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the trademark mid-'50s GM creak

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Recent Fords copied that in their front suspension.

 

GM's hardtops also had a problem (feature?) with door sag, where you have to pull the handle twice to open the door. 

It's seen in the movie My Cousin Vinny when the girlfriend goes to open the Cadillac passenger door.
 
Congratulations Paul

thats a beautiful ‘58 Cadillac.

 

Now as far as GM cars having a characteristic door creak, thats news to me.  My family owned several GM hardtops during the 50’s and 60’s, a ‘50 Buick Super 2 dr, HT ‘51 Chevrolet BelAir 2 dr. HT, ‘55 Chevrolet BelAir 2 dr HT, ‘57 Oldsmobile 88 convertible, ‘58 Corvette and a ‘63 Impala 2 dr HT and all were solid and the doors opened quietly and easily the first time the handle was pressed.

 

 And I owned a ‘64 Impala 2 dr HT, ‘55 Cadillac 2dr HT and a ‘67 Buick Skylark 2 dr HT, the only one that had a door creak was the ‘67 Skylark, and that was only because I was broadsided by a ‘72 Ford 3/4 ton pickup that ran a four way stop when I had the right of way and hit me squarely on the drivers side door.  After that  the door did creak when I opened it, but it didn’t hurt the running of it none as they say on Tobacco Road, LOL.

 

My experience with GM HT’s was that they were solid as a rock, quiet and powerful cars that were a pleasure drive, own and ride in.

 

Eddie

[this post was last edited: 9/21/2020-13:38]
 
Wow Eddie, my experience has been the exact opposite.  It has nothing to do with whether the GM cars of the mid '50s were solid or not -- of course they were -- but there was some sort of design flaw that caused the creak/squeak on the driver's door.  Probably because that one got the most use.  The mechanics of the doors weren't compromised as far as I know, but the noise was a common characteristic on GM vehicles from (IIRC) 1953 when the body style changed, up through 1958 or maybe later.
 
Thats interesting Ralph.  I bought my ‘55 Cadillac in ‘74 when it was already 19 years old with 180,000 miles on the odometer.  It still drove like new and was solid, quiet and rattle free, but burned a quart of oil to every tank of gas, and only got 8-10 mpg.   The door was as heavy as the door on a bank vault!  Where I lived I had to park it on an incline facing down and I really had to haul the big old door with a lot of force to pull it closed.  But I never had any trouble opening it on level ground and never had to lift it to open it and it didn’t creak.

 

I have an affinity for old GM cars, especially 2 dr HT’s.   To me they just speak of what was best about American automobile styling and engineering.  If I was going to buy a car just for fun and the hell of it, it would be a GM 2 dr HT from the early to mid 50’s, preferably a ‘51 (the year of my birth) Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile or Cadillac.

 

Eddie
 
The horn

Paul,

Please post a recording of the horn (for those of you who don't know, I owned and drove my great grandmother's '58 Coupe de Ville when I was in high school. I loved the melodious sound of that two tone horn and joked about having a spare MG instead of a spare tire.

It's cute how the gas tank opening is hidden under the left tail light.

Sarah
 
Were you in Springfield Mass. today????

When I took our dog out at noontime, and old black Cadillac drove in front of me. I just got a quick look at the taillights, but I swear that it looked exactly like yours!
 

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