Randall, I stand corrected. I didn't realize the Mach 1 used in Diamonds are
Forever was a 429 Cobra Jet Ram Air. That is a rare animal in the Mustang
kingdom and is fast. If your friend has a 429 Mach 1, then it is indeed NOT a
slow car (and he is very lucky!). I thought the car in Diamonds Are Forever
was a Q code Mach 1 which was the standard "hot" engine that most Mach I's came
with, but a quick internet search proved I was wrong. As a side note, I
actually used to own this same model with the 351 Cleveland Q code 4 bbl and,
while it wasn't slow, it still wouldn't be competitive with most muscle cars
today. You have to remember that most new muscle/performance cars do zero to
60 in less than six seconds as a minimum standard. Now, sub five seconds is
becoming the bench mark. The new Pontiac GTO (which I personally think is very
ugly) does 0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds. The now defunct Camaro SS and its cousin,
the Trans Am WS6 ram air clocks it at 5.2 seconds. That was my
yardstick when I said a 71 Mach I was slow by today's standards. Even the
fastest production 71 Mach I (the 429 SCJ with the 4.11 dragpack rear end)
could at best do 0 to 60 in 6.0 seconds according to roadtests in a Mustang
book I have. They were just too heavy. Still very cool and fun cars though.
And I would still love to have my old one back. :-)
BTW, there was a fun article in the April issue of Automobile about the new
Mercedes SL65 AMG. They took it to a drag strip and raced it against the usual
weekend warrior drag cars. The AMG turned in quarter mile time of 11.85
seconds at 118 mph which was faster than all but one highly modified car at the
track (a Dodge Coronet). And the editor said (tongue firmly in cheek) that the
11.85 1/4 mile run was done with the air conditioning running and the built-in
seat massager turned on. The drag strip crowd just didn't know what to make of
that car. ;-)
-Greg
ps. Coincidentally, the Diamonds Are Forever Mach I went up for Auction
recently.
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/events/florida/vehicles/cardetail_list.asp?id=177888
http://www.commanderbond.net/Public/Stories/2438-1.shtml
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:48:57 -0700
From: "Randall" <tr3driver@comcast.net>
Subject: RE: Bond Film Stag
> The "real" Bond car in this movie was the red 1971 Mustang Mach 1
> that he drove in the Las Vegas scenes including a chase scene
> with the police on the old Las Vegas strip (Freemont Street). I
> want THAT car, even though it would be considered slow by today's
> standards.
I have a friend of a friend that owns one. It is NOT slow by today's
standards.
Randall
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