What was the reported 1/4 mile time for the 71 and 72 W-30 off the show room floor with stock tires and all? I can't seam to find this in the old magazines?

 

Sorry don't have the 71s specs handy... But here is the legendary 1970 W30s specs.

 

1971 W30

 

Blistering

 

The problem with period magazine tests is that they are not normalized for driver skill, weather, or traction. I remember Motor Trend pointing out that they do not power shift, whereas Hot Rod and Car Craft did. And also, you need to pay close attention to the equipment like gearing. Super Stock magazine tested a 1972 W30 (AT car with the lame cam, power brakes, no A/C, 3.42 gears, and stock Uniroyal bias ply tires) and turned a best of 14.47 @ 100.34 MPH. That was manually shifting at 6000 RPM (with the base shifter, not a Dual Gate) but they did not indicate if they power braked for launch or not.

 

They definitely were in their day.

I didn't mean to disparage the 70 W30 by writing legendary. What I meant to imply is the 71 and 72 are totally on par. But don't seem to get the same respect. Especially the 72 which was absolutely one of the quickest cars money could buy when released.

14@100 is muscle era quick.

W30s touched 13s when stick.

66 W30s are 12 second car's with modern traction...

 

Stock 67 442s would go 12s on slicks. I have some of dad's timeslips, 12.89@105, IIRC.

 

I had posted a question a while back regarding the '70 vs '71 W30 performance, mentioning that I seemed to remember an article that compared the 2, specifically to understand the performamce difference due to the lower compression in the '71.
But based on the results above, it looks like the compression drop did not significanlty reduce performamce. I suspect that the lower compression would make the car more "doggy" of the line, but the mid 3's gearing would cover that up.