What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[Firm]

Thanks guys I kinda like the Marauder/Panther platform cars....but I am just not a Ford guy, and that old modular 4.6L in the Vic/Town Car is relatively unrefined and gutless compared to the NorthStar. The DOHC 4.6L in the Marauder might be better, never driven one. If I am going to drive a big luxo barge it's going to be a Cadillac, or I am going to swing full masochist and do something like a well used Bentley, Quattroporte, something like that. 

[RRocket]

unrefined compared to the NorthStar.. 

Oh the irony! LOL 😆

[Blueprint]

Thanks guys I kinda like the Marauder/Panther platform cars....but I am just not a Ford guy, and that old modular 4.6L in the Vic/Town Car is relatively unrefined and gutless compared to the NorthStar. The DOHC 4.6L in the Marauder might be better, never driven one. If I am going to drive a big luxo barge it's going to be a Cadillac, or I am going to swing full masochist and do something like a well used Bentley, Quattroporte, something like that. 

Car and Driver's Elena Sherr bought a Bentley for pennies on the quids. I always had a thing for the Mulsanne Turbo R ...

[RRocket]

Car and Driver's Elena Sherr bought a Bentley for pennies on the quids. I always had a thing for the Mulsanne Turbo R ...

I had a mechanic buddy who had one. He's a masochist because he also had a Range Rover! LOL 😆

He said the problem wasn't fixing the Bentley...but getting parts easily. And so, it often sat for weeks/months trying to get some stupid part..

[Firm]

^Yeah, that would be really annoying, especially on something that you're trying to Daily.

unrefined compared to the NorthStar.. 

Oh the irony! LOL 😆

Hey, I'd put a properly maintained NorthStar up against some of the world's most refined engines....And the 06+ units with the head bolts finally fixed are really solid. It's the difficulty of working on / accessing anything that makes it irritating when 'normal' things do go wrong.

[RRocket]

^Yeah, that would be really annoying, especially on something that you're trying to Daily.

unrefined compared to the NorthStar.. 

Oh the irony! LOL 😆

Hey, I'd put a properly maintained NorthStar up against some of the world's most refined engines....And the 06+ units with the head bolts finally fixed are really solid. It's the difficulty of working on / accessing anything that makes it irritating when 'normal' things do go wrong.

Northstars are very refined in the manner that they blow up! LOL 😆

[Oliver]

Great work Firm.  I know it's a lot of busted knuckles and time, but I bet the parts are pretty cheap.

I wonder if maybe the Crown Vic vehicles would offer a similar ride but maybe with slightly better reliability and likely even cheaper/abundance of parts.  I always loved the Mercury Marauder.

I'm guessing the ride would be compromised a bit by the solid rear axle.

[Revelations]

I'll upvote the Northstar too. They were very refined and powerful. Had several in our family long term, and none ever blew up. 15 yr old me convinced my uncle that a Cadillac STS was a far better car than a LS400, much better looking, and cheaper too. The owner of the Cadillac store let him take his personal STS for the weekend, one all out trip to Banff (involving a friendly race with a 89-90-ish Trans Am GTA which the Caddy handily won) had him convinced too. That 94 STS finally got donated a few years back with close to 400,000 km due to oil leaks that cost more than it was worth to repair. Yes, they had their issues, but maintained well they see to go for a long while.

[RRocket]

Great work Firm.  I know it's a lot of busted knuckles and time, but I bet the parts are pretty cheap.

I wonder if maybe the Crown Vic vehicles would offer a similar ride but maybe with slightly better reliability and likely even cheaper/abundance of parts.  I always loved the Mercury Marauder.

I'm guessing the ride would be compromised a bit by the solid rear axle.

Not in those things...they are so soft you couldn't tell.

My dad owned a new panther platform car every couple of years from 1979 until they stopped selling them new. And even after he bought the newest, low mileagec used example he could find. His last one was a Crown Vic Ultimate edition or something. It was the most loaded, last version of the Vic.

I finally got him into a brand new 2018 (or so) Camry when he could no longer find low mileage examples of the Panther cars.

And from that day until the day he died, I never heard the end of "the Camry is a nice car but it doesn't ride nearly as nice as my Panthers did".

So he died in 2024...So I got to listen to him give me shit for 6 years!! LOL 😆

[RRocket]

that a Cadillac STS was a far better car than a LS400,

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[Firm]

Well, DTS was up and running for a whole week...came out this morning and found a coolant leak under it. Looks like the Radiator I installed 13 months ago is leaking....What an absolute pain. Rad itself is still under warranty, which is good because it's $400 USD, but replacing it is a BIG job. Don't have time this weekend, so I guess I know what I'll be doing next weekend.....

[TheHire]

I'll upvote the Northstar too. They were very refined and powerful. Had several in our family long term, and none ever blew up. 15 yr old me convinced my uncle that a Cadillac STS was a far better car than a LS400, much better looking, and cheaper too. The owner of the Cadillac store let him take his personal STS for the weekend, one all out trip to Banff (involving a friendly race with a 89-90-ish Trans Am GTA which the Caddy handily won) had him convinced too. That 94 STS finally got donated a few years back with close to 400,000 km due to oil leaks that cost more than it was worth to repair. Yes, they had their issues, but maintained well they see to go for a long while.

Funny that you also had STS' on the mind this week... I was just messaging with Firm and a few pals a couple days ago that I really love the facelift first-gen STS. I do think it's better looking and obviously cheaper than an LS400, but I would be doing my own favourite car a disservice by saying it's "better" overall, haha.

I'll have the LS400, but I wouldn't mind playing with a clean STS one of these days...

[RRocket]

I think if I was forced to have a FWD Northstar, I'd have a Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe.(ETC)

[Firm]

I always like the ETC too, I am generally a coupe guy, so I naturally lean that way. I do think the STS was cleaner from an overall design standpoint though, and the extra door does make it a lot more practical.

[Revelations]

Yeah, as a kid I judged my cars by styling and horsepower. To me, the LS400 was exciting as melba toast, but of course now I know what the "better" car was/is. The first gen STS certainly aged well. I'm always on the hunt for one, but it has to be the perfect color combo and preferably from the original owner.

Firm- Hopefully that rad failure was just the rad. One N* trick is the gradual over pressurization of the cooling system from failing head bolts that stresses all the cooling components. Rad first, then water pump, hoses and heater core.....I've seen that play out before the realization that the headgaskets/head bolts are compromised.