My FIL was a farmer and years ago had a '66 Meteor , which was a Canadian version of the Mercury. It was a 2 door hard top (fastback) with the 428 cube-345 hp engine.

It was a great car. He had a couple of grain farms , but lived in the city.
I became a week end farm hand after I was engaged to his daughter and he and I used to commute to the farms in the big Meteor.

He would cruise out at about 90-95 mph and that 428 FE was just loafing.

I drove it a couple of times and recall having a bit of run vs a '67 Mustang 390. The 'Stang had the big Meteor until about 45 mph...then the Meteor 428 caught up and slowly reeled in the Mustang , eventually pulling away.

It had a very strong top end , once it got rolling.

Back in the late '60's, engines like the Chevy 396-427-454 , Mopar 440 had great reps for power and performance.

I always felt that the 428 FE, in it's various forms, was more then competitive, but somehow didn't get the same rep.

 

Shhhhhhhhhhh! Keep that up and everybody will want one. LMAO!

It was a numbers game for certian, but I want other to post up as well: Bear 45/70 started turning wrenches about the time I was born...and I have white hair coming in. LOL

 

Aint taking nothing away from the 428, but I suspect it was gearing that made the difference in your reference. I would think the stang was a little lighter and that should have made a difference, but we all know bigger is better.



John

 

Well when the HiPo cars first started coming out in the 60's.... and street racing was hot and heavy back then and so were the drags strips popping up everywhere!! The insurance companies finally caught on...and started to raise insurance on Cars based on there HP ratings.....So the motor companies started rating the engines at a lower rate and after all accesories were turned on making them Net HP instead of the old Brake HP rating....which was raw flywheel hp..and not running the water pump, power steering, Alt, Airconditioning, ETC... and even those number's were fudged some by the automakers so the average joe could get them insured... And the Automakers could sell more units.. JMO

RJ

 

I'll go with John's explanation. Would imagine the mustang was geared for quickness 0-100 and the meteor probably just starting to stretch it's legs about 85. Brings back a memory that will remain with me forever, when the old man blew the icing right off a ricers cake. Hopped up 80's Yamaha Maxum 700 against a 52' Panhead 74" with two on it. And it was chopped, never been so scared for my life.. ROFLMAO!!!!! But it did make me feel good to be an American that day

 

Re-Read Bobby, He said from 45mph on up !! and with the 428 having a .080" bigger bore and .200" longer arm..makes a BIG difference.... JMO

 

The 428 when it first came out was rated at 345 horsepower @ 4600 and the PI motor was rated at 360 hp @ 5400. Then the 428CJ came along with all the right goodies and was rated at 335 horsepower @ 5200. My stock, still under warranty, 428CJ with a C-6 in drive shifted at 6000 rpm all by it self. On the dyno, the rear wheel horsepower were the same numbers the 427s cranked out. It wasn't gears tht beat the mustang, but the monster power of the 428. I know having owned both 390s, incluing the GT and 428s. With 3.00 gears in a 1969 Cobra fastback body was clocked at over 144 mph, Thank you CHP and I had a 1000 rpm left and had turn 6000 in high gear before. The 428 base motor was impressive on it's own, my girl friend won a 1966 Galaxie "7 Litre" with the 428 and that thing pulled like the old 1963 & 4 galaxies with the 427s.

 

I think they are really underated.The only one ive owned was a screamer,granted it was a CJ.Ran it for 6 years in a mud truck.It bent pushrods like they were free but i was running a pretty big cam with non adj rockers.I have to tell my story about how i got this 428 CJ.

Me and my stepdad were on the volunteer fire dept in our town.There was an old couple that had owned a local junkyard since the late 40s,this was about 93-94.The old man had passed away earlier in the year.I had always heard about this old Ford motor that he had but nobody knew any details,just that back in the 60s the old man used to have alot of fast cars.Well we get called to a fire at the junkyard mostly brush and a few small outbuildings full of junk.This one small building was burnt up pretty bad but hadnt fell down yet.So i am knocking boards off of it and spraying water inside when i see this FE sitting on the floor.I could tell it wasnt like the 390s or 352s i had messed with it just looked different.Well we get the fire out and are wrapping things up and the lady comes out of the house to thank us.I asked her about that Ford motor out there in that bigger building,if she would want to sell it.She says if you get it out of here you can have it.So we went home and got the tractor and loaded it up.I took it home and cleaned it up pretty nasty from the fire.I started taking it apart and its got new pistons still has assembly lube on everything the inside is spotless.Well a few days later im down at the garage in town and im talking to the owner about this FE i got out at the junkyard and he says "The 428 Cobra Jet"?I said "What"?So i goes home and get to checking casting numbers and sure enough it was a CJ.I changed the cam,put a new 850 Holley and headers on it and ran it hard for six years.

 

Bear I have to ask......what year did you get that ticket and how much it set you back??? That's haulin A$$!!! LOL!!!! What does one say when they are clocked at 144??? I hope you told him there was more in it still to go??

 

Brh1969 that's a cool story!!! What a great find and for free!!

 

LOL I betcha nickle they caught up with him at the gas station.

I used to know one guy who had a retired State P car. He made a comment about passing a speed trap so fast the patrolman got mad and threw the radar gun down. No way the patrolman could get in the car and up to speed to catch him.

brh1969, that is a cool story...lucky dog!

 

Memory says Feb. 1970, on US 58, west out of Bakersfield heading toward Mohave during the week. I think it cost me $190 mainly because the judge didn't believe the speed numbers were correct. But for a Staff Sargent in the the early '70s that was a whole lot of money. As to telling the officer there was more, I didn't need to, he Vascar'd me from an overpass and never caught up until Mohove and I was out of the car and heading into the resturant. Damn that car was fast. Quick too with the 4.30 gears in the rear end.

At the drags in Las Vegas, 1970.

1969 was the only year King Richard Petty ever drove anything other than a Chrysler product, because the Fords were so aerodynamic and fast.

 

Reminds me of the story of when my mom was in labor and my dad was taking her to the hospital. At the time he had a F100 a 72 or 73 that he put a 428 in it. The tribal police could not catch him untill he stopped and yelled at them that my mom was in labor. He was not going all out and they were going full out. They told him to stay behind them because of a report of horses on the road ahead. They told him they wouldn't have caught up to him if they hadn't been in the brand new car. He was doing at least 122mph when they came up behind him. This was in Montana on the Rez. The motor ended up going bad because of penzoil sludge.

 

Man, I am glad he didn't profess he was driving his trusty F100 at that speed.

Doing 144 mph through 4.30 gears, then engine must have been turning a gazillion rpms.


John

 

What the hells with the license plate Bear ? LOL.. or was that sarcasm ROFLMAO!!!!