Personally, I never understood the square headlight craze. Whether Chrysler Cordoba, Ford Elite, Olds Cutlass Supreme, et. al. - I think they all looked better with the original round ones and feel even more that way in retrospect.
Personally, I never understood the square headlight craze. Whether Chrysler Cordoba, Ford Elite, Olds Cutlass Supreme, et. al. - I think they all looked better with the original round ones and feel even more that way in retrospect.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I always fhought it had something to do with better lighting at the time. (?)
'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
My driver's ed car never had square headlights. The Elite model ran from '74 to '76 all with round lights. Then in '77 it was morphed into the LTD II with the square lights.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Oh, that's right. I wasn't a big LTD II fan though. Thought the Elite was nicer. But that's just me.
Me too. I recall reading at the time that square headlights would allow lower hood lines and better aerodynamics. But most restyled models looked tacked on and blocky.
But then I saw the new Grand Prix.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
My dad's last "new" station wagon was actually a dealer demo 1978 Dodge Monaco station wagon in the same green on green colors as in the picture. But I don't think dad's car was the "Crestwood" model below because it didn't have the plastic wood on the sides. But his car did have one strip of fake wood on the tail gate with bright molding around it.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Headlights make an interesting historical story. Just prior to WWII twin sealed beams were adopted by the industry as a standard and were legislated eventually by the Feds IIRC. I think the rationale was that they provided a certain standard of illumination and were cheaper. In '57 quad sealed beams arrived and were adopted almost instantly once laws were amended to allow them. That was fine and within a short time all but the cheapest cars used those. Then in '72 GM - probably in an effort to save money as the bean counters liked to cheapen their cars up by that time - brings out the '73 intermediates and they went back to dual sealed beams. On a million units a year that probably did save them a bit of cash. But combined witht he 5mph bumpers the front ends of those cars never looked good IMO. So in '75 the industry came out with the rectangular quad sealed beams with the justification as stated above, it would give lower hoodlines, sleeker front ends, etc. Whether it actually did any of that is questionable. When you stack those that argument goes out the window anyway. That was followed up in short order by the awful twin rectangular sealed beams, which in my experience provided just lousy illumination.
The odd thing is that the single biggest improvement in lighting during this time wasn't due to the shape of the light but by the introduction of halogens. I remember our '73 Volvo was our first car that came with halogen sealed beams and I could not believe the difference when driving at night, it was a revelation. Once it was legal to move to a separate bulb and headlight housing design in the '80s all bets were off. Some of those worked well, others were terrible. That still seems the case today.
I remember seeing "halogen lights" as some kind of cool feature advertised well into the 90s, I think.
IMO the biggest light advancement is composite lights - possible in Europe from the late 50s onwards, but didn't take hold in lagging NA until well into the 80s. Today, Europe has more advanced LED and even laser lighting, which due to backwards "authorities" (sarcastic quotes) are not possible in the land of freedom and justice.
I should have made it clearer as it is even weirder, a pair of seats on the passenger side, and a single driver's seat. I think Matra did this on more than one vehicle:
Those two spoke frowny late 70s Buick steering wheels kind of rub me the wrong way, although I guess that keeps the spokes out of your line of sight.
I think from the front, pre and postwar Tatra 87s are identical, while they gained a rear window postwar, along with losing the cool Buck Rogers-esque central rear fin. I have seen a number of them in European museums.
MG-C GT? The one with the V8. Guessing that from hood bulge. Late 60s
Did it have a V-8? I thought it was a big 6, in comparison to the normal 4-cylinder.
You have the model right, though.
TheMG-C did have a big inline-6, the same three litre that powered the Healey 3000, and the hood bump was needed to clear the motor which was taller and longer than the MG 4.
Various NHTSA requirements for 1968 doomed the big Healey, an old design with roots in the mid 50s so the planners at BMC came up with the idea of putting the motor into MGs. Confusion arises because in 1973 the MG-V8 was introduced featuring the ubiquitous Buick-Rover aluminum 35000cc V8 which was lighter than the four and so compact that the hoodline stayed the same.
The MG-V8 was never officially exported to the US.
Another version was the MG-RV8 introduced in 1993 which featured a 3.9 liter version of the Rover V8. Most were produced in Japan for the JDM with the remainder presumably going to the British markets. The RV8 has a small hood bump and a reshaped lines.
MG-C GT? The one with the V8. Guessing that from hood bulge. Late 60s
Did it have a V-8? I thought it was a big 6, in comparison to the normal 4-cylinder.
You have the model right, though.
Yes a straight-6 engine. There were MGB V-8s built, using the Buick V-8 further developed by Rover, but no MGC V8s. Those used a 2.9 engine, not related to the Healey as is sometimes speculated.
There are no factory built left-hand-drive MGB V8s.
I remember reading the C&D test of the MGC at the time. They hated it. One of the comments was something like "it feels like they found a good deal on a supply of millstones and attached them to the flywheel" or words to that effect in reference to its unwillingness to rev.
The Rover / MG V8 was such a good engine- it beats me why Buick didn't use it over there - it was capable of considerable tuning, light and flexible - Best thing Rover ever did was getting the rights (for virtually nothing) to that engine.
Yes a straight-6 engine. There were MGB V-8s built, using the Buick V-8 further developed by Rover, but no MGC V8s. Those used a 2.9 engine, not related to the Healey as is sometimes speculated.
There are no factory built left-hand-drive MGB V8s.
So you're saying the six in the MG-C was not the Healey six? I Wonder why BMC had a 2.5l six in the Triumphs and a different 2.9 in the MGs.
Comments
Late '50s
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'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
But then I saw the new Grand Prix.
The odd thing is that the single biggest improvement in lighting during this time wasn't due to the shape of the light but by the introduction of halogens. I remember our '73 Volvo was our first car that came with halogen sealed beams and I could not believe the difference when driving at night, it was a revelation. Once it was legal to move to a separate bulb and headlight housing design in the '80s all bets were off. Some of those worked well, others were terrible. That still seems the case today.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
IMO the biggest light advancement is composite lights - possible in Europe from the late 50s onwards, but didn't take hold in lagging NA until well into the 80s. Today, Europe has more advanced LED and even laser lighting, which due to backwards "authorities" (sarcastic quotes) are not possible in the land of freedom and justice.
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'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
And around 30 years later I liked this one too:
My (former) '79 Buick Electra Park Avenue.
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OK, close enough. It's a Tatra 87 limousine, 1948, and you can see this car at the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands.
Gold Star.
I think from the front, pre and postwar Tatra 87s are identical, while they gained a rear window postwar, along with losing the cool Buck Rogers-esque central rear fin. I have seen a number of them in European museums.
The Tatra 77 is the one that gets me going, just a crazy thing. I think I have seen 2 in museums.
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And there's something intriguing about a museum with 22 Tatras in Nashville...
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
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You have the model right, though.
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Various NHTSA requirements for 1968 doomed the big Healey, an old design with roots in the mid 50s so the planners at BMC came up with the idea of putting the motor into MGs. Confusion arises because in 1973 the MG-V8 was introduced featuring the ubiquitous Buick-Rover aluminum 35000cc V8 which was lighter than the four and so compact that the hoodline stayed the same.
The MG-V8 was never officially exported to the US.
Another version was the MG-RV8 introduced in 1993 which featured a 3.9 liter version of the Rover V8. Most were produced in Japan for the JDM with the remainder presumably going to the British markets. The RV8 has a small hood bump and a reshaped lines.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
There are no factory built left-hand-drive MGB V8s.
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Ironically, the V-8 engine in the MGB V8 weighed less than the 4 cylinder it replaced !
There are no factory built left-hand-drive MGB V8s.
So you're saying the six in the MG-C was not the Healey six? I Wonder why BMC had a 2.5l six in the Triumphs and a different 2.9 in the MGs.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Yes, they had access to the Buick/Rover V8 but decided to build their own abomination of a V8 for the Stag.
No, they didn't use the Healey Big Six, they used an engine from the Leyland sedans.
The MGB could out accelerate the MGC, too, until BL changed the rear end ratio on the C to compensate for the embarrassment.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93