Nexus-6
Enthusiast
Nice.... 
I moved to the dark side--bought a Vette
- Thread starter viperdrummer
- Start date
joe117
Enthusiast
Aztek is wife's car, wifes car. I never heard any talk about Aztek being ***. I didn't think even those guys liked Aztek.
I told her she can drive my Vette any time she likes but she says she can't see out of it.
C3 Big blocks? How fast were those cars back in the day? Or even the C2 big blocks. Seems to me that they didn't have enough tire to get anything to the road.
I'm talking about back then, not what someone can do with one yoday.
I told her she can drive my Vette any time she likes but she says she can't see out of it.
C3 Big blocks? How fast were those cars back in the day? Or even the C2 big blocks. Seems to me that they didn't have enough tire to get anything to the road.
I'm talking about back then, not what someone can do with one yoday.
Mopar
Enthusiast
Here is an article from Corvette Fever in 1969 in which they tested the ZL1 Corvette.
It ran 10.9@127mph (this is with 1969 slicks)
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Mopar
Enthusiast
A Stock '68-'69 427/425hp Vette ran the quarter in mid 13's w/ stock 215/70/R15's back in the day. Those tires were hard as concrete. A couple years ago Road and Track put new style rubber on the BB Vette and AC Cobras to see what times they would turn. With no other mods except for tires they both ran in the high 11's.
joe117
Enthusiast
That one in the article above doesn't have much to do with cars of "the day". Aluminum prototype engine, who knows what it really has in it.
Mid 60s street cars just weren't that fast. There's lots of myths going round.
You could buy the L88 big block engine in the Vette in 1967 or even a few years earlier, that was the big power engine. There were never many of them and if you put it in a streetable car it just wouldn't hook up.
Back then, there just wasn't any way one could get traction on the street. The C2 had something like 6.70 15 on it. Looked like the skinnys of today.
I'm thinking that what Mopar said above is about the truth. Now watch all kinds of people come out of the woodwork telling me about their uncle's 67 whatever...
Mid 60s street cars just weren't that fast. There's lots of myths going round.
You could buy the L88 big block engine in the Vette in 1967 or even a few years earlier, that was the big power engine. There were never many of them and if you put it in a streetable car it just wouldn't hook up.
Back then, there just wasn't any way one could get traction on the street. The C2 had something like 6.70 15 on it. Looked like the skinnys of today.
I'm thinking that what Mopar said above is about the truth. Now watch all kinds of people come out of the woodwork telling me about their uncle's 67 whatever...
Mopar
Enthusiast
Well it wasn't a "prototype" engine, 2 prodution Vettes had it and 69 1969 Camaro's had it as a COPO option. I agree 100% the times above is NOT the norm, but low 12's were possible with slicks on high end cars (L88,Hemi, etc).
Here is a '68 L88 Corvette AUTOMATIC with DOT FLINTSTONES bias ply tires.
13.5@ 111mph
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snake dreams
Enthusiast
Viperdrummer, it seems as if everyone is just out to get you!! Hey guys, I'll let you make fun of me for a little bit if you give him a break. I drive a 1993 Ford Probe GT automatic, making about 130 fwhp. Top that suckas!!!
Calm down gentlemen...I'm just playing...the C5 is a very capable car...very nice daily driver...
If you're a chick!
a VERY common stereotype i hear about viper owners is that they are jerks. you're doing a great job of maintaining that stereotype. congrats!
Lee00blacksilverGTS
Enthusiast
Nexus...How could I forget the ZR1...I would rather own one of those than the ZO6. I constantly find myself looking for one on Autotrader.
Mopar...We are brothers, mine is a 69 Big Block Coupe.
ZL1 was a PRODUCTION engine, not a prototype. It was simply an L88 cast in aluminum for a savings of about 400 lbs. It was on the order forms. Only 1 guy actually ordered it through normal channels, he still has it, another was built for Chevy and Zora to test and is lost, probably crushed, and one more was built as a company car for a guy named George Heberling. Roger, I forget his last name of Rogers Corvette in Florida owns that one, he bought it from a government auction for around 200k about 5 years ago after the third owner got in trouble with the feds. That car is yellow with the distinctive black ZL1 stripe. Nobody bought the ZL1 option back in 69 because it cost $4,718.35 And all the option said was "special L88 aluminum block" For comparison purposes the L88 option cost $1,032.15 The ZL1 option did not promise any more horsepower over the L88. The L88 was listed at 430 HP. And the L71 engine was listed at 435HP for only $437.10 Let's see 5 HP less and I spend $500 more for the L88 and then I spend another $3,700 for an aluminum block and they won't quote any more HP from it. And for comparisons the base coupe with 350 engine was $4781.00 and the convertible $4438. It was a game, chevy wanted the L88, which was really putting out about 550-600HP and the ZL1 which was putting out the same but with 400 less pounds available for racers to buy, not for the common guy who was gonna come back every 6 weeks with warranty problems. There were 216 PRODUCTION L88s recorded as being built between 1967 and 1969. 2 ZL1s are recorded as being built in 69. Lord only knows how many of both went out the back door to racers, but a bunch did, remember these were the days that Chevy had disavowed racing and performance publicly. Even today these cars are competitive, forget the rubber they ran on then, on modern rubber an L88 is an mid 11 car. The ZL1 is a 10 second car, and probably better than the 10.49 time it ran on 69 slicks. Just think how much tires have improved since then.
Mopar...We are brothers, mine is a 69 Big Block Coupe.
ZL1 was a PRODUCTION engine, not a prototype. It was simply an L88 cast in aluminum for a savings of about 400 lbs. It was on the order forms. Only 1 guy actually ordered it through normal channels, he still has it, another was built for Chevy and Zora to test and is lost, probably crushed, and one more was built as a company car for a guy named George Heberling. Roger, I forget his last name of Rogers Corvette in Florida owns that one, he bought it from a government auction for around 200k about 5 years ago after the third owner got in trouble with the feds. That car is yellow with the distinctive black ZL1 stripe. Nobody bought the ZL1 option back in 69 because it cost $4,718.35 And all the option said was "special L88 aluminum block" For comparison purposes the L88 option cost $1,032.15 The ZL1 option did not promise any more horsepower over the L88. The L88 was listed at 430 HP. And the L71 engine was listed at 435HP for only $437.10 Let's see 5 HP less and I spend $500 more for the L88 and then I spend another $3,700 for an aluminum block and they won't quote any more HP from it. And for comparisons the base coupe with 350 engine was $4781.00 and the convertible $4438. It was a game, chevy wanted the L88, which was really putting out about 550-600HP and the ZL1 which was putting out the same but with 400 less pounds available for racers to buy, not for the common guy who was gonna come back every 6 weeks with warranty problems. There were 216 PRODUCTION L88s recorded as being built between 1967 and 1969. 2 ZL1s are recorded as being built in 69. Lord only knows how many of both went out the back door to racers, but a bunch did, remember these were the days that Chevy had disavowed racing and performance publicly. Even today these cars are competitive, forget the rubber they ran on then, on modern rubber an L88 is an mid 11 car. The ZL1 is a 10 second car, and probably better than the 10.49 time it ran on 69 slicks. Just think how much tires have improved since then.
joe117
Enthusiast
The article says the engine is a "prototype" similar to the current ZL1
Like you said, the L88 and ZL1 were so limited in numbers that they don't really mean anything when one speaks of big block Vettes.
And it turns out that the L88 street machine in the second article had a BEST 1/4 mile time of 13.56
Heck, my 96 C4 can probably do that.
They also say the Charger 500 Hemi was only a little faster.
I don't care what these cars will do when equipped with modern tires and wheels.
I'm just saying that all the crud you hear about muscle cars from the old days is just that....crud
Like you said, the L88 and ZL1 were so limited in numbers that they don't really mean anything when one speaks of big block Vettes.
And it turns out that the L88 street machine in the second article had a BEST 1/4 mile time of 13.56
Heck, my 96 C4 can probably do that.
They also say the Charger 500 Hemi was only a little faster.
I don't care what these cars will do when equipped with modern tires and wheels.
I'm just saying that all the crud you hear about muscle cars from the old days is just that....crud
Mopar
Enthusiast
And it turns out that the L88 street machine in the second article had a BEST 1/4 mile time of 13.56
Heck, my 96 C4 can probably do that.With the '68 tires I don't doubt that at all. But run it from a roll and it tear many cars a new one. Remember they had slick's in the 60's and everyone used them when the went to the track so these 13.5 second cars were running 11's w/ slicks.
Dad had a '68 HEMI GTX w/ 727 and 4.10's. His's L71 (425hp) '69 Vette ran w/ the HEMI until the 1/8 mile after that the HEMI would begin to pull. They are pretty close to performance, although the HEMI is more difficult to tune. He campagined the HEMI for several years and did quite well w/ it.
I hear that all the time how old muscle is slow, etc. In reality you are right with the archiac setups they were. I just rebuilt my 427 (stock heads, block, crank, rods) and I'm looking for 11's on street tires.
