Car and Driver's XV MotorSports Challenger...something's fishy

[zerfetzen]

My buddy at work showed me the article where they compare a 70 Challenger TA with the restomod XV Challenger.  The number seem fishy.  They report the 70 Challenger TA did 0-60 in 7.1 (maybe 7.3, I don't have it in front of me) and 1/4 mile time over 15 seconds.  I scratched my head and looked up some old numbers I have on a 70 AAR Cuda, and found multiple magazine tests back in the day that showed 5.7 or 5.8 and 14.1 or so.  That's quite a difference!  Did their 70 Challenger get supplied by XV so they could show a better improvement?  Was the 6-pack set poorly or the motor out of time?  What gives?

Also, the XV Challenger had the new Hemi modded with, I think, 455 hp.  Sounds good, but it only did 13.5 in the quarter with 3.91 gears.  That doesn't seem right either.

Finally the skidpad on the 70 Challenger was .68.  I was expecting .75 or so, not .68!  I had a catalog from PST that compared many older car skidpads with newer cars, including chevelles, mustangs, and I think a 69 Charger.  The old-car skidpads were pretty close to the new-car skidpads, mainly because they had double-wishbone suspensions back then up front, while the new cars all have cheap struts.

Anyway, did anybody else catch all this stuff?  I had to explain to my buddy that something's goofy, and that 70 Challenger TA's been had in the article.

[Brock Samson]

i thought they both were pretty slow too,.. you can write C.D. over the internet and ask them...
seems every publication is pretty quick to blast old Muscle cars as poor handeling... i wonder if the authentic T/A had stock polyglas tires,..
wasn't the T/A AAR supposed to be the best handelng car most balanced muscle car?.. 

[Ghoste]

If they think Mopars are poor handling, they need to take a Chevelle or some other coil sprung full frame boat out for a slalom.

[Rolling_Thunder]

If they think Mopars are poor handling, they need to take a Chevelle or some other coil sprung full frame boat out for a slalom.

Air Ride technologies have a 67 Chevelle pulling 1.1G i think... 

[six-tee-nine]

If they think Mopars are poor handling, they need to take a Chevelle or some other coil sprung full frame boat out for a slalom.

Air Ride technologies have a 67 Chevelle pulling 1.1G i think... 

And then it still isn't as good looking as a Charger

[zerfetzen]

If they think Mopars are poor handling, they need to take a Chevelle or some other coil sprung full frame boat out for a slalom.

I don't remember the exact numbers in the PST catalog, but I do remember that a 70ish Chevelle had pretty comparable skidpad results compared to modern passenger cars........but where I was surprised was a 68ish Mustang was pretty poor, like .65  (can't remember exactly, argh!).

Of course, all that assumes that their catalog was right...but it seems much more right than C&D, which I don't subscribe to, so I probably won't write to.

Just curious what you guys thought.  Cheers.

[Ghoste]

I would hope that Air Ride Technology and PST would both have cars that performed better than stock. 

[zerfetzen]

I would hope that Air Ride Technology and PST would both have cars that performed better than stock. 

I think the PST catalog was using it as a sales impetus to get you to buy their suspension parts, but the best case would have been if they tested a 69 Charger with their PST suspension, of course, but I don't remember seeing that.

[Mike DC]

Two thoughts on this: 

1.  C/D's people probably couldn't drive worth a crap.  They'll never admit it because they're car guys too.  They've got too much ego invested in the issue.  But those modern-car magazines practically ALWAYS post numbers way slower than a dedicated drag-racer can do no matter what car it is. 

2.  I'm guessing C/D probably didn't bother to get a "fresh" enough old Challenger in top tune.  Needs low miles too.  Modern cars don't need any tuning and they don't show a dramatic difference from perfect to used condition, so modern mags often don't jump through enough hoops to get decent examples of old cars.  They don't have the connections in the old-car world either.  We've all seen nice-looking stock restos that aren't running all that well.