I had a 1958 DeSoto
Firesweep w/350 2bbl. and Powerflite in the early 60s. It wasn't a
match for the 327 Chevies in the quarter mile, but it never got passed
above 30. As I recall, it was capable of 17 second quarter miles
times.
Here is my question, how come the standing start mile speeds are so low,
actually comparable to some quarter mile times? We used to race on
an abandoned AF strip, about 2-2.5 miles in length. My old DeSoto
was well over 100 mph indicated by half way. Even giving a 20 mph
error in the speedo, it was faster than the posted times for the
Dodges. Something seems off?
Bill Huff
.......BTW, the
times of the two amateurs, who drove the 57 D501's at Daytona
are : Edward Lyons; Flying Mile:
129.753 , and Elton Lyle ; Standing Mile : 84.408
Both men ran-whut-they-brung, and both finished fourth (out of
5-recognised placings) in their two
classes.
Danny Eames FACTORY-SUPPORTED 1956 Standing Mile time was 81.786mph (HR,
5/56; pg.18)
SO: of the two amateurs, one got beaten by a pro, by less than 1mph, and
the other one BEAT the
pro, by about 3mph.
Let's move-on, to "Sports Cars Illustrated" (later to become
Car & Driver, and issues 8/56 & 7/57 ).
SCI recorded 10.1 & 9.6 0-60 times, on a CRL 2-dr, in
"Drive" & "Low", and with 1/4 times of 17.6 &
17.2
with 79mph & 81mph, respectively.
In 1957, a Coronet D500 2-dr was tested, and it weighed-in at
3,920lbs, with 58/42 weight distribution.
Although riding on the SMALLEST (stock) tires:
7.50x14" [8.00 & 8.50's were optional, and ALL
of the 56 D500s rode on 7.60x15" tires] the testers
recorded 8.5 seconds 0-60and a 1/4 mile time
of 16.6 seconds. The trap speed was 83mph.
That means that a standard Coro D500, on skinny tires scored
e.t's
that were virtually as fast as a full-on
1956 (apparently: single 4-bbl, but who knows?) drag race car (running
4.56 gearing!).
Now, we turn to "Mechanix Illustrated" (issues 12/55 &
4/57).
Uncle Tom was not a real stickler of recording statistical documentation.
He shot-from-the-hip,
and only mentioned 0-60 times.
For 1956, U.T. states that he got 10.4 0-60 out of a CRL 2-dr., AND , for
the 1956 die-hards, who
only remember their Speedo-times) he states that the car's speedo-error
was 11% too-fast, and that the 10.4
time was 'with' a corrected speedometer.
In 1957, the CRL 2-dr recorded 8.7 seconds 0-60, and its speedo
error was 59.1 , at an indicated 60mph.
Finally (sorta!) , and altho I'm sure that your home libraries include
this, I'm going to reference my issue
of CONSUMER REPORTS (9/56 ; no '57+ D500 road tests, alas) which
did a comprehensive testing
on (yet again, a different car!) with 10.4 second (sound familiar?) 0-60
and with, drumroll, please........
an 18.2 SECOND quarter mile recorded : "....all gears used to
maximum advantage".
Their car weighed in at 3,875lbs, with 56/44 distribution. Their car was
running an optional 3.54 gear ratio,
but, that's pretty-close to the standard 3.73 ratio.
Believe it or not: I'm getting tired of all this.
Tomorrow, I'll discuss some other post-1957 performance times, and you
can determine for yourselves whether
or not a 1956 315c.i. Dodge Hemi (with 2-speed auto, or 3-speed manual
transmission) could out drag them!
Neil Vedder
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