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70s luxury car comparison

Started by michaeld, 15 April 2007, 11:52 PM

michaeld

Craig,

Sweet mama, you've got a bodacious bevy of Buicks!  I dig the fins on the Electra.

My Pontiac doesn't have the "classic collector" status that your Buicks do, but I like it, and it cost me so little I'm embarrassed to mention the price.

My Grand ville slightly wins in the length category, however, at 228".  It's a good foot-and-a-half longer than my US-bumpered 450SEL.  And its 6 /2' wide.

Here's another little saying to go with, "Welcome to the highway navy": "We don't get mileage, we get yardage!"

I haven't checked the rear suspension yet, Oscar, but I don't recall seeing leafs on it.  I wouldn't say that the car rides poorly; it just rides BIG.  You KNOW you are in a massive car in that Pontiac, which has a GVWR of 6050 lbs.  You DO NOT drive one of these mastodons to take tight corners!

BTW, Oscar, my 73 Grand ville actually WAS in a cop flick: there's a movie from 1973 called "The 7-ups," about a vigilante gang of cops who go after cons who've been sentenced for 7 or more years but are out on the street.  There's a 73 Grand ville in that movie that goes through pure hell in a chase, but emerges victorious.  The scene was actually painful to watch, as that car runs into - or over - darn near everything.  They even throw a bus at it!  Imagine watching a movie where they tear the living daylights out of a 116.   

1973 was the first year GM began to measure net horsepower rather than gross.  That meant that they tried to reflect the actual horsepower of the car as it appeared in the vehicle, with the alternator, water pump, etc. connected.  So the "measured" horsepower was 20% less than 1972 cars even though they were actually identical.

Pre-1970 cars ran at much higher compression, and thus higher horsepower.  The EPA began to scream about lead(ed gasoline), and engines began to run on unleaded fuels at lower octanes.  It is interesting that much of the world is only NOW even beginning to take the lead out of their gasoline.  By 1976, the Pontiac 455s were running at only 6.5:1 compression!  (My 73 runs at a modest but not pathetic 8.5:1).  Like I said above, the nice thing about the Pontiacs was that a cylinder head swap was all one needed to restore that EPA-stolen compression.  These old American engines are amazingly simple to massively upgrade performance-wise compared to our Mercedes.  You can spend a thousand bucks on one of these engines and end up with a 600+ horsepower.  And parts are both readily available and CHEAP here.

Old cars are cool.  No question about it.  A lot of herd animals out there are spending a ton of $ every month to lease high end cars so they'll get noticed, and no one gives a dang.  If you really want attention, drive something old that's got some real style.   

oscar

#16
Quote from: michaeld on 16 April 2007, 11:19 PM
BTW, Oscar, my 73 Grand ville actually WAS in a cop flick: there's a movie from 1973 called "The 7-ups," about a vigilante gang of cops who go after cons who've been sentenced for 7 or more years but are out on the street.  There's a 73 Grand ville in that movie that goes through pure hell in a chase, but emerges victorious.  The scene was actually painful to watch, as that car runs into - or over - darn near everything.  They even throw a bus at it!  Imagine watching a movie where they tear the living daylights out of a 116.   

;D ;D ;D ;D

I found it michaeld.  ;D  Some of the fly-by-the-camera shots appear to have real sound, some of the other added sounds in some scenes are a bit, well, typically early 70's.  Would love to hear what a modern sound tech could do to that clip given the chance.  But all the way thru it's VRRRRRRRRRR V8 whooooosh.  Loved it, thanks for the tip.  ;)  In case anyone else hasn't seen the Pontiac in action, click below.  BTW, what's the car that Roy Scheider does the chasing in?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4QtYizPKM



As for the, "Imagine watching a movie where they tear the living daylights out of a 116." quote.   Nutz posted a video link of a bollywood music video.  I've cut the extra bits off and just included w116 chase action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ebUiEqmVw 
1973 350SE, my first & fave

michaeld

Quote from: oscar on 17 April 2007, 04:47 AM
BTW, what's the car that Roy Scheider does the chasing in?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4QtYizPKM

As for the, "Imagine watching a movie where they tear the living daylights out of a 116." quote.   Nutz posted a video link of a bollywood music video.  I've cut the extra bits off and just included w116 chase action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ebUiEqmVw 

Scheider's car is a Pontiac Ventura.  I thought both Pontiacs did some magnificent acting in this film.  The chase scene is one of the better ones I've seen, in that it is so realistic (i.e. no James Bond driving on two wheels, etc.).  You could see a chase like this actually happening, couldn't you?  The realism "surprise" is that the good guy doesn't always get the bad guy in every car chase: the heavier-bodied Grand ville pushes the Ventura into the semi trailer.

Michel's right; that scene from 7-Ups IS exhausting, because they build it up for quite a while w/ near misses before really getting into the fender-bending that you KNOW is going to happen.

Thanks for including those two videos, Oscar: I got a chance to watch two of my cars get messed up w/in a couple of minutes of each other.

Quote from: Michel on 17 April 2007, 03:30 PM
phewwww.....

I'm exhausted watching this car chase....
Interesting to see the suspension on American cars.
Designed for boulevard cruising rather than cornering at speed.

Neither of these cars are the epitome of American hi-speed/G-force suspension engineering, but I think you can see what I meant in my descriptive posts about the Pontiac not being in the same planet as our 116s in handling.  The Pontiacs were built to cruise; the w116 was built to DRIVE.

Keep in mind, the Pontiac Grand ville sold for about 1/5 what a 450SEL 4.5L went for.  These big Pontiacs were good cars for the money, killed before their time by the OPEC embargo and the EPA strangling of big engines.  The powertrains on these cars are quite excellent, the bodies are well assembled, but the suspensions are cumbersome and "boaty."

oscar

Hey I remember that one Michel.  I wonder how many people have had a head on with one of those railway stanchions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqRaLUN98aY

What you guys say about the 7-up one, absolutely, it seems real.  I love the shot of the 3 cars (cop car included) coming on to the on ramp berfore the bridge almost lining up the oncoming traffic.  A lot of it gives the impression that they just put a few cameras around the city, didn't get permission, and told the ddrivers to go for it.
1973 350SE, my first & fave

gregdeklerk

What about the scenes from Ronin? Particularly the one near the end where they absolutely ruin the 5 series BMW!