No love or desire for any Fraud. But during the period of the L34 being available, the Fraud P3 was still the
Australian factory performance benchmark. Talk here is only of sheer
factory performance i.e. 0-100mph, 1/4 mile, top speed etc. If we start talking handling, brakes, reliability, then its a far bigger more complex discussion. But no matter which side of the rabbit proof fence you sit ...... how the Fraud came off the showroom floor made it worthy of direct comparison to any of my Torana's inc the L34.
A racing car and a std factory road car are two totally different animals. Too many people try to mix the two to justify a belief when having these type of discussions. But in order to keep it factual its got to be apples to apples .... That's only if we want to discuss truth and reality.
In my neck of the woods (non italian - LOL) the E Chargers where a rare sight, but their excellent performance was well known. I never had any direct E series Charger experience, but my late father did have a new 1974 265 engined A23 Charger before he had a high speed barrel roll on the way to Perth which wrote it off in 1976. The E49/E38 versions of the 265 made them by far the best 6cyd engines of their time (
stab me and god save my holden soul) and they where simply a much better engine than a holden 6 could ever be.
Brand/Model bias aside I don't know why people can't respect a car for what it was, without the need to tell half truths (or embellish the truth) and hope like hell that everyone reading doesn't know the facts. The E49 had 3.5 rear gears which limited its top speed compared to the Fraud, but gave it an advantage in its 1/4 mile time, and 0-100mph (along with its weight advantage). Being a 1.0 ratio in top gear (4 speed) meant the E49 had a top speed of 112mph, 1/4 mile of 14.4sec, 0-100mph of 14.1sec vs the Fraud top speed of 141mph, 1/4 mile of 14.5sec, 0-100mph of 15.2sec
Those are the facts of factory cars.
Forgetting that we where just young rev heads trying to prove who had a faster car, we where also under no illusion that any of us where threatening the drivers seat of Brock or Moffat at Bathurst.... LOL ... We also where not timing or writing some sort of detailed review, but I can honestly say I had not a hope in hell of staying with the Fraud from a standing start or in a direct top speed comparison.
I spent a lot of my youth trying to beat this Fraud because it was a yardstick and we new it could do 14.5sec quarters and 140mph. Not to mention pride .... what Torana owner doesn't want to kick a Frauds ass. But reality is cludo's have to be given to the Fraud factory because it was quite a feat in 1971 in such a heavy car, it was an absolute tank to drive, brakes where a death trap and we cooked them several times in twisty fast runs. The L34 Torana on the other hand had better brakes (still crap) was far more nimble with far superior steering feel and response (gave me confidence).
The fact however still remains that from a standing start to top speed while I was showing off the clock on the L34 speedo ...... I couldn't even see that bloody Fraud and we where on 4 miles of absolutely RTA free straight road between Coolgardie and Southern Cross (middle of nowhere).
Now I have no doubt mine did about 120-125mph but that was all she wrote. At the time it had about 35-38k on the clock. But no way in hell could it do 130mph let alone 143mph. I mean to say that is like saying
I bedded Rachael Welsh !!! LOL
I wished and had dreams but ... nothing real.
Edited by LXSS350, 25 March 2012 - 06:07 PM.
