What's Trent been driving?

One of my favorite cars of all time. That vintage Momo is forged from solid awesome. 

1972 BMW 3.0CSI. The glorious E9 coupe in fuel injected 3 liter M30 trim

Lets face it. I am a vintage BMW fanboy. I love the way they do what they do. I appreciate the way a 2002, E9 coupe, E30, E28, E36, E46 and E39 all have the same feel. If you like any one of them you will probably like them all. Hell, even crawling into an Isetta, grabbing the gear lever and selecting reverse will make you instantly go "this is a BMW!" Not sure what it is, but it is something I like.

Had occasion to shake this down again.

Triumph TR8

Wait..... that might not be the right car, it can get so hard to tell 

Another view for good measure.

1664 Thunderbird. 

Expensive cars to build/fix. There are a lot of little features that don't exist on other Fords of the era. We must have 30 hours into rebuilding the sliding steering column alone.

This one had an Edelbrock 400hp package thrown at the 390. It is a rapid and rowdy thing. The "Cruise-o-matic" is not a good transmission. I don't think it is gonna like the extra power in the long term. The lack of fuel economy is astonishing. It will probably do 4mpg when you are flogging it.

I for one appreciate the "Dusty rose" grandma spec color combo and hubcaps. True sleeper cruiser.

It also got a mild drop and some front disc brakes. A/C blows cold. Almost ready to go home!

In reply to Trent :

Is it that era of Thunderbird that has like 15 miles of hydraulics under the hood powering the wipers and all sorts of nonsense?

Or was someone fibbing to me?

Man - that e9 coupe. One of the prettiest cars of all time. 

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Trent :

Is it that era of Thunderbird that has like 15 miles of hydraulics under the hood powering the wipers and all sorts of nonsense?

Or was someone fibbing to me?

It's not as bad as that but, yeah. Hydraulic wipers. 

Which are pretty cool. infinitely variable wiper speed.

Trent said:

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Trent :

Is it that era of Thunderbird that has like 15 miles of hydraulics under the hood powering the wipers and all sorts of nonsense?

Or was someone fibbing to me?

It's not as bad as that but, yeah. Hydraulic wipers. 

Which are pretty cool. infinitely variable wiper speed.

Maybe I'm misremembering and he was griping about how much chrome there was to polish.  Never heard a guy bitch so much about a car he claimed to love.

It was Ford's Flagship. They packed as much "tech" into the cars as they could. Super complicated for the era.

In reply to dyintorace :

Gotta see "Knives Out".  Nice one there!

So, let's say Trent inherits a little extra scratch and decides to squander it on a biggish American cruiser.  What's the pick - Riviera or Thunderbird?

In reply to DarkMonohue :

You picked the right wrong question and I look forward to Trent's summary.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

Can I heavily modify it? 

In reply to Trent :

You can heavily modify to whatever extent your theoretical windfall allows. Given that they're only original once, and these are both classics worthy of a certain reverence, let's assume you start with a clean example and stay close to stock. Plan B would be to buy an absolutely irredeemable roach and go hog wild.

DarkMonohue said:

In reply to Trent :

You can heavily modify to whatever extent your theoretical windfall allows. Given that they're only original once, and these are both classics worthy of a certain reverence, let's assume you start with a clean example and stay close to stock. Plan B would be to buy an absolutely irredeemable roach and go hog wild.

I'd like to hear the choice(s?) for both Plans.

Visually the Tbird does little for me. I love the Riv so lets just go there

Modifications would be limited to suspension, wheels and tires and brakes. 

You could easily double the spring rate and the ride would still be plush. So lower, stiffer springs (not punishingly harsh, think 5 series BMW) some Konis and, big sway bars. Some spicy 4 wheel discs that could fit under the modern 17" version of the original wheels.

The big one is steering. How does one deal with the vague, floaty, overboosted 60's GM steering? Is there a box and pump swap? The steering feel is the real killer for me. Would lowering the pump pressure do anything other than make it feel broken?

In reply to Trent :

Interesting assessments.

While I appreciate the styling of the Thunderbird, it's a bit much, and would benefit from some decluttering. The Riv, on the other hand, has that crisp mid-60s GM panache that is tough to beat.

As far as GM steering goes, good question. My FSJ has the same one-finger Saginaw power steering, and in an elderly pickup that must be guided (and at a leisurely pace) more than driven, I don't mind it a bit. Some people do swap out the steering box for faster ratio boxes from other applications (typically Jeep ZJ) and replace rag joints with universal joints. Different OEM and aftermarket boxes and pumps are available and pump pressure can be reduced with washers. Saginaw stuff is everywhere, so support is good. One has options.

Some old iron has precious little caster. I wonder how much they spec for the Riviera.

Dangit... I'd swear Borgeson specifically had a power boost reduction kit for GM power steering; it even shows up in search results, but I can't find it on their site.

DarkMonohue said:

In reply to Trent :

 

Some old iron has precious little caster. I wonder how much they spec for the Riviera.

Service manual says 0-1 degree positive. I bet cranking it up to 5 would do wonders. 

Surely someone makes a new front clip for those that has updated geometry and a rack and pinion?

For a Buick Riviera? Surely not. Trent would probably build his own anyway.