What’s The Fastest Car You’ve Owned?

[George Smolinski]

1969 Mustang Mach I Super Cobra Jet

[Old buicks 2]

1970 GTO    

[Rusty_OToole]

Either a 68 Buick Electra 225 hardtop with 375HP 430 V8 or a 1974 Porsche 911.  I don't think either is considered a fast car.

[John_S_in_Penna]

I don't really desire a super-fast car.

I don't want a slow car, but I'd rather cruise

at normal speeds in softly cushioned comfort!

[intimeold]

1970 Ford Boss 302

[pkhammer]

Like John S I don't have a need for speed, at least not as in top speed. I never had a desire to see if I could go 130 but I do like a car that will accelerate briskly. My '67 GTO and '68 Olds 442 could both do that pretty well.

[Restorer32]

My 140 Jag.

[Dave39MD]

1962 Corvette

[TAKerry]

Im with the other guys on not having a 'need for speed'.  I do like to know that there is enough h/p to keep the car moving down the road comfortably though. Probably the fastest I have owned was a '96 Camaro Z 28. 6 speed manual, had the higher h/p optioned engine.  My wifes current car, 2014 Mustang with a v6 is probably just as fast as the Z 28 was though, which is pretty quick.  My 'old' car is a 77 trans am, with a beefed up 400. I would imagine its ok, but I have never really driven it over 65 mph or so. I have no need to at this point.  My one and only time I have ever been in a Corvette, my friend took me for a ride (and later let me drive) in his Z06.  That thing was a beast. He had it over a 100mph in a matter of seconds. That is probably the fastest I have been. I do admit it was quite fun!!!

[Porsche 68]

1965 Griffith 400

[Billy Kingsley]

Not sure, but the fastest I've ever gone was in a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. 

 

Actually it was probably in the back of an ambulance but since I was unconscious at the time I'm not going to count that. 

[39BuickEight]

2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe, with the added GMPP package, 290/360 in a barely 3000 lb car.  It's not the fastest thing on the road, but it scoots pretty good.  It's a rare car that GM only made 1266 copies of before shutting down Pontiac.  I saw a photo of one online last year and had to have one.

 

 

 

[Brass is Best]

[SC38dls]

In my younger crazier days (short for I’m still goofy) I had modified a 60 Austin Healy with a Ford 289 we had built to produce around 400 HP. It would smoke the tires at 60 mph in 4th gear. It would consistently run low 12’s in the quarter mile and a good day was 11.9 or so.  It would hit the 3 digit mark very quickly and just seemed to keep climbing but would get very unstable. 
 

[John S.]

I owned a 1960 Pontiac Ventura 2 door hardtop with Tri-Power. Great driving car, and fast.

[Laughing Coyote]

Senior high school car was a 1965 Malibu SS with a 1966 389 engine and a 3 speed ford top loader transmission.  Bought for $700 back in 1984. 

[Delco32V]

Our family car...1970 Plymouth GTX, 440, 4 speed, 4:10 super trak pak.....still looking for it (in NJ I'm pretty sure)

 

 

[keiser31]

My first fast car was my 1968 Plymouth Road Runner. 383 four barrel four speed. My faster car was my 1970 Plymouth GTX. 440 four speed. I had a 1968 Dodge Dart GTS 383 four speed, but never drove it. It was probably faster than my 1970 GTX.

Edited August 20, 2021 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Str8-8-Dave]

Fastest terminal speed car I have owned would be 1997 Porsche 928 S4 automatic

Hardest accelerating car from a standing start- 1963 Dodge 330 426 Max Wedge PB Torqueflite 3.90 Sure Track

Next fastest accelerating car from a standing start- 1968 Pontiac GTO Schornack built 406 roller stroker motor automatic 3.73 Safe T Track

Fastest accelerating car from a 30 MPH roll- 1969 GTO RA IV automatic 3.90 Safe T Track

 

I don't have any pictures of the 69 GTO.  It was my first new car.

 

My sissy hot rod...

 

The 928 came to be to get the US Government off Porsche's back for selling oversteering

requiring some driver skill and caution rear engine cars that rich kids with no driving skills

were getting killed in.  Porsche designed the 928 with perfect 50/50 weight distribution with

front mounted V8 feeding a rear mounted ZF transaxle thru a torque tube drive.

 

And from another planet came the 63 Dodge 330 post Max Wedge car

 

 

Dan Dvorak built the 426 Max Wedge engine for this car.

 

Milt Schornack and I met at a greasy spoon on Gratiot Avenue in Roseville MI one Saturday

morning for breakfast and to agree on what we might do to a 1968 Pontiac GTO I bought on

E-Bay and had shipped in from Oregon.  By the time we talked I had gotten the PMD build

sheet for the car, built for a secretary I think, automatic with PS, PB, A/C, AM radio with 

stereo 8-track player, rally gauge pack and PMD pancake hubcaps on whitewall tires. I wanted

a car that looked bone stock but packed a little surprise.  We decided internally the engine could

be heavily modified, hence it wound up with a steel crank ground 0.030" off center to increase 

by 0.060", Eagle rods, KB slugs, roller tappet cam with Schornack specified profile, stainless valves

and cc'd heads.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Royal Pontiac GTO installing the engine he and I agreed to. 

 

Looked bone stock.  It ran a Rochester Q-jet carb an points distributor.  All the original

vacuum lines were there, some plugged with ball bearings, dual snorkel air cleaner, 

repro Delco battery and all the decals.  The air was restored and worked.

 

I restored the interior of this car.  Major items included rounding up the missing 8-track player

and restoring it and that's one of the first repro Pontiac sport steering wheels that were just

becoming available when I had this car.

 

When I got this car back from Milt Schornack I knew he was hard of hearing.  He had mufflers

that couldn't have been 12" long and reduced open exhaust sound level about 12DB I'm guessing,

it was LOUD. 

 

I put quiet street mufflers on it and eventually put the original PMD pancake

hubcaps back on the car to make it somewhat of a sleeper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Str8-8-Dave
Add pictures, descriptions (see edit history)

[28 Chrysler]

1963 T Bird,  lumpy idle 8 MPG, 9 on a good day, brakes were an after thought.

 

[TexRiv_63]

I have never been a top speed driver but I have owned a lot of stoplight chasers. Among vintage cars the fastest was probably my 67 GTX, although my 69 Hurst Olds was very similar. Absolute best sounding car was my 70 AAR Cuda with torqueflite, get it rolling at about 35 in high then kick it down, all the way to first gear and all six barrels open, still gives me a shiver. But the all-time fastest car I've owned is my current daily driver, a 2018 Dodge Durango SRT. 470 HP, 0 to 60 in 4.4 seconds, 13.20 quarter mile, in a three row SUV with all wheel drive.

[Guest]

163.40 @ 8.34 1961 392hemi powered blown gas dragster

[JonW]

When I was 19, I bought a 1968 442 off a pot lot for $350. The body was straight and no rust, but it had a blown engine. It also had a 4-speed with 3.91 gears and anti-spin. A mechanic at the dealership where I worked had a '68 442 and he wanted to build an engine for it and keep his OEM engine. He offered to take my blown 400 and give me a 455 out of jet boat in exchange. Swapped a W-30 cam into the 455, added a Holley carb and Hooker headers, and voila, instant death trap. Did I mention it had manual drum brakes? That car was downright scary. Traction on G60 tires was impossible.

 

Today my fastest car is a 2018 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody.

Edited August 20, 2021 by JonW (see edit history)

[George Smolinski]

4 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

I don't really desire a super-fast car.

I don't want a slow car, but I'd rather cruise

at normal speeds in softly cushioned comfort!

Weren't you young once upon a time? Didn't you do or want to do foolish things like go fast?

[John_S_in_Penna]

Young but not foolish!  On a school visit to

Germany, my host family took me on the Autobahn

in their Mercedes-Benz at 170 km/hour.  That's 106

m.p.h. in the English system.  I'm glad someone else

was driving.

 

Anyone who wants a thrill but doesn't want to own

a fast car can go on a roller coaster any fine day.

[plymouthcranbrook]

Fastest American made by actual experimentation-1970 Plymouth Fury I ex-police car. 383 four barrel automatic. 130 mph on I 80 in Iowa.  Calibrated spedo.

Fastest Foreign car again by actual experimentation-1969 MGC GT. 125 indicated.

 

Honorable mention-1966 Plymouth Fury III  383 four speed. Actual speed unknown as the spedo never worked.  But a guy I was racing told me afterwards that I shifted out of third gear at 90mph and pulled away from his Hot Chevy Nova with no trouble.

 

Today I am the Old Man that I swore I would never be. Never over 70 and follow the speed limit religiously.  Sigh…

Edited August 20, 2021 by plymouthcranbrook (see edit history)

[dodgebrother]

Two of my most "powerful" cars were my 1970 El Camino SS 454 LS6 TH 400 and my 1970 El Camino SS 454 LS6 M22. Both #'s matching with GM Docs and on LS6 Registry.

Not necessarily the fastest top speed but for sure the most powerful off the line.

With your foot into it you felt you were pulling "G's".

The 454 LS6 was rated at 450 HP to meet EPA but they were actually around 500 HP out of the box from the factory.

Edited August 23, 2021 by dodgebrother (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Along these same lines, I dont understand the need for ridiculous amounts of horsepower. Guys doing restomods seem to think that every car needs to be 800+ hp.  Can one even drive a car safely on the road for routine travel with that kind of a motor? I doubt it. My lowly mustang has a bit over 300 and it does just fine. Bragging rights, I suppose so but Im not impressed.

[cheezestaak2000]

1965 Pontiac GTO, but i gotta give an honorable mention to a Buick Centurion 2dr that had a 455 in it

 

[9F94M567042]

1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 428 Cobra Jet Ram AIr

[alsancle]

10 minutes ago, 9F94M567042 said:

1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 428 Cobra Jet Ram AIr

 

Literally the entire extent of me driving mine is captured right here.  Forgive the quality of the video, it was a long time ago.

 

 

 

[Larry Schramm]

4 hours ago, Billy Kingsley said:

Not sure, but the fastest I've ever gone was in a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. 

 

Actually it was probably in the back of an ambulance but since I was unconscious at the time I'm not going to count that. 

 

Having driven a lot of ambulances and fire trucks, they do not drive that fast.  Number one priority is getting there safe and in one piece.  The companies and fire departments that I have worked for stressed safety. You do not really "make up" a lot of time if any going fast.   The last thing everyone wants is to have two or three or more patients from an accident. And in today's world you need to look at the other driver as trying to "get you".  I would say that from my personal experience most call runs to an incident or hospital would be the speed limit or just over it.  You are able to go through lights safely after stopping on red lights and go around traffic.

[carbking]

Import - lightened 1968 Datsun SRL-311 with factory race motor.

 

Domestic - 1974 Pontiac GTO with highly modified Pontiac 350, and lightened chassis

 

Non-qualifiers.

 

Import - Jaguar XK-120-M, Jaguar XK-140, Austin-Healey 3000

 

Domestic - 1963 Corvette 327/340, 1968 Mustang with Shelby engine, early Dodge Hemi

 

Today, mini-van; but there are memories. Taught my wife to drive a 4-speed in the Corvette.

 

And in the interest of total disclosure, ALL of the above would run 70 MPH.

 

Jon.

Edited August 20, 2021 by carbking (see edit history)

[JACK M]

Well, there is quick and there is fast.

The fastest car I ever owned was one of the only two Japanese cars that I ever owned  (the other was the slowest).

1971 Datsun 2000, I got into it with a 427 Vette on the freeway once Over in Eastern Oregon where the freeway was long and straight. He couldn't keep up with me at 140.

That car was incredibly fast when the optional hard top was in place.

 

The other one was a 69 or so Subaru 360. Nuff said.

 

Indecently neither of these cars lasted very long, Both got wrecked.

I bought them both new and never bought a new vehicle since (50 years) until just lately when I dropped a bundle into a new Ram.

I always told people that I bought my 95 F350 new, but it was used with just a thousand miles on it and was less than one month used. It was to big for the guy.

It brought me two thirds of what I paid for it in trade from the Ram dealer 26 years later.

The Old Ford cost me about $500 a year to own after all was said and done.

 

Lest I ramble........

[58L-Y8]

Speed was never an objective, but my late brother had a 1968 Mustang fastback, 390 with four speed, drove it a few times.   Fast and scary, lousy handling and braking, typical (ab)used car he had in high school.  Stress cracks in the suspension towers couldn't have helped. 

 

As a daily driver, in the 1990's had a 1988 Dodge Omni, 2.2L, IF, five speed stick.  Running it through the gears would make it get up and scoot.

[Billy Kingsley]

1 hour ago, Larry Schramm said:

 

Having driven a lot of ambulances and fire trucks, they do not drive that fast.  Number one priority is getting there safe and in one piece.  The companies and fire departments that I have worked for stressed safety. You do not really "make up" a lot of time if any going fast.   The last thing everyone wants is to have two or three or more patients from an accident. And in today's world you need to look at the other driver as trying to "get you".  I would say that from my personal experience most call runs to an incident or hospital would be the speed limit or just over it.  You are able to go through lights safely after stopping on red lights and go around traffic.

 

The ambulance got me from my house to the hospital in Poughkeepsie NY in 7 minutes...normal time is a half hour. It was in the 5 am hour so less traffic was about. Probably a very good thing, my family was told 5 minutes later and I would not have survived. Even so they gave me only a 5% survival chance, but here I am.

[jukejunkie1015]

2109 Mercedes Benz SLC43 AMG Roadster. Cardinal Red and too fast for my liking. It was a recent inheritance with only 5000 original miles .

[Pilgrim65]

My jag 150  Xkr screams past 100 top speed to scary never got there .

Edited August 22, 2021 by Pilgrim65 (see edit history)

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

69 nova with a very healthy 350, racing clutch, and rock crusher. Would run 8.5 in quarter mile. I don’t know what the top speed was.  Sold the engine to a tractor puller. Several years later I ran into him and asked how it was running. He said he hadn’t blown it up yet and didn’t think he ever would. He said 10-15 rpms was the norm when he used it. Mike

[philip roitman]

My 2016 Mercedes AMG GTS Edition1. I have had it up to XXXMPH and then thought twice and decided I shouldn't try to go for the top speed of 195MPH is my overall fastest. My 1973 Buick Gran Sport "Factory Stock" drag racers ET and MPH are in my signature. A few "Showroom Stock" SCCA/IMSA racers were pretty quick also back in the day. Haven't gone too high in the triple digits with my daily commuter/driver 2020 Charger Daytona 😇

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by philip roitman (see edit history)