Has anyone driven one lately? I have fond memories of my 74 and 76 98 regency’s and the early 80s Fleetwood broughams I had.
I kind of want one but.
Has anyone driven one lately? I have fond memories of my 74 and 76 98 regency’s and the early 80s Fleetwood broughams I had.
I kind of want one but.
I'll never forget my '76 T-bird.
My first car was a '72. It developed a case of flat cam and rod knock, so I parked it a bit, and bought a Subaru GL wagon from a friend. (Yes, with the high/low range transmission) I bought a '76 T-bird for a few hundred bucks for its engine, but the rest of the car was in better shape than my '72 so I just drove it instead.
After 20-odd thousand miles of driving the Subaru, I drove the '76 for a while and said, damn, big cars like this really freakin' suck.
After that T-bird, that Subaru was the largest car I owned until about three months ago when I bought teh R. I still have misgivings over how gigantic teh R is.
Wow. No. I owned a very nice, very original '76 Olds Cutlass. Olds 350 with a 4-bbl Quadrajet. Okay off the line, but it topped out around 80 mph. Twelve mpg. I would routinely bottom the suspension on little dips in the pavement. All in all, a decent car for tootling around town, but rather unpleasant in any other duty.
1988RedT2 said:Wow. No. I owned a very nice, very original '76 Olds Cutlass. Olds 350 with a 4-bbl Quadrajet. Okay off the line, but it topped out around 80 mph. Twelve mpg. I would routinely bottom the suspension on little dips in the pavement. All in all, a decent car for tootling around town, but rather unpleasant in any other duty.
That Olds had a lot of stuff wrong with it. My Moms 77 topped out a wee bit on the high side of 120...Or so, based on the round 85mph speedo. The task was to try to put the needle to the wrong side of the zero pin.
Bouncy bouncy.
I think they might be a nice change from some of the tight suspension cars these days. Especially with some of the super crappy roads you might run into.
Have you considered and AMC... bouncy, bouncy...
I used to have a '71 Pontiac Catalina. It was a great car; it always started in the winter (and was a beast in the snow) and was a great highway cruiser. It handled surprisingly well for such a large car, too. Unfortunately, rust eventually killed it.
I loved my 81 marquis 2 door. Was a fantastic car for eating up miles. It wasn't stock though. Rode fantastic
I daily the Miata.
Once a week or two, I drive the kids ElCo around the block.
It is freakin awesome.
If it were luxo barge size, it would probably be even more freakiner awesomer.
I had a 78 Sedan DeVille. Dropped it 2” on impala SS springs and tossed on the impala sway bars, the 3.08 limited slip disc brake rear and 17’s. It still felt like riding on a cloud
I had one. Here it is, photographed in 1986:
It was my first car, a 1977 Mercury Cougar XR7. I loved it, of course, but it was dog slow with the 351M, and was lucky to get 10 mpg with 16-year-old me driving. The steering feel could best be described as theoretical. That is, the steering wheel was connected to to the front wheels in theory.
I think some of those cars look cool, but functionally, they were awful in just about every way. I suspect that nostalgia is making them seem better than they actually were.
70s and 80s german luxobarges are the correct answer
One of my 98s had an optional generator as well as an alternator. There were so many electrical things in it.
I'd love to find an affordable 77-79 Lincoln Continental Town Car(not Mark) survivor, but I think that barge has long since sailed. I'd probably need to extend the garage if I ever did find one.
It's interesting how this crowd defines "barge." To me (possibly just because of the rhyme) a barge has to be large. The OP started talking about pre-downsizing Regency's. Now THOSE were barges – although the guy across the street from us who bought a new '71 could wheel it like a kiddy car. A Cutlass or a Cougar? They were just mid-sized at the time.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
I have to agree, I don't think anything with an olds 350 and a Q-jet can be that slow. With the highway gears that they all came with the speedo was only good for second gear.
I think most of these cars were pretty terrible by today's standards, but luckily they can be easily "improved" to be quite fun. The engines were, in a lot of cases, simply de-tuned and smogged-up versions of the same hot 60's plants, so power can be restored somewhat easily. Disc brakes were by then pretty much de-facto at least on the front wheels, so stopping isn't too bad. Likewise, by the 70's everything has dual circuit brakes, safety glass, 3 point belts, collapsible steering columns...and these barges weigh as much as a Suburban, so there's some degree of safety there. Suspension design was definitely more towards the "floaty" rather than "firm" end of the spectrum, but a lot of these cars were still offering police packages, so better springs and sway bars can be had, and decent shocks are a mouse click away. They look pretty good riding on 16" or 17" wheels, too. And tires are far and away loads better than they were back when Ford was president.
My pick, based on experience:
'73-'78 Ford/ Mercury Fullsizers. A barge ain't a barge unless it's got a big block under the hood. This one's $2500. That's like 50 cents a pound.
I daily drove a 79 Mercedes 450SEL that I bought for $600. It had a 4.5 v8 and abs brakes, it was nice. A new set of shocks ($150 a set) would've did it some good.
I love the hips on the Lincoln Mark 3
I think some black steel wheels with raised yellow lettering tires it would make it look nice.
This '70 Riviera with a 455 looks sweet for $950.
https://smd.craigslist.org/cto/d/1970-buick-riviera/6521485463.html
In reply to Furious_E :
Wow. That is a _very_ good deal
All my first cars were 70's crap, and I do not miss those days. I do miss that I could fix literally anything with a hammer and a set of sockets, but everything else sucked.
All I know is that everytime I see one I automatically think how much they could be improved by bagging them.
Streetwiseguy said:1988RedT2 said:Wow. No. I owned a very nice, very original '76 Olds Cutlass. Olds 350 with a 4-bbl Quadrajet. Okay off the line, but it topped out around 80 mph. Twelve mpg. I would routinely bottom the suspension on little dips in the pavement. All in all, a decent car for tootling around town, but rather unpleasant in any other duty.
That Olds had a lot of stuff wrong with it. My Moms 77 topped out a wee bit on the high side of 120...Or so, based on the round 85mph speedo. The task was to try to put the needle to the wrong side of the zero pin.
As the young man who owned the car, I thought the same thing and did what I could to correct it. The car ran very well, started right up, idled smooth as silk. I rebuilt the carburetor and replaced the cat, plugs, wire, and all the usual maintenance items. Nothing. Good, dependable car, but slooooow. Keep in mind, HP was 170, Torque was 275 lb-ft. Curb weight was 4000 lb. According to automobile-catalog.com, stock 1/4-mile was 18.4 seconds at 78 mph. It might have gone faster than 80, but who's got that kind of time?
I'm a very nostalgic kind of guy, but the American iron from the mid-70's IS THE REASON the Japanese and other imports kicked our butts in the marketplace. The cars were just plain bad, and only those suffering from senility are singing their praises today.
1988RedT2 said:I'm a very nostalgic kind of guy, but the American iron from the mid-70's IS THE REASON the Japanese and other imports kicked our butts in the marketplace. The cars were just plain bad, and only those suffering from senility are singing their praises today.
Quoted for truth.
These are the cars I grew up with. The cars I compare all other cars to and nothing else can live up to this image of what a car should be. I love the styling. I love that ride quality which is unsurpassed today, cars built after these are too stiff.
I want one, a full size coupe. On air. Modern fuel efficient drivetrain. And just cruise.
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