When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
How the C7 Stacks Up Against 1970 Performance Cars
I found an interesting web site that has a list of cars and their quarter mile times from 1960-1972. The times come from contemporary road tests published in different car magazines. It's interesting to compare cars from the original golden age of high performance to today. We truly live in an amazing time when our C7 can blow these times out of the water and provide 30 mpg and creature comforts that weren't even dreamed of in the 1960s. The magazine's are listed in parenthesis.
In 1972 hp ratings were revised across all manufactureres to reflect a new way of calculating hp so the same engine in 1972 had around a 30% decrease in HP rating from 1971 ie 71 454 vette was rated at 365 hp while the 1972 identical 454 was rated at 270 hp.
Today's C7 will blow away any muscle cars from the 60s and 70s as will most of today's higher performance cars.
More amazing is comparing the 0-60 and quarter mile times of many current V6 "family" sedans to muscle cars. A few of them would also embarrass the GTO crowd.
It not about the HP its about the efficiency of hp to the ground. They measured HP differently back then, and obviously technology on suspension and drive train has made up the difference.
In 1972 hp ratings were revised across all manufactureres to reflect a new way of calculating hp so the same engine in 1972 had around a 30% decrease in HP rating from 1971 ie 71 454 vette was rated at 365 hp while the 1972 identical 454 was rated at 270 hp.
Today's C7 will blow away any muscle cars from the 60s and 70s as will most of today's higher performance cars.
It not about the HP its about the efficiency of hp to the ground. They measured HP differently back then, and obviously technology on suspension and drive train has made up the difference.
Old hp numbers were inflated because it was with accessories, no generator, fan, etc.
Yes you are correct, but besides the lack of technology that our new cars have built in, we also had to deal with bias Ply nylon tires. There was no way you could get those things hot enough to get traction on a launch, but it did make for a nice show.
Last edited by crawfish333; 06-30-2015 at 03:39 PM.
Doesn't matter what the HP numbers were, the times are what makes me cringe. We thought we were so fast back in the day.
If you put all the options and devices we have in our Corvettes into a 1970 Corvette, the weight of the 1970 would be so much more.
Now just image the weight of an Chevelle SS or a GS455...the weight would be even that much more.
Lighter metals, stronger alloys, better plastics etc, ALL have come lighter frames all of this has contributed to out performing the older cars. I use to own a Buick GS400, Yenko Camaro, 62 Fuelie Corvette, and the list goes on, including a 63 SWC, my cars today are the 2014 Corvette and the 2013 Camaro RS (V6), and I prefer these cars...been there on restoration and maintaining, restro rods are nice, but nothing like the new performance cars of today....
Today our Corvette Stingrays (C7) have more computers power then what it took on the Apollo spacecraft that went to the moon. You have three separate computers in your Corvette.....
Those 1970's cars weren't as fast as we thought back then. Those numbers proved it. My old 375HP-396CI Chevelle wouldn't keep up with the cars of today.
After the emissions crackdown and fuel mileage standards, I never thought that I would ever see performance like today's cars have. And, they get terrific mileage, and even restart when you try to restart a hot engine.
Oh yeah....... And spitting rad fluid on a hot day overheat was common.
You rarely could have a car from that generation without mods sit in stop and go traffic for 30 minutes without overheating..
Technology has come a long way...
It "feels" like I'm going faster in my old car collection than I really am..
I can just imagine the current vette buyers whining about these cars.
1) never in a million years would you find a 70s vette that didn't leak rain..
2) never in a million years would you find one that didn't rattle.
3) never in a million years would you find a vette that could handle safely above 100mph.
4) engines detonated on way higher frequency than modern engines ever do and also had tiny warranties..
5) I thought my sport cups on my z06s were a little dicey in the rain until I remember popping the throttle on my old bias ply vette tires with the car pointing slightly off of straight ahead.
6) modern vettes don't have the automatic lane change feature the 70s vettes had. If you had one you know what I mean... Little dip in the road and you would be two lanes over wondering what happened...
Love the old ones and love my new Z06. Love them all.
[QUOTE=Ernest_T;1589949680]I found an interesting web site that has a list of cars and their quarter mile times from 1960-1972. The times come from contemporary road tests published in different car magazines. It's interesting to compare cars from the original golden age of high performance to today. We truly live in an amazing time when our C7 can blow these times out of the water and provide 30 mpg and creature comforts that weren't even dreamed of in the 1960s. The magazine's are listed in parenthesis.
this is what we had---basically seat belts had fairly recently become standard equipment. Look at our new vehicles of today---far advanced from the ones sold in 1970 any way you look at it. Then look back 45 years from the '70 models to 1925. I'd say the 1970 models had come a long way from the old black Chevy & Ford cars from back then.
Now, looking forward, what do you think the new 2060 model vehicles will offer in terms of performance, comfort and style? What about price?---you realize if vintage car trends hold, your 2015 C7 should be worth approx. $140,000-200,000 depending on the condition/model/rarity. This might also be the approximate price of a new '60 Vette C12.
06-30-2015, 09:21 AM
How the C7 Stacks Up Against 1970 Performance Cars
