The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

[oldjohnno]

Had a Ford Trader (actually a Mazda) work truck years ago. Four cyl. diesel, fairly heavily loaded, took forever to get up to speed and woeful on hills. Was coming back from a job one afternoon, climbing a long steep hill with the engine screaming in low gear when I realized there was a bee in the cab. I opened my window and shoo'd the bee out with my hand. It flew out and then forward, overtaking me. I don't know how fast a bee can fly but that bastard thing humiliated me... wish it had have just stung me instead

[DanE1]

In the middle 60's, 5 of us went up to northern Lake Michigan to go COHO fishing. We were in Don's Volkswagon bus. There are some large hills up there and we barely made it up and over some of them. Well, on the way back, I bet Don that he could not get that thing up to 60 MPH. I lost. Going down one of those large hills, the bus got to 60.

[travis]

I have never had the “pleasure” of driving one of the VW vans, but years ago I got to follow one between Cannon City and Salida, Colorado. This was a winding 2 lane mountain highway right it the midst of vacation season. I had a 1995 3.4DOHC Lumina that ran really well for a 4 door family car. I was about the 3rd car back...didn’t realize what it was until I heard it (they had a very distinctive sound). This poor van was just dying in the mountains...he would be down to 15 mph on many of the uphill sections. There was too much traffic and no chance for anybody to pass, so the traffic just kept piling up behind this van. I had to give the guy credit though...he never took his foot out of it for a second even in some pretty tight downhill switchbacks...he looked like he was about to drag the door handles several times. He got it up as far as 62mph on the longer downhill sections (65 speed limit lol), then would quickly lose speed on the next uphill. It was annoying but highly amusing at the same time.

[jimjamm65]

my vote goes to the 1950 crosley hot shot. I believe the engine block was constructed of sheet brass soldered together. I always wondered what would happen if one overheated real bad.

[Truckedup]

my vote goes to the 1950 crosley hot shot. I believe the engine block was constructed of sheet brass soldered together. I always wondered what would happen if one overheated real bad.

Those were OHC and later ones were cast iron.. The engines when modified were popular in racing and boats..

[grandsport51]

See article on so called COBRA engine.
http://crosleyautoclub.com/Mighty_Tin.html

After Crosley cars shut down the design was
Passed around and became The 55hp Bearcat
4 Stroke outboard

C00D495F-7CC1-40A9-BB9E-B7C05AA20151.jpeg

[mag2555]

Isn't this board section about engine's and not cars?

[vwchuck]

All vehicles made in the mid to late 70's

[FC-Pilot]

You guys have me crying. Lol. I thought my Chevy II wagon with the 194 and power glide was bad, but I know better now. My brother had a few 87 Chevy sprint turbos. Full of gas that thing weighed 1600 pounds and was stupid fun.

Keep it going as I needed a good laugh.

Paul

[rfoll]

I had a 63 Biscayne with a 230 and a powerglide. It didn't accelerate, it just made noise. The car ran forever, well over 200,000 miles. I don't remember if I ever tried to see what the top speed was. On the other hand, my 69 455 Toronado convinced me that I didn't need to know what it's top speed was.

[SupStk]

I drove from MA to PA for a NASCAR race in a Geo Metro with an auto trans. Turning off the A/C felt like I had a 75 shot of nitrous.

I will say after buying one new and driving it for 227,000 miles that a 1987 Chevy Sprint ER stripped is a real hoot! No nothing on it!! For $6,300!!

It had a 1,000 cc 3-banger, 5-speed and was a 2-dr hatch weighing like 1500 pounds! Would do 85 mph all day long and at 75 mph would get 50 mpg!

It was like driving a SK-8 Board!

I would buy a brand new one in a NYM if I could, it was that good a little corn-popper commuter car!!

pdq67

+1 on the Chevy Sprint. The turbo version was quicker to 60 than an IROC Z back in the day.

[modok]

A lot of old trucks and jeeps are just too slow to drive on the roads now, but they aren't cars.
A vw bus is a motorized storage shed. A samurai is actually a type of garden tractor, so, folks complain they are slow, no kidding,
If they weren't slow they'd be death traps.

i like the old chevy and chrysler sixes, in a small car or a truck. the 300 ford were ok too, overall.
Vega, yeah....that was bad, I think the pinto was better.
The iron duke was slow too, but IMO it wasn't really a car engine. i don't know what they were thinking putting it in cars, too much vibration.

[NewbVetteGuy]

1975 Corvette Base & L82 Corvette based upon expectations vs. reality.

Base Model: 165 HP. 0.47 HP/Cubic Inch. 8.5:1 advertised compression, in actuality 7.9:1 ish. Horribly restrictive cats and exhaust system, 3 degree retarded cam, intentionally retarded ignition timing.

L82 "High Performance Model": 205 HP. .58 HP/Cubic Inch. 9.0 advertised compression, in actuality mid to high 8s with a HUGE seat to seat duration cam designed by a T-Rex(346 degrees seat-to-seat making for a 4.14:1 DCR) Combined again, with terrible exhaust, smog pump, 3 degree retarded cam, retarded ignition timing to produce a 2nd fuel burn in the manifolds to try and pass the new emissions regs. Gigantic quench, too. 3.08 rear gears in the automatics and an 1,800 RPM stall in a car that could have a curb weight of 3,650 lbs with all options checked... It's like they were TRYING to make it a pig. Oh yea, and now the plastic bumpers to seal the deal (with super heavy metal crash bumpers under the plastic, all the way out in front of the front wheels and behind the rear wheels to make the handling as awful as possible). How the @#%$@#% did they sell so many of those things?!?


No idea what kinda @#%# GM was smoking, putting that cam in an engine with that compression ratio.


I know people remember them fondly and I guess for 1975 they were still decently fast but compared to what came before it, and after it, it was an awful, awful thing to do to a Corvette.


Adam

[machinedave]

My slowest was a 77 Dodge 1/2 ton truck with a slant six and a manual column shift transmission. It was so wore out that I couldn't park it on a hill because it would roll back.

[rfoll]

I remember going southbound from Seattle on I5, I believe a Sunday afternoon. Traffic was horrible, backed up for miles, doing that 25-50 mph surge thing. Only 2 lanes at the time. About an hour down the road things began to pick up, and I could see cars ahead darting over when they passed something. It was an old 50s model Ford dually flat bed truck with the engine screaming for all it was worth to make 45 mph.