Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[1mach1]

Nothing wrong with it. I just had the whole front end rebuilt. The problem is that huge engine sitting right on top of the tires. Then if you added towing a load behind it, it would be a mess. Turning, pulling and hauling just isn’t what a front wheel drive does well. That is exactly why you use a rear wheel drive truck instead. Making a luxury car haul a trailer just doesn’t seem to go together.

:arated:

 

[Stanley Doble]

The towing experts. These guys (Can Am RVs) have been in the trailer business for 50 years. Customers come from all over the US and Canada to have them build a hitch and set up a rig.

Their favorite tow vehicles for 34 foot, 8000 pound Airstream trailers are jaguars, Chrysler 300s and minivans. Because they are better and safer than 3/4 ton trucks, in spite of having unit construction and (in the case of minivans) front wheel drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeHtnji0Sgk

The Cad would handle a trailer. But it would not be my first choice. If it was me I would take the cash but, if you like the Cad, grab it. It sounds like a good deal. It is in good shape and cheap enough that it will not break you if something major goes wrong.

 

[jamespowers]

The towing experts. These guys (Can Am RVs) have been in the trailer business for 50 years. Customers come from all over the US and Canada to have them build a hitch and set up a rig.

Their favorite tow vehicles for 34 foot, 8000 pound Airstream trailers are jaguars, Chrysler 300s and minivans. Because they are better and safer than 3/4 ton trucks, in spite of having unit construction and (in the case of minivans) front wheel drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeHtnji0Sgk

The Cad would handle a trailer. But it would not be my first choice. If it was me I would take the cash but, if you like the Cad, grab it. It sounds like a good deal. It is in good shape and cheap enough that it will not break you if something major goes wrong.

That video was just wrong. You need this to haul an airstream:
http://youtu.be/M3FVFhEXxA8

 

[vitanola]

I only will need to tow on occasion, say picking up a dozen sheets of drywall at the lumber company three miles down the road and oading them into my steel 5 x 8 open utility trailer, hauling twenty trash bags of leaves to the city maintenance yard in the same utility trailer, or picking up seven or eight Victrolas or Console radios in my 6 x 10 foot enclosed aluminum cargo trailer. I retired my old, heavy 30' steel enclosed snowmobile trailer last year when I picked up the shiny new aluminum cargo trailer, so I now have no heavy loads to haul

 

[Stanley Doble]

The Cadillac should work great.

 

[Talbot]

Here in Michigan those old Crown Vic Interceptor police cars have a cachet all out of proportion to their true value. I remember looking at a 2006 machine with more than 200,000 on the clock for which the sellers that you posted wanted more than $6,000.

The police interceptors do have plenty of pep, but you can get a lot of car for that money in the US.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I agree. Especially for the money.

The Cadillac should work great.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Front wheel drive cars have been towing trailers for years. In 1965 or 66 the Reese trailer hitch company tested the new Toronado and found it towed heavy travel trailers as well as a rear drive car. They even published a photo of a Toronado towing a trailer with its rear wheels removed. The weight distributing hitch held the rear of the car up.

 

[jamespowers]

Front wheel drive cars have been towing trailers for years. In 1965 or 66 the Reese trailer hitch company tested the new Toronado and found it towed heavy travel trailers as well as a rear drive car. They even published a photo of a Toronado towing a trailer with its rear wheels removed. The weight distributing hitch held the rear of the car up.

And tore up tires like a gorilla in the zoo.
My uncle had a new Toronado back then. After you replaced the CV boots and rebuilt the front end every five or six years, you could buy a truck that would be more adequate for the job.

 

[jamespowers]

I agree. Especially for the money.

Not for the repair bills.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Or you could rotate the tires front to rear, as recommended for all vehicles.

 

[jamespowers]

Or you could rotate the tires front to rear, as recommended for all vehicles.

So you can tear up all four evenly. lol lol
Too bad you can't rotate the front end to the back end.

 

[LizzieMaine]

So you can tear up all four evenly. lol lol
Too bad you can't rotate the front end to the back end.

Just drive everywhere in reverse.

 

[jamespowers]

Just drive everywhere in reverse.

:rofl: Now why didn't I think of that?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Who owns cars for five or six years?

And tore up tires like a gorilla in the zoo.
My uncle had a new Toronado back then. After you replaced the CV boots and rebuilt the front end every five or six years, you could buy a truck that would be more adequate for the job.

 

[jamespowers]

Who owns cars for five or six years?

I forgot about the rich Tom's of the snowy hinterlands. lol lol

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Oh yeah, buying a 1500 dollar car now and again. I bought a car today for the whopping sum of 550 dollars.

I forgot about the rich Tom's of the snowy hinterlands. lol lol

 

[vitanola]

Who owns cars for five or six years?

Yes. Who ever would keep them for such a short while?

I tend to by 'em a cople of years
old and run 'em 'till the wheels fall off, which these days seems to be approaching twenty years.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yes. Who ever would keep them for such a short while?

I tend to by 'em a cople of years
old and run 'em 'till the wheels fall off, which these days seems to be approaching twenty years.

I've been the last owner for every car I've ever owned, unless you count a junkyard as an owner. When the rust finally killed my old VW, it actually split in two when they tried to haul it away.

 

[Tomasso]

When the rust finally killed my old VW, it actually split in two when they tried to haul it away.

I think you can safely say that you fully exhausted its useful life.


BTW, what model/year VW?