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Automotive News & Views GM News, New Models and Market Share
8237 messages, Last post on Nov 22, 2009 at 8:40 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: lemko (Jul 02, 2009 5:55 am) Yeah, if I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I might have bought that '79 Bonneville. It was white with a light blue vinyl top and light blue vinyl interior. The body was solid, and the interior was decent except for a rip or two in the seat. And the headliner had started sagging, so the owner had ripped it apart, and glued it back up piecemeal! It also had balding tires. I remember also not being too impressed with its performance. Despite having a 350, it felt slower than my Grandmother's '85 LeSabre, which only had a 307. The Bonneville only had a 3-speed automatic though, compared to the LeSabre's 4-speed. And gearing was different. The LeSabre had a 2.73:1, while that Bonneville was most likely a 2.41:1. I'm sure the LeSabre was a bit lighter, too, as the B-body lost a bit of weight in the 1980 restyle, plus in that era Buicks and Oldsmobiles were often a bit lighter than Chevies and Pontiacs. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 02, 2009 6:11 am)
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Replying to: lemko (Jul 02, 2009 5:44 am) Reinforcing the point that some people got old not by being smart but by being too mean and ornery to die. 
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Replying to: lemko (Jul 02, 2009 6:18 am) Definitely true. Even there though, I think if I found an otherwise nice car that looked like it had been well-maintained that had the 301, I might be willing to take the chance. That caramel-brown '77 Grand LeMans sedan that was at the Carlisle GM show in 2007/2008 (but not this year) has a 301. Although maybe it finally blew, and that's why it wasn't at the show for 2009! 
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Replying to: steve_ (Jul 01, 2009 1:05 pm) |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 02, 2009 6:11 am) Too bad you didn't. You really need another car. 
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Replying to: buyamerican2 (Jul 02, 2009 6:29 am) In 1957-58, I think Olds might actually have been the best-built of the GM cars. While Buick and Cadillac went to that wasp-waisted "X-frame" in '57, and Chevy/Pontiac joined for 1958, Olds sort of doubled up, using an X-frame, but with perimeter rails as well. Sort of an X within a box. For 1959-64, I think Chevy/Buick went with an X-frame, while Pontiac/Olds went with a perimeter frame. I forget now what Cadillac did. |
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Replying to: fezo (Jul 02, 2009 6:39 am) Lessee, that was the summer of 1999. At that time, I had an '89 Gran Fury ex copcar as my daily driver, my grandmother's '85 LeSabre as a spare car, the DeSoto, the Catalina and a '67 Chrysler Newport hardtop coupe. So yeah, a '79 Bonneville would have fit in well. I probably could have gotten it for a few hundred bucks. The owner was actually planning on donating it to a charity! He also had a 1988 or so Fiero GT, and a Chrysler 300M. Old guy, well into his 60's, but I think he had decent taste in cars. |
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Replying to: buyamerican2 (Jul 02, 2009 6:29 am) |
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Jul 02, 2009 4:36 am) Absolutely, I do. Fair or not, it IS something GM has to work hard to overcome. Even though the original Lexus ES was a gussied up Camry, the perception is that the Camry was a toned down Lexus. Fortunately, all the car rags seem to agree that the 3.6L is a world class engine. Hopefully, the cars they get put in will someday soon be seen as world class, and it won't matter that they run the same engine, just like it doesn't matter for Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, et al. |
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