Hi. (from AtomicEraTom)

[AET]

Yeah, they're georgous cars, but I wasn't one for that motor! This one has a 307 Olds with a 4bbl Quadrajet, which is wat my 87 Caprice Wagon has in it. GREAT motor, low power, but lots of torque.

[foots]

Tom, those 307s are really low on power and bad on gas, though I do love a nicely working Q-jet. You simply can't beat them for throttle response and economy. A nice 472/500 cube Caddy engine and turbo 400 will fit very nicely, and will work very well with the tall rear end in either the caprice or the buick. The mileage won't be very bad either if you keep your foot out of it.

[AET]

I am not looking to swap motors in either, neither car is really worth it and I love my 307, low powered or not.  That Caprice is the only Carbureted car I've ever had that started and ran in 30 below temps.  I can't pull a motor that's been that good to me. 

[bingster]

I've always had a soft spot for big Buicks, and that one's a peach.  I wouldn't get rid of it, either.

Dan, I had a 1986 Fleetwood Brougham and it was the cushiest ride I've ever had in a car.  It was like going down the road in your living room. 

[Dan/Panther]

Always lost in the fifties, and the only reasons I'm taking the Vic over it is because that Buick is too clean to put it through Wisconsin's Salty roads and on top of that, a guy wanted to trade me a 90 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham and the Fleetwood Brougham is my favorite Caddilac and I love Caddies.  But my dad said No way and made a racial reference toward the car, so that's out.  I'm pretty bummed.  So, I'm kinda stuck buying his 2000 Crown Vic.

Where has the car been for the past 30 years, and what is the mileage ?
D/P

[AET]

It's been in Wisconsin, have the original papers, purchased in Janesville in 1979.  Must have been garaged, even the floor pans are black painted yet.  90,000 miles.  Had 30,000 in 1997 according to some service records I have.

[gpo706]

Skoda Estelle 1985 totally original, 120, weber carb, 5 speed box (can hit 70mph on a downward hill with tail wind).

Good rally cars in their day, business end at the back as is the drive, so well weighted for rallying.

You can drive these into the ground and they won't stop, mind you if I filled the tank it would be worth more for the petrol...

http://blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/3-4.jpg

Great fun watching kids at petrol stations watching you open the "hood" and pulling out your luggage! LOL

[Phonesrfun]

I have owned many cars that were worth more with a full tank than not.  Come to think of it, with the price of gas (petrol) these days, that can be said of most cars!

[McHeath]

You can drive these into the ground and they won't stop, mind you if I filled the tank it would be worth more for the petrol...

That's a funny way to think of cars, but I've owned a couple like that myself now that you mention it.  My favorite junker was my 79' VW diesel Rabbit, just nothing to write home about except for the stunning mileage, easily gave 58 mpg on the freeway.  It had a 20 gallon tank, someone had put a fuel bladder where the spare tire went, and could go 1000 miles on a fillup running cross country.  I once drove it from California to Texas and filled up once halfway, cost about 30 dollars at the time, and had a quarter tank left when I got home. 

Of course it rattled like an old train car, and smoked fiercely, and at idle it shook so much you got a back massage for an added bonus, and it had no AC of course, but man-o-man was it cheap to drive!  And it was surprisingly peppy as well. 

[Phonesrfun]

Power Steering by Armstrong, and the Air conditioning was to roll up or down the windows with the crank.  A/C that kept all of us hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

I had too many of those cars

[foots]

I had a full size '67 Pontiac Ventura and a '73 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. Both cars had gargantuan fuel tanks. I'd give anything to have either one of those cars back.

[JorgeAmely]

Those roll up windows bring a lot of memories. I once took the family on vacation and rented a car with roll up windows. The kids have never seen windows like that before. Needless to say, they spent a lot of time playing with them.  

[bingster]

My favorite clunker was a car that wasn't actually mine.  It was an old "extra" car my dad used to have, that I drove in 10th grade before I got my own car ready to drive.  It was a 1970ish Dodge Dart that was so rickety that my mother refused to get in it.  But I tell you what, that car just wouldn't quit.  Those Darts were great little cars.

[Dennis Markham]

Bill, we used to call that kind of air conditioning system "4-40 air conditioning".  You drive 40 miles per hour and roll down all 4 windows.

[foots]

Bill, we used to call that kind of air conditioning system "4-40 air conditioning".  You drive 40 miles per hour and roll down all 4 windows.

In my old Pontiac, even the vent windows had hand cranks.