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

andre1969

I always thought the Saab 9-7 was the most tasteful looking version of those Trailblazer clones. I always thought that "double-stacked" look on the Chevy, where the turn signal cluster was about the same size as the headlights, was often hit or miss. I know what they're trying to go for, as that look has been around for awhile. My old '85 Silverado, with its stacked quads and horizontal line bisecting the grille had that sort of theming, and I guess you could even trace it back to the '59 Chevy cars and '60 Chevy trucks, which had strong "upper theming" for lack of a better word, in the area where they housed the high-mounted turn signals.

The Trailblazer isn't the worst of that type of styling, but I think it comes off as a bit lumpy and out of proportion, being a bit swollen in some of the wrong places and such. With the Envoy (and the Ascender variant), the headlight cluster just seems to big, and the grille is too narrow, and too protruding, making it seem a bit snout-like.

The Bravada seems the cleanest of them so far. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be enough grille, and leaves the front-end looking a bit nondescript. But, it looks more like an Oldsmobile than any of the earlier Bravadas did. The Rainier, like the 9-7, I believe, came on board to fill the void left by the Bravada's demise. The front-end seemed to carry on the basic theming that started with the '91 Park Avenue and continued to evolve (or exaggerate), but the proportioning, once again, seemed off. The grille seemed too small, the headlights too big, and the way they merged together, it seemed like they were trying to occupy the same space at the same time. I also never liked the name. I know it's supposed to make you think of the scenic mountain in Washington State, but us Maryland locals know it more as that town on the DC border that often makes the local news when a drug deal, robbery, carjacking, etc, "goes wrong". It's not nearly as bad now as it was back when I was a kid, so it might not carry the same weight with the young-uns around here these days, though. Supposedly, the movie "The Exorcist" was inspired by happenings that happened there, as well. Anyway, I think Buick wanted you to pronounce it more like "Ray-neer" or "Reh-neer". But if you're from the DC area, you'd most likely call it "Rainy-er"

Somehow though, the 9-7 came off looking just right, to me. Of course, it probably didn't really belong in Saab's lineup. But by that time, it seemed like the Saab lineup was getting awfully GM-ish, anyway. There was the 9-3 "Saab-abu", although in its defense at least, it did a pretty good job hiding its similarity to the Malibu/Aura/G6. The 9-5 and Saturn L-series were definitely skinny-dipping in the same gene pool as well, although again, Saab seemed to do a pretty good job differentiating itself.

explorerx4

Don't forget the Saab-aru(9-2).

tjc78

Almost forgot about the Rainier. A buddy of mine had one of those. He got it on a stupid cheap lease deal combined with maxed out GM card earnings.

About a month into the lease his wife was driving and they had a nasty highway accident. It was something like 25k to fix and since it was so new the insurance decided that instead of total.

He didn’t get it back for a few months.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

Don't forget the Saab-aru(9-2).

I liked those. Tried to get one when Saab was going out of business (or these got discontinued?) but couldn’t find one. All the Subaru goodness, with better seats (power) and a moon roof!

andre1969

I liked the Saab-aru 9-2, as well. I didn't mention it, because as far as I know, it was pretty much Subaru's baby, and as far as I know, no GM DNA. But, Imprezas and WRXes back in those days seemed to be an odd mix-up of low-rent Japanese, Korean, and Neon when it came to style. I know that kind of style was popular with a certain car culture subset that, over time, became politically incorrect to mention and would get your post banned on Edmund's if you did. Let's just call it the "Fast & Furious" set. That generation of Impreza was supposed to be pretty impressive, but I just found it homely. But, the 9-2 corrected the styling, in my opinion.

fintail

The old Trailblazer front end looks good compared to the current Chevy fullsized truck front end, anyway. Yikes.

Around here, most older Imprezas have aged out of commuter duty and are either older person cherished babies, or driven by guys with a vape pen, flat brimmed hat worn sideways or backwards, and an obnoxious exhaust that sounds just like my brother's Honda (commercial lawnmower).

laurasdada

Trivia: Jim from The Office drove a Saaburu 9-2x.

roadburner

All of the new pickups look like they were styled by Lego.

fintail

For current model big 3 big truck styling in my eyes, it is a close race between Ram and Ford, then Chevy. The Ram does seem to be a cut above, inside.

Saw an E-Type coupe out and about, and it wasn't a 2+2.

andre1969

I just came inside from taking out the recycle bin, and bringing in the mail, and a final-gen Firebird/Trans Am drove past, driver hanging his arm out the window. Fairly young guy driving it, too. Had a nice, muscular rumble to it, so definitely wasn't a V6 model!

It was funny how the car seemed so nostalgic, yet not that old at the same time. That car could easily have been 20-25 years old, yet other than being a low-slung sporty coupe, something that's fairly rare these days, its styling just didn't seem "ancient". In contrast, I was driving a 25 year old car in 1993...a 1968 Dart 270, and that thing seemed like it was from a whole different era.

sda

andre1969 said:

I always thought the Saab 9-7 was the most tasteful looking version of those Trailblazer clones. I always thought that "double-stacked" look on the Chevy, where the turn signal cluster was about the same size as the headlights, was often hit or miss. I know what they're trying to go for, as that look has been around for awhile. My old '85 Silverado, with its stacked quads and horizontal line bisecting the grille had that sort of theming, and I guess you could even trace it back to the '59 Chevy cars and '60 Chevy trucks, which had strong "upper theming" for lack of a better word, in the area where they housed the high-mounted turn signals.

The Trailblazer isn't the worst of that type of styling, but I think it comes off as a bit lumpy and out of proportion, being a bit swollen in some of the wrong places and such. With the Envoy (and the Ascender variant), the headlight cluster just seems to big, and the grille is too narrow, and too protruding, making it seem a bit snout-like.

The Bravada seems the cleanest of them so far. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be enough grille, and leaves the front-end looking a bit nondescript. But, it looks more like an Oldsmobile than any of the earlier Bravadas did. The Rainier, like the 9-7, I believe, came on board to fill the void left by the Bravada's demise. The front-end seemed to carry on the basic theming that started with the '91 Park Avenue and continued to evolve (or exaggerate), but the proportioning, once again, seemed off. The grille seemed too small, the headlights too big, and the way they merged together, it seemed like they were trying to occupy the same space at the same time. I also never liked the name. I know it's supposed to make you think of the scenic mountain in Washington State, but us Maryland locals know it more as that town on the DC border that often makes the local news when a drug deal, robbery, carjacking, etc, "goes wrong". It's not nearly as bad now as it was back when I was a kid, so it might not carry the same weight with the young-uns around here these days, though. Supposedly, the movie "The Exorcist" was inspired by happenings that happened there, as well. Anyway, I think Buick wanted you to pronounce it more like "Ray-neer" or "Reh-neer". But if you're from the DC area, you'd most likely call it "Rainy-er"

Somehow though, the 9-7 came off looking just right, to me. Of course, it probably didn't really belong in Saab's lineup. But by that time, it seemed like the Saab lineup was getting awfully GM-ish, anyway. There was the 9-3 "Saab-abu", although in its defense at least, it did a pretty good job hiding its similarity to the Malibu/Aura/G6. The 9-5 and Saturn L-series were definitely skinny-dipping in the same gene pool as well, although again, Saab seemed to do a pretty good job differentiating itself.

It was interesting that when the last version of the Bravada was brought out, it was brought out before Chevy and GMC, i.e. it was the leader of the pack. Sadly it wasn’t too much longer GM announced Olds was to be cut from the fold. BTW I really liked my 2001 Aurora 4.0.

andre1969

I had forgotten about that, that the Bravada actually debuted first. GM really did seem to shoot Olds in the foot though, finally getting them what seemed like their most appealing lineup in decades, only to announce they were pulling the plug. I know the Alero and Intrigue had already been out a few years, but then it seemed a waste to go through the effort of redoing the Bravada and Aurora, only to can them soon after. I wonder why they didn't just slowly starve Oldsmobile off, like Mopar did with Plymouth?

Maybe it was some kind of licensing agreement they had with the dealer network in those days? That they had to actually keep Olds around for a specified amount of time, or it was some kind of breach of contract, and the dealers could sue?

At least they did get a bit more mileage out of the Bravada, since they used most of its sheetmetal for the Rainier and 9-7. Shame they couldn't find a way to salvage the Aurora though; that was a pretty nice car. When my 2000 Intrepid got totaled in late 2009, I toyed with the idea of trying to find a used Aurora. But, there weren't that many around and, for being an orphan, they were a bit pricey. Most of them were the 3.5, and it seems to me a car like that really needed the extra power of the 4.0. After about 3 weeks of casually looking around, though, I found an '00 Park Ave Ultra with a sunroof, low miles, and what seemed a good price, and talked myself into it.

I'd imagine Auroras are almost non-existent these days. I can't remember the last time I've even seen one...from either generation.

Now that I think about it, I can't recall the last time I've seen a Trailblazer, or any of their derivatives in recent memory, either. Granted, they've been out of production for over a decade now. But, considering people hold on to trucks and SUVs longer than cars, you'd think there'd be SOME presence. And, some of the permutations did sell fairly well, for a bit.

sda

Funny you should mention not seeing an Aurora recently. On our quick 130 round trip today I saw an Aurora 4.0 very similar and same color as what I had. Also saw two 01-02 Mazda Millenias, both in fair shape. I can’t remember when I saw one of those.

uplanderguy

Well, got notice today that the big October Hershey meet is cancelled, sigh.

andre, guess it'll have to be next year.

fintail

I still see a Trailblazer here and there, I suspect they age better in this climate. IIRC they are definitely not immune to rust, and as they age might not be treated with kindness.

Out on foot today, I saw 2x first gen Geo Prizm - a rare sight even here. Both were white, and I saw them on the same street, within a couple minutes of each other. I was thinking it must be the same car, but I don't think it could have doubled back that fast. Been a while since I've seen one, the 5 door is the real rarity these days. Also saw a 2002, no front bumper, but it had a small rear bumper.

I make it a point to go to one local car event every year, the MBCA gathering, always in early August. Seeing as the average attendee age is probably around 70 and usually around 150-200 people attend., I suspect it will be canceled too.

uplanderguy

A good female friend of ours has a 2007 Trail Blazer she purchased new and likes it...and here in NE OH. The body is excellent. She can't find anything like she likes better, to replace it with. She actually rented a Tahoe a couple weeks ago to try it out and brought it over here for me to drive. Too big, too much IMHO.

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

Well, got notice today that the big October Hershey meet is cancelled, sigh.

andre, guess it'll have to be next year.

Yeah, I just heard that last night, too. Although the version I read was that the swap meet was definitely canceled while the car show "might" still go on. I'm sure a lot of people aren't going to hold out for a "might" though, and will make other plans, and lack of participation could get the car show pulled as well, even if safety conditions really do improve.

Oh, and Fintail makes a good point, about the average age of these car show crowds...especially considering Hershey is an AACA event. I could definitely see that being a factor in shutting down the show.

fintail

I wonder how the new Blazer (which is both an odd but somehow not offensive design to me) compares to the old Trailblazer. I know I recall seeing some of the old version in MI that were pretty iffy looking, but owner care probably factors a lot.

I think many traditional car events aren't happening in 2020, but maybe the younger set will get together. Not sure if I want a tuned WRX for that, oh well, I can still drive the fintail all I want.

uplanderguy

Neither she, nor I, like the looks of the current Blazer, but I did tell her last Sat. when I was in for an oil change I drove past a new Blazer in silver with decent wheels, and my first impression was not bad. Her old Trail Blazer is silver so maybe I just associate her with silver. I don't think I'd seen the Blazer in silver before. I despise the Nissan-like rearmost quarter windows though.

fintail

The c-pillar/rear quarter window beltline upkick is a fad that needs to vanish yesterday. Sadly, most stylists are copycat sycophants, and it is only gaining steam, if anything.

kyfdx

Ironically, they are bringing the Trailblazer name back for 2021. They might already be out there.

tjc78

Much smaller than a past TB and current Blazer. I think it’s based on the Encore

andre1969

I just looked up the specs on the 2020 Blazer. 112.7" wb, 191.4" overall. So, it's not as little as it looks. For comparison, the old Trailblazer was 113.0", and 191.8" overall. So they're actually quite close in size. I guess to me, the old Trailblazer looks considerably bigger because its proportioning is more "truck-ish"...longer hood, more upright windshield, and more upright rear. The new Blazer is more "Cab Forward" (and they say that Mopar cliche never caught on ) with a stubbier hood, and the rear slopes off more, and I think that just makes it look more diminutive. The bigger wheels on the new Blazer also contribute to giving a bit more of a toy-like quality, as well.

I'm not a big fan of that "floating / broken" C-pillar thing, either. On some vehicles, especially in black, it makes me think of the curvy landau bars on the side of a hearse.

**Edit...I just looked up the 2021 Trailblazer. 103.9" wb, 173.5" overall length. Looks like the "Cute Ute" is back!

imidazol97

fintail said:

I make it a point to go to one local car event every year, the MBCA gathering, always in early August. Seeing as the average attendee age is probably around 70 and usually around 150-200 people attend., I suspect it will be canceled too.

My biggest disappointment has been that the Central Ohio Oldsmobile club canceled their annual show. It's was later in the summer. It attracted Olds\mobiles from all over Ohio. The age of the owners who are in the local club probably is the big factor with all the panic.

uplanderguy

The International Studebaker Drivers' Club annual meet this year in Chattanooga has been cancelled too. I'm so glad I made last year's which was in Mansfield, OH, only 90 mins. from where I live.

imidazol97

The National Falcon convention in Dayton is still on. July 23-25. But I can't get as excited about Falcons as about
Mercury, Edsels, Crown Victories, et al..


https://www.2020falconnationals.com/

uplanderguy

This reminds me that my national Stude club magazine came the other day, and there was an article about 200 '64-model Studes sold to Olin Rental Car in FL, to be bought back in six months. Of course, the U.S. closure took place between those two dates.

Anyway, the author of the article mentions the first build sheet he saw with "OLIN RENTAL CAR" on it was a Bermuda Brown Gran Turismo Hawk, white vinyl Sports Roof, brown cloth interior and floorshift 'Powershift' automatic trans. I saw a beautiful car that checked all those boxes at Mansfield last year. With only 1,767 '64 Hawks built in total, I'd say the chance it was an Olin car is pretty high. I sent the pics I took, to the author of the article. Sadly, I don't know the owner's name.

ab348

Last Sunday I visited the GM dealer where I got my last few cars to see the Caddy CT5s that they had on their lot. The black plastic triangle in the rear quarter doesn't look as offensive in person as it does in photos, but they are not for me regardless. Too big for what I need and probably too expensive trimmed as I would want one. There was a black Sport trim there that would have appealed to me if the interior wasn't also black. They had a metallic white Premium Luxury model with a light interior that looked pretty good.

Anyway, right next to them was a Blazer. I hadn't seen one up close before so I took a good look. This one had a couple of strikes against it right off the bat as it was also black outside and had black wheels too. I didn't find the design too offensive but maybe I'm getting used to that sort of theme. For me the worst of it was inside, not the dash which some have criticized, but being an LT trim it had typical GM Uglycloth (TM Regd.) upholstery on the seats, in a patterned black and gray design. For the price that seemed well below what one should expect.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

but being an LT trim it had typical GM Uglycloth (TM Regd.) upholstery on the seats, in a patterned black and gray design. For the price that seemed well below what one should expect.

I think you've nailed it with the Uglycloth ™. On the Malibu I couldn't see why having that seat pattern in cloth and putting swatches of it on the dash was acceptible on the lower lines. If I were a rental car user and got one of those, I'd be disappointed and have a lower opinion of the quality.

stickguy

That’s what the rental equinox I had was equipped with. Was not a fan of that car.

fintail

I recall a magazine (C&D maybe) having a similar complaint about the new Blazer, their (loaded) test car was awfully expensive for what it is.

Everything in the upper-middle mass market brand SUV/CUV segment will have some stiff competition from the high value new big Hyunkia models.

On the obscure car front, drove a little today, saw a stock Model A coupe out in traffic, and a 69 (I think) Firebird convertible.

uplanderguy

I'm a fan of cloth on the dash. My Cruze has it; kind of a burlap-y texture. The wife's 2019 Equinox does not have one piece of it. I've never seen an Equinox of the current or prior iteration with cloth on the dash. I prefer it to an expanse of plastic. But I went from a friend's 2015 Escort into my Cruze a year or so ago and the difference in interiors was striking. The Cruze had a bigger screen for backup camera, liberal chroming, and the cloth on the panel.

sda

I would think cloth would not show much dust or fingerprints while providing a softer glare free look.

andre1969

It seems like a lot of crossovers in that market are getting pricey, for what they are. My Mom and Stepdad leased a Ford Escape a few years back. I forget the year...2016, maybe? I swear, the older I get, the more they run together. Anyway, the MSRP on that sucker was something like $42,000!

I think my house mate's 2017 Murano is an SV trim level. I just looked them up. The local dealership has a few 2020s on the lot, and the SV, which is just a mid-range trim level, MSRP's for around $38-42K! Granted, it's pretty nice. It has this type of fabric that almost looks and feels like suede, and it has it on the door panels as well. And the interior definitely feels a bit upscale. But geeze...I know the next time I buy a new car, I'm going to be in for some sticker shock!

Heck, I have trouble wrapping my mind around the idea of paying $20K for a car. The only two new vehicles I had were my 2000 Intrepid, which was $22,389 out the door (including a $1200 extended warranty I wanted, because I drove a lot more back then), and my 2012 Ram, which was around $20,750 out the door.

Oh, not much on the old car front lately. But I just went to pick up my '67 Catalina from the shop. There was a '95-96 Impala SS in their lot, in that dark cherry color. Looked pretty nice. And on the way home, I passed an S-10 pickup, I'd guess an early 90's. It was the older, boxy style, but had a facelifted look to it. It was pretty beat, had wood side panels on top of the bed, and was loaded up with yard debris. So, it looked like it was definitely earning its keep.

As for the Catalina, I had a little scare. There was a knock/rattle coming from the front of it, that you didn't really hear from inside the car, but if it was idling and you stood outside it, you definitely heard it. Turns out, the crankshaft pulley had broken a bolt, and the other bolts were coming loose, so I guess that could have been a disaster in the making, if I hadn't caught it in time! It was also developing a slight coolant leak around the top of the water pump. Turns out that was the thermostat housing. I also learned that, at some point in the car's long life, the thermostat housing had been put on backwards! Rather than being straight up, it has a slight angle, It's supposed to angle toward the front of the car, but being on backwards, was angled back toward the air cleaner.

When I first got the car, in 1994, it had one of those little aftermarket air cleaners on it that's open on the sides, but around 2008, another mechanic (the one who did all the work on my DeSoto) did a lot of work on my Catalina, and put a proper air cleaner on it. The wrong angle wasn't noticeable with the small air cleaner, but with the stock one, the radiator hose rubbed against it. Anyway, it's all fixed up now, and the mechanic joked, "Drive it to Ocean City!" implying that the car was pretty much ready to go anywhere.

So, here I am now, all ready, but no car shows to go to

andre1969

On the CT5, I'm getting out of touch enough, I had to look it up to see what that was. Not a bad looking rig, but something about the C-pillar and that rear quarter window make me think of an Infiniti. And that semi-fastback/hatchback look a lot of them are going for these days does seem to be hit or miss.

Interesting on the proportioning of it, though. Looking at the specs, its only 194" long. But it's on a 116" wb! That lanky wheelbase, with the relatively short overall length, definitely gives it some presence.

ab348

I think a cloth accent on the dash can be a nice touch but only if the material is good. The Uglycloth just isn’t.

sda

andre1969 said:

It seems like a lot of crossovers in that market are getting pricey, for what they are. My Mom and Stepdad leased a Ford Escape a few years back. I forget the year...2016, maybe? I swear, the older I get, the more they run together. Anyway, the MSRP on that sucker was something like $42,000!

I think my house mate's 2017 Murano is an SV trim level. I just looked them up. The local dealership has a few 2020s on the lot, and the SV, which is just a mid-range trim level, MSRP's for around $38-42K! Granted, it's pretty nice. It has this type of fabric that almost looks and feels like suede, and it has it on the door panels as well. And the interior definitely feels a bit upscale. But geeze...I know the next time I buy a new car, I'm going to be in for some sticker shock!

Heck, I have trouble wrapping my mind around the idea of paying $20K for a car. The only two new vehicles I had were my 2000 Intrepid, which was $22,389 out the door (including a $1200 extended warranty I wanted, because I drove a lot more back then), and my 2012 Ram, which was around $20,750 out the door.

Oh, not much on the old car front lately. But I just went to pick up my '67 Catalina from the shop. There was a '95-96 Impala SS in their lot, in that dark cherry color. Looked pretty nice. And on the way home, I passed an S-10 pickup, I'd guess an early 90's. It was the older, boxy style, but had a facelifted look to it. It was pretty beat, had wood side panels on top of the bed, and was loaded up with yard debris. So, it looked like it was definitely earning its keep.

As for the Catalina, I had a little scare. There was a knock/rattle coming from the front of it, that you didn't really hear from inside the car, but if it was idling and you stood outside it, you definitely heard it. Turns out, the crankshaft pulley had broken a bolt, and the other bolts were coming loose, so I guess that could have been a disaster in the making, if I hadn't caught it in time! It was also developing a slight coolant leak around the top of the water pump. Turns out that was the thermostat housing. I also learned that, at some point in the car's long life, the thermostat housing had been put on backwards! Rather than being straight up, it has a slight angle, It's supposed to angle toward the front of the car, but being on backwards, was angled back toward the air cleaner.

When I first got the car, in 1994, it had one of those little aftermarket air cleaners on it that's open on the sides, but around 2008, another mechanic (the one who did all the work on my DeSoto) did a lot of work on my Catalina, and put a proper air cleaner on it. The wrong angle wasn't noticeable with the small air cleaner, but with the stock one, the radiator hose rubbed against it. Anyway, it's all fixed up now, and the mechanic joked, "Drive it to Ocean City!" implying that the car was pretty much ready to go anywhere.

So, here I am now, all ready, but no car shows to go to

Wow, good catch. Sounds like you avoided a nasty and potentially costly failure. Do you now use a different mechanic than the one that worked on the DeSoto?

ab348

sda said:

I would think cloth would not show much dust or fingerprints while providing a softer glare free look.

It catches lint and pet hair and is especially noticeable if the material is black.

fintail

I recall the first gen CTS had some materials that appeared to be cloth-grained plastic, maybe on the dash or other easy touch points. It did not look appropriate for the price point.

CT5 C-pillar thing really irks me.

IIRC, the high option Blazer test car was in the low 50s, they were joking how that cost so much while a C8 wasn't a fortune more.

fintail

Interesting car observation maybe related to some now-obscure cars. I am visiting my grandma right now, spending the night. I parked in her garage, which in the past held things like a 65 Chrysler, 71 Chrysler among other now-vintage rides, usually with another car beside them. The wagon barely fits where the Chryslers used to sit - maybe a few inches of spare length room. I need to compare the length of the modern car to something massive like the fuselage car - I guess cars really have grown a bit.

andre1969

sda said:

Wow, good catch. Sounds like you avoided a nasty and potentially costly failure. Do you now use a different mechanic than the one that worked on the DeSoto?

I think I've been with my current mechanic now since around 2003. However, I met the DeSoto's mechanic through the local classic car show circuit, back around 2007 I believe. He works on pretty much everything from old to modern. But then, after a while he started getting really expensive, so I only use him for stuff that the regular mechanic wouldn't want to mess with. Fortunately, just about everything that's broken on any of my old cars in recent years, has been something the regular mechanic could fix.

ab348

fintail said:

Interesting car observation maybe related to some now-obscure cars. I am visiting my grandma right now, spending the night. I parked in her garage, which in the past held things like a 65 Chrysler, 71 Chrysler among other now-vintage rides, usually with another car beside them. The wagon barely fits where the Chryslers used to sit - maybe a few inches of spare length room. I need to compare the length of the modern car to something massive like the fuselage car - I guess cars really have grown a bit.

A fuselage Chrysler was just under 225 inches long.

roadburner

I like cloth if it looks nice, like the Millpoint cloth in the Club Sport. In contrast, the cloth seats in a base Mustang GT look like they were stolen from an '80s Hyundai.

andre1969

roadburner said:

I like cloth if it looks nice, like the Millpoint cloth in the Club Sport. In contrast, the cloth seats in a base Mustang GT look like they were stolen from an '80s Hyundai.

I noticed, sometime in the early/mid 2000s I think, that cheaper cloths started appearing in places that, realistically, they shouldn't. I can remember when the new Chrysler 300/C came out, in early '04 as an '05 model. One of the first ones I saw was a base model. It had this fabric on the seats that looked like it belonged on outdoor lawn furniture. Seriously, it didn't belong in a Plymouth, let alone a Chrysler!

My 2012 Ram's seats have a similar fabric. I'm not crazy about it, but I guess it's appropriate. Crushed velour or RRRRich CoRRRRinthian LeatheRRRR really don't belong in a base level pickup that gets used an an appliance or tool.

I thought my 2000 Intrepid had a nice interior, for its price class. It had cloth seats, that weren't extravagant, but were still comfortable to the touch and didn't look like a WalMart throw pillow. And it had matching fabric on the door panels, as well as carpeting on the lower doors. Naturally, they couldn't leave well enough alone though, and de-contented the Intrepid for '02. The lower door carpeting was eliminated, and the door panels were now vinyl, so they could use the same panel for cloth or leather seating.

My Dad's '03 Regal was actually a pleasant surprise. Before he'd bought it, I'd seen the interiors of these cars, and thought the seats looked terrible. They just looked rough to the touch, like a burlap sack. But, when we took it for the test drive and I sat in it, I was impressed how it felt a lot better than it looked!

These days though, I swear I'll see $50K pickups with what looks like a cheap cloth interior, and my first thought, to paraphrase Julia Roberts (I think), "Fifty Thousand Dollars and it's not even leather!!"

uplanderguy

You know, I've never owned a car with leather inside and that is by choice. I don't even like leather furniture. I don't want my furniture to look like a doctor's or lawyer's office, LOL!

In the older days ('70's), leather looked like crap when it was a few years old IIRC; at least, the super-soft leather. When I think back, the "expanded vinyl" Cadillac used in their Calais models then looked nearly like leather but held up better.

sda

I thought the cloth interior in my 2000 Olds Intrigue GL was handsome. It was nice to the touch, comfortable to sit on and wore well. The leather and wood trimmed interior of my 01 Aurora 4.0 that I traded the Intrigue for was much nicer, however I had no complaints about the Intrigue.

andre1969

I remember awhile back, seeing some uplevel Hyundai, like the Azera or something like that, that had a pretty nice cloth interior. It had sort of a "pin prick" pattern, I guess you'd call it. Made me think of what you might see in something like an Olds Ninety Eight of the 70's or early 80's.

fintail

Which is two feet and change longer than my car. I'll have to scope out the garage and see how that was possible. There's a ladder in front of my car, but I can't imagine it is a foot + wide - must have required touching the wall and the door. IIRC my grandpa used the tennis ball on a string method to park precisely.

ab348 said:

A fuselage Chrysler was just under 225 inches long.

ab348

My '02 Intrigue had what people used to call "mouse fur" cloth, sort of a short-napped velour. It wore well and was nice to the touch, much more so than the burlap-like cloth that most makes now use.

fintail

IIRC the seats in my dad's old S-10 Blazer were vinyl with cloth inserts, the cloth appearing as burlap but not as harsh, and actually wore well. I recall the cloth in my uncle's fairly base early 86 Taurus was the most "mouse fur" I've ever experienced, but oddly seemed to suit the car and its futuristic vibe, at least at the time. It had a very low cut fine weave cloth, I suspect the basic option. The car was dark grey on grey, with the big disc hubcaps, and the spartan interior seemed that much more modern looking. I have a memory of being out with him somewhere back in the day, and a stranger commenting on the car. I recall that car also had manual windows, but a V6. The cloth in my mom's Camry seems especially stain-prone, one where if you even spill a little water, it leaves a mark.

Not a fan of cloth, it stains and seems to fade more than a harder surface. A high quality leather can be nice, but needs maintenance and can show wear, while a low quality leather can fall apart and feels cheap, like you can tell how thin it is. A good pleather might be the best answer for my tastes - wears well, feels fine, easy to maintain. MB's forte with Tex, and still used in a huge amount of cars sold by the brand.