We often look down on Malaise-Era muscle cars, and that's normal. American performance cars went from more than 400 horsepower to less than 200 in just a couple of years, and that's something no car enthusiast will take lightly. But the truth is these cars weren't that much slower than most of their early 1970s counterparts.
Yes, horsepower and torque figures will tell you otherwise, but keep in mind that the drop was also the result of automakers switching from gross to net ratings. In short, an early 1970s muscle car with close to 300 gross horsepower wasn't that much more powerful than a mid-1970s vehicle with 200 net horsepower. And this drag race between a 1971 Buick GSX and a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am proves just that.
The Buick GSX was a short-lived nameplate, but it was also one of the hottest available in 1970. But as compression ratios went down in 1971, the massive 454-cubic-inch (7.4-liter) V8 lost some of its oomph. Buick also introduced a 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) option for 1971, but it was only rated at 260 horsepower and 360 pound-feet (488 Nm) of torque. Remember that both are gross ratings.
The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am followed the same route. A hot muscle car in 1970, it became what most enthusiasts described as a lemon in the late 1970s. Pontiac offered a long list of V8 engines at the time, but the example you're about to see below sports an Oldsmobiles-sourced 403-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) mill good for 185 horsepower and 315 pound-feet of torque (both net).
At first glance, the GSX seems to be a significantly more potent choice. But if we convert its output figures to net value, oomph drops to around 195 horses and 291 pound-feet (395 Nm). Which puts the Buick only 10 horsepower above the Pontiac. At the same time, it's actually 24 pound-feet (33 Nm) behind in the torque department.
And as you might have already guessed by now, this drag race is much closer than the model years of these cars suggest. Actually, the Trans Am goes on to win against the GSX, running quicker ETs three times in a row.
Granted, the Pontiac is only a tenth-second quicker than its GM counterpart, but hey, numbers are numbers and this drag race shows us why performance by model year can be misleading. Check out the duel in the video below.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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