1971 Ford Falcon GTHO 'World's Fastest 4-door'.

[J.A.W.]

A claim regularly repeated here in Australia, is that the production-homologation ( ~/= to 'Group A')
Ford Falcon GTHO (5.8 litre V8 'Boss 351' 4-speed) was in fact, the fastest 4-door sedan ever put
on sale to the public as it stood, back in 1971... at ~140mph top-end speed:








Any members care to put up an alternative? Euro big V8/V12 sedan? American big-block 4-door?

Here in Australia these 'mythical' Fords are 'worth' utterly ridiculous money for a 'tarted-up taxi'...

[Stu]

Back in the late eighties the same was said of the mighty Lotus Carlton here in the UK. 171mph from the showroom. Still a “tarted up Taxi” though!!

[Jolle]

I think most of the luxury brands in Europe had a 140-ish sedans in the early seventies? Like Jaguar or Mercedes. Maybe even BMW already?

[J.A.W.]

I think most of the luxury brands in Europe had a 140-ish sedans in the early seventies? Like Jaguar or Mercedes. Maybe even BMW already?

Yeah, the big 6.3 V8 300 series Mercedes-Benz ought to, even if it takes an AMG-tuned job to match.
Also, when the Jaguar XJ12 entered production in 1971, it was a ~140mph machine, but I'd doubt
BMW's E3 from that era could, unless an Alpina 3.0 unit from the sports-coupe was an option then?

Didn't GM Opel offer an 'executive' V8 too, back then before the OPEC oil-shock of `73?
Dunno much about them. The Citroen SM with 5-speed V6 Maserati power made ~135mph on test.

Could be a few ultra-rare fancy Italians, like the Iso Rivolta Fidia S4 & Maserati Quattroporte V8s,
or an Aston-Martin Lagonda Vantage? Maybe a Soviet ZIL V8 high-performance GRU special-ops machine?

Any fans of `70s Nippon cars here? Was the `71 hi-po Nissan Skyline GTR package sold in a 4-door body?

[J.A.W.]

Back in the late eighties the same was said of the mighty Lotus Carlton here in the UK. 171mph from the showroom. Still a “tarted up Taxi” though!!

Likely wasn't true then, either, per the AMG 'Hammer' 6.0 V8 version of the W124 Mercedes-Benz...

[J.A.W.]

Here's a glimpse of what it was to race those crude production-homologation beasts, 1/2 a century ago:




Addit: A period racing telecast, on a tighter track, (commentators were just as stupid, back then too).
Of interest also, this event was on the cusp of light alloy wheels from new, on local 'sporty' cars here,
(due to the deficiencies of the original narrow pressed steel rims & the tyres that would fit them)..

[J.A.W.]

Here's an example of how dogmatically this 'urban myth' is nowadays presented in Australia:

[J.A.W.]

Ok, so a bit of digging reveals that 'Worlds Fastest 4-door' claim is based on a 'Wheels' magazine roadtest
(per the photo in the OP, with the speed at a bit over 140mph/~225km/h indicated) back in Oct/71.

The test crew recorded the `71 Ford Falcon GT351 'HO Phase III' as delivering:

0-60mph (~0-100km/h) in 6.4 seconds.

1/4 mile (~0-400m) in 14.7 seconds.

0-100mph (~0-160km/h) in 15.2 seconds, & on to a top-end speed of 141mph (225km/h).


Meanwhile, across the equator, on the other side of the Pacific ocean, in Kalifornia, ah, California,
the State Highway Patrol were deploying big-block Dodge 4-door 'interceptors' (think 'Blues Brothers').

The 'Cop-Spec' Dodge Polara Pursuit was in service following acceptance tests giving the following #'s:

0-60mph (~0-100km/h) in 6.3 seconds.

1/4 mile (~0-400m) in 14.3 seconds.

0-100mph (~0-160km/h) in 18.1 seconds, & on to a top-end speed of 149mph (~240km/h),
& this via a heavy-duty 3-speed 'Torqueflite' automatic transmission & a final drive ratio: 2.94.

https://code3garage.com/1969-dodge-pola ... rd-setter/

The only hope the Falcon would have, in a top-end pursuit across to the Nevada border is to be outside radio range, & rely on having its 36 gallon (~160 litre) fuel capacity tank & a fair few manual shift useful
corners in hilly sections - to try & gap the CHP.

[Stu]

Ok, so a bit of digging reveals that 'Worlds Fastest 4-door' claim is based on a 'Wheels' magazine roadtest
(per the photo in the OP, with the speed at a bit over 140mph/~225km/h indicated) back in Oct/71.

The test crew recorded the `71 Ford Falcon GT351 'HO Phase III' as delivering:

0-60mph (~0-100km/h) in 6.4 seconds.

1/4 mile (~0-400m) in 14.7 seconds.

0-100mph (~0-160km/h) in 15.2 seconds, & on to a top-end speed of 141mph (225km/h).


Meanwhile, across the equator, on the other side of the Pacific ocean, in Kalifornia, ah, California,
the State Highway Patrol were deploying big-block Dodge 4-door 'interceptors' (think 'Blues Brothers').

The 'Cop-Spec' Dodge Polara Pursuit was in service following acceptance tests giving the following #'s:

0-60mph (~0-100km/h) in 6.3 seconds.

1/4 mile (~0-400m) in 14.3 seconds.

0-100mph (~0-160km/h) in 18.1 seconds, & on to a top-end speed of 149mph (~240km/h),
& this via a heavy-duty 3-speed 'Torqueflite' automatic transmission & a final drive ratio: 2.94.

https://code3garage.com/1969-dodge-pola ... rd-setter/

The only hope the Falcon would have, in a top-end pursuit across to the Nevada border is to be outside radio range, & rely on having its 36 gallon (~160 litre) fuel capacity tank & a fair few manual shift useful
corners in hilly sections - to try & gap the CHP.

The fact that these were available from regular car dealerships at all (simply by ticking a few option boxes) is impressive. Several years ago (err, decades, I guess!!) I became very interested in ‘60’s drag racing, in particular the early days of Top Fuel and the FX ‘door-slammer’ category. It was amazing what was available ‘off-the-shelf’, towards the end of the decade this moved across to road-racing and NASCAR.

[J.A.W.]

For sure Stu, I recall being amazed to learn that in the early-mid `60s 'Stateside' (think Beach boys etc),
the relatively primitive compound/skinny width rear tyres meant that the 'super-stock' production-based
big V8 cars were laying rubber most of the way down the track, & with that, a heavy-duty 'Torqueflite'
3-speed automatic - as prepared by the factory - was reckoned good for "50 full-bore starts, just dial up
6,500rpm & slam it into drive, ride 'er out down the strip" (paraphrased), whereas the heavy-cog 4-speed manual/clutch cars required much more 'finesse' from the 'clutch jockey' to 'modulate', by comparison...

[Greg Locock]

Lotus used to rebuild the gearboxes of the press cars after 50 0-60 runs.
Of course given that Esprit et al were running them backwards is a possible cause! (yes Virginia, if a gearbox is designed to run in one direction, it may not run as well in the opposite direction. BTDT with engines)

[Airshifter]

Ok, so a bit of digging reveals that 'Worlds Fastest 4-door' claim is based on a 'Wheels' magazine roadtest
(per the photo in the OP, with the speed at a bit over 140mph/~225km/h indicated) back in Oct/71.

The test crew recorded the `71 Ford Falcon GT351 'HO Phase III' as delivering:

0-60mph (~0-100km/h) in 6.4 seconds.

1/4 mile (~0-400m) in 14.7 seconds.

0-100mph (~0-160km/h) in 15.2 seconds, & on to a top-end speed of 141mph (225km/h).


Meanwhile, across the equator, on the other side of the Pacific ocean, in Kalifornia, ah, California,
the State Highway Patrol were deploying big-block Dodge 4-door 'interceptors' (think 'Blues Brothers').

The 'Cop-Spec' Dodge Polara Pursuit was in service following acceptance tests giving the following #'s:

0-60mph (~0-100km/h) in 6.3 seconds.

1/4 mile (~0-400m) in 14.3 seconds.

0-100mph (~0-160km/h) in 18.1 seconds, & on to a top-end speed of 149mph (~240km/h),
& this via a heavy-duty 3-speed 'Torqueflite' automatic transmission & a final drive ratio: 2.94.

https://code3garage.com/1969-dodge-pola ... rd-setter/

The only hope the Falcon would have, in a top-end pursuit across to the Nevada border is to be outside radio range, & rely on having its 36 gallon (~160 litre) fuel capacity tank & a fair few manual shift useful
corners in hilly sections - to try & gap the CHP.

The fact that these were available from regular car dealerships at all (simply by ticking a few option boxes) is impressive. Several years ago (err, decades, I guess!!) I became very interested in ‘60’s drag racing, in particular the early days of Top Fuel and the FX ‘door-slammer’ category. It was amazing what was available ‘off-the-shelf’, towards the end of the decade this moved across to road-racing and NASCAR.

In the US market with wide open spaces, cheap gas, and many large cars, these high powered land yachts were everywhere. And here and there they had the engine options that were essentially the cop cars, often with more torque and a few less HP than the versions put in the street screamers. And just about every company made at least a few of them.

My first car was a 1968 Ford Thunderbird. Factory suicide doors in the rear, plenty of heavy metal to cart around and a 429 cubic inch engine. It would absolutely roast the rear tires, with a factory rating of 360 HP and 490 lb ft of torque. With the tall gearing, at WOT it didn't hit the 3rd gear until about 100 mph. I'm not sure how quick it would clock on a top speed run, but it wasn't any major effort to bury the 120 MPH speedo. On one of our weekend runs to the river when I lived out in the desert, we averaged over 110 mph on the run, including a stop where a road intersected.

Finding tires to take the heat, weight and speed was quite the feat as well. I shredded two of them when living out there, one at triple digit speed when the tread let loose.