Reader’s Poll, 1964 (Part I)
Posted by Jeffrey Olson
We moved to a new house recently, and, despite my wife’s best efforts, the movers brought along my “library” of old Road & Tracks, Sports Cars Illustrated/Car and Driver, Sport Car Graphics, and the like. Treasures such as these cannot be unpacked without a personal review of random issues, and of the ones that were selected, the May 1964 issue of C&D revealed an article entitled “Readers’ Choice Winners: The Best Cars in the World as Selected by our Readers.” Acknowledging the skewed universe of potential respondents to this poll (230,000 total circulation readers of C&D in 1964), and the fact that there were only 4,000 reader responses (apparently about twice what had been anticipated by C&D’s “Research Department”), the results are fascinating with the benefit of 44 years of hindsight. Over the next few days, I’ll be detailing my findings.
The “Economy Sedan” winner was the VW 1200, followed by the MG 1100, the VW 1500, the Saab 96 and the Alfa Romeo Giulia TI. The choices seem rational, in a “car guy” sort of way, except why would the 1200cc Beetle be preferred to the 1500cc? And no Fiat 500/600? One of my uncles had a Fiat 500 for about a week before his highly claustrophobic wife made him get rid of it. He retaliated by getting a Beetle, which made your ears hurt when you shut the door; the Fiat was not that airtight.
The “Compact Sedan” winner was the Corvair, followed by the Volvo PV544, the Mercedes 190, the Ford Falcon, and the Peugeot 403. Again, nothing irrational (just take deep breaths, Mr. Nader, the paramedics are on the way). I remember a friend and I used to “borrow” his father’s Corvair (a 1963, I think) for unsanctioned late-night rallying (we were 14 or 15 at the time). Several rather important lessons regarding the intersection between the immutable laws of motion and rear-engined cars were indelibly ingrained during those sessions. These came in very handy when, a few years later, someone who should have known better entrusted me with the keys to an early (and very non-stock) 911 S.
It gets really interesting in the “Luxury Compact” category: the Jaguar 3.8 Mk II won, followed by the Mercedes 220, Pontiac Tempest, Ford Fairlane (this was a “compact”?), and Chevy Chevelle. Accepting the inherent bias of the sample group, the top U.S. finisher, the Tempest (with at least a little bit of GTO DNA) makes some sense. The last two seem inexplicable. The 220 was a slug (albeit one that was well built), so the Jaguar’s win seems about right (DOHC straight six, ample wood, soft leather).
In the “Full-Size Sedan” category, the winner was the Pontiac Grand Prix, followed by the Ford Galaxy, the Buick Electra 225, the Chrysler New Yorker, and the Chevy Impala. This was before the Grand Prix was transformed into a “personal luxury coupe,” but I think that even in 1964, it was a two-door, and thus far more desirable than any four-door sedan.
The results for the “Performance Sedan” category present the differences between American and European cars of the era, which, to a slightly lesser extent, continue today. The category was won by the Pontiac Tempest GTO 389, followed by the Ford Galaxie 427 – quintessential heavy American metal. But places three through five were filled by the Jaguar S-Type, Corvair Spyder, and the Mini Cooper. So, as I see it, these U.S. guys liked their torque, but, for at least some of them, only up to the point that turning and braking became so terrifying that they’d be willing to at least consider sacrificing some grunt for some control. I wonder how many times one needed to unintentionally explore unpaved portions of the countryside with the 427 before that Mini started looking pretty good. There’s probably a Darwinian lesson to be learned in comparing the list of those who voted for the Goat and Galaxie and those who still were C&D subscribers, say, two years later.
– Jeffrey Olson