[Rick Parker]

Maybe I'm overlooking the obvious but the "old" Road & Track road tests and related graphs were presented in a maximum effort situation. The accleration graph specifically was representative of a drag race application at or near "Red line" in each gear, not as a reccomendation of when to shift in everyday driving. The other graph represented the respective road incline that could be approached in a specific gear. Not sure what purpose those calculations serve in real life driving conditions, most of us would just shift into a lower gear.
I found them much more interesting than the current day presentations they use.