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Old school towing vehicle revisited!

9714 Views 20 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  nailhead425
Recently I made a thread about a cheap, reliable, and capable vehicle to tow my 19' Bayliner with a grand total weight of no more than 3k lbs.

I got talking to my dad about it earlier, and being that he was and always was a fan of Vista Cruisers, suggested I get something like from the '70s that can be found as a fixer upper pretty cheap (below $2k) and that would actually increase in value.

The classic picture of a Vista Cruiser or Electra Estate or full size Caddy towing a 30' Airstream Land Yacht in my head makes sense. A 445 or 500 CI would move things easily :D What do you guys think? As mentioned I had in mind a Vista or Custom Cruiser, Electra Estate, maybe a Ford Country Squire or whatever the Mercury version was.

I suppose an Electra 225, Fleetwood, Deville, etc would do fine too. Would a boattail Riviera or a flippin Eldorado convertible be okay? Or Mark IV? Toronado? I mean hell they've definitely got the engine and trans to do it. Wheelbase? Heck aren't they the same as modern 3/4 ton trucks these days? I don't know the factory towing capacities of these things but I figure as long as they have front discs they should be just fine, right?
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Man, my Cadillac would be a decent tow vehicle! The power is there, but I'd be sure if you go that route, make sure the vehicle has posi......one-wheel-peel, lot's of torque, passenger car tread, a slippery sloped boat ramp, and ~4k lbs in the water will NOT be fun.

Agreed with Buick61....low rust old cars might be hard to find, and if you do find one, it might be worth too much. Good luck in your search.
Nice, an Eldo might work well, because of the front wheel drive, and it's axles will never need to be at/in the water!

They seem to sag easily, but I would imagine it shouldn't be too difficult to up rig something to keep it more level with a tongue load.
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