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Detroit, 12:27 AM
Fri Dec 11
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/06/09
12/06/09
Once the premium-priced Buick started challenging the low-priced Plymouth for third place in sales, Chrysler management blamed its conservative approach to design. So Chrysler went Hollywood too. The 1955-56s were the first step in that direction. Encouraged by increased sales, Chrysler then sped the introduction of Exner's low-slung tailfins of glory. If I recall correctly, the 1957s were originally intended for 1959.
Chrysler was merely playing follow-the-leader. In that era pretty much everyone was focusing on glitz at the expense of quality. The Edsel was the pinnacle of this attitude -- it was a "fancy" but utterly crappy car.
Chrysler clearly didn't learn from Packard's ill-fated 1955s. The formerly conservative automaker introduced interesting innovations such as an"electric" torsion-level suspension, but they were pushed to market too fast -- and were riddled with quality-control problems.
Ironically, Packard might have lasted longer if it had offered an old-fashioned but higher-quality alternative to the crap that the Big Three pumped out in the mid-to-late 50s.
12/06/09
Look forward to seeing the hopeless basketcase '58 Edsel Pacer team at a Lemons event in the future.
12/07/09
Too many automakers at that time thought people would overlook quality issues if the styling was snazzy and the technology fresh. The public thought differently. By 1959 they had gotten so fed up with Detroit's fare that imports -- and the dowdy Rambler -- were selling like crazy.
12/06/09
12/06/09
And those gauges could be framed and placed on a wall as a fine art work.
All the details, all the trim.
What a beauty!
12/06/09
That is cool as hell.
I still can't wrap my head around a vehicle that large being only 3,200 lbs.
12/06/09
12/06/09
Is it a Kei van?
Hell, even my '67 A-108 passenger van weighed 3,900. Though that might have been with two 100 lb. bench seats in the rear, too. Glass ain't light, either.
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12/06/09
If she were mine, oh and she will be mine some day, I'd paint her flat black all over but leave the stripe and Firebird emblem gloss. Put a 400 under the hood, some tint on the windows and buy her a nice new set of shoes, and she'd be perfect.
12/06/09
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12/08/09
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12/06/09
I'll take some nice vent windows, though. I've always got the driver's window down a crack.
12/06/09
You mean a crotch cooler.
12/05/09
"Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird, the car I've always wanted, and now I have it. I rule!"
12/05/09
"I traded it".
12/05/09
12/05/09
Dashboards are a real drag to replace, and keeping sun/heat off them is key to long(er) life.
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12/05/09
Here were your options.
Cid HP Info
250 175 6 cyl
250 215 6 cyl
350 265 2 bbl
350 320 HO
400 330 4bbl
400 335 HO
400 345 Ram Air II
400 370 Ram Air IV
400 500 Ram Air V
12/05/09
12/05/09
Then again, I saw what most people saw of it, which was the rear, not the front!
12/05/09
12/05/09
[www.highperformancepontiac.com]
12/05/09
The T/A was never my fave, but I have always liked this body style, particularly for the Camaro. The front bumper is a high point of GM styling. Even the scoops, spoilers and flares are restrained and meaningful. Compared with cartoonish bloat and miniscule performance that was to come for the Fire Chicken, this is pure elegance.
12/05/09
12/05/09
Still, somehow I can cope a little better when the car doesn't rust from the top down. Something about terminal cancer in your A-pillars, while the rest looks like it just rolled out of the factory...
12/05/09