“We had an established identity that we wanted to keep, but … how do you do that and make the car look fresh and new?” said Gale Halderman in 1989. He was talking to the…
Posts tagged Land Yachts
1968 Ford LTD: The Brougham Branches Out
Over the course of about 25 years, the LTD name filtered through dozens of family Fords, from the biggest and broughamy-est land yachts of the 1970s to a midsize Fox variation in in the 1980s…
1974 Buick Riviera: the Lost Generation
The 1974-76 Buick Riviera is essentially a forgotten car today, lingering in the deep shadow left by the famous ‘71-’73 Boattail cars and built in relatively small numbers. The car actually didn’t look bad at…
Lincoln Continental Mark III: The Magic Number
It was one of Lee Iacocca’s greatest successes. It was exactly what its target audience wanted, it was extremely profitable, and it created the template for an era of unprecedented sales success for Lincoln. Introduced…
Good Old Days: 1973 Oldsmobile 98
It could be described as the postwar American car mantra – “longer, lower, wider,” even if the trend arguably began in the 1920s. The proportions of “standard” American cars grew progressively larger and lower-slung after…
Too much is not enough: 1961 Imperial
There had always been “Chrysler Imperials” – with the very first series debuting in 1927, just three years after the birth of Chrysler itself. That first Imperial was a badge addition to Chrysler’s existing E-80…
AMC Ambassador: The Unlikely Land Yacht
In hindsight, AMC probably shouldn’t have developed the Circa-1967 Ambassador, but once it arrived, the company kept selling it and made due with it until 1974. The Ambassador continued a name and tradition that originated…
The Lipstick Lincoln: 1976 Continental MkIV
The Lee Iaccoca-created Lincoln Continental MkIII was a smash hit for the brand – it repeatedly bested Cadillac’s Eldorado from 1969-71, and 79,381 MKIIIs were made in all. During the 1969-70 model years, Lincoln’s staff…
Big and Bold: 1973 Oldsmobile Toronado
When it came time to redesign the Toronado for 1971, it would morph into a kind of Oldsmobile version of its Cadillac sister. The new look came from designer David North.
Florentine Influence: 1967 Cadillac Coupe Deville
1967 might have been a year of lots of social change, but not at the Cadillac store – where the big yachts were big and the vibe old-school. Cadillac customers didn’t go to “Be-ins.” The…