What Classic Would You Prefer With An Automatic Transmission?

‘Nuff said?

I have two V8 cruisers – a 450SL and a MarkVIII Lincoln. Both have slush boxes. They are both Boulevardiers which are, by nature, self-shifting. The Mark really shines when you’re eating up miles at triple digits, while the Merc rarely gets driven with the top up, making the auto a necessity as I have my head on a swivel, especially in summer.

The first E30 I ever saw is now my car and it’s automatic. I actually almost didn’t purchase it because it was an automatic. It was so clean and perfect, nothing was wrong with it. I take this car on huge trips now and it is my weekend cruiser. The automatic is smooth for how old it is and and it’s not a M3 so it’s no racecar or anything. I put the top down and just enjoy the ride. Sometimes if I get a little frisky I’ll keep it in 3rd on the gear selector and go through some sharp corners in the rev range of that gear. Some automatics aren’t so bad after all.

Every. Benz. Ever.
(Except the Evo II)

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for large, American land yachts, even if they aren’t as refined as some of the European cars I lust after. With this being said, I long to own a mid-60’s slab-side Cadillac. This is one a friend of mine owns, and it’s a perfect survivor. Something about just casually cruising around, steering the over-boosted power steering with one finger and suggesting it where to go is as close as one can actually sail over land.

That’s easy. 1969-1970 w109 6.3 Mercedes. I will never forget my fathers 1970 and the awesome torque of that m100. I grew up in the Midwest and I remember one UP Michigan trip where we pulled our small sailboat from Illinois. My dad mistakenly pulled out into traffic in front of several cars (probably forgot there was a 20+ foot trailer with a boat immediately behind us) when my mother yelled. My father did what any of us would have done and mashed the throttle. Well we smoked the tires through atleast two gears maybe three and shot off like a rocket ship. Oh and there were five of us in the car too. Oh good memories. I’m 52 and remember that like it was yesterday.

An automatic transmission is something I seldom think about, which I guess is the point of auto boxes in the first place. To me the question is like asking, if you could have ice cream flavored from any vegetable which veggie would it be?
So my initial thought would be a 1963 Lincoln Continental because they are so freaking cool. Upon reflection, however, cool isn’t good enough to suffer a slush box.
If I’m going to have an auto transmission I want it in something I can use that has such intrinsic value the selfless shifter doesn’t matter. With that in mind, I would take a late 60’s station wagon, preferably a 1967 Ford Ranch Wagon.
I know this will make me a heretic but I’d want my wagon without any fake woodgrain, but I’m an apostate who prefers his British sports cars with steel wheels instead of wires as well.

A mid-50s Oldsmobile and a slant-pan Hydramatic go together like Virginia tobacco and a Dr. Grabow pipe.

I dunno, the GT argument is a bit thin… if you are missile-ing down the motorway, you won’t be shifting anyway. As I see it, automatics are good if you are spending a lot of time in stop-and-go traffic. In which case, you will want a modern, fuel-effiecent, clean-burning modern car. I mean really, is subjecting a classic (and the public who have to breath the dirt from the tailpipe) to regular heavy commute traffic “driving tastefully”?

Of all the cars, you picked THIS one; the Toyota Century. Oddly, one of my favorites. V12’s and Japan are not synonymous, yet Toyota came up with a V12 for this Japanese version of the boat. In the unflashy world of Japanese business, this is about as ostentatious as it got before the European invasion. You see this and you know the boss is reviewing the troops.