July 1976 Issue Road & Track Magazine

Road test 280z Vs Porsche 924 Vs Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT

The Z looks to be a late model '76 with the heavy bumpers, + the test car had AC. (ie a little slower then one without the bumpers and or AC)

Only the 924 was a '77 model they said.

3.

I often wondered if R&T, or any car magazine for that matter, did a performance test of the early 280Z's. Now I know!

Did the article mention if the 280Z was a California smogged car?

Thanks wolf66.

They didn't say it was a Calif model so i would guess not.

Man I am getting old. I remember buying that issue as a freshmen in HS.

Hmm, was 91 octane all they had back then? They could easily have turned up the comp ratio on those cars... 9:1 would have easily gotten 10-15 more hp, and detonation wouldn't be a problem with 91 octane gas... hell, they could have run 9.5:1 and still had no problems...

But it's not a fair comparision. They put two 4 clyinder, 2liter, 100HP touring cars against a 150 horse Six, with half again more torque? True, the cars weigh about the same and in the same price bracket, but the Z had way more engine than both the Alfa and front engined Porsche. Try it again aginst a 914-6!

Yeah but the Z was the cheapest by thousands of dollars and still spanks em.

What was Porshe thinking putting out a sub 100 Hp car anyway?

Was the 914-6 avail that year and what did it cost?