What do you miss most about an old car...

[hydralique]

'59 Buick

The '59 Buick has always been one of my favorite American cars of the '50s. When I was very small I was allowed to ride my tricycle down the sidewalk two houses in either direction alone, and two houses to the east there was a driveway with a splendid '59. Everyday I'd trike down to sit behind the rear and admire those fins and big round taillights. One day I triked down and it was gone but instead of an empty space which simply meant the housewife owner had gone shopping there was a shiny new '63 Buick in the spot. I didn't know car brands at that time but it was clear to me that the owner had been duped into thinking new was better than beautiful. To this day I do not like '63 Buicks!

 

[NYCWriter]

Stan ...

... YES!!!

By the way, MY dream car is the car I learned to drive:

 

[thor]

'59 Buick Electra 225!

That's also one of my favorite cars of the fin era, just like the 59 Cadillac 4 door flat-top. I must have been 7 or 8 when I first saw a car like this, a pillarless 4 door, it was shiny black with all red leather interior, an astonishing combination for the time, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, power seats, power windows and power vents and factory air conditioning, which blew ice cold. But the best feature of all was that the car had air suspension, it literally rode like a cloud. It belonged to a friend of my father, an Argentine diplomat who'd brought it to Argentina from the States. It was the export model, the speedometer was in kilometers, and it went all the way up to 200! We saw the car just two or three times, it was shiny new at the time!

A couple of years later someone told my father the owner had had severe issues with the air suspension. The whole system leaked constantly, when stopped the car would lie flat on the floor, and the bellows kept puncturing or rupturing, or something like that. Worst of all, there were no spares for the air suspension in this country, the owner had no choice but to sell the car for pennies because of this issue, which couldn't be solved.

Thanks to the internet I know now that all GM air suspension cars of the era were recalled and the air suspension was changed at the dealer for the standard spring suspension, the option turned out to be a disaster for GM (actually to the owners of the cars!).

Emilio

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Prestige Names: BROUGHAM, LIMITED, CUSTOM, LANDAU...! ('Course how do you expect anything nowadays to be named such things w/o a LANDAU top or a VINYL ROOF?)

NYC writer: Was your Le Sab' a 2 door, or 4 door Hardtop or 4 door Sedan?

There was a 4 door Le Sabre hardtop down the street Red, on Black, while across the street was a Delta 88 Hardtop Brown on White (w/ Brown accents) and the house on the corner of the next street (he was the Last Milkman) had a Red on Black Delta 88 Hardtop in his garage, next to his delivery truck! All 1973's...

Who remembers the Designer Series Continental Mark IV's (my all-time favorite luxury car, 1972-1976--and gobs of stuff these cars had, that NOTHING from 1980 onward could capture in anyone's dreams!) which went on the Mark V series from '77 to '79; who ever thought thta the '69-'71 Mark III ever evolved into such a phenonum?!

-- Dave

 

[norgeway]

I think mainly..

Its how a old car feels on the road, smooth,quiet,easy to turn and stop, and much safer in that you are not nearly as likely to have a wreck, because you can see so much better, no new car has decent visibility.

 

[supersuds]

Air suspension

Emilio, there's an amusing video produced by Chrysler called "McCahill Tests the 1958 Cars" ( or something close to that) where they show a '58 Buick blowing out one of the airbags after being driven over a torture test road --which the Chrysler Torsion-Aire cars zip over with no damage.

More recently, a friend had a Lincoln Mark VII with airbag suspension, and he had the exact same problem your diplomat did. The airbags got leaky and the car settled down on its haunches until it looked like a low rider.

 

[NYCWriter]

I also remember ...

... back in the day when cars were land yachts, if and when you DID get into an accident -- say, slamming into a telephone pole -- the telephone pole always LOST. Not the other way around, like today.

 

[foraloysius]

European floor mounted dimmers

Actually quite a lot of the European cars had floor mounted dimmers. Not only Ford, but Volkswagen, Volvo and Opel too IIRC. It was a common system that was abandoned in the sixties AFAIK.

 

[countryford]

How bout floor mounted starters? Put the key in and turn it to the "On" position, then just press your foot down to start the car.

 

[thor]

Buick Electra 225

Supersuds, thank you very much for your tip, I'll surely check the address to see the video you mention. I'll sure love it!

Today I called one of my older brothers and I casually asked him what he remembered about the history of this Buick. He told me the car actually was not ordered by the diplomat, it was a showroom car, with every concieivable option in the book. The diplomat was actually stationed in NYC (and not in Washington DC), and he bought the car once the 1960 models had already come out (October 1959?), with a huge discount from the list price of the car. Two years later he was banging his head against the wall for his decisión, actually there were very few cars manufactured with air suspension, which was optional in this model. Had he not purchased this show room car he'd never have ordered a car with air suspension!

I then told him I was sure the car was an export model with a kilometer speedometer, so how could this be, and he told me that I was confused with the car of another friend of our father: a 1958 4 door hardtop Bel-Air, which was an export model and did have the kilometer speedometer, going up to 200 km/hr! So, I stand corrected, the Buick was an American version car and had a mile speedometer.

Emilio

 

[thor]

American cars for export

Just check the dashboard of this 1963 Impala. This car is a rust bucket, LOL!

http://mla-s2-p.mlstatic.com/impala-1963-4173-MLA2833793203_062012-F.jpg

 

[thor]

1959 Impala

Another export dashboard. Please imagine what the number "200" would cause in an 8 year old kid!

http://mla-s1-p.mlstatic.com/impala-1959-original-12312-MLA20057579212_032014-F.jpg

 

[thor]

1961 Impala

Yet another export car.

http://mla-s1-p.mlstatic.com/chevrolet-impala-8327-MLA20002877049_112013-F.jpg

 

[thor]

Brand new!

Check this Brand new Chrysler 300C, being locally sold for a mere US$ 60,000. The speedometer goes up to 260 km/hr! Click over the picture for a somewhat larger and clearer view.

http://mla-s2-p.mlstatic.com/chrysler-300c-36l-v6-pentastar-9795-MLA20020842270_122013-F.jpg

 

[ovrphil]

Reply #28 - Kevin's 1964 Dodge

I love that interior - reminds me if the 1957 Mercury my dad had - cream and chocolate (within fin) ; pushbuttons....are really a great memory and still fun to use. 53K miles? What a creampuff.

I owned a long drink of water, too - no pushbuttons, but the first owner was a doctor. It had the Tiffany analog clock, mohair-velvent black interior, and you needed a GPS to navigate the interior it was so huge, lol. I didn't fit the style, but I loved it, gas hog and all.

 

[circlew]

My mom's friend Louise had a '72 Old 98 Regency like the one pictured, except hers was dark gray. It was so long, that they couln't close the garage if if was in.

 

[stan]

72 Olds 98

That 18 feet 11.8 inches !
My Delta 88 is 18 feet 10 inches! A lot of maneuvering required to park, and pre planning. LOL

 

[ovrphil]

When I looked around to the back seat, it was looking at the back of a movie theater (slight exaggeration added)...and I'd say, "walk to the front of the cabin, so I can hear you..".

Stan - you're right, it required pre-planning...lol!

I love this long breath of fresh air thread.

 

[stan]

Phil

Pre planning helps, but sometimes it ends up where you just say "never mind, I'll come back later" of course length is one issue, but you also have width to think about too!
LOL and blushing!

 

[ovrphil]

When I looked around to the back seat, the passengers were so far away, you couldn't hear them talking -I had to ask them to walk to the front side, lol, to say something.

Stan - you're right, it required pre-planning...lol!

There have been threads about cars here, and each time, it's always fresh to read.