Hey Curtis!
Nice additional info and interesting too! But don't take all this stuff
too seriously, after all it was only journalists using primitive test
equipment in varying weather and track conditions doing these tests.
We all know that a car will perform differently with different drivers
on different roads in different weather conditions. Other influences
are magazine self promotion and advertising! It still happens today
between road tests conducted by different magazines!
Level of faith in these tests - 50%!! Level of faith in today's tests - 75%
Level of faith when I run my hemis against anyone - 100%
Brian
D500s in MI
Curtis French wrote:
I don't mean to put anyone down, but I think people tend to have too
much faith in these old magazine road test results. I'd be particularly
skeptical of any Motor Trend test results from the 50s as they were in
my opinion the least accurate testers in that era. Their times also
tended to be a lot slower than other mags got for the same cars. Motor
Trend's 57 D500 was a full second slower in the quarter than Car and
Driver's 57 D500 and also the same amount slower than Hot Rod's 57
Fury. And according to Motor Trend's testing, a 58 Chrysler 300 is no
faster than a 55 New Yorker (and about two seconds slower than everyone
else's 300s), which makes no sense whatever.
In their May 1954 issue, Motor Trend tested a 54 DeSoto with a 276
hemi V-8 and a 54 Pontiac with a 268 cube flathead 8. Guess which on MT
thought was quicker? Yep, MT got a quicker quarter mile time with the
flathead Pontiac than the hemi DeSoto. At the time this issue came out,
my Dad had a 52 DeSoto and my uncle had a 53 Pontiac. Both had the same
motors as the 54 models. So, naturally, my uncle thought his Pontiac
could outrun Dad's DeSoto and challenged him to a race. Did the Pontiac
win? Could it even hang close? No on both counts. The DeSoto just ran
off and left the Pontiac.
Caveat emptor.
Curtis
59 Coronet 2 dr hardtop
63 Valiant convertible
64 Polara convertible
67 Hemi Charger
69 Cuda 383 fastback
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