The non-muscle American car thread (READ THE OP)

  • Thread starter The87Dodge
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In your opinion, which country makes the best looking cars?

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    194
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EDIT: I meant to post these earlier this week, but I got distracted by things in real life.
 
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Just gonna take a moment to say that this is probably one of the most brilliant cars to come from the U.S. in the 60s.

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Aluminum 215ci V8 in the front. Transaxle in the back. Independent suspension all around. Makes me wonder what one of these things was like to drive.
 
Sage Ages
Just gonna take a moment to say that this is probably one of the most brilliant cars to come from the U.S. in the 60s.

061116-Barn-Finds-1961-Pontiac-Tempest-1.jpg


Aluminum 215ci V8 in the front. Transaxle in the back. Independent suspension all around. Makes me wonder what one of these things was like to drive.
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The base 4-cylinder was the right cylinder bank of their 389 V8. And because it used the Corvair's underbody which had no drive shaft tunnel, it used a drive shaft with a 3 inch bow in it, called the "rope drive."
 
CyborgGT
What is the point of these two both existing in the same model year? That B-pillar lets the design down a bit.
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Post sedans have historically been less expensive to produce than hardtops, and the latter have therefore been reserved for higher, more expensive trims, despite much of the same tooling and mechanicals being employed during production of both models.
 
TexRex
Post sedans have historically been less expensive to produce than hardtops, and the latter have therefore been reserved for higher, more expensive trims, despite much of the same tooling and mechanicals being employed during production of both models.
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Correct answer is correct.
 
So in other words... just to have options on the market? Seems like a lot of extra design effort, I can't imagine that flying today. But then I suppose that's why the Charger, for example, is now a four-door, or else the Challenger would never have been brought back.
 
CyborgGT
So in other words... just to have options on the market? Seems like a lot of extra design effort, I can't imagine that flying today. But then I suppose that's why the Charger, for example, is now a four-door, or else the Challenger would never have been brought back.
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It flew then because less was required of a manufacturer to bring a car to market. Market demand for and government requiring safety choked out hardtops--they never went away fully, but they became prohibitively expensive and were no longer a "Why not have this in a hardtop?" option.

Among my favorite cars are "more-door" (my own tongue-in-cheek way of referring to four-door) American hardtops of the mid-'60s until their demise in the late '70s. A big boat with all that side glass hidden away allowing for that tremendous pass-through is something I find incredibly sexy.

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Have two more.


1958 Rambler Ambassador 4-door hardtop


1960 Rambler Ambassador Custom Country Club 4-door hardtop
 
Earlier Ramblers are a little awkward for my tastes, if I'm honest. Indeed earlier four-door hardtops in general.

The cars from the '70s are the ones that really do it for me. Vent windows started to go away and the result made so much more of an impact than with even the most slender of examples.

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Six-window cars were more prevalent in the '60s as well, and that rear quarter glass that stuck around when the door glass went down impeded the sense of openness. Having said that, I can get into something like an Olds 98 Luxury Sedan by virtue of the flow of the roofline and that skinny pillar.

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A friend had one years ago and it was his desire to get that rear quarter glass to retract without going into an area that may ever be occupied by the rear wheel (he liked his cars low in a way that I simply don't), and he had the engineering background to get it done, unfortunately he got sick and had to give up on it before ever getting started.

It's hard to find a decent shot of one of those with the windows down, so you'll have to use your imagination.
 
As the former owner of a '64 Continental, I'm a Lincoln man at heart. But I do admire that for three years, from 1959 to 1961, Cadillac offered two different roof designs on their sedans, a regular roof and the extended "flat top" roof. I prefer the flat top myself.


1959 Cadillac sedan


1959 Cadillac sedan flat top


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1960 Cadillac sedan flat top


1961 Cadillac sedan 6 window


1961 Cadillac sedan flat top
 
Volksauto
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Holy crap. I love those AMC 5-slots to death, but I'm pretty sure they didn't come around until after the Pacer bowed (at which point they were offered for everything). They sure look right at home on that. Yeah...that's definitely working for me.

...

I just posted a '67 Monaco concertible elsewhere, but those C-bodies were also available in a...wait for it...more-door hardtop!

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So, I'd probably take a two-door hardtop over it (and I posted one up-thread), but it's still awesome. The '67 C-body Dodges (Polara and upper trim Monaco) are probably my favorite non-fuselage Mopars.
 

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