Re: RE: IML: AAJ vs stock brakes for 1957

I cannot remember weather I read it or heard it but did the 64-66 imperial have disk breaks on all four wheels as an order option?

----- Original Message -----
From: Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, December 9, 2007 18:18
Subject: RE: IML: AAJ vs stock brakes for 1957
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>
> --- Geoff Simpson <kiwiimp65@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >
> > Going back even further I recall a feature article
> > in Car and Driver (I think) about 1963 where they
> > did a comparison test between a 600 Mercedes,a
> > Lincoln,a Cadillac an IMPERIAL and a Rolls.When it
> > came to brakes they rated the Rolls as having the
> > best brakes.Guess what? Drums all round while the
> > Merc Im sure had discs.
>
> Good reference, Geoff.
>
>
> I am sure that I know someone that has done the AAJ
> conversion, but I'm not thinking about anyone off the
> top of my head, so my following statement is not
> pointed at anyone in particular, and I understand that
> a disc conversion has it's upsides. Nothing personal
> if you're a disc-person, OK?
>
> OK:
>
> The pattern that I see here on an awful lot of these
> inquiries seem to follow a similar pattern:
>
> 1. Bought an old (imperial) car used.
> 2. It's old/hammered/neglected, and the brakes are
> shot at some level or another, requiring an impending
> outlay of cash of some sort.
> 3. Man's mind immediately starts looking for some way
> to improve on the process with "bolt-in" performance
> upgrades so as to get more for the money/time, as is
> so very common to other types of cars' repair
> "opportunities", since we are in a free-market,
> capitalistic system where it pays to advertise "plug &
> play" upgrades for all sorts of things on cars.
>
> I suppose that I'm not the only one here that refuses
> to pay much attention to professional TV sports and
> has re-allocated the mental real-estate normally
> occupied by who was MVP in 1965 to how old greasy crap
> bolts together? Payoff's probably about the same in
> the end either way...
>
> I'm inclined to say that re-jiggering things to make
> them work better seems right up there with a genetic
> craving for remote-control dominance and preference
> for flames for cooking as far as predisposition goes.
>
> So I guess what seems a shame to me is that folks,
> when faced with the question of redoing brakes seem so
> reluctant to grant that what came on the car
> "could've" been actually OK and worth a shot at
> rebuilding.
>
> That '55 that I did up had some awfully narrow drums,
> and it sure was reluctant to be a "snappy" stopper,
> but it's 50 years old and antique for crying out loud,
> so I drove it accordingly, and aside from staying away
> from really steep hills when full of 5 people in San
> Francisco, I never really had a problem with it. I
> have a new car for re-enacting Bullitt chase scenes
> anyway.
>
> Are we too far away from a world where there were NO
> disc brakes so as to prompt so many to reach the
> conclusion that what's on their car is inherently
> bogus and should be swapped?
>
> That fellow that redid his '61 for the Great Race
> seems to be one of the few folks that would have had a
> real need for discs - can't recall what he did, but if
> you're farting around in your "old car", you can
> afford some extra space around you, considering that
> everyone else was so thoughtful as to have your
> crumple zones built into THEIR cars.
>
> Granted, there were some shaky, spindly brake systems
> out there in the 30's 40's and 50's, but by 1960 it
> seems, there had been an awful lot of engineering
> energy spent on getting cars to stop, and I never hear
> stories about how they were losing a significant % of
> the population to brake failures - not like you hear
> about preventable tragedies like you do with dunk
> driving statistics and so forth anyway.
>
> It's a really dumb thing to worry about - free country
> and all that, but having to talk people down off the
> ledge, especially on those 63-66 Bendix systems that
> are really marvelous systems for what they are has
> always seemed strange, but I keep trying to do it....
>
>
>
>
> Maybe I should start watching sports instead - that
> way I can spend that energy yelling at refs about bad
> calls. Heh!
>
>
>
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