1972 Full Size Chevys vs Ford LTD/Plymouth Gran Sedan

[@scottschlossberg3137]

I love these videos!

[@autochronicles8667]

Thanks... It's a money losing proposition though... I mean to put up some info videos but haven't had the time.

[@stephenholland5930]

Thanks for putting out all these dealer training film. I dig 'em.

[@woxyroxme]

Not gonna lie but the Plymouth front end looks bad ass.

[@autochronicles8667]

Yeah Chevy ignored the Plymouth...

[@Doobie1975]

1972 to me was the last truly good year of the classic car era before the Emission Controls and Smog Pumps started plaguing the vehicles along with the 5mph bumper regulations placed on the automotive industry starting with the 1973 models.

[@autochronicles8667]

a few good stragglers in 73 and then gone in 74-74...

[@AnthonyEvelyn]

Yay another great drop! Good to see how Chevrolet's full size offering compare to the other rivals.

[@autochronicles8667]

Yeah I'll switch it up next week, I still have some 72 Chevys from this set but need to give Chevy a week off :)

[@BillS-u1q]

Why did they not include more about the Plymouth?

[@eugenepiurkowski5439]

Left out all the stuff where Plymouth was better.

[@BillS-u1q]

@@eugenepiurkowski5439: I wondered if that was the reason

[@autochronicles8667]

Chrysler was having a tough time... but Ford was the main competition...

[@woxyroxme]

Chrysler was actually doing fairly well in the early 1970s, it was in 1976 when they came out with the Aspen/Volare disaster that almost killed the company and required a government bailout to save them

[@charlesb7019]

Interesting that they didn’t have much to say about the Plymouth…. Guess Chevy didn’t compare as favorably.

[@autochronicles8667]

Yeah they would downplay Mopars a lot... Ford was their main competitor though. Chrysler was having a tough time.

[@KDoyle4]

The independent road tests of the time all showed GM's power steering not able to keep up duing a slalom. That clam shell tailgate on the Chevy wagon is no fun in the rain. My 1972 Ford LTD with it's 351W engine got mid-20s MPG on a trip. The Plymouth may have been able to equal that, but not the Chevy. Interesting that GM often bragged about 4-wheel coil springs, but the wagon required leaf springs.

[@autochronicles8667]

when that tail gate breaks..... and then leaks...

[@KDoyle4]

@@autochronicles8667 Due to the shape of the back of the car, as soon as you open the tailgate window the rain is coming in.

[@paulsheehan5010]

Bel Air, was offered as a two hardtop in Canada.

[@SpockvsMcCoy]

The Ford LTD had the best ride comfort and the best trunk layout (Mercury Marquis and Lincoln also excelled for the same reasons). Body construction was better on the Ford with Chevrolet having the slam it hard doors. Also, the LTD Brougham was more plush inside than the Caprice. The Chevrolet only excelled with their drivetrain. 😮

[@OsbornTramain]

Chevy's Colls Springs offer a smooth ride in all conditions.......but it can't compare to the road handling and performance of the Plymouth's Torsion Bars and Rear Leaf Springs......they ignore it totally......it's why the Plymouths were sold in high numbers for Police Cars. The Chevy Wagon was better than the Country Squire in many ways, so much so, this film focuses only on that comparison. The Plymouth Wagon was pretty darn good and compared very well to the Chevy Wagon in most statistics.....so it's ignored here.

[@nlpnt]

The top trim-level sedans, especially back in '65-6 when the LTD and Caprice names were introduced, show the divisions' place in the real corporate pecking order. The LTD came first because Ford Division was and is Ford Motor Company in a lot of ways, the boss' name wasn't Henry Mercury. Chevrolet was limited in its' innovations upmarket by the need to leave space for Buick-Olds-Pontiac, especially with a lot of "Buick men" in the GM C-suite, but their #1 sales bragging rights were important enough they could match Ford model-for-model. Plymouth couldn't get any traction with the VIP and had to rebrand the top series Gran Sedan because it had few specific advocates either in corporate or at the dealer level where salesmen were encouraged to upsell luxe-Plymouth shoppers to a Chrysler Newport.

[@SpockvsMcCoy]

When referring to the mid-1960s, the Chevrolet Impala and Impala SS crushed the equivalent Galaxie 500 and XL in sales. So, the LTD (Galaxie 500 LTD in 1965) was introduced to upstage Chevrolet. For several years afterward the LTD sold much better than the Caprice...but the Galaxie never came close in sales to the Impala. Sales of large Plymouths never recovered after the quality problems in 1957. Law enforcement loved the big block large Plymouths but retail sales were never strong.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

I would take any and ALL of the cars mentioned - love 'em all !

[@jerrywood4508]

Knowing what was coming in 1973, I kept wondering about mileage in city driving.

[@rightlanehog3151]

I will take a Caprice sedan, Kingswood wagon and just to be safe, an Impala coupe. Please install a 400 big block in each one of them. 😉 Just to be extra safe, I will take a LTD sedan with a 429 and a Plymouth Suburban wagon with a 440. 🤩🤩🤩

[@ronbrock6153]

The big blocks available were 402 and 454 in Chevys. 400 is a small block.

[@rightlanehog3151]

@@ronbrock6153 They were 402 cubic inches but marketed as a 400. We had a 400 small block in our 73 Caprice wagon so I would like to give the big block a try.

[@ronbrock6153]

@@rightlanehog3151 Yes you are correct, the 400 Turbo Jet was a 402. Which came to be in 1970 when they bored the 396. Funny enough they still called it the 396b in anything other than full size cars and pick ups. I would love to find a clean clam shell wagon, any of them with a 455 or 454. I have never had a big block chevy in a car just boats. My favorite engines I have had 455 Buick, 455 Pontiac, 440 Chrysler, Buick 3800 Supercharged, and my Cadillac 3.6 twin turbo

[@paulsheehan5010]

Plymouth, has electronic ignition, not offered on Ford or Chevy.

[@paulsheehan5010]

400 was std. engine in California.

[@markbehr88]

I would take the Ford and Plymouth over the Chevrolet and actually own a 1972 LTD four door pillared hardtop and a 1972 Plymouth Sport Suburban wagon. The 71 Chev was better looking. 👍

[@sterlinsilver]

I love love LOVE all three of these. The absolute peak of land yacht sedans, beautiful styling inside and out. I dont think i could choose just one!

[@daryllynhutchins8459]

You don't know what a land yacht is

[@autochronicles8667]

eh these were pretty land yachty :) these were the "low priced" brand versions though.

[@maxr4448]

These new 1971 GM models had very bad engineered A/C component placement., on the cowl/dash area.

[@michaelwilliamson4060]

I don't understand why people worried about gas mileage. If you can't afford gas,stay home. Let the cheap business owners have those underpowered mileage miser's.

[@autochronicles8667]

it was different back in the day... mileage was important...

[@65merc390]

the chevy camp can try to put down ford anyway they can,,but it is ford known as [ the wagon master ] for a reason and owned almost 1/2 the wagon market all to them selves

[@samueldeandrade9058]

Saudacoes aqui do Brasil aqui tivemos Ford Galaxie e Dodge Dart