Curbside Classic: 1964 Chevrolet Suburban
Suburbans are jacks of all trades. One like this taught me the valuable lessons of the limits of vehicle dynamics on winding country roads that others might have had in their MGs. Does that not define the name sport utility vehicle?
It’s Suburban Friday, and let’s see what I have in the files. Sadly, I have not yet stumbled across my favorite, the 1947 – 1955. Or my second favorite, the 1955 – 1957. It’s just a matter of time. In the meanwhile, we’ll have to content ourselves with this still regularly used 1964. Not a bad consolation prize.
This body style was built from 1959 through 1966, and was the last to be built on the short wheelbase pickup chassis. In 1967, the Suburban migrated to the long-wheelbase frame, so it would be fair to say that these earlier short versions were really predecessors to the Tahoe.
These were popular utility vehicles at the time, in almost totally different use than today’s plush Suburban. The four wheel drive versions were extremely uncommon, as that necessitated a drastically jacked up body, a solid front axle, and very harsh springs. It was how lumber jacks were ferried into the wilds, not a passel of kids to school.
As is plain to see, the interiors back then were even more different from today’s Suburbans than the exteriors. Harsh steel almost everywhere. And only two doors. If you had the three seat version, getting to it required a maneuver the Marines might use in boot camp. The right front seat flipped forward, and one crawled past it and beyond the reduced-width second seat to get to the back seat. No wonder kids weren’t obese; they had a workout every time they got in the Suburban.
I have fond memories of a Suburban just like this. I worked at a tiny corner gas station in Towson on weekends during my junior year in high school, and because of my illicit driving issues, I still didn’t have my license. But there was a Suburban just like this at the station, used for parts and customer hauling. Out of desperation to keep my skills up, I would go back on Saturday nights and take the Suburban out for extended drives in the country, or whatever else was on the agenda.
It had the 250 six and the three-speed manual on the column. This was during the typical teen aged hating-on-stupid-sixes era, when visions of hemis and 427s danced in one’s head. But I was pleasantly surprised; with its fairly low (high numerically) gearing, the well-tuned six was brisker than I expected. And this was a fairly light vehicle. Obviously not fast, but responsive, with a certain willingness. The trick to sixes back then was to avoid the slushboxes.
Anyway, I spent many a Saturday night probing the limits of the Suburban on the winding back roads of Northern Baltimore County. Good experience! The skinny little tires had very little grip, the big (unassisted) steering wheel needed lots of flaying, and it had huge amounts of play. It probably replicated what GP racers dealt with in the early part of the 20th century. One just had to use a little imagination, which was never a problem for me. Inevitably, I got caught, when a customer saw me and snitched to the owner. He had not choice but to fire me. What I learned hanging on to that steering wheel for dear life was worth the humiliation in the end.
More by Paul Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
I too wondered if the picture is of a 1964. We had a 1964 and it had dual headlights. Ours may have been a fancier model, since it had chrome bumpers and more chrome trim than the one here. I think ours had an automatic, but I may be wrong. It had the cream/green paint job, and I think all four rear windows could slide open. We had the narrow second seat, but no third seat. It also had broken engine mounts and a speedometer that read much slower than the thing was moving. It had the 283 V8 and should never have been "floored". Several times, people "floored" it. Unknown to us, the broken engine mounts would allow the engine to shift and jam the throttle on full, resulting in early cases of Unintended Sudden Acceleration. It would take off like a rocket, and you'd be fighting the steering wheel to keep it in a straight line and on the road. Eventually this led to it hitting a brick building, but fortunately no one got hurt before we learned of the problem and got it fixed. Another time we were cruising in the fast lane on Hwy 401 through TO. I thought we were doing about 80. Years later, we discovered the speedometer error, and we had actually been doing 95MPH. It seemed quite stable and fairly quiet even at that speed. It could go that fast without straining. Anyway, I suddenly realized there was a pileup happening just ahead, across all 4 lanes. It was also downhill. I hit the brakes, locked the back wheels but not the fronts, and as they faded, I just kept standing on them harder. I decided it would be cheaper to smash the back end than the front end, and recalled Stirling Moss' recent big accident when he deliberately hit going backwards so he wouldn't be hurt as badly. So I put it into a spin, but got only sideways before slewing to a stop just 2 feet from the car ahead of me. Had I not "reduced the length" of the Suburban by putting it sideways, we would have hit. And it seemed stable going sideways. We must have traveled a very long distance under braking. Check behind, no one going to hit us. End of event. Phew. I remember catching up to and passing a police car one time on the 400 up near Barrie. We were well over the speed limit, but didn't know it because of the unknown faulty speedo. I remember he just looked at us as we went by, but didn't react. Eventually an inexplicable speeding ticket led to the determination the speedometer was off. Anyway, we had tons of good times in this thing, a versatile cross between a sedan and a truck. Rust eventually claimed it, out in Vancouver.
As a young un I was transported about in a 49 then a 54 Carryall. It didnt even have a radio. My father bought them used from MIT . He worked just up the street at Polaroid. They were essentially a panel truck with seats and windows. Looking back, the 50s were austere compared to modern glitz. But we didn't realize it , it was all we knew, and for the 'rents it was way better than the Depression and WWII.