"Coupe-Like Handling" = the New "Grounded to the Ground"?

"ranwhenparked" (ranwhenparked) 02/19/2016 at 20:49 • Filed to: None

4

25

Someone needs to break it to Mercedes-Benz that this was a coupe, and its handling was nothing to brag about.

Steve in Manhattan > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 20:59

1

Dad rented this sort of Caprice Classic to take his two tiny kids around California, and it ended with him sideswiping a Mazda RX3 on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. Oy ....

Birddog > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 21:00

1

What?! You’re not supposed to roll enough to drag the door handles in a turn?

deekster_caddy > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 21:01

1

Wait, what’s wrong with “Sedan-like” handling?

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 21:05

2

The worst is the Infiniti QX50 commercial. There are just so many stupid cliches. There’s the obvious “coupe-like handling” one, but then they also add the “we’re cool enough not be cliche” cliche.

ranwhenparked > Van Man, rocks the Man Van 02/19/2016 at 21:06

1

You know, that may be where I heard it most recently. I’m pretty sure Mercedes used the phrase first though.

El Rivinado > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 21:34

0

Yeah, but then again, those cars weren't designed for handling.

Tohru > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 21:56

1

You shut your manwhore mouth. I WILL NOT have you besmirch the General Motors B-body platform, you heretic.

ranwhenparked > Tohru 02/19/2016 at 22:06

1

You want a smooth ride, you buy a B-body, you want handling, buy a (RWD) X-body.

Burn-Spaz1966-Burn > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 22:43

0

Simplistic answer. 40 year old car. Things have changed in those 40 years.

Tohru > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 23:10

0

Implying you can’t make the B-body hustle with some intelligent modifications. Big swaybars, progressive-rate springs, a quality set of shocks, and wide sticky tires will improve the cornering immensely while not compromising the straight-line ride quality.

And before you give business about not keeping it stock - talk to any Miata owner. They’ll say it handles like a dream, then rattle off a laundry list of modifications they did to it to make it do that.

Also, implying the X-body is better than the F-body.

ranwhenparked > Tohru 02/19/2016 at 23:18

0

Please, everyone knows the Nova with the F41 suspension package was the best handling American sedan of the ‘70s.

Tohru > ranwhenparked 02/19/2016 at 23:34

0

I didn’t realize we were restricting this to sedans of the 70's. Would you like a hand moving these goalposts to your argument?

(please note I’m not being serious)

ranwhenparked > Tohru 02/19/2016 at 23:45

1

Neither was I, totally. Seriously though, “coupe like” is a really dumb way to describe handling, since it encapsulates so many different types of cars with nothing in common other than number of doors. I have no idea how that somehow became acceptable in luxury crossover ads.

wkiernan > Tohru 02/21/2016 at 19:53

0

I drove a ‘64 Olds 88 a few times. It was fairly well-maintained - this was back in ‘71 or so - but it handled very, very badly on dry pavement. On wet pavement it was the worst-handling car I ever drove until I got a job for a pizza place that used totally clapped-out U.S. Mail Jeeps for delivery vehicles. It handled even worse than the horrible ‘71 Mustang Mach I my buddy’s Dad had; on the plus side, you could see out of it, unlike the ‘Stang. I suppose the late ‘60s Impala Coupe shown had better handling than that Olds, or at least I hope so.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/23/2016 at 19:51

0

Listen, alphabet-soup-body boys: I learned to drive on a ‘77 Caprice Classic and drove that car literally thousands of miles and except for the anemic 305 V8, that car drove like a dream. Interestingly, the coupes are the only examples that survive, that I can find, and some of the coupes had 350s.

Tohru > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/23/2016 at 22:27

0

Bah, the ‘77. First year of the small B-body. I had a ’76 Olds Delta 88, now there was a car. Last year for the big B-body, first year for rectangular sealed beams. 19 feet long, 8.5 feet wide. Built like a tank - my example had murdered a Chrysler Sebring before I got it, with little visible damage.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/23/2016 at 22:59

0

You know more about these things than I do, obviously! The ‘77 was a big departure, but a nice-driving car. I’ve often thought it would be fun to resurrect a ‘77 like the one I learned to drive in, and swap an LT or an LS engine into it.

Tohru > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/24/2016 at 01:52

0

It wouldn’t necessarily have to be a 1977, as that body style was made until 1990. 1991 had a new exterior but shared chassis and floorpans.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/24/2016 at 04:35

1

It would. The ‘77 looked the best of the series, IMHO. And it would have to be a four-door saloon car . But I have to give almost $8,000 back to the Fed this year, and I have 2.5 kids in college right now, and a teacher’s salary, so talk and dreams are all I can afford. And some Oppo stickers...

Tohru > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/24/2016 at 10:29

0

So a 4 door with a B-pillar? On my Olds they called that the “Town Sedan”.

Well, I’ve been searching Craigslist, and I have no idea why there’s SO MANY 77 2drs instead of sedans. Probably because demo derbies still exist. :(

Out of the only 5 ‘77 Caprice sedans I found on a nationwide CL search, only two were 305s.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/545586… - $1500, very clean, 220k miles, NE Portland.

http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/cto/541988… - $2800, mint, two-tone, 64k miles, Northern Tampa

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/24/2016 at 11:06

1

Wow. The Portland car is a decent specimen. I spent an afternoon looking on CL and found only 2-doors.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/24/2016 at 12:37

1

Hey man, I really appreciate you taking the time to dig these out for me. I’ve emailed the owner of the car in Portland. See if we hear back...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/24/2016 at 12:43

0

I’m unclear on the B-pillar concept. Would a coup that had no frame around it’s front door windows be without a B-Pillar?

Tohru > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/24/2016 at 19:06

0

A vehicle without frames around the windows simply has frameless doors. A hardtop vehicle is one that has frameless doors and no B-pillar. On a hardtop, if all the windows are down there is nothing between the windshield and rear glass.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tohru 02/24/2016 at 19:38

0

Yeah; gimme a B-pillar.