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I think I would prefer the floaty rides. I just keep thinking that these cars werent designed for hitting these bumps/ramps in the road and with everyday driving, the softer springs would be fine, but I am sure the Mopars rode well too. I still really enjoyed watching this... gotta love the 50s cars with the fins.
I think I would prefer the floaty rides. I just keep thinking that these cars werent designed for hitting these bumps/ramps in the road and with everyday driving, the softer springs would be fine, but I am sure the Mopars rode well too. I still really enjoyed watching this... gotta love the 50s cars with the fins.
Roads weren't the same in the 1950s. In 1952, most US numbered highways north from Nebraska's Platte River across the Dakotas to Canada were still about half gravel. There were still 50-mile long gravel sections on some of them like US-283 when I drove them in 1968.
Roads weren't the same in the 1950s. In 1952, most US numbered highways north from Nebraska's Platte River across the Dakotas to Canada were still about half gravel. There were still 50-mile long gravel sections on some of them like US-283 when I drove them in 1968.
Oh wow... sounds like some of those roads needed firmer and more stable suspensions. lol. We are blessed with todays roadways, even though some paved roads in many areas are a little rough. My grandparents live in the same house that they have lived in since 1977 and its within the city limits, right on the Tennessee-Virginia state line. The road they live on was paved in 1977 (I was a year old) and its not been paved since 1977! It has some patches and is rough. It puzzles me its not been paved since the roads in out city are actually very good, though there are a few in dire need of a new surface. There are even like 4 intersections in town that have the same traffic lights since the 1950s and 1960s! I love them though, they are so cool looking, I hope they dont ever remove them, but they have been slowly phasing them out. One even had the word "STOP" engraved in the red lens.
An old friend of mine had a Ford Ranger and a Dodge Dakota. One night in a parking lot, we made the back of the Ranger bounce up and down when we opened the tailgate and jumped on it. The tires came off the ground, confirmed by another friend of ours who watched us, and the back actually slid over slightly into the next parking spot. We also knocked a piece of its exhaust loose too, because it sounded a bit like a lawnmower afterward.
A few weeks later we tried it with the Dakota, and the suspension barely even moved by comparison.
Pretty scary the way the back door and trunk popped open on that Cadillac.
Yep. I had posted this and my uncle had commented about that as well. lol. I told him that this was a promotional video for Chrysler, so I wonder if maybe it wasn't "rigged" to make the Cadillac look bad. GM was the make that the automakers looked to back then... this is when GM was huge. Cadillac was GM's top of the line model, so I sometimes wonder if their goal was to make "GM's best" look bad? The other GM cars didn't have that problem. I told my uncle maybe someone pressed the auto trunk opener button, and had someone to open the back door, lol. I don't know if they had auto trunk release back then though and he said whoever was in the back wouldn't have even been able to get the door handle to open it. lol.
However this was a very severe test and I am sure that was possible... this is a very heavy car, crashing down very harshly on the road, so I guess it was possible that happen.
When I was a kid I was riding in an old Dodge van (early 70's model) once that had those double doors on the side. Something went wrong with the brakes and the whole van would shake violently when the pedal was pressed, not sure if something broke lose or what. I remember the van shaking so bad that those double doors flew right open, and I was the one sitting next to them hanging on for dear life . I won't ever forget that.
Tennessee, which 1958 car would you pick (to own).
For me, it would be either...
Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five Limousine
or
Chrysler 300-E. 413 V-8 engine with dual carbs and 380 horsepower.
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I just keep thinking that these cars werent designed for hitting these bumps/ramps in the road and with everyday driving, the softer springs would be fine, but I am sure the Mopars rode well too. I still really enjoyed watching this... gotta love the 50s cars with the fins. 
. I won't ever forget that.
