Re: IML: How fast, bub?

["JIM LORENZEN" <jdlpdx@xxxxxxxxxxx>]



Also "back in the day", mid '70s to be exact and me in my 20s a very understanding and sympathetic Oregon State Patrolman clocked and stopped me and my '60 early one morning on I-5.  He told me he had me going 127mph and climbing - and I didn't have the accelerator all the way to the floor.  As the freeway was basically empty and I was sober (crazy perhaps but sober) and he being a MoPar freak, he let me off with a warning after a long discussion about hemis and wedges.

Yes it was stupid but that can I say except I don't do it anymore. 

That said, if Remco wants to pursue 200mph in an Imperial project that looks to be well researched then I say Go for it!!!   Just because at 60 I don't have the reflexes, desire and maybe mental agility I once had doesn't mean he doesn't and shouldn't.  If our forebearers didn't "push the envelope" many of us would be living in a very crowded Europe and there wouldn't be any Imperials.

 

Jim L. in OR
    '60 Crown 4dr Southampton
    '62 Crown 4dr Southampton

 

----- Original Message -----

From: "PAUL WENTINK" <randalpark@xxxxxxx>

To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:33 AM

Subject: Re: IML: How fast, bub?

"Back in the 
day" I use to drive my '56 fast enough to bury the 
speedometer needle. The 
previous owner suggested that he had driven it 
130 mph. I don't know how 
fast I was going, but it was well over 100, 
probably over 120. The last time 
I recall doing it was in 1974 on I-5 
in Seattle, along side of another '56 
that belonged to a friend of 
mine. We happened to meet on the freeway going 
the same direction and 
both had the same idea. Back then, our roads were 
abandoned due to the 
Boeing lay offs, but it was still very illegal. I was 
also very young 
and stupid. Having said that, the car would travel that 
fast.

I "tested" my '60 LeBaron and had it going fast enough for the 
speedometer to register 115. It floated along like I was going 65 mph, 
but that also was a long time ago, and before I learned that there is 
never a time when its okay to drive like that on a public road. In 
those 
days the police would have scolded me if I had been caught, but 
the reality 
of it was that I could have killed people. I am very sorry 
about 
that.

Driving an Imperial "as fast as it will go" is fine, but it needs 
to be 
done at a race track, not on a public road.

Paul 
W.

-----Original Message-----
From: Klebert L. Hall <crocuta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 
mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 4:25 am
Subject: Re: IML: Not so fast, 
bub?


What Remco's doing with his '57 obviously isn't for everyone 
(it's more 
extreme than I'd go, but I still think it's cool), but I think 
the 
horror being expressed is a little over the top. I expect he's talking 
about 800+ *brake* horsepower, for one thing - you guys all know that 
with enough money, you can just go buy a buy sedan with that kind of 
grunt these days? BMWs and Mercedes make 'em (the Maybachs, some of the 
few cars made to the size and luxury of Imperials these days, have it), 
heck, you can buy a Chrysler 300 with what has to be around 600+ bhp... 
Aftermarket people will give you all the power you want. It's pretty 
easy to get *trucks* with this sort of power, aftermarket, and the 
SRT-10 makes 500 *net*... 
You don't hear about too many of these cars 
crashing, though - lots 
more Corrolas etc. 

Don't underestimate the 
high-speed prowess of our cars, either. Sure, 
they weren't meant to be run 
at 200mph, but they *were* designed for 
100+ mph running. I drove my '62 all 
the way through from Ohio to 
Colorado at a little over 100 back in the day, 
and it was *effortless* 
That car only came alive over 80 - it felt like you 
were coasting at 
lower speeds. It handled highway curves effortlessly at 
those speeds, 
too, though I wouldn't have tried it in the city. I once broke 
the car 
away at highway speeds into a 100-270-100 degree fishtail during 
accident-avoidance, and it handled that like a champ, too - nice and 
flat, good response to controls, predictable and stable. 
It sounds like 
Remco has a good idea of what he's doing, and he's 
replacing the systems he 
thinks need upgrading. 

As for the risk of some sort of tragedy occurring 
during his speed 
runs: well, he won't be breaking the law. Say he is in a 
wreck and 
somebody gets killed - how is that worse than if the same thing 
happened at 40mph? There are really only three reasons for car crashes 
- 
mechanical failure, bad luck, and failure of operator skill and 
judgment. 
Those can happen at any speed, and can be fatal at even city 
velocities. 

I wouldn't suggest that anybody go and do what he's doing, but I 
applaud him and can't wait to hear how it turns out. 

-Kle. 
'69 
Crown 4DHT (hasn't gone over 20mph, since I had to put it in 
reserve) 

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