GM B platform

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The GM B platform , or B-body , was a full-size car - automobile platform from General Motors with rear-wheel drive . It is very similar to the C-Body and D-Body. Cabriolets , hardtops , coupes , sedans and station wagons were built on it between 1926 and 1996.

Originally, the B-body was intended for Buick and Oldsmobile vehicles, while the A-body was intended for Chevrolet and Oakland and the C- and D-body were intended for Cadillac.

The B-Body is based on the Pontiac Streamliner Torpedo and Streamliner , the Oldsmobile Series L, Series 70 and Series 88 , the Buick Special and Century , the LaSalle Series 50 and the Cadillac Series 60 , Series 61 and Series 63 . The B-body became GM's standard platform in 1958 and all Chevrolet products were brought to the B-body.

Starting with models from 1959, the previous A and B bodies were merged into the new B body. GM resurrected the A-body in 1964 for a new line of slightly smaller cars, including the Chevrolet Chevelle , Pontiac Tempest , Oldsmobile Cutlass, and Buick Skylark .

GM first launched the B-Body in 1926 with the Buick Master Six and the Oldsmobile Model 30 . In the years 1937, 1939, 1941, 1949, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1965, 1971, 1977, and 1991 there were 12 major redevelopments and design changes, in the years 1942, 1969 and 1980 preliminary changes were made, the different sheet metal and included modified roof lines. The platform underwent a downsizing of its length by around 10 inches in 1977 and a weight saving of around 800 pounds. The platform was last overhauled in 1991. The wheelbase remained unchanged, the chassis was modified several times and gained a few inches in length. In 1996 the last cars with the B-body rolled off the assembly line, leaving Ford to produce the large rear-wheel drive cars until Ford phased out its vehicles on their Panther platform at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, Chrysler had revived its LX platform in 2005.

1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon

Known for durability and reliability, most B-body cars had coil springs. Exceptions were the 1959-60 Oldsmobile 88, which used leaf springs on the rear axle. All B-body cars since 1965 have a closed frame with side rails that was shared by the 1961–64 Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles. The 1958-60 Buicks and 1959-60 Oldsmobiles used a ladder frame, while an X-frame without side rails was used on 1959-60 Pontiacs, 1959-64 Chevrolets and 1961-64 Buicks.

The rear-wheel drive B-body was the last platform that had the filler neck behind the license plate holder. The exceptions included all station wagons and all cars built between 1961 and 64 that had the fuel filler neck on the driver's side on the rear wheel arch and Buicks from 1965 with the fuel filler cap over the license plate. The Pontiac B-Bodys from 1941 to 1948 also had the fuel filler neck in the rear fender on the driver's side.

With around 12,960,000 vehicles distributed over four brands, regardless of the full-size Chevrolet station wagons from 1966, since the number of units produced is unknown, but is assumed to be around 150,000, the GM B platform of the years 1965-70 is the fourth best-selling automobile platform history after the VW Beetle , Ford Model T and the Lada Nova .

In 1986 the Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile Delta 88 were downsized to the GM H platform. In 1991, GM CEO Robert C. Stempel said:

"There are some corporate things we're going to drive; we are a front-drive corporation. "

“There are a few things in the company that we can drive; we are a front-wheel drive company. "

and added that the 1992 rear-wheel drive Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice were produced "over his corpse". When production of the Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice ceased in 1996, there was no other successor to the GM B platform. Although the Caprice was newly developed and built based on the Opel Omega B , GM V platform developed as a model base for the Middle East. It was manufactured by Holden , while years later the Caprice for the police was built back to America together with the Impala SS (the successor to the Chevrolet SS ) on the GM Zeta platform that had been developed by Holden in Australia.

Rear-wheel drive sedans built on the GM B platform are
Two-door vehicles
Combinations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Requiem for MisterL: The 1959 Cadillac and the Winter of Harley Earl . ateupwithmotor.com. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  2. ↑ AUTOMOTIVE ORAL HISTORIES: The Reminiscences of William L. Mitchell . www.autolife.umd.umich.edu. Archived from the original on November 13, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  3. ^ Ron Kowalke: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 . Krause publications, 1997, ISBN 0-87341-521-3 .
  4. ↑ a b The Cadillac story: the postwar years . Stanford University Press, Stanford 2004, ISBN 0-8047-4942-6 , pp. 167 ( books.google.de ).
  5. ↑ Model 460, 4BR per 1976 sales brochure
  6. ↑ Model 166
  7. ↑ Model 1BN
  8. ↑ Model 164
  9. ↑ Model 1BL
  10. ↑ Model 156
  11. ↑ Model 1BK
  12. ↑ Model 154
  13. ↑ Models 3BQ and 3BR
  14. ↑ Model 2BR
  15. ↑ Model 2BL

Web links