1970's 'big boats' - owned one of them?

[jorton]

Great shot from 1965. Is that a colorized b&w photo?

I bought a 69 LeSabre like this one in 1980 after I sold my motorcycle and moved from VA to Michigan. My wife and I and 5 friends could all ride to softball games together.

 

[willix]

These are the cars I have owned since 16 yrs of age(1974). I have never made a car payment in my life.

1965 Buick Electra 225 coupe
1961 Lincoln Continental
1966 Oldsmobile Delta 88
1961 GMC 1/2t long bed
1972 Ford Country Squire
1967 Buick Riviera
1971 Pinto
1967 Plymouth Barracuda(never ran)
1965 F-250 custom cab
1972 Buick Riviera
1973 Buick Riviera (parts car)
1950 Buick Special(project gone bust)
1972 Oldsmobile Toronado
1961 Pontiac Bonneville
1972 Oldmobile Toronado
1965 Buick Riviera
1966 Buick Riviera (parts car)
1977 Buick Electra Limited

1976 Century Coronado 21'11" inboard w/Mercruiser Bluewater 350hp/454

1976 Jeep Wagoneer
1985 Oldsmobile Ciera
1974 Buick Centurion conv.
1975 Jeep Wagoneer
1974 Jeep J-4000
1989 Ford Taurus SHO
1989 Ford Taurus SHO
1989 Ford Taurus SHO
1989 Ford Taurus SHO(parts car)
1989 Ford Taurus SHO(Parts car)
1991 Ford Taurus SHO(parts car)
1992 Subaru Legacy 2.2 w/turbo
1996 Ford Taurus SHO
1995 Cadillac Eldorado
1996 Cadillac Eldorado(current driver)

Gee wizz, that's more junk than I relized. Only one "boat" though

 

[hr1940]

I have had a 1968 Pontiac Tempest LeMans and we got rid of it 9 months after we bought it new. It was a lemon in capital letters - blew 4 cam shafts, ignition shorted and the dash caught on fire (6 days old and the day Tony left for Vietnam) and that was just starters on the problems. In 1978 a Pontiac Bonneville Brougham. My first automatic and I loved it.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: jorton
Great shot from 1965. Is that a colorized b&w photo?
Nope. It is a smallish print on Kodak Color process paper. My Scanner (8920 OneTouch) may have shifted saturation and balance a bit.

 

[fdcg27]

I turned sixteen in 1972.
I got to drive our Corvair, and later our Vega.
However, the family cars included, new, a '73 Kingswood Estate wagon, a '73 Caprice four door sedan (white, 350), a '74 Caprice four door sedan (medium brown with light tan vinyl roof, 350), a '75 Caprice four door hardtop six window (no B post, widow in the C post, actually quite graceful looking, red, black vinyl top, 305, I think). This car had radials, a rear bar, and posi, and handled pretty well for what it was.
We later had downsized B bodies, including a '77 Caprice four door in two-tone blue, as well as a '79 in biege with F41, which made a real difference.
We also had a '76 Nova Concours four door with F41 and a 350. The Nova of that era had a greenhouse obviously copied from the then current five series BMW, although the Nova had a much higher cowl and beltline. This car was silver, and did look and drive pretty good.
We briefly had an early Monza hatchback with the 262.
A very attractive car, with no interior room at all.

 

[Papa Bear]

The biggest car I owned was a 1970 Bonneville Brougham 4 dr 455 C.I.

I had taken my '68 Riviera in for an oil change and got drinking beer with the G.M. dealer in his office... went home with a Bonneville.

Mama Bear was NOT happy.

 

[Smokescreen]

My dad had a 1978 Ford Custom 500 2 door...the only criteria for him buying it at that time was that could it fit a family of 8, and could it start at -20. He wasn't a very discerning buyer then...

 

[Frbl]

1976 Buick Riviera - I always thought it should have life rings mounted on the doors. It had some quirks, but I do miss that car. For some reason we couldn't get replacement springs and when we needed some on the front end we had to ask an aircraft repair shop to make some custom ones for us.

 

[SteveSRT8]

70 Impala 4 door.

No pillar between the doors

 

[dhise]

I learned to drive in my dad's '72 Buick Electra 225. I've owned a couple of huge cars myself. A '77 Ford LTD four door, a great car that never gave me any problems other than horrible gas mileage! Also had a '78 Lincoln Town Car which was even bigger(?!) than the LTD and drank even more gas! but it was quite the luxurious smooth highway cruiser.

 

[Malo83]

Owned a 74 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ back when with the 400/400 Powertrain and was awesome, always regret getting rid of it, looked exactly like the pic below,


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[UncleS2]

Way back when, the nicest family car we ever had was a big blue & white Ford LTD- 1968 or 69 model. Not 70's but mighty close! 390 V8- but only 2 bbl carb, single exhaust, reasonably healthy, lotsa torque, but not a Road Monster.

Near the same time, my best friend's dad found himself a deal on a 67? 68? Chrysler New Yorker with a 440 V8, factory 4-bbl carb & dual exhaust. You want to talk about a full size, big boat Road Monster, that New Yorker was hard to beat.

 

[RTexasF]

My first car was a '62 Bonneville Convertible.......can't get much bigger. That was until I got a '65 Mercury station wagon, and a '73 Mercury station wagon with three seats. Also had a '79 full size Chevy along with others of that ilk. I've owned plenty of "Boats" in my time.

I marvel at the way even the cheapest car handles now compared to the Queen Mary's of yesteryear. They went straight like a bat out of Hades, just don't try to turn or stop!

 

[OVERKILL]

I grew up around large cars.

My grandmother had a 1972 Cadillac Eldorado:

Followed by a 1975 Lincoln Town Coupe (identical to this one):

Growing up, we had two wagons. The second was the one I learned to drive on, it looked like this (1986 Olds Custom Cruiser), but all burgundy and no wood panelling:

My first car was a 1974 Olds Cutlass Supreme:

I still own this old girl, 1989 Town Car, which belonged to my dad:

 

[01rangerxl]

I've never been around many large sedans or wagons. My parents were never into big cars. The biggest sedan they have owned to date was a Taurus. The biggest wagon was a Zephyr, that I never even saw (it was traded in on a Cherokee a couple years before I was born).

I remember when I was in elementary school one of my friends' parents had a late 80s or early 90s Ford Country Squire wagon, white with full wood trim and a red interior. It was a cool car, especially when we got to ride in the very back.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Some of them were 71,73,75,79 Caddy Coupe De' Villes... Bought each Caddy 2 years old...My first car was a used fully loaded high mileage 67 Oldsmoble 98...After the 88 Lincolon Town Car [300K miles] I became a Panther Aholic.

My dad [may he RIP] drove mostly LTD's and Crown Vics...My mom drove mostly Impalas...Her first car with factory a/c was a 62 Oldsmoble 88..After that we made sure our cars had factory A/C.

In the late 60's threw the late 70's the only cars that would not overheat in heavy traffic [with the a/c on] were the full size V8 cars...Most of the 4 cyl and V6 cars would be overheating all over the city streets in the hot humid summer.

I put over 100K miles on each one of those cars.

 

[mrsilv04]

Dad had a 1973 Buick Electra Limited 4 door hardtop, and a 1976 Buick Electra Limited 4 door hardtop.... both with 455 V8's.

He'd enjoy nothing more than getting either one out on the interstate and setting the cruise at 80 and letting the miles just fly by.

When I learned to drive, the driver's ed car was a 1978 Impala Station Wagon in Metallic Pea Green.

 

[87sammy]

Not a car , but here's my 70's boat.

 

[NHHEMI]

I was only a kid in the late 60's and early 70's but family members drove some of the big boats( Impala, Caddy's, etc... ). As I got older and got into muscle cars and older vehicles I had a few. My favorite was an old 1970 Dodge Polara police interceptor. It only had the 383 which surprised me as the PI's generally had the 440's but that thing flew for a big old boat. I rebuilt the engine and drove it for a couple years. Nice and roomy and a joy to drive. Very smooth. MPG actually wasn't horrendous either if I kept my foot out of it. I could squeak 20 MPG highway out of it.

 

[CharBaby]

I still think that some of the older cars are still quieter than the newer ones and, I don't hear quite as well as I did then. I remember being soothed by the driving experience back then compared to today. Almost made me fall asleep(not a good thing). Maybe Im wrong!

I've had a 1980 T-Bird that was so quiet, I thought my ears were going to pop! The interior was an errie kind of quiet that one experiences in a sound proof room when taking a hearing test...the test with a set of head phones and all of those different beeps on either side of the head phones. But the Lincoln's(especially Lincoln) and Caddy's of yesterday seem to be quieter than the new ones.