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Looking for More Horsepower? It May Already be There

10.11.16 - 1969 Pontiac GTO

Can you imagine a car company that advertises a sports car or one that’s a performance model lowering the horsepower numbers? Why would any company do that? Even though there have been some “gentlemen’s agreements” in Japan in the past, there are car companies that aren’t even from Japan that show us cars with one horsepower number on the advertisement, but these cars can actually give you more power than you thought they could. Let’s take a look at the cars with more horsepower than you would have expected, giving you the chance to find what’s already in your possession, or see the same list in video format.

BMW M5 – The M5 is the performance model that we can adore. It’s a great looking midsize sedan with the power and agility of a world class athlete. This car shows up as something special on the list, but BMW offers it at only a 560 horsepower rating. Even though that number is significant in itself, this car can actually produces nearly 620 horsepower, giving you everything you could want.

Nissan Skyline GT-R R33/R34 – One of the most admired and desired cars ever built fell prey to the “gentlemen’s agreement” that limited all cars made in Japan to a maximum advertised horsepower rating of 276. Right from the start this was inaccurate as the first generation of this car made at least 320 horsepower and even more in future models.

Ferrari F40 – This beautiful prancing horse model shows up with a rated horsepower of 478, but those who’ve tested it have stated it’s much closer to the 500 horsepower number. This being the case it’s no real surprise this car was faster than the one that came after it, the F50. Either way, the F40 was a gorgeous Ferrari that’s a joy to drive.

Porsche 959 – The 959 used the same flat six-cylinder engine that was offered in most of the other sports cars from the same brand name when means the car was already rated to have 450 horsepower, but when on the track many who are intimately familiar with this car have said its easily over the 500 mark, which explains why this car was so fast.

Chevrolet L88 Corvette – This was a car that had a known amount of secret horsepower to keep the public from desiring it as much. This car was built to race and had an advertised number of 435, but racing teams bought it up because it actually had nearly 100 more horsepower than advertised and was perfect for the track.  Add that to the list of reasons to love the Corvette.

1969 Pontiac GTO The Judge – This mean muscle car came advertised at 370 horsepower, but that was because of the way GM rated horsepower at the time, by using the weight of the car. In reality this car made at least 30 more horsepower than advertised, putting it in rarified air at the time with at least 400 ponies under the hood.

Ford Mustang Boss 429 – As the power monster of the Mustang family the Boss 429 was rated to have only 375 horsepower from the engine, but experts have stated this car more likely had at least 100 more horsepower than that rating, giving us a car that was around in the Muscle Car era with nearly 500 horsepower.

1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 – This car was rated at 325 horsepower, but the GTO which used the same engine was rated to have 360 horsepower; one of the two was lying. The challenge wasn’t in a lie, but based on the fact that GM had a rule about cars not having more than one horsepower for every ten pounds this car had to be advertised downward.

 

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