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2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
It really was like shooting fish in a barrel
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-chevrolet-monte-carlo-4/
On the road this morning had a little time warp. I noticed at center stage in a little used car lot was a pristine looking K-car, "89" on the windshield, along with "3995" (of course, I thought $4 grand for a K-car, insane!). Then I noticed parked adjacent was a first gen Concorde, then what pulls up behind me but an earlier model Lincoln Mark VIII. soon after a Suzuki Sidekick soft top and a Chevy Celebrity would cross my path. Gotta love living in the west.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
It's weird to think, that the Concorde is probably older now, than that Toys R Us truck was, when the Concorde was new! Even in 1993 that toy truck seemed old to me, yet the Concorde's era doesn't seem all that long ago.
Not sure what year it was, but it was a GTA, so I think that meant it had the 350 V8?
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
I've been lucky, in that I've never had a car break down on one of these car show trips, but I guess statistically, it's bound to happen eventually!
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
If you're really bored (LOL), here's a link to a car cruise-in FB page that has 451 photos from the car show Saturday:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=CarCruiseFinder&set=a.1630629490654467
Cool to see 80s stuff really popping up now.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Funny thing happened to me on Friday. Greenville is in a valley, and I sweat driving a Stude down "West Main Hill" but did without incident, and was hungry, and heard that Jules Tavern ("Since 1934") in an old, rather rundown residential neighborhood on the west side of town, has had good food for the past couple or so years. Chicken pie is a thing in that town but restaurants usually only have it on Thursdays. I went to Jules Tavern, parked right in front, and I wasn't in there thirty seconds and I hear, "Hey, who owns that Studebaker?" and I turned around and it was an old classmate of mine. "Billy!" he said. We sat at the bar; I asked the barmaid to ask the kitchen if there were any chicken pie dinners left from the day before and was told there were two left, so I said I'd have one. My classmate insisted on buying my lunch. And so he did.
Probably got ordered by the brass in South Bend to use up some leftover emblems they were sending up.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I have mixed feelings about the Firesweep, because I look at it as sort of the beginning of the end for DeSoto. They tried moving down a bit into Dodge territory, which to me, cheapened the brand a bit. And then, soon after, DeSoto was gone entirely. Of course, I'm sure that would have happened, anyway, when the '58 recession cratered the market in general, but really zeroed in on the overcrowded mid-priced market.
And, to be fair, DeSoto was sort of being groomed for a 3-tier lineup, anyway. In '55-56, they only had the Firedome and Fireflite (and limited production Adventurer for '56). But, in '55 they had a stripper hardtop coupe called the Firedome Special. In '56, when hardtop sedans were introduced, the Firedome offered a stripper hardtop coupe and hardtop sedan in, ironically, the "Seville" trim level, just as Cadillac was using that name for their upper echelon. So, in my opinion at least, the Firesweep sort of filled in for those cheap Special/Seville models, although it was more full-range, offering a pillared sedan, wagons, and for '58, a convertible.
I wonder how things would have turned out if DeSoto had simply offered the longer, 126" wb model, with a stripped down interior, a bit less trim, and the Dodge engines, rather than trying to cobble together a DeSoto grille, Dodge front clip, and DeSoto body? But, Chrysler ended up shrinking the Windsor for '58, to the 122" wb, so I guess that would've caused a problem.
And then, once the market contracted, the Firesweep soon amounted to the bulk of DeSoto's sales. In a similar vein, the Windsor did the same for Chrysler, and then when the Newport came out and undercut the Windsor, and what little was left of DeSoto for '61, sales took off even further.
Interestingly, for 1959, they went through the effort to use a shortened DeSoto/Chrysler front clip for the Firesweep and Windsor, so the cars started bearing a much stronger resemblance to the bigger models. I guess they would've had to, though, as that wild '59 Dodge front, with the exaggered "brows" over the headlights, would've been really hard to fit a DeSoto or Chrysler grille onto, and probably would have looked horrible, as the Dodge was still more rounded in the '57-58 style, whereas Chryslers and DeSotos were starting to square off a bit in their styling.
I remember Granddad showing me all that stuff, years ago, but I thought it had gotten tossed at some point. But, nope, here it is! One thing I found, of interest, was the purchase agreement for my Dad's '63 Impala SS409. It was actually made out in my Granddad's name, something I never knew. Anyway, its purchase price, on July 15, 1965, was $1,995. $500 down, and $72.50 per month for 24 months.
It also lists the VIN... 31847B117581. I tried to do a VIN decode, but unfortunately in those days, the VIN didn't tell all that much.
"3" means "1963"
I don't know what the "18" stands for. I found "16" for "Impala 6 cyl" and "17" for "Impala V8"
"47' means "2 door sports coupe" (i.e., the hardtop coupe)
"B" means it was built in Baltimore, Hon (a local joke that's probably becoming increasingly outdated)
And the rest is the sequence number.
Too bad it's not like later years, where there was a code in there for the engine.
My Dad said it had a 409, with the 425 hp setup, but years later, a mechanic said that no full-sized Chevy ever came with that engine, that the 425 hp was a Corvette-only engine. But, the '63 sales brochure lists it. You could only get a 3- or 4-speed synchro-mesh with it, as the Powerglide was only offered on the 340 hp version of the 409.
I wonder if there's a way to find out if that car is still around? It'd be pretty cool, if it was!
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LsRmKL5sTM
I think it's interesting too, seeing someone commenting on that car, through a modern perspective. Like how the guy mentioned that he loved that three-piece rear window. But, from what I've read, when these cars were new, there was sort of a slur going around. In response to Plymouth's "Suddenly it's 1960!", people were busting on these Buicks, saying "Suddenly it's 1949!" or something like that.
and, where the "1957" badge what, they thought that was really cool. And, it probably was, say, in September of 1956. But by September of 1957, it was hardly a badge of honor anymore!
Buick's sales took a pretty big hit in 1957. Part of it was a cooling economy, and increased competition from Chrysler. But, I've also heard there was a bit of a backlash, because the '55-56 models, which were highly popular, weren't all that well built, and the reputation was getting around. I wonder if they were improved for '57? The ones I see at car shows on occasion seem to have a pretty sturdy, beefy build to them. As much as I love my Mopars, I'll say that the '57-58 Buicks, and Oldsmobiles, definitely have a more solid look to them. Of course, there's more to reliability than how solid a car feels.
Buick indicated the model year on the grille badge in '56 and '57. Why they thought that was a good idea I do not know. The same with the 3-piece rear window, which I guess Mr. Earl thought was a good idea at the time. But he seemed to be losing his touch in the latter stages of his career as the '58 refresh showed.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
But, either the backlash against it was severe and it caused GM to react quickly, or perhaps they were planning on dropping it the next year anyway, because for '58 the Buicks and Oldsmobiles went to a 1-piece.
I like the '57 Buicks for the most part, but for some reason, when viewed from dead-on in the front, they look odd to me...I'm sure they're just as wide as anything else that was offered in 1957, but when viewed from the front, they just have a narrow look to me.
Perhaps the chrome around the headlights is throwing it off, too. It makes the headlight itself look bigger to me, which, proportionally, might make the car overall look smaller.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Boomer looking guy was initially assisted by a similar woman in a Lincoln MKS, so probably not shady. There's some kind of hot rod event in town today, I bet out on the road for that.
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In 1967 the 390 continued , there was a 400hp, 430hp L-88 and 435 with 3x2 carbs.
In total 5 different HP ratings in 66 and 67.
We lived in a double house on the road leading south from town towards larger Sharon, about 15 miles away. Story was our family sat out on our front porch and watched Nixon's motorcade drive by on the way out of town, but at age one I can't say I remember it, LOL.
Someone on my town's history FB page remarked that schools were let out that day, and that he was at Thiel College in town and got up close to Nixon; enough that when Nixon turned around he stepped on the guy's foot.
Whenever I saw those two huge pods, all I can think of is a double-E cup or something, LOL.
I think similarly when I see '65 and '66 full-size Dodge instrument panels, and to a lesser extent, same with early-ish 2000's Corollas.