Anyone miss the larger cars?

[dodge man]

It almost sounds silly to talk about today, with air bags and all, but 1967 was when safety items started being mandated for cars. Very simple and small stuff. One item being a collapsible steering column. Also the rear view mirror had to be double joints so it would move is someone hit it with their head. Also the interior knobs and such had to be made larger, the end of the gear shift lever being one of the important ones. There were an amazing number of people killed in car wrecks just hitting their head on the column shift lever, which on some cars the end of it wasn't much bigger than a pencil. 1968 was also the first year side marker lights were required.

 

[Egon]

So you like old cars. Here are some in action.

And here is a new small car.

 

[MacLawn]

I'll take me truck. Course my '83 Olds Delta 88 was one nice floating highway machine.

 

[DABSGT]

Had a good number of Police Crown Vics they are my go to cruisers now. Mark

I still drive one every day at work, they aren't what they once were. But the days are numbered Ford stopped manufacturing them.

 

[ultrarunner]

So you like old cars. Here are some in action.

And here is a new small car.

I like cars in general...

Big, Small, Old, New...

Here's a picture of my small cars... 1933 American Austin 12 hp and 1938 Bantam 60... (With my little Helper behind the wheel)

 

[MossRoad]

Hi,Coobie. My wifes car is a 2004 Buick Le sabre. 240,000 miles and still runs and rides great. Looking kinda ragged these days( louisiana roads are not for the faint of heart) but I cant see anything out there that can fill the old gals shoes. Gonna be hard to replace her. 3.8 liter six cyl. that still gets 28 mpg.

Those 3.8L 90 degree V6s were very good engines.

We just got rid of our 2000 Impala with the 3.8. It had 190,000 on it. Still ran fine, oil was always clean, etc... but the electronics were starting to go. Wipers would turn on by themselves, half the dash lights were out, ABS system was having problems, and, the final nail in the coffin.... the radio started having problems! GASP!!! And the body was starting to rust pretty good. Anyhow, it would have taken about $1500 to get it safe again, so we decided it was time to go. The car had all the factory options except for CD changer. Leather interior was great! Real comfortable car. 29mpg on highway all day long. Took us on many family vacations. Nice a roomy. Plenty of power for highway. Great in the snow, too. I miss that car. Hard to find them around here that aren't beat to heck. That was the 2000-2005 body style, I believe.

 

[sd455dan]

I still drive one every day at work, they aren't what they once were. But the days are numbered Ford stopped manufacturing them.

Had one of those to- a 1993 Crown Vic Police Intercepter. i liked it to.

 

[Garandman]

I think that is why the SUV's are so popular...Tahoe,Suburban,Expedition ect.

Part of it. Big SUV's have relatively high rollover risk, and the worst evasive capabilities, but their owners like the perception of safety. The automakers study buyer psychology and build their vehicles to inspire emotional attachment.

Sport utility buyers tend to be more restless, more sybaritic, less social people who are ''self-oriented,'' to use the automakers' words, and who have strong conscious or subconscious fears of crime....Such psychological factors play a bigger role in the dividing line between minivan and sport utility customers than in the division between any other segments of the auto market, he added.

...'S.U.V. owners want to be more like, 'I'm in control of the people around me.' '' This is an important reason why seats are mounted higher in sport utilities than in minivans, he said.

Sport utility buyers are much more concerned with their vehicles' external appearance...''The people who buy S.U.V.'s are in many cases buying the outside first and then the inside,'' he said. ''They are buying the image of the S.U.V. first, and then the functionality.''

Dr. Rapaille looks at the intellectual, emotional and ''reptilian,'' or instinctual, reasons why people buy consumer products. He said sport utilities are designed to be masculine and assertive, often with hoods that resemble those on 18-wheel trucks, vertical metal slats across the grilles to give the appearance of a jungle cat's teeth and flared wheel wells and fenders that suggest the bulging muscles in a clenched jaw.

Sport utilities are designed to appeal to Americans' deepest fears of violence and crime, Dr. Rapaille said. People's earliest associations with sport utilities are wartime Jeeps with machine guns mounted on the back, he explained. Sport utilities are ''weapons'' and ''armored cars for the battlefield,'' he said.

 

[TomSeller]

Those 3.8L 90 deg V6s were basically a chopped off V8. I hated to see it not being offered any longer. It has quite a history.

Buick V6 engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hats off to the Fireball. In later years they knocked out 30 MPG all day long, better than some of the GM engines that followed.

 

[SirReal63]

I hope some has told Dr. Rapaille he is full of crap. He sounds like someone who is realizing that he is now irrelevant in a world that has passed him by and he is hoping that by saying outlandish things he will somehow regain relevancy.

We just got a Tahoe, not because of a single reason Dr. Irrelevant stated but because it is comfortable, will pull our 18' trailer with ease and generally fits our future farm life more than the Infinity would. We are in our 50's and have never actually seen a military assault SUV in person, and we both are from career military families. :laughing:

I do miss my 76 Coupe DeVille with the 500 cu. in. engine, full leather, airbags and the way smaller cars got out of its way on narrow streets.