And that’s what really matters in life, am I right?
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day. It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.
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Last Call: Bud-Tugly Edition
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22 responses to “Last Call: Bud-Tugly Edition”
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Asking the big questions here… What is the point of the brand Lincoln?
I realised today that I had this idea it was meant to be America’s Rolls-Royce – some sort of expensive rarefied object suitable only as coachbuilt limos for heads of state, or for elderly traditionalists (if in a sedate colour) or gauche nouveau riche (if painted in anything more exciting than navy blue). Something several notches above Cadillac – as Bentley is to Jag.
Heck, Lincoln is even named after someone who’s essentially ‘Murica’s patron saint. However, it seems the brand is kept in some sort of limbo because anyone who understands its identity (car guys) can’t or wouldn’t buy a new one, thus denying it sales, thus denying it development funding, thus preventing it reasserting an identity. So, what IS Lincoln?-
Lincoln is a failed attempt at greatness by a company who understands “the Peoples’ car” pretty well. There is a company in Europe who are also famous for a just-plain-folks mobile who recently tried the same gambit and failed just as miserably if not more so.
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Phaeton?
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Outside US perspective: 60s Lincoln continental was probably the peak of the brands identity. Old money tasteful (versus the fins and chrome “Look at me Ma! I done good” Caddilac) yet youthful (think Kennedy style glamour). Confidently American, yet tastefully European at the same time. I think the big problem now (and this affects all luxury cars) is nowadays, no-one wants to do understated Luxury apart from Volvo. It’s a hard niche to sell in, Citroen failed in Europe with its last big car (C6). I think a good starting point for Lincoln is take a Volvo S90, and give it a proper engine. New Continental looks nice, but I think it’s gotta be a bit more than a posh mondeo.
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Ooh, good point. I’m not American either, and the Old Money/Kennedy thing is pretty illuminating. Tasteful, youthful, confident and rich.
Something Montgomery Burns’ grandson – Chad Burns – might drive … that is, if it weren’t for Larry Burns being a slack-jawed troglodyte.
And I like the Volvo framing too. So, combining our thoughts, is it the point of Lincoln to be the Bentley to Volvo’s Jag? The VW to its Skoda. The Land Rover to its LandCruiser? Same ladders, higher rungs.-
the point of lincoln is to go quietly fast as comfortably as possible while not giving a damn what anyone else thinks of it.
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and i believe ford really has forgotten that.
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An upmarket brand for people who want an upmarket brand but give a rat’s ass about cars.
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I thought no one at all gave a rat’s ass about the current Lincolns though – and that this was the problem. The past ones seem glorious to me, but the current ones seem to be Ford’s main car lines with “luxury” bolt-ons and bumpers. Just like Pontiacs were for so long just Chevys with “performance” bolt-ons and cladding. (Quote marks including deliberately).
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“Add 50 pounds of plastic cladding, it’ll make it faster”
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I’m a Ford fan. I’ve just got rid of my GMC, and I’m after a Ford now. I firmly believe and assert the following,
Fords: If you try hard enough, you can make them go fast, but you’ll never be able to make them look good.-
On the other hand, they won’t fall apart as quickly as their domestic counterparts.
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Very tempted by a Lotus Excel I’ve spotted. Seems to be good condition, roughly the equivalent of $7500. It’s a lot for me, but also would mean I’d pay €50 a year to keep it on the road versus €670 my Eunos Roadster (1st gen Miata). Fully roadworthy. Canny purchase or bad idea? I know it’s got Lotus kudos but is it a better overall ownership prospect in terms of fun and overall experience than a 1st gen Miata? Pros seem to be galvanized chassis/fibreglass body, a bit more interior space.. cons..it’s a Lotus.
Your thoughts?-
You know the answer of the random internet dude who has no stakes in it other than living through the adventures of another random internet dude? Of course you need to try it!
I mean, the Eunos Roadster is very cool, too. Why the colossal difference in what I assume is road tax or some such thing?-
30 year old cars are classed as vintage, less than 30 but pre 2008 are on the cc based system which is very punitive, post 2008 is taxed by CO2
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Is it in good condition throughout, ie are interior bits brittle/broken/badly faded? Mechanicals shouldn’t be a problem but all the Lotus-specific things will be a problem to replace.
The other thing is will it fit your usage, including maintenance/tinkering requirements and including the potential out-of-action time?-
Seems to be in good condition throughout. It’d be an occasional use car that I’m not, dependent on for actual transport, but I’d like to do some track use and take some road trips in it and just wondering if it could take being driven *properly* as sports cars should.
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Not that I know the model that well, but I would wonder about hard track use vs the Eunos, I suspect there may need to be a bit of ‘development’ or fine-tuning, eg brake upgrades. Some of that will depend on how much vigorous use the car has had, eg renewing suspension components. Could be fun leavened with some frustration!
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I think the Eunos will need all that too to be fair, it was all great out the factory, but it’s an old car now. I think I’m probably going to stick with the boring option of keeping the Eunos partly because it’s not really a great time to be shelling out that sort of cash (though I could get a lot of it back from selling the Eunos) and partly because I have a strong feeling I’d deeply regret selling it.
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I saw the keys to a 2017 Audi TT lying on the right front wheel of it – while locking down the USD30 balance bike at the kindergarten. What’s wrong with me?
(That’s not unusual when parking the car at the side of the road while you are off in the mountains, hiking or running or skiing – anybody who wants to break in will do so anyway, and you won’t drop the key in the snow three miles off the road and realize that when trying to go home…) -
I’m really tempted to get an old Ranger. What’s not to like about a cheap pickup?
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nothing. however, my brother has a 2000 Ranger. The seat backrest is curved so that my head and shoulders are pushed forward in a very uncomfortable way. So make sure it fits you. Otherwise its been a very reliable albeit somewhat crude compared to the toyotas of it’s day
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