Given the crappy gas available to most of us these days, what do you guys recommend running in a vintage (1974 or older) performance Ford originally designed for high octane leaded fuel. If I get more serious about buying a 1970-71 Torino,  I'd love to hear your thoughts, whether big or small block engine. My goal would be a regular cruiser with a performance bent, plus occasional trips to the track for test and tune. I've always prided myself in making my cars run as best as they could. I haven't owned anything vintage in several years, not since I left England and back then I could still get 100 octane leaded fuel, though on my last trip I was told that it is now real scarce. Any advice would be appreciated - has anybody had any luck with octane boosters and additives in their vintage Fords?  BTW thanks to Falcon67 and Fair67driver for the advice on the bodywork regarding these Torino, when the time comes I'll probably head to the West Coast.

Cheers,

Huw  

My fairlane will run on premiuim 93, but it really likes a blend of 93 and 108 octane. 50/50 is how I usually mix it. Our "high" octane around here is 108. Most engines any more run unleaded valve seats. Especially if they have been apart in the last 20 years.....At least that is my general findings.  

Well, it depends on the compression, intake duration and general configuration and health of the engine.  There are a LOT of variables.  The best path to octane tolerance is to optimize the engine build specs.  Tight quench clearance, cam timing, materials, etc.  There is no "rule" that says 9.5:1 requires 91 octane, 10:1 requires 92, etc.  Dynamic compression comes in to play also (Google on that for a while).  

You can't buy anything over 91 from a pump here for love or money.  I can buy drums of VP race gas at 6~15 bucks a gallon from the track.  But both race cars run on 91 unleaded premium from the Conoco station and I haven't had any detonation issues.  Three engines have run in race mode on 91 - 302 at 9.5:1, 351C 2V open chamber at 9.5:1 and the 351C 4V closed chamber at 10.5:1.  The 302 has 94 Lightning GT40 heads while the rest are using stock iron heads with no special valve seats.  

Octane boosters are BS - the octane "point" they claim to raise is .1, not 1.  You can do the math on that.  

A couple of friends tried using  octane booster for a while, and both of them had carb gumming issues with no noticeable performance gains. Both ran 93 pump gas.