1973: Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial (Chrysler) (convertible, cars, money, deals)

[The Continental]

I've owned all three brands of cars. Well technically not an Imperial, but a Chrysler. Within the last year I've had the chance to buy a 76 Deville and 72 Brougham. I probably would have got the Brougham, but it was an ugly yellowish green puke looking color and had some weird vinyl interior. If I'm not mistaken, the 73 Imperial is the longest car then 78 Continental and 76 Brougham.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by The Continental

I've owned all three brands of cars. Well technically not an Imperial, but a Chrysler. Within the last year I've had the chance to buy a 76 Deville and 72 Brougham. I probably would have got the Brougham, but it was an ugly yellowish green puke looking color and had some weird vinyl interior. If I'm not mistaken, the 73 Imperial is the longest car then 78 Continental and 76 Brougham.

The '73 Imperial was 235.3" long, the '76 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was 233.7" and the '78 Lincoln Continental was 233.0".

It was best that you passed up that '72 Brougham because it is better to buy a car in the color you like.

[rlrl]

if you owned a 72 or 73 chrysler, did they ride noisier than the cadillac and lincoln. chrysler products, even the big ones typically had higher noise levels than the competition until about 76 and after

[Tennesseestorm]

Originally Posted by The Continental

Within the last year I've had the chance to buy 72 Brougham.

I would love to have a 1972 Fleetwood Brougham. My uncle bought one about 6 years ago off of a buddy of his for $300 that was in excellent shape!!! When he went to pick it up, the guy he had bought it from, well, his wife had vandalized it, along with three other cars that belonged to her husband. She didnt know he had already sold the Cadillac to my uncle! The man he bought it from had kept blankets on the seats and carpeting! She lit all of the cars interior on fire... it was mostly smoke/water damage to the Cadillac though as the man was able to run out and douse water inside the cars. That woman needed to be horsewhipped! Amazingly, my uncle was still able to drive it home... he said it drove like a new car, but didnt think it was worth fixing back up... he removed the drivetrain and had the rest of the car crushed. It was that beautiful silver-blue with the leather/cloth interior combo.

Originally Posted by Fleet

The '73 Imperial was 235.3" long, the '76 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was 233.7" and the '78 Lincoln Continental was 233.0".

Wow, those were some long cars! We had a 71, 76 and 78 Lincoln Continental and I had a 72 Sedan DeVille of course.... I remember that they were not easy to dock into parking spaces, even when we owned them in the 80s-early 90s.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by Tennesseestorm

I would love to have a 1972 Fleetwood Brougham. My uncle bought one about 6 years ago off of a buddy of his for $300 that was in excellent shape!!! When he went to pick it up, the guy he had bought it from, well, his wife had vandalized it, along with three other cars that belonged to her husband. She didnt know he had already sold the Cadillac to my uncle! The man he bought it from had kept blankets on the seats and carpeting! She lit all of the cars interior on fire... it was mostly smoke/water damage to the Cadillac though as the man was able to run out and douse water inside the cars. That woman needed to be horsewhipped! Amazingly, my uncle was still able to drive it home... he said it drove like a new car, but didnt think it was worth fixing back up... he removed the drivetrain and had the rest of the car crushed. It was that beautiful silver-blue with the leather/cloth interior combo.



Wow, those were some long cars! We had a 71, 76 and 78 Lincoln Continental and I had a 72 Sedan DeVille of course.... I remember that they were not easy to dock into parking spaces, even when we owned them in the 80s-early 90s.

Too bad about that '72. Sounds like a nice color combination.

Yeah, all those cars had a very long rear overhang. A good thing, for me.

[Tennesseestorm]

Originally Posted by Fleet

Too bad about that '72. Sounds like a nice color combination.

Yeah, all those cars had a very long rear overhang. A good thing, for me.

Yeah, it was. It was not my car and it still made me angry, because would have bought the car from him.

@ any rate, her car was destroyed... I think someone took a sledge hammer to her car! Someone that had bought one of the other cars she destroyed! I think the other one she ruined was a 76 New Yorker that also belonged to that old man.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by Tennesseestorm

Yeah, it was. It was not my car and it still made me angry, because would have bought the car from him.

@ any rate, her car was destroyed... I think someone took a sledge hammer to her car! Someone that had bought one of the other cars she destroyed! I think the other one she ruined was a 76 New Yorker that also belonged to that old man.

I was looking through a Motor Trend magazine, a 1974 test of Cadillac/Lincoln/Imperial.

Here are some specs:

1974---------------- Cadillac------ Lincoln------- Imperial
--------------------- Fleetwood--- Continental--- LeBaron

Engine-------------- 472-4 bbl----- 460-4 bbl---- 440-4 bbl
Axle ratio----------- 2.94:1-------- 3.00:1------- 3.23:1
0-60 mph----------- 12.00--------- 9.50--------- 12.1
1/4 mile------------- 17.98@77.05--17.82@77.65- 17.42@80.28

Fuel mileage--------- 10.43 mpg---- 10.42-------- 14.7

Wheelbase---------- 133"---------- 127"--------- 124"
Overall length------- 233.7"-------- 232.6"-------- 231.1"
Width--------------- 79.8"--------- 80.0"--------- 79.7"
Weight-------------- 5,250 lbs----- 5,425 lbs----- 5,345 lbs

Base price----------- $9.312------- $7.637------- $7,062
Price as tested------ $11,435------ $9,452------- $8,737

------------

The acceleration for the '74 Cad was noticeably slower than the '73. Both were Fleetwood Broughams and the '73 ran 0-60 mph in the 10-sec bracket and the 1/4 mile in 17.6 secs. This was because the '74 engine had to be detuned even more to pass emissions standards.

[Tennesseestorm]

Thanks for sharing that! I think I have this road test somewhere. Thought it was odd that in 1974 the Cadillac was the longest and the longest wheelbase, yet managed to be slightly lighter... weighing in at only 5250 pounds. lol. My gosh these are heavy cars! My 1972 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon tips the scale at 5012!

Originally Posted by Fleet

I was looking through a Motor Trend magazine, a 1974 test of Cadillac/Lincoln/Imperial.

Here are some specs:

1974---------------- Cadillac------ Lincoln------- Imperial
--------------------- Fleetwood--- Continental--- LeBaron

Engine-------------- 472-4 bbl----- 460-4 bbl---- 440-4 bbl
Axle ratio----------- 2.94:1-------- 3.00:1------- 3.23:1
0-60 mph----------- 12.00--------- 9.50--------- 12.1
1/4 mile------------- 17.98@77.05--17.82@77.65- 17.42@80.28

Fuel mileage--------- 10.43 mpg---- 10.42-------- 14.7

Wheelbase---------- 133"---------- 127"--------- 124"
Overall length------- 233.7"-------- 232.6"-------- 231.1"
Width--------------- 79.8"--------- 80.0"--------- 79.7"
Weight-------------- 5,250 lbs----- 5,425 lbs----- 5,345 lbs

Base price----------- $9.312------- $7.637------- $7,062
Price as tested------ $11,435------ $9,452------- $8,737

------------

The acceleration for the '74 Cad was noticeably slower than the '73. Both were Fleetwood Broughams and the '73 ran 0-60 mph in the 10-sec bracket and the 1/4 mile in 17.6 secs. This was because the '74 engine had to be detuned even more to pass emissions standards.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by Tennesseestorm

Thanks for sharing that! I think I have this road test somewhere. Thought it was odd that in 1974 the Cadillac was the longest and the longest wheelbase, yet managed to be slightly lighter... weighing in at only 5250 pounds. lol. My gosh these are heavy cars! My 1972 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon tips the scale at 5012!

Yes, you will notice that in road tests comparing the 3 from about 1969 to the mid-'70s. The Lincoln was usually the heaviest, then the Imperial.

Since you mentioned wagons, Popular Science tested those quite often in the late-'60s and '70s. And some from the mid-'70s were well over 5,000 lbs and exceeded 230" in length!

[Mopac1980]

Originally Posted by Fleet

I was looking through a Motor Trend magazine, a 1974 test of Cadillac/Lincoln/Imperial.

Here are some specs:

1974---------------- Cadillac------ Lincoln------- Imperial
--------------------- Fleetwood--- Continental--- LeBaron

Engine-------------- 472-4 bbl----- 460-4 bbl---- 440-4 bbl
Axle ratio----------- 2.94:1-------- 3.00:1------- 3.23:1
0-60 mph----------- 12.00--------- 9.50--------- 12.1
1/4 mile------------- 17.98@77.05--17.82@77.65- 17.42@80.28

Fuel mileage--------- 10.43 mpg---- 10.42-------- 14.7

Wheelbase---------- 133"---------- 127"--------- 124"
Overall length------- 233.7"-------- 232.6"-------- 231.1"
Width--------------- 79.8"--------- 80.0"--------- 79.7"
Weight-------------- 5,250 lbs----- 5,425 lbs----- 5,345 lbs

Base price----------- $9.312------- $7.637------- $7,062
Price as tested------ $11,435------ $9,452------- $8,737

------------

The acceleration for the '74 Cad was noticeably slower than the '73. Both were Fleetwood Broughams and the '73 ran 0-60 mph in the 10-sec bracket and the 1/4 mile in 17.6 secs. This was because the '74 engine had to be detuned even more to pass emissions standards.

I'm surprised that the 1974 Lincoln was able to go 0-60 in under 10 seconds, that kind of performance is something you would see from a late 1960s high end luxury car