`69 Commando vs `69 Corvette.

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Cycle tested a Commando S -showing it to be quite a capable showroom stock road machine, getting a 1/4mile of 12.69 @ 103.68mph.
Car Life ran [showroom stock also] various Vettes down the 1/4mile too............Base 350 auto, 3.08:1 final drive..16.1 @ 84mph.
..................................................................................................L36 427 auto, 3.08:1 final drive..15.0 @ 93mph.
..................................................................................................L46 350 man4, 4.11:1 final drive.14.6 @ 97mph.
..................................................................................................L71 427 man4, 4.11:1 final drive.13.9 @ 105mph.
 
Jim Walraven owner of the Jewel T class B altered told me no matter how fast you are there's someone faster. :(
 
illf8ed said:
Jim Walraven owner of the Jewel T class B altered told me no matter how fast you are there's someone faster. :(


Just like gun fighters...

I never saw much reason to brag about a motorcycle beating a car. It is sorta like a dog biting a man, but when a man bites a dog...
 
I never saw much reason to brag about a motorcycle beating a car. It is sorta like a dog biting a man, but when a man bites a dog...

All's I can say is you ain't run with the Big Bad Cars and PU's out there which besides giving bikes a run for the money in sprints can also kill em on braking and turning. Of course there's a wide scope of power to weight and in general road cars are slugs compared to average motorcycle. When playing Peel games I got bored with the sports bikes so picked fights with cages which indeed scared me the speeds would get so high in the tights. One event stands out with a blond in red Mustang convertible that flashed me back on Tunnel of Love video.
 
Most of this is moot, due to the fact that a modern stock 4 cylinder coupe you can buy used for well under 410K can best a stock 60s supercar on the strip or the track.
 
& you from a stoplight?
Those `60s muscle cars were hampered by the street rubber back in the day, but if you were to match a '4cylinder coupe' [turbo?] in a throttle stomp contest at 70mph - what then?
 
As I remember from testing the prototypes, the Commando was faster to about 85 mph, then the 'Vette blew by to a much higher top speed than the 105 or so that the stock Commando could achieve. I think the highest I ever saw on the prototype Commando was on the MIRA "Level Mile" track where we coaxed it up to about 108 mph.

That was the bike that subsequently shed the final drive chain at full song on the banked tri-oval track. The engine made a good boat anchor afterwards.
 
Not necessarily, the Commando was a second ahead at the 1/4 mile mark, & a 4:11.1 Vette was likely flat out at the end of the strip - Commando still winding out in top..
 
I woould have expected that L71 to have had a top end up around 135 mph, but I've never even sat in a Vette, let alone driven one. The Commando would do a much better job of every-day transportation than the Vette and get much better gas mileage (and fun) doing it!

I just wish that, at coming up 71, I could even consider a Commando. I'm too chicken to ride a bike among all the 85+, short-sighted drivers around here. We have a neighbor who has just turned 102 and still drives a Subaru Forester.
 
Not with 4:11.1 final drive Frank..The "Competition" Vettes using Can-Am Mc Laren type alloy mills were good for ~600hp on open headers, to go ~ 11.0 flat @ 130mph in the 1/4.
 
Meow meow?
I guess - its just a man eat dog world, & there`s never enough dog to go `round...mmmm..dog...arrrgghh...[sez Homer J..]
 
Well if talking special race engines the shop that sold me P!! said it broke under well under 11 sec 1/4 mile and over 140 beyond that, with a drag slick though. I went w/o 1973 to 1999 w/o seeing another Norton and thought only museiums had any left, then found a famous hot Combat I took home thinking of what i was in for as looked like same power plant, boy was I disapointed, so resolved to make it a bagger with K/Q saddle to fit its performance doldrums. It was a good as factory Combat could be but in case you ain't held on to a 11 sec bike, it was dull, as I proved 1st week on it. Even Peel in her prime combo surprising 600's wasn't the same league a Norton Twin can be made to deliver.

`69 Commando vs `69 Corvette.


[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk2IZNzvTwk[/video]

[video]http://inlinethumb48.webshots.com/26735/1039321424037141179S500x500Q85.jpg[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRSeQ9B8Wes[/video]
 
Right Hobot, then is certain fun to be had in laying waste to peoples illusions when they see a 'old motorcycle' with skinny rubber that they figure will be easy meat, but become roadkill themselves, be they H-D heroes, 600 jockeys or car guys..
 
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