Piston Slap: Do As I Say, Not As I Do Edition

Highly diverse enthusiast communities like this, is where the seeds of later mass market shifts are sown. If TTAC was around 30-50 years ago, it would probably be the place where the virtues of "European sports sedans" and "crappy" little Japanese cars were extolled. And The Truth is, American auto makers didn't just settle on large, softly sprung cars with big, slow turning engines out of spite; but rather because such cars were always well suited to the needs and driving habits of large segments of American drivers (and passengers). So, while the big 3 definitely let themselves go a bit wrt quality, and some segments of the population "require" more BMWesque handling, much of the fundamental goodness inherent in traditional, large American RWD cars were thrown out with the bathwater as part of the import craze of the past three or so decades. And sites like this is where the first attempts at rectifying this is likely to appear. Now, if the big3-2-... would only pay more attention this time, instead of betting whatever little they have left on their farm on chasing Bimmers and Priuses............... Spending just a tiny little bit on updating the Panther, instead of getting rid of it, would be a good start. As would be building a convertible on that (updated) platform. I mean, if there is one area (other than stretching) where BOF has advantages, it must be in ease of getting rid of the roof without too dire structural consequences.

I'll second this - the window to to purchase a used Mark VIII was way back when they were available as a "certified" used car from a L-M dealer with the opportunity to buy the (practically mandatory) bumper-to-bumper extended warranty. Years ago I tried to talk a fellow Merkur club member out of purchasing a used 1994 Lincoln Continental, which he described as his "dream car" (buddy, you need better dreams). Having worked for Ford, I knew all the expensive trouble areas of these cars and their propensity to fail just out of warranty. I knew these cars so well that I even correctly guessed the reason why it was in for a shop visit when the original owner decided to just trade up to a new V-8 Continental, thus making this "dream car" available. For the curious, it was a failed A/C hose, a common repair on these. Since there was no talking my club mate out of the car, I convinced him to buy a comprehensive extended warranty to protect him from the inevitable. Naturally, the inevitable occurred and it needed all four air struts replaced just out of regular warranty. That extended warranty paid for itself in just that one repair, and it would really come in handy once the head gaskets failed, a self-immolation trick these cars all performed by around 75,000 miles.