April '76 C&D Corvette, Dart, T/A, C10 , Mustang II

[1972coronet]

April 1976 issue of Car & Driver , pitting malaise against malaise :

- L82 Corvette 

- 455 T/A

- Dart Sport 360

- Mustang II Cobra 302

- C10 454 

Out of all of these emasculated entrants , only the Dart Sport 360 and the C10 were sans California Converters .

Chevy Corvette vs. Dodge Dart, Pontiac Firebird, Chevy Silverado, Ford Mustang

[The Junkman]

Now THAT was the C&D I grew up with: irreverent to the point of anarchy, snarky without being mean.  If C&D kept up that style (and that level) of journalism I would still have a subscription. OTOH, it was just last year that I found out where Mrs Orcutt's Driveway actually was/is.  I recall that a couple of years later they did a repeat of this evaluation and the winner was the Dodge Little Red Pickup and for much the same reasons as the C-10 did as well as it did.

Edited February 17 by The Junkman

[espo]

16 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

April 1976 issue of Car & Driver , pitting malaise against malaise :

- L82 Corvette 

- 455 T/A

- Dart Sport 360

- Mustang II Cobra 302

- C10 454 

Out of all of these emasculated entrants , only the Dart Sport 360 and the C10 were sans California Converters .

Chevy Corvette vs. Dodge Dart, Pontiac Firebird, Chevy Silverado, Ford Mustang

While the emission requirements of that time and what that did to the performance of the larger displacement engines was a very big factor in killing big engine cars. The advent of unleaded fuels, that would become required for the manufacturers to install Catalytic Converters starting in 1975 was part of this. Prior to that many of the '73 and '74 models had their timing retarded, and the compression ratios reduced to the point that they were hard to start, would surge while being driven on flat level ground at any steady speed, and would often keep running when the ignition was shut off. Some of that was caused by the engine running hot with 220- and 230-degree thermostats. When the dealership I was working at received their first '75 Nova with the new body design and the Catalytic Converter we all wanted to know what to expect from the new emission systems on the '75-year model cars. By the time that car was sold, less than a week later, it had over 100 miles on it from the salesmen driving it up and down the highway. The difference was like day and night as the new systems worked that well and this was a Cal. Emission car. We nicknamed the Nova the Silver Bullitt it was that much faster and ran that much smoother. Wouldn't compare to a 1972 or older comparable car, but close and with better gas milage.  

[DJMar]

That article brought back some memories. Don Sherman was one of the best automotive journalists of the era.

[oldcarfan]

On 2/16/2025 at 7:41 PM, 1972coronet said:

April 1976 issue of Car & Driver , pitting malaise against malaise :

- L82 Corvette 

- 455 T/A

- Dart Sport 360

- Mustang II Cobra 302

- C10 454 

Out of all of these emasculated entrants , only the Dart Sport 360 and the C10 were sans California Converters .

Chevy Corvette vs. Dodge Dart, Pontiac Firebird, Chevy Silverado, Ford Mustang

My dad said he bought a Chevy truck for that very reason. It was a mid-trim C-10 with the 454. He's always been a Ford guy, but he crossed over to the dark side that time. He liked the power, but a year into ownership it started leaking oil around the heads or valve covers, somewhere in there. The dealer didn't fix it so he cleaned up the engine and traded it for a Gran Torino wagon/walrus. I really wanted a Trans Am or Corvette, but that wagon became my car years later when I learned to drive. We called it the loser cruiser.

[AMT68]

On 2/17/2025 at 1:14 PM, espo said:

Prior to that many of the '73 and '74 models had their timing retarded, and the compression ratios reduced to the point that they were hard to start, would surge while being driven on flat level ground at any steady speed, and would often keep running when the ignition was shut off. Some of that was caused by the engine running hot with 220- and 230-degree thermostats. When the dealership I was working at received their first '75 Nova with the new body design and the Catalytic Converter we all wanted to know what to expect from the new emission systems on the '75-year model cars. By the time that car was sold, less than a week later, it had over 100 miles on it from the salesmen driving it up and down the highway. The difference was like day and night as the new systems worked that well

I owned '73 and '74 Colonnade coupes and while they were nice cars I can relate to what you've written. Most notably with both of them was drivability issues when first starting out in humid conditions. Post '75 G.M. vehicles I owned were less problematic in that regard  due to what you've described and I'd imagine the high energy ignitions.

With respect to the article John posted I seem to remember reading somewhere that the 455 in the Trans Am was dropped after '74 only to be reintroduced during '75 due to customer demand. At 200 H.P. it was basically the station wagon engine and a drop of 50 H.P from the '74 offering. Interesting article as I didn't realize an emissions choked  (as they all were) 360 in the '76 Dart could achieve such a high speed.

Edited February 24 by AMT68

[espo]

On 2/23/2025 at 8:26 PM, AMT68 said:

I owned '73 and '74 Colonnade coupes and while they were nice cars I can relate to what you've written. Most notably with both of them was drivability issues when first starting out in humid conditions. Post '75 G.M. vehicles I owned were less problematic in that regard  due to what you've described and I'd imagine the high energy ignitions.

With respect to the article John posted I seem to remember reading somewhere that the 455 in the Trans Am was dropped after '74 only to be reintroduced during '75 due to customer demand. At 200 H.P. it was basically the station wagon engine and a drop of 50 H.P from the '74 offering. Interesting article as I didn't realize an emissions choked  (as they all were) 360 in the '76 Dart could achieve such a high speed.

Sorry to hear of your experience with the GM products of that era, but the issues were across the board with any of the U.S. products of the time as they all had to meet the new emission standards plus the way horsepower was determined changes to a net figure from a gross figure for horsepower ratings. I made a statement at the time, I was new to the car business and working in a Chevrolet dealership, my thought was if you could sell these new cars, you could sell anything.  

[AMT68]

2 hours ago, espo said:

but the issues were across the board with any of the U.S. products of the time

Totally agree and I always felt they were decent cars but got caught in a time of transition in the automotive industry. I'll always have a fondness for the Colonnades regardless of their horsepower output. 

[espo]

12 minutes ago, AMT68 said:

Totally agree and I always felt they were decent cars but got caught in a time of transition in the automotive industry. I'll always have a fondness for the Colonnades regardless of their horsepower output. 

I also became a fan of the Colonnade style two door body style. I remember some '73 model Malibu SS cars that were the last of the 454 4-speeds available in California. They wouldn't keep up with the '72 and earlier cars, but they wouldn't leave you embarrassed either.  Detroit was scrambling to keep up with the smog regulations and especially the ones that were even stricter as California was at the time. Just a little history lesson from that era. In California, as in many other parts of the country, the largest polluter were the "smokestack" companies that insisted they couldn't afford to make their emissions cleaner, so the government went after the auto industry customers who would have a much smaller voice and presented that the automobile was the main cause of air pollution. In fairness there was auto caused pollution, but not on the scale that was presented to the general public and giving industry a free pass.   

[AMT68]

23 minutes ago, espo said:

Just a little history lesson from that era. In California, as in many other parts of the country, the largest polluter were the "smokestack" companies that insisted they couldn't afford to make their emissions cleaner, so the government went after the auto industry customers who would have a much smaller voice and presented that the automobile was the main cause of air pollution.

Interesting perspective and it certainly makes sense since GM cars from that era required "California Emissions Equipment" in addition to ERG valves, AIR systems etc. 

28 minutes ago, espo said:

'73 model Malibu SS cars that were the last of the 454 4-speeds

And those were quite rare by the mid '80's when I started driving.  I normally encountered 350-2 barrels in those cars. 

[espo]

1 minute ago, AMT68 said:

Interesting perspective and it certainly makes sense since GM cars from that era required "California Emissions Equipment" in addition to ERG valves, AIR systems etc. 

And those were quite rare by the mid '80's when I started driving.  I normally encountered 350-2 barrels in those cars. 

The cost for GM and all the manufacturers at that time to smog a car for sale in California and a couple of eastern seaboard states was so great they limited the available engines for California. Your mention of the 2bbl. 350 for example. What Chevrolet did was to offer the base 250 in line 6 or the 350 4bbl engine in the Colonnades in California. The same for the Nova as well. One bright spot was the Monza models as they had either the 4 cyl and the V-8 option was the 350 where everyone else was getting the 267 cu in V-8. C-10 pickups used much the same engines as the Colonnades and the Novas. Impala & Caprices also used the 350 4 bbl. engine after 1974.   

[AMT68]

26 minutes ago, espo said:

The cost for GM and all the manufacturers at that time to smog a car for sale in California and a couple of eastern seaboard states was so great they limited the available engines for California.

Very interesting I'd always wondered why cars like my '74 Malibu Classic typically had the two barrel versions of the 350 and 400 for that matter. And no option of the four barrel outside of California. I had no clue the Monza was available with the 350 engine. Remarkably that's more cubic inches than the '80 Corvette which if I'm not mistaken was only available that year with a 305 in California. 

As a car buff for that era thanks for the enlightenment. 

[espo]

6 minutes ago, AMT68 said:

Very interesting I'd always wondered why cars like my '74 Malibu Classic typically had the two barrel versions of the 350 and 400 for that matter. And no option of the four barrel outside of California. I had no clue the Monza was available with the 350 engine. Remarkably that's more cubic inches than the '80 Corvette which if I'm not mistaken was only available that year with a 305 in California. 

As a car buff for that era thanks for the enlightenment. 

I'm not sure about the 305 in an '80 Corvette in California anyway. The small block 400 engine started to show up in the K10 4x4 pickups and I remember at least one El Camino from around '75 with that engine. That would have meant that the Chevelle would have had it also. The problems with the 400 had to do with cooling since the cylinders were so close together in the block that the area between the cylinders in the block could overheat and cause head gasket issues if you didn't look after the cooling system. Back then the hat thing was to get the 400 cranks and put in your 350, after a little notching of the block siderails. With a slight cleanup over bore you had a 383 cu in engine. Now you just order a new crank from Scat crank or one from some other supplier.