GLH came with a HO 2.2L was the turbo or non-turbo, the GLHS was the intercooled rocket from Shelby (thus the "S"), both outragously fast but the GLHS was just insane.
Pulled up to a gas station and the guy was looking at it and just daid "Yeah, I've heard about these things"
Shelby was better at marketting.... He turned out some good iron when TransAm racing was at the point where it could outdo NASCAR (but missed the boat).
When the 70's hit, performance cars were, effectively, neutered.... low compression ratios, retarded ignition timing, unleaded gas, crude and troublesome emissions controls.... All of these conspired to turn Shelbys efforts into more show than go.
It's one thing to remember these things for the pigs they were, it's quite another thing to remember them for "what was there at the time". With nothig to compare them to, it an be hard to see what gasoline shortages and deleting lead content has doe for the performance enthusiast.
While todays cars can run rings around most of the offerings of 35 or 40 years ago, nothing can compare to the sound of a big V8 in a car weighing nearly two tons.
While we can write volumes about Shelby's marketing genius, we need to know that it was guys like Zora Arkus-Duntov, Smokey Yunick and others like them that really advanced the world of high performance "back in the day".... These were guys that didn't have a hundred ears of developement behind them.... these were the guys that figured out stoichiometric misture.... how bore/stroke ratios affected torque... ad infinitum.
Shelby is very good at what Shelby does.....
Just to save someone the trouble....
"Shut up, Warman..".
86810/Engine_rebuild_006.jpg
heh.... WISDOM!
A toast to 'the enemy's' Duntov!
in re: Shelby Charger/whatapieceofcrap
yeah, while he was at it he should have done a Shelby Pacer.......course, they'd probably be worth a lot now!
Warman, shut up.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.