Fastest 71-73 mustang belonging to forum member

[Tyson Blair]

At some of those speeds you’re going to jail for quite some time for Reckless Driving.

Well it can be a few hundred dollars or it could be much more serious. The police have some discretion. I live in Texas and it is too big to put entirely under surveillance.

 

[Tyson Blair]

I took my 72 Mach 1 off the clock once many years ago and it scared the sh*t out of me.......... and that was after a beer or two too many!! And you say 140 is no big deal! These cars were never built for those speeds without many upgrade modifications, including BRAKES!
Tony Muscle will no doubt agree.

You are correct, When I got the car originally it was beyond worn out and was scary to drive at moderate speeds it was so floaty and disconnected skipping and skidding with bump steer that I took a chance on total control performan

I took my 72 Mach 1 off the clock once many years ago and it scared the sh*t out of me.......... and that was after a beer or two too many!! And you say 140 is no big deal! These cars were never built for those speeds without many upgrade modifications, including BRAKES!
Tony Muscle will no doubt agree.

You are right. When I originally got the car it was so worn out and drove so badly it felt dangerous at moderate speeds so I took a chance on replacing the suspension and steering rack with total control products. It made a definite improvenent

 

[Tyson Blair]

I took my 72 Mach 1 off the clock once many years ago and it scared the sh*t out of me.......... and that was after a beer or two too many!! And you say 140 is no big deal! These cars were never built for those speeds without many upgrade modifications, including BRAKES!
Tony Muscle will no doubt agree.

I guess what I should say is 140 is commonplace by modern standards. Speed demands to be respected for sure and 50 year old cars have to be treated as such, but with the right parts they can handle better. They will never handle as good as they look unless 007 is driving

 

[Ron Tanzi]

About feeling the nose getting light when the needle goes down right, I must say that since I have fully closed the front valance, have functional scoops and lowered the front, I never had the feeling that the steering wheel was just there for decoration again. I know I was having that "floating" issue at relatively low speeds, prolly because the hood acts as a parachute/lift.
I no longer push it, I think last time was before moving over to AOD about 2 or 3 years ago, because they keep adding cameras and radars around here where I used to push it a bit. Dutch fines being the highest in the world, fact that they take your driving licence and even take your car simply doesn't make it worth it anymore. They've killed all the fun!
What's the cost in USA for this kind of speeding?

America! We still have a little freedom here. Fines for speeding along with the likelihood of getting caught varies by state. I am a big fan of your country's 17th century Dutch artists. Cheers.

 

[Ron Tanzi]

I went a little over 120 on the way to the air museum in Quonset RI many years ago. 20 years ago the former naval air station was pretty deserted on weekends. The access road in was super long and straight and never a cop. I did not feel very "floaty" in the front end. I had dropped the front end height by an inch and a half by this point. I did have the block offs in the NACA intakes. I don't do things like that anymore. But never say never. Or do I mean Diamonds are forever?

 

[pedstagn71]

Nice ride, I am guessing you have made some modifications?

Pretty much factory suspension it’s all new of course. 408 stroker c4 built and 325 gears with Detroit locker

 

[basstrix]

Damn 7300rpm I bet it sounded great. Nothing like a 429. What rear gears 3.5?

It had 4.30's with a 27" tire at that time. 7300 was probably on the verge of floating valves....It had stopped pulling back at the 6k mark, so it was totally over-revved for that cam. I have no recollection of how it sounded....It was at night on a 2 lane blacktop and we'll just say that I was very uncomfortable

 

[Tyson Blair]

Pretty much factory suspension it’s all new of course. 408 stroker c4 built and 325 gears with Detroit locker

Good stuff.

 

[Tyson Blair]

Addendum to my story. The road I was on ended at a T junction with the river just the other side of it. My car only had drum brakes up front and I really thought I was going swimming. I stopped the car about half way across the road. And that's why I mentioned "BRAKES" in my first post.

That sounds like an action packed moment!

 

[pedstagn71]

I have hit the rev limiter at 140mph and 6500rpm once. Been 120 numerous times To me the car is comfy anything over 90mph. I hit 110 passing cars regularly

I have since turned the rev limiter down to 6000rpm

 

[tony-muscle]

I know way way back when I was much younger and 10x more stupid I buried my speedo on the back road everyone used for drag racing. If memory serves me the speedo only goes to 120 so I do not know the actual speed. One lesson learned at that point was without the block offs in the NACA ducts on the hood that front end gets really really light. Don't even think about moving that steering wheel. I was one and done after that experience.

Very interesting. Is your hood a RAM air or it just has the ducts open to the engine bay. The later will make sense. My NASA ducts breath into the engine so they may react different but now that I think about it I may want to do a lap with them closed to see if there is any difference on top speed.

 

[Spike Morelli]

Yeah, well one time, I did 120 MPH in rush hour traffic on the meridian backwards with all the windows down. I think my 302 2V had a bit more left in it, but my Sears tires were almost bald and the single muffler exhaust was taxed to the limit...........

 

[Stanglover]

That sounds like an action packed moment!

yeah, action packed............ in my shorts!

 

[bkdunha]

Very interesting. Is your hood a RAM air or it just has the ducts open to the engine bay. The later will make sense. My NASA ducts breath into the engine so they may react different but now that I think about it I may want to do a lap with them closed to see if there is any difference on top speed.

Non-functional ram air. Did have a 4 barrel at the time and an open element, but more air was hitting the cowl and firewall then going down the carb.

 

[Sheriff41]

Yeah, well one time, I did 120 MPH in rush hour traffic on the meridian backwards with all the windows down. I think my 302 2V had a bit more left in it, but my Sears tires were almost bald and the single muffler exhaust was taxed to the limit...........

Was this while towing a boat?

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Yeah, well one time, I did 120 MPH in rush hour traffic on the meridian backwards with all the windows down. I think my 302 2V had a bit more left in it, but my Sears tires were almost bald and the single muffler exhaust was taxed to the limit...........

So, that was you I saw on the 101(freeway) driving backwards!!!

 

[ib4stangs]

Hello gentlemen,
I hit 140mph in my 71 the other day and I got to wandering what is the fastest top speed you guys have pushed your machines to. I know 140 is no big deal. It would be cool to see a 71-73 built for speed. Mine is a mild 429 with 3.0 gears and a c6. Probably tops out at 5500 rpm. What top speeds have you guys hit and what modifications if any did you make?

That would probably be Ed Voss (Worldrecholder), current C/C production land speed record holder at 221.871 MPH at Bonneville.

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/land-speed-71-73.40868/

 

[Cleveland Crush]

View attachment 96544
That would probably be Ed Voss (Worldrecholder), current C/C production land speed record holder at 221.871 MPH at Bonneville.

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/land-speed-71-73.40868/

I'll bet @Spike Morelli can do that 221.8 mph backwards, on the 101 freeway "pulling" his boat !!!

 

[Hemikiller]

A guy I worked for had a brand new 1991 300ZX twin turbo black on black. He took me for a ride in it and hit the 155mph limiter on I-95. Car was smooth as glass all the way to the limit. Fastest I've ever been, and I have no inclination to go anywhere near that speed in one of our cars.

Back in the late 90's, my 71 sportsroof saw in the 120mph area fairly regularly.

 

[Sheriff41]

Back in my high-speed days we'd cruise around at 480-540 knots (~500-620 mph). Gotta love high performance aircraft!