29th Feb 2012, 17:16
The only modern car currently in production that even compares to the luxurious land yachts of the 60's - 80's, is the Rolls Royce Phantom, and it costs over $300,000.
It is a shame that Detroit forgot how to design cars somewhere along the way. I am probably old-fashioned, but I just think big cars with bold styling like these cars just look expensive.
These new modern luxury cars just don't have any class, and if you aren't very familiar with the auto market, it is easy to confuse a full-size Lincoln, Cadillac, Buick, Lexus or whatever for a mid-size Hyundai. Not exactly what you go for when you pay over $40K for a car.
1st Mar 2012, 04:26
This is "24th Feb 2012, 14:19" again - I also used to own a 1973 Coupe De Ville! Fantastic car. It was in some ways the best car I ever owned, though it was a bit less practical than the 1980s Olds 88s and Chevy Caprices I normally drove.
1st Mar 2012, 13:17
I too own a big land yacht - a '55 Mercury four door. That said, to me it seems that by the mid 70's, most full size American cars had gone to crap. The quality in comparison to my 50's car is simply the difference between night and day.
I will say that out of the luxury cars out there today, GM has done well with the re-design of the Cadillac brand. The cars they made in the 80's-early 2000's were pretty awful. The new CTS, CTS V, and CTS Coupe are all amazing looking cars.
2nd Mar 2012, 02:11
I am 29 too, and have owned a lot of "real" V8 RWD cars too.
1990 Caprice Brougham, 1989 Crown Victoria LX, 1986 Country Squire Wagon, 1985 Buick LeSabre, 1984 Pontiac Grand Prix, 1981 Parisienne, 1981 Town car, 1979 Malibu, 1977 Impala, etc.
I collect, buy and sell them always, a great investment they are built to last, not prone to expensive problems like newer cars. I can't go on enough about how great these cars are; super reliable, not to mention comfortable, smooth, quiet, a real pleasure to drive.
Like someone else said, these days a full size, V-8 rear wheel drive luxury car is super expensive, and it does not even compare to the luxury ride and interior of a 70's or 80's full size.
2nd Mar 2012, 18:10
The yachts of the 70's were neat, soft-riding, and had a look and feel to them that today's "aggressive", "sporty", "Nurg top 10 lap time", AWD-stuffed luxury cars have yet to re-capture.
When I buy luxury, that's all I want, but apparently that's not enough to sell a luxury car these days.
2nd Mar 2012, 20:32
Cadillacs from the 80's were awful? Well here we are again with your styling opinion, only on a different thread. Full-size Cadillac reliability in the 80's slipped with the HT 4100 engine, yes, but that was resolved a couple years later when the rear-drive Broughams switched to the Olds 307 V8.
As far as styling, again more opinionated, but most people will agree that the styling of full size Caddys from the 80's was elegant, formal and clean compared to the CTS, whose styling cues look like a bar of soap that was sculpted with a straight razor.
I do like the CTS because it's a Cadillac, but true Cadillacs were indeed the big boats that you don't like... sorry to hear that.
3rd Mar 2012, 10:30
I'm 23, and will take a Fleetwood over a CTS any day. I love the classy long lean look of the Fleetwoods, particularly the 77-79 models before they changed the grille and roof line.
The CTS, well I've have hated since I first seen it. Just like almost every other car nowadays it looks stubby, chunky, and just downright fat. The CTS coupe is even more hideous!
Now what would be impressive would be the CTS-V's engine and suspension in a Fleetwood or Sedan DeVille body.
3rd Mar 2012, 10:41
You are absolutely right. If you like small, sporty, European luxury cars, then the CTS is right up your alley. But those of us that enjoy the true American luxury car flair, well the CTS and almost all modern cars fall short. Maybe one day if our politicians get their heads out of the sand, and stop buying oil from countries that hate us, and start drilling on US soil, despite what the special interest groups say, we may see a return of true luxury cars. If things stay the way they are, very few people could afford to drive one.
4th Mar 2012, 12:42
They already 'drilled on US soil' for the last 120+ years. The reason we're running out of oil isn't because we can't be bothered to suck it out of the ground, it's because we already sucked it all out of the ground.
5th Mar 2012, 10:35
There is plenty of oil in the U.S. They create artificial scarcity to jack the prices up.
5th Mar 2012, 17:07
Not sure where you got your info, but it is very wrong. We have been hearing that we are going to run out of crude for decades, but there are still plenty of reserves both on land and off the coast right here in the US, which would give us at least 100+ years of supply. That should give the auto industry plenty of time to find a new source of energy for our cars. Obviously the last 40 have been of no use.
6th Mar 2012, 11:41
The USA has 21 billion barrels of proven reserves remaining: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves_in_the_United_States
We use about 6.6 billion barrels of oil per year, so there's just a few years left of American oil, if all imports were ended. We're going to have to import a greater and greater percentage of our oil needs, not less.
6th Mar 2012, 13:13
This topic has gone way off course. But there is more to getting gas and oil out of the ground than simply drilling. The single biggest issue is refinement capacity. Drill as much as you want, but if there's not enough refining to finish the product, then none of that really matters.
And lastly, it is an absolute fact that fossil fuels are indeed finite and exhaustible. Drilling more only puts off the inevitable. We absolutely must seek other means to procure energy in whatever form that might come in.
28th Feb 2012, 15:49
I'm 29, the short list of cars I've owned is as follows; first car, 1965 Impala SS, 1973 Cadillac Coup DeVille, 1979 Lincoln Mark V Collectors Series, 1971 Lincoln Mark III, and a 1978 Lincoln Mark V.
I own and drive what I prefer to own and drive. I have nothing against new cars, and find some of the designers out now rather appealing. The technology going into designing them, as well as into them, period, cannot be cast aside. If auto makers in the sixties and seventies, hell even eighties, had access to some of the advances of modern technology, such as active suspension control, direct gasoline injection, electronic brake distribution and such, the designs of yesterday mated with the technology of today, would make for some beautiful, powerful and SAFE machines!!
I am an Hyundai trained advanced diagnostic technician. I work on some of the newest, state-of-the art technological "marvels" that we offer, but I still daily drive my freshly refurbished, 1978 white with baby blue top and trim Lincoln Continental Mark V.
I have upgraded her with in-dash navigation, XM, CD, Bluetooth, all that jazz. Under the hood, completely rebuilt 460 CID motor and C-6 trans. that indestructible Ford 9" rear-end. Inside I have re-upholstered all the seats and door panels in two-tone dark and baby blue, and it's riding on the ORIGINAL 15-inch chrome deep dish wheels on white-wall tires.
Covering my licence plate is a cover that says ENTERPRISE. She's my beautiful star ship. Nothing new would make me sell her, but I do think some of today's technology packed into her would be rather interesting...