Wordless Vintage Snapshot: 1959 Chevrolet – Stuck In Sand
– Updated on August 3, 2025
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Been there.
Done that.
Mona Lisa Vito explains why, when getting stuck, one wheel spins while the other does nothing.
“Which anybody knows…”
🙂 One of the best movies, ever!
“Which anybody knows…is not true.”
Paul ;
You can’t seriously claim to be able to choose others tastes can you ? .
-Nate
You missed my point. I was referring to the quote from the movie “which everyone knows” (about the ’63 Tempest having a limited slip differential). It doesn’t, or in other words, it “is not true”.
But yes, it’s a great movie.
Yep ;
I missed your point .
I’d not sat great but it was one of the (IO) better movies made then .
The fact that I think Marissa Torme (SP) is a hot bade is incidental .
-Nate
Clearly shows why “ longer, lower, and wider” was such a bad idea.
That’s is correct! The 1963 Pontiac Tempest had an independent rear differential that was limited slip. The clutches. Locked the axles together for better traction. 2 Wheel drive helps in hard packed sand but, not in what I call sugar sand which is very loose and gives way when tires try to get traction. 4 wheel drive does the trick in loose sand with deflated tires so the tire spreads it self out on top of the sand to make a larger footprint.
No it’s not. The movie clip is bunk. Neither the ’63 Tempest and the ’64 Skylark were available with “Positraction”, but both were available optionally with limited slip differentials, called “Safe-T-Track by Pontiac and “Positive Traction” by Buick.
Don’t believe everything you see in movies.
Update: I cannot find any evidence that a limited slip differential actually was even available optionally on the ’61-’63 Tempests. If that’s true, than it really makes that movie clip 180 degrees wrong. Maybe that was the point?
Additionally, the ’63 Tempest and ’64 Skylark didn’t even share a platform, let alone comparable dimensions. That always bothered me; why not find a ’63 Skylark to make it plausible?
THANK YOU for the movie clip ! .
I remember that movie well .
I wasn’t aware the Tempest (rope drive 4 banger) had a limited slip differential but I sure as hell _do_ remember deflating the right rear (drive) tire on many stuck vehicles to get them out of loose sand over the decades .
-Nate
The movie clip is bunk.
Oddly enough I’m not surprised, I like to call that sort of thing ‘Movie Magic’ where they make things up out of whole cloth or impossibilities .
Nevertheless it was a funny and *very* popular movie .
-Nate
Been there many times with the ’59. It had terrible traction.
Curious. With that long tail it would seem to have plenty of weight on the rear end.
And it had wings to fly with.