Top 5 Cheap Classic Cars / Vintage Vehicles as Daily Drivers

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

 

[trinacriabob]

This was just great, in terms of what he has to say.  I agreed with most of it.

5.

Those years of Eldos and Toros were too big and too thirsty.  I'd always opt for an Olds 455 over a Cadillac 500. Then, if we're talking that span of years, it has to have a true opera window. That would limit me to the '75 and '76 Toronado.  The '77 would have had a 403.

4.

Uh ... no.

3.

Mostly, I agree.  My favorite would be the Parisienne (he didn't mention it) followed by the 88.  Right, 307s and 301s over 305s (for me, anyway).  By the end of this mentioned period, the Chevy 4.3 TBI Vortec V6 was available in the Chevys and Pontiacs.  It made for better fuel economy and it's 3/4 of a Chevy 350, so very durable. In '81 and '82, the 88 (certainly not the 98) could be had with Olds's 260 V8, so the biggest Olds to have this small but quiet and smooth powerplant.

2.

I have never liked the LeSabre.  It's about its dowdy looks. He gives a long span of years, with '88 onward getting the nod. To that, I would instead say Bonneville for '90 and '91 - nicer, color blocked taillamps.  And then, skip over to 2000+ Bonnevilles, which is usually my favorite GM full-size car as it is.

1.

I agree.  Not a huge fan of FoMoCo, but these cars became more attractive and were in fact reliable.  Some later years of Grand Marquis actually looked very nice. (But so did the last 2 years of Mercury Milan with the vaned grille.) Yes to the 4.6 SOHC V8, but it would be great to know which few specific years had quirks.

- - - - -

He does not mention any colonnade coupes or their 4 door variants.  It's that the nicely kept ones are not cheap.  Also, from his many vids, he is definitely fond of larger cars.

He also did not mention the '94 to '96 Caprice, which people later realized are/were very good.  Again, I'm guessing it has to do with their used car purchase price.

- - - - -

He knows so damn much about a vast span of years for so many cars from different manufacturers, right down to trim related stuff and mechanical specifics.  I might only file this stuff away in my head if I was a big fan of certain (GM) cars.

Edited January 5, 2024 by trinacriabob

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

I approve of the options on the list. I agree with what he said completely. What about the GM E Bodies? Cadillac Eldorado/Seville, Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado 1979-1985( Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Riviera) and 1988-1992( All E/K-Bodies)? They used the 3800 V6 and the Oldsmobile 307, and Cadillacs much improved 4.5 and 4.9 liter V8 which was based off the HT 4100. A loaded Grand Marquis LS is sharp with digital gauges. The 1989-1993 Deville and Fleetwood I feel should be on the list too as well. I know he recently did a Deville video. He forgot the Pontiac Parisienne 1983-1986. I really enjoyed the video and footage. I smiled all the way through nodding my head.  He did say any GM that used the 3800 V6. I went with two Oldsmobiles( 98 and Toronado) on that front. 

[Robert Hall]

2 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

 

Mostly, I agree.  My favorite would be the Parisienne (he didn't mention it) followed by the 88.  Right, 307s and 301s over 305s (for me, anyway).  

Parisienne (the US market one from '83-86) would be a 305.  It was basically a facelifted Caprice (had the Chevy-based interior, and got the Pontiac rear 81 rear clip for '85-86).  The Pontiac 301 was gone after '81, last year of the B-body Catalina and Bonneville. 

As far as 80s GMs, I wouldn't mind having an '80-84 Buick Electra Park Avenue, '80-89 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham de' Elegance (long name!), or '80-86 Caprice as an occasional drive around car.   

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

1 minute ago, Robert Hall said:

Parisienne (the US market one from '83-86) would be a 305.  It was basically a facelifted Caprice (had the Chevy-based interior, and got the Pontiac rear 81 rear clip for '85-86).  The Pontiac 301 was gone after '81, last year of the B-body Catalina and Bonneville. 

As far as 80s GMs, I wouldn't mind having an '80-84 Buick Electra Park Avenue, '80-89 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham de' Elegance (long name!), or '80-86 Caprice as an occasional drive around car.   

What you said about the Parisienne was true, but I neeed to add something as I always do when people talk about Parisienne.  The 1977-1981 Pontiac Parisienne and Bonneville were the same car on both sides of the border:

1980-1981 Bonneville:

 

1980-1981 Parisienne:

 

What you said about the 1983-1984 Pontiac Parisienne was true. It was based off the Chevrolet Caprice, but it offered Oldsmobile Eighty  Eight Royale Brougham seats in 1984. The 1985-1986 Pontiac Parisienne had more than just the 1980-1981 sheetmetal in the rear. It had the 1980-1981 Pontiac Bonneville/ Parisienne rear sheet metal, the seats, the door panels/cards and more. It did have the Caprice front end with a Chevrolet grille and Chevrolet Caprice instruementation panel.  

 

 

 

The video makes many that started this topic makes many valid points. I personally would take these two from the 1980's eventhough I drive and own the 1990's versions of these two cars:

 

[Robert Hall]

I was looking into the Canadian market Parisiennes a while back and recall reading that they also had a Caprice based 2dr...  and I think for '82 Canada got the Caprice based Parisienne like the US got for '83. 

I always thought it was odd that in the US for '82 they dropped the B-body Pontiacs and moved the Bonneville name to what had been the A-body LeMans sedan. Kind of a rogue move.

 

Edited January 5, 2024 by Robert Hall

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Just now, Robert Hall said:

I was looking into the Canadian market Parisiennes a while back and recall reading that they also had a Caprice based 2dr...   I think for '82 Canada got the Caprice based Parisienne like the US got for '83. 

Correct.  They had a coupe and sedan in 1982 in Canada. I have the brochure at home.That was Caprice based. What happened was after 1981 model year when the larger Pontiac Bonneville was dropped in the United States, we got G Body Bonneville which was based on the 1981 G Body Grand LeMans. The reason why we got Canada Parisienne was because the market shifted and Pontiac needed a large car quickly and this was the easy way to do so. They tried to get all the tooling from the 1980-1981 model back for 1985-1986. They got most of it.  They did not get the front end styling.  Also please know that the Pontiac brand in Canada was like Chevrolet in the United States. In Canada the Pontiac and Chevrolet roles were reversed in the GM lineup there. Pontiac did this several more times. One of them was the Pontiac Tempest based off the Chevrolet Corsica. 

 

 

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

I was looking into the Canadian market Parisiennes a while back and recall reading that they also had a Caprice based 2dr...  and I think for '82 Canada got the Caprice based Parisienne like the US got for '83. 

I always thought it was odd that in the US for '82 they dropped the B-body Pontiacs and moved the Bonneville name to what had been the A-body LeMans sedan. Kind of a rogue move.

 

The reason why they did this was because GM started changing the missions of the brands in the early 1980's. Pontiac was struggling in the early 1980's. What later happened in 2009  under bankruptcy almost happened in the early 1980's.  The brands got lost because GM did not keep up with the market changes, and there was fuel economy issues and changing regulations.  The mission for each brand got lost. GM split the company into two groups: CPC and BOC. CPC was Chervrolet Pontiac Canada and their mission was to handle small and sporty cars and trucks.  BOC Buick Oldsmobile Cadillac was to handle large and luxury cars. Keep in mind GM was planning to downsize all its larger cars. That started in the late 1970's and the results started to appear in the 1985 model year. Since Pontiacs mission was changing , a large car like the B body Bonneville did not fit their image. We know how the great downzing at GM turned out. When things changed again the merged Bonneville and Parisienne into one car:

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2024 by NINETY EIGHT REGENCY

[trinacriabob]

18 hours ago, NINETY EIGHT REGENCY said:

I approve of the options on the list. I agree with what he said completely. What about the GM E Bodies? Cadillac Eldorado/Seville, Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado 1979-1985( Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Riviera) and 1988-1992( All E/K-Bodies)? They used the 3800 V6 and the Oldsmobile 307, and Cadillacs much improved 4.5 and 4.9 liter V8 which was based off the HT 4100. A loaded Grand Marquis LS is sharp with digital gauges. The 1989-1993 Deville and Fleetwood I feel should be on the list too as well. I know he recently did a Deville video. He forgot the Pontiac Parisienne 1983-1986. I really enjoyed the video and footage. I smiled all the way through nodding my head.  He did say any GM that used the 3800 V6. I went with two Oldsmobiles( 98 and Toronado) on that front. 

The Toro/Riv that definitely did not belong on the list was '86 and '87.  They were disappointing.  Yay for Toro's trestle shifter. I loved it.  But that was about it.

In 2007, a neighbor had an '88 Coupe de Ville in triple chocolate brown/mauve metallic.  It had the velour interior with the wreath embroidered into the cushioned seats.  Also, alloy wheels.  It was beautiful.

It had the 4.5 V8 and it had been hassle free for him.  Cadillac improved their aluminum V8 engines as time marched on.

Edited January 6, 2024 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

15 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

I was looking into the Canadian market Parisiennes a while back and recall reading that they also had a Caprice based 2dr...  and I think for '82 Canada got the Caprice based Parisienne like the US got for '83. 

I always thought it was odd that in the US for '82 they dropped the B-body Pontiacs and moved the Bonneville name to what had been the A-body LeMans sedan. Kind of a rogue move.

 

I agree.  Bonneville Model G was a head scratcher.  The front grille was too tall and the rear taillamps full of eggcrates.  Similarly, for a few years in the early '80s, Buick threw the Century name onto what was really a Regal notchback, right along with Limited trim found in the Regal coupe of the same year.  My dad had that sedan in dove gray enamel inside and out.  It was a mostly a good car with intermittent spark knock and a metal pan had to stay on the garage floor for seeping oil.

That Catalina coupe is nice!  You didn't see many.

I forgot that Pontiac stopped making their 4.9 and 4.3 in 1981/2.  I've never been a fan of the 305 after being "burned" by one in a Camaro I kept for a short while.

Pontiac's 301 never made it into California IIRC and what they did is substitute 305s.