You just don't need all that horsepower....

[George M]

Not very often but every once but every once in a while the universe falls into alignment. Was Sunday morning and had been to a party the night before and the g/f was still in bed recovering and it was a nice day and the weekend and had to roll the 7 out to lubricate the seals :)
Cover off...reattach the battery...radio code in...the CD43 remembers the dam station pre-sets...love it...brief warm up and off I go. A lot of construction in my area...why Sunday is the best day to go for a drive...so manevered around that and got onto M-59 heading for the freeway of course where the big BMW shines. Now M-59 going East toward I-94 is a main 2-way divided highway with lights and everybody flies on it. Well....tooling along coming up to the light with the top back, windows down and a favorite CD in and cranked...a beautiful new Harley custom pulls up next to me at the light on the left. I was admiring his machine and he nodded over in my direction as we were both enjoying the nice morning. Guys...I love to race...even with my 735iL which BTW pulls real good for a big car. Now no question that Harley will outrun my 7 but the fun thing and competitive side is...the guy driving it didn't want me to out run him either :p . By the same token he didn't want to give the impression and give props to my big BMW that he was gonna race so a little cat and mouse ensued. Quick glance in my rear view mirror and guess what?....a dream car of mine appears...a beautiful AC Cobra...with the right wheels...really well done..presume it was a small block by the sound of its pipes and way it ran. So off we go. The fun part about the 7 is nobody ever knows how much I am into the throttle because my car doesn't make a lot of noise and pulls good with little fan fare. One of the reasons I like to race is to hear the other guy's car or bike next to me...and see just how much faster a true high performance machine runs against mine. We walk out of the hole and I am manually shifting the slush box and before I catch second...I took it to redline...something I rarely do...see the tach rotate all the way around....and the Harley guy is gasing it to keep up and he has to get into the throttle pretty deep to do so...great fun....all the while the Cobra is right on my a$$.
Funny thing is the Harley guy didn't want to let on he was racing a big BMW luxury car so he wasn't all the way on it and we stayed even up to about 80mph or so when all of us got off the gas.
Here is the good part...Harley turns off....traffic clears a bit...we catch another light and the Cobra comes up next to me...check my mirror and a C5 Corvette who was obviously trying to catch the Cobra for some fun...is now behind me...LOL. I felt like the Gods were smiling upon me....and they were.
Same scenerio...Cobra driver...fat old guy with g/f or wife...we walk out of the hole...and I jump on the gas and of course he doesn't want to get outrun and this guy has a bit less self control than the Harley driver and wants to show his g/f that his mighty Cobra will easily handle a big Bimmer...and so he pumps his Cobra....I had about 2 car lengths on him intially...and here he comes and starts pulling me in 1st gear and goes by me. Wasn't pulling me that hard either BTW with all the noise...music really...he was making. This is the best part....pulls me about 2 car lengths through 2nd gear and now we are flying..and he misses 3rd gear...not just misses 3rd...but a huge nashing of gear teeth...he can't catch any gear and I fly by him. You should of seen the look on his face and his frantic body language by struggling with his shifter to find a gear all the while his girl friend snaps her head over and glares at him as the mighty Cobra falls to the old BMW luxury cruiser. Guys....the whole thing was priceless...doesn't any better than that.
George

[bimmerd00d]

:D

[1992 BMW 535i]

Life is good, non?

[bahnstormer]

harleys are slow as hell i always thought. at least the stock ones are....

[Phil M]

but if you got all that horsepower.. at least know how to handle it!


This is the best part....pulls me about 2 car lengths through 2nd gear and now we are flying..and he misses 3rd gear...not just misses 3rd...but a huge nashing of gear teeth...he can't catch any gear and I fly by him.

[George M]

yeah most Harley's aren't known for their speed...certainly by current bike standards. A basic Harley will outrun my car...at least to about 130 mph or so :-)
And Phil...true dat...was a classic moment. Great to have such a diverse, nice shiney group of iron together on a beautiful Sunday morning as well...wish I had my camera.
George

[632 Regal]

Awesome write up George :o)

[George M]

Thanks Jeff....all in good fun brother. My car is likely one of the slowest on this board...no straight line machine...although for what it is...it goes pretty good and is well tuned...no match for the others in the group however which I really don't mind or would buy something faster. Was a vertiable car ballet for a moment...what car guys live for...hehe.
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

My contribution:

I have a 1973 Vette with a 454. Have changed the heads, cam, roller rockers, exhaust, carbs, rear-end put in new Turbo 400 with 9.5" torque converter with 2400 RPM stall speed. Has about 450+ HP and will do the quarter mile in 11.0 seconds.

Four years ago I pulled up to a meat head and his girlfriend in a 1998 NSX. He looked over at my loud piece of American Iron and laughed. He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to drag.

I accepted, put $100 on the dash and waited for the light to change on Oceanside Drive in Long Beach. When it did, I blew him out of the water easily as it was obvious that the dude did not know how to shift. At the end he called foul and we did it again. I gave him a 4 second head start and still blew by him. Of course, he wouldn't pay up and ran the red to get away from me.

Moral of the story? While your car may look primo and you may think that you are Mario Andretti, never underestimate the car next to you because you never know what he may have under the hood.

I've included pics of my Vette and 1961 Jag XK150S

[George M]

couldn't see your pics but great to exchange car stories. Absolutely...you can't judge a book. There are some very quick ricers out there...even little Hondas on the bottle and running boost that can turn 12's if not faster. Very hard to beat old fashioned American iron however in a straight line. I grew up in the era of building muscle cars cars and have played with many a small and big block Corvette, Nova, Camaro and Chevelle as my Dad worked for Chevy engineering at the tech center and was always bringing these cars home. My friends and I built a seriously fast 427 (discarded the 428 CJ smog motor) 700 horse Shelby GT 500 which could outrun the then fastest car at my high school where a lot of kids grew up rich and had fast cars....a LS-6 454 Nova specially built by Nicky Chevrolet out of Chicago.
George
P.S. Would love to have an old big block Corvette.
George

[George M]

now I can see them :-)...that Vette is really a sleeper with all that hp :-)
Nice car.
Must melt those tires if on it too hard out of the hole.
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

Span the tires in the rims first time I took it out! :)

My next project is to take the 1973 Cuda that I have and put a '71 front and rear on it.

I have a crate 528 Hemi from Mopar Performance that will be going into plus a 6 speed Richmond with a 4.10 rear end.

I want it to look exactly stock (like the Vette) and be able to take anything on the road. It's got 610HP stock, but with a little work, 700HP should be possible (naturally aspirated!)

[George M]

You are still into the muscle car scene! 700 hp is definitely achieveable with a big block without boost. But as you know everything has to be optimized. In the case of my friend years ago, his old man was rich and had the engine built. We built the car however...installed the engine, trans, exhaust, suspension etc. It was almost not streetable...13:1 compression...racing gas only...full race cam...wouldn't idle...solid lifters...huge manifold and elephant carb. Spent more time wrenching on it then driving it...ate starters like hot dogs. The car however...cloked in the beautiful Shelby Mustang body...1969 (and I'm a Chevy guy) was just a beast. His goal was to make the fast car in the school and he did...was also the most unreliable. Standing on the gas was just a rush. Have only been in one faster car in my whole life...a Firebird with a 532 bow-tie block that was also barely streetable....love the smell of racing gas out of the exhausts :-) Only way to describe that car was violent.
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

I love the thought of that car. Violent is good!

Personally, I can't stand Fords (my dad's a Ford guy), I'm more of a Mopar/Chevy guy.

Craziest car I ever made was a 1979 AMC Eagle 4X4 station wagon with a Chevy 3/4 ton frame, suspension and drivetrain, mated to a 350 with 11:1 compression, roller rockers, custom ground cam, Eldebrock aluminum heads, Hurley headers and flow master steelpack exhaust (no cat back then!) and 1100CFM worth of double pumpers.
It got 3 - 5 MPG and went like stink (four wheel peel outs, permanent 4 X4). Nothing could touch me in the summer or winter. Twisted the frame during some violent off-roading and parted out the car....:(

[George M]

What a wild car...one of the first 4WD passenger cars. Yours of course was at a different level :-) Early in my career I worked with AMC Engineering on Plymouth Rd in Detroit for the Budd Company...developing the front suspension/4WD crossmember for the Eagle....a hybrid Jeep of sorts and a gamble for AMC when Jeep was still underneath the AMC umbrella.
You are a true car guy!
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

George, I can't believe that you know that car. I loved it. I made it during the Bigfoot craze and called it "Athlete's Foot", yeah well I was young then. I miss that car more than just about any other. It was unstoppable. My dad got hit head on his way to Jay Peak Vermont by a Dodge Omni. Demolished the other car and he was able to drive himself (unhurt) and the other drive (very hurt!) 50 miles to the hospital. Man, cars were cars back then...

[George M]

Yup...a different era really. Are you a relative new comer to this board? If so perhaps you have emerged from unregistered status? You sure know cars and like myself have a wide appreciation and eclectic taste from your vintage Jag to Corvette to interest in Bimmers. Some guys just get stuck with a particular brand car. Of all cars I have worked on, I appreciate the engineering in BMW's the best but there are many cars I really like and if I were a wealthy man would own a lot of different brands and models.
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

I''m new to the board (one month) and to BMWs (ditto). I had a 320 way back in 1984, but that didn't count because it was such a piece....:)

Lived in Cali where cars were so cheap and had the chance to pick up more than a few and build them up nice (23 to date!). Can't seem to get rid of them! Runs in the family I guess.

My uncle's got:
Jag XKE, Porche 356, MGTD, 73 Blazer, VW Bus, and VW Jetta (250+ HP)

And my dad drives an SL55.

Me? Well, I'm pretty much old school. I sold my 2001 Dakota R/T and decided that I had to go out and see what Car & Driver kept raving about. I must admit that I poo-pooed all that was written about Bimmers, being a Mercedes nutt, but now that I own one......what can I say? I'm a convert.

I couldn't agree more with you when you say that variety is the spice of life, but for an everyday driver, the BMW has to be number one for me now....

Marc