The video you are about to watch was made by General Motors in the early 1980s to show the world just how serious they were about testing their products before they went to market. It shows off the facilities, the people, the fancy pants technology being used, and other important things, like slamming trunks closed in the Canadian cold. Yeah, we’re serious about the last part. The video in and of itself it not funny but the context of it is. All these people, all of this testing and yet the cars were horrible. Legitimately bad, but they were tested to the max and certified bad, apparently.
You’ll see some interesting stuff here, especially what looks like OBD1 that the GM engineers are plugging into with a tool to scan or load codes into the computer of the car. You’ll also see things like a crummy little J-bodied car slopping through the mud. One of the funny tests is depicted in the lead photo and that is the “tow test” to make sure that the cars still worked with existing towing technology of the day. It was like the engineers knew a hook was in the future of every car they were building so they better make them tow truck driver friendly.
There’s loads of wires, sensors, and claims in this video like doubling the mileage of the fleet between the early 1970s and the 1990s/2000s. If you are starting with 1973 as your model year to beat and double it may not be that hard. If you are starting with a late year it would be even harder because the air has gotten better as the exhaust has gotten more and more clean.
Bottom line, this is worth the watch and the smile.
