The Saginaw's are fine in a light rod -I've ran several,But the above notion of them not being able to handle the horsepower is probably an accurate statement.
I would however say this, if its a daily driver and you were just mainly street driving it -they are fine.
The main thing that was wrong with that picture was the crappy shifters usually attached to them!
A decent Hurst shifter renders the Saginaws a whole new lease on life.
The lowest ratio Saginaw I have had had a 3:50 -1 first gear ratio,so itreally gave the car a lot of low end and at same time allowed a better road gear to be used in rear end of the car.