Stock Charger performance

[doctor4766]

Just curious what sort of performance one might expect from a stock 1970 440 Charger 4bbl RT with 727 and 3.23 gears,
factory HP manifolds.

Were they really a performance car straight off the assembly line or just your average V8?

What 1/4 mile times were quoted from new?

[b5blue]

Ample power for anyone. (What mine is.) 

[496polara]

So many variables to consider.In optimal tune I would imagine mid 14's. Throw on some drag radials and maybe low 14's. Just my guess.
I had a 70 R/T 440 4 speed with 4.10 gears in the early 80's but it already had headers when I bought it.

[John_Kunkel]

So many variables to consider.In optimal tune I would imagine mid 14's. Throw on some drag radials and maybe low 14's. Just my guess.

Pretty good guess. Those are the numbers I observed of brand new cars at the time. My '68 440 GTX turned 14.50's on stock F70 X 14 Red Streaks.

[doctor4766]

Interesting.
My car has had 15" rims fitted and the stock carb and intake replaced with Edelbrock pieces, although I think the carb is a 600cfm. Not sure what the Carters were.
I feel the car is a bit sluggish and would have thought it should be noticeably better than the mostly stock built 383 my '69 had. That was same gearbox , wheel size and diff ratio.
I don't believe it's had a rebuild in its life and it's certainly not smokey, so perhaps the headers and 750 Holley were the game changers in this comparison?

[Mike DC]

The data numbers recorded in the 1960s were a joke by modern road test standards. 

Sometimes it was stuff like a passenger riding shotgun in the car, watching the (semi-accurate) guages and clicking a stopwatch by hand.  Sometimes the factories sent a "ringer" car that was souped-up.  Sometimes they were doing that to offset the fact that the magazine road testers weren't very good drag racers.  Sometimes the same press car was being passed around to several testing sources and it arrived in worn-out condition.  Etc. 

The stock bias-ply tires were so far different from modern radials that new/old comparisons don't really work.  The wheel alignment, the chassis & suspension tuning, the transmissions ratios, etc, were all tuned around the tires of the time.  You can't just slap modern tires onto a 50yo car and make it a fair comparison.   

Same with the fuel.  1960s fuel is different from modern stuff and it has peformance effects. 

[John_Kunkel]

The data numbers recorded in the 1960s were a joke by modern road test standards.

Sometimes they were doing that to offset the fact that the magazine road testers weren't very good drag racers.   

I think that's the major issue...some road tests at the strip would show numbers way off the norm because of ham-fisted drivers who were good at evaluating handling and road noise but didn't have a clue as how to drive a drag car.