My FRiend, I’m sure that your late night pedal-to-the-medal adventure may have felt like 195 mph, but I assure you that the connecting rods in that 430 Buick would have broken (along with many other parts) long before you reached that speed. The 430 was redlined by the factory at 5000 rpm, and even with the factory 3.07:1 rear axle, the best you could have hoped for would be perhaps 130+ mph at WOT, which is still nothing to sneeze at. But 195? Uh uh, sorry not buyin’ it. That’s NASCAR velocity.
I know I’ve done the same thing, my first car (’63 Ford Galaxie w/406 and 3-2bbl carburetors) was so fast that I had to drive from the back seat due to the excessive G-forces under acceleration - fortunately, that is where the girls usually were, lol
ARGH, “pedal to the medal” = “pedal to the METAL”, jeez it’s been a long day, lol
>>But 195? Uh uh, sorry not buyin it. Thats NASCAR velocity.<<
Well, the Speedometer ended at 160 (back then) and I was still accelerating. My memory says 195, but it just my memory. If you say not possible based on science, I won’t second guess you.
But I had to be dang close to it. That thing just kept going faster. It was a hell of a car.
Too bad I had it at the end of its life. It died of chronic overheating. If I knew then what I know now I could have overhauled the engine. But I eventually traded it in for a pretty nice Datsun PL 620 truck...
Even the Shelby 427 Cobra needed twin superchargers to get near 200 mph.
I was going to call BS on the 195 as well...
I have been up to 125 in a Merkur Scorpio 5 speed (I think it was 2 miles of WOT to top out not a power house, but “sufficient” as Rolls Royce would say)
And 155 in a Merkur XR4Ti also known as the Ford Sierra in Europe (Turbo 4 cylinder, balanced and safe to 10000RPM) The car was ready to go faster (I never made it past 4th gear in the T5 trans) but I wasn’t. The car was built for road rally with a full roll cage. About the only thing stock about the power plant was the block and head. Everything else was aftermarket speed parts.
I miss both cars.. the XR4Ti met with a tree on the rally course the Scorpio died of old age with 535,000K on the clock.
I think my passenger stained the seat that day as well.
Came around a corner and there was a Semi Trailer doing about 50. I still remember the reflective yellow and black sticker across the back of the Trailer.
Zipped around it, still don't know how, and that was the last time I ever went over 100 MPH in any car. I was very lucky that night. I do miss my little Red Porsche though.
A buick wildcat would literally leave the pavement and go airborn at 195mph.
I had a 69 chrysler newport that would do 135mph(hot rodded 440 with 400hp and 2.70(?) rear end) and at that speed, the front end lifted up to the fullest extent of the front suspension and steering was barely there. You could see the hood bow upwards and straining against the hood latch. It was very dangerous.