Hey TTA!

[Mad4Macs]

I thrashed my 2nd Firebird-looking car tonight, and I beat it badly. Off the line, it was sorta even, but I pulled away hard from this one. Now, I don't know anything about Pontiac's, but are there a lot of these cars with more "show than go"?
I truly doubt that my stock MM could take the ones that you list in your sig, so what gives?
I am honestly just curious about this...and I'm loving my car more than ever :banana:

[TripleTransAm]

I truly doubt that my stock MM could take the ones that you list in your sig, so what gives?


Don't be so sure... it all depends on the car, the model year, the condition of the car, the driver, etc. Lots of variables, but when it comes down to it, you won fair and square! I have no doubt your Marauder could leave 2/3 of my F-body fleet behind, on a good stoplight launch. You can see my best results in my cars in my sig...

Keep in mind that my '78 T/A is the slowest of the bunch, with the 180 hp Pontiac 400 (but with mega torque at 1600 RPM!). Next up is the GTA, with its smallish 305 TPI. Then there's the WS6. My Marauder, at 14.56 ET, sits between my GTA and WS6. My second quickest car, in fact, but I acknowledge that it is completely incapable of even remotely touching my WS6, while in its current stock form.

Any idea what year/generation it was? Any visual clue I can work with? I'm pretty good with details on these cars.

The latest Firebirds were 6-cyl only, with choice of 5 sp manual or 4 sp auto. That's the 3.8l 200 hp V6. A good motor, nice and torquey in the mid range (2000-3500), acceptable up top, kind of soft at the bottom end. Rented 2 of them (1999 white convertibles) for my wedding, used by the bridal party. (the groom and best man showed up in real style, -> black GTA. :up: ).

The latest V8 models (Formula and Trans Am) were V8, either LT1 or LS1. LT1 was an iron block with aluminum components (evolution of SBC design), LS1 is full aluminum ground-up redesign. HP for LT1s ranged from 275hp to low 300s depending on year and model, for LS1s it's a bit tricky since they were rated anywhere between 305hp and 335hp in the F-cars but in reality put down closer to 350hp+ (~350hp in 1998, more later on). 1/4 mile times can range from 13.9-14.5 for the LT1s depending on the year, 12.7-13.7 (approx.) for the LS1s... all ballpark, of course.

Regardless of what some little kiddies on other boards may think, the Marauder is a fairly quick car and can, under the right conditions, surprise quite a few other so-called 'performance' cars.


As for show and go... well, the late 70s and entire 80s fell into that category. I suppose I'm being overly harsh... they did the best they could with what was available. The 305 in my GTA feels like a much bigger engine than it is, thanks to induction path tuning on its fuel injection setup, but it's still a small V8 hobbled with 80s emerging technology. And you don't want to know how pathetic the US-spec 305 4bbl version was (which was the base F-body V8 throughout most of the 80s, thankfully not available on the GTA). The '78, well the base 400 was not more than a cruiser, but there was a hi-po option (220 hp 400) that, with a 4 speed, was a low 15 second / high 14 second car in the quarter.

Of course, you said "firebird-like" car... it could have been a Camaro, which would explain everything. ;) :shot: