"Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver" + other road tests

[RetiredFirefighter]

problem with this is there were no 2004 quad-cabs ...

Then what did C&D test? A prototype?

The article never said it was that. They speak of its existence in literal terms:

"To accommodate the four-door configuration, the cargo box didn't shrink, so the wheelbase had to be stretched-in this case 20.0 inches to 140.5-and the overall length similarly increased nearly 25 inches to 227.7"

 

[Prange]

The Reality of Vintage Road Tests.......

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vin...road-test-stats-greatness-through-estimation/

 

[RetiredFirefighter]

The Reality of Vintage Road Tests.......

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vin...road-test-stats-greatness-through-estimation/

Interesting article.

Glad that former Chrysler engineer Patrick Bedard came to C&D in '67 and they began to provide accurate test results. My drag strip testing of stock Fox body Mustang GT's before I modded them matched C&D's times exactly. But MT, R&T and MW were notoriously slow until they too later became accurate.

As for Joe Oldham, his book claims to have distinguished between cars he actually tested vs. the one's he estimated. But this article stated that even some of the one's he said he tested were a lie. Wow.

Good to see this fudging of road tests was cleared up after the mid/late 60's.

 

[06SRT10NR]

Then what did C&D test? A prototype?

The article never said it was that. They speak of its existence in literal terms:

"To accommodate the four-door configuration, the cargo box didn't shrink, so the wheelbase had to be stretched-in this case 20.0 inches to 140.5-and the overall length similarly increased nearly 25 inches to 227.7"

would've had to have been a pilot vehicle, there had to have been a few, but unable to locate info at the moment
or they got the model year wrong

 

[2ndAmend]

The Reality of Vintage Road Tests.......

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vin...road-test-stats-greatness-through-estimation/

Why does this make me think of MADMEN where everyone was drinking martinis all day and successfully selling every idea they came up with?

 

[RetiredFirefighter]

would've had to have been a pilot vehicle, there had to have been a few, but unable to locate info at the moment
or they got the model year wrong

Okay, here we go. The Dodge Ram SRT-10 Quad Cabs were 2005/2006 models.

They made 3,994 of them:

https://theviperstore.com/Dodge_RAM_SRT-10_Information_Models_Page.htm

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Quad cab

Following the success of the Ram SRT-10 regular cab, Dodge decided to introduce a Quad Cab version starting in the 2005 model year. The new Quad Cab was aimed at the performance truck enthusiast who wanted a performance pickup, but not at the expense of room for passengers and towing capacity. The Dodge Ram SRT-10 Quad Cab was fitted with a 4.56 final-drive gear ratio to improve low-end acceleration and was rated at 7,500-pound (3,400 kg) towing capacity. A body-color aluminum tonneau cover with an aerodynamic spoiler came standard on the Quad Cab. The Quad Cab was only offered with a 4-speed automatic transmission, a 48RE borrowed from the Ram Heavy Duty.