In a battle over classic muscle car vs JDM on the drag strip, YouTube channel No Bolts Left Behind pits a 1970 Dodge Challenger against a 1995 Nissan 300ZX. The two cars have taken each other on at the drag strip before but previously, the Nissan raced under less than ideal circumstances. With some repairs made to the sports car, it's a more fair fight to the finish line. Check out the video to see if the Nissan can earn a victory over the Dodge or if it continues to be the muscle car's race to win.
Dodge Challenger vs Nissan 300ZX
The Challenger beat the Nissan pretty badly in previous races, but at the time, the 300ZX had a bad transmission and power delivery issues from the engine due to years of neglect. With those issues taken care of as well as addressing the tuning, a tune up for the car and a manual transmission swap, the Nissan delivers more power than it did before. The Nissan 300ZX has a 3.0L V6 engine, outputs 222 horsepower and a 5-speed manual transmission with rear-wheel drive. The car weighs 3,350 pounds, giving it a weight advantage over the older Dodge in addition to better traction thanks to the Nissan's performance tires.
The Challenger was a desert rescue with a 5.7L HEMI engine swap from a Dodge Durango, the Challenger also has a swapped manual transmission. The Challenger outputs 430 horsepower, a 6-speed manual and rear-wheel drive. The Challenger is heavier than the 300ZX, weighing in at 3,560 pounds and has old school radial tires which he expects to make some smoke. Before racing either car, they take each on a practice run, so they are ready to deliver their best performance on the strip.
The Challenger Defends Its Victory
In the first run, the Challenger takes an immediate lead over the Nissan off the line and maintains the lead throughout the distance of the race. The result is the Dodge Challenger keeping its record of winning with a 8.59 second time and 83 mph top speed. The Nissan reaches the same distance in 10.07 seconds with a 67 mph top speed. He does note that while the Nissan lost to the Challenger again, it is an improvement over its previous times.
In the second run, the Challenger does a burnout before lining up and as expected, the tires make some smoke. The Challenger again takes an immediate lead and wins over the 300ZX with a time of 8.96 seconds and an 81 mph top speed vs the Nissan's 10.52 second finish and 67 mph top speed. In the third and final run of the video, both cars start off with a burnout, the Challenger's being much smokier than the Nissan's is. At the onslaught, the Nissan takes an immediate lead off the line by a small margin, but the Challenger almost immediately closes the gap and then passes the Nissan. The Challenger again wins with an 8.54 second finish time and an 83 mph top speed while the Nissan finishes in 9.92 seconds, under 10 seconds, which was the goal for the day for the car, in addition to a top speed of 70 mph. In a future video, he'll race the 300ZX against a LS swapped Dodge pickup truck.