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

xwesx

uplanderguy said:

This particular Mopar I'd been admiring since I was in sixth grade (and I'm 63). It belonged to my sixth-grade teacher Mrs. Miller--who still owns it! It was on display at my hometown's big Heritage Days Super Cruise last Saturday....'65 Satellite, first-year of Satellite, bought new at Conway Motors in Baldwin, L.I., NY as a college graduation gift by her parents. I like the color and it sort-of foreshadowed the Firethorn GM offered a decade later I think.

That is truly impressive! Honestly, I'm blown away that a '65 is still owned by the original owner; especially something like that and bought at that phase of the person's life.

andre1969

Well, it's time for the obligatory "all cleaned up and ready for the Mopar show" pics...



Or, at least, about as cleaned up as I'm gonna get it!

Oh, and the garage is coming along. Here's a couple pics...

xwesx

That's a good-sized building! The car cleaned up pretty good, too. I had no idea it was that cream color. Hahaha (just joking)!

sda

The Fifth Ave is two tone which I hadn’t noticed before. That was a popular paint scheme in the late 70s, early 80s. Nice. Any pics of the interior? Updates on the garage are welcome.

thecardoc3

Here is one I have in the shop that hasn't run in more than twenty years. This is a 58 Lincoln Capri, 430 CI V8. I should have it back on the road mid August.

xwesx

thecardoc3 said:

Here is one I have in the shop that hasn't run in more than twenty years. This is a 58 Lincoln Capri, 430 CI V8. I should have it back on the road mid August.

That's a cool old beast! Electronic gremlins, I imagine.

Does it have the fender skirts, or are those MIA?

xwesx

Wow, a spammer. We don't get those very often!

kyfdx

xwesx said:

Wow, a spammer. We don't get those very often!

That's because we usually get them, before you see them.

texases

xwesx said:

thecardoc3 said:

Here is one I have in the shop that hasn't run in more than twenty years. This is a 58 Lincoln Capri, 430 CI V8. I should have it back on the road mid August.

That's a cool old beast! Electronic gremlins, I imagine.

Does it have the fender skirts, or are those MIA?

@thecardoc3 - neat, what all will you be doing to get it back on the road?

ab348

I remember Fantom Works did one of those Lincolns. According to them and their usual high drama, getting stuff like the power steering to work correctly was just short of splitting-the-atom levels of difficulty.

uplanderguy

I always thought that era Lincoln is what Packard might've looked like had they survived. James Nance, pres of Studebaker-Packard from '54-56 and president of Packard before that, went to the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division of Ford before he was fired in 1960. He spent the rest of his working life in banking in Cleveland.

fintail

A two door no less - those have to be up there with the largest two door American cars.

thecardoc3 said:

Here is one I have in the shop that hasn't run in more than twenty years. This is a 58 Lincoln Capri, 430 CI V8. I should have it back on the road mid August.

andre1969

I want to say those '58-60 Lincolns did hold some kind of record. It might have been for longest wheelbase of a unit-body mass-produced car? (as opposed to low-volume limos and such). It's wheelbase was 131". In contrast, by the time the Imperial went to Unibody, for '67, its wheelbase was down to 127", and it would shrink to 124" for '74-75.

They might have held a record for heaviest unit body car as well. Or if not, they were definitely in the running. Overall length though, I don't think was all that overblown. I think around 227" overall. Although, they definitely had a presence about them. And while 227" wasn't a hard number to beat, by the 70's, by then it was mostly thanks to the protruding 5 mph bumpers.

I wonder, if Lincoln used the same roof for the hardtop coupe and hardtop sedan in those years? That formal roof shape looks like it could have lent itself to either style. If so, I'd imagine it made for one of the roomiest 2-doors around at the time.

fintail

Looking at this sedan, maybe they just added a few inches (or a foot) to it:



These must have looked old pretty quick when the 61 Continental debuted.

Speaking of obscure cars, when I visited a local shop to see about them taking on the fintail, a guy pulled up in a 94-95 E320 cabrio, that's a good sign. Also saw a BMW E21.

explorerx4

Pretty good video of a 914-6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URoTIjwT38g

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

Pretty good video of a 914-6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URoTIjwT38g

I think there is one of these on BaT, right now.

thecardoc3

texases said:

xwesx said:

thecardoc3 said:

Here is one I have in the shop that hasn't run in more than twenty years. This is a 58 Lincoln Capri, 430 CI V8. I should have it back on the road mid August.

That's a cool old beast! Electronic gremlins, I imagine.

Does it have the fender skirts, or are those MIA?

@thecardoc3 - neat, what all will you be doing to get it back on the road?

It's an extensive list.
Remove and replace broken bolts for the RH exhaust manifold.
Springs and shocks all the way around.
Removed fuel tank to have it cleaned and reinstall.
Removed the radiator and sent it out to be recored.
Replaced all of the rubber fuel lines.
Rebuild the carburetor.
Replace the distributor cap, rotor, points, condenser, the plugs and wires.
Added oil to the cylinders and rotated the engine by hand. Have to do that a couple more times before starting this.
Change the oil and filter, which BTW I forgot to link that I did a short video tip about the filter.
Replace the belts.
Rebuilt the starter, machined the commutator bars, new armature bushings and brushes.
Brakes all the way around including rebuild the wheel cylinders.
Replace the master cylinder with a dual piston upgrade.
Install a proportioning valve, and replace lines as required.
Replace the tires.

Then I'll see what else it needs.

Here is the oil filter removal tip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuv9-VRZ2-Y

thecardoc3

xwesx said:

That's a cool old beast! Electronic gremlins, I imagine.

Does it have the fender skirts, or are those MIA?

The fender skirts are in the owners garage. They need some work and I have a friend that owns a body shop that is going to deal with those and some other imperfections with the paint.

I had to laugh a bit when this was dropped off. It would have taken me a while to get the hood open if I hadn't asked the owner to open it up.

tjc78

@thecardoc3
Are you documenting the progress anywhere like YouTube or another forum? Sounds like a great project.

thecardoc3

tjc78 said:

Are you documenting the progress anywhere like YouTube or another forum? Sounds like a great project.

I might do some of it, I haven't decided yet. Most of this is just mundane R&R.

fintail

Looking at that Lincoln and its wraparound rear window, I wonder if that piece of glass could also be a windshield, maybe to a period M-E-L car.

roadburner

kyfdx said:

explorerx4 said:

Pretty good video of a 914-6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URoTIjwT38g

I think there is one of these on BaT, right now.

I almost bought a 914 2.0 in 1983 but it sold faster than I expected. Less than a month later my girlfriend (now wife) found a nice E3 for me and the rest is history.

Michaell

The father of some childhood friends had a 914-6. The older brother is now president of the SCCA, and both brothers raced at Road America today.

uplanderguy

Spotted yesterday on I-271 near Cleveland, a light turquoise metallic '65 Mercury Comet Caliente convertible, white top, probably condition 3 or 3.5. Looked nice.

uplanderguy

I posted this over-the-hood shot of my Studebaker on the 'Postwar Studebakers' page, but I realized that the old Buick LeSabre in front of me probably was worth a share. Not seen very often, even here in NE OH.

explorerx4

Good comparison video of 71 Pontiac Grandville and Mercury Marquis.
He has some other comparisons, too. Host seems low key and pretty knowledgeable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfy-mjUhGTE

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

Good comparison video of 71 Pontiac Grandville and Mercury Marquis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfy-mjUhGTE

We had that year Grand Ville.

sda

Dad had that year 71 Pontiac as a company car. It was a Catalina 2dr, dark metallic brown, dark brown vinyl top, Rallye wheels. I could recognize his car when he came home in the evening because of the spacing of the headlights and turn signal marker lights.

uplanderguy

I don't know if I've ever seen a real '71 Grand Ville with the Custom interior option. The '72 Custom Interior was nicer--brocade from top to bottom. One thing that bugged me then was if you got a two-door Grand Ville with the Custom interior, you got no rear-seat center armrest....same with a two-door Buick Centurion, versus the four-door.

That Marquis reminds me that although this is very minor, Ford products then seemed to have short (height-wise) center armrests in the middle of the rear seat.

explorerx4

Here's a Mark III video by the same guy.
I posting it because the invoice sticker he has is fascinating, at least to me.
Plus it's from CT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGJE2pkT-I4

andre1969

Well, I made it back from the Carlisle Mopar show in one piece, and the 5th Ave didn't give me any fits. I'll upload the pics from the actual show later. I ran out of storage on my phone, but Lemko was with me and he took some pics, so I was going to try and combine them, and put them into a Flickr folder. But, in the meantime, here's a couple pics from Saturday morning, when I left to go up there...



And on the way up there, this finally happened...

(in my best Al Bundy voice) "This baby's only got 29 miles on 'er!"

I meant to try and take a pic of it at 99999 and then at 00000, but it totally slipped my mind.

Oh, and here's a few pics I took of the garage progress today...



Aaaand, the obligatory view from the pool...


It's amazing, how fast these guys work...and how well they work together. Say what you want about Millennials, but these guys are working their butts off. It's almost enough to give me hope for the future of mankind.

andre1969

I just realized something...what year was it, that they started highlighting the "55" on speedometers? This shows how observant I am, but I've had that 5th Avenue for almost 20 years now, but for whatever reason, I just now noticed that it's not highlighted on my speedo. I figured it would have been common practice by '79? I'm pretty sure my '80 Malibu had it highlighted.

roadburner

All part of the Joan Claybrook Safety [non-permissible content removed] Agenda; The Arrow GT 2.6 was the only car I owned with that ridiculous and useless 85 mph speedometer.

fintail

I am pretty sure I remember a highlighted "55" in our Tempo. It only read to 80!

jpp75

@andre1969 Glad the 5th Avenue made the trip without any issues. I like those cars simply for the uniqueness of the styling. Look forward to seeing more pictures when you have time to upload them!

stickguy

could a Tempo break 80 anyway? Or at least would any sane person risk it?

stickguy

Andre, is that garage getting a cement floor poured in the end?

fintail

I remember having the needle "pegged" at a little over 80

stickguy said:

could a Tempo break 80 anyway? Or at least would any sane person risk it?

xwesx

fintail said:

I remember having the needle "pegged" at a little over 80

stickguy said:

could a Tempo break 80 anyway? Or at least would any sane person risk it?

A high school friend of mine had a 1992 Ford Escort; it had a 120 mph speedometer. I can tell you that it would exceed that, as he pegged it on a regular basis.

xwesx

andre1969 said:

Oh, and here's a few pics I took of the garage progress today...

It's amazing, how fast these guys work...and how well they work together. Say what you want about Millennials, but these guys are working their butts off. It's almost enough to give me hope for the future of mankind.

That's a heck of a roof! Are you getting a a generous storage area out of that attic?

tjc78

@fintail said:
I am pretty sure I remember a highlighted "55" in our Tempo. It only read to 80!

Pretty sure the highlighted 55 didn’t show up until MY 1980 or even 81.

That part of the law was passed late 1979.

I know my 79 Continental didn’t have it, but both my 89 LTC and Grand Marquis still did.

andre1969

Thanks guys. The garage is getting a concrete floor poured, but with the way they do these pole barns, the floor is the last thing that gets done. As for the attic, it's going to be about 15x60 feet. The majority of the attic is going to have an 8-foot ceiling. The roof cuts into it a bit, but it's still about 6 feet tall, at the walls.

Oh, there was an Arrow at the Mopar show, that had been turned into a drag car. I had run out of storage on my phone by the time we saw it, but I think Lemko took a picture of it.

I calculated the New Yorker's fuel economy on this trip, and it came out to a rather piggish ~14.7 mpg. However, that wasn't pure highway driving. I got about 269 miles between fill ups. However, the first ~17 were local driving, plus time at the mechanic, before the trip. And when I drove up to Carlisle, the line to get in was so long and traffic was bad enough that the last three miles took about 30 minutes! I'm sure that helped sink its economy. Plus, I'll confess I pegged the 85 mph speedometer a few times, just to see if it could still do it! It still feels like it has plenty of guts at that point, but then handling starts getting a bit squirrely, and then the realization that this thing won't stop as fast or predictably as a modern car should the need arise kicks in, stuff like that...

So, maybe all things considered, 14.7 isn't TOO horrible?

tjc78

15x60? Two words.. MAN CAVE!!

tjc78

My 79 Continental wouldn’t hit 14.7 downhill with the engine off….

sda

Remind me, does the Fifth Ave have the 318 or 360? I remember mom's downsized 78 Olds 98 with the 403 and economy axle got 10-12mpg city and maybe 16 mpg hwy with speeds not exceeding 62 mph...55 speed limit. It did have a 25-27 gal fuel tank.

ab348

Man, Andre, I hope you told Lemko to get himself back in here now and then.

andre1969

The 5th Avenue has a 360-2bbl, and a 2.45:1 axle ratio. I don't know what its original EPA rating would have been. Online, for 1979 the EPA only lists the city estimate, and I know that was 14. For 1978, a Fury/Monaco or Cordoba with the 360-2bbl was rated at 14 city/22 highway, so I'd guess my 5th Ave should be similar.

As for Lemko, I think he said the reason he stopped posting here is that he has troubles logging in nowadays. Something about when the Edmund's forums went to one of the newer formats, he started having problems.

roadburner

@ab348 said:
Man, Andre, I hope you told Lemko to get himself back in here now and then.

Yes; I want to know if driving his current sled is still better than sex with his girlfriend.

andre1969

roadburner said:

Yes; I want to know if driving his current sled is still better than sex with his girlfriend.

LOL, funny, we were actually talking about that comment on Saturday at the car show! I guess that's one quote that's gone down in history, by now!

ab348

Well, I finally pushed the button:

https://my1968oldsmobilecutlass.wordpress.com/2021/07/13/my-1968-olds-cutlass-is-for-sale/