Originally posted by chevman32:
The closed drive line with torque tube driveshaft cover was quite common in most cars and light trucks from the beginning (early 1900's) until the '40's and '50's, most manufacturers changed to the open drive system in the early '50's, F**D changed in 1949 but Chevrolet hung on until 1955 ....
A little more. Some manufacturers continued using torque tubes into the 60's. Look under an early 60's Rambler as an example.
And in the 80's GM started using a variation of that approach in performance oriented rear-drive cars. Look under a Firebird or Camaro of the era, or all Corvettes starting in '84.
There are advantages to the torque tube approach, but for most of us with with old trucks its a trade off between originality and the ability to choose the rear gears and transmissions we want. The torque tube severly limits your choices.
