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From: Hank Dozier
Email: [email protected]
Remote Name: 192.75.238.204
Date: July 03, 2002
Time: 07:26:52
While I admit from an ease of tunig standpoint that the 57-up torsion-aire systems were superior to the previous kingpin front suspensions, I want to stress that the 55/56 kingpin fronts on the large chassis Chrysler/DeSoto/Imperial cars was the best of the kingpin units, and in terms of handling, equal to anything on the road at the time. The C-300 and the 1956 300b/Adventurer suspension used a unique kingpin setup that was not replicated by the rest of the line (with exception of the D-500-1). The handling was exceptional, as evidenced by Kiekhaefer's and others domination of the NASCAR events those two years with both Chryslers and Dodges. The killer for this front end was COST. If you look at all the bearing and wear surfaces that are on a kingpin setup versus the ball-joint torsion-bar suspension, you can get a feel for why the switch was made. I think that my 1956 Adventurer will handle every bit as well as the later 1957-up varieties. It just costs $1000.00 to completely rebuild the front end (Kanter charges $430.00 for a small chassis deluxe kit). Bottom line is that I think overall an in-line torsion bar setup is the best from handling/cost/ride and layout. But the kingpin was no slouch either as executed by Chrysler!
