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Yesterday in our wanderings Nix (a Full Sized Luxury Saloon) and I found ourselves parked beside a medium sized Mazda SUV.
The front wheel arch of the Mazda was higher than Nix's front fender!!
I have been waiting for a light change at intersections where a lifted 4X4 beside us was so high off the ground they could open the door and step out onto Nix's roof!! I don't even want to think of how invisible mere mortals are to drivers of such monsters.
(';')
I frequently make the same observations about modern cars. Gads! Everything is built so tall these days! Low, sleek, and slender has been replaced with high beltlines, slab sides, and slit windows. They look more like armored cars than anything else. Sitting in the driver's seat, the top of the door....where you'd traditionally flop your elbow.....is now at the right height to flop your *chin*.....alá the family dog.
And then, of course, we have the oft-mention over-stylized features such as gimmicky lights.
I guess I'm just an old curmudgeon when it come to automotive styling
I seem to remember that our salons were imported as compacts!!!
from time to time, an American "full sized' car is at a parking place.
My Jaguar is smaller all the way around and up as well!!!
Yeah, Doug, I date back to "left arm on the open window sill" days.
No "necking knob" for decades though!!
My Jeep is taller and that higher seat feels good at times. In and out ease and road visibility.
And the Jeeps' relatively short snoot vs the Jaguar's longer bonnet.
Easier swing into a lot's typical narrow park slot.
Visibility means a lot. never was great at backing up. Much easier with the Jeep than the jaguar, but each doable.
Chrysler brought back the "chopped top". Looks great. I think they missed out by failing to push it hard via advertising.
Gotta go to market in a bit, then outside work. Jaguar or Jeep? decisions,,,,
Thought back to my 55 Olds 98 Holiday Coupe, in Ivory over red. SLICK product of the art deco era.....
Ltsa power from it's 324 CI V* and good off the line via it's four speed Hydramatic. Cruised effortless at 70 and better....l
I have always thought of my Jags as full size luxury saloons - until my recently acquired '73 Cadillac. Now that is truly "full size". And, it is my daily driver for now until I sort out the suspension on my '2004 XJR. Gas being much less than $2.00 in my neck of the woods helps!
I have always thought of my Jags as full size luxury saloons - until my recently acquired '73 Cadillac. Now that is truly "full size".
From the days when a car was really a car, by god.
People joke about the old 'land yacht' American luxury cars but they were fabulous, IMHO.....and absolutely deserve their place in the history of automobiles.
Have to agree 100 % Doug... Here are a few pics of my 1983 Buick Park Ave Electra has 83,000 on the clock.... could not bring my self to sell it even when gas was 4/gal. Noooww... with gas prices being more reasonable I am looking for the phone number of that guy who wanted to sell a Fuel Injected 454 with auto OD - just like the late 60s Doug... and as Howard Dean once said YYYYEEEEEAAAAHHH !!!
Last edited by alynmurray; 02-13-2016 at 06:49 PM.
In the Dwyer family, at various times, were no less than three Olds 98 Regency sedan....of the same generation and 'platform' as your Buick. Fabulous cars: supremely comfy and cushy, room to s-t-re-t-c-h out, utterly smooth and silent. A real pleasure to travel in and own.
As a 'driver's car' they're nothing like a Jaguar, of course, but hard to beat in terms of pure comfort.
The funniest thing I ever saw was one of those lifted monsters with all the gimmicky lights pull up like it owned the road, and out dropped a cute little 110 pound blond; definitely high maintenance.
I don't know what Mazda SUV it was and didn't really care at the time. But it wasn't as big as, for example, a Ford Excursion. More like a Ford Exploder.
I Luv the description, "shipping container on wheels!" LOL I might use that sometimes.
We were a family of 5 kids (4 boys and me). Our family car was always the biggest GM 9 passenger station wagon available; not unlike some of these sedans only with more windows so that each of us had a window seat. In fact, I learned to drive in one.
If you know where you are in space and time driving one of these Land Barges, and you know where your corners are and where the tires are, you can drive anything!
(';')
1. The "kid" next door is a sorta car nut. He acquired a 94 Cadillac
sedan de ville. an odd critter, sorta like the ones of old, but FWD!!!!
2. The local Craigs list has some of the real cars of the 70 - 80s era.
A bit rough but doable.
3. A few" decades ago, when son was still in residence, he came home with a mid 70's Lincoln continental four door. Given to him free.
Failure to crank issues over taxed PO's patience. A starter "jump" fired it and got it here. Big, well appointed, smooth, comfortable.
and the big 460 provided plenty of go. Worn linkage to the starter interrupt was the issue. Fixed and all was well. I was tempted!!! Son sold it to an "older" couple. They were delighted.
Seems the debate of what is "full size" has been covered pretty well here. Not unreasonable to summarize as: Definition 1. American full size. Definition 2. ROW full size.
The old American land yachts also had/have some popularity here since our roads and towns can accommodate them. As for handling, well.....so long as you're heading in a straight line they're great for thrashing huge distances in comfort. Of course, in many other parts of the world you'd never get round the first corner in something 20' long x 6'+ wide, and certainly never be able to park it!
For most of the world, Europe especially, Jag XJ's and larger Benz models really are full size and the most amount of metal you would ever want to be burdened with.
"Of course, in many other parts of the world you'd never get round the first corner in something 20' long x 6'+ wide, and certainly never be able to park it! "
I was given a Chrysler 300C Wagon as an "upgrade" hire car in Europe once. What a nightmare to drive over there with tiny roads and parking spots.
On the other hand I first started travelling to the US in the mid 70s and we had a mountain of fun is various enormous floating metal platforms.
Of course it all could have had a lot to do with life stages and purpose of travel too :-)
Yesterday in our wanderings Nix (a Full Sized Luxury Saloon) and I found ourselves parked beside a medium sized Mazda SUV.
The front wheel arch of the Mazda was higher than Nix's front fender!!
I have been waiting for a light change at intersections where a lifted 4X4 beside us was so high off the ground they could open the door and step out onto Nix's roof!! I don't even want to think of how invisible mere mortals are to drivers of such monsters.
(';')
speaking of 4by4s
yesterday ,in local market parking lot, a genuine Police SWAT vehicle, privately owned, jacked up on big tires and wheels, driver said he bought it at auction, had to remove the swat letters!
all bullet proff glass and side panels, painted nice Satin black, very intimidating image!
...The old American land yachts also had/have some popularity here since our roads and towns can accommodate them. As for handling, well.....so long as you're heading in a straight line they're great for thrashing huge distances in comfort. Of course, in many other parts of the world you'd never get round the first corner in something 20' long x 6'+ wide, and certainly never be able to park it! ...
The last station wagon I drove was 22 feet long! Amazingly, its turning radius was shorter than Nix's! Of course, one had to be Very careful about that 6 feet hanging behind the rear tires, but once that was taken into account, one could even parallel park the thing without heroic effort.
I think that same vehicle ronbros mentions traveled to a supermarket near here recently. It would definitely have frightened most women and all small children.
9 year old boys, however, would have thought it Just Too Cool and asked for a ride, hoping to see a fully armed SWAT member emerge in full combat gear.
(';')
You would be surprised about just how much you can do to one of these "land yachts" suspension wise. My Big Buick has a soft smooth ride even with KYB shocks a thicker anti - roll bar / larger tires ( same old stuff) and the car handles reasonably well. Has the combination of suspension as thought to be "right" by Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars - soft springs and stiff dampers / roll bar. The Buick does not navigate like a Cooper 1275 S Mini ) nor is it easy to find a big enough parking spot. Downtown Seattle is "bubble gum for the mind". But does have a feel all of its own . Sort of like a luxury cop car. Surprisingly the car weighs 3785 a bit lighter than my Jag, and not so snug inside, lots of room. 2 different cars for two different uses. I enjoy both of them.
I once saw a guy at MT Tremblant /St. Jovite racetrack, get in his old hopped up 57 Chevy with a breathed on 427 engine AND a suspension welded almost solid, and then proceeded to beat a lot of expensive machinery. As Chuck Berry once sang "you never can tell"
9 year old boys, however, would have thought it Just Too Cool and asked for a ride, hoping to see a fully armed SWAT member emerge in full combat gear.
(';')
You would be surprised about just how much you can do to one of these "land yachts" suspension wise. My Big Buick has a soft smooth ride even with KYB shocks a thicker anti - roll bar / larger tires ( same old stuff) and the car handles reasonably well.
If tempted you can also do as I did: fit the rear anti-roll bar from a "B-body" sister car--- LeSabre, Delta 88, Impala, etc. As you can imagine it makes quite a difference...but still miles away from being a slalom car
Has the combination of suspension as thought to be "right" by Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars - soft springs and stiff dampers / roll bar.
Right ! Especially on a real world street driven car where you might actually have street with bumps!
Some people equate stiff suspension/no body roll with 'good handling'. And, to some degree, that's true. But there's more to good handling than just lack of body roll. For one thing, all 4 tires have to stay in contact with the road. With overly stiff springs the tendency is for the tires to skitter over the irregularities rather than stay on the pavement.
1. In about 1955, my home town had a 1/4 mile paved oval. Sorta stock cars of various genre raced there. One was a 48 or so bilious green Buick Roadmaster. That big boat would get on the "pole" and scream around with that GM second gear. Enough power and bulk to prevent "better" racers from getting by. then, went home, the same way it came, on the streets!!!
2. Back to about 1950 or so. A dirt 1/4 oval. Modified stock cars. some very fast. Others not so much. One guy decided "low is good, super low must be better. Chopped his 34 Ford tudor below waist height. The roll cage was external, it was so low. Wrong, it slid all over the track. No load transfer to get a bite!!!!
3. I bit the Kool aid and bought my first and only self paid for brand new car. In service in Germany. 1953 BRG MG TD. A fellow officer had a 50 Buick special, compete with Dynaflow. I can out handle that beast!!! We had a race on a mountain road. Luckily, no German cops "nailed" us. That big green boat blew my doors off. Way more torque out of the turns.
4. Same track as in 1. But, modified as a short road course. Stock cars only. About 57, I think. Local rich kid showed up in a brand newe red Chevvy with FI!!! He screamed around the course, but exuberance took over. Flipped it twice. Crew put it back and he stayed in the race. Scion of the local MOPAR dealer, a decent race driver. 55 Plymouth coupe off Pop's used car lot. Raced it wisely, won.
Steaming a bit at the end, but unscathed. wonder who bought it???
5. Much later. Late 60's. Ancient race track at Saugus, just North of LA. Rough concrete almost 1/4 mile track. Really Hot sorta stocks.
Fastest guy invented a device to interconnect the Independent front suspension in to thinking it was sorta solid. His 383 powered 63 or so Plymouth sans top was super fast. Roar down the short straight, brake hard, skitter around the "short chute" apply that awesome torque. Repeat, win races....
02-13-2016, 10:56 AM
Full Sized Luxury Saloon?
tsa power from it's 324 CI V* and good off the line via it's four speed Hydramatic. Cruised effortless at 70 and better....l
