u/PleaseHelpMeOffMidir

I have decided in my 18 years of life on this earth that I love old american cars. Grew up with honda and thats all well and good, but my current and first ever car is a 2000 marquis. Love it to death. In all of my time learning about my car, I have decided that my dream car is a 2004 + lincoln town car (or any panther but the ltcs are fancy for similar prices so why not) with the suspension swapped out for the highly durable P71 suspension from whatever year is compatible with said hypothetical dream car. What else would you guys do to this vehicle to increase its reliability and overall quality to make it even better? Just a fun little idea to toy with in my head while I go through college and maybe one day get the job that allows me to make my dreams come true

I would prefer something thats obviously brighter but also doesnt just blind other drivers like some new cars do nowadays.

So far ive been enjoying the car. However, there is one thing that has been bugging me and stressing me out very bad. At about 35 ish mph, with light acceleration, the car shudders. I am no mechanic, so i have spent many hours researching on the internet what could possibly be wrong. Eventually, I was lead down the rabbit hole of the torque converter. From everything I read, the torque converter is EXACTLY the issue. A bad one creates the shudder at the exact speeds i experience it at. After more research, i have found that a torque converter issue costs a TON of money to fix. Am I just fried, or is there any other thing I can do about this issue before either dropping a serious amount of money on the car?

​

I have considered changing the transmission fluid, as I have read that this can fix the apparently infamous shudder, but it isnt a guaranteed fix. Is there anything else I can try before I cry a thousand dollars away on this thing?

I have one bad front tire caused by the previous owner not getting the ball joints fixed soon enough, causing the tire to sit at a funky angle and wear down only the inner part of the tire. The other 3 are in very good condition, so i dont want to replace any more than I need to. I was thinking about replacing the 2 front tires, and leaving the back 2. This feels bad because im "wasting" a good tire, but all the advice i see online is pointing me in this direction. Is this a good idea or not?

I replaced my front upper ball joints and got an alignment after my inspection because they told me that was the only thing that was necessary, but recommended my front tire again.

My current vehicle that I use is my parents 2011 Honda odyssey, which is the car I grew up in as a child. Its got 230k miles on it, and honestly will run for a while longer i bet. The reason I want to buy a car however, is i have 2 parents. Including "my" odyssey, we have 2 cars. This means sometimes they need our second car (the odyssey) and I am left carless. This is really annoying, because I am an adult now with things to do and places to be. They dont want me to buy a car for multiple reasons, but i am going to do so in the near future regardless of what they want. I pay my own insurance and my own gas, so if I get a car it is no burden on them.

My current budget is what I have in my bank, which is a little under 5000 dollars and growing (like I said, im employed)

Anyway, with all of this context being laid out, here are my options. There are 2 different cars that appeal to me from an esthetic perspective. The first is any Chrysler 300, but specifically the 2005 c model if i can choose. The second option is ANY panther platform Ford. Crown vic, grand marquis, town car, i dont care. I think they are nice looking cars, and from my research, they seem to be more reliable and well suited for my purposes than the Chrysler 300. That being said, I like both.

However, I have grown up with very practical parents, and thus I know that a young teenager like me should just get a good old fashioned civic or Toyota. If thats what it comes down to, I know i will live. But I really really want my first bought car to be one that I like the esthetic of, as well as being mechanically sound and reliable.

Thats all I have to rant about, so what do you guys think. What exactly should my first steps be, and in what direction? I understand that my taste is somewhat specific, but im hoping theres a way that I can have a good car that matches what I like. Any comments are greatly appreciated