Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
/\ Yep /\As great as those cars look, they are really no fun to drive, unless you drive like Grandpa. Power steering and power brakes helped, but they still wanted to roll over if you went around any corner at over a crawl. They are gorgeous creatures, though.
Buddy at work had a '57 Chevy hotrod with a small block. I'd dropped my car at the shop on my way into work and needed to go look at something that they found. Larry had a Scirocco and the Chevy. He rarely drove the Chevy to work. I asked if I could borrow his car and he tossed me the keys. I figure the Scirocco is out there. Nope. No problem, I drove cars like this when I was younger. I drove the car out the lot and down a back road from the office with a pretty tight right hander. I went into that corner and I really did not think I was coming out of it alive. I know all 4 stayed planted, but at the moment, I was sure I was on 2 wheels doing a bad impression of a Joey Chitwood show. Ran my chore and got the car back unscathed and never asked to borrow a car again. I was getting a slight pucker as I was typing this, just thinking about that moment.
Large American cars got a little bit better in the handling department in the 1960's & 1970's but they were far from great. Most of the time you were working with a solid rear axle and some type of independant front suspension. Lots of weight, maybe a sway bar and not the best weight distribution. The average large American sedan would generally understeer severely at first (the front end would resist turning) and then transistion into wicked oversteer (the back end would slide to the outside of the turn).
Skilled drivers could work with that combination, to a degree, but the laws of physics would always win in the end.