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2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
GM overtakes Toyota as top automaker in U.S., auto industry accesses 2022 sales. Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian joins the Live show to discuss GM overtaking Toyota as the top automaker in the U.S., as well as the road ahead for the auto industry following a challenging 2022.Jan 4, 2023
Today is the 42nd anniversary of me taking delivery of my first new car, my '81 Monte Carlo in two-tone Light Jade over Dark Jade, 267 V8, Positraction, intermittent wipers, and no A/C. It was a good-looking car in good colors I think, and I still think the '81 was a big styling improvement over the '80 which my parents had. They say you always remember your first! It was stolen in Oct. '82 and never recovered.
The president's car is having the lower black paint below the molding come off on the driver's side. I'd have to get that taken care of ASAP, LOL.
One guy had a Corvair with the baby cradle option.
Just in front of the engine compartment and no window tint.
Of course, GM's divisions as a whole sold in greater volumes than Ford or Mopar, so that allowed for greater variation. And then, there's the way that GM was formed in the first place. GM didn't create those divisions. Rather it acquired independent companies that already existed, and brought them under the GM umbrella, gradually making them more and more alike as years went by. In contrast, Chrysler bought out the Dodge Brothers, and then created Plymouth and DeSoto on their own. And Imperial started as just a model of Chrysler, that they tried to let fly on its own.
Now Lincoln was acquired by Ford, but then they created Mercury, and then Edsel
Merely anecdotally, I remember my aunt's husband saying their '67 LeSabre bought new, needed a valve job by '69 and they traded on a new '69 Ford Country Sedan. I also remember my friend's mother saying their '67 Pontiac Executive wagon, which was beautiful to me, was a 'lemon' and they traded on a new '71 Ford Custom Ranch Wagon.
I have no memories of how both felt their Ford wagons held up. I do remember that that was the era where in my part of the woods, Ford tailgates rusted out pretty quickly but I don't remember that on these cars.
That's a great recovery milestone for GM, but probably would be better if it was a "normal" year in terms of accessibility (in other words, was it a flash in the pan?). That's what, twelve or thirteen years out from their collapse and bailout? My argument was only that it was wholly unnecessary if they would have had the vision to be a better company in the first place (they certainly had the resources).
I travelled with work constantly for years so I drove all makes as rentals, frequently.
It's interesting that GM had the resources to engineer improvements like that into the senior divisions, considering that the MSRP of an B-O-P car wasn't all that much more than its Chevy counterpart by then.
'68 Chevy II Nova four-door (unfortunately) with Torque-Drive and 14K miles. Torque-Drive was a semi-automatic (one shift, no clutch).
Although I got sick of seeing the '68-72 style, I thought it was an enormous styling improvement over the '67. 80% of the looks of a Chevelle and a lot lower-priced. Of course the Chevelle was body-on-frame and had four-wheel coil suspension; the Nova didn't.
I do like the '68 best of that run, with 'Nova' script on rear quarter instead of front fender (and a lot of later ones had a big fake-vent thing there), and I like that it's the last year they were called "Chevy II".
It's amazing to me they offered a four-cylinder through 1970 in these cars. I remember my Dad getting a "Nova Four Sale" flyer in the mail once, and I also remember him looking at a new, light green metallic '70 Nova at our local dealer's, opening the hood, seeing the four, and walking away. And my Dad was a thrifty car buyer, but even that was too much (little) for him.
In our town, in the late sixties and early '70's, the Chevy dealer was known as the best dealer in town, in business (one family) since 1936. They even had one original salesman, Virgil Mertz, still selling after 40 years. The Pontiac dealer changed hands several times in less than ten years in that mid-sixties to mid-seventies period (Lucas/Gault/Hazlett/Filer (my Stude dealer friend), then Godfrey), and the Buick/Olds dealer was known for not dealing, and had every new car he had in stock inside at all times.
https://barnfinds.com/14k-mile-survivor-1968-chevrolet-nova/?fbclid=IwAR1_gD-MSZcSMQQ3bVZ0D1ZCXkj_NhEPOHXiPuD7VsAduJqSIKYjn3gKbz4
Chevy always bragged about repeat ownership, but I bet all of the divisions had that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/05/toyota-gm-us-sales-chip-shortage/
Chevy's inline sixes were getting a bit large by then, too, with 230 and 250 CID sizes. Meanwhile, Ford still had small 170 and 200s, and Mopar had their own 170 slant six, which was eventually replaced by a 198. So compared to those, maybe a 4-cyl Nova kind of made sense?
IIRC, GM tried putting the 2.5 Iron Duke in the Pontiac Phoenix in the late 70's. I imagine that didn't go over too well, as the cars had only gotten heavier by then. But, the Phoenix would have used a 3-speed automatic rather than a 2-speed, and had around 90 hp net hp, whereas the old Chevy 4-cyl was around 90 gross. So maybe it wasn't that much worse, either?
Ford got away with putting the Pinto's 4-cyl in the Fairmont, so maybe GM thought it was a good idea to try out a 4-cyl, themselves? I think the Fairmont managed to pull it off somewhat, because it was a much lighter car. That, and Ford's own 200 inline 6 was so weak, the 4-cyl was probably a good alternative.
I vaguely remember seeing in ads about the Nova, "Standard four, six, or V8!" but that was always very misleading, as the window sticker base price would show "Nova L4" or "Nova L6" or "Nova V8" and the base prices increased incrementally. The number of cylinders were part of the model.
90 gross hp is about 65 net I'm thinking. Wow. In 1970! The 230 six was 140 gross; quite a jump up. The 307 V8 was 200 hp gross.
They should've done that years later, when you could get a 305 4-barrel in a Chevy but only 4.1 liters in a Cadillac!
Also cracked me up that GMC pickups used the number "15" when Chevy used "10". Guess the GMC was five better!
I'm guessing marketing made Pontiac round them both down to 455 and 350, respectively. Otherwise, customers might whine about a Pontiac having a bigger engine than an Olds or Buick!
Things certainly did get counter-intuitive in the 1980's, though. In 1985, you could start at the bottom with a stripped down Impala, equipped with a 165 hp 305-4bbl. Then move up to a Delta 88, LeSabre, or even a Ninety-Eight or Electra, and get a 140 hp 307-4-bbl in the process. Or, go all the way to the top, with a Fleetwood Brougham, and get a fuel-injected 249 V8 with 135 hp.
On the subject of other engine disparities, I remember a Consumer Reports big car test that included an Impala with a 165 hp 350 and a Catalina with a 170 hp 400. The Impala was actually slightly quicker from 0-60. I think it was 12.0 seconds, vs 12.5.
I also seem to recall reading that Pontiac got out of the police package business and left it to Chevrolet among GM makes, because the Chevy 350 performed better than the Pontiac 400. I think the Pontiac was better at lower ranges, like 0-60, but then it ran out of breath, so the Chevy did better at higher speeds. Oddly, Buick tried to do police cars a couple of years. At least, my one book that covers Michigan State Police tests from 1979-1994, had a LeSabre in it a couple times. I think one year they tried a Buick 350 and another, the 252 V6, of all things!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
At one point, I think it was the California Highway Patrol that had a wheelbase standard, where a car had to have a wheelbase of 120" or greater in order to be considered for police duty. And, where the CHP led, I believe a lot of other jurisdictions followed. As a result, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Dodges, and Mercurys, and even the occasional Chrysler were pretty common as police cars, for the larger police forces.
I seem to recall some police force using Plymouth Fury wagons, instead of the sedans, as police cars because of this. The Fury as a whole didn't get to 120" until 1969, but the wagons were on a 122" wb in 1957-61, and 121" for 1965-68, with '62-64 being those shrunken models.
Interestingly, the show "Highway Patrol" back in the 50's stayed pretty true to form, using Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Mercurys, and Dodges for their police cars. I seem to recall reading that the Oldsmobiles and Buicks actually were police-spec vehicles, but the Dodges, possibly the Mercurys as well, were just civilian models dressed up as police cars.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
They didn’t keep them long, though. Too small.
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2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
Regarding Mustang 5.0's--I liked the styling of the notchback coupe which is what I think most state troopers were using.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/vintage-review-chevrolet-nova-9c1-super-nova/
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
My friend's parents got a new '76 Nova loaner when their Malibu Classic was in the body shop after an accident. One thing my friend and I agreed on about it, was the plaid standard cloth upholstery felt warm/snuggly, like a blanket, but it looked awful.
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1978 New Yorker 4 door hardtop.
From the pics and description it doesn't look bad, and the price doesn't seem too scary. Alas, I don't know where I put my bulletproof vest, and I don't know if I feel like fighting with the squeegee boyz in Baltimore to go look at it!
It only has a 400 V8, rather than the 440, but by '78 I doubt if that really makes much difference, unless you want bragging rights. The 400 still had 190 hp, so I'd imagine it was still adequate. And it's not like I intend to take something like this to the drag strip.
I remember years ago (probably late 80s) driving one of these locally - I think it was a '76 or '77 - as a cheap used car. It actually drove quite well for what was a $2500 car at the time, and was still in decent shape. But man, it was just huge.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Andre seems to cover that issue by having a few spare cars lying around!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Nice color combo. And I love the big velour seats. But even by 70s barge standards that thing is a land yacht.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
Had it 23 years.
speeders on I75. They just looked like a broken down on the side of the road.
Saw them several times while traveling thru.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
According to Michigan State Police testing, the last big police cars to make it from 0-60 in under 10 seconds were in 1978. The quickest was a 255 hp Dodge Monaco with a cop 440, and somewhat tall 2.73:1 axle. IIRC its 0-60 was around 9.3 seconds, and top speed was around 132 mph. I think the '78 Catalina 400 they tested eked by in 9.9 seconds. I don't know how the Impala 350 did. I think it was a bit slower from 0-60, but remember it definitely did better at higher ranges, making it from 0-100 a bit quicker, and having a slightly higher top speed.
It wasn't until 1989 that a sedan-based police car broke that 10 second barrier again. It was a Caprice with the TBI 350, which managed 9.82 seconds. I thought that perhaps the Fox-based LTD V8 might have done it, but nope. In 1984, the MSP tested one, and got 10.29 seconds. The buff rags like MT or C&D probably got the civilian LTD LX down to 9.0 or so, but the MSP's testing was a bit more conservative. The MSP tested the LTD LX again in 1985 and got 10.53 seconds.
For disclosure though, the MSP only tested big cars in 1979...St. Regis, Newport, Impala, LTD, and LTD-II. Some outfit called Police Product News tested a '79 Malibu with the 350 and Volare with a 360. The Malibu did 0-60 in 8.9 seconds, the Aspen in 8.7. The MSP did test a Malibu and Volare/Aspen in 1980, but by then they were kind of a dog. 10.9 seconds for an Aspen, 12.3 for the Malibu.
I always laugh how on old-car forums, there'll always be somebody saying how much better/faster a current model is than the classic. Wait, you mean technology has improved in some areas in fifty years? LOL. Don't get why people like that would post on an old-car forum.
I just opened my police car book...the MSP actually tested two Celebrities in 1985! One was the 2.8 V6 with a 2-bbl carb, and it did 0-60 in 13.87 seconds, 0-100 in 55.31, and topped out at 116.1 mph. The other was a fuel injected 2.8, and it was good for 0-60 in 12.00 seconds, 0-100 in 42.26, and a top speed of 115.3.
For comparison, the quickest police sedan in 1985 was the fox-based LTD with the 165 hp fuel injected 302. 0-60 in 10.53, 0-100 in 30.74, and a top speed of 120.6. With bigger cars, the Impala 350 was quickest from 0-60 (11.66 seconds), the Crown Vic with a 351-2bbl was quickest in 0-100 (39.78 seconds), but a Gran Fury had the highest top speed (119.4 mph).
I have an old 1985 Consumer Guide that tested a Celebrity with the 112 hp 2.8 2-bbl V6, and they got 0-60 in 11.2 seconds. So I'm sure any of those cars the MSP tested were capable of better numbers, if some other source tested them.
My Mom's 86 Monte Carlo, which had the 150 hp 305-4bbl, definitely had some pull to it. I remember when it first took off, for a moment you could actually feel yourself getting pinned back in the seat just a bit. But, I think a lot of older cars with big engines and good low-down torque are like that. They'll throw you back for a moment on takeoff, whereas a smaller engine has to wind up a bit, and even if it ends up being faster, it doesn't always feel like it.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive