With 1963 Days winding down, here is one last hooray. In the post yesterday about my ’63 Galaxie, several of you expressed an affinity about a four-door with the largest possible engine. You ask, we deliver. It’s pitted against a ’63 Impala, presumably with a 409.
You may like this or think it’s a bunch of malarkey; either way, it is entertaining.
giddyup, giddyup 409….Presumably the Galaxie had the 405hp 406, from the look of the tri-carb set-up. And the Impala would have had the 425 hp 409. Both with four speeds, undoubtedly. The real clincher is the rear axle ratio, which makes a big difference in these kind of tests. I guess the 409/425 came by its reputation honestly.
So were these the only four doors ever built with these specific power trains?
One of very few.
I did see an article a while back about a ’63 Galaxie 500 four-door with a 427 and a four-speed. It was supposedly purchased new in Dallas. Of course, I cannot find it now that I’m looking for it.
The take rate had to be astoundingly small for the big engines in the four-doors. Then if one accounts for the donor factor, survival has to be miniscule.
Notice there was no 63 Fury invited to the party. 🙂
It does not surprise me that the Impala comes out ahead. I had never understood the 406 to be the greatest performer. Now, the 427 on the other hand, . . . . .
OK, one more time – with automatics.
Yeah, no kidding. Powerslide for Performance! Or not…
I could watch these all night regardless of who’s faster.
Was this a TV commercial or a dealer training film?
I liked the “year” theme. A great opportunity to contrast what was going on. GM could do little wrong, Ford was making headway, Rambler did as well, Studebaker was looking for the escape hatch, Chrysler was still stumbling around, but was about to get much better, and an import was pretty much a Beetle.
Chevrolet was using Ford’s own advertising when it refers to Thunderbird as the closest thing to flight. I can’t find this commercial on Youtube and apologize for the quality in this link but watch it to the end:
http://www.1965thunderbird.com/email_lo.mpg
Plain-Jane 4 doors equipped like that? 2 words. Corn Squeazin’s.
I never cared much for any 1963 model, but if I had to choose, I’ll pick the Chevy each and every time, with Chrysler second. Ford isn’t and wasn’t on my radar back then.
Why do I feel that way? “Syke” said it best some time ago: Many in our generation considered all Fords junk. Now whether it was true, it didn’t matter! Chevys ruled, as far as I was concerned, with Chrysler nipping at the heels.
Now, a 426 hemi stands alone in a class by itself!
Two friends in the air force had 1963 Chevy Impalas. Of course I was biased with my ’64, but the pointed ends didn’t make sense on the 1963 Chevy models.
Like Junqueboi I could watch this stuff all day. Love the thumbs up from the non-professional Impala driver, how “good passing at 80 miles an hour” is an important safety feature (with 4-wheel drum brakes and bias-ply tires no less) and how it takes a fuelie Vette camera car to “keep up” with these two.
Everything is so antiquated except for the engine sounds.
A charming clip. Thanks for posting Jason.
They went 50-80 didn’t they? That is not a bad test, the other week I did several 50 or 55-75 overtaking tests, a lot of 2-lane roads here and when you are going through the hills you have limited opportunities. It would be interesting to see hard numbers for the big engines to compare them to today’s fast cars. The local magazines to 50-75 testing (80-120km/h) still.
They did say 50-80. It’s just funny hearing 80 at the end of the passing run, considering what these cars were like at higher speeds compared to modern cars. That and we are so PC nowadays that putting 80 out there in a promotional piece would be a no-no even though it is completely safe and people do it all the time.
Speaking of PC I can’t remember the last time I saw a major brand good-naturedly dis another in an ad. Avis tries harder than Hertz, Pepsi tastes better than Coke and Chevys are faster than Fords. That’s what I miss more than anything.