| throats
with a bang. Though it is purely subjective, the looks of the 44-2 didn't
cause much response among the staff. They are purely Oldsmobile, without
any attempt to copy any other proven performance image like the GTO, but
the car does come off a bit dowdy when compared to some of the flashier
shapes of the competition. We found that the Hurst wheels did wonders for
the exterior, and we can only try to examine our psyches to determine how
much of our negativism can be traced to the Kalifornia Kustorn white vinyl
interior. In all, the 4-4-2 is a beautifully
balanced automobile. Our test car came to us in absolutely stock condition,
and placed fourth in the drags, and second in both the timed laps and braking
test. It was strong and exceedingly comfortable and it exhibited some of
the most civilized handling we've found in a domestically built car. When
we consider that this is only the second year the car has been produced,
we can only pause to wonder just how good it will be in another 24 months. On the record, our SS 396 wasn't a particularly impressive performer. It finished fifth in the drags, tied for fourth in the timed laps and took third in the brake test. But we must keep in mind that the car was, next to the Buick, the least prepared of the bunch, and it was therefore one of those which we could evaluate with some idea of how it would run fresh off a showroom floor. Two staff members drove the car from Detroit to New York and they still haven't stopped telling people that it was one of the most comfortable trips they ever made. The Chevelle, like the 4-4-2, scored very high with us because of its intrinsic balance. It handled very nicely and therefore was a ball to drive. Its engine, which certainly is one of the most advanced designs in the world, has great, turbine-like smoothness with tremendous power (and probably more potential power than the others by a wide margin) plus great flexibility. Masten Gregory described the Chevelle this way: "I like it quite a bit as a road car as opposed to going fast around the course. It had a very light, sensitive feeling which I enjoyed. It was certainly not mushy in any respect-it reminded me a bit of a thoroughbred dog. The suspension felt quite good, but not as good as I would have expected. It bottomed more around the course than |
I
felt it should have. None of the cars seemed to have as much horsepower
as their factory ratings, and the Chevelle didn't feel like it had anywhere
near its claimed 360. Maybe somewhere between 280 and 300 hp. The Chevelle
had the best seating position by far, but it had a six-way power seat and
an adjustable wheel. On some of the cars (the GTO, the Comet and the Fairlane)
I had to put a block of wood on the accelerator so that I could get the
seat back far enough and still reach the pedals, but the Chevelle was almost
ideal the way it was. The tachometer was big enough to read, but its position
was terrible." Adding to Masten's complaints, we found an excessive gap in the third and fourth gear ratios. With our test car geared at 3.55:1, third gear was usable only to 80 mph, which was considerably under some of the competition and probably hurt its lap times. Like the Oldsmobile, its appearance did not cause much excitement. Its simple exterior borders on being barren, though we found the Hurst wheels added a much-needed element of flashiness. Gregory locked up the inside rear wheel twice on Bridgehampton's only really tight corner, but could find no major flaws in the running gear of the Chevelle. The SS 396 is not the fastest car or the best handling, but it is possibly the best compromise of them all, especially when its relatively low price is considered. It too is a new car on the market and you can rest assured that its development has just begun. On that basis, we think the Chevelle deserves second spot by a wide margin. This is the car that started it all, and in some ways the GTO still has a year's jump on the competition. It is certainly the sportiest looking and feeling car of the six, and it indicates an awareness on the part of its builders about what this market demands. It was the only car to have a truly legible, complete set of instruments, including a dash-mounted tachometer. Its shape, its paint, its flavor, say GO! and on the basis of purely subjective, emotional response, the GTO should win hands down. In addition, its superb, if unstock, engine was the most powerful (though smallest) of the six cars, but it was its suspension that let it down. Only one of the other cars (the Comet) had more excessive rear axle tramp and we found them both bordering on the uncontrolla |
ble.
Gregory encountered such massive rear spring windup and resultant axle
tramp under heavy braking that he was forced to use both the throttle and
brake simultaneously while slowing down. Gregory's comments on the GTO are as follows: "The GTO had more horsepower than the rest of the cars. It certainly made more engine noise, and this sucking sound from the carburetors tends to give you the impression of power. It felt very strong. The suspension was certainly too soft, which surprised me-I had expected it to be quite firm but it was so soft that it affected its time. It tends to float and bounce in the corners and the rear axle tramp is awful. In addition, the body seems noisy, with some rattles, and I encountered a bit of brake fade." In all, the GTO with the Royal Bobcat package simply seems like too much. By that we mean it's hard to start and keep running in the cold; it tends to stall whenever the engine is slowed from high speeds; its idle is much too high-near 1000 rpm, and the gas mileage at steady turnpike speeds is around 11 mpg. Don't get us wrong, the GTO is maybe the raciest car of them all, with genuine guts, but it seems over-balanced in the engine department. When it was first produced, we tended to forgive some of its handling foibles because of its newness and exciting originality, but now, in the face of sophisticated packages like the 4-4-2, it needs improvement. Last year, in our 2+2 vs. 2+2 test, the Pontiac tended to shed fan belts; this year we encountered the same problem with the GTO at the drag strip. Pontiac officials assure us this only happens on the Tri-Power carburetor setup when it is coupled with power steering, and add that it is being corrected. But they said that last year. And of course, we had the aforementioned problems with the fuel pump drive and the rear control arm. The Skylark makes us wonder just how good it might have been if somebody had really been aware of what our test was going to demand. Sending us a car with the two-speed automatic was an unfortunate error in judgement that prevented us from really measuring the car's potential. While everybody else was busily filling their tires with approximately 45 psi of air at the recommendation of Firestone and Gregory, the Buick men stubbornly insisted that the hot laps be run with the stock 28 psi pressure. Finally logic prevailed, but this is an indica |
| CAR and DRIVER | MARCH 1966 | |
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