Some of you guys might find this vintage article of interest. Didn't Tony Goodman's '68 Ram Air II Firebird run 12.39 @ 110 last Fall in Stanton? If no image appears, try this link: Vintage Article
I have an old road test from 1968 that tests all the 400 F-birds. If I remember right the standard 400 runs 14.4@98. The HO 400 runs 14.0@100 and the RAM AIR II runs 13.6@106+. All of these ET's were of course ran on the redlines of the day and the big MPH of the RAM AIR II car suggests it has 60 to 80 more HP than the "lesser" 400's. :Brow: The RAM AIR II was always a potent combination, but due to the late introduction (Spring 1968) not many were sold or even remembered. Then of course they became overshadowed by the '69 RAM AIR IV which debuted in the fall of 1968.
there's a lot more! After you read the article, click on "previous" at the bottom of the article. There are a bunch of pics of 60's muscle. :TU:
442 much The Holiday Olds 442Much showed up at Onondaga Dragway one hot night in summer of 1966 for a promo match race against the Turbine Dart. Proceeded to blow the trans on the first run and thought he was done. Art Weidman, head Transmission Design Engineer for Olds at the time, went over, introduced himself and the rest of the Olds engineering people there (I think they had 4 or 5 "Test" cars running there that night), told him to roll up his sleeves and let's get it out of there. But first he made a call to Security at Olds Engineering and cleared a release of a very special Turbo 400 from the Engineering "stash" and another call to someone there to bring it to the Engineering garage. While one of the other engineers blasted up to Lansing in Art's 98 (about 20 miles), he dove under the car with the driver/owner. They were just finishing pulling it out as the 98 came sliding sideways back into the pits with the trunk already popped. Voila.....back in business in a little over one hour flat. They let him keep the tranny. Blew this guy's mind. Turbine Dart spanked him big time, but he got his promo money, put on a good show, made a lot of good friends, and sure put a nice memory in my head. Things don't happen quite like that anymore.
If it has not been finished already, 442Much was being restored by a gentleman in Minn. I remember helping push that car around at the Cedar Rapids Quad States Olds meet in 2000. That car and Hurst Hairy Olds were the two featured cars "under restoration"! :3gears:
