Now, for the final installment of the May 1964 Car and Driver retrospective (read Part I here and Part II here), we see how the high-end cars of the mid-60s stacked up against each other in the minds of America.
In the “Sports/GT Cars Over $6k” category the cars sorted out as follows: Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Ferrari 400 Superamerica, Aston Martin DB5, Porsche 911, Mercedes 230SL. At the time, I’m pretty sure that I would have taken a Maserati Mistral or Lamborghini 350 GT (both in their first year of production) over either of the Germans (I know I would today). But that probably reflects nothing more than the fact that at least some of C&D’s readers in 1964 were a bit more practical than some idiot kid who didn’t have to pay the repair bill. I’m not sure what else was out there at the time. Some arcane stuff like the ATS 2500 GT or the Intermeccanica Apollo GT? Iso hadn’t done the Grifo yet, only the Rivolta. The Jensen CV8? The Gordon-Keeble? Citroen may have made something “interesting” in this price range in those days, but absinthe couldn’t legally be imported into the U.S. back then, which all but eliminated the possibility that anyone here could get so damaged as to spend real money on a French car.
So, where would you be if your father had done the prudent thing and set one of these Sports/GT finishers aside for you? A perfect Lusso is well north of $600,000 now; a similar Superamerica has eclipsed the million-dollar mark, be it a cabriolet or not. The best DB5 coupe approaches $400,000; add $100k or more if it’s a Volante. By comparison, the 911 and the Benz can be acquired for loose change. The best of either would be well under $100,000.
Now for the really heavy metal: The “Luxury Car” Class. And the winner is: All manner of Rolls and Bentleys, though C&D focused on the Silver Cloud III (I’ll take the Bentley S3 Continental DHC), followed in order by…wait for it…this is great…the Buick Riviera, followed by the Jaguar Mark X, Lincoln Continental, and Mercedes 600. Now the 1963-64 Riviera is probably my favorite ’60s U.S. non-sports/GT/pony car. But even given the skew of the poll participants, how the Riv managed to sneak in there is a mystery. And given those voters, how did the Continental beat the big Benz?
C&D’s final category was “Best All-Around Car,” which according to its readers was the Jaguar E-type, followed by the 356C, the Corvette, the Riviera, and the Cobra. Dear Lord, how I love Cobras, but as an all-around car? All-around what, Sebring? Were all of C&D’s readers in 1964 childless residents of southern California? Alcohol had to have been involved here, and not just with respect to the Cobra. I love my E-type, but seriously, have you ever driven one in the snow? In rush-hour traffic on an August afternoon? In the rain (thank you, Prince o’ Darkness). And the Corvettes of the era weren’t much better. The best one for the snow was somebody else’s. I used a fraternity brother’s 1963 convertible to go skiing one time. Absolutely treacherous (he wrote it off east of Buffalo on the New York State Thruway later that winter). The Porsche? Great if all you do is drive back roads. But an all-around car? Even taking into account the fact that rush-hour traffic in 1964 was like a drive in the country today, those ballots had to have been filled out sometime after the fourth martini. I’ll take the Riviera with GM’s air conditioning for the summer and a couple of bias ply snows for the winter. And I’ll pay you to let me watch you drive your Cobra in the snow; I’ll even pull it out of the ditch for you with the Riviera when you’re done.
– Jeffrey Olson