I think people just don't appreciate 70's up wagons....

Definitely, for ride quality, nothing beats the old school suspensions especially when you factor in the simplicity of design, which translates into simplicity of maintenance as well. Though in all fairness, take one of these cars off of the interstate, and put them on a back road where ther are actually sharp curves, and it's a different story. The strut suspensions will eat the older designs alive as far as handling and roadability go. Don't get me wrong, I love my older cars, and won't be giving them up any time soon, however, that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate a car with tight handling on a curvy road.
Case in point: A few days ago, I was driving home in our '05 VW Turbo. There was someone behind me in a mid-eighties Cutlass coupe, riding right on my bumper. After a few miles of this, I came to a short straightaway that ends in a sharp off camber curve to the right. About 1/2way down the straight, I downshifted into 3rd gear brought the turbo up to full boil and hit the curve (marked for 30mph) at just under 55mph. The guy in the Cutlass tried to keep up through the curve, and failed miserably. He left the road and went off into the field on the left side. The V-dub still could have probably carried another 5-10 mph through the curve, had I really wanted to push the issue.
Each suspension system has both their merits as well as their drawbacks. It really just depends on what your preference is. For long highway trips, I take the older big cars. For shorter trips, or longer ones that are on curvy roads, I'll take the more modern suspension for the fun factor.

CaptCarl

 

How to make friends and influence enemies.

 

I will pick on the General and will compare say a 65 Chevelle and a 65 Corvette with both having the same motor but one was designed for ride and the other for road running....both have frame's but each was designed for a different application...When I do my 55 it will be for ride and as Henery wanted and when I do up my 56 Victoria I will be leaning to what Nascar does with suspension but will stay with older style as that where I is....The new teck in the cars is very functional...A friend took me out for a run in his new vett.....turn the knob for the desired suspension function and let that 427 go in all six gears and it does over 190 MPH off the showroom floor...All that and it was only a hundred K....and yes that is out of my pocket book range...but in race stuff which is what him does as he rally's it they spend thousands just to get the extra....The new teck on the factory fast cars is just get in and hang on as it will have ya pinned to a seat or door so buckel up and hang on so to say......

 

Great story. And you can't beat the newer ones on handling for sure. My 03 Crown Vic handled and accelerated fantastically, don't hurt it was an interceptor. My friend Clint drives a 1989 Dodge Power Ram Cummins 4x4 and the thing handles like a lumber wagon and we were riding in my car one day, took a sharp turn going 40 and he just about pooped his pants! Now, if I tried that with the wagon, I'd have went right up onto the sidewalk! But that's the price you pay for the style and comfort. It's a major upgrade from my Crown Vic!






She was a heck of a ride, needed a major repaint, after a past as an Illinois State Patrol car and a Chicago Checker Cab (I took the checkers off) I made it my own with rebel flag and FFA stickers, a Dixie horn, cattle horns (added later) and a nice Wal-Mart CD player. A 13 year old bought the dang thing from me!

 

what was the grand total for mileage?

 

Hey I resemble that remark - just bought a police car myself.
A little off topic since it's not a wagon, but it shares the same frame and suspension options as the GM wagons of the day.
Last of the Chevy b-bodies, a '96 Caprice 9C1, with "constable" package.
It never had a light bar, and is dark cherry, with a burgandy interior.
Awesome handling, in spite of needing some bushings and stuff. I was so surprised at how flat it goes around corners for a big ol' boat. Fast too.

I think whoever had it tried to hang on to it as long as possible before handing it over to auction. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. GM, that is. At least Ford still has the "panther" platform. But I bet they wouldn't be making Crown Vics anymore if it wasn't for the fleet sales.

It's got 168,000KM, or about 100K miles, pretty low for it's age and line of work.

 

Actually you're right. The Crown Vic is now only available as a fleet vehicle, though you can stll buy a Grand Marquis or Town Car. Ford has been hinting that it may drop the Crown Vic after the '10 model year. No word about the Merc or Lincoln though. A few months ago, I was at a gas station and a sinister looking all black Crown Vic pulled in for gas. It was evil looking the windows were tinted limo-black, and even the wheels were black, and it was lowered as well. The exhaust sounded ummm, unusual.
I asked the guy about it and he popped the hood to show me the motor. It took a few moments to realize what I was seeing. Where therew ould normally be a 4.6 Mod Motor V8, there was now a 6.8 Mod Motor V10! Oh, I suppose I should add that in addition to the 3" dual exhaust, there was also a Vortech blower. He said it was making 575 hp. I drooled so much I was dehydrated for a week.....

CaptCarl

 

Now stop giving me ideas...

 

I bought the car for 1900 bucks and he brought it here from Rockford for 160 bucks. It had only 137000 miles on it when I got it, and I owned it nearly a year before I sold it with 142000 on it. (I don't drive much) for 1700. It had 2 battle scars after I sold it. I dent in the door where I got hit at Wal-Mart, and a hole in the rear bumper where an icy driveway backing led to hitting the tongue of dad's trailer.

It was originally between this car and a silver 2000 Impala interceptor for 1600 which had 179000 miles on it, needless to say the mileage was the deciding factor.

 

wow thats exceptionaly low milage for a retired taxi.
most taxi's start life as a police car. but usually not retired from duty till 200-300k miles.

when in miami a coworker had a 91 5.0 caprice that began live as a police car, in i think city of miami, then became a taxi, and when he bought it from the taxi co. it had 350k on the odo. when i met him he had a healthy 400k+ on it. original motor! he said it only used a quart between changes too.

ever get drunk people trying to hail you?

 

I'll bet you've already started checking your options on EBay.

 

I knew it was very low miles, and that's what sold me on it. It ran great too. I baby the crap outta my cars though haha. I have seen myself one with 500k miles on it, and my eyes just about popped outta my head. The guy told me to treat mine well and I'd get there.

I was hailed 3 times in that car too!!

 

How are things 8 years later? (I revived this topic.)

Well, at least for my own side of things when I got my 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis in August 2014 it was just before a magazine posted these as classics. The very next month I put it in a car show and people appreciated it and I won 5 Qts. of Pennzoil, later (November of that year or the next year) I put it as the star of an adoption event in a mall and people got their picture taken with it. I occasionally get comments on it wherever I go with it, I haven't driven it much though. Nobody's questioned the fuel mileage either but the best I've seen is about 22.

 

Once you go from the 5.0 OHV to the 4.6 OHC, you get a few more on the highway (my brother, 550#, myself, 480# at the time, and Dad, 360# or so, made a trip in his '97 Grand Marq and averaged 26 MPG highway).

 

It's good that you showed us how many vibrant members either disappeared or simply lost interest. They were the type who just didn't always type "I agree", "The bids at...", "Looks great" or whatever. They took time to write more than just a couple sentences, at most.