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Class Leaders For their Time - READ ONLY

40 messages,  Last post on Apr 28, 2010 at 8:08 AM

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#21 of 40 Re: Class Leaders For their Time [fintail] by lemko

Apr 26, 2010 (10:12 am)

Replying to: fintail (Apr 26, 2010 10:08 am)
I call my Grand Marquis a "poor man's Town Car."

#22 of 40 Re: Class Leaders For their Time [lemko] by fintail

Apr 26, 2010 (10:48 am)

Replying to: lemko (Apr 26, 2010 10:12 am)
When it wasn't exactly cheap when new. And a loaded Avalon is well into the mid 30s, higher still with tax here...makes buying new a tough call.

#23 of 40 Re: Class Leaders For their Time [lemko] by fezo

Apr 26, 2010 (12:09 pm)

Replying to: lemko (Apr 26, 2010 10:12 am)
We had a Town car as a loaner from the dealership year ago. I called it overdone Crown Vic.

#24 of 40 Re: For the 1980s... [fintail] by hpmctorque

Apr 26, 2010 (2:47 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Apr 26, 2010 10:08 am)
I can certainly believe those R & T comments concerning the 380 SEL.
 
I guess I'd forgotten that the MSRP also put it in a price class by itself in the U.S., somewhere between the domestic luxury cars and, say, the Rolls. Of course, the Rolls was no match for the SEL from a design and performance standpoint, price notwithstanding. The only areas where the RR may have trumped the SEL was in exclusivity and, to some wealthy, but automotively challenged types, prestige.
 
The most direct competitor to the SEL in the U.S. may have been the large Jag sedan, but only to the uninformed.

#25 of 40 Re: For the 1980s... [hpmctorque] by fintail

Apr 26, 2010 (2:54 pm)

Replying to: hpmctorque (Apr 26, 2010 2:47 pm)
I have the article sitting beside me...the cars they compare it to were the (base prices) 30K BMW 733i and the 25K XJ6. The BMW was the closest thing, the domestics had nothing even in the same galaxy. A period Rolls then seems like an early 1960s car with a new body...I think they cost about 75K in those days.

#26 of 40 Re: For the 1980s... [fintail] by hpmctorque

Apr 26, 2010 (6:55 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Apr 26, 2010 2:54 pm)
Yeah, of course, BMW. Detroit's engines and suspensions were woefully outclassed by the two leading German luxury brands. About the most you could say for the domestics was that they were competitive in transmissions, and ahead of the Germans in A/Cs. Maybe Cadillacs and Lincolns were more reliable in terms of electronics, but I don't have any numbers to support that perception.

#27 of 40 Re: For the 1980s... [hpmctorque] by fintail

Apr 26, 2010 (8:58 pm)

Replying to: hpmctorque (Apr 26, 2010 6:55 pm)
I am sure the domestics had less troublesome electronics, due to simplicity if anything. We all know how the Germans like to be complex simply for the sake of complexity. However I don't think the period Germans were bad in that regard, so it was likely never a real issue.
 
The Jag on the other hand...

#28 of 40 Some misguided souls... by lemko

Apr 27, 2010 (5:09 am)

...were eyeing up a 1982 Rolls-Royce Camargue at Carlisle this past Saturday. I peeked under the hood to to see that complex hydraulic system engineered by Citroen of all people. I pity the fool who takes that white elephant home. Both the Germans and domestics had it over Rolls-Royce for reliability and simplicity.

#29 of 40 Re: Some misguided souls... [lemko] by fintail

Apr 27, 2010 (8:26 am)

Replying to: lemko (Apr 27, 2010 5:09 am)
I think it's been a long time since RR was ever a class leader, other than maybe plushness and status.

#30 of 40 Re: Some misguided souls... [fintail] by lemko

Apr 27, 2010 (9:47 am)

Replying to: fintail (Apr 27, 2010 8:26 am)
They sure as heck aren't a style leader! That Phantom looks like it was styled in the Kenworth design studios! Funny that there are so many more plebian makes that are far more attractive than RR

Messages Page 3 of 4

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