I guess it's what you are willing to put up with.Just like Courier11sec said,i have a few friends with ''street cars'' that are on the ragged edge.They run race fuel 13:1 compression and up,10 point cages,ET street tires and the such.But they all like it and none of them would change for anything.Mind you where i live you don't have to travel on a highway to get to any of the cruise spots,so having 5.38 gears on the street is acceptable for them.On the same note i have a friend with a 1989 stang,331 stroker,huge supercharger,3.73's,c4,power steering,power brakes,air,8" wide tires,he will drive it anywhere,gets reasonable milage,and runs 9.40@ 149 mph.He drives it 45 min to and from the track.I guess it's all in what you want. Derek.
My idea of a street car; can do at least 60 mph for more than 5 minutes on the highway(not a fan of 4.11-up gears). can sit in the Mc-drivethru for more than 5 minutes w/o overheating,stalling can be driven in the rain(lights,wipers,street tires). you don't have to be a contortionist to get in & out of it. gets at least 8 mpg,or have a fuel tank big enough to travel more than 1500' at a time. has a heater/defrost.If I wanted to wipe the windshield off inside when I get caught out in the rain,I'd buy an old Beetle. Full interior-I really don't see much weight savings from chucking the cardboard/vinyl/plastic panels that make it just a bit more like a "street" car. a spare tire.So what if it's 15 times faster than anyone you know,flat tires know no boundaries. a real waterpump. a real fan.Electric should only be a backup on a street car. you shouldn't have to adjust the valves everytime you gas up. a regular person should be able to drive it w/o a 15 minute instructional session. and the list goes on and on but I'll never build a car that can't do any of the above.
Brian Andersons 1964 Rambler drove from Warner Robins Ga. to North Carolina With 3 people on board on the hot Rod Power Tour 2006...Won the Dyno Competition with over 1,100 RWHP in North Carolina ... Then drove back home to Warner Robins...Two weekends prior to that I saw It Stand on the rear Bumper...Lift...get back into it..front end came back up but he "peddled it" and completed the pass...7.70 @ 172 mph. in the quarter mile. Street car? ==========Race car? ===Awesome car? Note the Travel cooler in the back seat...(Pic Taken at the Hotel.)
With todays tech, you can do that. It also takes money. Most don't have both... Sorry, but where does it stop? 100 miles? 500 miles? Cross Country? Trans-Atlantic? Where I grew up, either you drove it to the track/street and ran, or you trailered it. If you could drive it, it was a street car. Even if the trailer and truck were 1 mile away chain linked to the poles at the gas station... For the class racing, basically whatever they decide a "street car" is, it is.
I agree with Mike here. I do trailer my car occasionally but I'm running 4:30 gears and it's not that great on the Interstate...however I "have" driven it on the Interstate several times 20-30 miles or so and I'm not going to try any further than that. Other than that it does great on the streets. Back in October I participated in "Cruisin-The-Coast" in which I drove it a total of 450 miles during the entire week, lots of bumper to bumper traffic and lots of highway cruising. I believe most people that have seen my car would say it was a true street car. If they don't think so, well, too bad.
Sheesh!! I don't think any of my vehicles meet all that criteria,my 79 f150 has a big block and 4.11's and gets maybee 10mpg,with no spare tire,the 78 Bronco damn near need a step ladder to get into,Comet 8 point cage nuff said,64 pick up 466,4000 stall,4.56 gears,10 gallon fuel cell,no spare[tubbed],and the closest i got is my wifes 84 crown vic,has a spare but no jack,and kina moody in the rain to get started,so instructions are needed.Oh well life in the gutter.
Im all for the street car thing its what I love to do..But if you take trailers out of the equation and have a nominal cruise aka 30 to 50 miles then race heads up it keep the lil man in the hunt..take trailers out of the equation and it becomes a who has more money issue..As with anything in this sport he with the most moey normally wins or is a tough one to beat...And I dont have much money...LOL
One is street...one is not....the "Dixie" sprint is being made more streetable with the installation of a roller motor to make it a little easier on gas but still have little kick to it...the motor that was in it could move the 3200 lb Dixie to a 7.90 et in the 1/8th...wander what it will do in a 2200 lb. Ford Courier.
Rick, if you find out before I have a chance to do another one, I'll be jealous. Oh, and it'll kick ass!
We can argue about this all day long. One persons idea can make or break another guy's "street car". For example... Damn!!! There goes my Nissan Sentra. Only had an electric fan
None of mine do eitherDerek5.0,but I'm not fast .But after owning/riding in some cars that broke my own self imposed rules,I decided "here's something to remember"when I get around to building another.
