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

[Benzadmiral]

Overk1ll, that Cutlass Supreme coupe was, I believe, the bestselling car in America during the mid- to late '70s. Easy to see why!

My biggest land yacht was the '65 Mercury Park Lane, the giant 4-door with the Breezeway electric rear window that slid down behind the rear seat. With all the windows, including those triangular vent windows, open, and the back one as well, I could drive on the highway on a cloudy summer morning and not need the A/C. Which was good and cold, by the way. White car, maroon leather interior. It ate tires, which were bias-ply or belted tires, but a new set only cost about $100 in the early '80s.

The 390 Thunderbird V-8 ran fine on regular, but the best mpg I ever got with it was on a road trip to the Gulf Coast: 15 mpg. That was with three other people in the car, but still, that was not great. But I'd bought it for $500 in 1981, and had no car payment.

Like a 1980s Cadillac I drove briefly in 2001, the steering was loose and rather vague, but that was part of the experience, I suppose. I always wanted to have it repainted, but never seemed to get the money together. Memories . . .

 

[VNTS]

Yes people on here need to experience the Tourque of a 440 RB in a B Body.

My father has a 69 Road Runner A12 440 6bbl. Real sweet when the carbs kick in

Car runs awesome, bought it in 1993, original owner was an old lady who ordered it. 727 with Coulumn shofter, Vit C Orange, Black vynil top, bench seat, and of course trac pac and hemi suspension, fiberglass pin on hood, and the steal wheels with chrome lugs

I replaced the rear springs with new ones from Year One, put new carpet in it and fixed the carbs for him. He has been offered over 150K$ for it.
Of course he though he was getting riped off when he paid 16K for it

Sad part is back in 1978 I told him to buy up a bunch of em when I was in high school, he wouldnt listen. Wasted money on a [censored] Accord for gas mileage. I still needle him and ask him if his rot bucket Accord appreciated like the Road Runner, after all they were both car of the year

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: occupant

I don't think I'd want one. Sure I'd buy it, I'd drive it, but it wouldn't be a keeper like my Torino.


I had dreamed of owning a Mopar big-block 2-door for years (the one I wanted was a 68 or 69 Charger R/T, of course). But by the time I could finally afford a real R/T- which turned out to be a Coronet and not a Charger, which I'm now glad of because its more unique- I realized that I'd never really log a lot of time in it. There's just too much risk of a wreck, hailstorm, parking lot damage, etc. The 4-door boat is my way of logging thousands of miles behind a powerful big-block without having to worry about minor scrapes, and its served that purpose VERY well

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
70 Impala 4 door.

No pillar between the doors


AKA a "four-door hardtop." See the picture of my '66 Polara on the first page of this thread- taken with the windows down.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
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.


My mom had one of those also. Blue with a white top, with the "bar graph" speedometer that turned from green to orange at about 30 mph and from orange to red at 70 mph. Big, powerful, fast highway cruiser. It had a fairly high-compression engine (Olds 393 IIRC) that was really temperamental with regard to state of tune- let the spark plugs get a little foul, the points worn, or plug wires bad and it would idle so roughly that the steering wheel would buzz up and down 1/2 inch. Mom hated that, having previously owned a '54 New Yorker with a 331 Hemi that ran like polished glass, so they sold the Olds for a smaller (still big by today's standards), much better-mannered '66 Plymouth Satellite with the old 361 big-block engine. Both of those are cars I wish I could have now, but they're long gone.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: VNTS
Yes people on here need to experience the Tourque of a 440 RB in a B Body.


Back in 1994 when I first dragged the '69 R/T home and got it running... I swear I involuntarily cackled like the Wicked Witch of the West the first time I put the loud pedal down. Yes, many modern cars are faster by the stopwatch- but they're just too wussy and mild-mannered. A 60's big-block (I don't care if its a Ford, Olds, Pontiac, Buick, Mopar, whatever) kicks your kidneys up into your armpits and your eyeballs to the back of your skull while the noise squeezes your eardrums to the middle of your head. There's just nothing else like it, and either you love it or you just don't care. I'm definitely in the "love it" column.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Torque nasty to me, BABY!

 

[occity79]

My first car I bought in 1978, a metallic rust red Chryler New Yorker 1966, with the standard 440 4 barrel carb, and tan cloth seats. Dash was all painted cast metal with chrome trim and seats were truly wide and comfy. Ride was OK, but not as plush as a modern Grand Marquis or Lesabre. Mine detonated a lot I think it had a lot of carbon on the pistons, or the timing was off. I kept her all original and later gave her to my brother.

 

[daves87rs]

Seeing all these boats reminds me why I want one...

 

[meep]

I know, different league, but I have to share...

As my parents were forced to drive miserly cars, the biggest thing we had (we'll ignore the 84 stickshift vanagon) was my great-grandomother's 57 chevy 4-door, 2 speed auto with the 283, 2bbl carb.

manual steering, big 'ole wheel, itty bitty little manual brake pedal and 4 wheel drums.

this was "my car" in that i maintained it and therefore drove it. brakes manually adjusted every 1000 miles... effortless steering on road, but parking it was not for the weak.

while non-balanced, 4 wheel drums always lock the rear before the front goes to work, a normal person could indeed stop the car with one leg. Why 2,200 lb escorts needed power brakes always amazed me as a result.

You never heard that engine. you'd hear the shhhhhhooooo sound of air intake, and the tone only came if you got into it.

Turning was... well, the tires would roll on those 14" wheels, the body would lean, and without seatbelts, everyone would slide to the far side of either bench.

The roofline was so luxuriously high than even in torrential rains, you felt like you were in a sunroom, nice and dry. there were lever-operated vents that would duct air from above the headlamps through the firewall, and you'd get a huge breeze at your feet, and the heat had two choices, single wide floor vent or defrost. It was always cozy in the winter once it warmed up.

That 2 speed would rev to 3 grand at 65. people tell me these cars would do 100. I just didn't get it. The wheel had 7" of play, the brakes were about as effective as a jetliner's, and the gearing just didn't work out for those speeds.

Below 45-50 mph, it was a just a beautiful car to drive. Above that and things would get busy.

The sealed beam headlamps threw 0 light. once halogens came out in the 80s, your night vision was wrecked and your own beams were useless. I recall a city-wide power outage one night, and I drove all over town. The pee-yellow glow was actually very soothing, the grassy lawns all looked so calming under the warmer glow. The gauges had little green windows beneath them to cast a glow on the switches mounted on the grey metal dash below, so this soft green glow was splashed on your keys, legs, front cabin.

Highbeam switch at your left toe ROCKED. those need to come back!

lotsa room under the hood, and there needed to be. as it aged, every hour of driving seemed to work out to 30 minutes of "hood time." Sold it 2 years back to the mailman. in 9 months he completed a full frame-off restoration. I miss the car, but he gave it the attention it deserved.

Mike

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: meep
I know, different league, but I have to share...

As my parents were forced to drive miserly cars, the biggest thing we had (we'll ignore the 84 stickshift vanagon) was my great-grandomother's 57 chevy 4-door, 2 speed auto with the 283, 2bbl carb.

manual steering, big 'ole wheel, itty bitty little manual brake pedal and 4 wheel drums.

this was "my car" in that i maintained it and therefore drove it. brakes manually adjusted every 1000 miles... effortless steering on road, but parking it was not for the weak.

while non-balanced, 4 wheel drums always lock the rear before the front goes to work, a normal person could indeed stop the car with one leg. Why 2,200 lb escorts needed power brakes always amazed me as a result.

You never heard that engine. you'd hear the shhhhhhooooo sound of air intake, and the tone only came if you got into it.

Turning was... well, the tires would roll on those 14" wheels, the body would lean, and without seatbelts, everyone would slide to the far side of either bench.

The roofline was so luxuriously high than even in torrential rains, you felt like you were in a sunroom, nice and dry. there were lever-operated vents that would duct air from above the headlamps through the firewall, and you'd get a huge breeze at your feet, and the heat had two choices, single wide floor vent or defrost. It was always cozy in the winter once it warmed up.

That 2 speed would rev to 3 grand at 65. people tell me these cars would do 100. I just didn't get it. The wheel had 7" of play, the brakes were about as effective as a jetliner's, and the gearing just didn't work out for those speeds.

Below 45-50 mph, it was a just a beautiful car to drive. Above that and things would get busy.

The sealed beam headlamps threw 0 light. once halogens came out in the 80s, your night vision was wrecked and your own beams were useless. I recall a city-wide power outage one night, and I drove all over town. The pee-yellow glow was actually very soothing, the grassy lawns all looked so calming under the warmer glow. The gauges had little green windows beneath them to cast a glow on the switches mounted on the grey metal dash below, so this soft green glow was splashed on your keys, legs, front cabin.

Highbeam switch at your left toe ROCKED. those need to come back!

lotsa room under the hood, and there needed to be. as it aged, every hour of driving seemed to work out to 30 minutes of "hood time." Sold it 2 years back to the mailman. in 9 months he completed a full frame-off restoration. I miss the car, but he gave it the attention it deserved.

Mike


Awesome, awesome story. I have to ask - what oil was part of your maintenance routine?

 

[meep]

HA!! cardboard cans, penzoil, Valvoline, we avoided quaker state in the 80's... always 10-40. stab the spout into the jug, pour it in, often. sometimes it saw leftover 20-50. We converted it to a spin-on filter... originally used a cartridge type-- a heavy steel can, 3.5" wide by 7.5" (IIRC) tall with a 8.5" bolt that ran through it. what a mess.

it burned a lot of oil, and it produced a TON of blowby. G-gma NEVER touched the throttle, as it'd do 18 on it's own, so the cylinders were so warn from under-lubrication that we bored it out 40 over at 80,000 miles. Unfortunately, the machinist closed his doors during the time it took me to reassemble the engine, so when I discovered the main oil journal was cracked during the the boring process, I had no recourse. It dripped 1 qt per 90 minutes. The oil pump factory regulated to max 27 psi, if you can believe that... At higher revs, or when cold, it'd hit 32.

little known history of that car. there's a dip in the rear doors at the window sill, the fancy trim on the tailfin. the designer never admitted the theme until his deathbed.

stand the car up on the back fins. The fin/bumper becomes a high-heel shoe. the trim becomes the slit up the dress. the dip at the door is where her leg meets her hip...

also, the 283 was never prototyped, tested. went straight from paper to factory, in fear that if ford came to market first, chevy would go under. they punted, and the 283 was a fantastic motor.

M

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: meep
HA!! cardboard cans, penzoil, Valvoline, we avoided quaker state in the 80's... always 10-40. stab the spout into the jug, pour it in, often. sometimes it saw leftover 20-50. We converted it to a spin-on filter... originally used a cartridge type-- a heavy steel can, 3.5" wide by 7.5" (IIRC) tall with a 8.5" bolt that ran through it. what a mess.

it burned a lot of oil, and it produced a TON of blowby. G-gma NEVER touched the throttle, as it'd do 18 on it's own, so the cylinders were so warn from under-lubrication that we bored it out 40 over at 80,000 miles. Unfortunately, the machinist closed his doors during the time it took me to reassemble the engine, so when I discovered the main oil journal was cracked during the the boring process, I had no recourse. It dripped 1 qt per 90 minutes. The oil pump factory regulated to max 27 psi, if you can believe that... At higher revs, or when cold, it'd hit 32.

little known history of that car. there's a dip in the rear doors at the window sill, the fancy trim on the tailfin. the designer never admitted the theme until his deathbed.

stand the car up on the back fins. The fin/bumper becomes a high-heel shoe. the trim becomes the slit up the dress. the dip at the door is where her leg meets her hip...

also, the 283 was never prototyped, tested. went straight from paper to factory, in fear that if ford came to market first, chevy would go under. they punted, and the 283 was a fantastic motor.

M


Awesome stuff - thanks!

I can believe the stuff about the design - no limits on what was done back then. This was high-tech 'naughtiness'!!!

Not suprised about no testing on the 283 - AFAIK, it was just a bigger 265. The 265 was a proven design, it was just a bit underpowered.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: occity79
My first car I bought in 1978, a metallic rust red Chryler New Yorker 1966, with the standard 440 4 barrel carb,

Mine detonated a lot I think it had a lot of carbon on the pistons, or the timing was off.



It may have had those problems, but more likely it was just having trouble digesting the wretched low-lead or unleaded gas of that era. My '66 still had a 383 at that time and I pretty much had to either run premium unleaded or add octane boost. Leaded regular was still available, but the octane rating was pretty low. Late 70s gas also cost me a lot of money with the 73 318 I had in college. It would diesel frequently in hot weather and the timing chain was loose enough (200k on the original plastic cam gear- dumb college kid me didn't think about that) that it jumped time when the engine kicked back one time. Broke off a valve head and wedged it into the top of a piston.

Rebuilt it with a dual roller chain and never had that problem again.

 

[HM12460]

Numerous Ford LTD's, mostly 2 doors. Sold the last one 2 years ago. It was a '74 model 2 door and i wished i had kept it. My favorite was a 1977 LTD Landau, 2 door with the 351M engine in it.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
My grandmother had a 1972 Cadillac Coupe Deville that had the 501 V8. It was like riding in your living room. Man that was a BEAUTIFUL car. I wish I would`ve been old enough to drive it.


Do you think it burned more gas than my Camry Hybrid?

Sorry, I couldn't resist! I recall these glorious land yachts from my teen years (born in 61). One wonders what we'd be driving today had the A-rabs not gotten frisky about oil supply and prices (Hey everyone, check out the pics of my new, 6000 lb Toyota Sumo!).

 

[opus1]

Well, ekpolk, put 2-3 average adults into a Toyota Sequioa and you'll have the same curb weight....

I, too, couldn't resist.

I drove my Dad's '71 Buick LeSabre, and eventually owned the family's '75 Impala.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

My first car was a '70 Grand Prix Model J. Not the same level of "boat" as most of the above, but the nose was engineered to be 1/2" longer than the LTD in 1969. It had a 400 4-barrel with the same specs as the non-Ram Air GTO. Turbo 400 and 2.93 gears, 4000 lbs. on the grain elevator's scale. It had lost at least a few pounds to rust by the time I got it. It ran a best of 15.7 at 91 mph with open headers. It might have been quicker stock with those gears, but I had put in a bigger cam as part of an overhaul before the first dragstrip run.

Granted, I didn't grow up in a street racing hotbed, but I can only remember losing one race--and that was after the guy let out his 200-lb passenger and we ran again. It surprised a kid with a 302 Camaro and a '65 Corvette, among others. A few years after I got rid of the car (left turn in front of a drunk driver), I saw one running tens at a dragstrip near Albany, NY. The owner had a fiberglass hood custom made. I can tell you that moving the stock hood was not a one-man job.

I have driven faster and more responsive vehicles since then, but there was nothing like the feel of that big nose lifting up and the sound of the Q-jet bawling.

 

[Propflux01]

I drove that same model J the first night I had my license! as much as that car weighed in, it still would scoot! And with a set of 22" glasspacks on duals, it had a sound I still remember fondly today! With that nose and the 4 smaller headlights, to me it was the best looking of all the big GP's.

 

[ffracer]

My Dad had a 78 Chevrolet Caprice wagon.

It had just about everything I can't stand in cars rolled into one:
1. It was heavy. I like light cars.
2. It didn't handle worth a [censored] or really at all. But better than a Ford E-350 Econoline van of the time.
3. it rode like a sofa ('good ride"), which I could care less about.
4. It had an automatic, and a [censored] one at that.
5. It was incredibly unreliable.
6. It was slow and unresponsive.
7. It got mediocre gas mileage, before you factor in mediocre performance.
8. they were obviously drunk when it was assembled, as little lined up.
9. It rusted before the warranty was done in one year.
10. It was really ugly with faux wood panelling, rust, and misaligned parts.

I'm just getting ill thinking about it now!

 

[Scdevon]

Originally Posted By: ffracer
My Dad had a 78 Chevrolet Caprice wagon.

It had just about everything I can't stand in cars rolled into one:
1. It was heavy. I like light cars.
2. It didn't handle worth a [censored] or really at all. But better than a Ford E-350 Econoline van of the time.
3. it rode like a sofa ('good ride"), which I could care less about.
4. It had an automatic, and a [censored] one at that.
5. It was incredibly unreliable.
6. It was slow and unresponsive.
7. It got mediocre gas mileage, before you factor in mediocre performance.
8. they were obviously drunk when it was assembled, as little lined up.
9. It rusted before the warranty was done in one year.
10. It was really ugly with faux wood panelling, rust, and misaligned parts.

I'm just getting ill thinking about it now!


These were the dark ages of American cars. GM was the worst. It wasn't unusual to open the front doors and count 7 (!!!!) shims stuffed under the rear fender bolt on these cars in an attempt to get body panels to line up.