RRDon
Well-Known Member
V12 Jag vs ‘Wood Burner’
In the spring of 1972 I was employed at Sperry Flight Systems in Phoenix, Arizona. I had only been working there about a year or so and was happy to have full time employment at the ripe old age of 22. This was especially true since I had purchased a brand new Plymouth Road Runner in June of 1970 and was glad to be making enough money to keep up the payments and insurance. It was a base Road Runner with a 383 engine and Pistol Grip four speed (833). Other than rally wheels, AM radio, and a black hood stripe there were no other (weight adding or power robbing) options. It had the standard 8¾ open differential with 3:23 gear ratio. I added an open air cleaner, Thrush glass packs, flex fan and a Mallory dual point distributor. Needless to say, my ‘Bird’ was tuned for maximum performance.
Around that same time one of the supervisors at work, Frank F., who was into sports cars, showed up at work with a brand new Jaguar with the new V12 engine. He was a bit of a bragger and liked to talk it up about how fast his new Jag was. Of course at that time there was quite a few of us who had muscle cars of various types and naturally there was a fair amount of bench racing going on. Finally one day when a bunch of us were in the same area and Frank was bragging about his new V12 Jaguar, one of the guys mentioned that I had a Road Runner and it was also a fast car. Well, Frank immediately jumped in, started trash talking and referring to my car as a “Wood Burner”. He continued to tease me about my car whenever our paths would cross in the halls and elsewhere at work. All in good fun I guess but he wanted everyone to know that his new V12 Jag was the ‘cock of the walk’ and that no American made “Wood Burner” could compare to his ‘V12’ Jag’s performance. I laughed it off because I knew what the weight and horsepower ratings of each car were. So I waited for an opportunity to see what his new V12 Jag could really do.
I don’t recall how long it was but I think it was only a few weeks when I finally got my chance. We all got off work at the same time each day and I had been keeping an eye out for his yellow V12 Jag. He was about four cars in front of me when we left the parking lot and headed West on Deer Valley Road towards the freeway. It was one mile from 19th Ave over to the I-17 Freeway where most of the employees turned left to get on the freeway on-ramp heading back to Phoenix. I had to do some fancy jockeying around to get in behind Frank’s Jag just as we got to the left turn lane for the on-ramp. The on-ramp was about a quarter mile long but the first part of it included a long sweeping curve before it straightened out and joined the freeway. Back then this area was mostly wide open desert and that part of the freeway had little or no traffic heading South.
When I quickly squeezed in behind Frank at the freeway intersection, I could see him looking at me in his rear view mirror and grinning. When the way was clear he quickly turned left onto the start of the on-ramp. I noticed that his car squatted in the rear as he got on it. I followed as quickly as I could but had to take it easy until my car completed the turn as I didn’t want my one driving (Goodyear Polyglass) tire to go up in smoke. When I got straightened out he was about six car lengths or more ahead of me so I dumped the clutch and turned the bird loose. I could see him up ahead, his body movements jerking as he was working the gear box and giving it all he had. But after a couple of full throttle power shifts at 5200 rpm the Road Runner was gaining on him so fast I was in danger of crashing into the back of him. I had to let off a bit until we actually got on the freeway and I could get a clear lane to pass him. By this time we were approaching 100 mph so I hit fourth gear and back on full throttle. Just as I was flying around him at about 125 mph and pulling hard, I gave him a ‘Beep Beep’ with the Road Runner horn. I glanced over quickly and noticed he wasn’t grinning anymore. After that day he never spoke about my car or called it a “Wood Burner” again.
The "Wood Burner"
In the spring of 1972 I was employed at Sperry Flight Systems in Phoenix, Arizona. I had only been working there about a year or so and was happy to have full time employment at the ripe old age of 22. This was especially true since I had purchased a brand new Plymouth Road Runner in June of 1970 and was glad to be making enough money to keep up the payments and insurance. It was a base Road Runner with a 383 engine and Pistol Grip four speed (833). Other than rally wheels, AM radio, and a black hood stripe there were no other (weight adding or power robbing) options. It had the standard 8¾ open differential with 3:23 gear ratio. I added an open air cleaner, Thrush glass packs, flex fan and a Mallory dual point distributor. Needless to say, my ‘Bird’ was tuned for maximum performance.
Around that same time one of the supervisors at work, Frank F., who was into sports cars, showed up at work with a brand new Jaguar with the new V12 engine. He was a bit of a bragger and liked to talk it up about how fast his new Jag was. Of course at that time there was quite a few of us who had muscle cars of various types and naturally there was a fair amount of bench racing going on. Finally one day when a bunch of us were in the same area and Frank was bragging about his new V12 Jaguar, one of the guys mentioned that I had a Road Runner and it was also a fast car. Well, Frank immediately jumped in, started trash talking and referring to my car as a “Wood Burner”. He continued to tease me about my car whenever our paths would cross in the halls and elsewhere at work. All in good fun I guess but he wanted everyone to know that his new V12 Jag was the ‘cock of the walk’ and that no American made “Wood Burner” could compare to his ‘V12’ Jag’s performance. I laughed it off because I knew what the weight and horsepower ratings of each car were. So I waited for an opportunity to see what his new V12 Jag could really do.
I don’t recall how long it was but I think it was only a few weeks when I finally got my chance. We all got off work at the same time each day and I had been keeping an eye out for his yellow V12 Jag. He was about four cars in front of me when we left the parking lot and headed West on Deer Valley Road towards the freeway. It was one mile from 19th Ave over to the I-17 Freeway where most of the employees turned left to get on the freeway on-ramp heading back to Phoenix. I had to do some fancy jockeying around to get in behind Frank’s Jag just as we got to the left turn lane for the on-ramp. The on-ramp was about a quarter mile long but the first part of it included a long sweeping curve before it straightened out and joined the freeway. Back then this area was mostly wide open desert and that part of the freeway had little or no traffic heading South.
When I quickly squeezed in behind Frank at the freeway intersection, I could see him looking at me in his rear view mirror and grinning. When the way was clear he quickly turned left onto the start of the on-ramp. I noticed that his car squatted in the rear as he got on it. I followed as quickly as I could but had to take it easy until my car completed the turn as I didn’t want my one driving (Goodyear Polyglass) tire to go up in smoke. When I got straightened out he was about six car lengths or more ahead of me so I dumped the clutch and turned the bird loose. I could see him up ahead, his body movements jerking as he was working the gear box and giving it all he had. But after a couple of full throttle power shifts at 5200 rpm the Road Runner was gaining on him so fast I was in danger of crashing into the back of him. I had to let off a bit until we actually got on the freeway and I could get a clear lane to pass him. By this time we were approaching 100 mph so I hit fourth gear and back on full throttle. Just as I was flying around him at about 125 mph and pulling hard, I gave him a ‘Beep Beep’ with the Road Runner horn. I glanced over quickly and noticed he wasn’t grinning anymore. After that day he never spoke about my car or called it a “Wood Burner” again.
The "Wood Burner"
