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My '57 DeSoto has chrome trim around all the window glass, which rolls down with the window. In later years though, they usually just went for a thin strip on the front part of the rear quarter window.
It is funny, how well-loved the '55-57 Chevy is, while the '55-57 Pontiac is pretty much overlooked. I think there's just something about the "face" of a '55 Pontiac that's kind of dumpy looking. I think some old road tester, like Tom MacCahill or someone, said it looked like it was born on its face!
I wonder if the '55 Pontiac got much publicity from being used in "I Love Lucy"?
In the words of Dr. "Bones" McCoy of Star Trek: "It's dead, Jim!"
I like that Pontiac.
Yeah, I'd heard another description of pre-1957 Pontiacs as a car for retired doctors. Seems like Bunkie Knudsen did help them turn around for 1957. I think the '57 Pontiac is one of those rare cars where the facelift looks better than the original design! Usually it's the other way around, with the original looking the best, and then they start mucking it up with half-hearted facelifts.
How did the '57 Pontiac Bonneville (that was the fuel injected one) perform? It had 310 hp out of a 370 CID engine, but according to my old car book did the quarter mile in about 18 seconds. Almost sounds like the car was more show than go. My book does say that it was mainly a promotional piece for dealers, so they only moved 630 copies.
Still, it looks like it helped Pontiac's image that year. 1957 was a down year for GM in general. According to my old car book "While Chevy, Olds, and Buick all lost sales to rival 1957 Chrysler products, Pontiac built some 333,500 cars to move within 51,000 units of 5th place Olds."
As for sales in that timeframe, Pontiacs looked like this...
1955: 554K
1956: 405K
1957: 333K
1958: 216K (that '58 recession was a killer for middle-priced marques)
1959: 383K (the year that Pontiac really transformed into a sporty car)
How do they compare in value these days to a 300C convertible or an Adventurer 'Vert? I guess those two would be its closest competition. For comparison, they made 630 Bonnevilles that year, 484 300C verts, and 300 Adventurer verts.
Those Bonnevilles were EXPENSIVE, too! $5782. The 300C vert was "only" $5359 and the Adventurer was downright cheap at $4272. I imagine a Bonneville was a hard sell, when it was new. That was a lot of money for a Pontiac. The most expensive "regular" convertible was only around $3100. In contrast, the Adventurer and 300C weren't that much more expensive than the top of the line regular DeSotos and Chryslers.
Really? I would have thought the opposite, based on the W140s I see around here. 420s all around.
As-is, it would be an easy car to drive, and is more than powerful enough to keep up with modern traffic, tolerable fuel economy, a good daily driver in general. It would be a shame to see it turned into some trailer-queen clone car.
does it come with the trophies?
This one looks pretty good.
the typical fate for late-model Buicks
those rims are just SO wrong
wrong rims, the sequel
I like the Malibu better
about $2500 too high
I think the main things you'd notice are noise and vibration. The 426 Hemi is an engine that likes to run fast, and isn't happy idling. It's hard to keep in tune, too, so if you do manage to get it tuned down to where it's nice and smooth, don't expect it to stay that way for long. Because it likes to run fast, the Hemi tends to be mated up to shorter gearing than the regular big-blocks. So it's going to sound like it's revving fast even when you're going slow.
As for weight, I think a 426 Hemi weighs about 100-150 pounds more than a regular big-block. That extra weight might not be too noticeable in regular day-to-day driving, but if you had to steer fast or brake quickly, you might feel a difference. I'd also imagine it would eat up brakes and tires a bit more quickly.
I think the Hemi tends to run hotter than the regular big blocks as well, so if you were stuck in traffic on a warm day, expect to bake. And forget about turning on the a/c, because AFAIK, you couldn't get a/c with a 426 Hemi. I'd also imagine that it would be easier to overheat, since the engine really wants to run around a racecourse at breakneck speed, and not sit idling in traffic.
I never was too crazy about the style of the 1964 or 1965 Chevelle. It's not that it's necessarily bad, but it just doesn't grab me. Still, that blue '64 looks like a nice car, especially for that price.
I sort of lost interest when the Comet went midsize for 1966:
The overall shape of the body isn't too bad, but there's just something about the front-end I dont like. Maybe it's the way the headlights are recessed a bit more on the '65, give it a more aggressive stance than on the '66. In fact, on the '66, it looks as if the upper headlight is TOO high! Looks a little AMC-ish, too.
I think that '65 looks good too, with that little Falcon hardtop roofline atop the longer, beefier comet body.
WVK
Nauseating
Not many of these around
And that rear end is just totally oddball. Maybe they were designed all goofy like that to increase interior volume? Sometimes the sleeker shapes aren't as roomy inside, and it's the goofy shapes that are actually more functional.
Isn't that one reason that the domestics had problems entering the Japanese market? Instead of building something that suits their needs, they just tried to force LHD cars onto the market with sort of a "figure out how to deal with it" attitude.
Even fairly recently, I think GM tried to do this with the Cavalier.
Slant six engines are usually pretty torquey, but they get most of that power down low. They usually don't like to rev. I'd be kinda curious as to what kind of power this thing would put out.
Chrysler did offer something called a "Hyper-Pak" in the early 60's for the 225, and it boosted hp from 145 to 197. It consisted of a 4-bbl carb, hotter cam, and I think a dual exhaust. It was more common on the little 170 though, where it boosted it from something like 101 to 145. The 225 has a long stroke, over 4", so I'd think fast revving would not be its strong point.
too bad no pics.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I dunno what the redline on a slant six is, but looking at the horsepower/torque chart I found here, it looks like the 225 hit peak hp at 4000 rpm until they started choking them down in the 70's, which dropped it to 3600 rpm. In contrast, I had a 1982 Cutlass Supreme with a 231-2bbl V-6, and I think it hit peak hp at something like 3200 rpm.
So I guess the slant six isn't THAT low-revving...for the era at least.
Yeah, that is kind of the easy way out. :P Funny thing though, a 318 doesn't weight that much more than a slant six (525 versus 475 lb, from sources I've read) so the V-8 itself doesn't add much weight. However, I guess a lot of peripheral stuff that goes along with the V-8 does add weight. I think for my '68 Dart, the base weight with the slant six was listed at 2710 lb, versus 2895 for the V-8. So it looks like the weight goes up by about 50 lb for the engine, and 135 lb for extra stuff.
I like the idea of hopping up a slant six, though. I have an old Mopar performance catalog from the 90's that describes all the steps you need to take to get a slant six car to do the 1/4 mile in under 14 seconds. One of the things listed, as I recall, was "reduce total vehicle weight to 2600 pounds or less". :surprise:
Actually, driving around without a hood is pretty stupid on a car like this. No wonder there are so few bids. That motor belongs in a Dodge truck or something where it would fit, or maybe an old Power Wagon would be just great.
Porsche Targa-- buyer beware---those old targas are a real pain in the neck...squeaks, rattles and due to a design defect, incurable rain leaks.(look closely and you'll see that the top of the wing window frame doesn't reach the targa top!!) Get the coupe with a sunroof and be happy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160152462419
'65 Lincoln Converible Thread
edit-as for prices, I have no idea - I wonder if the JFK factor is at work?