60 hp AV8 performance ?

[aonemarine]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lancaster

Imagine if Ford had stuffed a 60 into a Model Y in 1935...Muscle Car!

Not so much in a Ford. The following numbers are from specifications in the Ford Performance Services bulletins. They were a form of testing for dealers...cars that could not produce acceleration, top speed, or economy at least as good as the minimum specs needed repair. These acceleration numbers are from 7 MPH in high gear only, an extra burden on the 60.

60, 4.44, '37-40 7--25MPH 9.5 seconds, 10-60 31 seconds, top speed 76

85 3.78, '37-40 7-25 7.5 10-60 23, top 85

95 Merc , 39-40, 3.54 7-25 7.6, 10-60 23, 88mph

Hottest 10-60 was 17.5 for a `1934!

Remember, Ford intended these numbers as the WORST acceptable performance. I think they were meant to allow dealers to classify customer performance complaints as either valid or a driver problem. If you said your car was a slug, they took it out on the road and ran the hell out of it for definitive numbers!

Of course, the test just screams for someone to throw a Merc engine and 4.44's into a '32-34...I wonder if anyone ever thought to try that??

Looking at those numbers make me chuckle! Supercharger here I come! LOL

[aonemarine]

Bruce, would you happen to have those numbers for a 31 or 32 four banger??

[Bruce Lancaster]

No, Ford only covered v8's '32-40 in those bulletins.
Look around...there is the R&C test I mentioned, though they were fairly easy on the cars...you do NOT want to break the toys of a major Vegas casino owner! and there is a British Road test from 1932, which I think is covered a bit in Thacker's book
32 Ford: The Deuce A Formal and Sporting History of Ford's First V8 and the Model B
This is from about 1984, NOT the Deuce book Thacker cranked out in this century