I drove me a lot of Crown Vics in SF in '97 during my brief cab stint there - my last in that biz. Surprisingly good cars. Handling and braking superb for a car that size. Have considered finding a used one, never did. I think the police model has a shorter wheelbase, probably not by much. I bet those suckers were screamers. I saw some of them - police interceptor I think they were called at an auction once for about $5K, maybe 120K miles.

Yellow Cab of SF used to buy Crown Vics new, the cab model is the longer wheelbase (only know this from reading about it). Only cab co I ever saw that bought their cars new. I drove one once with 2k miles.

Was curious, looked again, the police model had a 114" wb, the longer wb - 121 - sold only for cab fleet use, who knows if every cab had that wb. Wiki claims that the police interceptor did the quarter in about 17 seconds. I recall the ones I drove were not slow.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Scratch all that - an Integra with a stick. Good to learn how to drive a stick. Amazing how many kids can't these days.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Mid 2000 Toyota 4runner, if they like to lug stuff around or do some camping and an 2nd or third gen Toyota Prius if they like to make it far in life.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

i was considering giving her my Golf, it's a stick and fairly new with about 50K miles. After the first few times I gave her a driving lesson, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea! Takes a lot of patients.


Although, I bought my first car as a stick having never driven one before so I guess it's just perspective.

"I ain't no Doctor but I'm loosing my patients !" .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

W-123 diesel. Hotrod that! Patience is a virtue.

? Why not ? .

They put the M116 V8 into the W116 so it should easily drop into a W123......

I imagine that'd be a seriously fun and comfy high speed tourer if rather thirsty .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

You’re right. And that would result in the kid learning an awful lot about wrenching. Double bonus.

I dunno about that ~

My graymarket 350SLC had this engine and close to zero love before I bought it, apart from the usual necessary valve adjust, spark plugs and timing check / adjust the W116 V8 was trouble free and *very* robust ~

That son of a gun flat flew, why I had to sell it on : I don't have the driving skills for it and was sure I'd wreck it, fly it off the side of a mountain (came very close once) or get arrested .

The W123 chassis is lighter so that engine (ony 200 HP as I dimply recall) would have no problems making a W123 go pretty damn quick .

Oh yeah ~ a 17 year old maybe not such a good idea after all .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

It takes the entire entry ramp plus a mile to get a naturally aspirated diesel W123 up to cruise speed. Much clatter and smoke. Not enough g’s to wrinkle the Naugahyde.

Yeah, people do remarkable improvements to them. They are infinitely modifiable. And that takes knowledge and skill and work. Or somebody’s hard earned money. Or both. In any case, the kid either drives as slow as last week or he works hard to tart it up.

I'm getting a bit tired of the image uploading capability here. Trying to upload an image but I can't seem to even upload it as an attachment. Kinda ruins the excitement.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

My first two Diesel coupes were NA and they never once had any problems getting up to merging speed .

Didn't smoke nor clatter much either .

If anyone had ever given me a motor vehicle at age 17 I like to think I'da been smart enough to not complain no matter what it was...

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Ford Crown Vic/Grand Marquis or Chevy Spark if you can haggle the dealer down low enough. Currently they are on offer here for just over 11K.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I got it guys. See above photo. 2013 BMW 328i AWD. 69,000 miles. $13.9k.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Nice, hopefully a caveat for something that nice needs to have good grades.