{"id":56778,"date":"2017-06-02T08:09:31","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T12:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=56778"},"modified":"2017-06-02T08:09:31","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T12:09:31","slug":"collector-car-corner-cars-from-the-fifties-and-sixties-beauty-only-skin-deep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2017\/06\/02\/collector-car-corner-cars-from-the-fifties-and-sixties-beauty-only-skin-deep\/","title":{"rendered":"Collector Car Corner – Cars from the Fifties and Sixties: \u2018Beauty only skin deep\u2019 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CollectorQ: Greg your recent columns on muscle cars, music and auto designs were interesting and enjoyable. When it comes to car designs, weren\u2019t the cars of the Fifties and Sixties compared to those from other decades forward thinking in the new designs they offered?<\/p>\n

The cars from the Fifties really changed a lot from year to year while today a car might not change much for five or more years. What\u2019s your opinion? Charles L., retired and living near Canton, Ohio.<\/p>\n

A: Charles thanks much for your letter and kind words.  <\/p>\n

To answer as best I can, there was a good reason the car companies could concentrate on new exterior designs every year in the Fifties and Sixties. Specifically, while the exterior designs were all new, there wasn\u2019t much going on underneath these new body designs. Although new fins, more chrome, special rooflines and flashy interiors prevailed, there was usually nothing going on that dealt with improving the chassis, suspension, safety systems, engine economy and transmissions.<\/p>\n

\"Collector

The 1958 Chevrolet and the 1959 Chevrolet were completely different from outward design, but identical with engines and chassis underneath. (Compliments Chevrolet)<\/p><\/div>\n

As a good example, Nash\/Rambler used its flathead six cylinder engine from the 1940 decade all the way through 1964 successfully, something I\u2019ve written about in detail in a past columns. Chrysler Corporation, too, used its trusty \u201cSlant Six Cylinder\u201d engine from 1960 all the way through 1983 in the Dodge truck line. To this day the engine is regarded as a bullet proof engine design.<\/p>\n

So, taking everything into consideration, you are correct in your assumption. Detroit would do quick facelifts and\/or complete body re-designs without too much trouble back then as they could use the same chassis and engine combinations on the assembly lines. Granted, new engines appeared regularly, but they were still bolted into the same chassis using basically same suspension systems with little or no tweaking to leaf springs, coil springs, shocks, etc. <\/p>\n

Thus, these cars from those two decades were great examples of the Temptations Motown hit \u201cBeauty\u2019s only skin deep\u201d more so than not. As much as the designers changed the outward looks of these models, the words \u201cmechanical upgrades\u201d just weren\u2019t in the car manufacturer\u2019s dictionary.<\/p>\n

As an example, and taking 1957-58-59 as case in point years, Chrysler led the way with its “forward look” cars and all three years resulted in the manufacturers producing cars that looked nothing like the prior years. Chevy, too, is a good example in 57-58-59, as is Buick as I really love the \u201859 Buicks and the \u201860 models, too. But rest assured they were bolted to the exact same chassis that had served them well for years and years.<\/p>\n

Chrysler made huge design changes from 1954 through 1957, while over at Ford, the big change years came in 1957-59 years, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

The independents Studebaker is still perhaps the greatest example of re-skinned success. Its poor selling 1958 Studebakers, as I mention yet again, found new success thanks to an all-new Lark body for \u201859. While the Lark saved the company, it still rode on the same chassis Studebaker had used for many years and there was no major mechanical difference of note between the poor selling \u201858 Studebaker and the \u201cnew\u201d \u201859 Lark other than the body.<\/p>\n

Other cars I really liked from that era were the \u201951 to \u201854 Hudson Hornets and Wasps, \u201853 Kaiser Manhattan, \u201953 to \u201956 Packards, \u201956 tri-colored Dodges, and the \u201955 and \u201856 Mercurys.<\/p>\n

The Sixties were similar, too. Ushered in was the era of Detroit built high-performance, as all the manufacturers took part in the boom. From full size hot rods like the \u201862 Dodge Dart 413\/426, \u201962 BelAir bubbletop 409 or \u201863 Ford Galaxie 427, the mid-size muscle cars were soon to follow. From GTO, SS396, 442, Gran Sport, XR7, Z28, Cobra Jet, Barracuda and Javelin, the highways were jammed with these popular cars.<\/p>\n

Still, these cars might have been quarter mile shotguns, but if you tried to take corners and\/or stop quickly, you might find yourself in over your head thanks to the still antiquated stopping capabilities.<\/p>\n

A good case in point was my 1967 Plymouth GTX, powered by a 440 inch, 375 horse engine. We added headers, ignition, intake and a cam and got the cat to run 12.80s on tiny rear drag slicks, which helped the stock 3.23 ratio rear rise up to maybe a 3.55. It was a bullet for sure, but when it came to stopping it, it had four-wheel drum brakes that faded very quickly trying to stop from 108 mph in the quarter-mile.<\/p>\n

Today, the reason some cars receive only minor tweaks of outward design is because the engineers work diligently making these modern cars safer, more fuel efficient and with high-tech braking systems that far outweigh anything we used to drive in the Fifties and Sixties.<\/p>\n

We now travel with air bags surrounding us, four wheel anti-lock brakes, rear safety cameras, automatic parking assist, lane departure warning, cruise control radar and even collision emergency braking systems that will stop your car if you are not paying attention in an impact scenario.<\/p>\n

I sure do love the collector cars from the era we speak of, but today\u2019s cars are works of mechanical and safety excellence.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your kind words, Charles. Hope this all helps.<\/p>\n

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader input or questions on collector cars and auto and racing nostalgia at 303 Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840 or email at greg@gregzyla.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: Greg your recent columns on muscle cars, music and auto designs were interesting and enjoyable. When it comes to car designs, weren\u2019t the cars…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":56781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nCollector Car Corner - Cars from the Fifties and Sixties: \u2018Beauty only skin deep\u2019 \u00a0 - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2017\/06\/02\/collector-car-corner-cars-from-the-fifties-and-sixties-beauty-only-skin-deep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collector Car Corner - Cars from the Fifties and Sixties: \u2018Beauty only skin deep\u2019 \u00a0 - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q: Greg your recent columns on muscle cars, music and auto designs were interesting and enjoyable. 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