Carfair

The cars that rolled onto the hard sands of Daytona Beach last week for the eighth annual safety and performance trials of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Rating, Inc. were--as the admen promised--roomier, lower and more powerfully propelled than ever before. To some of the spectators who crowded the dunes and gabbled knowingly of racing cams and fuel injection and four-barrel carburetors, the competition was a sporting event. To auto-industry pitchmen, it was the beginning of a multimillion-dollar campaign designed to keep a performance-happy public popeyed and buying.

This year, as the big engines splatted into life, the big word was not speed but acceleration. Since almost any new U.S. car can easily top 100 m.p.h., Detroit was interested in showing that its family cars also have the zip to whip away from a stop light and spin up to the legal speed limit in a minimum length of time.

Big Disappointment. Calling the competing cars "stock" models, to imply that they are the same as any on view in the showrooms, was playing fast and loose with auto-show language. Many of the cars at Daytona contained special power packages (superchargers, fuel injection, etc.) that pushed their motors up to maximum performance and all were assembled and tuned with a care given to no car sold off the showroom floor. Detroit's assembly-line mechanics always allow for a certain amount of "slop tolerance"; Daytona's setup experts allowed almost no tolerance at all. They had thousands of valve springs from which to choose sets in perfect balance, hundreds of carefully matched pistons as spares.

When all the tinkering was finished and the trials were run, the bigger cars were the biggest disappointment:

P: Class Seven, with engines of 350 cu. in. and over, was dominated, as expected, by Chrysler 300-C, aristocratic "bomb" of the auto industry. It traveled the flying mile with its 392-cu. in., 375-h.p. engine logged at 134.128 m.p.h., 5.245 miles slower than last year's Chrysler 300-B with a smaller engine. In acceleration tests (a mile run from a standing start) the 300-C set a new record of 86.873 m.p.h. The hefty 300-h.p., 364-cu. in. Buick Century ran second in the flying mile with a creditable 130.766 m.p.h., but in acceleration it was a sluggish also-ran. A supercharged 300-h.p. Ford ran third in the flying mile with 130.058 m.p.h., was third in acceleration (85.006 m.p.h.) behind the Chrysler and a 335-h.p. Mercury (85.511 m.p.h.). An Oldsmobile 98 (312 h.p., 371 cu. in.) lumbered along in tenth place at 127.074 m.p.h. In acceleration it was 14th, behind Chrysler, Mercury. Ford, Dodge and Buick. De Soto and Cadillac were also Class Seven duds.

P: Class Six, 305 to 350 cu. in., provided the big surprise. The Pontiac. the "old maid's delight" to last year's speed buffs, turned out to be 1957's fire-eater. With three dual carburetors, the 317-h.p., 347-cu. in. Pontiac engines won the first three places, at a top speed of 131.747 m.p.h., even though the fastest was disqualified from the flying mile on a technicality. Far back were the Plymouth Furys and Ford Fairlanes. In acceleration the Pontiacs ran first and second, the fastest reaching a record 85.308 m.p.h.

P: Class Five (259 to 305 cu. in.) and Class Four (213 to 259 cu. in.) were all Chevrolets. The new fuel-injection Class Five Chevies reached speeds up to 131.076 m.p.h., took the first 33 places in a 38-car field. In acceleration Chevies got up to 85.006 m.p.h., took the first 18 places ahead of a lone Ford. In the Class Four flying mile, Chevies reached 102.157 m.p.h. and finished one-two-three. Only in Class Four acceleration were they upset. A Nash Rambler was timed in 71.785 m.p.h. But Chevrolet finished in the next six places.

Big Three. For spectators interested in true showroom models--minus any special power packs and equipped with automatic transmission, single carburetors and standard exhausts--Daytona's most significant event was the special "Big Three" competition between Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth. Again, Chevrolet spread-eagled the field. Chevies finished one-two-three with a top speed of 118.460 m.p.h., nearly 7 m.p.h. faster than the nearest Ford, which finished fourth. The fastest Plymouth trailed in eighth place. In the 160-mile beach-and-road race for new convertibles Atlanta's Tim Flock set a NASCAR record of 101.32 m.p.h. in a 335-h.p. Mercury.

Before the last trial was timed, enough statistics were logged for an imaginative adman to make even the also-rans sound like world-beaters. But Chevrolet and Pontiac had easily been the week's winners, and the Chevrolet-makers could claim to have reached an automotive milestone: the first U.S. stock auto engine that can put out one horsepower for each cubic inch of displacement without benefit of a supercharger.

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