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We’ve all done that. In a 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass 350, or a 1987 Honda CRX.

Maybe not a Yugo or Prius or Leaf though.

I think almost every car made until the mid 1980s could do at least 120, even If a 10% downgrade was required for some.

I think almost every car made until the mid 1980s could do at least 120, even If a 10% downgrade was required for some.

Dropping the Vega, Pinto, and the six cylinder cars, mostly. But you have to go before the 1970s emission, NOT The 80s. They were doing crazy (bad) things to pass emissions and later CAFE, like feeding exhaust back into the system and lean burn, not to mention the catalytic converters. When I replaced my 1965 Chrysler 300 distributor with the official Chrysler electric distributor (no more points), I definitely lost low end power.

But of cars from that era that I have driven the '72 Impala, '65 Chrysler 300, 107- Olds 98, 1973 Buick Regal, yeah they could do 120 (though I never did!).

The 1979 Dodge Diplomat Wagon (318 ci), 1974 Chevy Malibu (250 ci), various Slant-six Darts (1966-1976), not so much. Mechanically speaking, a 1989 Chrysler Fifth Avenue is almost identical to the 1979 Diplomat (M body). The 1966 Dart might get up to 120 mph on a flat road with no head wind, but it might take a few minutes.

We’ve all done that.

I stopped racing maybe 15 - 20 years ago, now in my mid-70s. A couple decades ago was in a group of car club members driving from Santa Barbara to San Francisco on Hwy 101 in the central valley. We all had vintage convertible roadsters, old but fast. A friend challenged me to a race, and we took off. At about 100mph our other friends were calling us on our CB radios that a CHP cop was behind us, and we began slowing to 85mph or so as the cop pulled along side of us. He looked at us, smiled, and gave a thumbs up, then went ahead. Whew, escaped getting tickets! A mile up ahead he pulled over an ordinary sedan for speeding. WTH? Probably would have went to 130mph or so if not for the cop. BTW, I won the race although it ended early, attributed it to recently rebuilding the engine myself.

I had an 07 Lexus. I would set the cruise at 126mph on I-80 from Salt Lake City to Wendover Nevada, until I got busted😩 which was many prior trips through the west desert.