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

General engine tech -- Drag Racing to Circle Track

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pdq67
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Re: The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

Post by pdq67 »

I never saw the two cars, but somebody told me years and years ago that two guys in our little country town had two Crosley's that they would race each other on the Hwy.

I was told that they couldn't break 50 mph???

They never got speeding tickets!!

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

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While living in Germany in 1965-66 I had a 1951 Opel. Never found a VW I could I could beat.
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Re: The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

Post by oldjohnno »

Circlotron wrote: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:36 am Not American but worth a laugh anyway..,
Back in 1980 for a short time I had a ‘63 Mini 850, bone stock. One day I just couldn’t get the thing to start so called up a friend and tied a tow rope from his car to mine. His was 253 CID ~250hp 2300 lb. Mini went easily twice as quick being towed than it did under its own steam. Of course, the brakes were nowhere near good enough for this kind of performance and nearly cleaned him up a couple of times, following so close behind.
I had a similar experience once. I used to have a little old Chevy LUV (Isuzu) diesel, they were never fast but this one was tired so was even slower. The glow plugs were burnt out so I had to either push start it or use ether on a cold morning. One particularly cold morning I asked a friend to give me a push with his F100 with a warmed 351C. He pushed me out the road and it fired right up but I didn't have enough power with my little diesel to pull away from him so I stuck my arm out the window and signaled him to slow down. This, of course, he interpreted as a request for more speed so he immediately gave the Clevo more gas. I was starting to get tense at this stage and made increasingly frantic arm motions to which he responded with ever more enthusiastic acceleration. Soon the little truck was doing about 90mph in neutral (I threw it out of gear to avoid over-revving) but it felt like 200. Eventually he got the message and backed off but it was an exciting few moments.

Friend in the F100 swore he innocently misunderstood the signals but I still suspect he was having a little fun with me...
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Re: The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

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mk e wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:34 pm 1.4l Chevette with an automatic...I think it was about 50hp....just awful. It was certainly no match for the 55hp goe meto

Hah, I had one of those to flip when young.
It had 36k and a blown motor
Bought a $50 pick a part motor, got it running, drove it down the hill parked it wtih a 4 sale sign on it.

Hopped in it to go back up the hill to go home, it got half way and wouldnt go any further.
Rolled it down a 150 foot embankement and left it there....til the fire dept knocked on my door and told me how much the fine would be. LOL

70 something Datsun auto/4 banger was a close 2nd.
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Re: The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

Post by Keith Morganstein »

Brian P wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:49 pm Not a car but ...

Back when I was a student and commuting on public transit, the GM "new look" buses were common, and the Flyer D800 which had the same engine. (If you have watched the movie "Speed", that was a GM "new look".)

In TTC trim ... Detroit Diesel 6V71N non turbo diesel, 180-ish horsepower, struggling against a 3 speed automatic transmission with a horrendously slippy torque converter.

Once the doors closed, the driver moved foot from brake to accelerator and slammed the accelerator to the floor. The accelerator pedal knew only two positions, off, and floored. That's because flooring the pedal made the engine slowly build revs against the heavy flywheel until that slippy torque converter gently moved the bus away from a stop making a tremendous racket from the Detroit Diesel but with little noticeable acceleration. Eventually there was a barely perceptible shift to second gear, cushioned by massive torque converter slippage. A while later, at maybe 40 km/h, the torque converter locked with a tremendous jolt. If traffic allowed, eventually it slammed into third gear at around 60 km/h. Measuring zero to 100 km/h time was not possible because it wouldn't do 100 km/h.
I got one running some years ago. The GM city bus where the windshield protruded. It was a 6V71 with a two speed auto. A governor with “points” shifted it into high. It wasn’t a real dog to get moving, but would only go about 55mph in high.
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Re: The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

Post by dorset »

my 1985 ford F700 two-ton flatbed has a factory-installed 370 propane engine.

with a ten-speed eaton it will do 60 mph on a flat, but with a headwind you can't hit 55 unless you downshift to ninth.

all this and 3.5 mpg too!
i didn't mean to blow it up
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Re: The other end of the spectrum...slowest American production cars 1960’s to present

Post by Ken_Parkman »

Does not meet the American criteria, but another contender would be an Austin Mini. Had a 77 Mini back in school and would drive it back and forth to home on the weekend. Would leave school, pin it, and lift off the gas when I got home. I remember driving through a radar trap with it pinned to the floor - had been for the past 2 hours - and the cop did not bat an eye. on the flat iirc it would go about 70. For some reason it burnt a valve and went even slower.
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