1969 was the last model year for the Corvair, the same year I got my license. I hated the early Corvair, but the '65-'69 was one of the best looking cars around. Notice the similarity in shape between them and the orginal Camaro.

My dad owned an original '66 Toronado, quite unique, but a huge pig to drive. With the totally flat floor it had white vinyl bench seats that were more like funiture than car seats. The Riviera was much better looking, but conventional rear-drive.

I still think one of the best looking American cars of all time is the '62-'65 Lincoln Continental, the ones with the suicide doors. We had a '64, metallic turquoise inside and out. Totally unreliable, but pretty.

The best era for cars overall? Today! I remember replacing tires and brakes on an annual basis and valve jobs every 60,000 miles or so. Those big V-8 engines were often mated to sickly two-speed automatics or three-on-the-tree without syncromesh on first gear. And dont forget stuck chokes, terrifying drum brakes, one-speaker AM radios, no A/C, dim sealed-beam headlights, vacuum operated wipers, etc.

 

My bias against these cars has multiple sources. First, my old man liked them and proclaimed that Mercedes Benz ".. just didn't have the engineering.." that a Mark III or Marquis had. I think he meant "styling". Friends of the family had them and had trouble keeping (or getting) front ends aligned, and the brake rotors warped easily. I agree to the unique styling and monster motor, but really, they were quite bloated. And don't hit a dip over 15 MPH.




To see why the girls at the car shows look at you funny if you ask about the "de Sade" option on your Marquis:

www.popsubculture.com/pop/ bio_project/marquis_de_sade.html - 50k -

 

Well I couldn't make that link work there, try again:


www.popsubculture.com/pop/ bio_project/marquis_de_sade.html - 50k -

Anyway, it took a couple of tries to get one suitable. Do a google search on Marquis de Sade and you'll see why, and you'll see what comes to mind when I see one of those boats floating down the street.....

 

I actually also think that the Riveria's were better looking than the Toronado's as well, and you don't see too many of the late 60's Corvairs compared to the early 60's.

I liked the Lincoln Continental's with the suicide doors and a few weeks ago I saw a '63 Continental for sale and they wanted $4000, the body/interior was in good shape but I'm not sure if it runs or not.

 

Now I'm not sure if I want to own a 1971-ish Mercury Marquis or not cause if it's that unreliable, I'm not even going to bother cause the kind of car that I used to want to have is a 1995-01 Toyota Camry but I lost interest in the Camry and got more hooked on the 60's/early 70's automobiles, plus most of the Marquis's and the other full size cars of that era only had one side mirror.

 

I have to admit the 60's to early 70's were the golden years in styling and performance. I've owned several vehicles from the era and I enjoyed every one of them. My 63 and 64 Bonnevilles were the predicessors to the 65-up GTO's and you could carry your entire family in them with 303HP and a 4speed automatic, power everything and cold AC. I used to blow the doors off generic late 80's camaros because they take on look at the 18ft yacht and laugh. My bonnies would leave em at the line and lokking for answers.
My 71 Olds was originally a 2bbl mouse but after an intake swap and tranny kit, that 4 dr beast would smoke em into 3rd anyday.
Motor city needs to look back in the past for the styling cues though. Cars today all look the same unless you really look. Noone really wants to drive a copy, we want individuallity.

 

Quote: " The rest are just going to be junk yard fill soon, and no one is ever going to start up a 1987 honda accord restoration shop in 2030. They all look the same now, and soon enough, they're all going to look the same in a junk yard...forever."
What you are saying is true, but many of the '87 Hondas will probably still be running then. I have owned over 100 cars and trucks, from '27 to '01, and the most dependable of the bunch was an '86 Accord which refused to break in the 13 years I drove it.
Dono

 

I think that Pontiac Bonneville's is one of the best cars America has ever made, I like the 1962-70 Bonneville's the best.

I wish that motor city would go back to the way they used to make the cars like they did from 1965 to about 1973.

 

Check out my gallery, and you'll see my "little girl." If I may brag a bit, she's won every show I've put her in this summer.

A couple friends of mine have 2 Continental 4-door convertibles, a '66 and a '67. Both drive like they were knew, and are awesome vehicles. Just watching that top go up and down is amazing!

So many other pretty cars from that era, but I have to admit that one of my favorites is the '66-'69 Riviera. Everybody went crazy over the Toronado at the time, but I think the Rivy (and the '67 Eldorado) was a much prettier car. BTW, it was Buick that developed the FWD system for the Toronado, and they were going to use it in the Riviera, but backed out at the last minute because they weren't sure how reliable it was going to be (it was a nightmare of shafts and pulleys). Turns out, it was one of the most dependable drivetrains GM ever produced!

 

You guys can glorify the 60s and 70s all you want, but Im not buying into it.
I think the best cars are being made now.
We have 4x4 trucks that put out 300 hp and still get 16 mpg. We have cars that have V8 power with V6 fuel economy.
Also, we have American-made cars that have FINALLY gotten to the levels of quality that only Japanese cars had. It is not at all odd to see a '97-'99 F-Series or E-Series with over 200,000 miles on it. Lets see you hit those kinds of longevity numbers with almost any car from the 60s/70s.
I can remember growing up and every time my parents Bronco or F-150 hit 100,000 miles, they always traded up for something new. Its like 100,000 was the magical number that a vehicle started to fall apart at. A relative of mine had a '92 F-150 that had over 210,000 miles on it and is still going strong. Granted, its on it's 2nd engine, but you cant complain when a 302 makes it 180,000 miles. In fact, the old engine still ran just fine, the only problem was it had some SERIOUS blowby issues.
I think musclecars are cool, but in my humble opinion, they are 1-dimensional vehicles. All the do is go very fast in a straight line. Granted, they are very, very good as doing this, but thats all they do well. You are all probably going to hate this comparison, but lets use a Focus SVT. If you ran a Focus SVT vs. a Boss Mustang or a 350 GT on a road course, the Focus would leave the Mustang in the dust. Unless you had a lot of long straightaways, the Mustang would fall too far behind in the corners to keep up. On the other hand, the sound of a big block V8 is something to behold.
I'll keep my '99 F-150. Its got 107,000 miles on it and is still going strong. It will pull 16 mpg and I can still light the tires up any time I want.
Serpent

 

Gee, I'm sorry, I thought it was clear that all I was talking about was the styling of the older cars. When stylists were free to do what they wanted, without having to worry about crumple zones and 5-mph bumpers. Cars as an art form, nothing else. Are vehicles better today? I think so, but there will never be a time like the mid-to-late 60s when it comes to styling. Today's cars can't hold a candle to the 60's classics in that department.

 

Well considering Boss Mustangs came with competition suspension , sway bars, for those pesky curves and were good enough to win the 1970 Trans Am series, I highly doubt your Svt Focus would stand a chance, heck the RT Neon blows a focus away. As far as a GT 350 losing, to a Focus , I can't see that happening in any condition, well maybe air condition/stereo department. I know alot of the 60's and 70's cars werent made for road courses, but lets take a look at lets say a 65 Shelby Cobra, thats a 60's car that still exceeds alot of cars today. As far as reliability Your forgetting about the Ford Fe's as an example, plenty of 390's out there with way over the 100k mark and still going.

 

For styling, I'd have to say the 50's.... the era of the tailfins, rounded corners. The Caddies, the Studes, the Hudsons, late 50's Chebbies and F150's, big chrome and two-tone paint. No other decade saw so much styling change. Then there was the Tucker in the late 40's that was WAY ahead of the times.
Dono

 

The 427 shelby cobras would blow the doors off of a focus, straight-away and road course. And with equal money--being enough for the focus to buy the HP needed to match a 427/425 Corvette from the '60s for instance--and take an equal amount and apply it to suspension and race ready upgrades for the Vette, it's no contest who'll win that battle. And who can ever get over the sound and smell of an old V8 engine.

Unless, of course, it's the one Ford helped build, and they pitted it up against a Lamborghini in Motor Trend or something, and it almost matched a lot of numbers...then maybe.

 

look at the 57-58-and 59 chevys. look at the changes. when a new model year (sept. or oct.) was available there was a unveiling at the local dealers. the cars would be covered in the showroom and no one could see them before said date. it was not unusual to have 40-50people standing in front of a showroom at 9 pm to see the new models, and every year it was a new model.
as far as 100,000 mile engines, olds engines were just getting broke in by then. the olds was more expensive than a chevy and there was a big commotion, and suits filed, when olds started putting 350 chevys in all g.m. cars. those were the days.
neil