![]() Christy ended up drafting a letter to Jim Williams of Chevrolet Motor Divisions Public Relations Department in January of 1974. They agreed that it was time to move to smaller patrol cars. ![]() John Christy, LASD Lieutenant Bill Kirley and some GM engineers met and discussed the future of police cars. Intermediates like this Matador were used by the LASD up until the mid 1970s. Consequentially, Christy acted as a consultant with the LASD to help design a vehicle test procedure that would identify the best police car to meet needs of LASD. He believed that a smaller more fuel efficient police car was a much better choice for police work. He was also a big proponent of finding more fuel efficient and cost effective police cars, which he argued would save the taxpayers millions of dollars. John Christy, Executive Editor of Motor Trend Magazine was a Specialist Reserve Deputy with the LASD. The Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department (LASD) with its massive fleet of gas guzzling police cars was one organization that started to look at more fuel efficient options. The 1973 OPEC oil embargo had a big short-term impact on auto sales, but it also had some fleet managers starting to think about more fuel efficient options. This same front suspension was likewise the basis of the much lauded downsized B-body cars introduced in 1977. This is why these A-bodies handled so much better than there much loved predecessors despite their extra weight and girth. Along with the F-bodies and X-bodies, this same basic suspension geometry and control arm design was also used in GM Colonnade intermediates. The 1975 model year may have been one of the worst years ever for horsepower per cubic inch at Chevrolet, but at least the new Nova handled well to compensate for its lack of power. This subframe used a short-long control arm suspension with the coil spring mounted on the lower arm, similar in design to GM’s body–on-frame cars.Ī 1975-79 subframe, note the new steering location in front of the axle.įor the 1975 model year the Nova was heavily revamped, and was updated to use the new subframe that Camaro had been using since 1970. This included using a unitized body structure with a bolt on front subframe. The Nova was fully redesigned in 1968 and it shared much in common with the 1967 Camaro/Firebird (F-bodies). When it came to handling performance, the Granada wasn’t even in the same league.įor the mid and late 1970s the Nova was undoubtedly the best in class handler, but it didn’t start that way. The outside may have been a plain Chevrolet Nova wrapper, but it was built over top of one of North America’s best handling chassis of the time. The Granada was just fancy new clothes over the ancient Falcon chassis, while the Nova was the opposite. Clearly, the American public at that time had more interest in the sizzle of the Ford Granada despite its lack of engineering prowess compared to the Nova. The article focused on how the hot selling Granada handily beat the Nova in the luxury compact market. Last week Paul posted an article about the Chevrolet Nova and the Ford Granada.
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