Back in the early'50's I had a 270 GMC in a '39 Chevy sedan with a Howard 5 carb manifold. It ran great and was never beat on the street by a F**d of any description. The 5 carbs were 81's came off a v-8 60 engine, it was not over carbureted, had progressive linkage with the middle 2 opening first, the end and center 3 came at about 1/2 throttle, it really came on hard at full throttle. Way before e.t. clocks it ran 98 MPH at Santa Ana drags. I drove it on the street every day, only problem was it had way too much torque for the stock Chevy 3 speed and I broke a lot of transmissions, sometimes even carried a spare in the trunk and changed the trans at the curb several times. (Oh for the good old days)
