I want to buy a 70s Eldorado as my daily driver through all seasons except Winter. My budget is 30k. What should I be prepared for?
by Hot-Concern5201
I want to buy a 70s Eldorado as my daily driver through all seasons except Winter. My budget is 30k. What should I be prepared for?
by Hot-Concern5201
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15 Comments
P.S. Which one should I be getting?
They’re fine cars, but you’re going to need a loan for the gas if you daily drive them
I’ve wanted to get an Eldorado or a Lincolin Mk. IV for years but never found the right one at the right time. My mother had the Mk 4 and I learned to drive with it. Those old school “personal luxury vehicles” are so cool to tool areound in.
You will be spending more gas than a trailer, have you ever seen the size of it’s engine? There are hauling trucks that spend less gas… literally.
Also what about spare parts? Does the dealership still sell them? And how much do they cost? All those parts are between 50 and 20 years old, that car needs replacements already and you don’t know it yet.
If your budget is 30k, I would buy that beauty and a humble car that can just get you around, leave the Eldorado for the weekends or to take your lady out, otherwise the bills are going to make you sell it.
Just a reminder that some classic cars stay years in the mechanic because they are not able to find the parts they need to make it run again.
For long term look for rust in the rear by the axle points then oil leeks that are patch jobs and not fixed. Rat nest or bad electrical its a nightmare to fix. Cadillac has only Cadillac parts in the engine; Lincoln has some shears some parts with Ltd mercury galaxy (trans suspension intake).
That’s a good idea, if you understand what they are, how they were made, and what they can and cannot do.
All of them from 1970-79 are front wheel drive, this is a huge factor in reliability and drive ability, because the engine and transmission are in the engine compartment lots of weight, heat, and general components are directly on top of each other. If the car is not in “perfect new shape” they overheat quite easily. Even in excellent shape they get hot, fast. The transmission is a 3 speed, so your top speed and or ability to drive for long distances with the aid of a 4th gear or highway gear is missing. This means they are really designed for driving around a small town, 2-4 miles a day.
Electrically they are sound, interiors are nice and last as long time, the weatherstripping is reproduced along with lots of parts for the engine, brakes and other stuff.
Here’s the problem, modern mechanics are not set up to work on these cars, at least not well, or quick, enough to be able to repair, find parts, and get you back on the road quickly. Most modern mechanics would want to work on this in their free time, meaning slow repairs. They are also labor intensive and require more service in general than new cars. This is just the reality of all old cars as new cars are designed to be serviced every 100k miles, these need service every 25k at least. If you want read the section in the maintenance manual about the recommended services and intervals, probably about 30 pages or more, this shows you that lots of stuff will need to be done often.
Your budget is low if you want a car that will not require service often and restoration work in the beginning. Or if you drive it as is you will save the restoration cost and time but you will be hit with a ton of maintenance as you start to transition the car to a “daily driver” it’s very common for someone to sell a car with “no issues” because they drive it once a month, then put it back on a trickle charger, check all the fluids and such. Once you drive it daily problems compound, leaks get worse, charging system problems come up, if there is sediment in the fuel system the daily use shakes it up and you start having drivability issues, shocks start leaking, hoses that never had a lot of stress are now expanded and stressed daily…. What this means is that all wearable parts that make the car reliable now need to be new for the car to be reliable. Where as when it was only being driven once a month it would take 3 years for a hose to burst, (driven 30 times) you will drive it 30 times in the first month!
So this means you need to purchase the best one you can with the service up to date, which will be hard to find, as Hemmings shows they have been selling from 28k-45k, meaning the best ones are going to be 40k
Can you do it? Yes, should you do it, that’s up to you, are you a patient person with 500-1000 a month just to either save (for when something goes wrong) or spend to keep it going. After a few years if you have 15k saved in your service fund, you could probably not worry about it, but you need to get there first. Old cars are not like new cars, you need to also know enough to fix little things that may prevent the car from operating. Something as simple as understanding how to set a mechanical choke, how to clear a flooded engine, how to NoT flood your engine (things you don’t deal with on a modern car) you have to know how to do. The more you learn and the more patient you are the better the experience will be with that car.
Id go for a $8k to $10k one. Save $5k for repairs in year one and spend the rest on gas. Seriously, buy a cheap one thats in okayish condition and see how you like it. Dont go all in with 30k to buy the best one and THEN find out its not your cup of tea.
8-10 mpg. You won’t be passing too many gas pumps.
Awesome..
I wouldn’t.
Personally, I think you have a daily driver and you have your “Sunday car.” You’re going to have this “antique” automobile parked at the grocery store to get dinged up constantly? Some asshole fender bend it? Have it break down, because let’s be honest…old cars are not as reliable as modern cars. Driving in winter…hopefully they don’t salt the roads. Unless this Eldo is a POS, daily driving it is going to turn it into a POS.
I have some classic cars and like working on them…and have to constantly because they fail. Daily I drive a car I’m willing to have fucked up by the stress of daily commutes, paint scratches, dent, rust, and rock chips.
I don’t know the answer for you, but that’s my two cents on it. Buy yourself a cheap commuter and save a bit more for your nice ride. Also, if you don’t know auto mechanics… you better learn if you daily something that old.
If your daily consist of short trips to work and to run errands, sure … but if you put more than 10k miles on it a year, probably not.
Either way make sure to have a backup for when it’s in the shop. Outside of maintenance type of repairs, these old cars have much longer repair times when diagnosing is needed. Then there’s parts and things like glass replacement.
I’ve been daily driving my 7.5lt Lincoln Mark V. It’s doable.
The later Eldorados with the 425 are not bad on gas, for what they are. I had a 72 Fleetwood with a 472 and it got 14 mpg all day long. Power train is pretty reliable and fool proof. Restoration parts are slim, so make sure it’s not rusty. A 77 or 78 Biarritz is worth it for the interior alone. I love them with the contrasting colors. They have torsion bars in the front, so you can back them off a bit and lower the front down a few inches and the auto leveling rear suspension will compensate. It gives the car a great stance.
1970 was the only year where the Big Block 500 was standard and no smog controls yet. Get that if you can.
I really want to do this with a 79 Lincoln Continental Mark V, but gas prices keep holding me back. Cars back then were a sight to see. Their presence equaled monuments on wheels.