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We all know how bad things got in the 1970s as the gas embargo and fuel economy ratings took their toll on performance cars, and there’s nothing like a slow-moving drag race to illustrate that point.
Here we have a 1976 Corvette vs a 1976 Pontiac Firebird racing each other during a Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race event, and as one of the commenters said, we wish the track would have issued complimentary calendars so we could track the times of each vehicle.
These two cars are nearly identical with the Corvette equipped with a 350 V8 rated at 250 horsepower and 285 lb-ft of torque. Its rear end features 3.73 rear gears. The Formula Firebird has a 400 V8 rated 180 horsepower with 310 lb-ft of torque and 3.42 rear gears. Both cars have a 4-speed manual transmission. The Corvette does come in slightly lighter at 3,750 lbs with the driver vs 4,065 pounds for the Firebird with a driver.
That low-end torque for the Firebird is pretty impressive and it’s able to jump out ahead of the Corvette and stay there throughout the duration of the run. The fastest time of the two cars would come in race two with the Pontiac running a blistering 16.63 seconds at 83.79 MPH!
While neither car exhibits the “crazy” performance and speed of today’s C8 Corvette, we appreciate the fact that both drivers came out to the track to show what their classic cars were capable of.
Source:
Cars and Zebras / YouTube
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I believe the Corvette is a 1976.
If that’s a 74, then it’s a FrankenVette. Because that’s not only the wrong front bumper, but an entire wrong front end. The front bumper cut-back notch below the emblem didn’t appear until the 1975 model year. 1974’s urethane bumper was straight across, where it mated to the fiberglass front end.
Which would mean it only has 210 HP with the L-82. It has the ’76 front and rear bumpers, the ’76 nose emblem, the ’76 steering wheel, the ’76 gas door emblem and L-82 emblems on the hood which the ’74 didn’t have. No L-82 hood emblems till ’75.
The higher speed on the Corvette shows he could have won if the driver knew what he was doing.
I forget how slow these cars really are.
My 77 was painfully underpowered when my dad handed it down to me. First thing we did was rip the engine out, and in exchange, dropped in one of two 383 strokers my buddy and I built (the other went into his 69 Camaro). Added a Hurst shift kit and beefed up trailing arms. Never lost a drag race after that!!
Those were the days!!
@Mako
You are exactly right. Although not a Corvette, but I heard Jay Leno say he was driving his original Hemi Challenger one day when he came to a stop light. A kid rolled up beside him in a lowered and souped up Honda Civic. The kid kept revving his engine at Leno so he figured he would show that kid what real muscle was all about. The light changed, they both took off and that kid blew Leno away.
So much for 60s/70s muscle cars! And it would have been a WHOLE lot worse in a ’76 Corvette.
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