luxobarges

green-blood

so I a have an interest here, all will be revealed this week, but nominate your fave luxobarges, upto early 90s

Revelation Joe

Toyota Crown
Rover P5 (stately home on wheels!)
Peugeot 605
Citroen CX (if that counts!)
Ford Zodiac Executive Mk4

I'm sure I'll think of more....

Volvoboy

Volvo 760 GLE Turbo '82
Nissan Laurel '84
Mercedes 560 SEL '83
Toyota Camry '89
BMW 730 '82


Ah, cant think of anymore



-VB-

Lyre61

Citroen CX Prestige, Longer wheelbase than the std CX. Really smooth ride.

junkyard

Daimler Majestic Major, Rolls Silver Cloud, BMW 7series, Audi A/S 8, Merc. S Class, Fiat 130, Lancia Thema, Rolls Silver Shadow....I'm sure I'll think of some more.
Its my favourite class of car tbh.

qazz

Ford Granada, Scorpio

Blue850

Mercedes W116
Peugeout 604
Lagonda Rapide
Opel Kapitan/Diplomat
Mercedes W108/W109

tc20

Mercedes S class W126
Jaguar XJ
BMw 7 series
leftfield choice - Opel Omega

MercMad

Only 2 choices 300SEl 6.3 / 450SEL 6.9 !!!

Max_Damage

MercMad wrote:

Only 2 choices 300SEl 6.3 / 450SEL 6.9 !!!

Don't forget the Mercedes 600.

I'd also put into the list the Jag XJ6 (late 80's/early 90's) and the Caddy Eldorado, as well as the late 90's Audi S8 (like the one in the film 'Ronin'), with the 6-speed manual gearbox.

TomMc

Bristol 411 (My all time favourite motor)
Masarati Quattroporte
Bentley Turbo R
Buick Riviera
Facel Vega (although I would hate to have to drive one)

& more recently

Tatra 613
Mitsubishi Sigma
Cadillac Seville STS
Lexus LS430

mike65

Aston Martin DBS/6/8
Jaguar Mk10
Citroen CX GTI Turbo 2

Mike.

Eric318

Jaguar XJ6C... like mine Yes I am VERY biased

Revelation Joe

I wouldn't count a Bristol or an Aston as a barge
And I meant Peugeot 604 not 605
And adding Mk2 Granada Ghia X

TomMc

Revelation Joe wrote:

I wouldn't count a Bristol ... as a barge

I wouldn't either, but in the general context of this thread - It has a V8 engine, is luxuriously appointed, and although narrow in width, it is one of the longest 2 door cars you will ever see.

Max_Damage

Also, it may not be a 'luxury car' as such, but the old Peugeot 505's always really caught my eye. Absolute tanks of cars.

G Luxel

The luxobarges I like are

pre 77 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
I992 Cadillac Fleetwood
Toyota Century (I967 - date)
Nissan Prince Loyal
Rolls Royce Phantom VI
ZIL II5
Vauxhall Viscount
Vanden Plas 4 litre R
Oldsmobile 98 (I974)
Lincoln Continental Mk I - V
Mitsubishi Debonair
Nissan President (pre I988)
Nissan Gloria Cima II (I988)

green-blood

MercMad wrote:

Only 2 choices 300SEl 6.3 / 450SEL 6.9 !!!

yeah I'd go with that if I had enough cash

but with the cash I do have we just brought in a 91 BMW 750 - yes ladies and gents the V12.... oh baby

3ps

it does look nice

Itsfixed

Did you get this from Old Colonel Cars in England?

Dades

green-blood wrote:

but with the cash I do have we just brought in a 91 BMW 750 - yes ladies and gents the V12.... oh baby

They were the last good looking Beemers in my book.

I'd consider one if it wasn't for tax & ins.

MercMad

Mmmm nice car !

It looks like a nice example...............care to give us the vital statistics.......
moneywise I mean ??

Are you going to put it on the road and use it ??

green-blood

Itsfixed wrote:

Did you get this from Old Colonel Cars in England?

yep

tax, yeah, its just silly, 1300, but its the same for anything over 3litres so may aswell go teh whole hog once ya breach 3 litre

Insurance, is not a problem, this will be used as a replacement for our Ford Mondeo 02 1.8 125PS, black, for sale see carzone!!! and the insurance has gone up 140 for a year - or 12 quid a month!!

It'll be heavy on fuel but mon-fri will do 10 miles a day so thats not going to kill us.

VRT'd taxed for a year and all the travel expenses included - less than 6K

junkyard

Lovely car but they tend to be a bit finicky, I had one 5 years ago and I was for ever flooding it, they were known to flood them selves for no apparent reason, a beautiful engine though, good luck with it.

opeldave

Humm
love luxobarges!

I would have to vote for the alfa 164 v6 & saab9000 aero!quality luxo barginess

green-blood

oh a nice abott racing fettled 9000

no fueling probs that I can make out at all junky

ambro25

My fave luxobarges all tend to tick the wolf in sheeps' clothing box -

CX 25 GTI Turbo (missing you so much babe, there will never be another one like you! )
405 GTI Mi16
Vauxhall-Lotus Omega
Lancia Thema 8.32
BMW 5 (any V8 model), same shape as bought by Greenblood (beautiful car, congrats!)
Nissan Skyline (early 90s 4-door 2,5 model - nearly bought one years ago)

green-blood

nudge, thats a 7 series :-)

MercMad

Mmm yeah well at 10 miles per day you may as well splash out and have a fantastic car, its the right way to do it !!

Really it looks superb !

I worked on a few of them, and as with later BMW's you would be advised not to start them from cold and switch off quickly, as in jump into it, reverse it out of the way to let another car out, then switch off. This does tend to flood them and usually you cannot sort them unless you REPLACE the spark plugs !

I just thought you'd like to know, since there are 12 and whilst they may be dear, firring will be a bear !

Also the V12's are designed to drop back to 6 cylinders whilst in traffic, a seperate ECU controls this, it usually doesn't fail but sometimes they wont go back onto 12 and the 2nd fuel pump can be the cause.

Hopefully you dont need to know any of that !

8~)

I concur with the flooding - an E34 I had did it to me. The night before it was to go for the NCT I started the car checked all lights, etc and switched off soon after. Next morning would it start? Not a hope. Took some research to figure out why! Was fine once I'd removed, dried and refitted the plugs. Missed the NCT and sold the car untested soon after.

Still GB, looks good and I've often considered getting a 7. Best of luck with it.

MercMad - you might know this one: my SLC seems to be flooding. it's happened twice now, once after a quick start and stop, once after a short drive (3 miles). Car is parked inside most of the time undergoing minor body restoration. Is there an issue with these engines (280 = M110, yes) or have I been suckered with a dud (time for a v8 conversion...?)

ambro25

green-blood wrote:

nudge, thats a 7 series :-)

I know - my point is the shape of the 7 is generally the same as a 5, and both are markedly different from a 3 or an 8

green-blood

oh, I see...eh sorta

thanks for the advice lads, gratefully received. Fingers crossed its not needed.

I' have it of ra few days until I get the time to sort ut the childresn seats tc, but oh boy motorway driving is so nice...well compared to my rock solid suspended, noisey, no power steering, heavy getrag box e30

MercMad

MercMad - you might know this one: my SLC seems to be flooding. it's happened twice now, once after a quick start and stop, once after a short drive (3 miles). Car is parked inside most of the time undergoing minor body restoration. Is there an issue with these engines (280 = M110, yes) or have I been suckered with a dud (time for a v8 conversion...?)

..........no specific problems that I can think of. Sometimes if the coil has been replaced by a lesser version it wont light a rich mixture. Just ensure it is the correct one, same for the cap and plugs and after that check and vacuum pipes are intact.

What year is it BTW ?

The early cars have some linkages for the throttle and you need to ensure there is no play in these and that the flap on the intake closes fully at idle. You are not supposed to adjust idle speed here, but many folk do, and it will upset other settings !

Depending on the year, the coolant temperature sensor for the ECU (not the temp gauge) can get lazy so when the car is not yet at operating temperature IT thinks its still cold so the mixture is too rich. It a bit hard to test but there probably is a resistance value somwehere.

If you still have trouble let me know and I'll do some digging !

8~)

Interesting - thank MercMad.

It's a '79 and has a new battery, plugs and what looks like a new coil, all fitted by the previous owner who basically got the car running then sold it to me. It probably is running a bit rich; seems to idle high at cold and takes a while to settle down. Not being driven doesn't help.

I was wondering if the plugs are the wrong ones (not got around to checking yet), but hadn't considered the coil.

I'll have to have a proper look, but the usual issue of too much to do. Really trying to get one thing finished first (BMW) before starting another (SLC).

unkel

Nice motor, green-blood

MercMad wrote:

Only 2 choices 300SEl 6.3 / 450SEL 6.9 !!!

If I could only pick one old luxobarge, it would be the 450SEL 6.9

MercMad wrote:

as with later BMW's you would be advised not to start them from cold and switch off quickly, as in jump into it, reverse it out of the way to let another car out, then switch off. This does tend to flood them and usually you cannot sort them unless you REPLACE the spark plugs !

My '96 E38 735 does that ('94 E34 530 never did). I've called out the AA twice over it and by hooking up my battery to theirs with their engine running and keeping my starter motor ticking over for a minute or so (I presume to get the petrol out of harms way?), it started no problem

Eric318

I feel I have to speak up for Jags here

Watch this, look at me straight in the eyes (not around the eyes!!) and tell me you dont want one ....




300BHP, no VRT, no Tax, under €500 full comp insurance with 50% NCB and spares available aplenty.

8~)

I'll back you up on the Jaguar, Eric. I do think that they look better without the chrome arches and whitewalls.

This is down to personal experience, but the problem that I have with a Jaguar is that when driving I'm on tenterhooks... just waiting for something to go wrong, listening for a ping or a clonk meaning that I'll soon be walking.

Every Mercedes I have had, regardless of mileage, once running has stayed running. I trust them implicitly.

BMW is a mixed experience. I like the older cars; not so keen on the newer models.

I am half looking for a barge daily driver and it would probably be a W126 Mercedes. If a decent XJ6 or XJS came along I might not say no...

I was considering this, but chickened out:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=140059205126&rd=1&rd=1

junkyard

I can honestly say I've never had a Jaguar, new or old, that didn't break my heart or my wallet. I've owned at least 12 or 14 of them over the years and there was always some issue with each one and in some cases loads of issues with one car! I kept going back thinking the last one was a fluke.:) I've got over them now so I won't be buying another. The other thing about them is I couldn't help feeling like Arthur Daly when ever I had one as my car, they really do give people the impression that your a bit of a crook.:rolleyes:
As for Mercedes, the older ones were built like Swiss clocks whereas the newer ones are like they're made out of Lego....unfortunately.:(

MercMad

As for Mercedes, the older ones were built like Swiss clocks whereas the newer ones are like they're made out of Lego....unfortunately.

............yeah........... Lego that the dealers cant put back together !!

The Jag's are lovely to look at and there is always a mint original Irish black XJ6,series 1, at the various summer shows and it is fab to look at but I just couldn't run one for the same reasons as above !

They are also very cramped inside, in fact in the 70's my favourite car was The Saints XJS.........I loved it and you never saw one in Ireland, making it even more mysterious. When I went on holidays every year to donegal you would see a few NI reg'd ones, the fascinated me !

Many years later I drove one...................what a dissapointment that was !

green-blood

that xj6 coupe is stunning, I'd love one, but it'll be a hell of a job to keep running...I cant actually find any rust on this BMW :-)

8~)

Surely has to be a bit of rust on the 7, GB, it being a UK car? It can't be that rosy???

I know of that black XJ... truly is a beaut. For all their faults I love the XJ and will one day either own a really tidy one or get my current one to a standard I'm happy with.

green-blood

nope I've been crawling underneath because of the oil leak and its pristine down there

michaelanthony

Vauxhall Senator
Nissan Maxima

TomMc

MercMad wrote:

............yeah........... Lego that the dealers cant put back together !!

The Jag's are lovely to look at and there is always a mint original Irish black XJ6,series 1, at the various summer shows and it is fab to look at but I just couldn't run one for the same reasons as above !

They are also very cramped inside, in fact in the 70's my favourite car was The Saints XJS.........I loved it and you never saw one in Ireland, making it even more mysterious. When I went on holidays every year to donegal you would see a few NI reg'd ones, the fascinated me !

Many years later I drove one...................what a dissapointment that was !

If only I could get my hands on a KWE Jag ... http://www.kwengineering.org/ that someone else had spent a fortune on restoring/upgrading, I would be very tempted.

It's funny the way certain cars look much better outside their homeland ... more exotic ... Like Edward Woodward's Jag in The Equaliser. Always thought that looked so cool driving the streets of NYC.

Eric318

Well, I must be lucky.

My Jag (a 6 cyl) has no rust (at all! yes there are some of them around), is a very reliable daily driver and is very easy to work on (you would not think I would leave it in peace right?) with cheap parts to be had from about everywhere in the world. Being a LHD, ex California, I bought for a song in London.

Jaguars suffer from bad owners who did not maintain them and let them to deteriorate. Finding a good one is difficult. Id say that the best place to go at the moment is the USA where rust free ones are plenty and the exchange rate amkes everything cheap. For €10,000 you could get a near perfect car.

The main problem is to find a mechanic who finds his way around them and either does not get frightened by the undeserved reputation or simply says no instead of botching the job.

Really, the mechanics are bullet proof and once you have come to terms with the usual and now well known quirks like the Automatic Choke, the heater tank and the hand brake callipers, renewed the points, condenser, plug leads and plugs, tuned the carbs... well, you just drive and drive and drive... and what a drive...

unkel

Your car is stunning, Eric!

G Luxel

[It's funny the way certain cars look much better outside their homeland ... more exotic ... Like Edward Woodward's Jag in The Equaliser. Always thought that looked so cool driving the streets of NYC.[/QUOTE]

I do agree with this statement but I would also add that American spec European cars have always looked ugly, with large front and rear bumpers and overriders, fenders indicators and dual headlamps. I cant see why beautiful European spec cars are ruined the minute they arrive in America.
Although the present cars available there nowadays seem to look 99 percent European spec.
In Japan the Jaguars and Mercedes of the 70s and 80s were left hand drive and very much over the top with white walls tyres, black windows and a lot amount of chrome. However I dont think that something like a london taxi or london bus looks much better outside its homeland, it looks very much out of place...........

MercMad

Yes Eric that car of your is gorgeous and you are correct that proper maintenance is the key to both longevity and enjoyment. Unfortunately cars such as Jag's and Mercs that were once very expensive fall into the realm of "bangerdom" after about 10 years, when they are no longer fashionable, and it is during this period that most suffer under the hands of owners who are not prepared to maintain them, or dont have the funds to do them justice !

Some of the US spec details are nice, I used to like the twin headlamps and the over riders on the Mercs but the huge bumpers and additional side marker laight destroy the looks of many !

What exactly was the reason for US spec cars not being allowed full glass headlamps anyway, they replaced them with poor quality sealed beam units in most cases !

Eric318

Thanks for the compliments. It actually looks better now, than when the picture was taken, with original Kent alloys, new tires (still with the white line as per North American original specs). I now also have standard EU headlights and chrome embellishers

The compulsory USA sealed units were probably an attempt to improve road safety on US roads by putting every car on the same playing field and avoid both poor lighting and overbright dazzling setups. I would not be surprised to learn that a congressman owned the factory that produced these bits...

As for the other US specific bits (bumpers and side lights), I actually really like the big bumpers on the Jag, they give it a much more purposeful look than the "flimsy antique" EU ones (and I can say this because my previous XJC had the EU bumpers ). This is the look that was carried over (although slightly watered) on the SIII redeisgned by no less than Pininfarina. On the practical side of things, the big bumpers are a blessing when parking the barge on busy carparks !!! The side lights can easily be turned into indicators (I have the wiring diagram for those who could be interested) and these are more than useful in today's traffic and on narrow roads: they now act as indicators by day and as indicators + normal side lights at night (they switch off in reverse sequence to the front/back ones, really cool!).

Overall, for me, the US bits work wonders, so I am a happy Jaguer. They also make the car quite different from any other, claiming its glamourous origins and there is no beating that !

When I had both XJCs parked together, the UK one got no points from passers by, it looked like "an old car". The other one seemed to just be out of the show room and was standing its ground against modern barges. Style does not come out of fashion they say... As you can tell, I am quite taken with the machine

Silvera

My fav luxobarges.....

Saab 900 (84- )
Alfa 164
Opel Senator
Opel Omega (88-90 model)
Toyota Crown
BMW 5/7 Series (81- )
Ford Granada (78-84)
Mercedes 200 (76- )

and prob my favourite is ......... Mercedes 300 Series (76-89)!

ds20prefecture

My favourite luxobarges are:

Citroen DS
Citroen CX
Jaguar XJ
Bentley Turbo R
Mercedes 600
Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3
Tatra 603
1961 Lincoln Continental