290 hp, to appease insurers, racing organizations and politicians, while others were inflated for marketing purposes.
. But rather than quote one power figure for the Golden State and another for the rest of the country, Detroit’s Big Four opted to quote the new “net” hp figures across the board.for a qualifying session at Daytona, automakers would generate power numbers with intake manifolds at operating temperatures, with the fan and air cleaner installed and the spark advance set for normal use to simulate real-world conditions.
An 85 hp loss? Well, some were much worse than that. And the non-uniform differences between the old and new figures highlighted just how much Detroit had been manipulating those pre-1972 numbers. The really basic entry-level cars running economy-minded four- and six-cylinder engines weren’t hugely affected. But further up the scale there were some Grand Canyon-sized gulfs between old and new numbers.