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I just bought a 1986 Lincoln Town Car off of an estate sale. I’m 17 years old, and the first thing people always would ask me is “Are you 70? Why a Town Car?” Because I love them. That’s why.
The lady that had owned it before me barely drove it at all. It has 50,000 miles on it. (Those are not roll-over miles, I have the documents). Yes, it does have its issues. That’s what I love about these cars. They’re something to tackle and get dirty with. It has rear air suspension, and floats like.. well.. a Lincoln! And the “5.0” detuned V8 makes adequate power. I think that was they key thing in these cars. Just enough power. It’s not going to fly past you in the left lane, but it’s not going to keep everyone waiting either. Anyways, thank you all for reading. I truly am enjoying reading all of your stories.
Matt
[quote=”Eremie96″ post=102225]I just bought a 1986 Lincoln Town Car off of an estate sale. I’m 17 years old, and the first thing people always would ask me is “Are you 70? Why a Town Car?” Because I love them. That’s why.
The lady that had owned it before me barely drove it at all. It has 50,000 miles on it. (Those are not roll-over miles, I have the documents). Yes, it does have its issues. That’s what I love about these cars. They’re something to tackle and get dirty with. It has rear air suspension, and floats like.. well.. a Lincoln! And the “5.0” detuned V8 makes adequate power. I think that was they key thing in these cars. Just enough power. It’s not going to fly past you in the left lane, but it’s not going to keep everyone waiting either. Anyways, thank you all for reading. I truly am enjoying reading all of your stories.
Matt[/quote]
Go back 10 years before that and those were the Lincolns I really liked. Those came with 460’s. Get one from the early 70’s, those had some decent power, really crappy gas mileage though. They also had better styling in my opinion. The emission controls on the mid 80’s cars can be a real challenge. They were still trying to figure things out before they went to fuel injection.
I love how those cars ride though.
Love driving older cars! I’ve had my share of older vehicles but I think the most fun I’ve had driving one was a fully restored ’56 Chevy Bel Air with a 283 and a three on the tree. Gotta love them old scratch boxes!
[quote=”mjwells01131990″ post=112439]Love driving older cars! I’ve had my share of older vehicles but I think the most fun I’ve had driving one was a fully restored ’56 Chevy Bel Air with a 283 and a three on the tree. Gotta love them old scratch boxes![/quote]
My dad had a 57′ like that. He built the engine in shop class and didn’t tell my grandfather about it. My grandfather got home one day and the freshly ‘hot rodded’ 57′ was in the driveway blocking his car. So he decided to take that one instead. When he started it he though it was running bad because of the cam so he revved it up and dropped it into gear. When he did, he shot across the street and it scared the crap out of him. I think dad got in a little trouble for that.
My truck (in avitar) that is pictured while to most people (friends included) is “old” to me its still new, I would have gone with a 1978 or older truck but sadly all the ones I liked either had too much rust on them or were so clapped out…so I found this truck and to me its just old enough to have the mechanical stuff the way I want and give that “old feel” of the road and if it wants to act up it lets you know.
I have a 2004 Mustang also and it still has some mechanical items in it (and it also still feels responsive and modern also) but the truck is from 1995 and is the newest truck I plan on owning…why? well most of the work I so is PM and I try to take care of my cars and trucks and the truck has never let me down even though she wants to act up a lot she still gets me where I want to go with out question, may have to fight and argue and shout a bit but we usually make up and have fun getting to where we need to go.
I personally feel any thing from the 90’s or before is just right for me, remember the term “old” is relative as is time to the beholder…to me its what will get me there and back and if it fails is quick to fix with out needing a mechanic in my pocket…yes Ford trucks have always been a favorite and while my Chevy friends (both new trucks and older trucks then mine) give me hell for owning a Fix or Repair Daily truck its the fact that IF I wanted to I could have the engine out of this truck and swapped with a new one in very little time at the garage if I wanted and its simple and easy to find parts for as the 302 is used in numerous Fords cars and trucks so parts are still plentiful for it!! even mustangs use the 302 😉 that is why I love the “old”/”new” truck and its the truck I saved up for and purchased with my own money also…
[IMG]http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab104/CVPI06/1CE5A8AB-C1AF-4BDD-9B31-EAAC960C02E6_zpskxkuvfxk.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab104/CVPI06/F150/171DE104-A543-4755-9E7B-6CA51F034CF8_zpsli66mvuw.jpg[/IMG]sometimes we forget what once was.. thanks for this topic.
for me.. driving old cars is a lot like living in the real world.. and less like living in TV-land where polymers and microchips rule the world.. but there’s something special about real metal and the static between FM stations that brings back memories of a time when life was simpler.. and just more ‘real’..
the oldest car i owned was a lovely 5-speed 1982 Accord hatchback.. given to me by my grandmother.. still miss that.
but.. Mom carted us to school in a silver 1971 Chevrolet Rally Nova SS.. we drove it forever.. finally sold it to become a stock car.. everything about that car was so much more real than say, the 2000 F150 we drive today.. the glass in the windows even seemed more honest.. i remember it had some floorboard rust.. and we used to drop pennies through the little hole in it 🙂
funny, back then, in the 80s, my sister and i hated being seen in that car.. everything had changed in the world of ‘decent family cars’.. i grew up and older and regret those feelings now.. would be great to have a baby like it back to burn up some open road..
don’t have an actual pic on hand of it but found this on the good ole inter-webs.. looked just like it..
i think my favorite aspect of driving older vehicles is that you have to be the driver.. you can’t rely on the car to be a nanny..
One thing we don’t hear often enough anymore is the sound of a 4 barrel carb when the secondaries open up. Beautiful.
Today’s fuel-injected cars with tuned exhausts aren’t really “throaty”. They have a hollow burble that simply gets louder when you prod them, which sounds pleasant enough, I suppose. But it’s just not the same as waking up the old sleeping soulful beast.
[quote=”Evil-i” post=139848]One thing we don’t hear often enough anymore is the sound of a 4 barrel carb when the secondaries open up. Beautiful.
Today’s fuel-injected cars with tuned exhausts aren’t really “throaty”. They have a hollow burble that simply gets louder when you prod them, which sounds pleasant enough, I suppose. But it’s just not the same as waking up the old sleeping soulful beast.[/quote]
there may not be enough “Amens” in my vocabulary to properly agree with that statement..
used to have the best highschool weekend driving fun with my neighborhood friend in her ’79 Camaro Berlinetta.. sometimes her dad would let us take the t-tops out of his 1969 Corvette Stingray and drive that out.. more like the purr of a lion than the purr of a housecat..
maybe some of us are just ‘old car snobs’..
[quote=”Evil-i” post=139864]If that’s the case, I’m proud to be a snob.[/quote]
buddy back in college had a little red Corvair.. haven’t seen one of those on the road in ages.. sweet little ride. “personality” seemed to define the older cars, fast or slow, and in my opinion that’s something really lost on newer models.. and perhaps one of the reasons manufacturers in more recent years have offered things like.. the ‘new’ Beetle.. PT Cruiser.. and revived older body styles on Stangs and Chargers.. perhaps a rebellion against the flagrant moderation seen in the early 1990s..
old-car-snobs unite and take over..
Mentioning your old Corvair got me reminiscing. When I went to high school, every kid had a POS Duster, Camaro or Mustang. In those days, you couldn’t walk a block without banging your shins into cars like that. They were everywhere. Then, one day, it seemed like they all disappeared overnight, especially the Dusters. Weird. Those old buckets were great cars for young drivers and enthusiasts to enjoy.
These days, a kid will slap a muffler onto a Civic that sounds like a bumble bee farting in a coffee can, and be super proud of it. Sigh.
[quote=”twentyshots” post=80323][quote=”mraw” post=80283]I really love driving my old car, but I always get that “Is she going to make it?” feeling, like you mentioned in the video.[/quote]
me too. i have a 1961 lancer. i drove it today for the first time in a few weeks and i had to go out and charge the battery, then fire it up and let it warm up for a good long time…and when i was finally out on the road i still thought “ok….be good!”.
but really, isn’t that what our parents had to do? wasn’t that the norm? it was always a little bit of a gamble and everybody made it this far ok…..i figure i will be fine.
as for the video, yes….everything about driving an old car is special, and i agree it is a more REAL experience than driving a new car. i totally get that. old cars do just react differently and need more attention. and it feels different because it IS different…the materials in the seat to the thickness of the steering wheel to the weight of the car and how it feels when in you’re in the middle of all of it…..
i am about eric’s age, so there is a nostalgic element to all of this…makes me wonder what a 20 year old kid would feel like driving a car like that? one he has no memories of? i bet it is still special.
Funny to think those early ’60s Lancers and Valiants were considered “compacts” at the time. I love them, and am slowly working towards having a small collection of them, featuring the different body styles. The styling is Virgil Exner’s swan song, and is a curious, yet alluring, combination of sharp edges and soft curves, like origami gone bad. Whatever you may think about the styling, there’s no doubt it was done by a human, and this is part of what Eric is talking about in these videos. You can sense the human input in the styling and engineering, and that’s been lost in modern transportation. Living with a modern vehicle is like living with a machine that was designed and built by machines for other machines to use. Sterile. You don’t get much of a sense that humans had a part in crafting it. Martians maybe, but not humans.
[quote=”Evil-i” post=139878]Mentioning your old Corvair got me reminiscing. When I went to high school, every kid had a POS Duster, Camaro or Mustang. In those days, you couldn’t walk a block without banging your shins into cars like that. They were everywhere. Then, one day, it seemed like they all disappeared overnight, especially the Dusters. Weird. Those old buckets were great cars for young drivers and enthusiasts to enjoy.
These days, a kid will slap a muffler onto a Civic that sounds like a bumble bee farting in a coffee can, and be super proud of it. Sigh.[/quote]
it was ‘my buddy’ with the Corvair (i was still driving the Honda hatch in college ;)) .. and same here, there were at least a dozen 16-18 year-olds with Dusters just at my tiny highschool.. mostly guys.. seems like girls in our area favored the Mustangs.. but everyone wanted a Hemi.. i remember coming out of the movies one night a friend commented she wouldn’t be caught dead being picked up in one of the new Ford Escorts..
your question made me wonder as well.. ‘where did all those cars go?’.. eventually thought of the advent of mid-size SUVs for everyone who didn’t really go off-road.. the mass-production of personal computers and the automotive microchip revolution.. it’s like silicon and fiberglass staged a revolt against steel and chrome..
not anti-new-car (the latest Tesla looks pretty amazing) but driving old cars makes me feel connected to the road in a way new cars don’t really touch.. like there’s a common goal and understanding between the person, the car and the road.
Back in the early nineties Car and Driver magazine did a road test comparison of the most popular mid-sized sedans available from the various manufacturers back then. One thing that has always stuck in my memory about that article was a stop the crew had made. A passer-by asked one of the car testers what kind of car were they testing and the response was that all the cars were different. The curious one said, “Oh they’re all different cars”. After the test crew stepped back to observe the line-up of cars they were driving it was apparent that all the cars looked similar. Nowadays it’s even more so. Every car we see today has design elements borrowed from every other car. I liked the older vehicles for their character and ease of maintenance. The most fun truck I had was a 1985 Chevrolet C10 that I bought from my buddy’s brothrr-in-law for $300. He bought it brand new twelve years before. This truck was the shortbed with 2wd, a 250 c.i. in-line six and three on the tree. Options? Yeah, you name it the truck DID NOT have it. My wife has a 1999 Suburban that I am in no hurry to get rid of, I have a 2000 Silverado, (Because of GM”s stupidity I don’t intend to buy anything new from them, I’ll stick with the older Chevies) and my “company car” is a 2008 Crown Vic. I have always liked working on cars, but haven’t held a tech job since the late eighties. I mainly do all my own work I can until I really need to take it to a shop. I would consider myself as good a mechanic as ETCG is on a bad day.
Lord willing when I retire from my State LE job I can go back to wrenching for something to do and keep the older cars running as long as possible.
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