger is theirs, they show it all the time. According to the site the LS6 Chevelle is sold, and the Stage 1 conv. is still for sale. I have been to Legendary Motor Car before...and they've got some RARE cars their! But NOTHING is cheap...anyone want to buy a stage 1 ragtop for 125k? I'm in canada, but I'm pretty sure that was US dollars!:jd:
