Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

abacomike said:

Michaell said:

abacomike said:

I have a company coming to show me samples of carpeting and to measure my living room/dining room (one large area), and both master bedroom suite and my bedroom in order to give me an estimate for installing the carpet and padding and moving all the heavy furniture in order to lay the carpeting. I am guessing it will cost about $3,000 as I do not want premium carpeting. I came to the conclusion that whether I stay in my Condo or sell it, the carpeting must be replaced. It's 25 years old and has seen its better day.

If I decide to stay here, I will redo the bathrooms and the kitchen as well as the floor tiles.

Mike, remind me again - how big is your condo?

I've learned that upgrading the thickness of the pad makes a huge difference when it comes to carpet replacement.

Of course, the wife wants to put tile throughout the whole new house we're buying.

I think it's about 1400 square feet not counting the large terrace.  I intend to put upgraded padding down as well.  The foyer, kitchen, dressing area in the master bedroom and both bathrooms are all tile.  If I replace any tiles, I heard that porcelain is the most economical flooring and the easiest to install.  In the bathrooms, I will probably use ceramic.

Good man Mike...carpet isn't the best to use in a kitchen or bathroom.

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

stever

I want to say carpets are nasty but I weave rugs for a hobby so I guess I won't. Saltillo tile is big around here and I love ours. Especially nice in a warm climate (we did hardwood in our northern houses).

@suydam, we got some heavy fogs when we lived in the UP, but can't say that the fog lights on the Outback really helped all that much in those conditions. They were handier in the blizzards.

Mr_Shiftright

Depends if they are good fog lights and if they are aimed correctly. They need to be diffuse and aimed low. Those eBay bolt-ons are not going to cut it.

suydam said:

In heavy fog those fog lights are a life saver. I won't buy a car without them. 

imidazol97

abacomike said:

The padding is twice the thickness of the standard padding. I just hope I picked the right color and padding, that's all. It will lighten up the condo considerable since there is currently a gray carpet throughout the apartment. I picked the light beige because it is a neutral color and goes with just about anything.

Sounds perfect to my way of decorating. Neutral beige hit the spot to a buyer, who is most likely thinking "Can I live with the carpet until I can afford to change it after a few months/years for something I want more." Of course the buyer learns the neutral color is great and often doesn't change the carpet.

I'd ask around for a real estate agent to have come in and give you an idea of what your place is currently selling for after you've had the carpet put in. See what his/her ideas are about upgrading and updating the bath and kitchen. The agent can give you an idea of the return on investment if you do a good upgrade which is impressive but not offensive to most people's sense of style by giving the current predicted sale vs the upgraded sale value. The agent most llikely can give you advice on the kind of things to put in as remodeling updates that would appeal to the buyer's sense of style without going overboard.

You may find that upgrading the rooms one at a time will let you enjoy the upgrade as well as give you a good return for an eventual sale.

abacomike

I am not going to spend $6000+ for laminate or wood floors.  I love wood floors, but carpeting is better down here in south Florida for living as well as beautifying for selling.  I wanted something light and clean and easy to care for.  My apartment is very dark in the living areas because the major living areas face east except for my bedroom.

The existing tile (12" squares) is not chipped or damaged in the kitchen, hallway, foyer and dressing area in the master bedroom.  I have beige tile (12" squares) on the terrace and in excellent condition.

stever

imidazol97 said:

Sounds perfect to my way of decorating. Neutral beige hit the spot to a buyer.

Not to my way of thinking. We've always avoided "cookie cutter" houses and we've always been lucky reselling them. In our UP house we pulled up most of the rugs, painted beach colors on the downstairs walls and painted the wooden kitchen floor white (a huge "no-no"). The house sold in three weeks in a depressed market where the average time to sell was over 400 days.

You can buy (insert your favorite rental rides here) all day long (i.e., a three bedroom ranch with white walls?), or you can buy something with a bit of style.

abacomike

stever said:

imidazol97 said:

Sounds perfect to my way of decorating. Neutral beige hit the spot to a buyer.

Not to my way of thinking. We've always avoided "cookie cutter" houses and we've always been lucky reselling them. In our UP house we pulled up most of the rugs, painted beach colors on the downstairs walls and painted the wooden kitchen floor white (a huge "no-no"). The house sold in three weeks in a depressed market where the average time to sell was over 400 days.

You can buy (insert your favorite rental rides here) all day long (i.e., a three bedroom ranch with white walls?), or you can buy something with a bit of style.

If I was sure I was going to live here for some time, I would gut the bathrooms and kitchen and put down marble flooring or something similar. I would put in new kitchen cabinets, a new dishwasher, granite or marble counter tops, etc. But since I am not sure what I want to do yet, the best alternative in the short run was to replace the worn out carpeting throughout the condo. In this way, the place will look new, smell new, and eliminate the horrible dust problem I currently live with in the condo.

I spoke with a realtor who told me if I wanted to sell the condo quickly, the carpeting had to be replaced and she recommended carpeting, not laminate or hardwood. She also recommended the light beige since it goes with almost anything and will brighten up the apartment. She also stated it would be a waste of money to put down new tiles and redo the kitchen and bathrooms because people moving into a condo like mine want to put in their own bathroom vanities, countertops, kitchen cabinets and floor tiling. Same is true for the carpeted areas, but at least the place will look clean and fresh, which is a great selling point according to her. She sells lots of condos in my development (we have over 5000 condo units here) and said the carpet replacement was the most important thing I could do to make the place sellable.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

I spoke with a realtor who told me if I wanted to sell the condo quickly, the carpeting had to be replaced and she recommended carpeting, not laminate or hardwood. She also recommended the light beige since it goes with almost anything and will brighten up the apartment. She also stated it would be a waste of money to put down new tiles and redo the kitchen and bathrooms because people moving into a condo like mine want to put in their own bathroom vanities, countertops, kitchen cabinets and floor tiling. Same is true for the carpeted areas, but at least the place will look clean and fresh, which is a great selling point according to her. She sells lots of condos in my development (we have over 5000 condo units here) and said the carpet replacement was the most important thing I could do to make the place sellable.

Perfect. She would know what people buying into that development typically prefer to have.

qbrozen

driver100 said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Don't get me started on flooring ... wife wants to rip up all the flooring in the house we're buying and install tile. We've agreed on a medium grey color, 12x24 size laid out in a brick pattern. Good thing her son and his best friend have the tools and the skills to do the install for us - saves us a bunch of $$$.

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

robr2 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

I understand that there was a styling proposal that was based on the gorgeous second generation Camaro, but the Powers That Be wanted another first generation design. I never thought that the 1967-1969 cars were all that attractive to begin with.

I agree that the 70+ Camaros were beautiful but how would they maintain the open grill look with today's bumper regulations?

I wonder how much protection those bumpers would give?

Why are they even called bumpers these days...if you touch anything it costs $1000 to fix them?

As noted, those bumpers didn't provide any real protection - they were for bumping, not crashing.

As for recreating the G2 Camaro today, they could do it. The nose cap is noting but a cover. They could even do a grill like that with little bumperetts. The real bumper is underneath similar to the Pontiac Solstice:

Just saw one of those yesterday. I liked the Saturn SKY's style better. Never could figure out why GM didn't shift those models to Chevy and Buick. Best thing they've styled in a long, long time.

I agree. The turbo version put out about 260hp. I might have bought one but my head stuck out above the top of the windshield frame.

oldfarmer50

stever said:

On another note, seems like someone was talking about fog lights recently (maybe you @roadburner?).

As I recall, the proposition was put forth that fogs are really only useful to help other drivers see you, not to help you see the road. And rear fogs are really the only fogs needed. But my memory is - well, you know the answer to that one.

The fog thread is happening over in this MDX discussion if anyone would like to weigh in.

On my last car I used the fog lights maybe half dozen times in 7 years. But they looked cool and screamed upscale so I deem them essential.

bwia

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Don't get me started on flooring ... wife wants to rip up all the flooring in the house we're buying and install tile. We've agreed on a medium grey color, 12x24 size laid out in a brick pattern. Good thing her son and his best friend have the tools and the skills to do the install for us - saves us a bunch of $$$.

Don't mean to pry but isn't your wife's son your son as well? As a stepson myself I know how that feels.

suydam

I don't use my fog lights often but they are so important in a heavy fog or snow. Regular beams diffuse the light; the fog lights really help with visibility. My old Subaru Forester had really effective fog lights.

fezo

I don't know why they didn't transfer the Solstice and Sky to Chevy and Buick other than reports of bugs i them early on and the fact that it's hard to sell a Miata-like car with so many Miatas out there.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

I agree. The turbo version put out about 260hp. I might have bought one but my head stuck out above the top of the windshield frame.

It had virtually no space. No trunk worth mentioning. and really tight in the cockpit. Like you, I much preferred the Saturn version. There is a Solistice coupe locally, and I doubt I could even get into it.

fezo

And that's certainly where a Miata couldn't touch them. No danger of 260 hp here.

houdini1

stever said:

imidazol97 said:

Sounds perfect to my way of decorating. Neutral beige hit the spot to a buyer.

Not to my way of thinking. We've always avoided "cookie cutter" houses and we've always been lucky reselling them. In our UP house we pulled up most of the rugs, painted beach colors on the downstairs walls and painted the wooden kitchen floor white (a huge "no-no"). The house sold in three weeks in a depressed market where the average time to sell was over 400 days.

You can buy (insert your favorite rental rides here) all day long (i.e., a three bedroom ranch with white walls?), or you can buy something with a bit of style.

A Butt for every seat...so to speak.

laurasdada

abacomike said:

stever said:

imidazol97 said:

Sounds perfect to my way of decorating. Neutral beige hit the spot to a buyer.

Not to my way of thinking. We've always avoided "cookie cutter" houses and we've always been lucky reselling them. In our UP house we pulled up most of the rugs, painted beach colors on the downstairs walls and painted the wooden kitchen floor white (a huge "no-no"). The house sold in three weeks in a depressed market where the average time to sell was over 400 days.

You can buy (insert your favorite rental rides here) all day long (i.e., a three bedroom ranch with white walls?), or you can buy something with a bit of style.

If I was sure I was going to live here for some time, I would gut the bathrooms and kitchen and put down marble flooring or something similar. I would put in new kitchen cabinets, a new dishwasher, granite or marble counter tops, etc. But since I am not sure what I want to do yet, the best alternative in the short run was to replace the worn out carpeting throughout the condo. In this way, the place will look new, smell new, and eliminate the horrible dust problem I currently live with in the condo.

I spoke with a realtor who told me if I wanted to sell the condo quickly, the carpeting had to be replaced and she recommended carpeting, not laminate or hardwood. She also recommended the light beige since it goes with almost anything and will brighten up the apartment. She also stated it would be a waste of money to put down new tiles and redo the kitchen and bathrooms because people moving into a condo like mine want to put in their own bathroom vanities, countertops, kitchen cabinets and floor tiling. Same is true for the carpeted areas, but at least the place will look clean and fresh, which is a great selling point according to her. She sells lots of condos in my development (we have over 5000 condo units here) and said the carpet replacement was the most important thing I could do to make the place sellable.

I looked at a (small) condo last weekend. The realtor had the current owner put in new (beige or off-white) carpets and fresh paint. I guess that's SOP! But, both the kitchen and bathroom need to be updated. And, it was overpriced, since reduced by $10k. Nice location, small complex, but small condo.

stever

And you get to enjoy all that fresh outgassing from the new paint and carpet. :-)

Out gassing - even sort of car related.

In Boise we needed to "refresh the walls" so we hired a painter to do the main floor (ordinarily I'd do that myself). Paid off because the painter did a lot of new construction and knew all the "in" colors and we let him pick the paint. I think it was a factor in selling the home.

Naturally the new owners gutted the living room and kitchen.

Michaell

bwia said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Don't get me started on flooring ... wife wants to rip up all the flooring in the house we're buying and install tile. We've agreed on a medium grey color, 12x24 size laid out in a brick pattern. Good thing her son and his best friend have the tools and the skills to do the install for us - saves us a bunch of $$$.

Don't mean to pry but isn't your wife's son your son as well? As a stepson myself I know how that feels.

Not prying ... this is a second marriage for both of us. We had our "practice marriage" when we were younger. Her kids are 27 and 29; my son is 26.

Michaell

Michaell said:

bwia said:

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Don't get me started on flooring ... wife wants to rip up all the flooring in the house we're buying and install tile. We've agreed on a medium grey color, 12x24 size laid out in a brick pattern. Good thing her son and his best friend have the tools and the skills to do the install for us - saves us a bunch of $$$.

Don't mean to pry but isn't your wife's son your son as well? As a stepson myself I know how that feels.

Not prying ... this is a second marriage for both of us. We had our "practice marriage" when we were younger. Her kids are 27 and 29; my son is 26.

Since we've been married 18 years the kids are pretty much mine. My daughter has had almost no contact with her dad since the divorce; my step-son reconnected with him about 10 years ago and they see each other regularly.

I just switch back and forth with the terminology

driver100

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

driver100 said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want.
Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Don't get me started on flooring ... wife wants to rip up all the flooring in the house we're buying and install tile. We've agreed on a medium grey color, 12x24 size laid out in a brick pattern. Good thing her son and his best friend have the tools and the skills to do the install for us - saves us a bunch of $$$.

We have hardwood in most living areas. It is dark in color and shows dust. We have beige tile in the kitchen and bathrooms.....We'd rather have the whole house done in tile, it doesn't show any dirt or dust, looks great.

The two smaller bedrooms had white carpet and after only 9 years of medium use look pretty dingy. Had it replaced with tile. Carpet doesn't last, and as someone once told me, it's like walking on your clothes all day long.

driver100

I saw a Saturn Sky yesterday, it was golden yellow and it looked beautiful. I would love to own one and drive it around. It seems to me the reviews weren't great, as mentioned no trunk, no room, roof was dificult to operate, ......all things the Mazda could do better. But, it was a nice looking car. There is usually a bunch of them gathered together on Cruise Night.

oldfarmer50

Cute or creepy?

Has anyone seen those Volkswagen commercials with the horny old ladies harassing male customers and salesmen? Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor but that seems an inappropriate way to market vehicles. I mean, reverse the genders and you'd have people picketing VW hq.

nelsonf

oldfarmer50 said:

Cute or creepy?

Has anyone seen those Volkswagen commercials with the horny old ladies harassing male customers and salesmen? Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor but that seems an inappropriate way to market vehicles. I mean, reverse the genders and you'd have people picketing VW hq.

Plus, they're just annoying!

berri

I'm thinking the heavy accent is too regional for the rest of the country unless you have someone like Joe Pesci doing the talking? I also don't really see how their spiel induces a desire to purchase the car. It's just kind of goofy to me, but then I think the Passat needs a lot of work, which I understand is coming shortly.

nyccarguy

Hey guys! After driving a grand total of close to 2,200 miles in less than 2 weeks, I'm back in Connecticut. 10 states (CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, WV, VA, NC, SC, & GA) on the way down. We stopped in Harrisonburg, VA (off I-81) for an overnight stay, then it was on to see family in Charlotte, NC. From Charlotte, we drove to Saint Simons Island, GA for some beach time with my parents (they rented a house for 10 days). From GA we headed north to Williamsburg, VA. We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts off exit 20 of I-95 in nine other than LUMBERTON, NC. Busch Gardens, wTer Country USA, & colonial Williamsburg were lots of fun. Now we are home. Cheapest gas was in SC at $2.31 per gallon.

Michaell

nyccarguy said:

Hey guys! After driving a grand total of close to 2,200 miles in less than 2 weeks, I'm back in Connecticut. 10 states (CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, WV, VA, NC, SC, & GA) on the way down. We stopped in Harrisonburg, VA (off I-81) for an overnight stay, then it was on to see family in Charlotte, NC. From Charlotte, we drove to Saint Simons Island, GA for some beach time with my parents (they rented a house for 10 days). From GA we headed north to Williamsburg, VA. We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts off exit 20 of I-95 in nine other than LUMBERTON, NC. Busch Gardens, wTer Country USA, & colonial Williamsburg were lots of fun. Now we are home. Cheapest gas was in SC at $2.31 per gallon.

And what kind of mileage did you get with the Pilot loaded to the gills?

You east coasters and your teeny tiny states - I can drive 2200 miles to CA and back and hit only 5 states - CO, UT, AZ (for about 40 miles), NV and CA.

I remember traveling back east and driving through 3 states after work - MD, DE and NJ.

robr2

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

robr2 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

I understand that there was a styling proposal that was based on the gorgeous second generation Camaro, but the Powers That Be wanted another first generation design. I never thought that the 1967-1969 cars were all that attractive to begin with.

I agree that the 70+ Camaros were beautiful but how would they maintain the open grill look with today's bumper regulations?

I wonder how much protection those bumpers would give?

Why are they even called bumpers these days...if you touch anything it costs $1000 to fix them?

As noted, those bumpers didn't provide any real protection - they were for bumping, not crashing.

As for recreating the G2 Camaro today, they could do it. The nose cap is noting but a cover. They could even do a grill like that with little bumperetts. The real bumper is underneath similar to the Pontiac Solstice:

Just saw one of those yesterday. I liked the Saturn SKY's style better. Never could figure out why GM didn't shift those models to Chevy and Buick. Best thing they've styled in a long, long time.

I agree. The turbo version put out about 260hp. I might have bought one but my head stuck out above the top of the windshield frame.


After the bankruptcy, there wasn't a place in the lineup for a low volume, low margin, two seat sports car. GM wound up selling the Kappa platform (which was based on the Corvette's and was designed for 2 seat RHD vehicles) to Tauro, a Spanish car marker which makes 4 models based on the platform.

robr2

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

robr2 said:

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

I understand that there was a styling proposal that was based on the gorgeous second generation Camaro, but the Powers That Be wanted another first generation design. I never thought that the 1967-1969 cars were all that attractive to begin with.

I agree that the 70+ Camaros were beautiful but how would they maintain the open grill look with today's bumper regulations?

I wonder how much protection those bumpers would give?

Why are they even called bumpers these days...if you touch anything it costs $1000 to fix them?

As noted, those bumpers didn't provide any real protection - they were for bumping, not crashing.

As for recreating the G2 Camaro today, they could do it. The nose cap is noting but a cover. They could even do a grill like that with little bumperetts. The real bumper is underneath similar to the Pontiac Solstice:

Just saw one of those yesterday. I liked the Saturn SKY's style better. Never could figure out why GM didn't shift those models to Chevy and Buick. Best thing they've styled in a long, long time.

I agree. The turbo version put out about 260hp. I might have bought one but my head stuck out above the top of the windshield frame.


After the bankruptcy, there wasn't a place in the lineup for a low volume, low margin, two seat sports car. GM wound up selling the Kappa platform (which was based on the Corvette's and was designed for 2 seat RHD vehicles) to Tauro, a Spanish car marker which makes 4 models based on the platform.

bwia

Michaell said:

2 ways of looking at doing the work beforehand. It may make the place look better so you can get more for it, or it may be a waste of money because you can sell it for less and let the new owners spend the money the way they want. Hard to tell what is the right way to do it.

My thinking is the latter. My whole 2nd floor needs to be redone, but I think it may be a waste of money for me to do it before selling. Maybe the next owner wants a different color or all wood. I have seen some listings that say something like "$5,000 carpet allowance paid at closing." I might go that route if it helps sell our house. And I know we've seen houses where they just put in new carpeting and we'd rather have wood or tile in that particular room, so we'd just tear up that new carpeting after buying the house.

Don't get me started on flooring ... wife wants to rip up all the flooring in the house we're buying and install tile. We've agreed on a medium grey color, 12x24 size laid out in a brick pattern. Good thing her son and his best friend have the tools and the skills to do the install for us - saves us a bunch of $$$.

Don't mean to pry but isn't your wife's son your son as well? As a stepson myself I know how that feels.

Not prying ... this is a second marriage for both of us. We had our "practice marriage" when we were younger. Her kids are 27 and 29; my son is 26.

That's what I thought. The second time around is always the sweetest, except in Hollywood. 

isellhondas

oldfarmer50 said:

Cute or creepy?

Has anyone seen those Volkswagen commercials with the horny old ladies harassing male customers and salesmen? Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor but that seems an inappropriate way to market vehicles. I mean, reverse the genders and you'd have people picketing VW hq.

Oh, I just despise that commercial! They both need to have their odometers turned back!

imidazol97

isellhondas said:

Oh, I just despise that commercial! They both need to have their odometers turned back!

"Lots and lots of miles on it" was a poor choice of words. I think the commercial plays better without that line or the one before about "preferring new" included. Just let the old ladies being attracted to the young guy playing their cougar role be visual. Do guys who might buy the car react to the idea of old ladies being attracted to him?

The commercial is just wrong.

fezo

That's about as annoying a car commercial out there now. The bleeped Hyundai commercials are awful as well.

Saw a Sky today waiting at a red light. Very, very nice. In that same color as the picture.

imidazol97

Saw a lot of rare Fords today wearing crowns. Since many of us
remember the Crown Victoria era... Plus many had Canadian plates
on them. -- Meteors. This shows about 1/2 of the cars present.



My guess as to the rarest among the bunch.

abacomike

imidazol97 said:

Saw a lot of rare Fords today wearing crowns.

My very first car that my brother and I shared was a rundown 1956 Ford Sunliner Covertible.  My Dad bought the car for $500 back in 1962.  The first time I tried to put the top down the iron supports literally "cracked" into pieces.  We had to drive the car with the windows open because of the exhaust fumes coming from one of the mufflers.

It it was white with red seats and door panels.  Obviously, we didn't keep the car very long - maybe a couple of months.  The fumes were so bad I developed a terrible cough.  Dad said it would cost too much to fix up the car.

bwia

Speaking of classic cars, has anyone seen Cuban Chrome? It is a Discovery Chanel TV reality TV show shot entirely in Cuba showing local guy fixing old American cars. I've watched two episodes so far and I can't believe the lengths that these guys go through to make their highly sought after dinosaur cars run.

The rutted gas tanks and worn out parts are just minor inconveniences to them. I see unlimited potential for parts suppliers as the travel and trade embargo is eased.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

Saw a lot of rare Fords today wearing crowns. Since many of us
remember the Crown Victoria era... Plus many had Canadian plates
on them. -- Meteors. This shows about 1/2 of the cars present.



My guess as to the rarest among the bunch.

My father had a 57 Ford coupe in the color combo on the right. Was destroyed in an accident on the way back from the Saratoga race track. Caught fire and burned.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

It it was white with red seats and door panels.  Obviously, we didn't keep the car very long - maybe a couple of months. .

That car was only 6 years old when you got it. I didn't see any that were all white. These Fords are the most colorful of any era of cars. I did see a red convertible with beautiful red/white seats. In another discussion we talk about how seats now are bland--your choice of black, titanium, dark charcoal, or other dark colors in MOST cars.

imidazol97

There were a few Mercurys in some great color combos as part of the CVA show.

explorerx4

It looks like that green Mercury has that green plexiglass roof, which has got to be pretty rare.

ab348

Yes, the lack of color in interiors is a shame. Even where choices are offered, they usually involve just a splash of color on a black base. The Mustang is like this - color inserts in the seat facings and center of the door panel with the rest of the interior being all black. Many other cars are similar. Sad.

One thing about those '55/'56 Ford two-tones is that about 90% of them seem to involve a color over white. I have seen a black/yellow one locally along with a pink/black. I always thought the aqua they offered would look great with a black two-tone but I have never seen one of those.

There is a lovely yellow '57 Ford 2-door HT locally that was at the car show here last week that is still owned and driven by the original owner - 57 years along!

berri

I like those Mercury's. You don't seem to see a lot of Mercury's at car shows, so it was a pleasant change. As for the Ford's, several years ago, can't remember where for sure, the hotel had a similar display in it's parking lot of 55/56 Crown Victoria's. Quite a few of them actually. I guess there is a Crown Vic club?

berri

There is a lovely yellow '57 Ford 2-door HT locally that was at the car show here last week that is still owned and driven by the original owner - 57 years along!

That's pretty neat. What is even more impressive is how he must have maintained that car given the 57 Ford propensity to the tin worm. The 57 Plymouth's had the same issue, but the Chevy's seemed to hold it off a little better.

Mr_Shiftright

GM had the edge in the 50s, no doubt about it. Their cars just drove better and I think were better assembled than the competition. Styling was a toss up among the Big Three I think.

imidazol97

explorerx4 said:

It looks like that green Mercury has that green plexiglass roof, which has got to be pretty rare.

The plexiglass started in 1954 with the Sun Valley for Mercury with 9K sold and 13K sold for the Crestline Sunliner for Fords. I can't find production mentioned for later models. The pictured is a 1956. I assume they were still called Sun Valley.

Rare. I do see a Sun Valley at shows around the metro that's from the area. I think it's a '54.

I have no idea how many 1956 Town Victoria's (4-door hardtops) were sold.

Mr_Shiftright

32, 111 for the '56 Fairlane Victoria "fordor" type 57A.

The '57 Ford survival rate is extremely low.

imidazol97

Mr_Shiftright said:

32, 111 for the '56 Fairlane Victoria "fordor" type 57A.

The '57 Ford survival rate is extremely low.

So the 1956 Sun Valley was lower in sales than the 1955's 1500. And the sun set on the Sun Valley models
after that due to low sales.

Indeed, the 1956 sun Valley I saw is extremely rare. I was wrong on the '56 Ford Town Victoria: lots were made. However, I can't recall having seen one at a show/cruise in here in the midwest.

Links to more pictures rather than posting them inline:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01188_zpsnlrtnu1j.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01187_zpsopqr3p7y.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01186_zpstu7yqcgc.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01185_zpskg2ocwl6.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01184_zps66n11jd4.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01184_zps66n11jd4.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01179_zpsbxtxbmfx.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01176_zps9d3ncswu.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01168_zpsvvyvzyyo.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01166_zpsc4qqx43z.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/imidazol97/DSC01170_zps72deovpn.jpg

And I've learned to check the parking lots at shows and cruise-ins. Often people
drive neat classics to the show even though they're not in the show.
One of the most beautiful cars of that era (the white one).

isellhondas

I have to agree with Mr. S. GM cars were simply better cars in those days.

The Y blocks were prone to gumming up and starving the rockers for oil for one thing.

General workmanship was another thing GM cars excelled at.