(first posted 5/9/2017) Last week, Paul showcased this 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham Coupe, which was really nothing more than a recycled ’74-’75 Imperial LeBaron. The post generated a lot of Chrysler love, as well as questions on how this car was perceived, relative to its competitive set, back when it was new. Well, we have an answer: in the May 1975 issue of Road Test Magazine, the editors compared American Luxury Coupes as they entered the twilight years of the Automotive Cretaceous period. They highlighted what was right–as well as what was wrong–with these biggest-ever luxury cars, and even picked a winner.
In keeping with the buff book mindset of the time, Road Test’s editors had to admit their general disdain for giant American luxury cars, since they did not handle particularly well and were very inefficient with both fuel and space. That said, RT had to acknowledge the cocooning effect of the big beasts, as well as their impact as status symbols.
By far, the leader in luxury in America, circa 1975, was Cadillac. Sure, premium European imports were gnawing away at the upper echelons of the luxury market, but for sheer volume, no one beat GM’s prestige division. In fact, Cadillac’s 1975 sales total of 263,403 was more than the sales of rivals Lincoln, Imperial, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar and Volvo combined! The Coupe DeVille was the most popular Cadillac of all, with the whopper 2-door selling a whopping 110,218 units.
Unfortunately for GM, that popularity would prove to be a double-edged sword. Part of the allure of luxury is exclusivity, and with so many Cadillacs being cranked out, they became boringly commonplace. Plus, Cadillac was resting on its past laurels—the cars themselves were no longer that special either, with Road Test noting a few too many similarities with the more plebeian Chevrolets. This cost cutting may have allowed Cadillac to be highly profitable while driving volumes higher, but by 1975 the brand was losing the top end of the market—badly—to Mercedes. While the as-tested price of RT’s loaded midrange Coupe DeVille of $10,908 ($50,842 adjusted) was far from cheap, it was priced well below Mercedes-Benz’s midrange 280 sedan, which had a base price of $12,756 ($59,456 adjusted). At the top of the Mercedes line, the 450SLC sold for $22,053 ($102,789 adjusted)—in 1975 Cadillac had nothing remotely close to that price point. And in places the truly affluent called home—enclaves like Bel Air in Los Angeles, California, River Oaks in Houston, Texas and Upper East Side Manhattan in New York, New York—the Mercedes star instantly telegraphed the high price of the relatively small, functional cars to the status seeking cognoscenti.
Cadillac had once been a player in the super elite market (witness the Eldorado Brougham, for example, which sold for $13,074 in 1958–$111,010 adjusted), but the division gave up on exclusivity and pricing power in the quest for easy profits at high volumes. The rot wasn’t yet fully apparent in the mid-1970s—Cadillac still had a great deal of cachet, but the damage would be clear within a decade.
Chrysler Corporation had already learned the hard way that a luxury product, no matter how good, cannot be seen as too closely aligned with cheaper cars—that was the sad fate of the flagship Imperial, out for a final hurrah as 1975 came to a close.
The problem with the Imperial, as Road Test pointed out, was the car’s schizophrenic nature. On the one hand, the Imperial was enormous and featured dramatic styling—but it shared a bit too much commonality with “lesser” Chryslers. The Imperial offered more responsive handling than the competition from Cadillac and Lincoln, but that was not what most American luxury buyers wanted. Likewise, buyers seeking engineering excellence and road feel would have been turned-off by the bulk of Chrysler’s flagship. Therein was perhaps the biggest issue with the Imperial: the brand positioning did not resonate with luxury buyers, nor did the $10,440 price ($48,661 adjusted) seem worth it. Only 8,830 Imperial were sold for 1975, including 2,728 2-doors, of which 60% (1,641 units) had the Crown Coupe package like the test car. However, despite low production numbers, the car was simply not exclusive or unique enough to justify its price, and came across as nothing more than a dressed-up Chrysler. In a market segment where brand image was a critical purchase criterion, the Imperial failed miserably.
Ironically, Chrysler’s Motown rivals did not heed the lesson of the Imperial’s failure. Both GM and Ford Motor Company ultimately allowed their uppermost brands to become increasingly unfocused with too much commonality with far cheaper cars—the antithesis of true luxury.
Think of Cadillac today: is it the maker of make-believe German high performance sedans; or sleep-inducing soft-roaders to tempt the Lexus RX crowd; or ostentatiously over-priced and minimally differentiated Chevrolet Tahoes/Suburbans? Would the real Cadillac please stand up?
Lincoln doesn’t get a free pass either…. Or should I say Mercury. After all, like a 21st Century Marquis, today’s Lincolns are little more than dressed-up Fords–witness the Ford Edge/Lincoln MKX CUVs. Even the new “flagship” Continental, with its “luxury” seemingly derived from a plethora of powered pushbuttons, is merely a stretched and massaged front-wheel-drive Fusion.
For Lincoln in 1975, however, things were different. The 1970s had actually been great years for the FoMoCo flagship division. While the upper-crust elegance of the suicide-door Continentals of the 1960s was long gone, sales soared (doubling between 1970 and 1975, reaching record highs for Lincoln) due to the success of the flashy Continental Mark III and even more flashy Continental Mark IV starting in 1972. The 2- and 4-door “regular” Continentals also surged in popularity, though just like GM with the Chevy/Caddy connection, the Lincoln sedans had become nothing more than the ultimate LTD. However, Lincoln (with Kudos to Lee Iacocca) knew how to package showy luxury cues to maximum effect on the ’75 Continental, an accomplishment Road Test’s editors were quick to acknowledge.
Road Test found that the Lincoln attracted the most envious glances, was the quietest, the most comfortable and the easiest to operate. On the flip side, handling was poor, as was braking. For this class of car at the time, however, status and comfort outweighed skid pad performance, so the Lincoln performed well against the attributes that mattered most to American luxury buyers. Total Lincoln sales were 101,843, up 8% from 1974. The Continental accounted for 54,698 of those sales, including 33,513 sedans and 21,185 coupes. At $11,893 ($55,433 adjusted), the Continental Town Coupe was the most expensive in the test, but it was also loaded with optional goodies. One interesting note that would prove prophetic: Road Test questioned the long-term reliability of all the electronic gadgets, noting that while the basic engine and body could last for the long haul, the glitch-filled “high tech” gizmos had the potential to infuriate customers and/or prematurely end the life of the car. True then, even more true now.
Road Test’s conclusions in 1975 regarding the future of the luxury market are interesting to read from today’s perspective with the benefit of hindsight. The editors completely missed the mark with their prediction that luxury and luxury features would be a temporary phenomenon. In 1975, luxury brands accounted for 5% of total U.S. sales; in 2016, they represented 12%. Today, even basic subcompacts are loaded with equipment formerly reserved for the high-priced leagues: Nissan’s 2017 Sentra comes with standard equipment and luxury options that would make a ’75 Cadillac blush. No wonder the average price of a new car has risen from $4,950 ($23,163 adjusted) in 1975 to $33,560 as of today.
However, the editors were correct in predicting that luxury buyers would increasingly demand more rational cars with better handling, braking and efficiency—that future would arrive within a few years of 1975, ushering in decades when automotive fashion centered around packaging efficiency and higher levels of driver engagement and control. Ironically, in 2017 the market pendulum has swung firmly back to rolling image statements that emphasize cocooning and disconnectedness. The major trends currently in play:
Huge trucks as personal-use vehicles, deliberately designed to look as massive and menacing as possible….
Cars masquerading as trucks….
Or rolling iPhones serving as transport pods, allowing operator/occupants to simultaneously surf the web and save the planet (at least in the opinion of their social circle, if not in actuality), enabling an idealistic escape from the annoyance of driving and interacting with real people: perfect individual virtual nirvanas.
So it looks like vehicular isolation is back with a vengeance. Maybe the suit-clad, harried mid-1970s business executive and the sweats-clad, multi-tasking 21st Century tech worker are actually more alike than would initially be apparent? Perhaps appropriate for our neo-pre-apocalypse era.
But back to 1975. Road Test didn’t fully come out and anoint a winner of the test, but based on their summary, it’s pretty clear the editors preferred the Lincoln. The Continental Town Coupe was seen as the car that best met the aspirations of the segment, even if the handling and braking left a lot to be desired. Cadillac was seen as the best on paper, with the best spec sheet numbers and the best gizmos, but somehow the sum was less than the parts, and it was clear where corners were cut. Apparently, some things never change at GM: witness Cadillac’s current boasts of “beating” BMW on comparison tables—but not in the minds of actual luxury brand prospects in dealer showrooms. The Imperial? The nicest Chrysler would simply be a Chrysler for 1976, with Mopar basically ending its quest to offer a standalone luxury brand (let the debate ensue on whether either of the two Imperial rebirths–the early 1980s or the early 1990s–count as restarts of the flagship brand or simply new, short-lived applications of the flagship nameplate).
Now for our mini-QOTD, tied to this comparison test: if you were a luxury car buyer in 1975, which one of these would you have brought home?
For me, it is a surprisingly difficult question. When I try to imagine myself back then, I think the domestic luxury car I would have most wanted would have been the newly introduced Cadillac Seville. Rationally sized but still very American, the Seville’s handsome, chiseled lines would have been quite fresh (before the vertical rear window was slapped onto too many GM products). An added benefit: Seville was considered a huge status symbol right out of the gate, which was of course the point in the luxury class. But I digress—we are talking about choosing between the mammoths….
Hmmmm… Well, I would have wanted a 4-door, since I just can’t fathom handling the cumbersome coupe doors, which collectively would have weighed as much as a Corolla. Plus, for folks wanting a gargantuan 2-door image machine, the Cadillac Eldorado and Lincoln Mark IV would have been seen as even more “glamorous” than the sedan-based 2-doors.
So on to my picks in rank order.
In 3rd place would have been the Imperial. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think it was a handsome car inside and out, with plenty of compelling attributes for a huge, traditional American sedan. But by 1975 it was obvious that the Imperial couldn’t cut it in the luxury league, and thus brought up the rear in the snob appeal sweepstakes—a fatal flaw in this market segment. Rechristened as a New Yorker Brougham for ’76, with a price reduction and repositioning in the Buick Electra/Mercury Grand Marquis/Olds Ninety-Eight class, the flagship Chrysler suddenly made a lot more sense and became a far better choice.
2nd place goes to the Cadillac. Still the hands-down winner from an image standpoint in 1975, the DeVille tested was something of a letdown, with too much cheap plastic and not enough hedonistic luxury for this type of car. The biggest, grandest Chevrolet in the land was starting to seem like a lesson from “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” with people seeing the luxury image they wanted in the Cadillac, but not fully recognizing the product reality that actually existed.
So the winner for me in 1975 would have been the Lincoln Continental. For its mission as a “look-at-me-I’m-rich” isolation chamber, Road Test placed it at the top and so would I. After all, it seems to me that if you were looking for the biggest, grandest barge of them all, then it made the most sense to get the one that actually was.
So that’s my choice, what’s yours?
My parents had a 77 New Yorker Brougham. I would have bought it at the time. Would still buy one now.
I’ll never forget getting driven home in Sandy Miller’s mother’s ’75ish Sedan de Ville. Just once. I was overwhelmed by, and will never forget the plushness and the quiet.
I, a kid raised in VWs, Porsches, Benzes and BMWs, was deeply impressed.
I was driving a ’67 VW back then, so not the target market for these cars. But, if I had to take one of these barges, Cadillac for sure. #1 reason, which wouldn’t matter to the majority of buyers, is the engine. I never respected Lincoln or Imperial for sharing the engines of lesser cars. #2, styling. the Caddy looked a bit less bulky and those new rectangular headlights gave some exclusivity and looked to the future.
Of course, if I had the means, a Mercedes would have been in the driveway.
I admire the traits of the Lincoln (except handling..), but I’m really drawn to the Imperial. Surely the drive-out price would have been less due to spotty quality and older design, but it does have quite a “presence” in the pictures. I’m guessing it wouldn’t have impressed the neighbors as much.
The Imperial was the best Chrysler offered. No spotty quality or older design. All Imperials had a two or three-year body cycle, meaning it got redesigned or update every 2 to 3 years. Likewise, the 440 V8 engine and Torqueflite A-727 3-speed automatic transmission were also specially assembled for duty in an Imperial. The 440 had a special ground crankshaft producing more torque than other brands 440, valve tappet noises were eliminated, even the RV2 A/C compressor was quieted down for the Imperial, the shift points of the transmission were smoothed out, where you never heard the engine or felt the transmission change gears unless you floored it. This stayed right up to the end in 1975. I grew up in these cars. The only thing you heard at 70MPH was the clock or air from the vents if it was turned on high. There is nothing made today that equals any of these cars for luxury. They were the world standard.
I bought this same magazine in 1975 (age 15), already fascinated by luxury cars such as the three covered in the article. I never owned an Imperial, but did own a ’74 Newport Custom 4 door hdtp with a 400 V-8, and can say that it was a well-made, reliable, extremely comfortable car. I can only assume that the 1975 Imperial would have been even more so.
In fact, I also owned a ’74 Sedan De Ville (red leather interior, platinum body, off-white vinyl roof, 472-V8), and although a wonderful auto, the Newport would out-accelerate and out-handle it any day of the week. The Newport was easily as roomy inside, too.
Although I never owned a Lincoln, I briefly drove a 1976 Town Car, and also rode in a brand-new ’73 Town Car, and was very impressed. Clearly, it was quieter than, and also had a better ride than either the Caddy or the Chrysler, and was very well made, inside and out.
Supposedly, gas mileage on both Lincolns was noticeably worse that that of the Caddy or Chrysler.
Of the three rides in the article, I would have opted for the Imperial, but in the 4-door hardtop version. It was the only one with four-wheel disc brakes and had the most graceful, classy styling theme of the three. The interior and dashboard design was also very elegant; the only thing Chrysler did wrong on the ’74-’75 Imperial was to drop the wheelbase down to 124″ – this cut rear legroom slightly, compared to the larger ’69-’73 ‘fuselage’ series Imps.
I have 75 Deville, 78 Towncar and 76 New Yorker, all big motors, all 4 doors, all stock.
If you are crossing the country on the interstate at 70, it’s the Towncar all the way. For crossing the state on two lane roads with curves and hills at 55 it’s absolutely definitely the Chrysler. For boulevards around town and across the county, it’s the Cadillac.
The handling disparities between the Chrysler and the other two are much bigger than the article implies. The ride and noise disparities between the Lincoln and the other two are much bigger than the article implies.
The fit, finish and quality on the Chrysler dash is by far the worst of the three. The interior overall of the Cadillac is the most difficult to maintain.
The Chrysler accelerates from 40 to 80 with much less effort than the other two under part throttle no down shift conditions.
Personally, I think the bland Lincoln styling is just fine, the Cadillac front end is a generic disaster, and the Chrysler did far and away the best job of dealing with the bumper requirements and presents the most appealing and entertaining visual character of the bunch.
Having said all that, the 71 Imperial 4 door is the car to get.
Thanks for this modern-day 3-way comparison. My experience in these cars (most of it very long ago) pretty much agrees with every point you have made. Although the dash on that vintage of Cadillac never impressed me much.
I am reminded of the most irritating feature of the Cadillac – the power antenna that went up every time you turned on the radio (or started the car when the radio was on) and went down every time you turned it off.
Our 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale had a power antenna. It sticks in my mind that there was an “on/off” switch on the dashboard that could control the antenna. If the switch was in the “off” position, and the car was turned off, the antenna would remain in the raised position.
I want to point out to everyone who thinks the Continental styling was unique. It was not. PLEASE look at a 1975 Mercury Grand Marquis Brougham. They look very similar to me. They both have flat, blocky styling, hidden lights and wipers, the same windshield, front windows, many very similar design elements inside and out. Both car models had poorly integrated bumpers too. The Lincoln wallowed worse than the Mercury . They were quiet though…very quiet. I preferred how any large Chrysler drove over any GM or Ford product. But that was 48 years ago.
That was the whole point of the 1975 Mercury Grand Marquis Brougham. If the salesman could convince Uncle Scrooge to spring for the Lincoln then there was a much more affordable alternative on the other side of the showroom floor. Mercury was always better as a junior Lincoln than a senior Ford.
If the salesman COULD’NT convince Uncle Scrooge…….grumble, grumble!!!
I have the brochures from that year – Chicago Auto Show.
The Cadillac is very pretty. It was super popular in Chicagoland and a popular ride for grandmas. Sad to think it was cheap in many ways.
The imperial isn’t in the same league. Not even a contender.
The Continetal is the most handsome. It oozes cigars, bourbon, wood paneling and rich wool suits. I prefer it to the others.
Ahh, the good old days. When 1/4 mile times in seconds were more than fuel consumption in miles per gallon. Who in 1975 could have imagined Honda Civics (or even Cadillacs) with 15 second 1/4’s and 30+ mpg?
The acceleration on the 1975 Lincoln is surprisingly good hitting 0-60 in 9.5 seconds and a quarter mile @81mph in 17.1 seconds, that’s not much worse than the luxury cars with the high compression V8 engines.
Never having seen any of these cars, and judging solely on the photos and the comparison test text, I’d go for the Lincoln.
I’m pleasantly surprised at how objective the test is. Having started off virtually saying “we hate this kind of thing”, they then manage to put that aside and assess the cars quite objectively and without the snide remarks you’d get in, say, Car and Driver. I don’t care about impressing people with chintzy flash; I’d rather be surrounded by lasting quality, so I guess I’d really be a Mercedes customer….. 🙂
In ’75, I would have to get the Fleetwood Brougham (or Eldorado), both available with Monticello Bordello velour (below) in several colors, including brown, blue, and violet, with the Seville and Talisman as second choices. But which one?
The ’75-6 standard Deville seats have an inadequate, badly positioned seat cushion that do not support long legs. They must have been pushing the d’Elegance package, which had too much foam.
Brown