A Bodies are heavy? Hah

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johnparts

johnparts

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So my buddy was giving me crap because his riced out honda is soooo much lighter then my old american pile. Well I had to clear a lift for work today real quick and my car was the easiest to move so instead of grabbing the jack to clear the hoist arms I just grabbed the core support and lifted had my buddy clear the arms and set my dollies under the frame. Needless to say he no longer thinks my car is heavy, granted there is no engine or suspension in the front end but I did have the fenders and doors on it plus an interior full of parts.
 
Well, stock and fully operational cars can varry a good bit depending on Year, engine and equipment installed. My '73 /6 had on the Reggie 2860lbs.
It had 4 wheel power drum brakes, P/S, and A/C.

I later installed a 8-1/4 vs the 7-1/4 along with a 318/904. I removed the iron intake and exhaust manifolds for a aluminum intake and headers. Also removed the bench for light weight buckets. Close to a break even.
 
I think A-bodies can get under 3000 lbs fairly easily.....I wonder what your buddy considers "heavy"? My son has a 1997 Nissan 240SX that weighs almost 2900 lbs. with a 4 cylinder! Hondas weigh quite a bit less than that, but have about 1/2 the horsepower, so......BFD!
 
Has anyone here installed the lower door hinge S spring? Is it easy or not?
great club! D.Dume
 
One of my sons has a Mazda Speed 3 weighing in at 3,281 LBS with a 263 HP. Doubt he could best my 340 Duster - he weighs 100 pounds more than I do.

He does get 25 MPH highway though.
 
Dave Dume said:
Has anyone here installed the lower door hinge S spring? Is it easy or not?
great club! D.Dume
Click to expand...

It's easy, but a better place to ask the question would be in a new thread.
It'd just get lost and ignored if you dont.
 
johnparts said:
So my buddy was giving me crap because his riced out honda is soooo much lighter then my old american pile. Well I had to clear a lift for work today real quick and my car was the easiest to move so instead of grabbing the jack to clear the hoist arms I just grabbed the core support and lifted had my buddy clear the arms and set my dollies under the frame. Needless to say he no longer thinks my car is heavy, granted there is no engine or suspension in the front end but I did have the fenders and doors on it plus an interior full of parts.
Click to expand...

That's been a notion preached by the ignorant for years. I remember hearing about the "heavy" old muscle cars all through highschool. And then i looked into the cars and realized most were comparable, even during the massive bumper eras.

Granted, Hondas(90s-early 2000s) tend to be lighter than most muscle cars, but usually no more than 1000lbs at the very most. and the newer ones are heavy.
 
Modern cars are actually surprising heavy, much heavier for their length than 60s-era cars. Instead of wide open spaces inside the fenderwells, and behind the grill, every inch is packed full of wiring, plumbing or electric gizmos. Plus, they have rollover and side impact protection built into the unibody. If they didn't use aluminum and plastic so liberally, they would probably weigh half again more per foot of overall length. Here are some 2013 curb weights:
BMW 650i (2dr) - 4380lbs
Buick Regal GS (4cyl) - 3785
Honda Civic Si Coupe - 2905
Dodge Challenger SRT8 - 4350
Jaguar XFR - 4425
Mazdaspeed3 - 3253 (dinky, but weighs as much as a 67 Valiant)
M-B E63 AMG - 4285
Porsche Panamera Turbo S - 4575
Bentley Continental GT - 5305
Rolls-Royce Ghost - 5495 (!)
 
Well if your comparing an A body to a 2100 pound civic it does look pretty heavy.

obviously the A body is still the superior automobile regardless of this comparison.
 
thats why I love the Abodies...

in 1971, my pure stock '69 GTX, 440, 4-speed, Dana 60, P/S, no A/C tipped the scales @ aound 4200lbs....we had to scale them in IHRA pure stock class

today the Hemi Duster with A/C...about 1000lbs less,.... of course the aluminum goodies...block, heads, intake , water pump and housing, pullleys, bellhousing, flywheel, transmission case, driveshaft, didn't hurt
 
Yeah but I had that thing a good 2/3 feet in the air and I'm not overly strong. Most I ever lift is 12oz at a time.
 
cudavert said:
I think A-bodies can get under 3000 lbs fairly easily.....I wonder what your buddy considers "heavy"? My son has a 1997 Nissan 240SX that weighs almost 2900 lbs. with a 4 cylinder! Hondas weigh quite a bit less than that, but have about 1/2 the horsepower, so......BFD!
Click to expand...

I recall many years ago, I had a BH23 '68 Barracuda coupe. Original 318 was swapped out for a '72 360, otherwise stock. Shipping weight is 2910 lb.

http://www.oldride.com/library/1968_plymouth_barracuda.html

I had a friend with a very clean '73 Vega who was getting real tired of not keeping up with the real cars, so..., his Vega disappeared for a few weeks and turned up with a fresh 283 transplant. He immediately wanted to show what he could now do, so we lined up and my tired 360 trounced him. He was completely disbelieving of the results, so I trounced him again. He was grasping for an explanation and was very disappointed in his results, so I offered to head for the scales and weigh the cars. I recall his Vega was 500 lb heavier than my Barracuda and I had almost 100 cubes advantage. Seems like the laws of physics prevailed.
 
I gave a guy I sort of knew a ride home once in my 65 Valiant, and he said 'Why do you drive this gas guzzling boat??'
I think people naturally assume an old car is a gas hogging tank.
 
People falsely assume lots of negatives about these old cars. I guess marketing does pay off. Electro speedo's help too, ever noticed no matter how steep the incline is, once going fast--like over 90 mph, the speedo on these new cars starts climbing as soon as the gas pedal is floored. Car might not feel like its increasing in speed much but that electric driven speedo just keeps on climbing.

They got rid of cable driven speedos for a reason
 
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