Heckenflosse vs. 1969 Mercury Cougar

It's not pretty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCI5G8TSc1w

[bgkast]

Ick. All that vintage sheet metal getting destroyed makes my stomach turn.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Ahh, for the good old days when many people thought that old Fintails were junkers, only good for movie stunts, and I could buy really nice ones dirt cheap!

Check out the mid '70s thriller 'Marathon Man', which opens with a road-rage race through the Bronx between a green Fintail and a gold '69 Chevy. No winners here as both cars end up crumpled and crispy after plowing into a heating oil truck!

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Jim B.]

June 1972...

I was looking for a car. My choices were these:

1. Maroon 1967 Cougar, 289, 72,000 miles on it, orig. owner, good cond. black plate car sold new in Sacramento $1000

_OR_

2. Maroon 1965 220SE Fintail, automaticles on it, 1 family since new, rebuilt engine, all books stamped, black plate Calif car sold new in Santa Barbara, UC Medical student needed cash, $1200 obo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wanted the Mercedes. Only had $900 for a car, bought the Cougar for $900

Best friend pleaded with me to get the Mercedes.

Months later, my father said, why didn't you buy the Mercedes, I would have loaned you the extra $300.

Maybe worst decision I ever made. I regret it to this day. DAMN DAMN DAMN : d:

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Was the Cougar really THAT bad?
Ironically, today a mint '67 Cougar might just be worth alot more than a mint '65 Fintail!

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Jim B.]

A 60's pony car, pretty reliable, handled well, REAL easy to work on, great for a student without much money, and the girls loved it.

It had real personality, but I can't understand the stratospheric value put on these things today- when all was said & done it was just a Falcon/Thunderbird.

But...

I wish I had it today! The sequential turn signals ALWAYS looked good on it
Who knows, maybe I'll get another one one day, but not for no $900!!!

I sold it in 1977 to some people who wrapped it around a tree in a week

[Mark DiSilvestro]

But look on the bright side! Aren't you glad you didn't buy the Fintail, only to have some subsequent owner wrap IT around a tree.
And, compared to '60s American muscle cars, you can still find a nice Fintail for a reasonable price.
If you decide to get one, look for a manual-shift. The floorshift-manual is a rare and desireable option on a Fintail, but the much more common columnshift-manual is very retro and a conversation piece these days!

Happy Motoring, Mark

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

Check out the mid '70s thriller 'Marathon Man', which opens with a road-rage race through the Bronx between a green Fintail and a gold '69 Chevy. No winners here as both cars end up crumpled and crispy after plowing into a heating oil truck!

Happy Motoring, Mark

"Is it safe?"

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

. The floorshift-manual is a rare and desireable option on a Fintail, but the much more common columnshift-manual is very retro and a conversation piece these days!

Happy Motoring, Mark

Plus, on the column-shift models, people will wonder why you keep messing with the shift lever because most people have never heard of a colmn shift manual trans.

Just like the Becker tube radios, turn it one and wait, and people forget you turned it on. A couple of minutes later, that deep rich sound comes blasting out of the vintage single Craig speaker. That's my kind of "system".

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by John Holmes III

"Is it safe?"

Yeah, another reason to dislike visiting the dentist.

When passengers realize I'm shifting gears on the column in my '60 Fintail, they're amazed, or if they're old enough, nostalgic. Most people that remember columnshifts assume it's a three-speed and are suprised when I tell them there's four. Then they almost always ask "Where's reverse?"
In the mid '50s Alfa-Romeo actually offered FIVE-speed column-shifts on some of their cars!

Another quirk of the old tube radios is listening to the soft buzz of the radio's power-supply vibrator untill the music comes on.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[GaryF]

Originally Posted by PaulC

It's not pretty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCI5G8TSc1w

Don't you just love the sound of tires screeching on ice ?

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

But look on the bright side! Aren't you glad you didn't buy the Fintail, only to have some subsequent owner wrap IT around a tree.
And, compared to '60s American muscle cars, you can still find a nice Fintail for a reasonable price.
If you decide to get one, look for a manual-shift. The floorshift-manual is a rare and desireable option on a Fintail, but the much more common columnshift-manual is very retro and a conversation piece these days!

Happy Motoring, Mark

I believe the successor to the Heckflosse, starting with the 1966 250S, also could be had with the columnshift manual, and I didn't think I could ever learn that set up, even though I learnt to drive on a '64 Ford Falcon with a 3 speed manual column shift (no synchro in first gear)

And BTW take a look again at the road rage incident between the "Limberger Lovin Nazi"so called by the Chevy driver in "Marathon Man" to which you referred, the Chevy is a '70 Impala, not a '69.

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

Yeah, another reason to dislike visiting the dentist.

When passengers realize I'm shifting gears on the column in my '60 Fintail, they're amazed, or if they're old enough, nostalgic. Most people that remember columnshifts assume it's a three-speed and are suprised when I tell them there's four. Then they almost always ask "Where's reverse?"
In the mid '50s Alfa-Romeo actually offered FIVE-speed column-shifts on some of their cars!

Another quirk of the old tube radios is listening to the soft buzz of the radio's power-supply vibrator untill the music comes on.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Back in high school, I once had a girlfriend tell me to stop showing off and leave the gearshift alone, I tried not to laugh as I showed her the clutch pedal in order to prove it was a manual trans. car. I suspect she may have really had a issue with a Willys Jeep, it had up to four shift levers if it had the Warn overdrive.

[Bob G]

My aunt had a 1973 Couger XR7 much like the one in which Roger Moore 007 is seen in. Her good friends had a Pontic Grand Prix 1972 the good years . It seemed the couger was always in the shop not one of my aunts better choices. Unlike the 1967 Mustang Grande coupe which was a great car.

About that same year my father had his 280SL engine being worked on and got a fintail to barrow from the shop. I drove the Mercedes Fintail and really enjoyed it it felt very solid. My vote would of been for the fin-tail Mercedes but in an earlier post I mentioned that all the bad guys seem to drive Mercedes. I guess they have good tasteand good tailors.

Bob Geco

[dkveuro]

Originally Posted by GaryF

Don't you just love the sound of tires screeching on ice ?

Yeah...really authentic sound track . ....Oh, and another thing, where does the straw come from ...it is not there in the first windshield shot ?


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