<VV> 65 convertible shimmy

[airvair at earthlink.net]

LM convertibles aren't that bad when they're new. There have been worse
convertibles, though. It's when they're rusty that they really get shaky.
But what do you expect from a unitized body?

The only reason the earlies are more rigid is because it was the first unit
body Fisher Body ever did. They gusseted and double and triple paneled and
braced it to no end. Ever see that pic of the early 4door up on a "bed of
nails"? They had it on a torsion table and were testing it's resistance to
distortion under load. The "bed of nails" are dial indicators, placed all
over the underside. They later found out that they really made the car
heavier than it "needed" to be, and when they did the redesign for the LM,
they trimmed as much of the "extras" out as they could get away with. The
car only had to be rigid enough to survive a crash test and the usual
"shake and rattle" tests. They weren't thinking of when the car started to
rust out. The windshield design proves that last statement. LOL Besides,
with the way the kick panel and windshield header are made, it's my feeling
that the converts were almost afterthoughts anyway.

-Mark (in rustbelt Ohio)


> [Original Message]
> From: J R Read_HML <hmlinc at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: <VV> 65 convertible shimmy
>
> And that is why only the convertibles get the vibration dampers.  And
only 
> the LMs since the EMs were built much more rigidly.
>
> Think that might be why the LMs are sometimes referred to as "Flexible 
> Flyers"?
>
> Later, JR
>