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

andre1969

tjc78 said:

@fintail said:

Same wheels as the "Adventures in Babysitting" car.

Hughes could pick the vehicles.

I only saw that movie once, and oddly I can remember exactly the timing. It was Senior Beach Week, 1988. I had gone to Ocean City, MD with three friends. The parents of one of them had a condo that they let us stay at for the week. We didn't have cable tv at home yet, so having all these cable channels at the condo was like a dream come true. It was unseasonably cold that week, so we really didn't go in the water that much, or even on the beach as much as we'd like. So we did spend a lot of time watching tv and doing the underage drinking thing.

That was 35 years ago, and honestly I don't remember the movie all that well, but I sure do remember that Buick!

fintail

tjc78 said:

@fintail said:

Same wheels as the "Adventures in Babysitting" car.

Hughes could pick the vehicles.

Surprisingly, not a Hughes film. I learned that just a few years ago - always assumed it was, but he's not listed as having any role. Big Hughes influence though, from the upper middle class suburban Chicago backdrop, to the carefully cast cars.

Also makes me think of the similar Olds Custom Cruiser in Poltergeist (which oddly becomes a 77-79 model in Poltergeist II).

tjc78

Oh wow … I always assumed it was too.

kyfdx

Replica

kyfdx

kyfdx

explorerx4

Just outside my sub, a shoe box Chevy for sale.

stickguy

out driving today a Porsche 944. painted in multi colors (somewhat psychedelic). Probably made sense that it was turning into the amphitheater where the Dead were having a concert tonight.

then shortly after and early (must have been from the 60s) Fiat 124 convertible. Red with top down. all chrome bumpers and looked very nice. Out on a big road too!

tjc78

Teal colored Edsel drive past the house last night. I think it was a 58.

stickguy

Out driving this morning on a road I’ve not been on before and in a driveway a 32ish model A rumble seat convertible. Based on the wheels might have been real not a glass hit rod body.

uplanderguy

‘60 Chevy Apache pickup in my hometown of Greenville, PA today. Not a fan but sure not seen anymore.

stickguy

that one at least looks like it worked for a living!

Not a fan of the eyebrows. I disliked the Ford series that had something similar in the 70s

fintail

Out yesterday saw a kind of custom/rod 64 Chevy full sized wagon.

Nice color on that Apache, but yeah the eyebrows are kind of off-putting to me too.

texases

stickguy said:

that one at least looks like it worked for a living!

Not a fan of the eyebrows. I disliked the Ford series that had something similar in the 70s

Seems like those were only for '60-'61. Funny, when I google those years I find lots of trucks with the '62+ style hoods. Maybe owners didn't like the 'eyebrows' once the new look came out.

uplanderguy

Even though I was around Chevys most of the time as a kid, I never liked the '60-66 Chevy truck styling--or the '55 1/2 to '59 either, which to me looked lumpy--but the brows of the '60 and '61 did look goofier than the later trucks of that generation.

At the time, and still, I thought the '67 Chevy truck redesign was good-looking.

I'm thinking the 'Apache' named ended with the '61, same as the brows.

fintail

Some oddballs out and about today - Subaru BRAT, angular Stanza van/wagon, the very clean 1st gen Taurus I see now and then, 2nd gen RX-7, spotless 90--93 Integra hatch, a very unrestored looking maybe 66-67 Polara sedan.

fintail

Saw another BRAT, a first gen CRX, a maybe 66 ElCamino, the same powder blue Tempo coupe I spot now and then, and a very clean ~70 Ford pickup.

roadburner

On BaT: A 1978 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 that is claimed to have finished 2nd in the 1979 Cannonball- with a coast-to-coast time of 32 hours, 59 minutes. A friend of mine ran the 1979 Cannonball in a Camaro so I'm waiting on his input.

fintail

Cool history on that, very complex cars that can eat a newbie alive, so one must know what they are doing.

Euro lights with USDM bumpers bugs me just a little on MBs of that era. I suspect it had round lights in the race, and if it was mine I would probably change them back.

fintail

Quite an assortment out lately - spotted yet another BRAT (has to be one of the ones I saw recently), a clean later Aries, a sad broken down 90s Capri, Samurai, 94-96 Impala in the uncommon grey color with boomery Corvette emblems on the fender, 67 Camaro convertible that by the stance and sound was a 6cyl car, and on basic wheelcovers proud of it, and not one but two early 00s Tundra stepsides that look so unique.

fintail

On the way to work this morning around 0700 saw a 66 Impala 2 door HT and an early 80s Sedan DeVille, both were quite clean.

texases

Hardly a classic, but I followed an Alero in to work.

roadburner

@fintail The September issue ofThoroughbred and Classic Cars will feature the life story of a Fintail. A life story article follows a car from its first owner up to its current owner. They are usually an interesting and entertaining read.

fintail

roadburner said:

@fintail The September issue ofThoroughbred and Classic Cars will feature the life story of a Fintail. A life story article follows a car from its first owner up to its current owner. They are usually an interesting and entertaining read.

Very cool, I will keep an eye out. Haven't picked up a copy of that in a few years.

andre1969

I've been seeing tons of obscure cars lately, because I've been suddenly forced into doing a lot more traveling. The reasoning, unfortunately, is a buzzkill. My Mom was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and is in a hospital in Southern Maryland. They discovered it too late, so chances are, she doesn't have long to live. So, I've been running down there 3-4 times per week.

Sometimes, to break up the monotony, I'll take different routes to get down there. There are several different ways to go, and they all come out to roughly 75-80 miles each way. On one of my more favored ways to go, which seems to have the least amount of traffic lights and congestion, but a higher percentage of 2-lane roads, I've been noticing a Town Car parked in a little commuter lot, at about the half-way point, near where Maryland's Route 2 runs into MD-4. Upon closer inspection, I noticed it had a for sale sign in it. So yesterday, on the way down I stopped off to look at it...
The sign said it was a '97, with 140,000 miles. Originally asking $4,000, but that was scratched out and $2,000 was written in. It almost seems TOO cheap to me, so I'm wondering what all is wrong with it. At a quick glance it looked good, and the interior looked nice as well. The hood ornament was missing, and those thick protective strips down the side had some chips here and there. And now, looking at the pic, I notice the driver's door is out of alignment and that pinstripe is pretty worn. Something also looks like it's up with that windshield gasket, the way it swells up over the door window frame. Still, I gotta admit, it has me curious.

Oh, and in the parking lot at the hospital, I saw this clean looking '95-96 Caprice... Judging from the whitewalls, hubcaps, and tires/wheels that don't really fill out the wheel opening, I'm guessing it's one of the 4.3 V8 models, and not the more desired LT-1 5.7. I didn't walk behind it to see if it had dual exhaust or not.

These days, I'd imagine the base 4.3 Caprices are more rare than the 5.7 models, and especially the Impala SS.

As for the commute, I've been doing it in the Ram, since I really don't trust my '03 Regal to go that far anymore. Suprisingly, the Ram's fuel economy is turning out to be better than I thought it would be. I've been averaging in the 19 mpg range. It's EPA-rated 14/20. The thought of getting 19 mpg would probably make some people want to throw up, but considering some of the cars I have could easily get into single digits (although they wouldn't do THAT bad on this type of run), this kind of mpg almost gets me euphoric!

sda

Sorry to learn about your mom, truly horrible. She is blessed to have a caring son. I wish the best for you both. There is a very nice 69 T-bird coupe in a darker blue-green with a black Landau top in our neighborhood that I’d love to see up close. I looks extremely nice and original. The suicide 4dr T-birds of that generation I find very appealing and I typically prefer convertibles or coupes.

andre1969

Thanks, SDA; I really appreciate it. The real shocker for me, is that the women on that side of the family traditionally lived into their 90's, fairly healthy, so I figured Mom had a good chance of that as well. Grandmom (her Mom) made it to 91. And other than her eyesight getting bad enough that she had to give up driving at 75, she was fairly healthy, until maybe the last 8 months. And I can think of plenty of other aunts and other relatives that made it into their 90s. The men, not so much, but much of that was environment (more booze/tobacco, more dangerous jobs, more exposure to asbestos and other chemicals, etc). But it got my Mom, at 74!

As for those 4-door T-birds, I like them too, in a kitschy sort of way. Actually, the earlier models I find quite attractive, but I don't care for the later, beaked ones with the exposed headlights. Sounds really nice too, in dark green. Actually, with that generation, I think I do prefer the 4-door over the other models. I don't care for the closed-in Landau coupe, with that ultra-thick C-pillar that does away with the roll down windows. I think the regular hardtop coupe still looks nice, but I think I just prefer other personal luxury coupes, like the Riviera and Toronado, to it. But the 4-door has that uniqueness going for it.

I wonder, were suicide doors ever actually banned by the Feds, or did the auto makers just do away with them on their own? I've always heard the rationale for doing away with them was that it makes it a lot harder to jump from a moving vehicle if needed. I think the last time I saw that in practice though, was when Svengooli featured "Duel" a few months back, and I was reminded of the fact that the stunt driver didn't close the door on that Peterbilt at the end!

For back doors, I imagine hinges at the rear would have become impractical at some point, as newer designs had wheel openings that cut more into the door area, so there was less area at the rear for a door to be hinged at.

Michaell

@andre1969 - sorry to hear about your mom. I remember when my grandmother was going through cancer treatments (outpatient at UCLA), and my mom would drive her down and back for her appointments. Good on you to visit her as much as you do.

fintail

Sorry to read about that, Andre. As was said, she's lucky to have you close by, I am sure you are making it easier on her. I hope she can beat those odds and still feel well. My mom is roughly the same age, and not to be morbid, but I need to keep in mind that now is the time, as it goes by fast.

I've always liked the look of the facelift 95-97 TC, it really cleaned up well. I remember one of my first bosses had one when they weren't too old - kind of a silver blue with a light grey interior, pretty car.

I don't recall anything about suicide doors being regulated away, I suspect they are just expensive to make due to needed reinforcements, and focus groups show most highline buyers don't care.

andre1969 said:

I've been seeing tons of obscure cars lately, because I've been suddenly forced into doing a lot more traveling. The reasoning, unfortunately, is a buzzkill. My Mom was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and is in a hospital in Southern Maryland. They discovered it too late, so chances are, she doesn't have long to live. So, I've been running down there 3-4 times per week.

Sometimes, to break up the monotony, I'll take different routes to get down there. There are several different ways to go, and they all come out to roughly 75-80 miles each way. On one of my more favored ways to go, which seems to have the least amount of traffic lights and congestion, but a higher percentage of 2-lane roads, I've been noticing a Town Car parked in a little commuter lot, at about the half-way point, near where Maryland's Route 2 runs into MD-4. Upon closer inspection, I noticed it had a for sale sign in it. So yesterday, on the way down I stopped off to look at it...
The sign said it was a '97, with 140,000 miles. Originally asking $4,000, but that was scratched out and $2,000 was written in. It almost seems TOO cheap to me, so I'm wondering what all is wrong with it. At a quick glance it looked good, and the interior looked nice as well. The hood ornament was missing, and those thick protective strips down the side had some chips here and there. And now, looking at the pic, I notice the driver's door is out of alignment and that pinstripe is pretty worn. Something also looks like it's up with that windshield gasket, the way it swells up over the door window frame. Still, I gotta admit, it has me curious.

Oh, and in the parking lot at the hospital, I saw this clean looking '95-96 Caprice... Judging from the whitewalls, hubcaps, and tires/wheels that don't really fill out the wheel opening, I'm guessing it's one of the 4.3 V8 models, and not the more desired LT-1 5.7. I didn't walk behind it to see if it had dual exhaust or not.

These days, I'd imagine the base 4.3 Caprices are more rare than the 5.7 models, and especially the Impala SS.

As for the commute, I've been doing it in the Ram, since I really don't trust my '03 Regal to go that far anymore. Suprisingly, the Ram's fuel economy is turning out to be better than I thought it would be. I've been averaging in the 19 mpg range. It's EPA-rated 14/20. The thought of getting 19 mpg would probably make some people want to throw up, but considering some of the cars I have could easily get into single digits (although they wouldn't do THAT bad on this type of run), this kind of mpg almost gets me euphoric!

ab348

Sorry to hear the news of your mom, Andre. I lost my mom when she was an age younger than I am now. Same disease. Enjoy every moment you're with her.

roadburner

@andre1969 - Sorry about your mother; a hack of an MD misdiagnosed my dad's lung cancer for months- and by the time a real doctor discovered it it was too late. He died within 30 days.

uplanderguy

I echo the rest, andre....I am sorry to hear about your mother's situation.

kyfdx

Broken down on the freeway:
The Acura ZDX

Or, maybe just abandoned, like an ugly puppy?

tjc78

Sorry to hear Andre. Never easy.

imidazol97

Double header today.
With pictures. 1963 Ford Galaxy.




Then in front of that towed car was this one, also from Kansas.

ab348

Clearly a lover of vintage '60s Fordors!

stickguy

Weird to see mainstream 4 doors in nice condition and being saved.

fintail

Falcon looks to have good air circulation. Not sure if I would risk towing it with an older Traverse.

texases

I can hear the tranny going from here.

imidazol97

The lead car was towing at 62 mph. I hope he was leaving it in 3rd gear out of 4, to protect the transmission. Or at least putting it in 3rd on any upgrade. Higher engine rpm means faster oil pump circulation in the trans. Did those have 6-speec transmissions?

The Falcon looked like there had been plastic on that rear window but it had pulled loose and was on the rear seat inside.

Both cars had great looking paint compared to cars in this area with salt affecting the metals. No idea why trunk was tied down on the Galaxie. Looks like rear bumper is a little off angle.

Usually I see neat classic cars being hauled on the 3-car transports of even on the new car style carriers.

I hope the owner(s) do well taking care of those cars.

BTW don't the taillights on the Falcon remind us of a Jeep model?

fintail

Maybe thinking of the Renegade?

imidazol97

That's it.

xwesx

Speaking of transmissions, a good friend of mine, whom I flew with several years ago down to Salt Lake City to pick up and drive home his new Nissan NV3500 van w/ 4WD conversion, is taking said van on a long family trip. He left Saturday morning.

However, his van, now nearly five years old, has 70,000 miles on it. Not that this is any big deal in and of itself, but he has a family of ten, and he's pulling a large camp trailer (about 8,000#; not sure exactly how long it is, but big enough to sleep ten!). So, when he asked me what sorts of things he should consider doing before he leaves or taking with him, I asked whether all his fluids were up to date. He said, "I'm not worried about that, because it's been dealer-maintained since new."

RED FLAG!

I politely suggested that this was not necessarily a guarantee that the most critical fluids for a trip like this have been maintained well. I also pulled up the owner's manual for the vehicle online and looked at the maintenance schedule. Sure enough, it stated that the transmission has a "lifetime" fluid in it and doesn't need servicing, and it only listed differentials as "inspect" every 10,000 miles.

I suggested that we at least "inspect" the fluids for ourselves before he headed out on such a long journey (he's going about 6,000 miles on a road tour of the PNW and Canadian provinces between).... much fun followed!

xwesx

I told him that, ideally, we should see the differentials with golden brown fluid, not grey at all, brake fluid should be clear or lightly yellowed, power steering and transmission fluid should be reddish (dark is okay, but brown is not).

What did we find?

Differential: Dark grey.
Brake Fluid: Dark brown.
Power Steering: Nearly black (not a hint of red).
Transmission: Brown (also, not a hint of red).

I actually put a small sample of each into clear containers, and one would be hard-pressed to differentiate them without a sniff.

NOT GOOD!

Clearly, all of these fluids were still original, and every single one of them desperately needed changing!

With more than a little craziness, we got them all changed out Friday night (again, he left on Saturday morning), and he sent me a text from the road Sunday morning to say that everything was going well; he also noticed that the steering was quieter and the brakes were more responsive than before.

xwesx

So, if any of you see a big red Nissan van with Alaska plates pulling a camper over the next several weeks, give them a wave!

uplanderguy

Not an obscure classic, but first time I saw this downtown where I live a couple days ago.

I'm used to see older Hondas like this, but not Toyotas.

roadburner

Yesterday I saw a very clean 1969 Chevrolet SS396.

fintail

Diamond in the rough spotted in a local real estate listing:

stickguy

looks like somebody stole the wheels. and suspension. and subframe.

uplanderguy

fin, daughter just got a job with the State of Washington. Rent is already scaring me and I haven't even looked (she will be). Seattle. Any good car insurance companies you might recommend? Our insurer doesn't insure there. You can reply here, or IM me. Thanks.

Secondarily, she will be taking my '17 Cruze, turbo. I put 93 in it. Do stations there have 93, or is 91 the highest octane as I know some states are.