I learned how to drive
With a 1975 Fleetwood. Parents would not let me have my own car as a teen so that was what I got to drive when I did get to drive. That or Dad’s 1976 Eldorado.
No car has ever come up to that for me. Not that I have ever been able to afford a car in that price class that would have any chance of comparing. One of the things I have always missed was the feeling of safety with all that heavy metal around me.
But in adult life with my affordable, sensible cars the fun of a manual tranny always compensated. Until, alas, after 40 years of having a car with a stick I finally ran out of luck finding one when I recently had to get a new car.
I got particularly attached to the Fleetwood because by the time it was 5 years old and it had well over 100,000 miles on it, I was the only one who could start it when it was really cold. LOL
When my folks passed those cars were still sitting in the garage, with dead batteries, flat tires and all fluids leaked out onto layers of cardboard underneath. I vowed that I was going to take the Fleetwood and get it running. But a mechanic/former neighbor talked me out of it. It had well over 160,000 miles on it and it had sat undriven for 25 years because the folks got tired of getting it fixed all the time. It wouldn’t hold auto tranny fluid and he said it’d cost a bundle to pull the engine and tranny to replace those gaskets. Then he said keep in mind nothing has been maintained or kept up for 25 years so you’ll have 25 cumulative years of unaddressed problems nearly all at once, as with any barn find car. I knew he was right. Every part except engine and tranny had already been replaced once if not twice already — and not with OEPs. So I let it go. One of the saddest things I ever had to do.
Nothing beats a 1970s Cadillac IMO, especially the 1975 year. They weren’t very reliable though. After about 60,000 miles they broke down every 3 months or so. After I had begun my adult life, Dad finally got tired of it and bought a 1987 Honda Accord 5-speed. Which was another dream of a car, even for a sensible car. He regretted trading that car until the day he died.
Anyway, enjoy that dream car!
, heaven help you if you’re on the eastern side.
