The hay-day of the American muscle car era was coming to a close by the mid-1970s. An oil crisis and a flurry of new regulations would doom big V8s in the US as governments and automakers worked to reduce oil consumption. However, their legacy lives on today, as a new video from the Cars And Zebras YouTube channel highlights. A 1974 Chevy Corvette and a 1976 Pontiac Firebird face off in a very vintage drag race.
According to the video, the Corvette packs the 350-cubic-inch V8 that makes 250 horsepower (186 kilowatts) and 285 pound-feet (386 Newton-meters) of torque. The Pontiac has the larger 400-cubic-inch V8, but the engine only makes 185 hp (137 kW). However, it makes a lot more torque than the Chevy – 310 lb-ft (420 Nm). The Pontiac needs the extra oomph because it weighs more, cracking the 4,000-pound (1,814-kilogram) mark with the driver.
