I wanna floaty ride again

[CG]

When I was a kid we had some big ol cars that would just float down the road. My dad sold Chrysler and Plymouth from the mid 60's through the early 70's. He went to Ford from there. He had a lot of muscle cars as demos, but we seemed to get a lot of the giant Chryslers and big ol Fords too. Giant two door hard top Chryslers were so cool. My mom had a huge Chrysler wagon for quite awhile. We had a 64 Imperial Convertible I drove a lot, my buddies thought it was an old boat, but we always had fun cruising in the boat haha. My brother had a 66 Caddy at one time, that thing was a floater for sure. I remember packing some of those giant floaty cars to the gills with my buddies and girl friends and they never really seemed overly full, hop in, always room for another haha.

Guess I'm feeling nostalgic for the ol boats. Today everything has to have a zillion horse power and corner like its on rails. I hope my Burb is a floaty when it hits the road someday.

[truckster]

I had a bunch of floaters - my first car was a 67 Impala. My favorite is probably either the 73 Delta 88 or the 82 Buick Estate Wagon that eventually got the 455 from the Olds when the diesel died. I got that one up to a little over 130 once, but the way it was riding the waves was a bit disturbing, so I backed off and never tried it again.

[special-K]

I miss my '63 Riviera. Did lots of traveling in that car with fond memories of every mile. The big ole American cars just floated along. That's what we did best. Foreign economy cars came along and America played catch up. The irony is, those economy car companies ended up making big expensive cars.

[davischevy]

I had a small float in high school. A 67 Impala. I loved that car.

There is a 67 Impala on CL now I would love to have. It's a 396, 4 speed.

[1970 CST Short Wide]

I had a 1974 Mark IV Lincoln. The hood must have been 9’ long. I called it a landing strip for SEA Gulls. It also had a Moon Roof, (sun roof, but it’s a Lincoln so Moon Roof) and Michelin Radial tires. Used to cruise that thing at 90 just floating down the road right up until that big 429 kicked a Rod out the side. I still have a piece of the block in my tool box.

[oldiron]

When I was 8 my neighbor bought a 58 Pontiac. It was the first car that I got car sick in.

[yuccales]

My '71 Bonnie rode so darn nice and actually handled pretty good in the turns. It had one finger power steering and pretty good brakes. Great road car!

[special-K]

My Riviera was the new personal luxury class, not so big, a little more than medium, but big car ride and plenty of power. The gas pedal was the on switch. Push down and go, not feeling it shift, just wait for the speed minder buzzing about 100mph (highest it would set). Skyline drive is max 45 mph, up, down, around curves across the mountain top, with hundreds of view along the way you don't want to mix. I'd set that buzzer at 45, finger on wheel, scanning all along.

Just as they say displacement matters, and a lot of these cars had plenty. But size matters, too. I used to wonder why a guy would bother hopping up a big boat when a mid-size or pony car would do better with same power. Also felt big cars were old people cars. But when the old man hands down his '67 Delta 88 Holiday Coupe you don't look that gift horse in the mouth!

I always wanted a 66/67 442, ever since they were new. Same thing as 67-72s, loved the round wheel openings (among other things). I love and always wanted any 66/67 GM mid-size muscle


Didn't quite get this


Now I do and maybe rather have this


The 66/67s were my favorites since young, still are, but once I grew to want a big car I go back to '61 GM fullsize, with Pontiac Ventura being my favorite. These were the cars that were out when compacts came along. Mid-size came a few years later. I put 58-60 in their own class and '61 almost alone but the first of the 61-65 segment, then 66/67

'61

[FleetsidePaul]

I love the ride on my hearse. It may be a little newer (1991) but with that long wheelbase it's still got that smooth ride. It does pretty good on the curvy roads up here too. It's only got a 350 but it goes pretty well for such a big car. I thought it would be a dog in the hills but surprisingly it's not. It's a little unusual but I think of it as a limousine that you can haul lumber in.

She's a boat.

[Rich84]

My boat was a '77 Coupe DeVille. White with a beautiful red leather interior. I traded it in for my first new truck. What I saved in gas $$ nearly made the truck payment.

[Boog]

My Dad also sold new Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouths, Ramblers in the 60s to 70s. Always had a demo to drive. He loved large cars. I learned to love em too. Wheelbase and weight make the ride. We had a 60 or 61 Olds 98. Even on those bias ply tires it road like on a cloud. Cruising at 85-90 it absolutely floated. Plenty of interior room and a trunk large enough to fit a small family in. Later they had a 91 Cadillac Brougham. He loved it, Mom not so much. She was a small woman and had trouble seeing over the hood and fenders so she wasn't comfortable in them. (She preferred the 91 Sportside pkup I have now.)
A friend of mine had a 73 Pontiac Grandville 2 door. With the 455 it stayed right with an SS427 Impala every time. One thing that sticks out in my memory was big Pontiacs had a very noticeable whistle when running at highway speed.
They may have been boats or barges but those big cars were luxury.

[72c20customcamper]

Had a few boats in my day . Called them vomit cars if you had any tendencies to get motion sickness its was amplified in them

[tutone]

My wife is on her third Caddy. The first was a 98 sedan. It was the best ride of any of the three. I always gravitated towards the bigger cars in my youth like Chevelles and Impalas. None compare to my 55 as far as "ride". It doesn't handle and drive like a camaro, but it will glide over a set of RR tracks and you won't spill your pop all over yourself. 100% stock 1955 suspension except for the radial tires.

[powerdriver]

My "Glider" was a 71 olds Toronado . That hood was so heavy , If you dropped it with the headlights on , one of them would flash and that was it . I need that ride now in my 60's

[1976gmc20]

Smaller diameter wheels and taller tires with more sidewall height.

Not those low profile /50 and /40 hard rock tires.

[too much stuff]

Just seeing the title, the first thing i thought of was the 60s and 70s Mopars.

[richard2717]

My sister had a 69 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door with a 428 (I think) and mom had a mid 70's olds 98 with the 455 and they were both cloud riders

[Ironhorse]

I remember my Dad always having the big land yachts as a family car. Buicks and Chryslers was the norm. First car I remember us having was a '52 Buick Roadmaster, dark blue / gray four door with a straight 8 engine. Remember crawling up in the back window for a nap while traveling. Back windows now, if you can find one, are about big enough to keep a box of tissues handy.

Another car I remember was a '57 Chrysler Crown Imperial. THAT was huge, about the size of a small battleship!

Both of those cars and others we had growing up were all the big "floaters" with a ride like sitting on the living room sofa. Not sure anything even comes close to such a ride now.

[Grumpy old man]

You can thank the failed program Cash for clunkers for the demise of the floaty ride big bodied cars along with many models guys are still searching for today. this link has a list of all 677,081 the program destroyed with no appreciable drop in fuel usage by the American public . About the same time scrap steel prices were soaring which led to further demise of the heaviest cars and trucks . This also led to the big inch engines that were used in the floaty cars to be scrapped . Take a good look at the rusty trucks we all are rebuilding now many with serious restoration work needed , What will the cost be in ten years to build a 67-72 ? Thanks to the disposable society we've become

Now with the high fuel prices and push to ev these things will happen again


https://www.thedrive.com/news/heres-...h-for-clunkers


https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-...20112620080403
.

[special-K]

My dad had a '70 Coupe de Ville back around 76/77. Me and one of my sisters took a ride out to Harpers Ferry on a joy ride. I was wearing his pork pie hat, and I was a long hair. We were goofing around acting all sophisticated. Right down at the bottom corner by the point where the US Army arsenal John Brown raided is it used to drop off 3-4' at about a 45* angle. I was acting goofy for my sister, we were laughing, didn't notice the drop, and I rode that Caddy right over it... kaboom! bang! scrape! bounce! Wasn't such a floaty ride but it didn't hurt that Caddy one bit!

[A1971Blazer]

My Dad bought a new Olds 98 in 1971....it had a 455
I was 15 and had my learner's permit....on a trip to my grandparents house with my Mom, I was driving on a long, desolate stretch of interstate thru Alabama....the speed limit was 75 back then.
The speedometer was deep down in the dash and you couldn't see it from the passenger's seat.
I was running 100 MPH and it was just floating along smooth as silk....my Mom asked me "how fast are you going son?"..."75 Mom...75"...

[GOPAPA]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

You can thank the failed program Cash for clunkers for the demise of the floaty ride big bodied cars along with many models guys are still searching for today. this link has a list of all 677,081 the program destroyed with no appreciable drop in fuel usage by the American public . About the same time scrap steel prices were soaring which led to further demise of the heaviest cars and trucks . This also led to the big inch engines that were used in the floaty cars to be scrapped . Take a good look at the rusty trucks we all are rebuilding now many with serious restoration work needed , What will the cost be in ten years to build a 67-72 ? Thanks to the disposable society we've become

Now with the high fuel prices and push to ev these things will happen again


https://www.thedrive.com/news/heres-...h-for-clunkers


https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-...20112620080403
.

That is really a list that I never thought there was one.. good find
I owned a 67 Chevy Impala and I never thought of it as being a floaty car.. In my time back then floaty cars was Caddy's Lincolns and other big ol cars.. and when one of these needed shocks ,,that for sure was a floaty ..like rocking horses

[dave6672]

Here's my floaty 57 210 Delray.

And my 69 Olds with a stuck 455 that I don't have time to fool with. I need to float it along to a new owner.

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by dave6672

Here's my floaty 57 210 Delray.

And my 69 Olds with a stuck 455 that I don't have time to fool with. I need to float it along to a new owner.

I had a 69 Olds 98 convertible. It wasn't nearly as nice as yours. I bought it as a project to replace my 69 Impala convertible that I had to sell to buy my first house.

The 98 wasn't in all that bad of shape, not a dent on it and the 455 ran okay. When I bought it it (for $250) it had been parked under some power lines and was covered with more pigeon poop than I've ever seen on a car.

So I washed it off and the paint didn't look much better. It had been cheaply repainted and was all faded. The back plastic window was gone so I parked it in my garage. I had to move all sorts of stuff from the front of the garage to get it to fit and it barely did, the garage door touched the rear bumper but it closed.

My wife threw a fit because neither of us could park in the garage anymore. I got an earful on that one so I sold it. Too bad. It would have been an easy fix. But I didn't have the money since I had just bought a house.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by too much stuff

Just seeing the title, the first thing i thought of was the 60s and 70s Mopars.

Not saying my mind doesn't go to those either, but when I read the title my mind went to something like this