The seventies were a bit of a challenging decade in regard to big cars, and I’m still struggling with my choice. Will it be this purple ’78 Marquis, or a ’71 LTD?
So I’m going to have to let you go first, otherwise this soul-searching might go on way too long.
1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 454 red/black stripes and manual transmission
1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst
1970 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV
1977 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Indy 500 T-Top Pace Car Edition
1979 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency Coupe (Black on Red Velour) 350 CI.
There’s no street legal 88 pace car with T tops, or any B/C body AFAIK. Wrong market, and no factory B/C in this generation with frameless hardtop-style doors. The actual pace car had a cutaway roof and wasn’t street legal.
Yes. You are correct. I got mixed up between the 1976 Buick Century and 1977 Delta Eighty-Eight. Olds did sell a limited number of 1977 Olds Pace Cars but they were all hardtops according to Norcalolds article below.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/v-6-on-the-track-v-8-on-the-street-1976-buick-century-pace-car-replica/
http://www.norcalolds.com/newsletters/2017/mayjunesm8.pdf
So scratch the 1977 Olds Eighty Eight above and replace with 1976 Buick Century Pace Car Edition.
I loved the 1970’s large domestic cars and probably could add more to this list. However, if I only had one to choose by Paul’s rules, I would have to take the 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst for the rarity, creature comforts, easy to maintain and work-on. This car would have easily lasted me until 1980 when I get to make my next choice.
Oh crap, I knew this was coming. What do you pick after spending the prior thirty years with some of the finest cars the world had to offer?
I am truly torn. We are going for big cars here so there is no sense in settling for one of the more sensible cars from the late 70s. There will be plenty of time to wear that hair shirt through the 80s.
Chrysler became a bigger mess as the decade went on, although the 76-77 New Yorker Brougham had its charms, and I could also be talked into a 72 New Yorker or Imperial. I like the mechanics of the 70-71 better but the 72 was so much prettier.
I think I am going to go for Peak Lincoln with a 1972 Continental in the Town Car trim. I will get back to you on the color combo, but this red moondust version looks pretty nice.
Same for me (my family had a Copper Moondust Metallic ’72 with black Cavalry Twill vinyl roof, a slightly used dealer demonstrator, and I got to drive it a few times as a teenager). But I would prefer a standard model with tuck-and-roll optional leather like our car had, rather than the Town Car upholstery style. The high-backed rear seat was especially comfortable but disappeared after ’74.
Can´t decide between this and a big Chrysler. I like the fuselage style of them a lot, but I´m also flavor influenced by Ford products which rolled through almost every 70´s cop show on tv. But one thing is for sure, it hads to be as broughamy as possible.
Another ’70 sedan like the one I had forty years ago, I could live with a ’71-’73 as well. It has to be the four door, the coupe never really did it for me, except the few custom convertibles built.
What do you like better about the mechanicals of a ’70-’71 than a ’72 Chrysler or Imperial?
An International Travelall may be bending the rules, but I just now thought of it. Or maybe I have to wait until the QOTD asks what truck I would pick from the 70s. 2WD, a 392 and woodgrain! And a prepaid lifetime subscription for annual Krown oil spray treatments. An annual drive to Canada would not be too big of a price. I’m sure DougD would put me up overnight.
Ah, damn. I had been counting my lucky stars that you weren’t taking us there. Checked the calendar and everything.
The easy answer is a 1972 Matador hardtop just like my first car, but that’s a bit too obvious and not very much MM fun.
So I’ll go for obvious answer #2. 1974 Dodge Monaco with a cop motor, four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. Cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. No catalytic converter so it’ll run good on regular gas.
“1974 Dodge Monaco with a cop motor . . . .”
Excellent choice. Once you get all of the fasteners tightened and the doors and fenders aligned you will have a heckuva a nice car. Or you could get lucky as Chrysler would build one like that out of maybe every ten in 1974. 🙂
Sorry; been there, done that, got other priorities in life other than to spend a beautiful spring day writing. You can re-read this, if you really need. 🙂
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto-biography/thank-you-all-for-your-great-car-buying-advice-but-i-ignored-it-all-and-bought-this-pristine-1972-ford-ltd-instead/
“So I’ll go for obvious answer #2. 1974 Dodge Monaco with a cop motor, four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. Cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. No catalytic converter so it’ll run good on regular gas.”
That’s an awesome choice and one of the few truly large 70’s barges that I desire. That is one of the coolest cop cars of all time in my books.
Vince: I noticed you asked me a question the other day when we were all MM’ing the 50’s cars….
My replies to your query are here.
Paul… Love your choice! (LOL)… I need to think about that as I am torn. The ’72 LTD is of course on the list. ;o)
I’ll second that. I once drove a thrashed ’74 Monaco with most of the cop package but lacking the 440 (it has been a fire chief’s car) and was impressed by its handling.
I’m torn between that Dodge and a ’75 Buick Estate Wagon with HD suspension and the 455. As I recall, the ’75 GM full size models handled quite a bit better than the ’74s. I drove one of these quite a bit. It was comfortable, quiet, powerful, and handled much better than it had any right to. Of course, it was also an unreliable lemon that repeatedly left my father stranded. That’s why I got to drive it: it was his tow vehicle and he couldn’t replace it with something comparable because they had been downsized, so he didn’t want to give up on it eventually being put right.
I guess I’d probably go with the Buick for old times’ sake, but that Dodge sure runs a close second.
Lincoln Mark V. Any year will do as long as it had the 460/4bbl.
If “downsized” still counts as “big” it’s easy for me, though not very original … a ‘77-79 Impala or maybe Caprice, 350, F41. Perhaps a wagon, but probably a normal 4 door. If I could go slightly smaller, a ‘78-79 Chevelle, or even smaller, a 302 Fairmont. Two door or wagon for those; mid-size 4 door sedans of that era just seemed too dull.
Yeah, the definition of ‘big’ in the latter half of the seventies is a little tough. To me, when there’s an intermediate and full-size in the line-up, ‘big’ means the full-size choice. So, in that regard, I’d have to go with the post-’77 Caprice, as well. Specifically, one of the ‘bent-wire’ rear window glass coupes.
If we’re including intermediates, then a ’72 Cutlass 2-door hardtop.
I had a 72 2 door broughm version of Mr Niedermeyers LTD! That got you cornering lights and other do dad’s. I had the 210 hp 400. It took me to the east coast, West coast, and everywhere in between. It was in my family for 3 owners. Indestructible.
I said with my last pick that I’ll be holding onto it through most of the 70s, so my pick for this decade would be a 78 Lesabre Sport Coupe with the Turbo V6.
Weird, I never considered myself a GM fan yet all my full sized picks for each decade have been one. I’ll make my second choice is a 70-71 Fury GT.
Beat me to it! I’ll take one of these in that late 70s GM ice blue.
These LeSabre turbo would had been badass in they was paint in black. Just imagine what if Buick had continued to make them to the mid-1980s adding the same turbo engines used in the 1986-87 Regal Grand National.
For the mid-size/intermediates, lots of choices with Chevelle, Cutlass, GTO, Charger/Satellite, Monte Carlo, Torino if you like “Gran Torino” or “Starsky & Hutch” or a Buick Century/Regal 4-door sedan brown like the one used in the tv series “Kojak”.
Edit: For some full-size models, we could mention some Canadian models like the 1971-76 Bel Air Sport coupe and Pontiac Parisienne and Laurentian
They would have been bigger and heavier than the Grand National to no great purpose.
Plus the LeSabre styling went off a cliff with the 80 refresh.
1970 Cadillac Eldorado in Champange Gold please! With a black vinyl top, altough a white one wouldn’t look to bad either. Hmmm….
Darn it!! this is hard………………1975 Cadillac Seville,1974 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham Talisman and a 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo. would also love a 1975 Chevy Nova LN, 1975 Ford Granada, 1974 Dodge Dart, 1975 Chevy Monza Towne Coupe, 1976 Ford Mustang 2 Ghia etc etc
Ok, I understand the Dart, Monte Carlo and Nova LN, as I driven them back in the day. (The Nova, in my opinion, was highly underrated.) I kind of get the Seville and Fleetwood.
However, you need to explain yourself with the Granada, Mustang II and Monza!
I owned a 75 Monza 2+2 with V8 (monza towne coupe was like a mini Eldo), i always liked the way the Granada was packaged(mini Lincoln)and they looked great in 2 tone silver and black. And the Mustang 2?……..Because no one else likes them……….and i dig the Ghia trim. LOL!!!
The 1970’s is a challenging decade to pick a big American car, they were such gas pigs. I would of been one of the millions that switched to something foreign or smaller. My dad drove a AMC Hornet hatchback (probably the only one with a mobile phone) and a new VW Rabbit during the ‘70’s.
If stuck with a full size choice my ‘70s car would be another Riviera this time a ‘72 boattail GS (I loved these as a 9 year old boy) – I’m not picky about the color, just not white and no vinyl roof.
I actually wouldn’t mind a 1974 Riviera GS – not a car you see every day. Love the aggressive grill and extra brake/taillights. A 1/2 vinyl roof would be OK.
If there was a third choice why not another Buick? A 1977-79 downsized ‘B’ body LeSabre turbo sport coupe.
This decade is easy for me. There are very few full-size cars that I really desire from the 1970s, but one of my all time favorites cars is the downsized B-Body, especially in Chevrolet form. I used to really favor the 2-doors with the bent wire rear window, and for years wanted to buy one – lots of MM. Of course F41 suspension, the LM1, a TH350 and posi are absolute requirements. Today though, after all that luxury of my ’65 Rivera I need to simplify and go back to basics. I think I’d probably go for a plain 4-door. Make mine a 9C1 please. One like this below would do just nicely.
Easiest question here ever!
1977-79 Caprice with a V8 (either 305 or 350), F41, AC, and no vinyl roof.
4 doors, or even 2.
Easy choice
Tough one. Been thinking on this since yesterday.
Probably a list is the best I can narrow it down to.
1974 Dodge Charger with a 360 V8.
1975 Chrysler Cordoba with a 318
1973 Dodge Challenger with a 340
Honourable mentions go to:
1973 Olds Cutlass Supreme 350
1974 Chev Malibu 2 door with a 350.
I’ve already started thinking about the 80s and that will be even more difficult.
The only full-size ‘70s vehicle we owned was a hand-me-down ‘71 Catalina four-door with the two-barrel 400 seen in the background of the attached photo. Gutless and fairly generic, I really wouldn’t go for one as part of this exercise.
If we have to go big, I’ll take a 23’ 1973 GMC Motorhome, please.
But I don’t want a big American car from the 1970s! (Seriously, if I was alive in the 1970s I probably would have bought an import). And I suppose the the Dart/Valiant doesn’t count as big, does it?
I guess if I have to, I’ll go with the 1977 Impala, like some others before me. 15 years would be a long time to keep that Dodge I bought in 1962, but it’s a Slant Six so it’s still running.
++++My sentiments and choices precisely!
I was alive and driving in the 1970s, and I bought a new ’77 Honda Civic CVCC 5-speed. I was crazy about that car, sold it far too soon, and would put one in my fantasy garage today.
I too was alive and driving in the ‘70’s, and in that decade I bought a Volvo 122S, a Vega GT, and Alfetta sedan, a Ford Fiesta and a handful of motorcycles.
The1970s, huh? Well, a 1972 Impala sports coupe would be my first choice. Second, a 1970-72 Chevelle sports coupe. “Heavy Chevy” option, of course.Third, in the case of the colonnades, a 1973 Pontiac Grand Am. A 1977 Cutlass Supreme coupe. A 1977 Impala coupe.
I add the “Mid-sizers” solely because by today’s standards, they are HUGE!
Despite being the era of smog and safety, there are quite a few I recall fondly. I’d take back my ’71 Caprice, and the ’77 Impala, both well-sorted, comfortable and enjoyable to drive. The 1971-72 Ford full-size is another favorite. Never had a Gran Fury or Royal Monaco but I wouldn’t say no to either.
1976 Eldorado convertible, one of the last series, and drive the heck out of it rather than putting it up as a “collectable” only to have 500 identical ones hit the market at the same time, destroying the values.
Big cars were losing their market very badly during this trying period. When the first embargo hit, all hell broke loose, and the market for big went out the door. Used land yachts were available for pennies on the dollar, and the mid-size and smaller market was lighting up. As much as I loved my 1977 Monte Carlo, it would not meet the criteria of this large car challenge, nor would a Nova, Chevelle, Seville, GTO, Cutlass, Regal, Torino, Elite, Montego, Cougar, Charger, Challenger, Satellite, Road Runner, Cordoba, Magnum, Rebel, or any other midsize or PLC. Add to that list any of the 1978 GM downsized models. I have to go with the few large car choices that stood out during that period, and those are few and far in between.
Since I came of driving age in the 70’s, I was a full on brougham fan, and still have a love of these monsters at heart. But what to choose?
A 1973 LTD Hardtop was given to me as a graduation-from-high-school present. It was the family car hand me down, but I loved it anyway. And while we were a ‘mostly’ GM household, it made me a Ford man. That said, one of my preferences below matches that which I’ve already picked for the 50’s and 60’s… I liked Chevy best as a youngster. A true like-father-like-son scenario.
Here’s the short list, but there are SO many I loved from this decade. Sure, it was peak malaise, but WHAT-EVER!!! ;o)
1972 LTD Convertible… brown with tan top and tan Interior. 429 please. (Sorry Paul.)
1979 Lincoln Mark V, Bill Blass Edition please. Sure I’d rather have the 460 that was not available that year, but that midnight-blue and white combo, STUNNING. So worth it, even if I only got the 400 under the hood.
A basket handle T-Bird would be nice, but I’m sorry. Big as they are, they are MID-SIZE cars and outside the scope of this exercise.
Ok, there’s the Fords.
Now for the car with which I was smitten later into the 70’s… a newly downsized Chevy Impala or Caprice Classic. Here I’d want at least a 305, perhaps a 350, but definitely a SBC under the hood.
Make mine a ’77 with black over silver two-tone, with red pin-striping, and a red crushed velour interior. It would look similar to the car pictured below, but loose the wire wheel covers for something nicer, and a red interior please. I’d prefer the coupe and its formed-over-a-wire back-light, but a sedan looks good in this combo too.
I fell in love with these when they came out, and although I still had a thing for big LTD(s) like a dark blue ’78 Landau… oh yeah… This Chevy may’ve led me down the path to be RetroCamaro Rick here, as opposed to my current handle… OK, that’s just crazy talk, I know… ;o)
Rick, yes I saw your reply to the 1950’s thread, thanks for getting back to me. I guess that was a good guess on the model car.
Those last LTD convertibles were nice looking cars, especially in red. The ’72 LTD convertible was a car my dad briefly considered in 1972. He really wanted a convertible, and while at the Ford dealer he saw one. In the end it was just too big for what he was looking for.
Nice Impala too! I’d have a hard time picking between the coupe and the sedan. After 1980, the coupe lost it’s appeal to me, but those 77-79 coupes looked great!
Though I prefer Ford to any other American manufacturer, I will now have picked a GM for two decades. Funny how that happened to me; I am not a GM fan at all.
1977 Chevrolet Impala or Caprice coupe. I drove these when new; Hertz had several Impala coupes in the Denver fleet. They were very refined and pleasant to drive in the city compared to the big LTDs and previous big Impalas in the fleet. Still think they look crisp after all this time and love the unique backlite. It was a great leap forward (downsize?) in big cars.
I’d have to say the 1975 Imperial… likely a sedan though as I find it’s lines and hardtop styling more beautiful than the coupe’s baroque opera windows.
Nice choice!
On any of those Imperial and equivalent Chrysler two-doors, the opera window treatment for the rear quarter windows was (thankfully) optional. In both cases, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t offered until the 1975 models. These cars were much more tasteful as plain hardtop coupes.
Best looking full size coupes of the era, hands down
In a sign of how things have changed, did anyone else notice that the 1975 Imperial pictured which, one would assume, came standard with every available feature Chrysler had (I thought the only thing that cost extra was the sunroof) doesn’t have a passenger side rear-view mirror?
I mean, WTF?
Here’s what was standard, and what wasn’t.
I’ll cheat. 1970 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe with the 390 horsepower 454 V8. A 60s car with a 1970 VIN number.
See you in the 80s.
Way to dodge the Malaise there, Mike!
Well played.
But for me, it was just too soon to trade in the ’68 Impala that I picked.
My choice too but a standard V8 would suit me fine. Here is previous CC on the car: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1970-chevrolet-impala-the-best-big-car-of-its-time/
I thought of this also. Get a 60s car that made it to 1970, when Ford and Plymouth had gotten too big. I’d make mine the Impala Sport Coupe though, because I was never a fan of the more formal roofs. Also I’d get a 350 V8 with the knowledge that the first oil shock was only 3 years away (as Paul stated in his rules for this exercise).
My other choice would be the one so many others have selected — the bent wire 77 Impala or Caprice coupe, again with the 350 (now the top engine).
I had a ’70 Impala Custom 4 door hardtop way back when, was even that color 🙂 . Alas all mine had was a 327, and before you say they didn’t put 327s in them, I did. Bought the car with only 56k miles on it but with the infamous soft cam SBCs were notorious for back then. Traded a ’74 Pinto with a bad trans for a nice running ’69 327 out of a ’69 Impala and performed my very first engine swap 🙂 .
1974 or 1975 Dodge Monaco (not the Royal Monaco which I feel is too glitzy) or Plymouth Fury III. 440 Magnum 4-barrel.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V, triple black, with the 460 under the hood. Last of the what had become at that point a dying breed, wasn’t nearly as offensive or gaudy as others of the decade, and was developed late enough to where it wasn’t wheezing for power nearly as bad as the Mark IVs of 74-76, plus it looked better as well. As much as I have a soft fondness for 70s broughams and other cars, I can’t in good conscience call them good cars, the Mark V is one of the only exceptions to that for me.
1970 Chrysler 300 convertible. The last gasp.
The rational choice is the 1977 LeSabre Sport Coupe with straight Olds 403 power.
1970 Plymouth Fury
70 Impala or Caprice, or 70 Fury Gran Coupe or Fury GT.
1972 Gran Coupe Plymouth Fury (the one with the hidden headlights in the double hoop grill) black with a tan interior and the 440 engine. Also, the rear fender skirts and the rallye wheels.
1970 Monte Carlo SS454
Checker Marathon with oval opera windows.
’71 Fury III with 360 in Dark Sherwood Green.
Too many to list:
Mopar: ’70 Sport Fury GT 440+6 in bright yellow with a black interior, top and stripes
FoMoCo: ’70 Country Squire or Colony Park white/tan interior/woodgrain 429/C6
GM: ’77 Delta 88 Holiday Coupe 403 T-tops
For show, a 75 Imperial hardtop. For go, a 73 Grand Am sedan (yes, I know it’s an intermediate). I still have the 58 Impala and the Riv.
A 1975 Olds Toronado in all its broughamtastic glory, please. Yes, I’ll take mine in sky blue, thank you.
This is high on my consideration list too – ’75 or ’76. Front wheel drive, a flat floor with 3-wide seating, dual front airbags, anti-lock brakes (in the rear anyway), and high-mounted brake lamps. In the mid-’70s! Way ahead of its time.
1975 to 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis four door in a dark color and a 460.
Everything else pales in comparison.
“Everything else pales in comparison.”
Except my Lincoln. 🙂
Never would have guessed 😀 !
I’m breaking my choices down by category:
Small car:
1970 Toyota Corona 2dr Coupe.
Midsize Family Car:
1978 or 1979 Buick Century Limited 2dr Coupe or Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon Brougham 2dr Coupe. Either must have tutone paint, no vinyl roof, factory mags (lovely Buick black and chrome ones, Olds super stock wheels)., split bench seat,, and all other options.
Midsize Personal Luxury Coupe:
1979 Pontiac Grand Prix. Must be tutone in Black and Tan, no vinyl roof, leather buckets in tan, snowflake wheels, cornering lights. I don’t like the 1978 model as the tutone ends at the base of the roof.
Full size family car:
1977 – 1979 Buick LeSabre 2dr. Must be custom or Limited model. No vinyl roof, Buick steel and chrome wheels, tutone paint, split bench seat, all optioned out.
Full size luxury family car:
1977 – 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’elegance. Must have the color keyed wheel covers, all the options, and a moon roof.
Full size luxury Coupe:
1979 Lincoln Mark V Bill Blass edition . Lovely with its nautical theme of navy blue with white carriage roof.
1979 Cadillac Eldorado. Must have no vinyl roof, but opera lamps. Can have the standard Caddy wheel covers or the Caddy fake spokes. Must have leather interior. Any color combo. But, not the Biarritz, as that is just too over the top for me.
Luxury European Sized Sedan:
1977 – 1978 Cadillac SeVille d’elegance in black and silver tutone, no vinyl roof., red leather interior, all options, and Caddy fake spokes
This is the hardest to answer because I’ve always considered the ’70s big cars to be dull, tacky, plastic-y, emission-choked, badly assembled barges. But over time I’ve begun to appreciate their neo-classical touches.
So first choice may be a 1978-79 Pontiac Grand Prix (if that qualifies as “big”)–because it has that Grand Prix “elan” but is not so unwieldy and huge like the previous ones.
If not that, then I might go full-on luxo-brougham and get a 1975-79 Lincoln Continental, just for the ultimate in smoothness and silence, with a view over that early ’30s big classic-like hood with the Continental star on the radiator grille.
Hey I had that Grand Prix. I told a long story about it’s rarity, 301 4bbl and 4 speed manual, posi, all power options, etc, sometime in here but it may have been one of those comments that dissapeared upon submission. Seeing the pic made me think of it again.
One of these. Impractical, unreliable, piggish-at-the-pump, and the most beautiful machine my eyes have ever seen. 1970-1971: Sportsroof only and no brown interior.
Did they have sequential turn signal lights in the rear? Haven’t seen one of these in forever!
Indeed they did! 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcerNftDHSE
Either an Olds 98 Regency or Buick Electra Limited/Park Avenue of any year between 1971 and 1979.
The Thinking Man’s Alternative to a more vulgar and flashy Cadillac De Ville.
Wow. So many choices.
Thinking of cars that were considered big in the ’70s (versus now), I’m solidly in “Personal Luxury Coupe” Land.
I’m going to copy Joseph of Eldorado: a 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V. I’d go with the Bill Blass edition, but I love these in that champagne-y silver color.
1970 Dodge Coronet 500 two door hardtop. 340, four speed. Full instrumentation.
Sorry, but that’s an intermediate by 70’s standards. You have to upsize to a Monaco/Polara.
I’ll write to Mr. Townsend and have him send me a letter stating that the Coronet is a big car.
1970 Continental Mark III. I never much cared for the later Marks. Great thread!
And now for something completely different:
Make mine the “Suburban Status Symbol” of the 1950’s/60’s/70’s, with or without the fake wood trim: Ford Country Squire/Country Sedan station wagon. In this time period Ford was indeed “The Wagon Masters” (quoting their long running ads.)
429 V8 engine, every power option on the list, cloth insert seats, c-c-cold Ford Factory Air conditioning, AM-FM radio, aftermarket Michelin X/Sears Roadhandler radial tires & “Airlift” rear coil springs inserts. Green or ivory exterior color.
(1969 ad featured, but still the same basic car for 1970.)
“Go Big Or Go Home”.
My Dad had one….but with the 351…Green, 6 passenger (no rear seats)…it was lightly optioned, did have power disc brakes (which I think were optional…my Uncle had a ’69 4 door hardtop with drum brakes all around)…AM radio…..and the primary reason it got traded so soon in 1973 was due to it lacking Air Conditioning….by then we’d moved from Vermont to Virginia, and acquired a poptop camper taking trips around the area and down to Florida…the ’73 was a Country Sedan (Metallic Brown) but was better equipped than the Squire…our first air conditioned car, it had power locks (but manual windows) AM/FM stereo (first car to have that), and trailer towing package…it had the 400 2v…also a 6 seater. My Dad added air-raise rear suspension (probably an overkill for a poptop)…and electronic ignition which was later yanked (Radio Shack kit)….kept until ’78 when he bought a Chevrolet Caprice Classic wagon…even fancier (probably the plushest car he ever bought) only car bought off the showroom floor…Shearer Chevrolet in South Burlington, VT. They were all nice wagons (the Chevy was the last wagon he ever bought…the Chevy was in accident in ’84 and he went through transition and eventually got an ’86 Dodge 600.
As for me…I’m an admirer of the MOPAR wagons of the early 70’s…and although I don’t normally like vinyl roofs, my choice would be a ’70 Fury GT with a paisley roof (I know it was a mistake, but ….)…not sure what I’d do to replace it (probably remove it completely and go painted)…but hope we’re talking at that time, rather than current times. This is if we are talking full sized. Otherwise, I’d go with a ’70 Hornet 2 door, or later in the decade a ’79 Concord.
A 1973 Dodge Monaco Wagon., just like the one pictured. I bought it during the 1979 fuel crisis for $600 bucks, it had all of 60K on it. Drove it for a year, added 20k miles, and sold it for $1200
Wish I still had it, along with many other cars that have passed through my hands over the years.
My dad had one, in yellow.
It was an awful car.
I had to drive it and it was like driving a giant box of pillows.
No road feel.
I remember wondering what was following me in the rear mirror, and after getting a moment at a stop sign to look closer – realized that it was the rear window. What a giant wreck of a car.
Looked good though.
Is the Matador coupe big enough to be classified as big?
If so, then that. If not that, a ’75-’77 Cordoba with the 400.
If not big enough, then a ’76 Olds Delta 88 coupe with a 350, in poop brown if possible.
…or anything else that goes “Glug Glug Glug” and rides like a cloud.
Having parked my 1962 Chrysler 300 H, I decided that I didn’t need more power (421hp 426 Wedge) but rather better brakes.
So I can’t resist a 1971 Triple black Imperial Coupe with the Industry new four wheel computerized “Anti Skid” brake system.
Suddenly my car has the brakes it should have had 10 years ago.
A ’75 Pontiac Grand Ville Convertible. Triple white, navy blue accents and pinstripe.
I’d take one of those if I could only substitute a dashboard upgrade similar to what the ’75 Buicks and Oldsmobiles received.* The 1971-76 Pontiac dashboard is one of the great disappointments of the era, even more so than the 1969-70 dashboard (which at least still retained the Pontiac Indian-head high-beam indicator).
*Yes, I’m aware that the Olds and Buick dashboards were changed because optional airbags were offered in 1975 and 1976 (likewise, the 1975 Cadillacs got a new dash for the same reason). Of course this option was so pricey that few buyers chose it, but the result was an updated dash design for all the Olds, Buick, and Cadillac full-size cars.
I would have to go with an Ambassador coupe with the 401.
+1 Strange choice I know. But as a Wisconsin boy, Kenosha Cadillacs touch so many memories of home. Neighbor was a Wisconsin State Trooper. Kept his big blue Ambassador cruiser parked next door.
Make mine a ’71 or 72 sedan. ’70 models didn’t have the 401. 73’s of any make ran like crap. The 74′ Ambassador was the last AMC aimed at the full size market. One look at the ugly nose job left even AMC lovers hoping the death was quick and painless.
I will take a 1970 fuselage Chrysler, preferably one of the upscale four door hardtops, but model is negotiable. As long as the USS New Yorker has the 440 V8 with all the trimmings I would be a happy camper. By now, nearly 50 years on, all of the assembly defects would have been corrected and if the Mopar was going to rust it would already have happened. The only thing better than having a Chrysler from this era would be to have the Imperial instead; preferably one of the two door coupes that is a rolling definition of big on the outside, small on the inside.
A 1977 Chevrolet Caprice with a 350 SBC, please. The bent glass coupe is a seriously attractive car, the performance is pretty good for the 70s especially with the F41 suspension, and the fuel economy won’t completely wreck me during the 1979 gas crunch.
1971 Buick Riviera in Nocturne Blue for me, please.