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April 25, 1997
How Fast is a True Street Car?
 Fast "Street Cars" is a craze that has become increasingly popular. The wide-spread popularity began a few years ago with the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) and has migrated to many other sanctioning bodies, including the 5.0 Mustang arena.
There is a very liberal line between what can be called a "street car" and what is called a "race car". Many of the quickest "Street Cars" in the country have lift off front ends, Lenco transmissions, tin interiors and maybe just a driver's seat. It seems that the definition of what is streetable has progressed into what is street-tolerable for the driver. It's not uncommon to see Pro-Mod chassis in the "Street Car" ranks. If the sanctioning bodies continue to be so liberal with their definition of what a street car is, someone will wire a Funny Car for headlights, slap a license plate on it and . . .
 On the flip side, others feel that a true street car is one that has a smooth idle, gets good mileage and anyone could get behind the wheel and drive. I would tend to agree with this position, but the problem is that many of the people that subscribe to this train of thought also feel true street cars can't be all that quick. So at what point does a car become too quick to be a street car, 11.99, 10.99, 9.99, 8.99? I've seen it argued many times that 500 horsepower is the upper limit for a true street car and that it's not attainable.
But with the complete control that fuel injection offers, and the additional power provided by a supercharger or turbo, a late model 5.0 Mustang can produce 650 hp and still be perfectly streetable - if the package is set up correctly. So streetable in fact that anyone's wife or mother could jump behind the wheel and go grocery shopping. This was the point we intended to make with our yellow `88 LX.
 For years we've been saying this car is a perfect example of what a true street car is. It has a smooth idle, gets good mileage, runs consistent mid and low 10's and ANYONE can drive it. With so many 9 and 8 second cars being labeled "street cars" we set out to prove our point. The plan was to drive the car from Detroit to Bradenton, Florida for the Spring break Shoot-Out. The trip would be over 1275 miles, not the 50 mile tour most street car shoot-outs require.
The car was part of a small caravan of friends and customers who were also headed South for the event. On the way down to Florida it averaged almost 19 mpg and because the engine is 9.2 to 1 compression, it got by on 89 octane on a couple of the fill ups. With 3.55 gears in the rear and an AOD the car only turned 2600 rpm at 80 mph. The only problem we had, was about 90 miles from Bradenton the SX fuel pump died. Having seen way too many of these pumps die, we anticipated this and brought along a spare pump. We changed it on I-75's shoulder. We made the rest of the trip with no problems and the car ran consistently all weekend. We even drove about sixty miles around town in Bradenton on Saturday night looking for street racers at the local Super Shops parking lot.
 At the event, the car ran flawlessly and posted a best of 10.41 @ 132.95, but the car's best run is a 10.24 with shorty headers. The best pass ever on the car was achieved with no front runners and both the factory sway bars were in tact with the car weighing in at the spring break shoot-out at 3425 lbs.
Two days before our departure, we installed a set of long tube headers. The headers made such a substantial difference over the shorties that our fuel system was now inadequate, but we didn't have time to fix the problem. The only solution was to change the blower pulley to lower boost from 17 psi down to a modest 13. So with the fuel system remedied, 9.90's are in the near future for what is truly a "street car". With more than 12 passes on the car and no breakage or failures, it was time to leave the sun of Florida and head back to the cold, miserable, dreariness of Detroit.
 Many people find it difficult to believe that a car capable of these times can truly be this streetable. But it is, and it does. Others who want serious performance from their daily driver can do the same thing with the right combination of parts.
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