Volvo?
70 was the last year for GM products, they started the low compression government requirement 1 year before the gov’t regulated it. Ford 's last year for high compression was 71 (think Boss 351), same with MoPar products (last year for the Hemi was 71).
they started the low compression government requirement 1 year before the gov’t regulated it.
I’ve never heard of the government requiring low compression. Sure, there were reasons to choose to go low compression (phase-out of leaded gas, need for lower temperatures to reduce NOx emissions, etc.). I’m sure you can still get fairly high compression engines, but they probably have lots of pollution hardware hung on them.
I didn’t even know fade was possible on disc front brakes.
It sure is. Try riding the brakes down a long mountain grade. You’ll boil the brake fluid and have no brakes (and if you survive, the rotors will be warped).
Disc brakes aren’t fade-proof, but one of the reasons they’re used is that they’re much more fade-resistant than drums. Discs are the norm on the front end because that axle does most of the braking effort. Drums are still common on the rear because they don’t have much load, and the parking brake is easier to implement on drums.
“Discs are the norm on the front end because that axle does most of the braking effort. Drums are still common on the rear because they don’t have much load, and the parking brake is easier to implement on drums.”
Are there really new cars with rear drum brakes? I didn’t know, I remember seeing any recently.
Whatever it was, driveability went out the window and both power and gas mileage suffered.
The most important changes made to vehicles in the thirties (chiefly) were the use of steel inserts for bearings and the installation of pressurized oiling systems. Hydraulic brakes were helpful, too, although there were instances of vacuum assisted mechanical brakes (Packard, for one) that worked extremely well when maintained and adjusted properly. Too, with a few exceptions like the Pennsylvania Turnpike and some others, there were very few roads in the country where one could maintain a steady 60 mph speed for over a few miles at a time. Driving habits were different and cars did not need high-speed capable differentials for the most part. Sustained speeds above around 55 mph weren’t possible in most areas. Packard discontinued four speed transmissions in the mid-thirties because there was no demand for them. One of the major selling points of expensive cars of the late twenties and early thirties was that you could take off in high gear and didn’t have to shift. As is still the case with innovations, the most expensive cars had pressurized oiling systems, steel insert bearings, etc. earlier than the less expensive ones in most cases. With almost any pre-war car, to drive at today’s highway speeds, one needs either an overdrive unit or to modify the gearing ratio of the differential. As far as operating at today’s highway speeds is concerned, the old long stroke, low compression straight 8s, V12s and (in Cadillac, Marmon and Stutz vehicles) V16s produced their highest torque (who really cares about, “horsepower?”) at relatively low rpm compared to modern engines. The ones with adequate oiling systems and insert-type bearings do really well at modern highway speeds with overdrive units and/or rear-end gearing for the purpose. These, “old,” engines had much stronger, “horses,” at much lower rpm than today’s engines do. It would be another twenty years after most of them were made before anyone felt the need to accelerate from zero to sixty miles an hour in less than a minute. Most people just wanted DEPENDABLE, comfortable transportation.
I would say airbags would be my deciding factor, and I drove a '65 convertible Mustang everyday for eight years, my pet name for her was “The Rolling Death Trap” The Mustang has front disc brakes (you say rare, I say expensive) with a rarely working power booster, no automatic steering and lap belts in the front seats only. We were always taught that not only did you have to worry about your driving abilities on the road, but even more importantly, the other guys. If not airbags, at the very least a shoulder harness seatbelt. The classic cars are cool, but they can be deadly.
If you still have that rolling death trap, I’d be more than willing to take it off your hands so you’d feel safe. 