Low Top speeds

[Welshbeef]

Been reading up on the old Yank cars which have very big power and was surprised to see that most of their top speeds are 120mph yet pushing out 400bhp! These are 3 speed auto or "4 on the floor". Are these cars limited electronically to these speeds OR is it the gearing that is the restriction?

I would have thought that if its gearing then in 4th gear you'd be pulling 5000rpm (peak power) at 120mph so that gives a mph/'000 rpm of 24mph thus at 70mph your doing around 3000rpm... assuming a linear power output that would be roughly 300bhp to sustain 70mph!

Im guessing they must be electronically limited as why else would these monster muscle cars need to be reving so highly at such low speeds?

[Welshbeef]

It just seems odd from a modern era perspective where a run of the mill say Skoda Fabia vRS with 130bhp TDI can do 130mph thus given a long enough straight to catchup after the 0-120mph blast of the muscle car it would win....

Do owners of such classics keep them as concours condition i.e. no modification and keep the factory spec tyre & gearing or is it generally changed?

[Welshbeef]

Noise aside is the current x35d BMW engines the closest thing to big block power delivery?

Just seen a Stingray online wow.

I also had the great pleasure of seeing a concours AC Cobra 427 in normal blue & white strips. Started up sounded stunning, engine off looked the most erotic/desirable car Ive ever seen.. Looked amazing.