Comment by Animats
0 to 60mph in 6.8 seconds.
The 0-60mph time for a 2025 Ford F-150 pickup truck is 5.8 seconds. Today's "performance" cars are in the 2 to 3 second range.
It was a more leisurely time.
0 to 60mph in 6.8 seconds.
The 0-60mph time for a 2025 Ford F-150 pickup truck is 5.8 seconds. Today's "performance" cars are in the 2 to 3 second range.
It was a more leisurely time.
And that’s the slowest F-150. The Lightning will do it in under 4 seconds (as will the Raptor R). Arguably too fast for a 6500 pound chunk of steel, but it’s certainly entertaining.
I timed my first vehicle - a 1977 Chevrolet pickup - back in the day and it took around 18 seconds to get to 60. Topped out at maybe 85. Still perfectly usable for daily driving.
Here's "Hot Rod Girl", from 1956.[1] The beginning title is a few minutes of footage of the real San Fernando Drag Strip in Southern California. Watch the sluggish acceleration. Yes, they're actually supposed to be racing, not that it looks like it.
I remember in the late 80's/early 90s reading a Car & Driver special publication on "affordable used sports cars" (I ended up with a 1975 280Z for $2,000 in great condition). They made a point that "the sports cars of the 60's are easily beaten, at least in a straight line, by today's average family sedans."
I remember this every time something like a Cadillac Escalade leaves my 21-year-old 350Z in its dust...