(I’ve never before quintuple-posted on a forum before.)
1964 PMI (US) Goodfella
Staying in the sixties, the PMI Goodfella was meant to be a people’s car first and foremost. The main design goal was an affordable car with a new 4-cylinder engine, offering 5 seats in decent comfort. The car had a relatively simple and cheap to produce engine coupled to a manual gearbox and a relatively cheap chassis as well, with double wishbone suspension in the front, but with a solid rear axle with coil springs.
The commercial department of PMI US insisted however that an 8-cylinder option should be offered as well, and so a V8 engine was developed next to and from the new 4-cylinder one, as the basis was two of those 4-cylinder engines strapped together in a 90° angle. The newly developed flat-plane crankshaft and optimization made this far more than just a paste job.
Commercial departments are not always right, but in this case they were. The 4-cylinder version did its job and the car certainly had its audience, but with 70HP it was underpowered for American audiences. The V8s, and certainly the one offered with automatic transmission, turned out to be more popular. Not that the V8 used qualified the Goodfella (a name legend tells us was born out of a shady meeting between a New York PMI marketing manager and some business associates) as a muscle car, producing only 166 horsepower. This notwithstanding the V8 manual was sold as a sport version of the car, offering place to only 4 people. The automatic version offered a more premium interior for 5 and was considered affordable, comfortable and utilitarian.
Style-wise the Goodfella was a nice car, although never considered one of the classics. Especially the front end was not considered particularly beautiful, yet it was modern and different for the time. The designed aged better than the engine and chassis. The Four and standard V8 were taken out of production in January 1968. The automatic V8 went on for another two years, but this was fairly limited. The main years of success were 1964-1966.
Four
Specifications
| Engine Specs | PMI USFC62a20 |
|---|---|
| Description | Inline-4, cast iron block and heads, cast crankshaft and forged conrods and pistons |
| Valvetrain | Pushrod – 2 valves per cylinder |
| Bore x Stroke | 86.0 mm x 89.5 mm |
| Displacement | 2080 cc |
| Aspiration | 2 single-barrel carburetors |
| Compression Ratio | 6.8:1 |
| Output | 70 HP @ 4200 rpm, 140 Nm @ 2600 rpm |
| Redline | 4700 rpm |
| Chassis Specs: | PMI Goodfella Four |
|---|---|
| Layout | Front-engined, RWD |
| Interior | 5 standard seats, basic AM radio |
| Chassis/Body | Galvanised steel ladder / Steel panels |
| Suspension | Double-wishbone F / Solid Axle Coil R |
| Driveline | 4-speed MT, open differential |
| Brakes | Drums F / Drums R |
| Curb Weight | 1103 kg |
| Weight Distribution | F:56% - R:44% |
| 0-100 km/h | 17,3 s |
| Top Speed | 145 km/h |
| 100-0 Braking Distance | 51,4 m |
| List Price, New | $ 7118 |
| Production Run | 1964-1968 |
| Examples Produced | 366700 |
V8
Specifications
| Engine Specs | PMI USEC64a42 |
|---|---|
| Description | V-8, 90°, cast iron block and heads, cast flatplane crankshaft and forged conrods and pistons |
| Valvetrain | Pushrod – 2 valves per cylinder |
| Bore x Stroke | 86.0 mm x 89.5 mm |
| Displacement | 4159 cc |
| Aspiration | 2 two-barrel carburetors |
| Compression Ratio | 6.8:1 |
| Output | 166 HP @ 4300 rpm, 303 Nm @ 2600 rpm |
| Redline | 4700 rpm |
| Chassis Specs: | PMI Goodfella V8 Sport | PMI Goodfella V8 Premium Automatic |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Front-engined, RWD | Front-engined, RWD |
| Interior | 4 premium seats, standard AM radio | 5 premium seats, premiumAM radio |
| Chassis/Body | Galvanised steel ladder / Steel panels | Galvanised steel ladder / Steel panels |
| Suspension | Double-wishbone F / Solid Axle Coil R | Double-wishbone F / Solid Axle Coil R |
| Driveline | 4-speed MT, open differential | 3-speed AT, open differential |
| Brakes | Drums F / Drums R | Discs F / Drums R |
| Curb Weight | 1304 kg | 1346 kg |
| Weight Distribution | F:58% - R:42% | F:58% - R:42% |
| 0-100 km/h | 9,6 s | 11,2 s |
| Top Speed | 189 km/h | 190 km/h |
| 100-0 Braking Distance | 55,6 m | 55,0 m |
| List Price, New | $ 10270 | $ 11262 |
| Production Run | 1964-1968 | 1964-1970 |
| Examples Produced | 136405 | 718900 |
