I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today!

stickguy

I kinda like them. Really liked the Can Am though with the shaker hood.

tjc78

@imidazol97 said:
Thanks for the correction!

The 1974 models have horizontal vanes in the vertical openings in the grill.

The 1975 models have vertical vanes in the vertical openings in the grill.

Wow. Talk about changing something just to change it.

imidazol97

I recall that I really liked the hood stripes on those.

fintail

Speaking of the LeMans, here's some fun cosplay:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/04ljKjAp4F0

sda

This was the grille for the 73. The hood stripe was red, white and blue.

roadburner

I remember when the 1973 GM intermediates were introduced; I loved the Grand Am and Cutlass Salon in particular.

stickguy

I liked the Laguna S-3. probably because of the swivel buckets.

explorerx4

While out driving today saw a mint Turquoise and white 57 Chevy, 64-65 light metallic blue Malibu convertible, yellow Dodge cabover pickup, light metallic blue Corvair convertible. Corvair air cooled engine sound stood out.

sda

The 73 Grand Am was a nice driving car with a good balance of ride, handling and comfort. The 400 2bbl with single exhaust was decently quick but not fast. It did swill fuel at a fast rate. I enjoyed driving that car.

andre1969

Almost forgot...the other day running errands, I saw one of those early 60's, flat-fronted Ford Econolines on a flatbed truck. This style...
Also on the obscure, but probably who cares front, I spotted a Pontiac Montana minivan and an early '00's Buick LeSabre. I spot the LeSabre around every once in awhile (at least I'm guessing it's the same one; I imagine there aren't THAT many left at this point). First time seeing the minivan, though.

As for GM's Colonades with the European aspirations, I don't think Buick ever jumped on that bandwagon, did they? Maybe there was some stand-alone suspension option that gave them better handling, but as far as I know they never offered anything comparable to the Laguna/Grand Am/Cutlass Salon. There was the Gran Sport, which I tended to think of more as a musclecar, because I'd usually only see them as a "Stage 1" with the 455. But I guess they probably came standard with a 350, and just suspension upgrades? And, the Gran Sport was coupe-only, whereas the others offered a sedan as well.

Well, briefly, at least. IIRC, the Laguna offered a sedan and wagon for '73, but then went coupe-only for the rest of its run.

fintail

Kind of from a real estate ad, I was looking at a listing and noticed a neighboring house was interesting, so I checked it out on street view. It appears Al from Big Al's Bike And Auto might have a local relative:



The big Pontiac appears to be in good condition, and is probably pretty rare today:



Go back in time to 12 years ago, and a similar menagerie, including a Riviera convertible (house has no recorded sales history going back ~45 years:

stickguy

I like some of his taste. Would happily take the corvette, el Camino or firebird.

andre1969

Not my first choice in years, but I could be happy with that '74 Grand Ville. And I do like the Suburban, from an era where they were actually utility vehicles, and not glammed up station wagons.

And looking at that Malibu wagon in the driveway, I can hear my grandmother in the back seat right now, on a hot day in April, griping about the stationary rear door windows!

Looks like Lemko's visiting, judging from that black DTS out at the curb.

Edit: ooh, just noticed the white Riviera convertible in the one pic. I always liked those. The 2-door "Walking Dead" era Cherokee/Wagoneer or whatever they called it is kinda cool, too. The owner definitely has a wide range of automotive tastes!

fintail

No Fords, no Mopars, no imports!

sda

Top down, enjoying mid 70 degrees Carolina morning, a very nice red 64 Jaguar E type. It had yellow and black NC places that had a year of 64.

fintail

A couple more listing photos. Odd paint on this big beast - I was thinking the trunk opening is wider than the different paint shade:



By the cars visible here, this pic might have been taken in 1983 rather than 2023:

roadburner

I saw an extremely clean Marlin today. To me they looked very attractive from the rear 3/4 view; too bad the front clip didn't really match up. I believe this was the color:

I also saw a 1969 Daytona- supposedly with 426 Hemi motivation.

andre1969

The trunk on that Ford does look odd. That's a '70, right? Anyway, surprisingly, the trunk lid actually IS that narrow, in relation to the rest of the car!


Seeing the contrast like that in the picture, it does look odd. Maybe that styling feature is one of the last vestiges of earlier years, perhaps dating back to the tailfin era and even before, when cars had narrower trunks and bolt-on rear fenders. For '71, they did make the trunk lid wider.

With Pontiac, at least, it looks like they made the trunk opening a bit wider for '67-68, but then in '69 they narrowed it a bit. But not to the degree of that Ford.

I imagine having a smaller trunk opening, and more rear deck area built into the structure of the car, made for a sturdier car? Similarly, I've heard that while a low liftover height for the trunk opening, where it actually extends down the back of the car toward the bumper, is a nice feature to have, cars with a higher liftover tend to be sturdier as well. Probably not a big deal these days, but in those earlier years it might have made a difference.

andre1969

I think those Marlins are kind of cool, although the style, especially of the early ones, seems sort of like the automotive version of a mullet haircut. Business in the front, party in the back. But, considering AMC didn't have the deep pockets of the larger companies, it's still pretty impressive.

kyfdx

That's definitely a '70.

'70 Galaxie was my first car.

uplanderguy

Dick Teague, who designed the Marlin, once joked that he was "paid in Marlin decklids", LOL.

You think that Ford decklid is small compared to the rest of the car....check out a Marlin decklid!

fintail

The Marlin makes me think of the Crossfire coupe. Not sure who wore it best, both kind of oddball. That narrow opening is something.

Looks like the 70 Ford had useful enough liftover anyway:


I remember our Tempo seemed to have a high liftover, with a fixed plastic panel below it - always irked me as I saw no reason why it shouldn't raise with the trunk.

uplanderguy

To my eyes, the Marlin's proportions are all off. I like the '67 best, built on the longer Ambassador chassis, but it was the last year and worst-selling one of the three model years.

texases

Ages ago Automobile Quarterly has an article on the Marlin, titled “Marlin-A Fish Out Of Water”. They disliked the styling.

ab348

The Marlin design was tampered with by top management at AMC and they wrecked the looks. The original concept was based on a smaller Rambler American and looked a lot better. Then to make matters worse when they ordered it to go on the Classic platform, they also demanded that the roofline be raised over the rear seat to provide more headroom.

texases

ab348 said:

The Marlin design was tampered with by top management at AMC and they wrecked the looks. The original concept was based on a smaller Rambler American and looked a lot better. Then to make matters worse when they ordered it to go on the Classic platform, they also demanded that the roofline be raised over the rear seat to provide more headroom.

Kind of like what Piech did with the 1st gen. Porsche Panamera

fintail

Diversity on the road lately: saw both a Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, Retro T-Bird with top down, Suzuki Aerio notchback sedan, 90s style hot rod 36 Ford cabrio (probably with AC - windows and top up on this ~90 degree day). 90s style hot rod 32 Ford Victoria (good chance it is fiberglass), 70s VW van, early 90s Sedan DeVille with the full cabrio top treatment.

andre1969

A bit off topic, but over the weekend, this happened. So tell me, is rig "ME" or what?!
Mmkay, confession time. I went up for the Ford show in Carlisle. Lemko had this Kona as a loaner. That pic also made me notice, I guess I need to update my wardrobe! I was wearing that same shirt at the GM show back in 2014. That year they had a big "Smokey and the Bandit" gathering...

Here it is, without me blocking it: Naturally, there was a ton of Trans Ams that showed up, and even the big-rig (I'm surprised I didn't get a pic of that!) But, surprisingly, there were actually 3 or 4 LeMans police car replicas.

kyfdx

@andre1969

We had a Kona rental, a couple of years ago. With the turbo. Really liked it.

Wardrobe: I wear shirts until my wife is embarrassed to be seen with me. Then, I keep wearing them, until she throws them away.

stickguy

It somehow upsets my wife if I’m wearing the same shirt in pictures from different years of our annual beach vacation. That nobody really ever looks at, and nobody else would notice or care.

imidazol97

I thought of andre1969 when I saw this car.

tjc78

@kyfdx said:
@andre1969

We had a Kona rental, a couple of years ago. With the turbo. Really liked it.

Wardrobe: I wear shirts until my wife is embarrassed to be seen with me. Then, I keep wearing them, until she throws them away.

Turbo is a must. Without it.. never. I really didn’t enjoy my time in the base model I had as a rental.

fintail

Saw a pristine 53 Olds 88 sedan on the road today, driven by a guy who may have been old enough to buy it new. Also a definitely unrestored 76-77 Malibu wagon.

fintail

Saw a grey 94-96 Impala SS (I think a 95-96 color - I have friend who was obsessed with those cars back in the day) that looked immaculate, and got behind a Mark VII in traffic today - noteworthy as it appeared to lack brake lights, and had a very pensive driver.

uplanderguy

‘59 Dodge wagon at a cruise-in I participated in two nights ago. I like the stickers and luggage.

uplanderguy

I gotta say, I am about 99.44% convinced that that is a fake license plate!

Ohio allows you to use year-of-manufacture, but that plate didn't pass the upclose-look test.

kyfdx

I agree about the plate.

About 20+ years ago, I spotted a customized C3 Corvette in Lexington, KY. It was hard to specify the year, as it had a lot of custom bodywork, but the actual current year personalized plate: ITSA 76

fintail

I suspect they didn't have personalized plates then, so if the character sequence isn't correct (I am a plate geek but don't know OH plates), it's a fantasy item.

imidazol97

That's a beautiful Dodge wagon. In photos it looks very original down to the wide whitewalls and the wheelcovers.

Notice the blue interior. We can get anything like those colors inside now: it's black, almost black, or grey as the choices.

I just saw a classic wagon today, but it had wrong wheels and some modifications. I didn't even take a picture I was so aggravated. The show was a disappointment and I drove an hour to get there, hoping to see some cars I haven't seen locally in the hundreds of car shows I've been to during the last 10 years and more. I think the area where the show was must have an attitude that modified is cool. Can't find original--just check the junkyard for something off another brand...

stickguy

big day today. I think there may have been some sort of Corvette get together unless it was a coincidence.

went out early for breakfast sandwiches, and saw a early C3 (chrome bumpers). dark brown, which looked sharp. convertible with the top down. Then on way back, a later plastic bumper C3 following a C2 convertible. and a C8 a couple minutes later.

also passed a mid 60s big Buick convertible. white with a white top.

andre1969

On the subject of personalized plates, I don't know when they first came out. But there was an episode of "Barnaby Jones" from 1973, where one of the characters, a Bea Johnson, came into some money in a not-so-legal way, and flaunted her new wealth with a new Lincoln and personalized plates...

Although, if those were my initials, and/or that was my first name, I don't think I'd put that on a license plate! Even back then, it might have gotten you a lot of unwanted solicitation!

Of course, this is Hollywood, and not the real world, but in the episode it's mentioned that those personalized plates were $25/yr! Kind of a hefty chunk in 1973.

fintail

I think the personalized font on that plate might not be perfectly accurate, but fun.

Saw a rarity today, a Shelby CSX-T, based on what I assume is a Dodge Shadow. It was a little rough but all there and appeared to be roadworthy. Per wiki, 1001 were made.

Also saw a nice Porsche 928, on collector plates, wheels weren't stock and it was far enough away where I couldn't gauge the age.

tjc78

Yes all the CSX variants were Shadow based. Couldn’t tell you the last time I saw one.

Awhile back I think I posted one on Mystery Cars.

uplanderguy

Seen at the donut shop this morning. Elegant wagon. Not a late ‘80’s since it doesn’t have that big brushed piece of trim behind the doors. (I think I could do without even the trim on the B-pillar.) I think the whitewalls are a bit too wide.

But probably forty years old or close, in NE OH, looks like a well-kept example for sure.

andre1969

That trim piece on the B-pillar might look better with a different color, but yeah, I think it looks out of place, with that pale, creamy yellow.

I always liked those wheels. I wanted to get a set for my Grandmom's '85 LeSabre when I had it, but most of them use the big 5-on-5 bolt pattern (wagons and C-bodies). I think there was one or two years that they did offer them with the 5-on-4.75, but I'd imagine they're pretty rare these days. Or even during the timeframe I had that car.

If I was to ever seek out a big early 80's car, I would love something like an '80-84 Electra. With those wheels.

uplanderguy

Only guessing, and not sure what year those wheels came out first ('80?), but that exterior color is making me think "1982". I can't say I recall it the next few years. I do remember Chevys this color in '82.

tjc78

Nice wagon. I agree those whitewalls are too wide. Should be no wider than 1”. With those wheels I’d actually want a very thin “pinstripe” whitewall like the late 90s / early 2000s Panthers came with.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Only guessing, and not sure what year those wheels came out first ('80?), but that exterior color is making me think "1982". I can't say I recall it the next few years. I do remember Chevys this color in '82.

That's a really nice Electra Estate wagon. I believe it is an '81 as I just looked up Buick paint charts and they had 2 shades of "Waxberry" that year which are light and medium yellow tones. I didn't see much yellow on later-year Buick charts. GM did offer yellows in '82 but apparently not on Buick.

I agree the white sidewalls are too wide but these days you take whitewalls wherever you can get them.

fintail

Same wheels as the "Adventures in Babysitting" car.

tjc78

@fintail said:
Same wheels as the "Adventures in Babysitting" car.

Hughes could pick the vehicles.