One relative had a late 70s low option model Impala with a V-6. It had the power steering and AC, was a good car. Got decent milage and power was adequate, she got talked into selling it for low mileage Olds compact. Should have kept the Impala!
Their six was quite durable. My parents had a 1963 Chevy II convertible with the 194 cubic inch six. Between my father and my older brother I am surprised that the car lasted as long as it did.
A Chevy II 6 is fine. A full size is slow, slow, slow, and I never even saw a 6 with factory AC , and the last full size 6 I ever saw was my step grandfather’s 1966 Bel Air. It had no automatic transmission., power brakes, power steering, and the radio didn’t have preset buttons. A 3 speed column shift on a full sized car was as tacky as it gets.
@@jw77019 My great uncle had a new 1966 Biscayne 2 door sedan with a 6, 3 on the tree, manual steering and brakes. It too had the manually tuned AM radio.
My 1964 Chevelle was one of those 37% of those built with six-cylinder engines. It was a 300 series 4-door sedan with the 230 engine and Powerglide. Plus, I understand the Chevelle 230 had 155 horsepower while the engine in the full-size Chevrolet produced only 140 horsepower. And my 230 had a chromed air cleaner and valve cover...the big Chevy engine did not! (It was shown that way in the brochure, too)
@gcfifthgear. Yes, for 1964 only, the Chevelle & Chevy II used a slightly different version of the bigger Chevy "6", at 155 hp as opposed to the standard 140. Just as the Corvair 6s all offered the same cu. in. displacement in any given year but offered different levels of power output by using a slightly hotter cam & a mild compression increase (although still on regular gas) I suppose the Chevy engineers decided that was a viable concept to give Chevelle & Chevy II a slight additional performance boost without going to a V8 engine which, I suppose, seemed unnecessary to many people in a vehicle of that weight. I suspect they did not offer that version in the big Chevys because the hotter cam, while adding a few hp to the top end, may have cost a bit of the low end torque, perhaps putting the heavier "full-size" cars at a slight disadvantage, especially if equipped with the 2spd Powerglide trans. (High output Corvairs with Powerglide came with a different axle ratio to help offset that. If that affected fuel economy, so be it. You bought the high output engine because you valued performance over economy, right but the full-size "6" buyer was looking to maximize economy...) Anyway, as to the higher output 230, that was a unique offering & they were indeed "spruced up" with chrome trim. Don't know why they discontinued it after one year unless they figured the cost of producing 2 versions of the 230 wasn't really worth it so the regular 140hp version would suffice for all models. Plus too, maybe it made it harder to "upsell" people to the optional V8s. Had a neighbor with a '65 Malibu sedan & the regular 140hp with PG & it got around just fine.
This was back when car ads often touted economy of operation and initial cost. This is never heard of today. They now advertise all of the various options that you can easily do without so that they can make more money on the deal. I had a 1963 1/2 ton pickup with the 230 and a four-speed transmission. It was a great and simple vehicle. I bought it when it was 11 years old, drove it for 6 years, and sold it to a friend who drove it for 6 years before he sold it. I am not sure how many miles the truck had on it because the odometer did not work when I bought it. A great and simple vehicle. We will never see this type of vehicle again.
Had to drop a station wagon into first gear, on the column, to go up a Bay Area hill. If you missed the shift you had to start that low torque 6 without a torque converter up a hill. Hell on the clutch. I used to watch my Aunt throw her full size '60 Ford Wagon 6 into first with a terrifying look on her face as she took us home each day Soon my Mom's '64 Plymouth Fury Wagon with the torqueflight trans and 361 cu in. Big Block Wedge climbed that hill with no fuss in 2nd gear. The Ford 6 wagon didnt last too much longer. The Plymouth was sold 25 years later with 220,000 miles. Original tranny, heads doe at 100k.
In the early '80s I bought from an older couple a gold '73 Nova 2 door with the 250 six, three speed on the floor,drum brakes,manual steering but with dual sport mirrors plus rally wheels with trim rings Unusual.I've never found another like it.
I had a 70 nova 4 door 250 w/poweglide. Great motor. Even had 250 badges on the fender. The powerglide was not a goid match,as 1st was like 2nd. Did go good when floored past 25 . It would downshift,and fly
My late grandad had a tendency to drag home every old full sized Chevy with a six cylinder. He liked the 235s and later the 230-250s. I recall helping him pick up what I believe was a 194 out of a Nova, but don’t remember for certain but he may have dropped it in a 66 Impala or Caprice he bought without a motor. He normally drove a 67 Impala with a 250/3 speed but wore it out. He did have a 64 four door, six/3-speed. I don’t remember what six it would have had. He never drove it.
No mention of the Buick 225 Odd Fire V6. My 67 Buick Special Deluxe bought new by my great grandparents has one with the Super Turbine 300 transmission. It does great on Socal freeways.
The last in line 6 we bought was in a 73 Pontiac ventura, my uncle bought new. Don't recall if it was a 230 or a 250. But it was a good and reasonably powered car and got great mileage. I had a 63 impala with a 194 inline and air cooled powerglide trans. It got rear ended and junked. We had a few Ford pickups with the 300- 6 and they were good.
i bought new two f150s an 85 with the 300 ci and 4 speed, put over 300000 k on it traded it in 1993 for a new f150 supercab longbed 300 ci. ane 5 speed, sold it in 2003 it had 444500 miles on it. i think its safe to say the 300 ci ford engine like the small block chevy are about as good as it gets.
I never said I got it new. It was a well used car when I got it. who knows what it was when new. In my immediate family we had 4 - 63 Impalas and 3 - 64 Impalas, Still have 4 of them in retirement, salt got to them pretty much, just couldn't bring myself to junk them.@@potter660
Tempest was the only Pontiac that had a six at the time to the best of my knowledge. All other Pontiacs back then - Catalina, Star Chief, Bonneville and Grand Prix - had V8s.
My Dad bought a new 64 Belair 4-dr sedan with the six. He drove it for two years before trading up to a Pontiac Bonneville. That car had his first V8. The Chevy was a great car but he really loved the Bonneville.
Memories, Memories. Back about 1980, there was an engineer at the plant I worked at. He bought his wife the cheapest Pontiac that was available, absolutely no options at all. 6 cylinder, manual trans, AM radio, no AC, no nothing. He was a sorry bastard, treated his wife like shit. He was fooling around with another woman who my wife was her beautician. All these people were about 15 years older than me. I worked with a boy who was about 4 or 5 years younger than me, a fine boy, known him all his life, though the world of him. I was so pleased when he told me about what he had going on with the engineer's wife. She was a gorgeous natural blonde, who was a little overweight, and due to being humiliated by her husband had esteem issues. My buddy said it was fantastic. Moral of the story, buy your wife a nice ride, and don't fool around.
The 230 CID 140 HP valve in head straight 6 cylinder engine with a manual 3 speed transmission in my 1965 Impala sport coupe (hardtop) was not powerful enough for a 4,000 pound full size car. The 283 CID 195 HP V-8 was the very next engine of increased size available. At the same time my father had a 1966 4 door sport sedan (hardtop) with Powerglide 2 speed automatic transmission which got 40% BETTER MPG, but was advertised by Chevrolet to get 20% WORSE MPG! In the Chevelle this same 230 CID engine produced 155 HP! Taking into account that you had them bolted up to the same transmission in either car, the only other difference was the rear axle ratio. The heavier weight of any car full size linerequired a lower rear axle gear ratio (numerically higher rear axle gear ratio) because of the extra weight in order to propel the car from a standing start, which caused the engine to run at a higher RPM at all speeds, than the higher rear axle gear ratio (numerically lower rear axle gear ratio) in the intermediate (Chevelle) or the compact (Chevy II/Nova) lines of cars. This translates into slower acceleration, worse gas mileage, faster wear and tear, more strain on the engine, and shorter engine life in the full size car over the intermediate,; and in the intermediate over the compact, all because of the extra weight.
Cost of valve grinding? Bull cookies!. The Chevrolet inlnne six was a durable for sure, but if you wanted smoothness and fuel efficiency, go with the AMC / Rambler 232 six.
Even though basic "6s" had been around for eons, by the 1960s with newer, generally short stroke designs & often by then, 7 main bearings, pretty much everyone had a good "6". There's a lot to be said for those AMCs over a span of many years. The Chrysler slant 6s had a lot going for them & even Ford got into the game with the line of bigger 6s that culminated in the big 300CID engine that saw a lot of use in trucks & even commercial use as stationary power for generators & other industrial use, as well as Ford's smaller 6s that trace their roots back to the Falcon in 1960, still going in 1970 for the Maverick & still going into the early 80s for Fairmont, Zephyr, 2nd gen Granada & even mid-size "baby" Marquis & LTD until finally being replaced by a new V6, which may have offered more performance but was not even close as respects durability & reliability.
@@autochronicles8667 Unlike the other inline sixes of the era, the Chrysler slant six had a small bore and a long stroke which gave it excellent low RPM torque and great driveability, especially with a manual transmission. It was also proof that you don't need seven main bearing to make a smooth and durable inline six.
![[Dealer Film] 1964 Chevy 2 and Corvair vs Falcon/Valient... the compact car beckons... your 2 stars!](/img/1.gif)
those straight 6 would run forever if you kept up on the maintenence.they wouldnt rev high enough to damage themselves.
SOOO MUCH room for activities in that engine bay!!
Chevy didn't have a V6 until the Monza in the late '70s. This filmstrip is on how to sell inline-sixes.
LOL i didn't have my coffee... Fixed it!
One relative had a late 70s low option model Impala with a V-6. It had the power steering and AC, was a good car. Got decent milage and power was adequate, she got talked into selling it for low mileage Olds compact. Should have kept the Impala!
Their six was quite durable. My parents had a 1963 Chevy II convertible with the 194 cubic inch six. Between my father and my older brother I am surprised that the car lasted as long as it did.
A Chevy II 6 is fine. A full size is slow, slow, slow, and I never even saw a 6 with factory AC , and the last full size 6 I ever saw was my step grandfather’s 1966 Bel Air. It had no automatic transmission., power brakes, power steering, and the radio didn’t have preset buttons. A 3 speed column shift on a full sized car was as tacky as it gets.
@@jw77019
My great uncle had a new 1966 Biscayne 2 door sedan with a 6, 3 on the tree, manual steering and brakes. It too had the manually tuned AM radio.
My 1964 Chevelle was one of those 37% of those built with six-cylinder engines. It was a 300 series 4-door sedan with the 230 engine and Powerglide. Plus, I understand the Chevelle 230 had 155 horsepower while the engine in the full-size Chevrolet produced only 140 horsepower. And my 230 had a chromed air cleaner and valve cover...the big Chevy engine did not! (It was shown that way in the brochure, too)
@gcfifthgear. Yes, for 1964 only, the Chevelle & Chevy II used a slightly different version of the bigger Chevy "6", at 155 hp as opposed to the standard 140. Just as the Corvair 6s all offered the same cu. in. displacement in any given year but offered different levels of power output by using a slightly hotter cam & a mild compression increase (although still on regular gas) I suppose the Chevy engineers decided that was a viable concept to give Chevelle & Chevy II a slight additional performance boost without going to a V8 engine which, I suppose, seemed unnecessary to many people in a vehicle of that weight. I suspect they did not offer that version in the big Chevys because the hotter cam, while adding a few hp to the top end, may have cost a bit of the low end torque, perhaps putting the heavier "full-size" cars at a slight disadvantage, especially if equipped with the 2spd Powerglide trans. (High output Corvairs with Powerglide came with a different axle ratio to help offset that. If that affected fuel economy, so be it. You bought the high output engine because you valued performance over economy, right but the full-size "6" buyer was looking to maximize economy...)
Anyway, as to the higher output 230, that was a unique offering & they were indeed "spruced up" with chrome trim.
Don't know why they discontinued it after one year unless they figured the cost of producing 2 versions of the 230 wasn't really worth it so the regular 140hp version would suffice for all models. Plus too, maybe it made it harder to "upsell" people to the optional V8s.
Had a neighbor with a '65 Malibu sedan & the regular 140hp with PG & it got around just fine.
I can just picture Don Draper making this sales presentation.😂
Yeah funny it has pretty good production value... I would think they would have phoned this one in, but actually cared it looks like.
When we all ditch the electric nightmare six’s will be back!
This was back when car ads often touted economy of operation and initial cost. This is never heard of today. They now advertise all of the various options that you can easily do without so that they can make more money on the deal. I had a 1963 1/2 ton pickup with the 230 and a four-speed transmission. It was a great and simple vehicle. I bought it when it was 11 years old, drove it for 6 years, and sold it to a friend who drove it for 6 years before he sold it. I am not sure how many miles the truck had on it because the odometer did not work when I bought it. A great and simple vehicle. We will never see this type of vehicle again.
Yeah i dont want a self driving car and I dont want to pay for crap i never asked for. :)
Had to drop a station wagon into first gear, on the column, to go up a Bay Area hill.
If you missed the shift you had to start that low torque 6 without a torque converter up a hill. Hell on the clutch.
I used to watch my Aunt throw her full size '60 Ford Wagon 6 into first with a terrifying look on her face as she took us home each day
Soon my Mom's '64 Plymouth Fury Wagon with the torqueflight trans and 361 cu in. Big Block Wedge climbed that hill with no fuss in 2nd gear.
The Ford 6 wagon didnt last too much longer.
The Plymouth was sold 25 years later with 220,000 miles. Original tranny, heads doe at 100k.
In the early '80s I bought from an older couple a gold '73 Nova 2 door with the 250 six, three speed on the floor,drum brakes,manual steering but with dual sport mirrors plus rally wheels with trim rings Unusual.I've never found another like it.
I had a 70 nova 4 door 250 w/poweglide. Great motor. Even had 250 badges on the fender. The powerglide was not a goid match,as 1st was like 2nd. Did go good when floored past 25 . It would downshift,and fly
My dad drove a '64 Impala with the six and 2-speed power glide. It was stone reliable but slow as molasses.
Slow and reliable wins the race :) a different race though.
Note the customer is shown a Bel Air with the 6...I doubt they would promote Impalas with them
Also, many options added weight, making V8s a more advisable choice.
My late grandad had a tendency to drag home every old full sized Chevy with a six cylinder. He liked the 235s and later the 230-250s. I recall helping him pick up what I believe was a 194 out of a Nova, but don’t remember for certain but he may have dropped it in a 66 Impala or Caprice he bought without a motor. He normally drove a 67 Impala with a 250/3 speed but wore it out. He did have a 64 four door, six/3-speed. I don’t remember what six it would have had. He never drove it.
Sixes are very reliable and easy to work with/on...
Yep. And you could change the oil filter without crawling under the car.
No mention of the Buick 225 Odd Fire V6. My 67 Buick Special Deluxe bought new by my great grandparents has one with the Super Turbine 300 transmission. It does great on Socal freeways.
We have certainly gone backwards! No choice at all now days….
bmw still has a in line 6 as it doesn't have a the ...oh a 6 cy why didn't you buy a v8
The last in line 6 we bought was in a 73 Pontiac ventura, my uncle bought new. Don't recall if it was a 230 or a 250. But it was a good and reasonably powered car and got great mileage. I had a 63 impala with a 194 inline and air cooled powerglide trans. It got rear ended and junked. We had a few Ford pickups with the 300- 6 and they were good.
I think the 240/300 Fords were the best.
A '63 Impala with a 194? I don't think so. The 230 was the only six offered in a full-sized Chevy that year.
I didn't say it was ordered that way, it was old when I bought it.@@potter660
i bought new two f150s an 85 with the 300 ci and 4 speed, put over 300000 k on it traded it in 1993 for a new f150 supercab longbed 300 ci. ane 5 speed, sold it in 2003 it had 444500 miles on it. i think its safe to say the 300 ci ford engine like the small block chevy are about as good as it gets.
I never said I got it new. It was a well used car when I got it. who knows what it was when new. In my immediate family we had 4 - 63 Impalas and 3 - 64 Impalas, Still have 4 of them in retirement, salt got to them pretty much, just couldn't bring myself to junk them.@@potter660
Tempest was the only Pontiac that had a six at the time to the best of my knowledge. All other Pontiacs back then - Catalina, Star Chief, Bonneville and Grand Prix - had V8s.
My Dad bought a new 64 Belair 4-dr sedan with the six. He drove it for two years before trading up to a Pontiac Bonneville. That car had his first V8. The Chevy was a great car but he really loved the Bonneville.
Yeah got to love Pontiacs
Memories, Memories. Back about 1980, there was an engineer at the plant I worked at. He bought his wife the cheapest Pontiac that was available, absolutely no options at all. 6 cylinder, manual trans, AM radio, no AC, no nothing.
He was a sorry bastard, treated his wife like shit. He was fooling around with another woman who my wife was her beautician. All these people were about 15 years older than me. I worked with a boy who was about 4 or 5 years younger than me, a fine boy, known him all his life, though the world of him. I was so pleased when he told me about what he had going on with the engineer's wife. She was a gorgeous natural blonde, who was a little overweight, and due to being humiliated by her husband had esteem issues. My buddy said it was fantastic. Moral of the story, buy your wife a nice ride, and don't fool around.
words to live by :)
My parent’s first new car was a 64 Chevy Biscane with the 6.
it ran forever?
@@autochronicles8667 lol! It ran for the two years they owned it.
The 230 CID 140 HP valve in head straight 6 cylinder engine with a manual 3 speed transmission in my 1965 Impala sport coupe (hardtop) was not powerful enough for a 4,000 pound full size car. The 283 CID 195 HP V-8 was the very next engine of increased size available.
At the same time my father had a 1966 4 door sport sedan (hardtop) with Powerglide 2 speed automatic transmission which got 40% BETTER MPG, but was advertised by Chevrolet to get 20% WORSE MPG!
In the Chevelle this same 230 CID engine produced 155 HP! Taking into account that you had them bolted up to the same transmission in either car, the only other difference was the rear axle ratio. The heavier weight of any car full size linerequired a lower rear axle gear ratio (numerically higher rear axle gear ratio) because of the extra weight in order to propel the car from a standing start, which caused the engine to run at a higher RPM at all speeds, than the higher rear axle gear ratio (numerically lower rear axle gear ratio) in the intermediate (Chevelle) or the compact (Chevy II/Nova) lines of cars. This translates into slower acceleration, worse gas mileage, faster wear and tear, more strain on the engine, and shorter engine life in the full size car over the intermediate,; and in the intermediate over the compact, all because of the extra weight.
I thought the 283 V8 was a better match for such a large car. I had one in my '63 Impala SS
yeah v8's grew from 200's to 400s pretty quick :) but you had to pin the rocker arms on the 283's or they backed out.
Cost of valve grinding? Bull cookies!. The Chevrolet inlnne six was a durable for sure, but if you wanted smoothness and fuel efficiency, go with the AMC / Rambler 232 six.
We need some slant 6 defenders in here...
Even though basic "6s" had been around for eons, by the 1960s with newer, generally short stroke designs & often by then, 7 main bearings, pretty much everyone had a good "6". There's a lot to be said for those AMCs over a span of many years. The Chrysler slant 6s had a lot going for them & even Ford got into the game with the line of bigger 6s that culminated in the big 300CID engine that saw a lot of use in trucks & even commercial use as stationary power for generators & other industrial use, as well as Ford's smaller 6s that trace their roots back to the Falcon in 1960, still going in 1970 for the Maverick & still going into the early 80s for Fairmont, Zephyr, 2nd gen Granada & even mid-size "baby" Marquis & LTD until finally being replaced by a new V6, which may have offered more performance but was not even close as respects durability & reliability.
@@autochronicles8667 Unlike the other inline sixes of the era, the Chrysler slant six had a small bore and a long stroke which gave it excellent low RPM torque and great driveability, especially with a manual transmission. It was also proof that you don't need seven main bearing to make a smooth and durable inline six.