Mild 454 (461) in a '69 Chevelle as a daily driver. Isky 270 cam, high-rise intake, headers, GM HEI, Edelbrock AVS 650 cfm carb. The heads are peanut port and the compression is 8-1. The gears in back are 2.73's.
The engine is built for torque and I suggest that for a daily driver. It'll put all your power between idle and 5000 rpm. I don't really care that the heads stop breathing above that as I'd have to go 140 mph to get that much rpm.
Just from "being out there" I sense it'll probably beat most anything except for a later Corvette or Cobra. Or, of course, a crazy, rumpity hot rod.
It's got about 375-400 horsepower, and tons of torque. Smooth idle and plenty of vacuum for power brakes. The hp could probably bump up by 25-35 by replacing the fan clutch with electric fans and maybe some underdrive pulleys. What does this car do in a 1/4 mile? Not sure, maybe 13's or low 14's. It goes 0-60 in less than 5 seconds.
Even at it's present state it's too much for a daily driver. I was going through the mountains and when the passing lane came up, the jerk in the Lexus in front of me wouldn't pull over to the left lane to let me by. I passed him on the right on a 6% incline going 95 mph and still had pedal to spare.
With a mix of street, highway, and stomping it every once in a while, I get between 10-11 mpg. Long highway drives will yield 14-15 mpg. If I granny it, it doesn't seem to get much better. The engine seems to like to be run aggressively.
Build it for torque for the fun and reliability of it.