The Most Devastating Engineering Miscue Found in Early A-Bodies
5 x 4 inch bolt circle wheels (absolutely numero uno). 13 inch wheels. 7 1/4 rear ends. Limited room for exhaust. Weak clutch once you start getting real horsepower.
64-5 Barracudas: parking lights staying on when headlights are turned on. I know that's common today, but back in the sixties it was extremely rare. Can't tell you how many cars would assume my parking lights were high beams and flash their lights at me. Then when I did turn on my high beams back at them, they were so weak they would just laugh and leave their brights on. Fixed that when I put driving lights on it I ordered from J.C. Whitney. Found out later they were aircraft landing lights. Nobody - and I mean NOBODY - argued with them.
Agreed 100% on the 13'' wheels and the sbp as well as the 7 1/4'' rear ends.
Also, I may add that the brakes were too small, the 7/16'' studs were too weak, and the ball joints were too small.
But, one has to remember that the cars were originally designed to be a cheap commuter slant six for the masses.
They competed with the Ford Falcon and the Chevy 2 which were also cheap light duty cars.
The problem is that when all three cars in the class started putting V8 power in these cars, the suspension upgrades didn't follow good enough to support the extra abuse that these cars were going to be put through.
That's for all 3 brands, of course.
The introduction of the 8 3/4 rear end and 10'' brakes was the only step in the right direction though........
I may get some flack about my opinions, but Chrysler should have scrapped the whole SBP, 9'' brake systems, and light duty suspension for the '67 model year across the board.
It wasn't until '73 that they finally went to big bolt pattern and 1/2'' studs with better and beefier suspensions on the V8 and performance cars as well as slant 6 cars with power brakes.
But, a lot of lower line slant 6 cars still had the sbp, small 7/16'' studs and the 9'' brakes which were barely adequate in '64, let alone a much heavier car in the '73 and up models.
After December 31st, 1975, all A-Body cars had the bbp brakes regardless of engine or options for the rest of the '76 model year run (finally) and then A-Bodies were discontinued.
To put it into perspective, A-Bodies were always cheap throw away cars from 1960 to 1976, so not a lot of money or time was spent on their improvements as long as they sold, and us cheapskates kept buying them.
They weren't designed to last more than 5 years or until the warranty lapsed, just like today..........
