Chrysler Imperial vs New Yorker--early 70's (vehicles, auto, sedan, braking)

[rlrl]

you may have heard me talk of how early 70's big Mopars, despite all the refinement in their sound insulation, still had never received the "quiet" ratings that their GM and Ford competitors did

For example the 1973 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham in CR's tests (4700 lbs) in the sound level tests (measured in sones) was only 1 sone higher than the Chevrolet Caprice Classic (4400 lbs) rated "quiet" , did have a noisier ride on rough roads(3 sones more), but ended up receiving only a "fairly quiet" rating

now, the 73 Imperial weighed in at 5100 lbs, 400 lbs more than the New Yorker

if you had to guess, would you think that the extra 400 lbs would have resulted in the Imperial receiving a "quiet" rating had it been tested by CR's?

Thom McCahill tested the Imperial in 1973 in one of those auto mags and he said "even your mother in law would have difficulty faulting the Imp for it's quietness"

and Motor Trend from that year said that the Imperial of that year had detectable wind and tire noise but it wasn't excessive, but it was "inexusable in a car of this price"

[mshultz]

Imperials had rubber isolated suspensions before other Chrysler products, so I would expect them to be quieter.

Tom McCahill, of Mechanix Illustrated fame, was a personal friend of Walter P. Chrysler. His objectivity has been called into question because of that, and because of his glowing reviews of Chrysler products.

I too have always been fascinated by quiet vehicles. Unfortunately, you can not compare sound ratings the way you compare acceleration, braking, and cornering through the decades. There is no standard protocol. Another problem is that the blower fan can overwhelm wind and road noise. Car and Driver does sound measurements with the blower off, which is not realistic for most of the year. A better test would involve setting the fan speed to produce a required amount of air flow, and then measure sound levels.

[rlrl]

he loved the older Imps but the 73 he tested he noted several flaws in the upholstery and how the performance suffered due to emission controls and "how they ain't like they used to be".

[Tennesseestorm]

Yeah, I would imaging that the Imperial would have had a quieter interior than the New Yorker Brougham, but since the NYB was only next step down from the Imperial, you would think it would have been almost as quiet. I used to have a 1975 Imperial/Fleetwood/Continental road test, but not sure what happened to it. I think the Caddy and Lincoln were still quieter than Imperial however.

My 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville Custom 4dr hardtop sedan has a super quiet interior - I can hear NO wind or road noise in that car... only the a little roar of the 455 engine. . It was probably a little quieter than the Caprice Classic that year since it was a slightly more expensive car and was Pontiacs top of the line model.

[rlrl]

in CR's tests in the early 70s all those big GM cars were rated quiet.