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i did forget the Toros and Rivieras. glad you mentioned them
gad that 72 Lincoln looks great in black. come to think of it I think that the front of the 73 New Yorker looks very similar (minus the hidden headlights)
do you think New Yorkers and/or Imps had snob appeal? The Imps weighed as much as the Cads/Lincoln. I don't think a Newport would have such appeal
i did forget the Toros and Rivieras. glad you mentioned them
gad that 72 Lincoln looks great in black. come to think of it I think that the front of the 73 New Yorker looks very similar (minus the hidden headlights)
do you think New Yorkers and/or Imps had snob appeal? The Imps weighed as much as the Cads/Lincoln. I don't think a Newport would have such appeal
The Impalas, no matter their weight, were just Chevies. No snob appeal there. The New Yorker was just a Chrysler, same thing.
Wow, this thread bought back some memories for me.
I was but a wee tot in the early 70s, but I distinctly remember one car my father owned. It was a black on black 1973 Buick Riviera GS Stage1 that he bought brand-new after it sat on the dealer lot for literally 18 months.
As most of us know, the gas crisis of the early 70s was the death knell for a lot of cars that were powered by big V8s, and the '73 Riviera had a monster 455 cubic-inch powerplant.
My father told me a few years after he sold the car that the dealer practically begged him to take the car, because it had been sitting on the lot, a victim of the gas crisis. What made this deal particularly strange was that my father had two kids at the time, and ALWAYS drove 4-doors. I don't know if it was some kind of weird mid-life crisis or what, but the whole thing makes no sense to me now. It was very out of character for him to buy a new car anyway, much less a loaded Buick with a sunroof......lol. My father said the window sticker was almost $5600, and the dealer told him "$2800 and it is yours."
My father never believed in taking pictures of his cars (I guess I got that gene from my mother), so no picture exists of it. This is pretty much exactly the same car. Ironically, he still has the receipt at his house that the dealer gave him nearly 40 years ago!
I feel particularly feel sad as I watch these cars that defined America for so much of the world. What most people don't appreciate is that other nations WANT to see American cars to be big. If they wanted Fiat 500 they would buy Fiat 500. No, they wanted the Eldorados and Fleetwoods. What is heartening is the that after all the downsizing, current American cars are still bigger than European and Japanese. There is no mistaking a Suburban in Paris.
I had a 71 Old Delta 88 in the early 80s w/455 which was a huge land yacht with enough power to pull things and knock things over. Gas mileage? You don't even consider the concept with one of those cars.
I'm looking for a mid 90s Buick Roadmaster at present.
I owned a 72 Cadillac Sedan Deville, which was a good car mechanically, but felt chevy like on the inside. Pretty much if you think of it, the full size Chevy's, Fords, Chrysler, including the luxury lines, were trucks on wheels. Full frame, RWD, V8 powertrains which are bulletproof to a certain extent until the gas crisis hit, and the downsizing began which ruined not only the quality of cars, but the their reliability and solidarity.
Cadillac was king in terms of luxury cache, styling to an extent, and choices for many different potential buyers. Cadillac has always appealed to a wider variety of the demographic, young to old as the brand and it's styling has always been more extravagant, flashy and cool.
Imperial/New Yorker never really caught on as it was too associated with regular Chrysler cars, and didn't carry the luxury appeal like Cadillac or Lincoln did, plus their ride was more sporty vs the other 2 luxury makes which I am sure made big difference when it came to sales. Also the New Yorker/Imperial never had it's own unique styling traits as they heavily copied Lincoln in the 60's-70's and borrowed a little from Cadillac on the rear of it's cars in the 70's.
Lincoln for the most part became a much more powerful competitor to Cadillac in the 70's, as they finally got their **** together in the 60's by making and designing such cars like the awesome 61 Lincoln Continental, which was finally unique, and distinctively "Lincoln". Sometimes as the underdog, you have to strive to be better than your supposed "superior" opponent, and Lincoln in many cases was the best built luxury car of the 70's because of their underdog status. You rarely hear of complaints from 70's Lincoln owners, and ones that have owned a Cadillac, and went to Lincoln, usually say that the Lincoln Continental was the better car in many ways including ride quality, quietness, and overall refinement.
I will say that my 78 Lincoln Continental is a better car than my 72 Cadillac was even though it's much newer, the Lincoln is perfect in all aspects maybe besides for performance.
Lincoln put in far more effort in quality control especially when it came to exterior trim, fit and finish, sound insulation than Cadillac in the 70's.
Plus just look at a 70's Lincoln Continental, they mean business, they are very upright in your face land barges. Cadillac's had more power, were very sleek, and sexy, different strokes for different folks that's for sure.
That's what was so great back then as you could easily tell the difference between luxury makes, Lincolns were squared off, had blade like fenders which looked completely different to Cadillac's sleek body, and vertical tail lamps. Today they are all rounded off and look like big cheap lumps of plastic!
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