Text 14167, 79 rader
Skriven 2008-04-16 13:03:05 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 14141 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
Ärende: Transportation systems (was: Dutch coin)
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14 Apr 08 06:27, Bob Ackley wrote to Roy Witt:

 BA> Replying to a message of Roy Witt to Robert Bashe:

 RB>>> Sixty years ago, cars, trucks and motorcycles were built to get you
 RB>>> from point A to point B.

 RW>> Sixty years ago, cars were built from the same molds as they were
 RW>> several years prior. 1941 models and 1948 models were one and the
 RW>> same.

 BA> I don't think there's any difference between a 1948 Chevy and a 1951
 BA> Chevy.

There is...1948 Chevy's were the same as the 1941 Chevy with a few
cosmetic differences.

In 1949, they updated the bodies to the newer version, which was also used
by Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Cadillac also shared the same shell. By
1953, all GM products had changed body styles again.

 BA> You could park 1958 models of Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Buick side by
 BA> side and see they're virtually identical.

Ummm. Only between firewall and back window, except that the dashes were
also different in each makers models.

 BA>   Only difference is trim and lights.

Front ends were all different...engines were completely seperate between
each maker. Each also had different transmissions. When you bought an
Olds, you got an Olds engine with a Hydromatic trans, Buicks used their
version of it, Pontiac had it's own engine and also used the Hydromatics
and Chevy used it's own engines and Power Glides and Turbo Glide trans.
Rear ends were all identical in each maker's version. 1958 Buick
taillights and bumpers were specific to Buicks. Same with the rest.

 BA>  Same with 1958 through 1961 Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler and
 BA> deSoto.

Same as GM, as described above. Engines in these cars were identical to
each other, however. And all but the Plymouth used the new push button
Torqueflight trans. In 1961, Mopar products had dropped all of the
previous engines from 1955 onward and were using the new version 'wedge'
motors which were the performance engines of the 60s and 70s. The Hemi was
dropped sometime in 1959 and it wouldn't re-appear until 1964.

 BA> If memory serves, in about 1961 or -2 Rambler dug out the dies for
 BA> its 1958 models and and basically issued that 1958 model again.

Make that the 1955 model Nash Rambler which was also re-badged to Rambler
American, with just a few modifications to modernize it. Previously in
1958, all Nash and Hudson name badges had been dropped from the line-up.

This occured right after George Romney (Mitt's dad) quit AMC and ran for
and was elected Governor of Michigan.

None of the 1949 and newer cars were anything like the 1948 cars in body
and style. The 1948 cars were copies of the pre-war models that they made.

Some may have retained the same running gear, but in 1949, Oldsmobile and
Cadillac introduced their new and now famous 'over head valve' V8s.
Chrysler followed in 1951 with their 'hemi' head engines and wedges in
1955, while Ford continued it's pre-war version of the flathead V8 until
1953...Nash, Studebaker, Hudson and Packard suffered the consequences of
continuing their pre-1948 models and drive trains to their own detriment.

None of which made it past 1962. Nash bought Hudson and renamed itself to
American Motors and Packard bought up Studebaker and produced some really
nice cars. But they failed because the quality and engineering wasn't what
you could get from the other makers. American Motors became AMC and it
lasted a bit longer, until 1987 when it was bought by Chrysler.

                R\%/itt



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