Is thebest car in the world Crown Victoria?

andre1969 · April 2002

I just sometimes wish I'd been born a little earlier, so the cars of my youth would've been cooler! My first car was a 1980 Malibu which, sadly, was a muscle car compared to what most of my friends were driving at the time! And it seemed like a wuss compared to the old '75 LeMans that Mom had when I was a kid, that she traded on the Malibu.

Mr_Shiftright · April 2002

Well, BT, nobody is junking '56 Pontiac two door hardtops and convertibles, or Road Runners and certainly not '57 Desoto convertibles, so these cars will not fall to scrappage laws.

andys120 · April 2002

if you drive any '70s MoPar. Just kidding.

andre1969 · April 2002

...the main reason I'm not too keen on 'em is because they let factories crush an old car that's most likely not running, and therefore, not polluting, but then allowing the factory to pollute in return! I also remember when they first came out, Car & Driver showed a pic of a '63-64 Cadillac hardtop coupe that had been donated for crushing. It was in far from perfect condition, and looked like it had been hit pretty hard in front, but still looked to have plenty of salvageable parts on it.

It's just the image of that nice old Cadillac imprinted on my mind probably made me take a dim view of scrappage laws. I'm sure if they showed some old clapped-out '71 Pinto, I'd have a different perception!

speedshift · April 2002

Hey I know! Someone should start a thread on scrappage laws! Twelve rounds, no clinching, no hitting below the waist ;-).

jrosasmc · April 2002

Twenty years or so from now, if a guy wanted to fix up and restore, say, a 2nd-generation Chevy Cavalier, the body/trim parts would be difficult to locate, right?

andre1969 · April 2002

Part of the problem is that modern cars have so much plastic in them, and that plastic breaks down over time. I'm sure others will disagree, but I think that plastic actually breaks down and deteriorates quicker than chrome and metal. For example, if a rust-free car gets junked and taken off the road, it doesn't have to deal with road salt and other chemicals, which are metal's worst enemies. Sure, there's still dirt and moisture, which will eventually allow rust to find a foothold. But in the case of plastic, the sun deteriorates it, it becomes brittle if it gets too dry and it shrinks and warps when it gets wet.

Then, there's the fact that most of the Cavaliers sold are 4-door sedans, which tend to just get discarded and thrown away. And I don't know if the coupes would really be that much more desireable, although some of the Z-24's and convertibles just might.

rea98d · April 2002

" guess that's kinda rednecky, turning what was Chrysler's flagship way back in 1979 into a tow truck! "

Well, then, call me a Redneck! I took Mercury's 1978 flagship sedan, and used it to push a stalled Chevy out of an intersection!

Truth be told, however, one of the advantages of full sized cars back in the '70's (other than the fact that they were still full-size!), was that they had terrific towing capacities. Chrysler's '79 flagship (as well as Mercury's '78), were built to be tow trucks. My Grand Marquis has around a 5,000 pound towing capacity. That's more than the car weighs!

Mr_Shiftright · April 2002

I wouldn't recommend that if I were you

andre1969 · April 2002

...was a moving van, with my '68 Dart. We were supervising an office move here at work and the movers showed up in this clapped-out old Ford moving van. I forget what kind it was, but medium-duty, with a pickup truck cab and front-end. I think the guy said it had a 352 (?) in it. Anyway, they got it loaded up with office furniture and stuff, went to turn the key, and nothing. I forget exactly what the problem was, but it wasn't the battery. Anyway, it was a stick shift, and we got it started by pulling it with my Dart until it got up to speed to start.

Around that same time, one of my co-drivers at Little Caesar's had a breakdown with his '91 or so Civic hatchback. I towed him home with a dog chain. I could hardly tell that car was even back there!

Hey Rea, instead of a tractor pull, we should get together sometime and do a "luxury car" pull ;-) I've got a feeling your Marquis would win out though, 'cuz my NY'er is one of them puny downsized models!

rea98d · April 2002

I'd have to do some work to my Mercury's transmission first, as it seems to be morally opposed to ever shifting out of first gear. Thanks to my T-Bird, I've put off fixing it for way too long, but I hope to rectify that soon. Then, I'll be glad to take you on in a luxury-car pull. Well, at least as soon as I find some 255 tires that will fit my car ;-)

a_l_hubcaps · April 2002

With regards to the difficulty of locating parts for older cars, I find that it's often harder for me to find stuff for my 1986 Pontiac Parisienne than for my brother's 1977 Toyota Celica. I can find the universal Parisienne parts that are shared with Caprices easily, but the specific trim parts are nearly nonexistant. It took me forever to find used replacements for two chrome fender trims that got damaged by idiots in parking lots (any guesses on new price from GM? $78 EACH!).

My brother found a new replacement dashboard and radiator and various used original parts for the Celica online pretty easily, and also had the good fortune of finding another '77 with a bad transmission in a junkyard, so he basically bought every usable part for $75 total.

At the moment, the Parisienne is temporarily out of commission due to brake failure. I think the electric brake booster self-destructed. The cheapest price I can find for that part is $250! But that's mainly because I don't want to buy a used one, since they're infamous for failing, and the last thing I need to do is install a "new to me" booster motor every week :-)

-Andrew L

Mr_Shiftright · April 2002

That's because junkyards are keeping the old Toyotas but not the Pontiacs. This relates to our "Doomed Decade" forum on this board.

Is thebest car in the world Crown Victoria?

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