You learn something new everyday. I never knew that, of course back then 1st gears were much taller than they are today so that isn't too surprising. Back then they were about as tall as second or third gear in most 6-speeds, weren't they?

 

The old versions had several different ratios on the Mach I,II,III, IV versions. My favorite was the Mach II.

What was amazing was these cars weighed around 2500 lbs, would generate 475 HP and many time much more at 5K RPM.

On one of the older version the ratios were:

TRANSMISSION
Type ZF 5 DS-25 Transaxle

Ratios Final Drive 4.22 : 1

(Optional) 3.33 : 1

Gearbox First 2.42 : 1

Second 1.47 : 1

Third 1.09 : 1

Fourth 0.96 : 1

Fifth 0.85 : 1

Reverse 3.75 : 1

On the Recent version it was:

Type 6-speed manual
Gear Ratios 1 - 2.61
2 - 1.71
3 - 1.23
4 - 0.94
5 - 0.77
6 - 0.63
Reverse - 3.135

 

Wow! Which final drive did the one that went 93 mph have?

 

Here are the specs for the old 1966 GT40 in the 1st column and a GT40 Superformance replica in the 2nd column:

SPEED IN GEARS

mph @ rpm
1st 89 @ 6200 53 @ 6400
2nd 140 @ 6200 85 @ 6400
3rd 170 @ 6200 120 @ 6400
4th 205 @ 6200 161 @ 6400
5th N/A 207 @ 6230

ACCELERATION

Time to speed
0-40 mph, sec 2.8 2.1
0-60 mph, sec 4.2 3.7
0-80 mph, sec 5.6 4.8
0-100 mph, sec 8.2 6.9
0-120 mph, sec 10.8 9.2
0-140 mph, sec 14.0 11.8
0-160 mph, sec 19.1 15.3
0-180 mph, sec 27.0 21.7

 

That was one impressive car especially for its time. I wish Ford could have put in the same level of effort into the GT.

 

Man, pretty impressive findings since I first posted this thread. Never would have TRULY expected 3:92 gears w/ the 6 spd as rumored. I know, that's w/ 20" wheels, but still, some serious gears behind a stick! Just wish it was a solid axle...personal preference. And man, can you imagine if they offered a Dana as an option??? Sweeet.

 

I'm also surprised by this and in some ways disappointed. As much as I would like the advantage of this kind of axle ratio, it is going to lack the potential of getting good enough fuel economy to get past the gas guzzler tax.

 

Yep, but as we know, even w/ 3:06 and automatic they slapped the Guzzler tax. It is inevitable, especially the way the CAFE standards are headed. Ugh

 

Well the issue with the pair up with the 3.06 axle with the W5A580 is because of the gear ratios. This is one of my biggest grips about that MB sourced transmission. 5th gear has a ratio of .83. Most other 4-speed automatics have an automatic of around .69, and this 5-speed was built for performance while not really adding speed to the LX cars when comparing it on the V6 models where they keep switching back and forth between the 42RLE 4-speed and it. If the gear ratios were more wisely chosen, the mid 20s would not be unrealistic If they were to give it ratios like GM gave to the Firebird/Camaro or Corvette, we would probably get the best of both worlds.

I'm cringing about that one as well; however, that does not take effect until 2020 so we have 12 years to enjoy cars.

 

Is it possible Dana would offer it directly as an aftermarket item?