1959 Chevrolet Biscayne 235 CI OHV I-6 from North America
Summary:
A cinderblock with 4 wheels
Faults:
That it was assembled at all!!!
General Comments:
This 1959 Chevrolet I-6 with the 2 speed Powerglide could have been beaten in a drag race by a bicyclist! And the gas mileage was atrocious... 11 MPG around town, and 25 MPG on the road... at only about 50 - 55 MPH!!!! I have seen, driven & owned many V8 cars with much higher performance that got better gas mileage.
Handling was nonexistent... it felt like it was going to roll over at every 10 MPH turn.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 13th June, 2014
14th Jun 2014, 14:33
You do realize that, you are complaining about a car that would now be 55 years old, right? If that car were still on the road today, assuming it is not, even the cheap Biscayne body style would fetch a pretty good price in reasonably decent shape. 25 MPG from a 6-cyl back then is downright great in my opinion, though gas was so cheap nobody cared about fuel mileage.
I hope you are not trying to compare a 1959 Full size Chevrolet to something like a 2015 Ford Taurus or Honda Accord.
Many people enjoyed cars like this for their sheer simplicity.
None of the straight 6 cylinders were ever built for speed or power, they were usually advertised as "thrifty". GM sold some vehicles with variants of the 250 and 235 6-cyl all the way through the 1980s. Bulletproof boat anchors.
I am not even 40 years old, but the few cars I've driven from 1950's, restored or not, all handle like a bucket of jello. Performance, style, low, wide, and long was the theme in the late 1950's.
In high school my first car was 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-door with a 260 V8. Me and my friends affectionately called it "the Gutless Cutlass." It was the token grandpa car. Fake vinyl top, dinky 14 inch wheels, fake wire wheelcovers, even had a solid bench seat (non-split) in the front like a pickup truck. Also had those dumb fixed rear windows that didn't roll down in the back, just the tiny smoker vent windows in the corners. For having a V8, that thing seemed like it could barely push itself down a hill, struggled to hit 85 MPH with some encouragement, and I burned with envy seeing some of the rich kids my age driving Camaros and Mustangs.
I hated that car with all my heart and beat the snot out of it every chance I got. That thing was so durable it refused to die. It never once broke down or left me stranded. I sold it to one of my neighbors almost 20 years ago, and it is still on the road today with over 300,000 miles. Looking back, I really appreciate the way that car was built, just the relative simplicity and durability, when changing your own spark plugs didn't scar your hands and turn into a weekend ordeal.