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Do you or anyone know why the split rear window was only a one year styling exercise for the Corvette? Since most people think that window treatment enhanced the '63's styling, and made it special, one has to wonder why it was dropped.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
looks good
big bug
Although it's not mentioned in the article Zora was quoted years later as allowing one grudging benefit to the split window design. In night driving, some headlight glare from behind was blocked by the split rear window. Then or now I can't say if the old man was serious or just tweaking the interviewer. :shades:
Corvette Split Window---the story I heard/read was that Arkus-Duntov himself didn't like the split window---if this is true, he would be a pretty formidable opponent in a styling meeting for decisions about '64 models.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I don't know that the buyers back then thought it more desireable. It's NOW that it's more desireable, because it's the first year, it's rarer, and it's different. Had they not changed, nobody would say much about it, I bet!
I'd still want a Fawn Beige or Honduras Maroon '62 though.
I've been meaning to ask the driver a couple of questions about his car if I happened to see him walk to it, because seeing a SVX being regularly driven is such a rarity these days.
Given their price back then, the owners were eating sit downs meals, not drive thru food.
An interesting curiosity.
For the '94 and '95 model year FWD was offered, but they too were automatics.
It was a GT for the snow belt.
Nickname became Snow Vehicle Xtraordinaire.
In FWD it made no sense.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
A '65 Chevy II is probably my favorite Chevy II. Last of the original body, still quite basic inside, but a handsome revised grille and taillights IMHO, and V8 power available (actually that started with '64).
Cool displays:
Also in 2009, I was driving on a secondary road between Stuttgart and Ulm, and saw a Sport Quattro on the road, appeared to have just come out of a restoration and was out for testing. I just about fell out of my car.
I had a thing for UR Quattros when I was a kid - they were about as exotic as I could imagine, and were setting the rally world on its head at the time. You could even get a talking option
Gotta love that "blasted plains" exhibit which makes Audi's Group B cars look right at home. And along with the museum tour you actually saw a road car version out on the street? Amazing.
Didn't all digital dash URQ's have the autocheck voice box instead of warning lights? If the voice warning system was defective or disabled, the driver would not be alerted to a serious problem like, "Achtung bremse system defekt!" :lemon:
BIN was $23.5K.
I have to partly attribute it to the auction ending between Christmas and New Year's. I'm quite surprised at that low level of bidding. Two bids.
so the bidders are right on top of it here.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I haven't seen, on eBay, a more authentic, interior and exterior, down-to-the-details, stock domestic car in quite awhile, and the rarity is appealing to me.
Now, if I had an extra $23.5K laying around, plus $2,500 or so to get it here from CA!
I see some issues with that car---being a 4-door is a value suppressor, and the color isn't everyone's cup of tea.
there's not a lot you can do with a car like that---it's very large, so hard to garage, complicated to repair, very little aftermarket support, and value trends have been absolutely flat for the past 6-8 years.
But you're right, for the bucks, it's a lot of car if you like that sort of thing.
Audi Museum was cool. Admission was only like 3 Euro, I think, and it had those cool displays along with other group B cars, and the rest. I don't do guided tours, I just wander around and discover.
I don't know if all URs were talkers, but I do find it funny that the "fasten seat belt" alert comes after the defective brakes alert. As I was a kid in the 80s, I love talking cars and digital displays. Too bad MB never used either.
Here it is in English - the German voice is much nicer, IMO. In my rental A8 on my last trip, the English nav voice was grating and demanding kind of like this.
I bet he'd take 20K or maybe even a little less for it if you showed up with cash at his door. If I wanted a cool space-age land yacht, I would be all over that thing.
Heck, I'm kinda tempted myself, even though I prefer the 1962 models. But, I swore to myself I wouldn't raid any more home equity unless it was absolutely necessary.
Hmmmm... I'm still on the fence....
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Unless I somehow experience a large income gain or inherit a fortune from an unknown source, I doubt I will buy another old car. Sometimes keeping the one I have seems kind of silly. But, I am sentimental about some things.
I'm not a mechanic, and I find it harder to find anyone who will work on an old car around me.
I bought my '64 Daytona on a whim (wife said, "Go for it"), but it was under $5K. And I got what I paid for! With it and the Skytop taking our entire garage space, I realized soon that I was in over my head.
I bought the '66 last year, after selling the other two, thinking I'd have it a long time. It was rock-solid everyplace and ran like a dream, but I thought the paint was amateurish for a car as otherwise so nice, and I just ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would.
I would like another Stude at some point, just don't see it this year.
I never had any of my three cars advertised for sale; I was pursued on all three of them and got my asking prices without haggling.
My wife says I'm like George Costanza, since all three went to Australia--an 'import/exporter'. Another friend, a Mopar guy, says I'm like a Studebaker dealer.
Back to the Cadillac...just lovely in every way to me. And the color is so 1961 to me...better than white, red, or black any day of the week to me.
Interesting that all three went down under. I wonder if the cars get RHD conversions, as many American cars did back in the day.
I can imagine the driver of that Caddy when new - would have been dressed very chic for the time.
If I bought that Caddy, I'd have to get a pair of Ray Bans (more likely, cheap knockoffs), and have my wife wear cat's eye glasses.
I always think I'd like "Mad Men" on HBO, but we don't have HBO. It's supposedly that early '60's time period that I find so fascinating, although remember very little of it personally.
I can see that Caddy being driven by a classy woman in a period dress and pillbox hat, with a fancy period style handbag, kind of a Jackie Kennedy style maybe. A man in a casual suit and fedora alongside her. That era certainly had style and some good design, from houses to clothes to cars.
Could be, but the parts would be harder to find, given the few Imperials on the road these days.
These big luxury cars are, like today, loaded with all the options, and when they break....
I always liked the '63 Imperial too. It's the goofy '61 and '62, but minus the 'sparrow shredder' taillights. I particularly like it from the rear.
Here's '63 coupe. Reupholstered front seat at least...and is this what an Imperial front seat looked like in '63? Where's the center armrest?
I think fintail mentioned it, but I agree... Chrysler seemed to hold onto 'bigger than life' '50's styling...even interior and instrument panel...longer than the other guys.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ELEGANT-UPSCALE-413-CI-V8-3-SPEED-AUTO-A-C-POWER-- - WINDOWS-AUTOMOTIVE-ROY-/281042521660?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item416f708e3c
Personally, even though it's a four-door, I'd much rather have that '61 Caddy than that Imperial, and the owners were looking for about the same money.
Here's a nice '66 Imperial hardtop sedan. Got the leather that's got lines in it look in front, but BIN of $16K. It's more timeless styling than the Caddy I think, but...again, for a complete 'time capsule', I think it's hard to beat the Caddy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Clean-and-drives-like-dream-Black-exterior-white-- - pearl-interior-/271129101187?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f208dc383
Nice '67 convertible, very rare...to me, this is about when Imperials became not all that more exciting than New Yorkers (my opinion only):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/440ci-V-8-1-577-Produced-Very-Nice-Running-and-Dr- - iving-Example-/271128797738?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f2089222a
On eBay, there's also a '68 Imperial 4-door "post" sedan...it has frames around the side glass. I had forgotten there were Imperials like that then.
My friend, who was the Studebaker dealer in our hometown, was approached by the Dodge 'road man' to take on a Dodge franchise when the elderly owner got out of the business. My friend was invited to the unveiling of the '62 Dodges in Detroit, pre-public and for dealers only. When asked what he thought, he said, "Those look worse than Studebakers!"
He didn't add Dodge, probably much to his chagrin a few years later!
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
IMHO only, it's too bad I believe the '67 uses the New Yorker's instrument panel. That said, I like that light turquoise color but I didn't notice that the original color had been changed.
They were put together better than other Chrysler products of the era, but I think a Cadillac would still have better fit and finish, and a higher quality interior.
Where an Imperial would win out though, would be a demolition derby. The 1960-66 models, which used the same frame as the '57-59, but had some Unibody tricks incorporated into the body to stiffen it up, were especially rugged.
As for finding parts, Imperial-specific stuff is probably hard to get, but a lot of the generic stuff, like drivetrains, power windows, etc, was probably shared with the Chrysler New Yorker and such.
Personally, my favorite Imperial of that era is the 1960. There's just something about that front-end I like. It had a proud, accomplished look to it, that says "I've arrived!"