Buckshot Barry

Just saw "Gran Torino" with Clint Eastwood today. Very good movie BTW.

I found the stats in Wikipedia of the 1972 Gran Torino Sport that is depicted in the movie

"Car and Driver tested a 351 CJ, 4-speed Gran Torino Sport SportsRoof with 3.50:1 gears to have a 0 - 60 mph (97 km/h) time of 6.8 seconds. Car and Driver did not publish its quarter mile times, but Cars magazine tested a Gran Torino Sport SportsRoof with a 351 CJ, C-6 automatic, and 3.50 gears to run though the quarter mile in 15.40 seconds."

I gotta tell you the power level of our stock S197 V6's is right in line for what I would have wanted Ford to have used in a retro Mustang.

my first mustang

Cars have come a long way in 37 years. Plus I would bet that neither one of those CJs could get almost 30 mpg highway either. Back in the day my 68 Charger R/T ran 14.3s, my 71 Roadrunner ran 14.5s and last April my 05 V6 Mustang ran 14.83 and 3 runs later ran a 14.65! On the way back to NY I got a best tank of 27.6 mpg.

pascal

Put a cam on that Torino and it's all over for the V6...
Or better yet, make it manual. Bye, bye.

cobrabobby

That 72 Torino sportsroof was a brute of a car. Very heavy and
although most came with Cleveland power, by 72 the c/r was way
down from the 11:1 in the peak of 1970. Never the less, once
rolling, those lead sleds were still pretty quick. 2.19 intake valves,
and ports that looked like tunnels. In fact, most believed too big
and the lower end up to 3k was quite a dog, but hold on to your
seats after 3k and up! Not very efficient, mpg was horrid, but who
cared back then. Clevos only lasted a bit over 3 years, not counting
the M and 400's.
Bob

gman73

If not mistaken, cars back in the 60-70s had crappy bias ply tires, so a test run of 0-60 in 6.8 sec and the 1/4 mile in 15 sec would be around a 0-60 in 6 sec and 1/4 mile in mid 14s with decent street tires.

BWfVA

Well, you do a few little things to that Grand Torino like our cars to make it run that fast as a stock Grand Torino, well, cams were easer on those cars, and exhausts with a carb and intake and we are left in the dust, but we dont have the cubic inches to work with

fazm

bias ply is ideal for grip and acceleration, it was the tire compound back then that was horrible.

see below, bias ply hooks great