I was looking over some muscle car books, and saw a Chevy Laguna in there? I've never heard of it until now. It looked like a Buick Grand Sport. Anyway, with a rwd Chevy heading here soon, could this rwd sedan be called the Chevy Laguna? Is it worthy of the name?

 

I remember the Laguna when I was a kid. It was abit sportier than your basic Malibu/Chevelle.

I remember thinking that they looked pretty cool. But of course...back then, I thought all Chevy's looked pretty cool.

 

If my memory on this is correct, the Laguna was available for a brief time between Chevelle and Monte Carlo. (Although it may have overlapped one or the other.)

 

Laguna was a trim package on the Chevelle from 1973-1976. In 1973 it was a highline trim package (like the Chevelle Malibu had been previously). Then in 1974 the Chevelle SS was dropped and the Laguna Type S-3 took its place.

 

NOW we are going way back! I completely forgot about those cars. Funny thing was I thought they were cool back when I was 10-12 years old & just starting to get into cars!

Laguna's clam to fame was that it though it was a Chevelle, it had a totally different rubber front end that served as a bumper (something that's pretty much standard issue today), and a rear bumper painted to match the car color (1973).

It was a really popular car for awhile because it was sporty (for the mid-70's), and a cousin (way older than me) bought one new in '74. What was really cool about these cars was the sporty looking (again for the mid-70s) swivel seats. Monte Carlo had them as an option, and I think the Malibu Classic did also, but seems far more of them ended up on Lagunas than anything else.

1974 the Laguna S3 came out (different front & chrome rear bumper). Though the Chevelle SS was still in production, briefly overlapping the Laguna S3, the S3 was the true replacement for the Chevelle SS in spirit and model position, if not in name (though SS & S3 are close enough):

This from http://chevysupersports.com/71-76.htm

Also, Laguna was pretty impressive in NASCAR (back when they actually resembled stock cars, placing 3,4,& 5 in 1976's Daytona 500, behind Pettys Charger & the #1 Mercury Montego (a name soon to rise again... as a minivan name ! ) .


http://chevysupersports.com/Chevelle73-76.htm

1974: http://www.cswnet.com/~nhartley/chariot2.html
http://www.dealsonwheels.com/search/...utos__ID/66462
http://www.custom-cruisers.com/Clubf...laguna_s-3.htm

 

My brother had a purple Montego. Dang was that an ugly car!

 

It's pretty amazing how many cars from that era were hot, sporty, or had a strong performance image that are viewed as ugly, slow, or dogs today.

 

Uh oh... there's that bar!

 

Guion...is that you behind the wheel?

 

Shoot, the performance bar is just so much higher today! I mean, we're reaching the point where V6 family sedans are as fast as all but the fastest musclecars of the "real" musclecar era! So the smoggers that came later definitely don't hold up as "performance" cars, though they were the best available for the time.

 

You got that right Eric. Car & Driver did a "Double the Double Nickel" comparison test in 1977 (April I think, if anyone wants to look it up), and they had a hard time finding any car that could do 110 mph anymore. It turned into a top speed test when the GM Corvette reps & the GM Pontiac reps got into a inpromptu competition between their Corvette & Trans Am, pulling out every trick they could come up with.

In '77, the quickest car was the Trans Am, running 0-60 around 8. When they got one that did 6.7 in '79 it was a big deal. Now, a Cadillac Deville will do that easily.... with an automatic!

BTW: From memory, the only cars that could top 110 in 1977 (pretty much in order) were: Corvette, Trans Am, Monza, Dodge Express Truck, Thunderbird w/the 400, and finally a Mazda rotary coupe (forgoot the name).

Uh....no.