The Lincoln is definetely when Don gets his name on the firm, I vote Buick Riviera till then.

T-Bird. Good for a Don Draper midlife crisis... and my Grandparents had a pink T-Bird convertible.

I can totally see Don in the T-Bird! Miraculously, his hair will still be in place with the top down!

None of the above.

Don is going to quit SC, ditch Betty, buy a 1962 Harley Davidson FLH Duo Glide with a side car, and tour the world with Rachel, who will sell her father's department store out from under him.

Don will look great, perched on his Harley, wearing a leather jacket -- and beard.

Later, Don will then write a best-selling book about his adventures, while Pete Campbell still has only one story published in Boy's Life.

My father owned a 58 red T-bird convertible with a white top, and we had a 64 silver gray Buick Riviera (gorgeous!) The interior finishes in the Riv were fabulous - dash was brushed stainless backround with narrow raised chrome horizontal lines all across - what styling. The Riv had a huge engine and my dad loved to drive as fast as he could get away with. Back in those days with highway speed limits were 75, so he often went 95 mph to "make good time" on road trips, usually driving late into the night when the only other vehicles were the truckers drving 18 wheelers (known in those days as the "gentlemen of the road"). We also had a silver gray Lincoln Continental with "suicide doors", the ones that both opened out from the center - were these called "opera doors" or something? They made it very easy to get in and out of the car - even if the women in the back seat were wearing ball gowns. That car's ride was super smooth and it went fast, too.

None of the above. Don would get an auto account - maybe mercedes, citroen or alfa romeo - and he'd get a company car. SC is still a small agency, probably no Detroit.

None of them...he is going to drive a VW beetle because he goes after, and gets their account. There will be a whole closet full of VW beetles just like the closet full of Lucky Strikes. Everyone else will be required to drive a VW beetle until they lose the account. Then like Dr. Scholls they can ditch their VW car.

Caprice

Are you Mr. Chevrolet's son or daughter?

I was quite surprised that Don had traded his '60 Buick LeSabre convertible for a '61 Dodge Polara sedan. It doesn't seem like a car that a successful Sterling Cooper exec would drive - much too hum drum (especially the post sedan). IMHO, it should have been something flashier, like a Pontiac Bonneville, Chrysler 300, or another Buick.

For a new car, I don't think Don's reached the upper echelons of Sterling Cooper, so the Lincoln convertible would seem to me a bit pretentious (I think the neighbors would whisper wherever they live in Westchester or Fairfield Counties). The Thunderbird might work, but I don't see him in a convertible now that he and Betsy have two little children. The Riviera (base price was about $4,400, not $5000) would seem perfect. For a little less coin, I could also see him in the sporty Buick Wildcat or Olds Starfire.

RE:
Wryter 1 post: Neither!!

RE:dcmadmenfan post: Early 60's Lincolns were never considered pretentious- Cadillacs were and are! Well except these days a Cadillac is more of a joke than a serious choice for those with a lot of money. As current Cadillac sales numbers prove, it is Mercedes, Lexus, or BMW that leave the dowdy and cheap Cadillacs at the curb!
Donald was making $35k in '62, (over $200k in today's dollars)he could certainly afford the Lincoln.
The prices quoted in my original post reflected cars with all options- not base prices! And Donald already drove a convertible (the '60 Buick Electra 225)so another convertible would be possible. I think the people who provide the cars for Mad Men made a unintentional mistake by showing the yucky Dodge Polara in the previous episode. They probably didn't realize how seriously we all take the show. Hopefully someone from the show will read this and give Donald a good car. I prefer the Lincoln, or the Riviera. If the Riv is chosen, it will have to be introduced in the late fall of "62 to be historically accurate!

I searched Don Drapers car, just out of curiosity too see if anyone else was as bugged by Don's Dodge Polara sedan from 2 episodes ago, and I was glad to see that I was not the only one.

The Buick Riviera, which is Drapermobile to the max unfortunately does not even officially introduced by Buick until October 4, 1962, seeing as last weeks show was April 1962, there is still a way to go. My only hope is that the Dodge was either a rental or a Sterling Cooper company car. I just dont see Don as a Dodge driver. It was kind of a let down to see them get into the Dodge in that episode, since the show really prides itself of great detailing. I was really expecting a 1961-1962 Lincoln Continental since they are such an icon of early 60's design, though I would have also been happy to see Don in a Coupe de Ville or Eldorado convertible, or even a newer Buick Electra 225. At least Betty did get a new wagon to replace the 57 Country Squire that she was driving in the first season. (Though I think, in reality, since Don seems to be a GM guy, she probably should have a Buick or Olds wagon, though finding nice old wagons for filming is probably a hassle so you take what you can get, so now she has a Mercury)

I was thinking as to which cars suit Sterling Cooper execs the best..

Cooper-He's kind of out there, so I imagine that he might be an fan of something unusual, like a Bentley Continental or something, but he's also older so he might lean to something more conservative like Fleetwood 60 Special or an Imperial Crown.

Sterling-I dont know why but I always picture Roger Sterling in a large black Cadillac Fleetwood 60 special, sliding around from girlfriend to bar to girlfriend in a boozy haze with a smoke filled interior.

Don-Being the youngest exec I see Don in either a 1961-1962 Lincoln Continental or a 2 door Cadillac likr a Coupe de Ville or Eldorado, though as someone mentioned the Ford Thunderbird Sport Roadster would also be a nice choice, as would a Oldsmobile Starfire convertible or the first Pontiac Grand Prix which also made their first debuts in 1962.

Yep, I think Don (and Betty) should go ahead and buy the '63 Buick Riviera. Maybe it could be an early Christmas present, since it will be late October till they take delivery. I vote for the silver/blue exterior with the matching leather interior. The leather was only offered the first year, but Don can afford it. Since Don makes around 35k, (200,000 in today's money!) he can afford the leather and all other options. What will Don have to shell out for the loaded Riv? Around 4 grand (27k in today's money) with trade- figuring 1000 off the total MSRP for the trade in. Oh, Roger Sterling will be SO jealous when he first sees the radically styled Riviera. And Betty will look so sophisticated when she drives the Riv to her Junior League meetings.

I'm so glad to learn I'm not the only person who thinks they've screwed up on Don's car. He would NEVER have gone from a '60 LeSabre convertible to a '61 Dodge Polara sedan. Convertible buyers don't turn into sedan drivers, and Don's ego is too big to have gone from a Buick to a Dodge. In the early 60s, Buick was the second or third most prestigious car brand (the car you would drive if you could afford a Cadillac but didn't want to seem pretentious), and Dodge was still an old man's car. If Don were upgrading from the '60 LeSabre convertible, he would have stayed in a convertible, almost certainly would have stayed with Buick, or at least GM, and would have gone flashier -- maybe a '62 Electra 225 convertible. Since he rolled the Polara in tonight's episode, at least they have the chance to get this right! Regarding caprice's three choices, I think the Lincoln Continental convertible is what Roger Sterling would choose. Don wouldn't be going for the top just yet. The T-Bird sports roadster and the Riviera would both be great Draper cars ... but both came out as '63 models in the fall of '62, so they're not available quite yet. For as wrong as they got Don's car, they did perfectly with Betty's. Don would definitely have given her something to replace the '57 Ford Country Sedan by now, they would have stayed with a wagon, and he would have made up for everything else by upgrading her to the top of the line. The '62 Mercury Colony Park is exactly what he would have bought her!

a 62 Buick Invicta! or Super 88.

I agree with everyone that Don's move from a '60 LeSabre convertible to a '61 Polara made no sense. In addition to the fact that it was definitely a downward move (the Polara wasn't even a hardtop!), back then people were loyal to makes, or at least manufacturers. A Buick man would not likely switch to a Chrysler product. Instead, he'd probably turn his old car in at his local Buick dealer for a new model. A '62 Electra 225, as Sutton said, would be a logical choice.

Now, I believe the reason they gave him a Polara had to do with the show's budget. Whenever I see a modern car that's a few years old in a movie or TV show, invariably it gets wrecked. The Polara was not very valuable as a collector car, so it was easy for the makers of the show to trash it.

Of the three choices, definitely the Riviera, although it won't be out until the fall of '62 as a '63 model.

Don's a Lincoln Continental guy.

I thought the Dodge was Betty's car, that Don borrowed and wrecked.

Considering Don's age and his salary, a 1962 Lincoln Continental ( a car I own and would be happy to contribute to the show) would have been too expensive and the incorrect demographic 45 + years of age. The LCC was for the gentleman CEO, physician, attorney or celebrity (think Dean Martin) and not a rakish enough profile, it's without a doubt the Riviera or the Thunderbird.