The 8 Quickest American Cars of 1962

I drove a 62 Dodge sedan 413 max wedge 3-speed stick. Back in the mid-60s , the Dodge Plymouth dealer in Union Grove, WI had a used one on there on their lot. This dealer was about 3 miles from the Union Grove Drag Strip. The Owner of this car was the son of the dealership owner. It took me about 15 minutes to convince the salesman who was the owner of the car for a test drive. He knew I just wanted to try it out, but gave me the keys anyway and said don't crack it up. it was a cold day in Nov. and it ran like crap cold. I went about 10 blocks, punching it, and nothing. I turned around after 5 minutes laughing about how sick this car was. I then punched it while power shifting, one last time heading back, and the rear tires lit up and did a 180 degree in the blink of an eye. I tell you I had to check my pants. I thanked the salesperson, but said it was too much for me. Price $2200. True Story.

Pontiac 421 was my first car...still remember squealing tires whenever it seemed right.

To all of the naysayers these cars were the ones that cultivated and started the “NEED FOR SPEED “ This only happened in the Good Old USA ! All Fast cars since then Japan , Europe etc are standing on the shoulders of these 1962 cars !

Good information except for the 11 second Plymouth. Two seconds faster than the Dodge (BTW: which must have been available with a 4 speed). Nothing stock was doing 11.81 in the 1/4 mi. in 1962

The Beach Boys taught us that the 4-speed dual quad positraction 409 has never been beat.

I had a '62 Impala SS 409 while in Hight School (1968). It had hi-po heads, dual quads and a close ratio 4spd. It came from the factory WITHOUT power steering and the clutch was super stiff. It passed everything on the road except gas stations and ONLY took high octane gas. I loved Chevron "Gold Label Ethyl" which was 45.9c gallon (which i though was awful back then). ;-)

BEACH BOYS, SHUT DOWN: It happened on the strip where the road is wide, two cool shorts standin' side by side Yeah, my fuel injected Stingray and a four-thirteen. A revvin' up our engines, and it sounds real mean

For such a limited amount of production I remember seeing quite a few Avantis back in the day. Looks like it had a pretty nice interior and I never knew the car we as that fast.

8:55 Thats no cross ram intake manifold.

I had a Sportster in High School. First day as a Senior in a new school some bikers who gave me the bike escorted me and my gal to the school parking lot. One guy, Teddy, did an awesome burn out and me and my sweetie walked through the smoke and through the crowd that gathered in complete silence looking only ahead. We changed that school and later my girl got a 69 Malibu....life was so good back then..

Good video. Drag racers in '62 preferred the Savoy 2 door post to the fury hardtop which was heavier. Al Kirshenbaum had the most bad ass one ever. Mid '12's stock, with wrinkle wall skinnies, but Kirshenbaum was a beast. The last photo was not a max wedge '62 413. It didn't have the correct cross ram max wedge intake like you showed for the Dodge. It should have been identical. The carbs were inline. The '62 413 Max Wedge 413 Savoys were around when I was a kid and they were FEARED! Nice video thanks.

Had a 67 Chevy Caprice with a factory 427 and Turbo400 Transmission in 1979. Nothing rattled a Mustang or Camaro owner like a full-sized hardtop that could pull up to them while they were racing on the Interstate and watch the driver wave to them and then walk away from them.

I was born in Pontiac Michigan and came of age in 1962. These cars are a part of MY youthful years. We used to race from Pontiac to Detroit on Woodward Avenue listening to Lee Allan on the radio. Miss those days

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL & I LOVE THIS VIDEO, WITH THESE AMAZING VINTAGE CLASSIC CARS WOW, AWESOME VIDEO REVIEW AS EVER.

I was born in 1962 and my family drove a '62 tan Impala four-door. We drove across the country in it in 1963.

I owned a '62 Corvette with the 340 horse engine (four barrel carb) and I ran it drag racing. My best time was 13.02. I don't remember the speed. That thing would run.

Lots of bad information in this video. I believe personally that the Mopars were the fastest but that doesn't mean they always won as the winner of the 1962 NHRA Nationals was Hayden Profit in a pure stock class 409 Chevrolet at 12.82 - 113 mph. The Shelby small block Cobra DID NOT have a hand made tubular frame. That didn't happen until the 427 SC cars came out in 1965. The Daytona coupes had hand made tubular frames but they were race only cars. The super duty 421 cars were EXTREMELY competitive in the pure stock classes and won many races, they just weren't the top dog at the Nationals in 1962.

great video

I think it's worth knowing the distinction between a factory super stock race car and a stock performance street cars. Factory drag cars are not sold to the public, they're limited production, purpose built cars they're only given/sold to top drag racers across the country.

Galaxies are under appreciated