QuestionHi Dick,
I am interested in buying a car from the 60's or 70's to be used as a third car - for fun only. I do not have any mechanical knowledge or ability and will be at the mercy of a local mechanid to perform any necessary maintaince. I am interested in Lincoln, Cadillac or Buick (Riviera or Electra.) Is there a particular car you would recommend or discourage due to expense or difficulty maintaining? Thank you for your time.
Michael
AnswerWell, I have quite a bit of experience with luxury cars of the 60s and 70s, as I've owned multiple examples of each.
From a "pleasure to drive" standpoint, they are all nice, and probably the late 60's Cadillac is the best in that respect.
From a mechanical standpoint, the Imperial (not on your list, true) is the best by far for handling, reliabilty and trouble free operation, and also for parts availability.
The Lincoln is a nice car, but it is at the bottom of the list from a reliabilty standpoint - I'd rule that out.
The Buick is a good car, but definitely a notch below the top of the line cars for comfort and driving pleasure. To Buick's credit, you can probably find one with less of the troublesome accessories, like automatic levelling, climate control AC, automatic headlights etc - as they didn't load up the Buicks with as much of that stuff as the top of the line cars.
You are probably aware that with any luxury car, the accessories and features are difficult and expensive to repair.
If you can be talked out of the luxury class, take a look at a 60s to 70s Chrysler product (Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler) - these are great cars, very trouble free, very easy to fix when they do need help. They are not as quiet or soft riding as the luxury class, and they usually don't have all the bells and whistles, but for rock solid reliable transportation, with good handling and lots of room it's hard to beat an early 70s (pre 74) Chrysler!
Happy Hunting - Watch out for rust - try to find an example that has spent it's whole life west of the Rockies!
Dick
