Not much happened for twenty years in the GM designdepartment

I met up with my son the other day when he was pullin through the annual safetyinspection... I like the "trainview" !

 

Nice photo. Need a 50's wagon in front.

 

Why did the two rounded wagons designs only last for 5 years and the square one last for 15?

 

Because my dad hates cars that look like upside-down bathtubs. Werd.

 

The reality is that the same basic chassis and suspension design that was first seen under the 1964 A-body cars continued almost unchanged through the last of the 1996 whale cars. That's over three decades.

 

64 full size were X-framers
65 to 70 were coil sprung perimeter frames
71-76 were leaf sprung perimeter but did not go all the way to the rear bumper and ended(the frame) under the body
77 to 96 were basically the same frame perimeter coil sprung

 

You MIGHT want to reread my original post and reconsider what you wrote. Here, I'll save you the trouble of scrolling up:

Note that the A-body is the F-85, Chevelle, Skylark, Tempest cars, NOT the full size, but FYI, the 1963-64 Olds full size cars used a perimeter frame with coil springs. I did not include those here because the front suspension was different - both upper and lower control arms were shaft mounted with metal-on-metal "screw-type" pivot bushings.

To recap, the 1964-67 A-body cars used a 115" wheelbase (skyroof wagons excepted), control arms mounted in rubber bushings (except for some very early 64s), shafts on the upper control arms only, and triangulated four link rear suspension with coil springs. The 68-72 A-body chassis was virtually identical except for a 1" increase in wheelbase and about a 1.5" increase in width. The 73-77 A-body chassis was also nearly identical except for another slight width increase and minor changes to control arm pivot point locations and spindle height. The 1977-1996 full size (B-body) cars used this same chassis (with the same 116" wheelbase) with only minor tweaks, through the end of RWD production. C-body cars of that vintage were also the same with only a wheelbase increase. And FYI, the 1971-76 full size cars, while using a longer wheelbase from the A-body cars, also used essentially the same chassis. The clamshell wagons got the leaf springs primarily to allow clearance for tailgate stowage, but the sedans got the same triangulated four link rear suspension with coils.

 

that's a big wagon for a modern car. looks same size as clamshell

 

More usable interior cargo room? The steeply slanted rear window on the clamshells, which was needed in order that the window be able to disappear up into the roof, took a toll on the largest-size rectangular box that could be fit into the cargo area. (It also caused the cargo in the rearmost part of the cargo area to get wet if the rear window were opened while it was raining.) If you were carrying ping-pong balls or bags of sand, this wasn't a problem, but if you had a lot cube or rectangular-shaped boxes, it could have been.

I don't know that usable cargo space was considered a problem with the slanted-roof design. Just speculating here. I DO recall reading about the problem of the rear part of the cargo are getting wet in rainy weather in comments about the clamshells back in the day.


By the way, I have different math as far as how long the two styles lasted. Talking 1971 to 1996 here, the clamshells accounted for six model years themselves ('71 to '76), and the final slanted-roof version accounted for another six ('91 and '92 Custom Cruiser and '91 to '96 Roadmaster and Caprice Estate). Together, that's a total of 12 model years.

The box wagons, which lasted from 1977 to 1990, accounted for 14 model years. Twelve versus 14 is pretty even.

If you go back and include the '70 and earlier wagons, then, yes, the box wagons outdid the slant wagons by a number of years. But either way, the slant wagons accounted for 12 years of production, not five.

 

Lessee here 2 FULL SIZE generation GM wagons! For comparison purpose. mid size wagon comparison is irrelevant.<Even the blonde knew that.

Irreguardless the best were the 71-76(not for hauling for size reasons stated) but for durability! A proven fact on derby tracks nationwide!

I know my 79 ford can fit about anything so I like that because my clam is limited on the box size but it DOES have a roof rack!