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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
If you read the text, it must be Mad Mag!
Today, it would be The Onion.
man, that car is a barge. Must be like driving an expedition or an F250 these days.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Oh, man.... that's hilarious! "Runs on inexpensive paint thinner!"
I think not long ago someone posted an instrument panel pic, which also seemed less flat and blocky than the later '70's ones.
One detail I didn't care for, in '77, was when they went to the narrow, taller grille. I thought it looked fine on the Mark V, but not so much the regular Continental sedans and coupes. This is a nit-picky thing, but I didn't care for the placement of the headlights. Instead of being centered between the edge of the car and the edge of the grille, they were too far outboard. It was most likely an artifact of the wider grille they had for '76 and earlier, which would have had the headlights further out. But with the narrower grille, it just seems a bit off to me.
It's a bit curious, that Lincoln never embraced 4-door hardtops the way Cadillac and Imperial did. I believe they only offered them for '57 and then '58-60. But, the "pillared hardtop, with the slim, somewhat recessed B-pillar was still an attractive car.
I'll have to look at the brochure, but I know you could get buckets and console in an LTD in at least '71, and maybe '72, after Chevy had given up on them in a full-size after '69. I wonder if a full-size Merc could be had with them in '71 or '72.
The LTD, if I'm remembering correctly, had a fair amount of woven vinyl in the buckets. More comfortable, but I always associate woven vinyl with the bottom-tier Chevelle Deluxe of '73 and base Novas of generally that time period.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
The '73 Chevelle Deluxe and Malibu front bumper was enormous, too. Looked like a railroad tie. I liked the headlight design and simple grille, but that big bumper, made worse by silver-gray filler between the bumper and grille on any color car, made it look enormous. Midway through the model year the filler was made body-color, which helped IMO.
I didn't mind the Laguna front end, but I hated how the rear bumper was body-color as well.
You can hardly see it!:
But if you remember "Casino", these bumpers can take a bumping.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
One casualty of the crash standards was rear bumpers with the taillights built into them, such as the big '73 Chevies and the '73 Dart/Valiant. I would think that actually built into the bumper like that, they'd be better protected, but apparently not. For '74, both of those styles ended up with a jutting rear bumper, and taillights mounted in the body, above and ahead of the bumpers.
"And remember, the '73 was a 2.5 mph bumper, the full 5 mph standard started in '74."
The '73 bumper was 5 mph in the front; 2.5 in the rear. In '74 it was 5 mph in the rear too.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
"You Can Kill a Horse but not a Cadillac (1905)"
edit to add: interweb says it was an '81. Decontented and all.
I think I recall the story behind that car being a metal plate under the passenger compartment or something similar. Been ages since I've seen the movie, lots of cars in it.
Fun pic, I think today that clamshell Buick wagon would be the most valuable of the three.
Sorry for the photo. My cheapo tablet with no mouse, and/or FB, seems to no longer have the choice to 'download' a photo directly, even though there was a 'share' option to put it on my own FB page (which I did).
Bogie and Bacall were married at Malabar Farm near Mansfield, Ohio. The tour of the home is pretty cool.
I can just hear her deep voice, "Fill it with premium young man", LOL.
I don't know if all V-8-6-4 Cadillacs got it, or just the Eldorado?
First thing I remember hearing about them, is the first one the Chev-Cadillac dealer in Clarion, PA, where I'd gone to college, got in, supposedly caught fire when an employee took it for a drive out on I-80.
A buddy of mine who grew up on a steady diet of Cadillacs and has a couple now, has said they weren't that bad and I guess it was possible to disconnect the variable aspect of it, to make it a V8 all the time. Has anyone else heard that?
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
Supposedly, the engine also had issues around the speeds of 45 mph and again at 68. At those particular speeds, it was more likely to "hunt" between the cylinder ranges, and apparently wasn't too sophisticated about it.
My 2012 Ram has cylinder deactivation, but it only goes from 8 to 4 cylinders. The shift is almost imperceptible, but if you want to know when it's coming on, you can toggle through and it will display "ECON ON" or something to that effect, where the odometer/trip odometer/outdoor temperature display is.
I wonder, in the real world, how much cylinder deactivation really improves fuel economy, anyway? I have a feeling it's one of those things that looks good in a laboratory test, and helps boost EPA and CAFE numbers, but the typical driver doesn't really notice. For instance, if it boosted your highway mileage from, say, 21 mpg to 22, it's not going to save you much. But, if it helps GM save $millions in fines, they'll do it. And, over enough sales volume, it does help somewhat, with dependence on fuel.
It also seems like there's just something "magical" about 45 mph. I remember that was the speed where GM's earlier 4-speed automatics tended to hunt around between 3rd and 4th. And even on my '79 5th Ave, which just has a 3-speed automatic, it hates cruising around 45-50 mph, under level road, light load situations. It will grumble a bit, and almost beg you to either stomp on the gas and go faster, or manually downshift to second.
Here's a pretty good write-up of the V-8-6-4: https://blog.consumerguide.com/cadillac-v8-6-4/
I also remember my dealer telling me about my first 4-speed automatic, "around town leave it in 'D'", to avoid 'hunting'.
I did like that GM gave you that option on the selector, which of course went away later.
But, when they downsized for '77, much of that distinction was lost. The Fleetwood had a nicer interior, and that tapered B-pillar, but it was no longer any bigger than a DeVille. And for '80, when it lost the tapered B-pillar, even more of the distinction was lost.
As a kid, I remember an ad for the restyled '80 Cadillacs, bragging about how the DeVilles now had 2" more legroom in back than the year before. My guess is that with the more upright C-pillar and rear window, they were able to move the back a bit further back? Or, I wonder if they simply did something cheap, like give the DeVilles thinner seats and cushions, while the Fleetwoods were more opulent and thickly padded?
Wow, you can find just about everything these days...here's the ad! 1980 Cadillac magazine ad.
At first, I was thinking the 15/23 fuel economy rating they quoted for the standard 368 wasn't bad...I seem to recall my grandmother's '85 LeSabre was 17/24 or something close to that. But then, I remembered that for '80 they published raw laboratory numbers, but around 1984-85 they rounded the window sticker numbers down a bit, to try and reflect "real world" driving, so the two aren't directly comparable. Still, for comparison I think my '79 5th Ave was 14/22, for a 360-2bbl.
It's a shame that Cadillac didn't try to keep the 368 around longer, rather than depend on that little aluminum 249. They would have probably had to pay CAFE fines, but it would have saved them a lot of grace, considering the reputation that 249 got! And, the 368 would have improved with time, as improvements in emissions controls came out, and 4-speed automatic overdrive transmissions.
One of the reviews they show is a C&D test of a 1981 Sedan DeVille with the V8-6-4. 0-60 came up in 11.6 seconds. Oddly though, there's a test of an '81 Seville in there, with the V8-6-4, and it came up at a more leisurely 15.3. Odd that there would be so much variance. The cars were similar in weight (4100-4200 lb), and both used a 2.41:1 axle. Consumer Guide tested the Seville, though, so maybe their drivers were feeling a bit more leisurely that day!
Either MT or C&D tested a 1980 Seville, with the regular 368, and got a more spirited 10.6 seconds.
If you were really feeling cheap, and masochistic, the 252 Buick V6 credit option on a Fleetwood would get you from 0-60 in 22.6 seconds!
A bail bondsman in our small town had a new '74 Fleetwood Talisman, bought at our local Chevy-Cadillac dealer. I bet their district guy was happy about that. At the time, I thought I'd never seen an interior more magnificent--a car that size, with seating for only four, LOL. It was dark blue with white top and blue interior. I have since seen that for $2,400 extra, you could get an all-leather-inside Talisman, in '74 only. Now THAT is an impressive interior, LOL!
Makes me wonder where the receipt was found. If in a door panel, it probably wouldn't be in as good condition. Maybe down the defroter vent on the dash? Behind the glovebox liner? Beneath carpeting at the upper edge?
UPDATE: Someone asked the question. Original poster's response today: "It's a customer's car at my shop, having some interior work done and found it crumpled under the seat. The owner had no idea of its history until yesterday."
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/232-S-Mapleton-Dr-Los-Angeles-CA-90024/20524395_zpid/
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
In contrast, this is about as close as I'll ever get to being able to pull off the illusion of luxury. I was trying to ape those old car ads where they'd park a car out by the swimming pool for a glamour shot.