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

stickguy

looking at the Dodge picture on my laptop instead of iPad I can see it now. The reflection on the grill and distortion from the chain link fence threw me off, but you can see where I got the idea from at least!

I need to stop trying these pictures that need to be way blown up on my tablet.

andre1969

stickguy said:

looking at the Dodge picture on my laptop instead of iPad I can see it now. The reflection on the grill and distortion from the chain link fence threw me off, but you can see where I got the idea from at least!

I need to stop trying these pictures that need to be way blown up on my tablet.

That one actually threw me off, too, for a moment, and was probably the hardest for me to identify. The grille, with the way it's so shiny looking (and it looks pretty vertical to me) actually made me think of a late 70's Nova Concours at first! But the car body itself looked too narrow, and angular, to be a Nova. A Fairmont didn't come to my mind at first, but I could see it, at a quick glance.

ab348

stickguy said:

looking at the Dodge picture on my laptop instead of iPad I can see it now. The reflection on the grill and distortion from the chain link fence threw me off, but you can see where I got the idea from at least!

I need to stop trying these pictures that need to be way blown up on my tablet.

On the iPad the pic blows up well with a stretching or spreading fingers gesture.

Surprised nobody spotted the ‘70 (?) Cuda convertible near the far side.

andre1969

Looks like there's also a Duster, in the second row, two cars to the right of the van. At a quick glance, it looks like some kind of hardtop coupe, but when you really zoom in, you can just make out the chrome piece that the rear window hinged to. Then, three cars to the right of the Duster, I think there's a '75-76 Fury coupe. It's definitely a '75-78 B-body. The headlights are distorted enough, thanks to the chain link fence, that I can't tell if it's a single round, or stacked quads. But it looks like it has a tall, vertical turn signal in the outer edge of the grille, which would be a '75-76 Fury. The '75-76 Coronet, and both the '77-78 Monaco/Fury, had turn signals in the bumper.

At least, this is what it makes me think of...


The turn signal/parking light blends into the grille fairly well, but if it's turned on, or the sun hits it, it will definitely show up.

fintail

Cool Mopar pic, now I know who bought all of the R-body sedans and Mirada/Cordobas. Behind a Diplomat at far left is a small wagon, I suspect a Colt due to the Mopar link.

uplanderguy

That light green "Small Fury" coupe--I have always thought that was a good-looking intermediate coupe that didn't look like it was copied from anything else. I like the no-padded-top, no opera window, ones, like the green one. I'd prefer the Dodge Coronet, only because 'Coronet' is such an old-skool name and these were the first Coronet coupes since '70.

Did all four windows go down?

uplanderguy

Speaking of '70's Mopars, remember the "Cricket"? It was an Austin, I believe, captive import. My aunt and uncle in Howard Beach L.I. bought a new '71 to replace their '63 Valiant V-200; the Cricket was traded in a year later on a new '72 Duster.

kyfdx

Didn't they use the Cricket name on a later Japanese sourced vehicle?

uplanderguy

Not that I remember, but also, not that I would've been paying much attention.

kyfdx

uplanderguy said:

Not that I remember, but also, not that I would've been paying much attention.

Must be the original one I was thinking of... Looks vaguely Toyota-ish from the front.

uplanderguy

I've always thought the first Colt coupes (Mitsubishi) sold here were good-looking cars; better than the next Colts I think.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Speaking of '70's Mopars, remember the "Cricket"? It was an Austin, I believe, captive import. My aunt and uncle in Howard Beach L.I. bought a new '71 to replace their '63 Valiant V-200; the Cricket was traded in a year later on a new '72 Duster.

Not Austin (British Leyland) but British nevertheless, made by Rootes Group, which Chrysler owned at the time. Hillman, Sunbeam, Humber, maybe some other long-lost brands too.

uplanderguy

Thanks for the correction. I recognize "Rootes" as its maker now that you said it.

stickguy

My older sisters friend had a Plymouth cricket somewhere in the mid 70s. I remember seeing it, and know it was English based.

ab348

Today's vintage TPIR is from Feb 22, 1978 and features a handsome '78 Malibu coupe. Priced at $5049, it was won. No mention of A/C or optional engine, so I believe given it was a California car it came with the 231 Buick V6. It did have a good-looking white interior with dual front armrests.

fintail

I bet those Crickets didn't age well. I think I've only ever seen one or two.

That's the Malibu with the suspect MSRP. Maybe the best color combo (unless one has kids or is messy).

uplanderguy

ab, that's a $7,000 '78 Malibu Classic if I've ever seen one. We had discussed this some time back. Johnny apparently called it just a "Malibu" and that thing is loaded with options. I drooled over the cars then and in fact wanted a similarly-equipped one, but black and not a Landau but with gold cloth 50/50 seats and gold pinstripe. It would've been in the high 6's.

I do not believe that was the car actually given away, which is kinda crappy.

Malibu Classic Landau, Sport wheel covers, body side moldings, whitewalls, A/C, 50/50 front seat, special instrumentation, power door locks are things I can either see in this pic or saw when fin first posted the actual clip some time back.

I would very much like to own a car like that now--perfect use of space IMHO, and taut exterior dimensions. Harder to keep nice and original than a Colonnade, but could somewhat still seem like a responsible old car to drive today.

I'd mentioned that I knew a girl in college who got a Malibu nearly identical to this one in 1981...other than the Landau top was white and it had white bucket seat interior and the console that met up with the dash. It had 16K miles.

sda

I am rather fond of that color combination, my Sunbird was very similar. I thought it looked sharp. I liked the darker blue dash and lighter blue carpet, a nice contrast against the white interior. The interior picture doesn't show the color difference very well.

ab348

But I don't think this one is a Landau, is it? It doesn't have the lower bodyside moldings like the other one did. This is from later on that season so I doubt they held the same car around for that long. It would be a Malibu Classic though with the optional seats. The link below takes you direct to Johnny's description of it.

https://youtu.be/ueoL9Mk8vF0?t=1823

Just realized Johnny said it had bodyside moldings but they don't show very well. I'm confused.

sda

My grandmother's 68 Cutlass S that she special ordered is very similar, though it is a little more silver in hue.

ab348

sda said:

I am rather fond of that color combination, my Sunbird was very similar. I thought it looked sharp. I liked the darker blue dash and lighter blue carpet, a nice contrast against the white interior.

Also similar to my '77 LeMans. I wish I had an interior shot.

uplanderguy

I think the reflection on the right door is the bright part of the top of the body side molding there, on that Malibu Classic. And it is a Landau. It also has the optional bumper guards and 'Deluxe Bumpers' (bumper strips).

Johnny also says 'Rally Wheels', which that car doesn't have. He doesn't mention A/C, or even automatic transmission and power steering and power brakes, which were still optional then on Malibus. I also see power window switches on the driver's door.

I looked at literally a hundred of those cars when new.

I have to wonder if that is a car assigned to the Chevrolet zone office near the show (auto show car?), as it looks identical to the car in the other episode.

ab348

Oftentimes on the show if someone won a car, Bob would send them off stage with the advice to "go over there and pick up the keys" (or sometimes the pink slip) meaning that the actual car was what they won, but he didn't do that here. Who knows. I know if I was the winning contestant and saw that car on stage, that's the one I would expect to get.

omarman

My bil bought a new '79 Malibu Classic 267 V8, A/C, stereo pkg and some kind of interior upgrade with cloth velour like upholstery and chimes instead of warning buzzers. It was two tone green with rally wheels. I recall him telling me that the sticker was around $7,900 but "they were willing to deal" on selling price. He also said the same dealer wanted full sticker price on the new '80 Citations which came out in '79.

andre1969

My first car, a 1980 Malibu coupe that my Mom gave me, was sort of a medium blue metallic. Fairly light, but a bit darker than that '78. I need to see if I can find some old pics of it. Its interior was a dark blue vinyl. It wasn't the most extravagant thing in the world, but it seemed nice, for what it was. In contrast, if you got the cheapest version of a '73-77 Malibu, they just really seemed low-rent to me...more like they were designed to be a taxi or some other sort of fleet car.

One detail I always hated about the Malibu Classic, at least in '78-80, was that while the seat vinyl, or fabric, had a nice, high quality look to it, it had this cheap plastic strip that ran right down the center.

Here's a '78 with the cloth interior, from the brochure. I don't think it looks bad in this picture, but I remember seeing them in real life, and thinking it looked pretty bad. I think it was actually worse with the vinyl. With the cloth, it seems like a contrast. But with the vinyl, it seemed more clashy.

Something else, I can't remember...and I can't quite tell from this pic. But when you got the cloth interior on the Malibu Classic, like this one, were the inserts in the door panels cloth as well? I thought they were, but in this pic they almost look like the same thickly padded vinyl you got with the vinyl interior. I know on the base Malibu, you got the same thinly padded vinyl door panels whether you got cloth or vinyl seats.

sda

In the X body cars it was a hard color matched plastic tray that separated the bench seat bottom cushion. That wasn't very attractive but it was practical.

sda

@andre1969 you mentioned you liked the Skylark styling better than most of the X cars. This was an 82 Custom, fully loaded that I bought for my daily commuter to save the Cabriolet, (in the garage) from having to be parked in an outdoor dirt parking lot. I would have preferred the Limited. If you expand the picture you can see my ex's 85 Prelude infront of the Skylark. This was my first house purchase, 2/90, 2000 sq ft, $94k. ha.

uplanderguy

andre, on '78-81 Malibu Classics, the padded upper door panels were cloth with cloth seats; vinyl with vinyl seats. I'm pretty sure without looking, that in '82 and later you got vinyl upper door panels no matter what seats you got.

I always liked the '78-80 Malibu Classic front seat with the crimped, for lack of a better word, padding in the seat back. But what's funny, my best man bought a used '78 Malibu Classic coupe, bench seat, exterior two-tone gold sides and cream hood, roof, and trunk, and he used to say that EXACT same thing as you did about that vinyl bolster going down the middle of the back! He later had the hood, roof, and trunk painted black, with the gold sides giving it a 1980-only two-tone look.

If I found a '78, I'd HAVE to have the 50/50 split seat with dual center armrests, and I'd HAVE to have the gauge package, which got you the Monte Carlo round instrument cluster and three-planed setting. I like the no-nameplates and no woodgrain anywhere on the dash. Bold for the time I think.

RE.: X-Body cars--I'm pretty sure I remember the first X-cars not having that little plastic tray in the center front seat position, but thinking that was added soon afterwards so as to discourage use of the car as a six-passenger.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

If I found a '78, I'd HAVE to have the 50/50 split seat with dual center armrests, and I'd HAVE to have the gauge package, which got you the Monte Carlo round instrument cluster and three-planed setting. I like the no-nameplates and no woodgrain anywhere on the dash. Bold for the time I think.

You'd have to be very lucky to find any at all that aren't trashed or rodded out to an inch of their lives, usually horribly. I just did a variety of searches to get an idea of what availability was like and came up totally blank. There just aren't any out there. I think you'd have to luck into one on BaT or some place similar.

uplanderguy

Agreed. For some reason they're a favorite of the rod guys.

uplanderguy

I liked the Skylark too. I think that, unlike the A cars, they really differentiated the X-bodies. I always liked the Citation Club Coupe, optioned up, but you never saw them that way. Taillights reminded me of the '78 Malibu Classic.

I worked with a guy who had a black '80 Citation Club Coupe, 4 cyl. 4-speed, which he rolled over on a hilly winter road en route home to Warren, PA. He'd bought the car in '81 some time. He then bought a new '82 Phoenix coupe, navy blue, 4-cyl. automatic. He liked the packaging of the cars. He was a single guy.

fintail

Ooh I see a Mercury Topaz in the background, those were the days

I know I have told the story, around 1995, I was friends with twin 16 year old boys who received a car from their dad (so they'd keep away from his pristine 78-79 F-series supercab which I recall had mag wheels and was a silver/grey and black two tone). I think out of an estate, he found them an 81 Skylark sedan, dark blue with plush blue interior, completely loaded, and something like under 20K miles on it - it appeared as new. Even then it seemed tragic to me for this car to be given to these kids, who sooner or later would destroy it. I don't recall the car past 1997 or so, I forget what did it in, but it didn't have an easy life.

sda said:

@andre1969 you mentioned you liked the Skylark styling better than most of the X cars. This was an 82 Custom, fully loaded that I bought for my daily commuter to save the Cabriolet, (in the garage) from having to be parked in an outdoor dirt parking lot. I would have preferred the Limited. If you expand the picture you can see my ex's 85 Prelude infront of the Skylark. This was my first house purchase, 2/90, 2000 sq ft, $94k. ha.

andre1969

GM's 78-88 intermediates are pretty much the last of the line, as far as traditional RWD cars that can be easily hotrodded. They might also be one of the smallest, lightest, body-on-frame cars, at least in recent memory, which probably lends itself better to modification than a unitized car. Although, you'd think something like a Fairmont would be pretty easy, with all the stuff that can be swapped from a Mustang. But still, by and large, that's still smallblock territory, whereas you could squeeze a big-block into a '78 Malibu if you really put your mind to it.

Of course, given the time, money, and know-how, I'm sure the same could be done to a Fox platform car. After all, I've seen 426 Hemi's squeezed into PT Cruisers, and once saw a '70's Dodge Colt hardtop with a 440 shoehorned in. And I've seen a first-gen Ford Focus, with a 351 under the hood.

Anyway, I think the people that are hopping up '78 Malibus and such are the type that would have done it to a Nova, at least until those started becoming scarce. And before that, it was a '68-72 intermediate, and probably the '64-67 before that. I don't think the hot rodders did much with the likes of the '61-63 Tempest/Special/F-85, or earlier Chevy II/Novas. Once you go back before, say, a '64 Chevelle, they probably pretty much skipped '58-63 and were doing it to '55-57 Chevies.

I think the '73-77 Colonades tend to get overlooked because they were just considered too big, and heavy. However, they were probably beefy enough, in their own right, that they wouldn't need as much reinforcement as a lot of the other cars.

sda

@fintail , Notice the well kept whitewalls I knew how to use a Brillo pad! No dirty whites on my car.

andre1969

SDA, for "just" being a Custom, and not a Limited, that still looks like it was a nice car. The Skylark seemed to be able to sidestep the stigma that befell the other X-cars, and still managed to sell fairly well, right up through the end in 1985.

Wow, 2000 square feet, for $94K. Those were the days!

explorerx4

Many moons ago, I posted a picture here of a VW Bug with a 426 Hemi in it.
That picture was on Shutterfly, so mow gone,

ab348

Dad bought an '82 Olds Omega Brougham coupe, two-tone brown with a brown interior and the 2.8 V6. I drove it a number of times including on one longish trip and was surprised by how much I liked it. It was very posh inside and had lots of room for a smallish car. Unfortunately he ran it into a telephone pole and that was that, fortunately he was uninjured. He was always somewhat mysterious about the circumstances.

sda

ab348 said:

Dad bought an '82 Olds Omega Brougham coupe, two-tone brown with a brown interior and the 2.8 V6. I drove it a number of times including on one longish trip and was surprised by how much I liked it. It was very posh inside and had lots of room for a smallish car. Unfortunately he ran it into a telephone pole and that was that, fortunately he was uninjured. He was always somewhat mysterious about the circumstances.

A big oops!

roadburner

My wife had a 1984 Skylark T Type when we got married. It was a pretty nice car for the time.

sda

roadburner said:

My wife had a 1984 Skylark T Type when we got married. It was a pretty nice car for the time.

I liked those and they were not very common. I think I only saw one or two and that was at the Buick dealer. At least my 82 had the V6.

explorerx4

The good old days. Quick 911 drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvnJr82oULk

fintail

I like them on old cars, but I am glad those quickly faded from popularity before I started driving. The wide whites on the fintail still look presentable after 8 years, but the car isn't a daily driver, is stored indoors, and I wipe them down after every drive (scrub once or twice a year).

I remember when I was younger, and my mom was getting tires for a car, either the Tempo or Taurus, I recall telling her very specifically to not get whitewalls, or to have the whitewall facing inwards.

sda said:

@fintail , Notice the well kept whitewalls I knew how to use a Brillo pad! No dirty whites on my car.

sda

I like whitewalls on cars that I think they are a natural fit and where blackwalls look like you cheaped out. Mom’s 87 Taurus LX came with blackwalls, the european look. I came home one day to find new tires on the car and they were whitewalls! Dad’s doing, lol.

andre1969

I think for me, one of the deciding factors for whitewall or not, is the aspect ratio of the tire. A 75-series tire, for example, has enough black in it, that it could use a whitewall to break it up some. A 70-series, in my opinion, just depends on the application. A 65-series or lower, definitely not, in my opinion.

When I got new tires for my '67 Catalina, in conjunction with replacing its stock steel wheels with 15x7 Rally 2's, I was a bit torn as to whether I should go blackwall or whitewall. Same when I put the Mirada aluminum road wheels on my '79 New Yorker. I ended up going whitewall in both cases though, and glad I did. Both cars have 225/70-R15 tires, and both the Rally-2 and Mirada wheel are 7 inches wide.

Next up is going to be my '76 Grand LeMans, which is also on Rally 2 wheels. I think they're 7" wide, but not positive. They don't look quite as big as the Catalina's, but they might just not be offset as much...or whatever that phrase is for how much they stick out beyond the hub. It has 225/70-R15s on it, and they're raised white letter, which I've gotten used to. I had thought about going blackwall, but will probably do another whitewall. The tires on this car still look good, but it'll be 16 years in April since I've had the car, and I've never replaced the tires. I figure I better not press my luck!

Nowadays, with most cars riding on big rims and ultra-low profile tires, I think the whitewall is definitely past its prime. And, as much as people sometimes wish for the "good old days" of smaller rims and taller tires, that tend to be cheaper, I think most modern cars would look weird if they tried to go back to that.

And I think whitewalls would definitely look out of place on a Taurus! My grandparents had an '89 Taurus LX, I wonder what they thought, of its blackwalls? They weren't driving a whole lot by then, so they traded it before it needed new tires. I do remember they didn't like the style of it, at first, although they were coming from an '85 LTD, and they were in their 70's by that time. So I don't think they were exactly the Taurus's target demographic! It didn't take long though, before they really came to like the car.

Thinking back, I can't remember if their LTD had whitewalls or not. That's a car that seems a bit "transitional" to me sort of stuck between old-school and new wave, where it could go either way. Their '81 Granada definitely had them, though.

fintail

TPIR, November 1987. First a very basic (no doubt FWD) Justy, only option mentioned was CA emissions, no MSRP (I'd say around 6-7K then), "a comfortable reliable car with a flair for style":



Then a Shadow, again no options mentioned other than CA emissions, MSRP $7983, "a new breed of compact car":



And in the showcase, a final run Regal, moderately optioned, "classic yet aerodynamic":

fintail

Regarding whitewalls, I think in olden times, blackwalls had a "cheap" association, maybe not changed until Euro-desires took over, and wheel design started looking good with blackwalls. Maybe unusual, some wheels do look good with a thin whitewall, like old Rally wheels, and the Chrysler road wheels Andre mentions.

I recall when my dad bought the 68 Fairlane, it had 2" whitewalls, a little thicker than usual, which actually really set the car off, as it was white on white, with stock dog dish hubcaps on white wheels - I remember people noticed it.

sda

I cringed each time I looked at the 82 Cimarron that I bought used at a Toyota dealer. The previous owner put fairly wide whitewall Goodyears on it. My plan was to have the tires reversed to show the blackwall but I sold it instead as I was moving to NC and didn't have a job there. Enter a paid for 79 red Rabbit.

tjc78

andre1969 said:

I think for me, one of the deciding factors for whitewall or not, is the aspect ratio of the tire. A 75-series tire, for example, has enough black in it, that it could use a whitewall to break it up some. A 70-series, in my opinion, just depends on the application. A 65-series or lower, definitely not, in my opinion.

When I got new tires for my '67 Catalina, in conjunction with replacing its stock steel wheels with 15x7 Rally 2's, I was a bit torn as to whether I should go blackwall or whitewall. Same when I put the Mirada aluminum road wheels on my '79 New Yorker. I ended up going whitewall in both cases though, and glad I did. Both cars have 225/70-R15 tires, and both the Rally-2 and Mirada wheel are 7 inches wide.

Next up is going to be my '76 Grand LeMans, which is also on Rally 2 wheels. I think they're 7" wide, but not positive. They don't look quite as big as the Catalina's, but they might just not be offset as much...or whatever that phrase is for how much they stick out beyond the hub. It has 225/70-R15s on it, and they're raised white letter, which I've gotten used to. I had thought about going blackwall, but will probably do another whitewall. The tires on this car still look good, but it'll be 16 years in April since I've had the car, and I've never replaced the tires. I figure I better not press my luck!

Nowadays, with most cars riding on big rims and ultra-low profile tires, I think the whitewall is definitely past its prime. And, as much as people sometimes wish for the "good old days" of smaller rims and taller tires, that tend to be cheaper, I think most modern cars would look weird if they tried to go back to that.

And I think whitewalls would definitely look out of place on a Taurus! My grandparents had an '89 Taurus LX, I wonder what they thought, of its blackwalls? They weren't driving a whole lot by then, so they traded it before it needed new tires. I do remember they didn't like the style of it, at first, although they were coming from an '85 LTD, and they were in their 70's by that time. So I don't think they were exactly the Taurus's target demographic! It didn't take long though, before they really came to like the car.

Thinking back, I can't remember if their LTD had whitewalls or not. That's a car that seems a bit "transitional" to me sort of stuck between old-school and new wave, where it could go either way. Their '81 Granada definitely had them, though.

Panthers had whitewalls through 1991 pretty much as standard equipment. As late as 2005 you would still them on some configurations. My 04 that Grandpop bought one year old came with 1/4” white stripe Michelin’s.

explorerx4

@andre1969,
Check out the DeSoto in the background about a minute in.
Can't wait to visit the Henry Ford Museum again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9B6dNplXJU

andre1969

Pretty cool...a '57 Fireflite 4-door hardtop. I've often heard that body style described as the deft combination of all the problems of a convertible, with the resale value of a 4-door sedan. I always thought they were pretty cool, though. Here's a close shot someone took of it...