Re: Best of its day?

Posted by Craig Hendrickson On 2011/2/23 20:00:09

One thing to consider is that the roads were in significant transition in the mid-1950s. The Interstate HWY system was just getting started. Many, if not most roads were pretty poor, if not gravel or dirt. Therefore, a vehicle with a superior suspension system was very desirable. Today, almost all roads are very smooth so that one can drive a barely capable vehicle and still be comfortable riding in same.

Another thing is that in 1959 GM used coil spring with wishbone upper and trailing arm lower control arms on their "B" (big car) vehicles. By 1964-65, GM used splayed 4-link rear suspensions with coil springs. Either could be fitted with air-lift rear shocks for a load-leveling capability.

As pointed out in the posts above, the average driver would not know the difference between Torsion-Level and coil spring with air shocks from "shinola."

Craig