Originally Posted by arse_sidewards

There's a reason I compared people like you to the reddit car weebs who think vehicles they've never ridden around in are so great. There is literally no way someone not coming from a position of complete ignorance can have an opinion like yours.

A 3spd auto is a huge downgrade over a modern 5+ speed transmission. A frame doesn't mean much since you're not going to be tearing the hitch off even the flimsiest of modern cars (the hitches themselves bend/break first, been there done that). A solid rear axle is a slight upgrade over modern drive-trains for this kind of use but the modern stuff isn't going to give you problems either. Sure, many 70s cars will get you disc brakes but they're gonna be tiny garbage sized to fit in a 14", maybe 15" if you're lucky, rim and out-performed in every way by what's on modern cars. Say nothing of the huge rear overhang and sidewalls that are gonna have the trailer pushing the old car all over the road to a much greater extent.

I have done exactly the sort of stuff that you people are turning your nose up at with both modern cars and old pickups and the occasional old car. The progress absolutely has added up to the point where a modern unibody midsize SUV, like an Edge, Higlander, Pilot, Outback, Explorer, etc, etc can and do tow up to say 8k or thereabouts so much better than all of the cars and a lot of the more poorly equipped trucks (half tons with tall gear and auto transmissions mostly) of the 80s and before that it shouldn't even be a question, the modern blob is the better tow vehicle. Perhaps some of the best equipped land yacht cars (like the linked Caddys) could equal the performance of modern stuff but as a general rule you're gonna be better off in a new vehicle than an old one, barring any huge disparities in weight.

Now, would a modern pickup be better than either? Of course. Is the camper pictured gonna drag that Lincoln all of the road in the wind, probably. But as long as the driver's competence and self restraint exceed what most here are projecting on him it'll probably be fine.