Top 10 Muscle Car Classics

[Spartacus]

Shift lever? Didn't a '65 Plymouth still have the pushbutton slushbox?

Not all V8 cars from the "golden era" were necesarily fast. A typical full size four door with the base small block and a 2-bbl carb was lucky to hit a 10-second 0-60 in stock trim. Like, for example, my dad's '65 Impala 327 w/Turbo Hydramatic.

heh
I was equiped with a 454 4 barrel '72 Olds custom cruiser wagon

 

[theoak01]

I love the 69 nova ,those dont interest me

 

[Mr. dB]

wasn't "cheap power and flashy styling" what muscle cars were all about???

NONE of these cars could navigate a curve or stop in a hurry......steering was loose on the center and 5 or 6 turns lock to lock.....seats were flat, vinyl covered, with no lower back support....no sound insulation...all they were good for was straight line acceleration and lookin' good sitting in the A & W parking lot.

By today's standards, they were all dogs. But MOPAR were dogs even by 1969 standards. GM and Ford were miles ahead in chassis development. And some of those cars, like the 302 Z-28 or the Boss 302, were pretty decent on a 2-lane highway with curves.

Who made Ford steering boxes in the '60s? I know Chevys all had Saginaw boxes, I'm just blanking on Ford's right now. 'Cause I had a '66 Fairlane 500 with non-power steering, and it had 8 1/2 turns lock to lock, and was frighteningly vague on-center. And it only had 60,000 miles on it, so it's not like it was all worn out. But as scary as that piece of shit Fairlane was, it was the rock of Gibraltar compared to my friend's '68 Coronet, "The Blue Death Trap".

 

[rnch]

yeh, fords were always at least one generation behind GM in power steering units.....their power steering had all the road feel of putting your hands into a stack of syrup loaded pancakes.


but fords didn't rust out big time around the windshield and back windows like all the GM's did.

 

[Mr. dB]

your dad was fortunate to have the 3 speed turbo-hydramatic tranny in his impala....prolly one of the best looking (espically when compared to the velvetta cheese box styling of the '64 model) chevvies ever made.

'65 was the first year GM finally let Chevy have the Turbo Hydramatic. Yeah, the Powerglide was an embarrassment. But it had to be vague, 'cause with a 2-speed box the ratios are so wide that if it had a crisp shift it would have given people whiplash. They continued to offer Powerglides through 1973, I think, and that was the only slushbox available for the Vega 'cause they had trouble developing a light weight Turbo H. When they finally DID offer a Turbo H 200 in the Vega in 1974, they had extreme reliability problems. My parents had one that died on the way home from the showroom.

i agree, db, that the base v8/automatic models were not blindingly fast.....but could still take off from a stop quicker (due to the superior torque of american engines) that most of the base model puddle jumpers that are inflicted on us today.

Not necessarily. Your average little 1.6-1.8 Civic, Corolla, Hyundai, or whatever can manage a 0-60 in the mid-8-second range which, on paper, is at least two seconds faster than a 327 Impala, 289 Galaxie, or 283 Polara 2-barrel. Takes a lot more revs and drama in the puddle-jumper though compared to the torquey V8.

 

[rnch]

i always wanted a vega staion wagon with a small block and turbohydramatic dropped into it.....

 

[Mr. dB]

yeh, fords were always at least one generation behind GM in power steering units.....their power steering had all the road feel of putting your hands into a stack of syrup loaded pancakes.


but fords didn't rust out big time around the windshield and back windows like all the GM's did.

I said non-power steering. Manual. Un-assisted. It was a six cylinder car.

 

[Gambino]

ss camino

 

[rnch]

I said non-power steering. Manual. Un-assisted. It was a six cylinder car.

ford's power steering gear box ratios of that time period weren't much quicker than their manual boxes. mopars had better road feel than fords, but GM always had the best steering......power or manual.

 

[rnch]

I said non-power steering. Manual. Un-assisted. It was a six cylinder car.

musta been a dream to drive! lol