Everytime a car gets made over, it recieves styling changes (3rd-->4th gen). Sometimes, they will recieve chassis changes (2nd-->3rd gen).

Well, what do car companies do with the old chassis designs? Can they ever reuse them? I mean, the C5 chassis is great, how come that can't be reused when the C6 comes around? And what about the B-body chassis; weren't those cars very durable and tight?

How about classic cars: Could the 1st gen F-body platform ever be reused? Or what about the A-bodies?

Just an idea

 

I'm certainly no expert on chassis designs; in fact I'm probably one of the biggest newbies here on that, but I would guess that it has to do with ever-growing advances in technology. Once you improve on something, the old version is obsolete and inferior. They probably stuff those old designs in a filing cabinet or on a RAID hard drive setup and then forget about them forever.

 

Actually the C6 will use a lot from C5's chassis. The C5 chassis even today is considered outstanding, and I believe C6 is only to get some minor tweaks. Contrast this with the 2002 F-body, which served its purpose but in no way was considered a modern, refined chassis. The next Camaro needs the SLA front suspension with a well-performing IRS, as well as being lighter and tighter.

 

Technology is a constantly changing thing.

What was economical in 1967 is not necessarily economical now.

For instance, GM engine plants used to do selective fits on certain engine components like main bearings. This meant that somone would sort through a bin of main bearings until he found the one that would fit in the journals correctly and provide the correct clearances.

In 1970, that was a good idea. In 2003, it's a lot of wasted money. Nowadays the bearings and journals can be machined to provide the correct fits at all times with no sorting.


Other issues come up because of environmental concerns. Ever heard of hexavalent chrome plating? Hexavalent chrome is NASTY stuff - I'm talking about kids with 3 heads and terminal cancer and you pee-pee falling off in the shower nasty stuff here. It is being phased out because of environmental/safety concerns. In 1970, no one knew that it would hurt you. I think this was the substance in question in "Erin Brockovich".


Finally, as Federal Safety Standards progress, chassis and body design has to change with them. In 1970, crush zones were difficult to design for (because of a lack of computer-aided analysis), now they are a standard feature in all cars. The first Camaros had none of the benefits of that type of analysis (they were all calculated/designed by hand).

 

I came across a little bit of information the other day regarding the 4th Gen chassis. Apparently, the forthcoming Avanti coupe will be using the 4th Gen chassis. If you look at the Avanti website, it's obvious the car is based on the 4th Gen platform. Get this though, the website said the new car will be using the Ford engine. Talk about a hybrid ...

 

http://www.avantimotors.com/coupe.asp
http://www.avantimotors.com/convertible.asp

those? those are not only using the 4th gen chassis, they ARE 4th gens. reskinned 4th gens and not a whole lot more, except the $50,000 surcharge on top of the original price. so you pay 3 times as much, just to get a car that's even worse looking. what a bargain. there are a few old threads about them. gt

 

I was given a copy of an Autoweek issue today and as I read on I was and still am disgusted, outraged, and really pissed about this avanti thing. I mean can nothing be done about this? I hope GM's lawsuite doesn't stop at the H2 ripoff. This CAN NOT HAPPEN, A FORD engine in an F-body? Are these people insane, whats next honda engines. No offense to the Ford guys on here but what the hell, leave the Ford engines in the Fords and the honda engines in the fart pipe cars. What should we expect next, Studabaker is coming out with a motorcycle, its a Harley Davidson Fatboy with an engine from a Vespa scooter. I'm sure they would sell like hotcakes! Now I just went on the site and it says 5.7 LS1, so which is it 5.7 or 4.6? Those avantis were butt f-ing ugly and these new ones are even worse. I wondered what made those old avantis so fast, well at least the 1 that was by my house. Then, years later I found out they came with a 350, but still they are hideous. I hope this is some kind of really sick joke, please STOP it is NOT funny.

 

I have to imagine that Avanti struck some kind of deal with GM to use F-bodies as a basis for their new cars. Still, if GM isn't building the F-body anymore where are they getting the platforms?