I've had a little experience with FWD Shelby's. The first Shelby I had
was an '89 Daytona, with the Turbo II motor and 5 spd. This had a
little over 175 hp and only came with a stick. The Turbo I motor could
be had with the automatic in the ES Turbo model, and barely cracked 150
hp. The fastest that I ran with my '89 was 16.1 seconds in the quarter,
and that was with spooling the turbo up to speed, and dumping the clutch
at 4500 rpms. It just wouldnt go faster...It felt fast though, and the
problem was waiting for the boost to kick in. That wait added precious
time to the ET, but when the boost came on, it came on hard.
In 1990, they revised the turbo system to become the VNT Turbo,
(variable nozzle) this was done to try to reduce the boost lag, and
supposedly the cars picked up ET down to 15.7's. Then, the IROC R/T was
released with a 4 valve per cylinder Lotus cylinder head and
turbocharged, which dropped it into the 14's. Then, the V6 3.0L became
the engine for the last year of IROC R/T, I believe.
Now, the Shelby Charger was a different model altogether, and started
in '83 with a H.O. 2.2L engine, no turbo. Fairly quick car. The turbo
was put in either late '84 or in '85. The fastest one was the '87, with
changes in cams, computer stuff, and turbo equipment. There was a
limited release of an additional Shelby Charger that was made in black
only, had the new Turbo II engine, and ran 14's stock. There were about
1000 made, and it was a GLHS model, or something of the like. All of
these models were 5 speeds. The last year for the Charger was '87 or
'88
The Daytona in it's last body style never had skunk stripes on it, but
did have flip up headlights. The charger models never had flip ups, but
did have 1 stripe on it, went from deck lid, onto roof, and then onto
hood.
I owned a few Shelby Chargers, and with the Turbo II, it felt fast and
went fast. There was turbo lag, but less than the Daytona (I'd expect
that it felt different because of the weight difference) and when it
took off, it was everything you could do to hold the wheel straight
because of the torque steer and power it put down. I never raced any of
them, but they felt easily in the 14's. My biggest problem was with the
handling. I put the mopar perfomance suspension under my '87, and could
get the car to hug the road so well with V-rated tires that the left
front tire would rub the side of the transaxle case, and I'd have to
back off and slow down. Real pisser, cause that car felt like it was on
rails.
These cars are easily modified for additional power and speed, and if
it was a Charger that got someone on the list that started this thread,
I wouldnt feel so bad. Now, if it was a Daytona, it really had to
depend on what motor was in the thing, or what the guy had done to it.
Patrick
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