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"Not
too long ago, everyone, and we mean everyone, drove a big
powerfull full-size American car. The bigger the better.
Along with size, chrome was important too. Chrome stood
for style, if not taste. Untill 1973, there were dozens
of big American cars to choose from.
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People
aspired to Lincolns and Cadillacs. Chryslers were cool.
Oldsmobiles were rockets. Pontiacs were wide.
Chevys, Fords and Dodges were for everyone. Mercurys and Buicks
had Style." --Popular Mechanics
11/98
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Let's
go back.... I beleive it all starts with the 1977 Mercury
Marquis Broughams that both my grandfather owned (in red),
and my Aunt Rose (in black). Those car was beyond big. They
were Brougham! (I never really could figure out what "Brougham"
is exactly.) Aunt Rose kept her Mercury for 21 years, and
actually offered it to me in late 1999. Sadly it just wasn't
practical for me at the time, so I had to turn it down. On
January 12, 2002 I purchased my very first classic car! This
is my 1977 Mercury Grand Marquis! Please click on the picture
below to go to my Mercury page to see more pics of the car,
and learn how I obtained it.
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 (Click
Here to go to my Mercury Archive)
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To
the right is the 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis GS that my grandfather
bought to replace his 77 Marquis Brougham. I eventually
got this car in 1996, when he bought the Buick Roadmaster.
I had my reservations about driving this car, but once I
did, I was shocked at what a pleasure it really was to drive,
and thus started on my way to liking big cars!
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One
of my most favourite Land Yachts of all was our 1983 Cadillac
Sedan de Ville in which I learned to drive. I can still remember
the look of Fear in my Mom's eyes as my foot hit the Gas Pedal.
To me, this is what a Cadillac should look like. This Cadillac
started to die in 1994, I beleive. My father was dead-set
against buying another Cadillac because they're too expensive
to repair. When they took the car to Scranton Motors, they
fell in love with a little 1988 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. That
was a great car.
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After
the 1988 Grand Marquis, Grandpa bought a 1995 Buick Roadmaster.
Don't let the stodgy grandfatherly image fool you. This Roadmaster
has GM's LT1 in it. That's the same engine as the Corvette,
producing 260 bhp! I got the pleasure of driving it from Boynton
Beach, Florida to East Hartford, Connecticut on the weekend
of May 5th, 2001. I made it in a record 18 hours!
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The
Buick was a good looking car, but the quality just wasn't
there. The interior fit and finish was lacking, and the bumper
gray paint completely wore off. Starting in 2002, the A/C
began leaking into the car, by the front passenger floor area,
under the dash. Now we're not talking about a little dampness...
we're talking a bucket of water! Grandpa went through hell
and back trying to get that fixed. He finally decided that
it was time for something new, and on May 12th, he bought
a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis, Ltd. Edition. I swear, I had
no influence on his decision making process of what to buy!
ha ha :)
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Okay,
let's not get too ahead of ourselves here.... still going back some...
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In
the spring of 1996 before it went into cardiac arrest, I had
the '88 Mercury Grand Marquis that my Grandfather had given
to us. It had odd engine problems that no one could ever diagnose
correctly. So, Mom got a new Coupe de Ville and gave the '88
Cadillac to me with a whole 52k on it!
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I
really grew to love that car a lot, I don't think I've ever
driven any car that has handled so well, and so effortlessly.
Sadly, the head gasket blew one day before my birthday in
1999. I was advised not to have it fixed. About a month before
that, my step-brother Brian bought a Ford Thunderbird. Here's
what it looked like when he was done with it. If you click
on the picture of his Thunderbird, you can go see what his
Thunderbird looked like when he first got it, and go through
his own car-history. As you can see, this is the only car
that we'll ever have the same of together!
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With the exception
of the paint coming off in sheets, it wasn't that bad of a car.
Absolutely no traction in the snow. I traded that in the day after
my birthday in 2000 for my Lincoln Town Car which I loved. It was
a beautiful car! A huge car! A car with lots of chrome! What's not
to love? I think no other car in the 1990's quite exemplified Luxus
Americanus Gigantea as much as a Lincoln Town Car.
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Above
are some pics of my old 1990 Lincoln Town Car. This car has
been okay. I put a lot into it over the past three years,
but after a while I got sick of the small things that seemed
to all go at once. To the right is a picture of it, and my
friend Chris DiLolle's 1993 Cadillac Brougham, taken on July
28th, 2002 at his house in Philly.
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And
this brings us to my most current ride. On Halloween Eve 2003
I made my most expensive impulse buy to date. I went to look
at a 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII at Newman Lincoln Mercury and walked
out of the showroom spending $11,000.00 more than I had intended
to spend when I signed the papers for this 2001 Signature Series
Town Car. I do like it a lot. It handles and has so much more
power than my 1990 Town Car did. |
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Of
all my cars so far, I think I have to say that I liked the way the
88 DeVille was the most powerful, and handled the best. I liked
the Thunderbird's interior the best (except for the cheap cloth
seats). It had a million different compartments to store things
in. And the Lincoln wins for exterior styling & size. My biggest
complaint about the 1990 Town Car was that the handling was soooooooo
wishy-washy in the back end. I am not sure if there was something
wrong with my Air Suspension, but God help me when I am going around
a sharp curve at a fast speed and there is a bump in the road. I
end up in the other lane!
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Speaking
of driving in the other lane... with my love of Australia,
you know I have to dedicate some of this page to the great
Large Australian Luxury cars they have to offer down under.
Click on the links to explore more of their offerings.
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Ford
LTD Landau ... Americano ou Brasileiro?
I'm not sure if this car is American or Brazilian...
but rather a little bit of both. That star looks amazingly
like the Lincoln Star tilted on it's side, no? At
any rate it seems that this car started out life as a Ford
Galaxie in both Brazil and Argentina from 1967 until 1983
with the same body! Style changes from what I can tell consisted
of front and rear ends and body side moldings. The
car does sort of have a Lincoln feel about it on the
outside, maybe a hit of some Mercury styling too from time
to time. Brush up on your Portogues!
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As
you are probably already aware from the section above, Ford
in Australia makes an LTD. This car originated from
the Fairlane series. There was even a Fairlane Marquis series
in the late 1970's. To my eye, this fine car surely
exhibits American styling cues. From the squared-off front
end, with its Chrysler Cordoba-like headlamps, to the modified
Mercury Marquis coat of arms - This car screams "Yank-Tank!".
The only difference I can see in the coat of arms is that
they removed the Mercury head from the lower left hand panel
of the shield, but did keep the three star symbols, long
a symbol of the Mercury Division of Ford USA.
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