Here is CT it's not unusual to see a car like that. Yesterday, I was at the gas station. There was a brick Volvo 240 wagon filling up at the next island, then a sedan version pulled up on the other side of the island I was at.
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Unfortunately, I wouldn't buy it with the automatic transmission, which is doomed to early failure.
Based on my experience I doubt that any Saab Transmission, manual or auto will last more than 100K before the bearings go. Clutches are another weak spot. I've never been able to figure out why the company which built front drive transaxles longer than anyone (except Citroen) could never make a good one.
The Opel gearboxes in newer GM-made Saabs are fine.
Those fintail hardtops always made me think a bit of the '57-59 DeSoto and Chrysler hardtop coupes in the roofline, just a little taller and squared-off.
It's a shame they shaved the fins off of most of the hardtop models. Even though fins were out of style by that time, I think they look good on that car.
you'd be lucky to get 60,000 miles out of an early Saab 900 automatic. They make the car run like a pig, too. Many people swap them out for 5-speeds, which isn't that hard to do--it's pretty much a bolt-in.
It's funny the coupe (MY 1961) lost the fins, but the sedans kept them for most of the decade. I have seen photos of a prototype that kept the fintail style front end but had a more coupe style rear end and rear greenhouse. It looked pretty decent.
Edit: here it is
I'd love to take that custom coupe to a local MB show, it would blow people's minds.
They are fun to drive in in the rain, due to the "clap hands" wipers - but rain also encourages rust.
I remember driving through Surrey/White Rock ages ago and saw a blue fintail same color as mine - it was driving on an overpass and there was no way I could go hunt it down, or I would have.
Did you ever post an interior pic of your LeMans? Somehow the ebay LeMans dash looks cheap compared to some Pontiacs from that era. You have to squint to find the rally gauges for example. Some of the respray details look a bit careless for a "pampered" car. And without a big engine $4500 already seems enough but reserve hasn't been met. Just going by pics I think I like the LeMans you have now better.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
I do like the style of the base LeMans dash, but agree some of the materials look cheap and tacky. Another thing that annoys me, is that if they're going to call this trim level "Sport Coupe", then why don't they give it bucket seats and a console shift, standard? As it is, I don't see what the "Sport Coupe" really gives you over the base model, other than the dummy lights in the trunk lid and a few badges. I'm sure those extra gauges and the clock were extra cost items, too.
One reason this one jumps out at me, I guess, is that I really like that shade of blue.
I also notice this one has the 350-4bbl like mine, which was intended only for the California market, and other areas that were adopting California's stricter emission standards. I wonder if this might be one of those rare cases where the 350-2bbl might actually be the better engine, because it wasn't choked as badly?
Wow, that is very reminiscent of the '77 I used to own 30 years ago. Interesting, though, how many minor variations I could spot. Mine was not the "Sport Coupe" model, just a Lemans coupe. It was light blue metallic with a whte painted top from the factory, and a white vinyl interior.
The dash was identical in color to this and even had the same ill-fitting glove box door. It did not have the triple gage cluster in the center, but just a fuel gage (using GM terminology). The door panels were the exact same except done in white. The front seat did not have the center armrest but was upholstered using the same stitching pattern. Mine did not have the extra taillight panels on the trunk lid either.
I notice your car seems to have the Grand Prix dash - wonder why GM would go to the trouble of offering 3 variations on instrumentation?
Despite all those differences this one seems very close to what I remember mine as being like. I wonder how the door window weatherstripping has held up - mine was failing at 4 years of age and I eventually replaced it. They are big cars by today's standards and very inefficient in space utilization. Very smooth drivers though, and I like the look of them now better than I did at the time.
Nice pic Andre, that brings back memories. My grandma had a silver '76 LeMans. I don't recall it having full gauges. She didn't have it long as she totaled it in '78 IIRC.
The way the silver outline trim ages on dash pieces of 70s and early 80s cars annoys me - always fades irregularly. That Pontiac is a prime example. I don't think those colors are too hot either, your red fits the car better. The seller always has a nice pile of land yachts, gotta be a lot of them floating around Florida.
It's not so much that the trim fades. It is plastichrome - aluminized coatings on plastic pieces. It is covered with a thin varnish-like coating from the factory to protect it. What happens as it ages is that, first, the varnish yellows and gets removed through wear and cleaning, exposing the aluminum deposit. That is fragile, and gets chipped away via touching and further cleaning. Unlike chrome-plated metal used in even older cars (which, in fairness, pits as it ages), these are not very durable and do not age well.
This one isn't bad, but interior plastics from this era usually fade at different rates, leading to multiple-toned interiors that were never intended by the designers.
I remember my dad had an old car where the plastichrome was peeling - I think it was the 68 Ford, but it might have been an old Chrysler that was hanging around too. I remember I was cleaning it and the finish just peeled off like a plastic wrapper. Lame!
The stuff I was thinking of is like around the thin edge of a gauge bezel or heater vent etc. The silver fades inconsistently or in patches. I remember by the time our old Tempo was 10 years old, the plastic inside was aging at different rates.
My fintail only has real chrome inside, and shockingly, there is only minor pitting on a few pieces - good luck, as the car has lived up here for decades now, and it is not 100% watertight.
All of my Larks (currently have a '66) had real chrome inside, and glass instrument bezels instead of plastic. I think the change to plastic inside for trim was largely a '70's thing.
That Grand Prix instrument panel is probably the best domestic '70's panel, I think. Although, I think it's obvious it was designed with the center console in mind. It's the one place I think the '73 Grand Prix was sharper than the '69-72 models.
I didn't know the Grand LeMans also had the '73 Grand-Am style door panels and straps. I like that a lot.
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A couple areas of '73-77 A-body GM weaknesses that used to show up after a couple or three salty winters in our area, was that the piece of trim (black) at the bottoms of the side windows, would rust from underneath, resulting in the black covering peeling off, and the quarter window trim on two-doors losing its shape and coming off. Those must be NLA as I can't remember when I've even seen a nice car with those intact.
That said, I still like those cars. They were whisper-quiet and handled well for the time...their chassis made them ride better than the '71-76 full-size GM's IMHO.
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Exactly right. I was lucky back in the early 80s with mine that the trim around the rear quarter windows was fine. But as you said, the outside beltline window sweepers were deteriorating after just a few years along with the window weatherstrip. In '84 I had the car painted and before it went into the shop I went searching for replacements. The dealer found what he said was the last set of beltline sweepers in Canada and I had him bring them in. No such luck on the weatherstrips though. I went to a large junkyard which at the time had a good assortment of these and tried to find a good set. I was there for hours and every example had worse weatherstrips than mine. As luck would have it, the very last car I found in a distant corner of the yard had what appeared to be a brand new set! I removed them and so my car had good examples of both installed by the body shop during the paint job.
I believe repros of the beltline outside window sweepers are now available.
I'm one of the only people I know who likes (and liked then) 1973 Chevelles. I didn't mind the big bumpers, as long as the cars had the body-colored fillers instead of silver in front (body-color was a mid-year change). Matter of fact, I liked the Malibu and SS better than the Laguna because I didn't like the Laguna's body-colored rear bumper instead of chrome. I still could like a clean, stock '73--if there are any left!
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My fintail has mainly plastic instrument glass - MB probably touted it as a safety feature as it did some of the other odd interior pieces. It's aged well anyway, no fogging or yellowing after ~50 years.
Regarding those last series Chevelles, I never minded the fastback style, like this one. As you say, probably about 5 left so nice.
Probably my best-friend from high-school days, whom I still consider a good friend, in '78 bought a '73 SS just like the one in the picture, but instead was that bright metallic, medium green Chevy only used in '72 and '73. Black vinyl bench seat. I really, really liked that car and although he got paperwork with it that showed it was sold new at our little hometown dealer, I didn't remember ever seeing it there and I about lived there during the '73 model year.
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I always thought the '73 Chevelle was attractive looking. I like the way it bears a family resemblance to the Monte Carlo, but without being as pretentious. Still has a bit of a sporty flair to it. And I loved the taillights that year.
There was a '73 SS at the GM show in Carlisle this past summer. It wasn't exactly stock though.
I had a SS just like that except brown. 1973 with 350 4 barrel. A real gas eating dog despite a re-jetted carb and distributor modified for faster advance. 14.5 mpg at a steady 55 on level highway.
A friend in high school had a '73 Laguna. White with blue interior. I drove it several times, cruised in it a lot, nice smooth riding car, it was a gas hog, though, I know it had the 350 don't remember which carb.
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Just saw an ugly green 70 or so Olds 442 ragtop in clean condition this morning. Rare to see that kind of car in this area in late December. Granted, no snow or salt on the roads yet, so I guess why not drive the old girl a little more.
Was it the color of the green paint that was ugly or was the whole car in rough shape? A '70 4-4-2 convertible is sort of the holy grail. Valuable, and fun too if restored.
Was it the color of the green paint that was ugly or was the whole car in rough shape?
It was the color, the car looked aged but clean. An older woman was driving it. I was driving through a parking lot when I saw it waiting in a pharmacy drive thru, so I was able to look it over as I drove by.
Looking at some 442 pics, I'm guessing it was a '71 or '72.
I always thought the '73 Chevelle was attractive looking
I never cared for those triangular windows, so I preferred the more formal looking Malibu colonade roofline, which if I recall was still a bit faster in the C pillar than the very formal Monte Carlo or Cutlass Supreme. But given a choice, I'd take the previous generation through 72 (but the I like planes and those glass areas resembled a Boeing cockpit area from the outside!).
I like the triangular windows...there wasn't a blind spot in that car. In '73 you could still get pretty luxurious interiors with the triangular quarter windows, but in later years luxury interior meant small opera window with huge blind spot. I think most consumers sided with you in that area though.
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I prefer the big triangular windows, as well. They helped give the car a more open, airy feeling, and IMO seemed more modern than most cars of the time, which were gravitating towards the opera window look.
My Mom's '75 LeMans had the large, triangular windows. For '76, the LeMans dropped them completely, so even the base model and Sport Coupe used the opera window. You could still get the louvers in a base or Sport Coupe, though.
I wish Pontiac had continued offering the big windows in '76-77, but perhaps they might have clashed a bit, with the more angular body lines? Maybe, but maybe not. I think the '76-77 Century and Cutlass Salon models, with the big windows, still look pretty sharp. They were even more squared-off than the LeMans though, so IMO the more formal Monte Carlo/Regal/et al roof worked best with those.
It's amazing, with all the variety they offered in those days, that GM was able to remain so profitable. Four different roofs on the coupes (the formal Monte Carlo style, and the faster style with opera windows, triangular windows, or louvers). Five different dashboards (Malibu/Monte Carlo, Century/Regal, Cutlass, LeMans, Grand LeMans/Grand Prix) Four different families of 350 V-8, and so on.
If you look at Chrysler, for comparison, in 1976 they only used one dashboard for all midsized cars, from the cheapest Fury or Coronet taxi on up to the plushest Cordoba. Corporate engines. Less variety in the coupe rooflines. Ford was similar by that time.
Isn't it funny how in '76, the Century/Regal and the Cutlass received noticeably more of a facelift than the Chevy and Pontiac cars? I mean, wheel openings changed, etc. I've often thought how I'd like to find a '76 Century coupe with the optional wheel opening moldings, V8, chrome Buick road wheels, and the optional interior that gave you a front-seat center armrest. I've never seen one on eBay, unfortunately.
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My first car was a '75 Regal. I don't know what the changes in '76 were as my grandpa gave it to me in '87 with 120k miles on it. It was clean, but by then it was well used up. It did withstand my abuse for a year or so though. My dad made me get something newer as it was constantly giving me trouble, so I ended up with an '86 Escort. All I can say about that is it certainly went a lot farther on a gallon of gas and surprisingly made through HS relatively trouble free until it blew a head gasket around 100k.
My first car was a '75 Regal. I don't know what the changes in '76 were as my grandpa gave it to me in '87 with 120k miles on it
In 1976, GM facelifted all of their intermediates, going to quad headlights. On the Regal and Century coupes, though, they got all-new, or at least mostly new sheetmetal all over, which gave them a more angular, chiseled look. The sides were more squared-off and slab-sided, so it didn't look as fuselaged. And they got rid of that trademark Buick French curve swoop line that came off the fender, into the door.
Oldsmobile did a similar thing with their Cutlass coupes, with the cleaner, more slab-sided look doing away with those "skegs" or whatever you call those creases in the lower body, that invited stone chips and rust.
The sedans weren't changed as much, though. They got new front end clips, and maybe a little change in the back, but stuff like the fenders, doors, and rear quarter panels were pretty much the same. Ditto with Pontiac and Chevy.
The LeMans had gone through a slight restyle in 1974 that raised the decklid a bit. My '76 doesn't have a very big trunk as it is, so I imagine the '73 must have been really bad! I can barely fit my beer cooler in there, if I angle it just right, and then put a towel over it to keep it from scuffing the underside of the decklid. Between '75-76 though, I think they mainly just changed the header panel and bumper, as they went to quad headlights. The hood was changed slightly, as creases from around the headlights had carried back into the hood in '73-75, but they got rid of these in '76. The taillights are different, requiring a slightly different cutout, but otherwise, I think the rear quarter panels, as well as the decklid, doors, and front fenders, are all the same on my '76 LeMans, as they were on the '75.
Oldsmobile actually went through the effort to change the dashboard on the '77 Cutlass, which I think is odd considering that was the last year for that platform. Seems like a pretty major undertaking for a 1-year only affair.
In 1993 I was looking for an "interesting" daily driver and I saw a '76 Regal advertised by a private seller as being in pristine condition with low miles - I think it was somewhere in the 40,000 range. I went to see it (some distance away, in a country village) and it was as advertised. A 2-door in the ubiquitous '70s color combo of a mid-brown metallic body, tan vinyl roof and tan velour inside.
It turned out the car was used by someone I knew through a previous job. It was bought in Florida and they drove it back here. Compared to local examples at the time it was untouched - most of these succumbed very early to rust here in Nova Scotia, as they were not very well protected from salt damage. This one was odd as it did not have air conditioning as I recall, and was pretty sparsely equipped. It had the center armrest bench seat and shift on the column.
My recollection was that it drove nicely enough, as these cars do, but that the Buick 350 was the wheeziest, most underpowered emission-control engine I could remember. It had very little punch on the road, making much noise but not much momentum when you floored it on the highway. It probably would have been fine, but I decided against it. I remember thinking that it would probably deteriorate pretty quickly in daily use up here. I think the seller was asking about $4500 for it.
The problem with the coupe versions of these was the big, heavy door with the frameless door glass. The windows seemed to loosen up pretty quickly and would rattle if you drove with them partly down. The doors were bears in parking lots due to their size and weight. And for such a big car there was little usable space - the back seats in the coupes were tight and the trunks were small.
When I had my '77 Lemans I had a couple of experiences with it that were the best way to use these cars - once with a girl I was just crazy about on a long road trip one summer day, just cruising along the highway with this beautiful blonde next to me in the front seat (unfortunately not too close!), and the second, making good use of the width of the car, with a friend and his even more gorgeous girlfriend 3 abreast in the front seat on a similar drive, since neither of them wanted to use the rear seat - she took the middle and that was no hardship for me as the driver. They were great highway cruisers.
Nice color, but I'm almost positive it's not supposed to sit that low. I'm guessing the air suspension is shot, and I've heard those can be expensive to work on.
Way back in 1993, there was a guy at work who had one of the 4-door Fox-based Continentals. It was a nice, little-old lady car in great shape, but when the suspension went out, he junked it.
I remember he also had an '83 Fleetwood coupe in a beautiful light blue. He gave that one to his son when he bought the Continental. Power steering failed on the Fleetwood, and instead of getting it fixed the kid thought it was "cool", somehow, to drive that car with manual steering. Like it affirmed his manhood or something, I guess. Unfortunately, cars that heavy aren't meant to be driven without power steering, and I think the added strain took its toll on the rest of the suspension. So, that one got junked, too.
Seems as if I've seen a lot of '80's Lincolns looking like lowriders, but not on purpose! I liked those Mark VII's when they came out, but I think the same year Eldos just seemed more...expensive-looking. It's too bad Caddy's engines then were so bad.
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I liked those Mark VII's when they came out, but I think the same year Eldos just seemed more...expensive-looking.
I think the Lincoln's problem was that it was fairly obvious that it was based on the T-bird and Cougar platform, and perhaps that made it seem to lose a little prestige? At least with the Eldorado, there was no lowly Chevy sharing the same platform, and its Toronado and Riviera sisters, at least, were also luxury cars.
I think Lincoln did a better job of making a bit of a hotrod edition though, with the Mark VII LSC. Cadillac did come up with an Eldorado Touring coupe that had some blackout trim and nice aluminum rims, and a stiffer suspension, but it still just had the weak 4.1 V-8. At best, maybe it was the 135 hp version versus the 125, not that it would make much difference.
I guess the Buick Riviera T-type, with the turbo V-6 wasn't too bad of a performer. It didn't have the hot Grand National/Regal T-type engine though. IIRC, it was a weaker turbo with 170-180 or so hp.
For some odd reason, the Toronado was always my favorite among these cars. I just like that offbeat front-end treatment.
I don't know what the sales figures were, but it feels like I saw fewer Toronados than Rivs and Eldos of that era, which is a nice thing too IMO.
I had an '81 Monte Carlo new that was stolen, and the rental the insurance company gave me was an '81 Mercury Cougar although it looked like a Granada. It was a six, had four-lug wheels (wheel covers missing), and there was a seam at eye-level on the roof sail panel that was filled in with what I think was a plastic or fiberglas piece. That all totally turned me off compared with what I had been driving.
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I don't know what the sales figures were, but it feels like I saw fewer Toronados than Rivs and Eldos of that era, which is a nice thing too IMO.
In 1985, I think they sold about 40,000 Toronados, while the Eldorado and Riviera were somewhere north of 70,000 apiece, so the Toro was a bit of the wallflower in this group.
In 1981-82, Mercury had the Cougar, which was a clone to the Granada, and then the Cougar XR-7, which was a clone to the T-bird. I thought the Cougars (and the '81-82 Granada) were handsome cars in their own way, but they did have a flimsiness about them. They didn't seem as substantial as GM's intermediates.
My grandparents on my Dad's side of the family had an '81 Granada 2-door, and then an '85 small LTD. When I had my learner's permit, I logged a lot of training miles on that LTD. I did kinda like the way it handled. It felt a bit more nimble than my Mom's '80 Malibu, and was easier to parallel park (about 4" longer, but a bit narrower, and shorter wheelbase), and its fuel-injected 3.8 was a bit quicker than the old carbureted 229 in the Malibu. But, the Malibu, despite being a coupe, felt like a roomier car than that LTD, and overall, it just felt more solid.
Nice color, but I'm almost positive it's not supposed to sit that low. I'm guessing the air suspension is shot, and I've heard those can be expensive to work on.
Definately sitting low, and at it's age best to convert it to springs. It also appears to have had paint work as the front clip is darker than the rest.
As for a comparison to an Eldo of the time, IMHO the Mark has it all over it from a driver's perspective. How can you compare the 5.0 HO equipped models to the 4.1? Its not even close. The Mark VII was a very good performer for it's day. I wouldn't turn down a nice example of a 90-92 LSC.
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Yesterday, I was at the gas station.
There was a brick Volvo 240 wagon filling up at the next island, then a sedan version pulled up on the other side of the island I was at.
Based on my experience I doubt that any Saab Transmission, manual or auto will last more than 100K before the bearings go. Clutches are another weak spot. I've never been able to figure out why the company which built front drive transaxles longer than anyone (except Citroen) could never make a good one.
The Opel gearboxes in newer GM-made Saabs are fine.
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It's a shame they shaved the fins off of most of the hardtop models. Even though fins were out of style by that time, I think they look good on that car.
It's funny the coupe (MY 1961) lost the fins, but the sedans kept them for most of the decade. I have seen photos of a prototype that kept the fintail style front end but had a more coupe style rear end and rear greenhouse. It looked pretty decent.
Edit: here it is
I'd love to take that custom coupe to a local MB show, it would blow people's minds.
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I remember driving through Surrey/White Rock ages ago and saw a blue fintail same color as mine - it was driving on an overpass and there was no way I could go hunt it down, or I would have.
In a couple weeks, my 1968 DeVille Convertible should be out and about as well!
I do like the style of the base LeMans dash, but agree some of the materials look cheap and tacky. Another thing that annoys me, is that if they're going to call this trim level "Sport Coupe", then why don't they give it bucket seats and a console shift, standard? As it is, I don't see what the "Sport Coupe" really gives you over the base model, other than the dummy lights in the trunk lid and a few badges. I'm sure those extra gauges and the clock were extra cost items, too.
One reason this one jumps out at me, I guess, is that I really like that shade of blue.
I also notice this one has the 350-4bbl like mine, which was intended only for the California market, and other areas that were adopting California's stricter emission standards. I wonder if this might be one of those rare cases where the 350-2bbl might actually be the better engine, because it wasn't choked as badly?
Here's an album with a bunch of pics I've taken of the car over the years. Plus, a few pics that the seller had sent me.
The dash was identical in color to this and even had the same ill-fitting glove box door. It did not have the triple gage cluster in the center, but just a fuel gage (using GM terminology). The door panels were the exact same except done in white. The front seat did not have the center armrest but was upholstered using the same stitching pattern. Mine did not have the extra taillight panels on the trunk lid either.
I notice your car seems to have the Grand Prix dash - wonder why GM would go to the trouble of offering 3 variations on instrumentation?
Despite all those differences this one seems very close to what I remember mine as being like. I wonder how the door window weatherstripping has held up - mine was failing at 4 years of age and I eventually replaced it. They are big cars by today's standards and very inefficient in space utilization. Very smooth drivers though, and I like the look of them now better than I did at the time.
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This one isn't bad, but interior plastics from this era usually fade at different rates, leading to multiple-toned interiors that were never intended by the designers.
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The stuff I was thinking of is like around the thin edge of a gauge bezel or heater vent etc. The silver fades inconsistently or in patches. I remember by the time our old Tempo was 10 years old, the plastic inside was aging at different rates.
My fintail only has real chrome inside, and shockingly, there is only minor pitting on a few pieces - good luck, as the car has lived up here for decades now, and it is not 100% watertight.
That Grand Prix instrument panel is probably the best domestic '70's panel, I think. Although, I think it's obvious it was designed with the center console in mind. It's the one place I think the '73 Grand Prix was sharper than the '69-72 models.
I didn't know the Grand LeMans also had the '73 Grand-Am style door panels and straps. I like that a lot.
That said, I still like those cars. They were whisper-quiet and handled well for the time...their chassis made them ride better than the '71-76 full-size GM's IMHO.
I believe repros of the beltline outside window sweepers are now available.
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Regarding those last series Chevelles, I never minded the fastback style, like this one. As you say, probably about 5 left so nice.
There was a '73 SS at the GM show in Carlisle this past summer. It wasn't exactly stock though.
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It was the color, the car looked aged but clean. An older woman was driving it. I was driving through a parking lot when I saw it waiting in a pharmacy drive thru, so I was able to look it over as I drove by.
Looking at some 442 pics, I'm guessing it was a '71 or '72.
I never cared for those triangular windows, so I preferred the more formal looking Malibu colonade roofline, which if I recall was still a bit faster in the C pillar than the very formal Monte Carlo or Cutlass Supreme. But given a choice, I'd take the previous generation through 72 (but the I like planes and those glass areas resembled a Boeing cockpit area from the outside!).
My Mom's '75 LeMans had the large, triangular windows. For '76, the LeMans dropped them completely, so even the base model and Sport Coupe used the opera window. You could still get the louvers in a base or Sport Coupe, though.
I wish Pontiac had continued offering the big windows in '76-77, but perhaps they might have clashed a bit, with the more angular body lines? Maybe, but maybe not. I think the '76-77 Century and Cutlass Salon models, with the big windows, still look pretty sharp. They were even more squared-off than the LeMans though, so IMO the more formal Monte Carlo/Regal/et al roof worked best with those.
It's amazing, with all the variety they offered in those days, that GM was able to remain so profitable. Four different roofs on the coupes (the formal Monte Carlo style, and the faster style with opera windows, triangular windows, or louvers). Five different dashboards (Malibu/Monte Carlo, Century/Regal, Cutlass, LeMans, Grand LeMans/Grand Prix) Four different families of 350 V-8, and so on.
If you look at Chrysler, for comparison, in 1976 they only used one dashboard for all midsized cars, from the cheapest Fury or Coronet taxi on up to the plushest Cordoba. Corporate engines. Less variety in the coupe rooflines. Ford was similar by that time.
In 1976, GM facelifted all of their intermediates, going to quad headlights. On the Regal and Century coupes, though, they got all-new, or at least mostly new sheetmetal all over, which gave them a more angular, chiseled look. The sides were more squared-off and slab-sided, so it didn't look as fuselaged. And they got rid of that trademark Buick French curve swoop line that came off the fender, into the door.
Oldsmobile did a similar thing with their Cutlass coupes, with the cleaner, more slab-sided look doing away with those "skegs" or whatever you call those creases in the lower body, that invited stone chips and rust.
The sedans weren't changed as much, though. They got new front end clips, and maybe a little change in the back, but stuff like the fenders, doors, and rear quarter panels were pretty much the same. Ditto with Pontiac and Chevy.
The LeMans had gone through a slight restyle in 1974 that raised the decklid a bit. My '76 doesn't have a very big trunk as it is, so I imagine the '73 must have been really bad! I can barely fit my beer cooler in there, if I angle it just right, and then put a towel over it to keep it from scuffing the underside of the decklid. Between '75-76 though, I think they mainly just changed the header panel and bumper, as they went to quad headlights. The hood was changed slightly, as creases from around the headlights had carried back into the hood in '73-75, but they got rid of these in '76. The taillights are different, requiring a slightly different cutout, but otherwise, I think the rear quarter panels, as well as the decklid, doors, and front fenders, are all the same on my '76 LeMans, as they were on the '75.
Oldsmobile actually went through the effort to change the dashboard on the '77 Cutlass, which I think is odd considering that was the last year for that platform. Seems like a pretty major undertaking for a 1-year only affair.
It turned out the car was used by someone I knew through a previous job. It was bought in Florida and they drove it back here. Compared to local examples at the time it was untouched - most of these succumbed very early to rust here in Nova Scotia, as they were not very well protected from salt damage. This one was odd as it did not have air conditioning as I recall, and was pretty sparsely equipped. It had the center armrest bench seat and shift on the column.
My recollection was that it drove nicely enough, as these cars do, but that the Buick 350 was the wheeziest, most underpowered emission-control engine I could remember. It had very little punch on the road, making much noise but not much momentum when you floored it on the highway. It probably would have been fine, but I decided against it. I remember thinking that it would probably deteriorate pretty quickly in daily use up here. I think the seller was asking about $4500 for it.
The problem with the coupe versions of these was the big, heavy door with the frameless door glass. The windows seemed to loosen up pretty quickly and would rattle if you drove with them partly down. The doors were bears in parking lots due to their size and weight. And for such a big car there was little usable space - the back seats in the coupes were tight and the trunks were small.
When I had my '77 Lemans I had a couple of experiences with it that were the best way to use these cars - once with a girl I was just crazy about on a long road trip one summer day, just cruising along the highway with this beautiful blonde next to me in the front seat (unfortunately not too close!), and the second, making good use of the width of the car, with a friend and his even more gorgeous girlfriend 3 abreast in the front seat on a similar drive, since neither of them wanted to use the rear seat - she took the middle and that was no hardship for me as the driver. They were great highway cruisers.
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
What an oddball that is.... a fox body with a BMW Diesel. What were they thinking?
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Went to Craigslist, here's the car...nice colors anyway
Way back in 1993, there was a guy at work who had one of the 4-door Fox-based Continentals. It was a nice, little-old lady car in great shape, but when the suspension went out, he junked it.
I remember he also had an '83 Fleetwood coupe in a beautiful light blue. He gave that one to his son when he bought the Continental. Power steering failed on the Fleetwood, and instead of getting it fixed the kid thought it was "cool", somehow, to drive that car with manual steering. Like it affirmed his manhood or something, I guess. Unfortunately, cars that heavy aren't meant to be driven without power steering, and I think the added strain took its toll on the rest of the suspension. So, that one got junked, too.
I think the Lincoln's problem was that it was fairly obvious that it was based on the T-bird and Cougar platform, and perhaps that made it seem to lose a little prestige? At least with the Eldorado, there was no lowly Chevy sharing the same platform, and its Toronado and Riviera sisters, at least, were also luxury cars.
I think Lincoln did a better job of making a bit of a hotrod edition though, with the Mark VII LSC. Cadillac did come up with an Eldorado Touring coupe that had some blackout trim and nice aluminum rims, and a stiffer suspension, but it still just had the weak 4.1 V-8. At best, maybe it was the 135 hp version versus the 125, not that it would make much difference.
I guess the Buick Riviera T-type, with the turbo V-6 wasn't too bad of a performer. It didn't have the hot Grand National/Regal T-type engine though. IIRC, it was a weaker turbo with 170-180 or so hp.
For some odd reason, the Toronado was always my favorite among these cars. I just like that offbeat front-end treatment.
I had an '81 Monte Carlo new that was stolen, and the rental the insurance company gave me was an '81 Mercury Cougar although it looked like a Granada. It was a six, had four-lug wheels (wheel covers missing), and there was a seam at eye-level on the roof sail panel that was filled in with what I think was a plastic or fiberglas piece. That all totally turned me off compared with what I had been driving.
In 1985, I think they sold about 40,000 Toronados, while the Eldorado and Riviera were somewhere north of 70,000 apiece, so the Toro was a bit of the wallflower in this group.
In 1981-82, Mercury had the Cougar, which was a clone to the Granada, and then the Cougar XR-7, which was a clone to the T-bird. I thought the Cougars (and the '81-82 Granada) were handsome cars in their own way, but they did have a flimsiness about them. They didn't seem as substantial as GM's intermediates.
My grandparents on my Dad's side of the family had an '81 Granada 2-door, and then an '85 small LTD. When I had my learner's permit, I logged a lot of training miles on that LTD. I did kinda like the way it handled. It felt a bit more nimble than my Mom's '80 Malibu, and was easier to parallel park (about 4" longer, but a bit narrower, and shorter wheelbase), and its fuel-injected 3.8 was a bit quicker than the old carbureted 229 in the Malibu. But, the Malibu, despite being a coupe, felt like a roomier car than that LTD, and overall, it just felt more solid.
Definately sitting low, and at it's age best to convert it to springs. It also appears to have had paint work as the front clip is darker than the rest.
As for a comparison to an Eldo of the time, IMHO the Mark has it all over it from a driver's perspective. How can you compare the 5.0 HO equipped models to the 4.1? Its not even close. The Mark VII was a very good performer for it's day. I wouldn't turn down a nice example of a 90-92 LSC.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic