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Old May 29th 05, 04:51 AM
Ruel Smith
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wrote:

> FerrarisÂ*ofÂ*theÂ*50's,Â*60'sÂ*andÂ*70'sÂ*wereÂ*t heÂ*performanceÂ*carsÂ*ofÂ*their
> generation overall, hands down.
>
> TheyÂ*wereÂ*notÂ*dragsters,Â*certainly.Â*ButÂ*who *cares,Â*exceptÂ*forÂ*aÂ*few
> stoplight losers? The Ferrari V12 engines were capable of putting out
> more power than all but the rumpiest musclecar engines-but they were
> turbine smooth and would make power from 1500 rpm all the way to
> redline. They would run a very long time and were highly rebuildable
> with cylinder liners and a hell-for-stout lower end. And the drivelines
> were rugged, the brakes first rate...sure, there were Cinzano wrappers
> for fuses in the early ones, but mechanically they were first class.
> Ferrari's real bread and butter was, and is, foundry work...and it
> shows.


I'll point out again, the 308 GTB had a 0 to 60 time of 9 seconds. That is
not only slow, but god awfully slow. Ferraris may have made some power at
1500 rpm, but it wasn't earth shattering in any way. You have to rev a
Ferrari to get any power out of it. How good is that unless you have a lot
of road to open it up? Again, a run of the mill Chevelle SS 396 would give
just about any Ferrari a run for its money from any stoplight, was actually
affordable, and could haul 4 or more people _comfortably_ home from a night
at the drags. Only the most expensive, and rarest Ferraris were fast back
then, and unless your last name was Getty or Rockefeller, you couldn't
afford it. Ferraris of that era had manual steering, poor reliability, and
kit car build quality. Some models were very handsome, but you definitely
didn't want to try and make one a daily driver. Ferraris simply were, and
for the most part still are, shall we say...delicate.

I'm not even going to get into the ignorant crap about the Ford GT and
Corvette. Again, anyone can make a car that's extremely capable for 200
grand. The trick is to do it at an affordable price. Automobile recently
voted the C2 Corvette as the coolest car ever built. Motor Trend recently
claimed the small block Chevrolet engine as the greatest engine ever built.
Get over it...

I have news for you...DOHC technology dates back to 1913 in the Peugeot.
It's not as modern of a design as you think.

> IÂ*guessÂ*theÂ*posterÂ*neverÂ*heardÂ*ofÂ*aÂ*Porsch eÂ*550RS,Â*aÂ*908Â*orÂ*aÂ*917,Â*or
> a Mercedes W196, 300SL, or 300SLR. Like I said, we're ignorant and we
> like it that way.


The 550 was not only a glorified Volkswagen, but an unsafe one at that... I
thought you said you wanted engines that were special? The 908 and 917 were
race cars, the Merc W196 and 300SLR were too. The 300SL had a whopping 215
HP. In 1954, when America wasn't building cars with any kind of power yet,
that was a lot.

Let's talk about real performace: 1967 Corvette L-89, 1967-69 Corvette L-88,
1969 Corvette ZL-1,

--

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