The 427 L88 Vette was a legend back in the day and its continues to be a highly desired motor by collectors and enthusiasts alike. You had to pay a premium for them back then, and to this day, values for these highly sought-after cars remain really strong.

Fast forward to today and the modern-day Demon has the ingredients to make it a legend as well. In this duel, featured on CarsandZebras, we'll see the two cars go head to head at the drag strip in a series of 1/4 mile shootouts.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88

In the orange corner, we've got this 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88. All the videos of the L88 Vette I've featured so far have seen it annihilate the opponent. The stock car featured a 427ci L-88 V-8 under the hood. This particular car has been one bored to 439ci.

While it was rated at 430 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque, according to the YouTuber, in reality, it produces between anywhere 550 and 570 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. The L88 sent power to the rear wheels via 3-speed auto and had 4.56 rear axle gears. The Vette tips the scales at 3454 pounds.

2018 Dodge Demon Hellcat SRT

The other contender was this 2018 Dodge Demon SRT. One of just 3300 ever made, the Demon is essentially a purpose-built drag car that works on the street as well. You got some more additional goodies if you splurged the extra 1$ on the Demon Crate. Sitting on barely street-legal semi-slicks, under the hood lies a 6.2-liter (376ci) V-8 engine with a 2.7-Liter supercharger that produces 14.5 pounds of boost.

The HEMI puts out 808 horsepower and 717 pound-feet of torque (91 Octane) or 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque on (100 Octane) and has a compression ratio of 9.5:1. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a ZF 8-Speed Automatic transmission paired up to a set of 3.0 rear axle gears. The Demon is pretty hefty coming in at 4,820 pounds.

The Race

From a dig, the Demon's ZF8-speed and stickier rubber helped it big time. It got a big jump on the Vette. The HEMI held onto the lead and completed the 1/4 mile in 10.32 seconds @135 mph. The L88 was not far behind with 11.55 seconds at 121 mph to do the same distance.

Apparently, the YouTuber notes that the Vette was running slower on this particular occasion. Here it is crushing a modern-day Camaro SS, where the Vette punched in a time of 10.99 seconds at 125 mph.

To Sum It Up

Okay, 700 horsepower against 400 and the Demon's modern ZF eight-speed, it was never going to be that easy for the Vette. However, considering that the Chevy is over five decades old and doesn't have any high-tech gubbins or hardware, its 1/4 mile time was more than respectable.

The L88, in essence, was a Demon of its time, and as I mentioned earlier, is a thing of legends. To sum it up, the Demon is faster, but the Vette sure as hell is more iconic. Just imagine the Vette with a bolt-on supercharger and slicks. The weight advantage sure as well would come into play. Now, that would be close, wouldn't it?