Firedome wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 1:25 am
'63/'64 Bonnevilles & GPs were about as good as any full size cars ever got... real wood in the dash! Those dashes were some of the best, and the clean unadorned body designs were just tops. A neighbor had a Navy blue '63 Bonne, it made our '63 Ford look like a lump. That was one beautiful car.
I was going to say about the same thing, especially admiring that stylish yet restrained dash. I lusted after the Pontiacs in those days (must have driven my parents nuts; in the car I'd call out "There's a '63 Pontiac convertible!" and so on). After a Baroque period in the late 1950s, GM calmed down and made simple, handsome, honest automobiles. After the '60s things went to "deleted" in a hurry. The early 60s were when Ford made its beautiful Lincolns, to my eye some of the most striking cars ever built. Some of the Chrysler products were lookers, too.
Back in the days when my feet were made of lead, I was a bit unenthusiastic about our Chevy's modest acceleration potential and the rudimentary 2-speed Powerglide. As an old guy, it's plenty zippy for me.
My uncle in Alabama had a sweet '64 Tempest, 2-dr. hardtop with bucket seats, the little V-8, and 4 speed on the console. A simple but very decent car. A buddy's schoolteacher mom had a '63 Grand Prix with the aluminum wheels and tri-power 421. Oh my.
All in all, a good decade for cars, if not for the environment.
Chris Campbell