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

uplanderguy

My parents had a new '84 Monte, what I'd call 'firethorn' although I'm sure it wasn't called that, with 305 4-barrel and 3-speed automatic. Of the four Monte Carlos they, and I, owned ('80, '81, '82, '84) I liked it by far the best.

omarman

uplanderguy said:

Obviously not car-related, but today Japan surrendered, ending World War II, unequivocally the biggest series of events in the twentieth century. My mother was from NYC and remembered banging of pots and pans out apartment windows. My Dad was in the Marine Corps, stateside then (he was 16 1/2 and had entered the war by faking his birth date, not all that unusual I'm told), but I've read that every church bell in our town of Greenville, Pennsylvania rang that day.

Neat color video of V-J Day in Honolulu; music by Jimmy Durante. Old-car content here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2psMV9Ew8s

Today the Advocate online has posted the headline page of their August 15, 1945 edition celebrating VJ day. Above the PEACE! headline is a banner stating, "GAS, CANNED GOODS RATIONING ENDS."

Most of my family who were old enough to remember those times are gone now. But years ago they recalled that gas rationing wasn't a big problem for most of them. Tires? Well that was a whole other thing.

If the car is out of gas, get a ride with somebody or walk. But if the car tires were worn and iffy? As long as they still held air then people kept driving until they went flat. Not many options back then.

fintail

Speaking of VJ Day, the local AM oldies station has a Friday night show where they pick a year from the mid 30s-mid 50s, and play music and ads/news current at this date in a given year. Last night, it was 1945, and they were playing the top 10 songs along with the VJ news and ads. It was pretty cool listening to it on a 1939 radio, time warp effect.

Interesting cars in that video, as I have always liked some just-prewar material, my favorites maybe being Packard and Buick.

uplanderguy

Where'd you get the '39 radio?

Although none in the video, I love the first Continentals, and also the '41-42 Studebaker "Sedan-Coupes" as they were called, with plain sides and rocker moldings, like Continentals, and a curved one-piece windshield. I never saw any of those cars until I was an adult, though--at shows. Of course by the time I was born in '58 nobody was driving them anymore.

roadburner

I'd still like to have a 1987 SS or SS Aerodeck- put a decent crate motor in it backed by a six speed Tremec and four wheel discs and it would be a lot of fun...

stickguy

that is what I would like to do with a same vintage El Camino. Since it is really the same car.

fintail

Those just-postwar Studes are very clean and modern looking. I've sometimes thought, say it is 1941 and I have an inkling something is going to hit the domestic auto supply chain, what would I buy that would hold up well in the duration and maybe not look bad for a couple years after the war, as a new car will be a waiting game. I'd probably have chosen a late run 41 Packard, or a Cadillac, maybe a Buick or a fancier Chrysler product. Although not the best on rationed gas, they looked good and were built like a brick outhouse. An automatic car would be even more interesting. Also, a good investment in 1941 would have been used late model cars, as prices went through the roof for the duration of the war and many months after.

The radio is something I bought at an estate sale when I was a teen. I have mentioned before, my parents were hobbyist antique dealers when I was a kid, and I would often tag along on their buying adventures, as I could find things to flip, or just junk that I liked. I got into old radios and clocks - I'd tinker with them, with varying levels of success, and few real repairs. At one time I had a couple dozen old radios and a pile of clocks - I have just a handful of radios and some clocks now, as most of the hoard was sold at a yard sale when I was away at school.

The radio I use most frequently, as it works beautifully, is a Motorola Model 51A, from 1939-40. This is a small 5 tube radio, a rare model with a car grille speaker design - it is apparently very scarce. Here are a couple of clips it from Christmas season last year, playing maybe 1940s era shows from the local AM broadcast station that plays old material:

https://youtu.be/FghmGAUPTyU

https://youtu.be/2BZYtzZkOkM

uplanderguy

Still sounds good and I like the lighted dial!

fintail

Nothing can match that tube radio sound. I suspect the dial light is original - it looks much better in a darker room. They don't build em like they used to.

I sent it to a specialist several years ago for maintenance, he told me he hasn't seen another of the same model in this condition - apparently it has some value. I think I paid maybe $15 for it back in the 90s.

omarman

That radio brought back another "old man" moment from A Christmas Story. "But it's smiling at me!"

Wonder how some things like a table radio survived kids and pets for so long.

ab348

We no longer have any AM radio stations operating locally so sadly all vintage radios like this are only decorative now.

andre1969

There's an old floor-model, piece-of-furniture style radio at my grandmother's house. It had been stored away in a hall closet upstairs, along with other artifacts like Grandmom's ocelot coat and such. I think it had been Grandmom's parents', but I don't know how old it actually is. I remember climbing up on top of it, in the closet, as a small kid back in the 70's (and getting hollered at). I know it also hasn't been plugged in and turned on since at least then. As a kid, I remember Granddad saying that it probably had so much dust inside it that it would most likely short out. When I lived with Grandmom for a few years, after my divorce, I pulled it out of the closet and set it up in my bedroom, as a decoration, where it still sits to this day.

When we finally go through and clean out Grandmom's house and sell it, I'm planning on bringing it over to my place and cleaning it up, and setting it up in the living room for decoration. I wonder what it would take, to get it working again? Are there even any shops around that would work on something like that these days?

kyfdx

ab348 said:

We no longer have any AM radio stations operating locally so sadly all vintage radios like this are only decorative now.

Late at night, you might be able to tune in 700 AM from Cincinnati.

andre1969

kyfdx said:

Late at night, you might be able to tune in 700 AM from Cincinnati.

Is that the station that has Venus Flytrap?

andre1969

stickguy said:

that is what I would like to do with a same vintage El Camino. Since it is really the same car.

I think it's kinda cool when people apply the SS treatment to the '78-83 wagons, like this:



Useless trivia...to create this effect on any Malibu, you have to actually use the El Camino SS front end, rather than the Monte Carlo SS. Even though they look the same, the Monte Carlo was more tapered up front. Plus, the rear cut of the header panel was vertical on the Monte, and angled backward on the Malibu.

uplanderguy

That does look pretty good. From the factory, I liked the '78-81 sloping-inward front end. I hated the '82, when they squared up the front end but you could still see the seams from last year's front-end styling, LOL...not to mention the world's worst fake woodgrain on the instrument panel for '82.

Everybody knows I like '78 Malibu Classic coupes, but not too long ago, looking through brochures, I saw that the wagon could be had with the 350 engine, even outside of CA. I'll assume that like in the big cars, the 350 engine got you the 350 transmission. That could've been an interesting little wagon.

uplanderguy

I remember laying in bed at night with an AM radio, and it was a static-y smorgasbord of AM stations. In NW PA, I routinely at night could get NYC (WABC, 77), Detroit (CKLW, 80), Chicago (WLS, 90), and too many others to mention. I noticed when I drive my Studebaker, during the day most AM I can pick up is talk radio.

fintail

Radio restoration shops are going the way of AM radio, I think - younger people don't care much for the relics, and like ab mentioned, there are limited listening opportunities - although one can install an aux input or even have a small transmitter, I think. There's chatter that the local AM oldies station is struggling, and if it goes, local AM radio will mostly be sports or idiot nutjob talk stuff, no thanks.

I've had another even older radio off to a shop for several years, as the proprietor slowly tinkers with things, and I am in no hurry to get it back (and pay the bill). He is in Portland, I drove the old set down there as shipping it would be expensive and probably dangerous - I don't know of any publicized full service shops in the Seattle area today. I shipped that little radio to Oklahoma for its service.

andre1969 said:

There's an old floor-model, piece-of-furniture style radio at my grandmother's house. It had been stored away in a hall closet upstairs, along with other artifacts like Grandmom's ocelot coat and such. I think it had been Grandmom's parents', but I don't know how old it actually is. I remember climbing up on top of it, in the closet, as a small kid back in the 70's (and getting hollered at). I know it also hasn't been plugged in and turned on since at least then. As a kid, I remember Granddad saying that it probably had so much dust inside it that it would most likely short out. When I lived with Grandmom for a few years, after my divorce, I pulled it out of the closet and set it up in my bedroom, as a decoration, where it still sits to this day.

When we finally go through and clean out Grandmom's house and sell it, I'm planning on bringing it over to my place and cleaning it up, and setting it up in the living room for decoration. I wonder what it would take, to get it working again? Are there even any shops around that would work on something like that these days?

fintail

And out of relatively fragile (must be Italian) bakelite, no less. I suspect it just sat on a shelf for 50 years. Then when I got it, back to a shelf.

omarman said:

That radio brought back another "old man" moment from A Christmas Story. "But it's smiling at me!"
Wonder how some things like a table radio survived kids and pets for so long.

uplanderguy

The V-J day video reminded me in the most roundabout of ways--no cars involved, but there is video on 'YouTube' of "I've Got A Secret" from 1956--the guy's secret was "I saw John Wilkes Booth shoot Abraham Lincoln". The studio audience gasps. That is mind-blowing to me--but I do have to wonder how much he really remembered (he was five at the time),versus what he was told over the years. I remember age five in several ways, as I was in kindergarten then, and I remember two or three smallish things from before that, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPoymt3Jx4

ab348

uplanderguy said:

I remember laying in bed at night with an AM radio, and it was a static-y smorgasbord of AM stations. In NW PA, I routinely at night could get NYC (WABC, 77), Detroit (CKLW, 80), Chicago (WLS, 90), and too many others to mention. I noticed when I drive my Studebaker, during the day most AM I can pick up is talk radio.

When I was a teenager and becoming a baseball fan, summer nights were spent in my bedroom listening to different ballgames broadcast on AM. Here in Nova Scotia in those days my go-to stations were the Red Sox on WTIC 1080 Hartford, Orioles on WBAL 1090 Baltimore, Phillies on WCAU 1210 Philadelphia, and the Mets on WHN 1050. The Yankee broadcasts were hard to get but one would come in occasionally. Sometimes I could get a Tigers game with Ernie Harwell on WJR 760 out of Detroit.

tjc78

andre1969 said:

There's an old floor-model, piece-of-furniture style radio at my grandmother's house. It had been stored away in a hall closet upstairs, along with other artifacts like Grandmom's ocelot coat and such. I think it had been Grandmom's parents', but I don't know how old it actually is. I remember climbing up on top of it, in the closet, as a small kid back in the 70's (and getting hollered at). I know it also hasn't been plugged in and turned on since at least then. As a kid, I remember Granddad saying that it probably had so much dust inside it that it would most likely short out. When I lived with Grandmom for a few years, after my divorce, I pulled it out of the closet and set it up in my bedroom, as a decoration, where it still sits to this day.

When we finally go through and clean out Grandmom's house and sell it, I'm planning on bringing it over to my place and cleaning it up, and setting it up in the living room for decoration. I wonder what it would take, to get it working again? Are there even any shops around that would work on something like that these days?

There is a guy on the Panther forum I frequent that fixes stuff like like that a hobby. So, if you can't find anyone to do it I could put you in touch. I know he lives in South Jersey, but not sure exactly where.

roadburner

andre1969 said:

stickguy said:

that is what I would like to do with a same vintage El Camino. Since it is really the same car.

I think it's kinda cool when people apply the SS treatment to the '78-83 wagons, like this:



Useless trivia...to create this effect on any Malibu, you have to actually use the El Camino SS front end, rather than the Monte Carlo SS. Even though they look the same, the Monte Carlo was more tapered up front. Plus, the rear cut of the header panel was vertical on the Monte, and angled backward on the Malibu.

In the UK the Chrysler 300 was available as a wagon; it was a Dodge Magnum with a 300 interior and front clip. It looked pretty cool:

andre1969

I just looked up the specs...the Magnum and 300 of that era were both around 197" long. I think that's considered a cutoff point in European cars, what they call the "Five Meter Car" or something like that, because of the typical smaller European garage spaces and parking spots. I think the Charger is a few inches longer, though.

kyfdx

GM wagon conversion

andre1969

That's a good looking conversion. I wonder what the rear side window glass came out of? Or, perhaps, it's a custom-made flat piece, and that's why it doesn't seem quite as flush as a normal wagon rear window would? I'd imagine custom-making a piece of glass to fit perfectly, with that custom shape, and the curvature of the original, would cost a fortune!

Odd that it has a prop rod for the hood. But, if it's made for drag racing, they're going to try and jettison every unnecessary pound they can find.

kyfdx

andre1969 said:

That's a good looking conversion. I wonder what the rear side window glass came out of? Or, perhaps, it's a custom-made flat piece, and that's why it doesn't seem quite as flush as a normal wagon rear window would? I'd imagine custom-making a piece of glass to fit perfectly, with that custom shape, and the curvature of the original, would cost a fortune!

Odd that it has a prop rod for the hood. But, if it's made for drag racing, they're going to try and jettison every unnecessary pound they can find.

It was a small local show, a few years ago. Sadly, I have no other info. Just thought it was interesting.

fintail

Rear window piece in that Wagon Camino makes me think of a 73-78 big Ford wagon.

andre1969

fintail said:

Rear window piece in that Wagon Camino makes me think of a 73-78 big Ford wagon.

Yeah, I was thinking that, too, at first. Initially I dismissed that idea, thinking the Ford wagon window wouldn't be quite that tall. But, in looking at pics, it does look like a dead ringer for it, right down to how it looks like it has the extra framing around it, and not being quite as flush-mounted.

andre1969

Here's something semi-classic car related. I finally started moving forward with getting a garage built at my new house. Today, I signed the final paperwork, sketched out where doors, windows, etc go, and picked the colors.

Here's the color chart they gave me to pick from...


It almost looks like something you'd see from a 70's brochure! It even has a couple of extra-cost colors.

Anyway, I went with "light stone" for the side walls, and "forest green" for the roof, the corner trim, and the trim around the garage bay doors and entry doors. The "light stone" was the closest thing they had that matched the beige/cream siding on the house, and I figured the "forest green" would be a nice contrast, and blend in well with the surrounding trees. Plus, it kinda reminds me of my grandparents' '72 Impala

The "patina green" makes me think of something you might see on a '74 GM car, and the "Dark Red" (extra cost) makes me think a bit of GM's "Firethorne". It's kinda sad, that in this day and age, there's such a wide range of color choices for a metal building (and I'm sure only a few of those are commonly ordered), but for most cars it's just fifty shades of gray.

stickguy

how big is it going to be? and how many cars will it fit?

do you have an attached one already with this being an extra garage, or have you been keeping all the cars al fresco?

andre1969

It's going to be 36x60, with a 10-foot high ceiling. The roof is going to have an 8/12 pitch, so that they can squeeze a loft in up there. I think the loft will be something like 15x60, and most, if not all of that, would be an 8-foot ceiling. In theory it could hold 9 cars, although it might be a bit of a squeeze in one spot because of the staircase.

I still haven't sold the old place yet, so most of the cars are still in the 24x40 garage over there. There is sort of an "open faced" garage here at the new place, where the previous owner kept a Fox-body Mustang. I have my '79 5th Avenue in there. It just barely fits, enough to keep most of the weather off of it, although it does get dusty. And either racoons or feral cats get on it and leave footprints on it.

sda

I know you will be glad to have your cars (babies) garaged at home.

stickguy

that is 2,100 SF, without the loft. That's a whole nother house! Might need to get some more cars. Or put in a lift!

andre1969

sda said:

I know you will be glad to have your cars (babies) garaged at home.

Yeah, I'll definitely be glad to get them all in one place, and finally be able to sell the old place. It's been a bit of an ordeal. It was a bit of a financial undertaking to get the new house, so I was waiting for the stock market to replenish what I spent on the down payment, or at least, most of it, before I started getting serious about a garage. But I bought the house in September of 2018, and from October-December, the market tanked a good deal. And then the government furlough made things uncertain. By late summer of 2019, I was back to where I felt comfortable, financially, but then had trouble finding a builder. But, the way the stock market kept going up, I figured eh, it'll happen eventually. And, just as I was about to get serious about trying to find a builder again, with spring right around the corner, COVID hit. But, I've recovered financially, and was able to find a builder, so I'm going for it.

I'll admit, it's a bit of a scary process. I think that sometimes, the older you get, the more you worry about making the wrong decision on something, and it's easy to over-analyze things. And, it's easy to start thinking about what might go wrong. But, once it's over and done with, and built, it will be a major relief!

One good thing about the financial turmoil though, is that it's made interest rates drop enough to make refinancing a good idea, and I'm in the process of doing that, as well.

ab348

Keep us posted on the progress, Andre. Any thought being given to retaining enough headroom in one area to allow for a future life installation?

ab348

fintail said:

Rear window piece in that Wagon Camino makes me think of a 73-78 big Ford wagon.

I had that exact thought at first glance.

BestFLT

Saw a Pontiac Firefly last week and it was fully loaded. Quite a sight to see.

fintail

Firefly, being a Canadian model, is indeed an obscure sighting south of the border these days.

sda

On our trip down to Hilton Head last Thursday I saw a very clean silver Jaguar X type 2.5 from New Hampshire headed south doing 80+. Then on our return trip Sunday I saw a medium blue X type 3.0 with FL tags headed north. I haven't seen an X-type, especially one in nice shape in ages, yet I saw one on each leg of our trip!

ab348

BestFLT said:

Saw a Pontiac Firefly last week and it was fully loaded. Quite a sight to see.

My cheapskate brother bought one of those, very used, back years ago when he was still working for use as a commuter car. He liked it until the floor rotted away and you could see the road from the passenger seat.

texases

Yabba dabba dooooo!

uplanderguy

The "Deadbeat Door Panel Thief", as the local P.D. calls him. Car relation: '90's Dodge pickup:

I don't know if this shows up here or not, other than to me, LOL.

https://www.facebook.com/AransasPassPD/videos/323657005682806/?__tn__=kCH-R&eid=ARCKnpvkIpFLUYkmkU5XMEdzyi1bxCiTn5n3uWc3NFIa_p_0jvCS8Hy_KVcoRJoObmX7s99U6oKiTOFJ&hc_ref=ARTKhSVQoTVKW79FSRWSlBTRVhq2I2sefzyt5_N1lNH8MSwvP6zkus2swbKQT8yueus&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARA-TLoo-rPoNTdM4fBPAB1whcAI6Ndyp6JSRU5n6wIPya2I104YnS66l7Nl4hnizmLVucgmeGNiuV1jJ8dqs-kK66weao3GJDrqClWer1YpEv1lSGwuHBr4xoMeTm7U4l7FHEV-98eZWUMvviB1w3BlTs1QJLs0rjg6Mk0Yr9ic0prkzFX6bWVpoZ3IqZPfSlKsYoiEEkSZkDcALpjXQkIUs1N3xMFZNY7cIAmOhTxLSb832-ieqbt_rknqrnjiN-3VCeKVnR_f4-MV9BfU26Y-DGEVa08kYNroU4B8N4KldmRuDXfbGq7qVHqnI5KFKDOh0IDksSUssPVv6PO30M9YpP2R0QxtG73RGXQEF1UKq5JWEfGd6qbjByUJjL37Hkw

fintail

Saw 2x later R129s, likely SL500, both on monoblocks (potentially could have been the same car but I doubt it), and the real obscure thing, a red Lancia Delta 4 door hatch, I suppose an Integrale as it had bric a brac and was loud. I know those are easily old enough to make it in with our corrupt private import rules.

sda

I parked next to an older Mercedes at a store this afternoon. The owner came out the same time I did, and he started the car and it had a muscular bark from the exhaust at start up. He had the driver’s door open and I was putting something in the front seat on the passenger side of my car. I said to the man, your car has a nice bark to it. He smiled and said I’m glad you noticed. It’s a rare car, developed with Porsche. It was a gun metal gray 500E in great condition.

roadburner

A 500E is one MB from that era I would like to own.

fintail

A lot of those are grey/silver/black. The other colors can be really rare. A local guy has a red 500E, it's one of a few made.

fintail

Out on foot today spotted an XLR-V, a pre-facelift W212 (E-class 2010-13) with lux trim and distronic - rare package, and something getting rare, a Suzuki SX4, this one was the hatch. I always kind of liked those plucky things. I guess they are CVT, as the driver laid into it going up a hill, and it sounded pretty awful.

uplanderguy

At a local cruise last evening I spotted up-close for the first time (had seen it parked on the street in Kent a few weeks ago), this light blue metallic '62 Grand Prix, the first GM car I can think of with a 'less is more' trim mentality. I love the interior too, and the eight-lug wheels.

I was talking to a friend near a car when we saw a blue '64 Ford Galaxie 500 without a driver rolling towards us! We moved, and it hit the corner of a '69 Chevelle, whose owner said "I just put a bumper up there!". No visible damage that I could see, but I didn't get right up to it to inspect of course.

fintail

Great colors on that Pontiac, I always liked those translucent rim steering wheels, too. I remember when I was a kid, there was a 4 door HT model in town, maroon and white two tone, and I always noticed the wheel as it was easily visible when parked.