![]() ![]() ![]() The correct carb gasket was about 11/32″ (9 mm) thick. That still doesn’t stop me from really wanting a 1968 GTO 400/4-speed though! And every time I get into a new car, even the cheapest, basic econobox rentals, I marvel at how good today’s cars (even the really bad ones, by today’s standards) really are in comparison. As much as I love old cars, I find it hard to get too nostalgic about most of them because I am old enough to have driven and worked on them quite a bit. It was also harder to work on the points in the distributor with the engine leaned over the right side, as opposed to a straight six like GM and Ford used.įor all I know, it’s a survivor car out there somewhere even now. My favorite part was the italian tuneup on the bypass highway around town, kicking it down into second gear at about 50mph to blow all of the carbon out of it (it never got driven on the highway). When I was old enough, I did all of the maintenance on it for her since she was in our church (and we were allowed to cut through her back yard if we were late for school). While growing up, our elderly widow neighbor had one of these for the last 25 years of her life. There were no other structural safety standard changes clear on up through the end of the A-body in ’76, so there weren’t any safety standards written on the wall to drive Chrysler to discontinue the 108″ wheelbase sedan, either. The other major structural change (requirement for side impact guard beams in the doors) took effect in ’73, and besides, the 108″ and 111″ wheelbase 4-door cars used the same doors. Pretty good coverage of this (with an apposite photo I provided years ago when I used to edit Wikipedia) in their bumper article.Īll the other changes for ’74 - the unitised front lap/shoulder belts, the ignition/starter interlock, etc - didn’t cost any differently to install in a Valiant-shaped Valiant than in a Dart-shaped Valiant. The only difference in safety standards between ’73 and ’74 that would’ve affected the body/structure was that the bumper performance standard now applied to the rear bumper, too, not just the front. Rebadging the Dart as a Valiant was a cost-saving move, for sure, but safety standards really didn’t present some kind of cost wall. Remember, we don’t have a type-approval system here. Not nearly so much as you might have in mind. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |