[michaeld]

455Grandville raises an interesting question in my mind: what IS the differential ratio on the Grand Villes? Were different rear ends listed as options? Were different trannies listed as options? For that matter, was any engine other than the 455 an option for the Grand Villes (I happen to know that mine will be a 455, but could it have been otherwise from the factory?)?

Teneesseestorm,
Well, yellow COULD have been rare because no one wanted it even back then, and why should people have changed their minds since? Still, at LEAST it's a primary color, and not some off the wall shade. The car will start looking prettier and prettier to me if the engine purrs like a kitten and pulls like a bull.

Tweetie-bird yellow or cow-pie-brown? Gotta wonder what some people were thinking when they chose the colors of their new cars. I mean, didn't they contemplate posterity, and what future generations would think?

[455Grandville]

455/Thm 400 was the only engine/tranny; I think dual exhaust was optional.
As far as compression it's listed around 8.2 :1 however, I have found factory ratings to be off quite a bit at times, mine is what I call "Farm tractor" compression 7.6 :1. My new 455 is right at 9.4 :1 so it should be more powerful.
As far as rear end goes - most luxurycars were tall geared Id guess between 3.23 to 2.56. After the '73 Fuel crisis cars were really geared tall for fuel economy.

[soon2b2ltmp]

Originally Posted by michaeld

Tweetie-bird yellow or cow-pie-brown? Gotta wonder what some people were thinking when they chose the colors of their new cars. I mean, didn't they contemplate posterity, and what future generations would think?

It was the seventies man.

[michaeld]

soon2b2ltmp,
Does that mean we should lump people's choice in auto paint colors with Jimmy Carter and disco? Oh, well. People did SOME things right in the 70s; you can't expect them to bat .1000.

455Grandville,
Did you recently measure your engine at 7.6:1, or have you found literature that cites that degree of compression variance? I've always thought that most engines simply lost compression over time as the piston rings began to wear (among other wear factors, such as cam wear). Thus your compression may have originally been quite close to spec, and then gone down as the engine aged. I've never heard of OEM "new car" compression varying that widely, but then again there's a LOT of things I haven't heard!

You know how some new cars just seem to be lemons from day one? If what you are saying about compression varying that much is the case on new cars today, I wonder if compression testing would be a good "lemon spotter" test? A compression test is, after all, one of the great barometers of the health of an engine. Buy a new car, find low compression, take that sucker back before it peters out on you.

I also didn't realize that the 73 455 spec was 8.2:1; I'd read that it was 8.0:1. A LITTLE higher is better, so that's good.

Now, you're saying that dual exhaust was optional? Why on earth would anybody want a restricted exhaust system when they could have dual? Oh, shoot, probably the same kind of guy who'd want a "Tweety-bird yellow" car, vote for Jimmy Carter, and dance the night away!

So now you KNOW the first thing I'll be checking is for dual exhaust. That's become my number one favorite Grand Ville option.

[Tennesseestorm]

Ahhh, the lovely "earth-tone" colors of the late 60s and early 70s.

Originally Posted by michaeld

Teneesseestorm,
Well, yellow COULD have been rare because no one wanted it even back then, and why should people have changed their minds since? Still, at LEAST it's a primary color, and not some off the wall shade. The car will start looking prettier and prettier to me if the engine purrs like a kitten and pulls like a bull.

Tweetie-bird yellow or cow-pie-brown? Gotta wonder what some people were thinking when they chose the colors of their new cars. I mean, didn't they contemplate posterity, and what future generations would think?