"Personal Luxury Coupes" are a great alternative......

We all know that everyone fights with machetes for '64-72 GTOs, SS Chevelles, 442s, and Camaros, and Firebirds. Ditto for '68-70 Chargers, Road Runners, and Super Bees, and '64-'70 Mustangs. A lot of these cars are grossly overpried. The stunt coordinator on the "Fast&Furious" movies said for "Fast Five"-he paid $16,000 for a rust-bucket, engineless basket-case '69 Charger since they were going to put a fiberglas front end and small-block Chevy / TH400 powertrain in it anyway. But he was aghast and paid the price because while shopping he found-any decent Charger of this vintage-and he said decent-not pristine was priced over 30K. Steep for a car they were going to wreck anyway. Anyhow even if you don't have 30 or 40 grand to spend you can still have a cool, unique muscle machine. In the late '60's and early '70's "Personal Luxury / Performance cars were all the rage. Here's some of the best bargains out there. # 1. 1969-76 Pontiac Gran Prix. I've said it before, but these cars are the deal of the century. 400 4bbl power standard all years, and a good number of '70-76 "SJ" models had 455s!  My sister had a '72 GP in high school. It had power everything, and when you drove it, it felt like a GTO. She showed her taillights to many a shocked Camaro, Firebird and Mustang driver. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle or Monte Carlo will also fit these cars. Special note-some 1969 models may have 428s-which is great-they were rated at 370 or 390 hp depending on model, a nice bump from the standard 400s 350 hp rating. # 2. 1967-71 Ford Thunderbird. I love these cars. 1967-69 models have the cool hidden headlight front end, and although I prefer the 2 dr models, the 4 dr models with "Suicide" doors have a following too. 390 Cubes standard, and some have 428s, or 429s. The 1970-71s are the best in my opiuion. Gorgeous styling, and 429 cubes standard. This was the time when automakers started to care about handling, so these cars are awesome drivers-for a big car they handle surprisingly well. Especially if you do some minor upgrades like KYB shocks and radial tires. 1972 and later models had 460s, but they were low-compression "Smog Dogs", and they were based on the much heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform. # 3. 1966-69 Buick Riviera. These cars had the sexy, fastback body of the Olds Toronado but were still rear-wheel drive. With 430 cubes under that long hood, they moved pretty good too. I personally think the '66-67 models are one of the best-looking cars GM ever put out. # 4. 1971-73 Buick Riviera. The famous "Boat-tail" design. 455 cubes standard all years. Cadillac-like luxury, and GTO-like performance. For some reason Buick engineers really dropped the ball with the ugly one-year-only 1970 model sandwiched between these two now-classic designs. Strange-because Olds stuck with the classic '66-69 design on the '70 Toronado. They weren't changed until '71. # 5. 1967-73 Mercury Cougar. The Cougar is to the Mustang what the Gran Prix is to the Monte Carlo-the better buy of the two. 428 Eliminator versions are priced in the stratosphere and 390 models are getting there, but you can still get a good deal on a 289 / 302 or 351W / 351C model. Cougars are cool because while most non Mach 1 mustangs of this vintage are strippys, most Cougars have upgraded interiors, front disc brakes, factory a/c and many other cool options. 1974 and later models were based on the heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform. # 6. 1973-75 Pontiac Grand Am, 1977 Can-Am. These were supposed to have the "Performance of a Trans-Am, and the luxury of a Grand Prix."  However, performance buyers bought T/A's, and luxury buyers bought G/P's. If you can find one, they are an awesome car. 400 cubes standard all years, with 455 optional. Wrist-thick front and rear sway bars ( Radial Tuned Suspension ) make them great handlers. Pontiac supposedly discontinued them because of poor sales. I don't know why-they only sold  27,000 GTOs from 1971-74 ( including the down-sized for '74 X-body Nova platform ). By contrast they sold 34,000 Grand Ams in 1973 alone. I think that showed promise. After killing the Grand Am for 1976, I guess because of the Trans-Am's immense popularity they tried again in 1977 with the "Can-Am." It was a peformance package on the LeMans that included a 400 V8 ( or 403 Olds in California ) a TH400 with a shift kit, a Trans-Am style "Shaker" hood scoop, and a rear spoiler, and a white paint job with Judge style stripes. Because it's a one-year only deal ( the "A" bodies were all down-sized for '78 ) Pontiac collectors have driven the price way up on the '77 "Can-Ams", but you can still steal a '73-75 Grand Am if you look hard enough. # 7. 1970-77 Chevy Monte Carlo. Chevy fans are grumbling and wondering why the Monte is so far down on the list. Especially since this bodystyle was the scourge of NASCAR in the '70's.  The reason is all the others ( except the smaller, lighter Cougar ) all had big-block V8s standard. Yes, you could get a 396 or 454 in a Monte, but they are extemely rare, and command a King's Ransom. 95% of Montes in these years are small-block 350 powered. That's not a bad thing-but by contrast a Gran Prix had 400 power standard all years, and there's way more 455 G/P's out there than there are 454 Montes. Ditto for the Rivieras, Grand Ams, and T-birds. They all had big-blocks as standard equipment. That aside, small-block Montes make nice drivers, or you could swap in a Rat pretty easily if you wanted to. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle, fit these too. #8 1971-74 Dodge Charger. Although the Hemi and 440 6-pak had a last hurrah in '71, Chrysler in these years was promoting the Charger as more of a luxury car than a performance car. They saw the hot-selling Pontiac Gran Prix as it's competitior not the GTO, whose sales dropped every year.. On the upside the 400 ( a bored out 383 ) and the 440 4bbl were still available. If you can live with a 360-you can find some real bargains. 318 models are nice drivers, but just don't have the torque to move a 4,000 lb car along briskly enough. Ironically Richard Petty won more races in this body than any other in his career. Food for thought for bargain-hunters. Mastermind