1939 Oldsmobile

[@brucegibbins3792]

Its 75 years past new for the 1939 Oldsmobile - but now it's December 2014 and I've just bought my third Oldsmobile sedan. I bought my first car ever in 1967 - a 1936 Olds and a year or two latter I swapped it for a 1938 Olds. I started my car ownership with the '36 and it looks like the last car I buy will be the recently purchased 1939. Its kind of poetic, eh.

[@ddkoda]

The intricacies of how various movements of a car's body during various phases of driving have to be factored in when designing an automobile's suspension system. Four wheel coil spring suspension as the narrator explained has a number of distinct advantages over the leaf spring system and at this point in time is standard pretty much throughout the industry with the exception of the Chevrolet Corvette which recently employed a transverse mounted arched leaf spring for its rear suspension similar in arrangement to the one that Ford also used in their rear suspension for many decades.

[@geoben1810]

Now put a set of radial tires on her and see how she handles. Btw, that rag top coupe at the end sure is sweet! 👍😉

[@daytonasixty-eight1354]

Back in the day, when car companies made advertisements about the basics of suspension system engineering. Today they just show you some CGI and a pretty face.

[@oilsmokejones3452]

True, but let's face it we are a small minority..most new car buyers eat up the superficial hype..

[@Rainer67059]

This springing system was invented by Citroën, and published with the 1934 La Traction Avant. Oldsmobile takes credit if it was their invention. This while Oldsmobile did make a breakthrough in 1939 which was really their invention: the first fully-automatic transmission.

[@KingRoseArchives]

Rainer67059 Sounds like the auto business is like the music business. People steal other people's ideas and take credit for them.

[@MacFreaks]

Rainer67059 I'm fairly sure Citroën did not invent the sprung IFS, I believe that honor belongs to Lancia and their Lambda. But the specific type of sprung independent front suspension this video is referencing is the Dubonnet suspension system. Dubbonet sold his newfangled suspension to General Motors which added it to most of its offerings, including Olds, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Buick vehicles. Also do note that the narrator says "...introduced to the industry...", not invented. Considering the age of this video I think it's same to assume that "industry" more or less refers to the US automotive industry rather than the world-wide car industry too.

[@dlwatib]

Oldsmobile was often the GM guinea pig to try new things on. If it failed, they didn't want egg on the face of Cadillac. Fortunately, there were more successes than failures and Oldsmobile cultivated a name for cutting edge engineering. It did eventually backfire on them when they introduced the disastrous Oldsmobile automotive diesel engine.

[@kensherwood4866]

I agree and I think Mr Panhard might want to claim some credit for the lateral stabilising rod on the rear axle.

[@DougFrantz]

Brush had 4 coil springs (but on solid axles) in 1907... I sorta doubt even they were first, but it's the earliest I'm personally familiar with.

[@martinmartin5904]

Oldsmobile engineers would fall from the clouds knowing that today their brand no longer exists and that the leaf springs ( ...boggey spring ) are back in the back , cause the most sold vehicles are pick-ups ...what progress in 81 years .

[@abevigoda3149]

@12:15 It's obvious the frame was frozen so as to not show the car dipping forward and @12:25 Fast camera action was used to fake driving at higher than actual speed. 🤣😂🤦‍♂🤦🤦‍♀

[@oilsmokejones3452]

Olds returned to rear leaves in the 50's citing better rebound control..oh well..

[@overcastfriday81]

rebound control is a shock issue

[@oilsmokejones3452]

Overcast Friday LOL, proves you never drove a '64-67 Chevy II with mono leaf rear springs, or yes the monster shocks on Dodge mini vans to compensate for the mono leaf...

[@Xbox360Player350]

Thought we wouldn't notice how the video was sped up when they demonstrated it had no dive, squat, or body roll? Shame on you Oldsmobile

[@fantazmiccoin1245]

I’m buying one this week

[@granskare]

one uncle of mine bought only Oldsmobiles and his brother only Pontiacs...now that GM execs have ended productiion of these two brands...well maybe that is going to work :)

[@daveeatman2741]

I have a 1939 Oldsmobile looking for part s

[@aagosgoswami]

many modern day cars will start to rattle if they are driven over roads testing depicted in video

[@jjtt7408]

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN