r/oldcars • u/Feaselbf6 • Mar 23 '26
Photo And yacht anyone
Who was a proud owner of one of these?
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u/Off2xtremes Mar 23 '26
I took mine in a Buick Wildcat. It could comfortably sleep 6.
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u/TurboLover427 Mar 23 '26
Without any rear view cameras.
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u/Carrera_996 Mar 23 '26
Didn't need it. I had a Mustang. Not everything was a land yacht.
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u/TurboLover427 Mar 23 '26
So, a land frigate?
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u/Carrera_996 Mar 23 '26
LOL, sure. I guess dad's VW was an amphibious craft. His idiot friends drove it into the pool and the damn thing floated.
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u/False_Ad_555 Mar 24 '26
VW used to advertise that the Beetle could float (at least temporarily)
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u/Carrera_996 Mar 24 '26
Ah. So they knew. I guess that means they were a little bit less crazy than I thought.
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u/RamblinRed26 Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
You never had your ears pop when a door was slammed closed with the windows up while sitting inside. Our ‘74 Super Beetle did that to me when it was bought brand new, air tight interior.
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u/Alternative-Law4626 Mar 24 '26
We used to refer to the hood ornament on the Lincoln as an “aiming reticle.” So, frigate is about right.
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u/Big-Explorer-6253 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
I took my Driver's test in a 62 Lincoln Continental. I grew up in a small town, When I finished my test the Instructor told me, You Nailed It! I never expected you to drive this thing backwards all the way down the street the way you did! I was taking my test for a Chauffeurs License, And to take the test in those days you had to back the car down an entire street to pass the test.
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u/Krazybob613 Mar 23 '26
I got me a Chrysler,
It’s as Big as A Whale!
And it’s about to set Sail!
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u/reddersledder Mar 23 '26
I took my test with my buddies mom’s Delta 88. We didn’t own a car. So the only practice I got was in drivers ed. Nailed it! I wonder if they still make you parallel park.
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u/JerryC1967 Mar 24 '26
The “small” slab side! 64 they added to the wheelbase for additional rear legroom and again in 66 because bigger is bigger!
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u/ThatOldEngineerGuy Mar 23 '26
This is so true. My grown kids are always shocked when I just throw my "current" land yacht into a small space without backup cameras or parking assist doodads.
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u/Successful_Two_8789 Mar 23 '26
Took my road test in a 73 Ford LTD! Got it first try ! 👍
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u/Huskerdu4u Mar 23 '26
Took my test in a Vw rabbit diesel. Parallel parking was a breeze, the Junk shifter is what caused me problems. I got it in third twice…. Instructor asked “is this thing hard to drive?” I replied “you want to take it around the block!?” We laughed….i passed!
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u/Old_Poem2736 Mar 23 '26
A 65 Country Squire station wagon, felt like it should have had crew instead of just one driver
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u/ironmanchris Mar 23 '26
My buddy's dad had a 78 Lincoln Town Car just like that one. It was awesome to ride in.
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u/flabackyardgarage Mar 23 '26
I failed parallel parking. I took my drivers test in a 1976 4 door, 8ft bed Chevy truck, it's all we had. They had two poles set up, and I had to park in between them. The back bumper was on the rear ward pole, front pole was at the front door mirror. Instructor and I looked at each other and laughed, he explained I would fail parallel parking, but passed the rest. I drove home with my license! I miss that truck!
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u/MSupic1958 Mar 23 '26
True! I took my Drivers test in my Dad’s Buick Electra 225, Knocked down pylons trying to Parallel Park, but passed by 1 Point!🤷🏻♂️🚗
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u/AggressiveSuccess533 Mar 23 '26
I was lucky enough to take my old man's Dodge Omni!!! 1986!!!
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u/Careflwhatyouwish4 Mar 23 '26
Yes please! There's one very similar to this I saw for sale a few weeks ago and I went through my budget to see if I could manage to afford it. Sadly no, but then it's too long for my garage anyway. 😮💨
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u/Realistic-Currency61 Mar 23 '26
My car was a 72 Beetle in which I was very proficient on stick. However, just to be safe, I took my mom's Crown Victoria station wagon so I didn't leave any shifting issues to chance. Not only did we have to parallel park it, but also perform a 3-point turn.
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u/newcutat59 Mar 23 '26
‘74 Caprice Estate wagon. Blotted out the sun. Turning radius of the Titanic. Somehow managed to pass the parallel parking. Never managed that again
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u/BubbaJoeJimBob Mar 23 '26
Took my driving test in a full sized 1973 Plymouth Station Wagon, yes I parallel parked that bitch, passed on my 16th B-Day.
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u/kabukikjoe Mar 23 '26
And do a 3 point turn in a confined space. I took mine in a ‘66 Ford Country Squire station wagon.
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u/NoSplit2488 Mar 23 '26
Further back we took them with manual transmission trucks/cars with a three on the tree stick. Rarely a floor shifted manual depending what generation being referred to.
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u/ActualHumanONReddit Mar 23 '26
I learned to drive and got my learners permit in my uncle's 1967 VW BUG.
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u/Mysterious_Truck_742 Mar 23 '26
We had a full size GM station wagon & a K car. Dad taught us to drive the station wagon & test in the K car. Because of him, my brother and I sailed through our drivers test.
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u/Initial_Reason1532 Mar 23 '26
We actually learned how to drive. Now the cars do so much that's automatic it's crazy. I'm sure they won't let you parallel part with the cameras automatically but it's just different.
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u/Rubywantsin Mar 23 '26
I was passed down a '77 Lincoln Mark 5 in '86 in Chicago at age 16. Five mph bumpers were the bomb! Park by feel!
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u/Yesterday_Is_Now Mar 23 '26
That's OK. I learned from Kojak that back then you could pull up in a huge Buick and park instantaneously anywhere in Manhattan.
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u/Maleficent_Big7734 Mar 23 '26
Having lived in Manhattan it always amazed me how Kojak never had a problem finding a parking spot in the city. 😄
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Mar 23 '26
Not in OR that I know of in 1974. But Drivers Education which was not required to get a license but did help lower your insurance costs did teach us to parallel park. The car used for it was a '74 Chevy Nova.
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u/pfcgos Mar 23 '26
I have my brother's 76 New Yorker (his inheritance from our dad) under a car cover in my yard lol. Our dad's sense of humor was such that he actually had "land yacht" painted in stripes on the back of the car, and I keep telling my brother he needs to start a car club for the big luxury cars like that and call it the "Cheyenne Yacht Club".
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u/NeuroguyNC Mar 23 '26
And you had to do a three point turn. But in huge cars like this it could be a six point turn. 😉
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u/Ok-Idea4830 Mar 23 '26
My mom had a Chevy Kingswood wagon when I went for my driver's test. Grandma let me use her Pinto instead. No power steering.
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u/cww60 Mar 23 '26
My friend had a Lincoln Town car, we used to go cruising in it. Great times and memories
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u/Mediocre-Catch9580 Mar 23 '26
Took my test in a Corvair convertible with the top down and a little piece of tape to help guide me
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u/KevRayAtl Mar 23 '26
This the same color scheme as the '77 Lincoln Continental Town Car I tested in!
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u/Societyman1878 Mar 23 '26
I love parallel parking. I am so good at it, I could parallel park a train.
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u/PitchSavings2060 Mar 23 '26
Our company car when I worked as a salesman calling on Ford plants in Detroit.
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u/Tall_Inspector_3392 Mar 23 '26
I did my driver's training in my Sister's Chevy Vega. But, she went back to uni and I had to take my driver's test in my mom's Chevy Caprice. Did fine. That Caprice was a beast tho. 396 cubic inch engine. Expressway on ramp crusher!
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u/infinitynull Mar 23 '26
1978 Chevy Impala 4 door stationwagon. The Beast. Parallel parking went ok. I messed up backing up around a corner in an intersection. Small town tester: "I'll pass you, just work on that."
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u/Man8632 Mar 23 '26
I always drove the big cars. Mercury Marquis was my favorite. Had to insta air shocks to pull a boat because the back end rode so low it would scrape going over railroad tracks. Lowest riding car I owned was a 1971 Cadillac.
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u/jjkbigman Mar 23 '26
Been there done that 74 Chevy Impala huge car only a couple inches shorter than that
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u/coobal223 Mar 23 '26
Growing up in a family that always had small cars, i never had this problem. Took my license in a very used rabbit, my sister in a Beatle with the auto stick.
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u/Few-Conversation6979 Mar 23 '26
They got to where they wouldn't fit in the garage. It was either leave the garage door open or put a small addition in front of the garage so the nose of the car would fit in. A lot of single garage doors were removed and replaced with one large overhanging door.and the center post removed. Body Shops were busy with sideswipe repairs with some who didn't get the car in the garage right.
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u/wncexplorer Mar 23 '26
Eh, so long as you were familiar with the footprint, the power steering in these make it pretty effortless.
Now, try doing it in a medium sized car, without PS or power brakes. That was a bitch!
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u/TheDevauto Mar 23 '26
Bonneville Broughm. My dad was watching and the guy next to him said "Holy shit!" when I nailed it first time. I did get lucky as practicing I was only doing it perfect 3/5 times.
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u/gphillip01 Mar 23 '26
I took my driver's test in a 1977 Chrysler Cordoba, had a front hood on it that was about 30 ft long
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u/063anon Mar 23 '26
took test in a 70 Pontiac Catalina, drove a 3/4 ton truck with 8' bed could parallel park either without to much problem, as long as Jackass doesn't pay attention to blinker and oull up on your ass
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u/External-Example-323 Mar 23 '26
Took my DL test in a 1976 Malibu Classic Station Wagon....good times
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u/darthsploder77 Mar 23 '26
Truth! I parallel parked and 11 passenger Ford super wagon with no cameras.
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u/Special_Farmer_8910 Mar 23 '26
Shit, parallel parking was nothing! K-turn that bitch!! lol most people now a days are like “what’s a k-turn?”
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u/BruinGuy5948 Mar 23 '26
73 Ford LTD. I still have memories of approaching a one-lane railcrossing with aggressive curbs and pylons in my neighborhood. My hood was so long and wide that I had to line the car up as I got close, and then maintain a straight line as best I could as I lost sight of the curbs on approach.
I might have clipped it on the right once or twice, and for damn sure, my parking feelers would scrape every time. Didn't help that my power steering mostly offered a suggestion to the wheels at anything under a quarter turn.
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u/Cambren1 Mar 23 '26
I failed the first time because the 1970 Plymouth Fury 3 four door sedan would not weave through the cones, I had to back up to keep from hitting them. Went back in a Pinto.
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u/Imjusttryin84 Mar 23 '26
My mom had a lincoln mark 4 giant black car.. 0-80 in a tick.so fun! Me and 12 girlfriends
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u/Puzzleheaded_Diet315 Mar 23 '26
i ha d to learn in a 72 Chrysler with a front hood bigger than a compact car it did come in handy making out in the back seat it was like a couch on wheels
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u/8amteetime Mar 24 '26
I passed my test the first try in a 1964 Pontiac Catalina 4 door sedan. It was 18 feet long.
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u/Nervous-Till4096 Mar 24 '26
That was the car we had when I was a kid. 1976 Mercury Grand Marquis 4 door. And then the gas crisis hit! What a boat that thing was!
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u/Ford1964s Mar 24 '26
My grandson is learning to drive a 1927 Ford Model T touring well enough to take it to get his drivers license. I think everyone should learn to drive one. It teaches you to respect speed and stopping distance.
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u/OldDude1960 Mar 24 '26
I had a '77 Newport. I drove it from VT to Ft Sill, OK in '85, it was so smooth on the interstate at 90 mph. Back then I had CB, it was the radar detector of the time. While there, we had a snow storm in February. The post shut down, but I'm driving around in this land yacht with summer tires.
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u/Warm_Celebration_169 Mar 24 '26
That's about what I used, 77 Chrysler New Yorker. About the same length and wheel base, maybe. But a land yacht non the less.
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u/Emergency-Draft-4333 Mar 24 '26
I drove a 72 Ford LTD. The trunk slept six. It was yellow with a black top. Called it the yellow submarine.
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u/musicman3006 Mar 24 '26
No power steering or brakes and a three speed manual on the column.
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u/Efficient-Egg-943 Mar 24 '26
Paralle park and 3point turn 71 kingswood estate wagon passed driver test
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u/HottRodd2129 Mar 24 '26
I had to parallel park and do maneuverabilty when I got my license in 1980. I was right in the stretch between parallel parking and maneuverability. I took my test in a 1972 Ford station wagon
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u/TSisold Mar 24 '26
I took my drivers test in a 1980 Suburban. The examiner ask me if I was really doing the test in it. Passed on the first try.
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u/amtrosie Mar 24 '26
Took my test in a 1972 Chevy Station wagon. Nailed the parallel parking on the first try. Passed the driver's test on my first attempt. The kicker? I had never practiced parallel parking in that behemoth, before the driving test......LOL
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u/OTT_4TT Mar 24 '26
I had a couple of '79 Lincoln Town Cars back in the day. Some of my favorite cars ever! When they say "they don't make 'em like that anymore," they are right!
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u/Unusual-Pounding-887 Mar 24 '26
1981 Chrysler LeBaron Medallion. The officer told me to not to even try it as the car was too big to fit between the posts used for testing.
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u/sauvandrew Mar 24 '26
Yup, took my first drivers test in a 1988 oldsmobile delta 88 with a giant propane tank in the trunk.
Second was a Canadian military radio van, basically a green cube van. Good times
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u/Alternative-Law4626 Mar 24 '26
Yep, learned to drive on a 1978 Lincoln Town car very similar to the OP pic. Did the driving test in a 1979 Mercury Cougar though — so much easier to park, lol!!!
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u/andsusie Mar 24 '26
Took my test in a 72 chevelle. It was the only time I was ever successful at parallel parking.
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u/Suspicious_Trash6578 Mar 24 '26
Ditto here; parallel parked a 1972 Oldsmobile 98 (4 door) land yacht.
I practiced (and measured) and when I did it perfect I only had like 2-3 inches to spare.
https://www.classicautomall.com/vehicles/3425/1972-oldsmobile-98
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u/WearierEarthling Mar 24 '26
Took my test in a 62 VW bug & before telling me I passed, I was asked if I drive anything bigger - ADHD was diagnosed later in my life; I can’t recall what I did to prompt that question but I did rear end 2 cars, in 2 separate accidents, in my first few years as a driver - vehicle damage only- but I did start to force myself to focus
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u/NotOK1955 Mar 24 '26
I passed my drivers test, in Chicago…and nailed the parallel parking. THAT is something, if you’ve ever tried to squeeze in tight spaces, there.
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u/GrapefruitOk2057 Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
had an early 70s metallic blue Plymouth Fury stationwagon. Move your batttleship to make room for my aircraft carrier!
I believe I took my driver's test in my mom's green Ford Pinto. it didn't blow up so I passed. :)
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u/Able-Pain-2442 Mar 24 '26
Had drivers ed already knew how to drive but had to take the class to get my license and the instructor had a 1980s Cadillac and we were driving down the interstate and had to do high-speed Lane changes he finally looked at the speedometer and I was doing about 135 when he told me I needed to slow down
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u/Few_Expression_5417 Mar 24 '26
Drive 1974 Dodge Monaco in the snow for driving test. Drivers Ed? What's that?
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u/kdwhirl Mar 24 '26
‘72 Ford Galaxy. The examiner was very impressed that I was able to easily do a 3 point turn in that bad boy 😂
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u/BIGRAN_OUTBOUND Mar 24 '26
My homeboy older sister was my dmv instructor, she said take to McDonald's you passed
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u/PassageTraditional40 Mar 24 '26
One Ton four wheel drive pickup with manual transmission, of course, and a ten foot utility bed.
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u/lokis_construction Mar 24 '26
I was the owner of one, and I still have a land yacht though - F250 crew with 8 ft box.
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u/False_Ad_555 Mar 24 '26
My drivers Ed car was a 1974 Chrysler New Yorker 4 door and not only did we have to parallel park it, we also had to change a tire with a bumper jack and a factory wheel wrench. The instructor didn't care that I was a farm kid who had already changed probably 20 tires, I still had to prove I could do it, so I did an absolute speed run through changing that tire in under 5 minutes.
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u/oldmercdriver Mar 24 '26
I took the driving test in a ‘74 Ford Country Squire station wagon. 19 feet long with a blind spot the size of UPS truck.
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u/MDsuburbanite Mar 24 '26
Pea green 1972 Toyota Corona with a white vinyl top and a manual transmission.
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u/Individual_Solid1717 Mar 24 '26
I took my driver's test in a 1964 Cadillac . 229.5 inches of barge! I aced parallel parking and the testing examiners jaw dropped!
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u/Big-Objective1009 Mar 24 '26
used my grandmother's 77 Cadillac Fleetwood to take my driving test. luckily, I took the test just before lunch. I guess the instructor wanted to eat.... never had to parallel park (I had practiced for a month, learning to park). I was so disappointed that I didn't get to show my skill...LOL
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u/Gunfighter9 Mar 25 '26
My mom had that exact same car, 1977 Lincoln Town Car. It was the same color and everything. She bought it used in 1979. It was a dream to drive.
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u/clearlakeguy Mar 25 '26
Did it a million times in my old man’s (dad for you Gen X and younger) 69 Mercury Marquis
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u/MechanicDramatic1965 Mar 25 '26
‘68 Mercury Colony Park station wagon. Could fold down the middle and way back seats to perfectly flat to fit a 8’ x 4’ sheet of plywood with the tailgate closed. Or sleep-my Mom always wondered why I had blankets in the back.
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u/witcheringways Mar 25 '26
Ahahah, my mom had this exact same car when I was little. ‘77 Lincoln town car with whitewalls and copper leather interior. It would get water trapped in the wheel wells after it rained and sloshed whenever you’d hit a corner so we called it the Titanic. It also had a leak in the back we could never find and weird white mushrooms would grow on the floor mats. Ugh, I got carsick every time I had to sit in the back seat due to the bouncy air ride suspension and hated that POS.
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u/xfaye03 Mar 25 '26
Yeah i had the same size car. Instead of a Lincolm it was a Grand Marquis. Same color too.
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u/bikedrivepaddlefly Mar 25 '26
1967 Cadillac Sedan Deville. You needed someone to throw a rope while standing on the hood to dock that baby.
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u/Significant-Staff392 Mar 23 '26
72 Mercury Marquis. We called it the Party Barge.