its the power to weight ratio that makes many of the cars desirable

grumpyvette

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when I was younger I had a older neighbor , that had a 1933 buick, into which he had stuffed a 413 chrysler wedge engine, it looks similar to this picture I found posted.
1932-hupmobile-coupe-hot-rod-tim-mccullough.jpg

the engine had a radical cam , a push button auto trans and a dana 60 rear differential, it was low, light weight, two seat and very quick! and he had the annoying habit of very easily staying about a door length ahead of you any time we raced no mater what car you drove.
as I got older I talked with him about that frequently and he made a point of saying that his engine probably only made about 440hp , but the car weight was just a bit over 2100 lbs so he had little problem keeping up with or ahead of even my Pontiac lemans with the 496 BIG BLOCK CHEVY POWERED DRIVE TRAIN I built a few years later
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...y-fast-car-resulting-from-an-engine-swap.898/
I rather quickly came to respect the concept of a high power to weight ratio, as it was all to obvious that building a powerful engine and installing it in your daily driver was not the way to produce the fastest car in the area.
we had one guy in the neighbor hood that had a car similar to this picture I found posted that had a 427 chevy with a 4 speed muncie that we always tried to get these two cars to race but in the 30 plus years I know I lived in that neigbor hood I don,t think I ever saw the chevy powered t-bucket's owner exceed 60 mph or even do a single burn-out, he was content to simply drive around occasionally and park and BS with the car guys, I talked to him years after I moved from MIAMI when we accidentally met in a home depot and I asked him if he still owned the car, he said he had given it to his older son, who wrecked it a few years earlier (his car looked very similar to this picture I found)
96859.jpg

tepl1.jpg

http://vexer.com/automotive-tools/1-4-mile-ET-HP-MPH-calculator

http://www.wallaceracing.com/et-hp-mph.php

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-info-worth-reading-through.11528/#post-53210

https://robrobinette.com/et.htm

http://www.ajdesigner.com/fl_horsepower_elapsed_time/horsepower_elapsed_time.php

http://www.tuneruniversity.com/blog/2012/03/power-to-weight-ratio/
 
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Yep, you got it. Mine weighs 1980 pounds and the engine dyno'ed at 347 HP. You can steer with the steering wheel or gas pedal.
 
Power to weight ratio is why using a little GM 60°V6 will work for me, as a cruiser.

A 2015 Camaro LT comes in at around 11 lbs/hp. If I can keep the weight of mine down around 1500 lbs, my bobtail will also come in at around 11 lbs/hp. Not a bad neighborhood for a little cruiser.

Back in the day, my last MG Midget would have been around 21 lbs/hp...though not a car I'd want to do a lot of interstate driving, it was still a blast to drive.
 
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At 21 lbs/hp, I guess you could drive wide open every where you went! hehehe !!!!
 
get it down closer to 5lbs -or at most - 6 lbs per hp and it gets to be fun too drive
 
im at about 8-8.5lb per hp by my seat of the pants dyno and it really needs to be treated with respect. 5 or 6 would be 25%+ improvement thats pretty wicked.
 
At 21 lbs/hp, I guess you could drive wide open every where you went! hehehe !!!!

Combined with an absurdly close ratio 1st gear intended for gymkhana, it was a blast to drive in just that manner... Back in the late 70s I won $100 on a bet with a new Corvette owner at a gymkhana. The bet was who would be the first to cross the 100 foot mark from a standing start...if the bet had been for a 120 feet I'd have lost. Playing flat out boy racer on a twisty-turny stretch of road, without the worry of a ticket, was a lot of fun.
 
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