Letting go of the family jewels. T/A content. This car was FAST.
Isn't it interesting how our perspective changes?
From the article: "On the seventh of February, 1973, our test Firebird Trans Am SD-455 swept through the quarter-mile at Orange County International Raceway in Irvine, California in an elapsed time of 13.751 seconds and at a terminal speed of 103.56 mph. That is fast. That, in fact, is outrageously fast even within a five-year-old frame of reference. And it was done in a street legal car—a 1973 street legal car—with a full tank of gas (3854 lb. curb weight), street tires and, wait for it . . . automatic transmission."
3854 lbs! I thought the story was that all old cars were 2000 lbs :)
25 years ago, the E39 M5 was the fastest sedan in the world. Now it's slower on the street than the best selling EV sedan. There's been an absolute explosion of performance in the past 5 years.
Iron block, iron heads, big steel radiator, big (iron?) transmission, big driveshaft, heavy duty rear end. I suspect that drivetrain adds up to a lot of weight.
In reply to aircooled :
I read that in this voice...
In reply to Keith Tanner :
It's crazy. The average grocery getter is faster now.
Someone posted this not too long ago:
In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, it's one thing to compare the E39 to the craziest 1000+ hp sprinters out there, but when a boring Tesla Model 3 can run away from it that's when you know things have really moved on.
The BMW is the slow but cute option in this garage.
It's crazy to think how far we've come in that time in terms of automotive performance. The SD455 was basically a hypercar back then, and one of the last true "Muscle Cars" you could buy before the Malaise Era really set in. Now, most midsize sedans with the premium engine option will wipe the floor with it in every single way while being twice as fuel efficient. It's truly something.
Even 30 years ago, as a budding gearhead, I remember drooling over ads depicting 275hp in the then-new 4th Gen Z28 and Trans Am. "That's NUTS!!!" I thought. Now, that's the kind of power the entry level Genesis G70 makes. We've come a long way!
ddavidv
UltimaDork
11/23/24 6:48 a.m.
Straight line performance was the main objective back when the T/A was built. It's a singular metric to judge performance by. The 455 Super Duty made for great ad copy but (as most of us here know) it really takes a combination of things to accelerate: power, weight, gearing. My very light weight 66 Falcon with a mild 302 can't get close to the acceleration of my 93 Lightning, despite being significantly lighter and with similar HP. Why? 2.73 gears vs 4.11s in the truck.
This crowd values a more complete package of acceleration, handling and braking, and we have also progressed substantially in these categories. Everyone remembers this, right?
But here's the thing: numbers don't tell the whole story. A modern minivan may be better on paper than, say, a Dodge Omni GLH. But is it more fun? More engaging?
There's a reason I'm playing with a 1960s economy car with a V8 swap. It's just more entertaining and challenging. It looks better, sounds better, and makes infinitely more tire smoke. It all depends what you want out of the car hobby.
