Old Motor trend test (luxury, sedan, Chrysler, station wagon)
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back in 73 I remember an old Motor Trend road test of the Chev Chevelle Laguna station wagon, Ford Gran Torino wagon, Dodge Coronet Crestwood wagon and the compact AMC Sportabout wagon, all fine looking, all woodies
I remember them saying that "all except the Sportabout gave what could be considered a big car ride" and also that "the Coronet lacked that down- under feeling of solidity"
so, they are saying on one hand that the Dodge had a big car ride but yet it lacked solidness
could you guys explain? I guess it felt more like a compact?
having driven all four wagons at one time or another, i can tell you that the description is accurate. the chevelle and the torino wagons were full frame cars, the amc was a unit body car, as was i believe the dodge wagon. the hornet wagon had a typical compact car ride, that being a bit choppy due to the short wheelbase. the dodge had a nice ride, but it had a more flexible chassis, and that contributed to a lack of a solid feeling.
May have been border-line big car ride. Also could have meant that it didnt seem as well built as the others.
I would love to see some of these road tests.... especially if they were on video. You can sometimes find these old road tests on Youtubes, but only seems to be single models... never seen any "comparison" videos.
about the early 70's cars from the big 3 was the model lines were so regimented, especially starting with the mid sized cars up to the medium standards it was so easy to keep track of which model was where on a continuum of price and luxury
Chev Impala/Caprice/Kingswood Ford Galaxie/Country Sedan, LTD, Country Squire Plymouth Suburban, Custom Suburban, Sport Suburban, Fury I, II, III, Dodge polara/Monaco, Chrysler newport/New Yorker, Town & Country
you get the idea, it was like a Sport Suburban wagon was the equivalent of a Gran Sedan wagon, a country sedan was the equiv of a Galaxie 500 wagon, the Country Squire an LTD wagon
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having driven all four wagons at one time or another, i can tell you that the description is accurate. the chevelle and the torino wagons were full frame cars, the amc was a unit body car, as was i believe the dodge wagon. the hornet wagon had a typical compact car ride, that being a bit choppy due to the short wheelbase. the dodge had a nice ride, but it had a more flexible chassis, and that contributed to a lack of a solid feeling.
one thing i loved
