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| Even though burning rubber with the Mustang was fun for a while, it got old pretty soon, and I decided it was time to return to a good ol' fullsize sedan delivering a traditionally nautical driving experience, which I'm accustomed to. Pickings are getting slim for a dinosaur like me, and a narrowing list of names was on the table: Town Car, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Marauder, Fleetwood, DeVille. As a fan of Cadillacs of the yore, I would've wanted to buy a Cadillac, but had to acknowledge that LT-1 Fleetwoods are getting too old and too few to be a daily driver, and the driving dynamics of a front-drive DeVille felt just... unnatural. I had a conception that all the FoMoCo offerings based on the Panther platform would be very similar, but this turned out to be far from the truth. After being left somewhat unimpressed by the Crown Vic, I went to test drive the Town Car, and felt right at home -- this is what traditional American luxury should be. With my mind set on the TC, I decided to go for an '03 or newer model, when the Panther platform received several upgrades, including rack and pinion steering. Finding a good example proved to be much more difficult than I had thought. Many of the TCs have been in fleet/livery use, which you can usually quickly tell by the condition. After a long search, I finally stumbled upon this '03 top-of-the-line Cartier, which was in great condition despite the relatively high mileage. The first owner was a real estate agent who had driven the TC around the Southwest at the rate of 30k miles per year doing appraisals . I've been really happy with the TC. It provides a comfortable, traditionally luxurious ride, and unlike most other luxury cars, is simple to service, and the parts are outright cheap. My only complaint is that it could use a little more power. Even though responsive enough when you press on it, the modest OHC engine doesn't motivate the bulky sedan as effortlessly as, say, a nice GM pushrod V8 would. |
Some pictures of the Lincoln ( 90-161kB each )
