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

imidazol97

Was that Der Dutchman? The Der Dutchman hosts weekly cruise-ins at their
Plain City location. The largest in this area that are weekly. (The July 4 in Urbana
is larger but once a year.)

I wish I could travel to some of the "nearby" museums from my Vandalia area.

imidazol97

andre1969 said:

For some reason I keep getting drawn to the pic of that '65 Impala that ab348 posted. The car is gorgeous, but even the setting looks nice. Just looks like a perfect spring day, the type where you wish you could just freeze time for awhile, and enjoy it.

1965 just seems like such a magical year in general for the auto industry. We'll probably never again have a year like that, where there is so much that's new, all in the same year.

The picture has been set up very nicely. Cut in thirds. The eye should start at upper left and fall to the right upper third. Then drop to lower third, where the white roof and lovely lavendar catch the eye. The white roof is contrasted against the strong green of the grass. The hematite of the newly paved road serves to ground the lavendar color by being darker without fighting it for attention.

Photoshop out the fireplug and trashcan along with some of the straggly stick bushes or trees and that
picture would be one I'd hang on my wall.

explorerx4

A 65 Impala is a great looking car, but color is something only my grandmother could love.

uplanderguy

Was that Der Dutchman? The Der Dutchman hosts weekly cruise-ins at their
Plain City location. The largest in this area that are weekly. (The July 4 in Urbana
is larger but once a year.)

I wish I could travel to some of the "nearby" museums from my Vandalia area.

It was indeed!

I'm a comfort-food, meat-and-potatoes guy. Their bread stuffing there is the best I've ever had. Ended dinner with a piece of peanut butter pie. My friend said they think the food there is bland, and when I thought about it, I get it--noodles, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, etc., isn't very bold, but it's what I like! LOL

Our trip from Columbus to Auburn was a very relaxing, rural, sometimes scenic, drive, with zero traffic....the kind of drive I like best. Good smooth roads and four lanes in a lot of places. We took 33 into Marysville, then 117 through some small towns, into Lima, Delphos, then into Indiana.

uplanderguy

BTW, I asked at both A-C-D and the Early Ford V8 museums, if any famous people had stopped by. The old fellow at A-C-D said "Jay Leno of course, Willie Mays, and one night about 5:30 after we were closed, Dan Aykroyd peered in and asked if we were open. We let him come in and look around anyway". At the Early Ford V8 museum, I was told Justin Bieber (LOL) and some rapper with "Master" in his name (I can't recall the rest) had been there.

xwesx

That's one unfortunate thing about our location in Ohio.... we must drive half-way around the lake before we can start going north toward Michigan!

explorerx4

@xwesx,
Not sure if it makes any sense because it is east, but have you considered entering Canada in the Buffalo NY area?

andre1969

All this talk about Ohio and Michigan and such is getting me a bit nostalgic for my amusement park days. I used to get season passes for Cedar Fair, which owns Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, as well as Kings Dominion near Richmond VA (the closest park to me) and Dorney Park in Allentown PA (about 3 hours away if you drive fast enough and traffic cooperates). I used to go with a couple of friends out to Cedar Point, and then swing down to Kings Island, and we'd make a little vacation out of it.

My '76 LeMans came from the Cincinnati area, too. Hard to believe that was back in 2005 that I went out there to get it!

kyfdx

@andre1969
Wow.. that's been awhile.

andre1969

kyfdx said:

@andre1969
Wow.. that's been awhile.

I know, right? I still remember when we met up, and that was my first time eating at a Steak n Shake. We didn't have them in Maryland at the time, although now there's one about 5-6 miles up the road from my house. We ate there a few times, but once the pandemic set in, their service started getting really iffy. Long wait times, messing up the order, etc. Lots of restaurants were having the same problem, but it seemed like Steak n Shake was worse.

Kind of a shame, because every time we did get food from there, I'd always think about that little car-fetching trip out to Ohio.

imidazol97

andre1969 said:

car-fetching trip out to Ohio.

That makes it sound like Ohio is somewhere out and away from the rest of the world.
Instead of being "The Heart of It All."

laurasdada

imidazol97 said:

andre1969 said:

car-fetching trip out to Ohio.

That makes it sound like Ohio is somewhere out and away from the rest of the world.
Instead of being "The Heart of It All."

Of course, Boston is the hub of the universe.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

@xwesx,
Not sure if it makes any sense because it is east, but have you considered entering Canada in the Buffalo NY area?

Well, to get around the lake, it's basically six of one and a half-dozen of the other. If I recall correctly, the lake is approximately 240 miles long, and we're smack-dab in the middle: 120 miles west OR east before we can go north! And, while I do love Niagara, Michigan is definitely west of us, so crossing the border *twice* just to pop into Michigan going the long way seems a bit more than I want to deal with in the current climate.

If we could just point the car and drive direct, we're about fifty miles apart. In the real world, we're 240 miles after passing through Cleveland and Toledo. Next time I go to Michigan, though, I want to see something *other* than Detroit. Hahah

xwesx

andre1969 said:

kyfdx said:

@andre1969
Wow.. that's been awhile.

I know, right? I still remember when we met up, and that was my first time eating at a Steak n Shake. We didn't have them in Maryland at the time, although now there's one about 5-6 miles up the road from my house. We ate there a few times, but once the pandemic set in, their service started getting really iffy. Long wait times, messing up the order, etc. Lots of restaurants were having the same problem, but it seemed like Steak n Shake was worse.

Kind of a shame, because every time we did get food from there, I'd always think about that little car-fetching trip out to Ohio.

Oh, man.... Steak n Shake has the BEST ordering system of any post-COVID-era restaurant! I went there one time with the kids in Ashtabula. The food wasn't great (burgers were okay, but the fries were just these tiny, thin things), but those ordering kiosks were state-of-the-art. The people at the restaurant were pretty stellar, too. They messed up the fixings on my daughter's burger, and they were awesome about fixing it even though she didn't want to make an issue out of it. The kind lady who served us patiently coaxed the problem out of her and turned it into a positive experience for all of us.

explorerx4

@xwesx,
Not sure why you go into Michigan at all.

sda

andre1969 said:

All this talk about Ohio and Michigan and such is getting me a bit nostalgic for my amusement park days. I used to get season passes for Cedar Fair, which owns Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, as well as Kings Dominion near Richmond VA (the closest park to me) and Dorney Park in Allentown PA (about 3 hours away if you drive fast enough and traffic cooperates). I used to go with a couple of friends out to Cedar Point, and then swing down to Kings Island, and we'd make a little vacation out of it.

My '76 LeMans came from the Cincinnati area, too. Hard to believe that was back in 2005 that I went out there to get it!

In my Senior year in high school 78, we lived in Central Va. I went with friends to Kings Dominion. Seals and Crofts were playing outside to a medium size crowd.

uplanderguy

Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg, NATMUS, and Early Ford V8 museums are all in Auburn in northeast Indiana, although don’t know if that’s relevant to the discussion now.

The A-C-D building itself is simply awesome...art deco, original flooring and light fixtures in the showroom downstairs, chock full of cars on more than one floor, and the engineering offices and boardroom are still upstairs. Even the men's room upstairs seems like it's out of "The Shining" or something....still very '30's.

Spotted this motley row en route home from Chick-Fil-A this morning, the back way:

Three '80's Monte Carlo SS's including an '87 Aerocoupe, two '74-ish Grand Prixs, a '73-75 Cutlass Supreme coupe pretty stripped down (way down at the end), a '79 or '80 Dodge Aspen coupe, and a '73 Impala Custom Coupe all in a row at a fairly-seedy-looking shop.

The blue SS is an '84, and the black SS near the end is an '87 or '88 in what I think is the best color combo; black with gold striping and lettering.

I'm reminded by the Grand Prix--if anyone is reproducing the bright trim around quarter windows for any and all of the Colonnade coupes, they are probably making a fortune. If the originals have lasted this long on a car, it's a modern miracle.

uplanderguy

imidazol, lots to visit in OH for sure, if you're a history buff like I am. I love presidential homes and I also like Malabar Farm, home of a Pulitzer-prize-winning author whose name escapes me but who allowed Bogey and Bacall to get married in his house to avoid paparazzi. Neat tour there.

Funny, I know I'm weird; I don't watch/care about sports; the beach bores me, but in a museum or historic spot, my mind is on overload with questions.

I couldn't live in a major city--not even Columbus. I'm convinced I will die of a stroke just sitting in my car stopped in traffic someplace. I literally cannot stand it, in the worst way. I lived for two years in greater Atlanta in the '80's. I hated the traffic and congestion then, and it would surely kill me now.

kyfdx

@andre1969
Most of the Steak n Shakes around here have been closing up. The cheap, casual, sit-down waited table business really took a beating from COVID. Frisch's Big Boy is the same way. Hard times.

Even though both of those have drive-thrus, they aren't really set-up for the super-quick service that other places have.

uplanderguy

The Steak and Shakes around us have closed as well. I always liked the food and they were always sending out good coupons, but the ones nearest us, and in Mishawaka, IN as well, seemed dirty the last few times I was in them. We ate at one near Mansfield, OH off I-71 a few years ago and our milkshakes, ordered with the meal, came out after we were done eating. The men's room looked like you needed a Hazmat suit to go in. First time I ever emailed a company to complain. I did get an offer of our next meal free, but never went back to that one.

kyfdx

Over the years, the service was so spotty, that we gave up on them. Who has 75-90 minutes available to eat lunch?

I did like the milkshakes, though.

Bob Evans is another one that went from "someplace special" to total crap.

Frisch's is based in Cincinnati, and when I was growing up in Lexington, there was one with bicycle distance from my house. That's always been my go-to for breakfast, when eating out. There are still about five of them within 7 miles of my house.

andre1969

I had always been curious about Steak-n-Shake ever since I was a kid. For Christmas, either in 1980 or 1981, someone gave me a toy truck that said Steak-n-Shake on the trailer. Packrat that I am, I still have the thing...
Still, I never actually ate at one until April of 2005, when I went to Ohio and bought the LeMans, and met kyfdx since he was local. Didn't eat at another one until maybe October 2018, when I discovered there was one nearby soon after I bought the new house.

I actually like them, and would be willing to stop in again. I rarely eat out, though. On Friday nights, I have a friend that comes over and watches tv with my housemate and me, and will always stop off for food somewhere for all of us. He's one of those "weird" minimalist types that gave up his tv years ago and swears he doesn't miss it. But then Friday night tv suddenly becomes like a special event for him! This is my Panther-driving friend, who has gone through four of them now ('95 Grand Marquis, '04 Crown Vic, '09 Grand Marquis, and then an almost identical '09 when the first one got totaled). Anyway, he finally got fed up with them, and said he was scratching them off the list. He's one of those types that gets easily ruffled over anything though, and I swear, at the rate he's going, we're going to have to learn to strangle the chickens ourselves if we want anything to eat!

Here's another artifact from my childhood...
I have no idea how old this one is; it's been around as long as I can remember. On the bottom of the cab, it has a US patent number, and below that "CANADA PAT 1969" These Toys'R'Us trucks must have been pretty common back in the day. I actually remember having two of them as a kid, but can't remember what happened to the other one. I googled "Structo Toys R Us Truck", and a bunch of them popped up online.

uplanderguy

Bob Evans is another one that went from "someplace special" to total crap.

Agree totally. Other than their yeasty rolls, there's nothing to draw me in there anymore.

Of that kind of place, I like Cracker Barrel best. They have a Wed-night-only special called "Broccoli Cheddar Chicken" that makes me weak in the knees. But, my longtime favorite breakfast meal there, Uncle Herschel's Breakfast with fried chicken tenderloins as the meat choice, has changed significantly in the past year or two...and it's not at just one location. The chicken is definitely different (not as good), and smaller.

uplanderguy

What about 'Five Guys'?

I always like the food, and quality, but the price? Sheesh! A single burger, small fries, and soft drink is $14.68 where I live.

ab348

Steak-n-Shake doesn't exist up here and I don't know if I've ever seen one in my trips through the USA. Certainly never patronized one. But looking at the online menu, it doesn't seem that they offer anything resembling steak. How the heck did they end up with that name?

tjc78

The Toys R Us truck is pretty cool. I work with a bunch of old TRU guys (corporate). To hear how that place went down is something else.

uplanderguy

How the heck did they end up with that name?

They call their thin burgers, "Steakburgers".

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

How the heck did they end up with that name?

They call their thin burgers, "Steakburgers".

That reminds me of an old commercial, perhaps for A1 Steak Sauce, where they say "What IS hamburger anyway? Chopped ham? No, it's chopped steak!" with the idea that steak sauce wasn't just for steak, but hamburger as well.

I do remember them tasting a bit different from your typical burger...maybe they're more lean, have less filler, or something like that? Or, it could just be marketing at work...you hear the word "steak" and your mind tricks your tastebuds into thinking it's a better product!

andre1969

On the subject of the Colonade coupe quarter windows, how many configurations did they have, anyway? Near as I can tell, there's
1) the big triangular windows associated with the lesser models
2) the louvered windows associated with the sportier models
3) the opera window with the more fastback roof (like my '76 LeMans)
4) the Monte Carlo
5) the Grand Prix
6) The more formal roof Cutlass/Buicks (Cutlass Supreme, Century Custom, Regal)

The last three look the same to me at a quick glance, but if I look more closely, the Grand Prix window looks a bit larger than the Cutlass Supreme/Regal, while the Monte Carlo's window looks narrower.

Considering how much alike these cars were accused of being, it's interesting how much variation they still offered. And then one thing I had never really noticed before...on the formal-roof models, the B-pillar is a bit more vertical than on the faster-roof models. And to think I've had one of these cars damn near 17 years, and that little detail escaped me! I guess that more upright B-pillar, and correspondingly more squared-off door opening, would make something like a Grand Prix slightly easier to get into the back seat of than my LeMans.

kyfdx

uplanderguy said:

What about 'Five Guys'?

I always like the food, and quality, but the price? Sheesh! A single burger, small fries, and soft drink is $14.68 where I live.

Five Guys is good, but it's one of those places with giant servings of fries. No point in going, unless there are two of you to split an order.

We have a local place that is similar, but much more reasonably priced. Two of us can eat there for under $20 (splitting a fry order that is plenty big)
https://madmikesburger.com/

texases

kyfdx said:

@andre1969
Most of the Steak n Shakes around here have been closing up. The cheap, casual, sit-down waited table business really took a beating from COVID. Frisch's Big Boy is the same way. Hard times.

Even though both of those have drive-thrus, they aren't really set-up for the super-quick service that other places have.

You had me worried - turns out the Frisch's in North College Hill is still open, went there all through grade school and high school.

uplanderguy

Without looking at pics, I do think the Monte Carlo opera window had pretty parallel front and rear vertical edges. I think the Supreme and Regal were similar or maybe more slant to the rear edge, but the Grand Prix did have the biggest opera window, at least in my memory.

I never thought about it, but the B-pillar in the formal-roof cars is more upright. In other words, the door glass I feel almost certain would not interchange between a Chevelle coupe and a Monte Carlo.

Similarly, my friend was once turning a low-mileage basic two-door '74 Chevelle Malibu six a few years ago; something like 20-odd K miles. He wanted or needed a new driver's door glass for it. He saw one for an El Camino for sale. He thought for sure they were the same. I told him, "no they are not...they don't even look the same in the brochure or in person". He finally agreed. I can't turn a wrench to save my life, like he can, but stuff like that I notice.

Hey, you forgot the louvered window they used on the Laguna S-3 in '75 and '76!

uplanderguy

In that lineup of cars at the shop, I'm reminded that I do like the concave rear window of the Impala Customs of that period. Maybe that is a subtle reason why Chevy went with the bent-glass rear window in '77, just as a nod to the different rear window in full-size coupes they'd used for so long.

I was just daydreaming the other day about how I could possibly enjoy a '75 Impala Sport Coupe, conservatively styled, all four windows go down, not often seen, and probably the best Impala interiors up to that time on that iteration, anyway. I was reminded that the trunk in the Custom Coupe was 18.1 cu.ft. instead of 18.9 in the sport coupe. I can remember thinking as a kid that the Custom Coupe trunk was bigger, as the lid was much bigger. All appearance I guess.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

How the heck did they end up with that name?

They call their thin burgers, "Steakburgers".

Some people call hot dogs "tube streaks" also, but that doesn't make them so.

laurasdada

Never been to a Steak and Shake or a Bob Evans... but, funny story from SF visit:
Went from SFO to In n Out Burger. As I waited for our order, a woman walked up to the counter with a burger in each hand. Clerk behind the counter asked was there a problem with the burgers? She answered, yes, there's no burgers on these burgers! She opened em up, sure enough, lettuce, tomato... no meat.
Quickly rectified.

kyfdx

texases said:

kyfdx said:

@andre1969
Most of the Steak n Shakes around here have been closing up. The cheap, casual, sit-down waited table business really took a beating from COVID. Frisch's Big Boy is the same way. Hard times.

Even though both of those have drive-thrus, they aren't really set-up for the super-quick service that other places have.

You had me worried - turns out the Frisch's in North College Hill is still open, went there all through grade school and high school.

I didn’t mean to alarm you. Yes, Frisch’s is struggling, but, no, they aren’t closing restaurants. At least not here, in their home market.

But, Lexington had 5-6 of them, 20 years ago. Now, there is just one left.

uplanderguy

"In and Out"--I enjoyed them when visiting my daughter when she lived in San Luis Obispo. Reasonably priced too.

Greg--I always liked 'Red Robin' although a couple nearest us have closed. I think they were/are a Canadian company, is that right?

uplanderguy

For comfort food, my wife (from Frankenmuth, MI) introduced me over 30 years ago up that-a-way, to "Bill Knapp's". They're all gone now, but I remember being able to get really good au gratin potatoes there, not a common item on a restaurant menu. Also, you got a free piece of their 'celebration cake', white or chocolate, if it was your birthday. I remember probably 30 years ago when the fellow sitting behind us was there on his 100th birthday.

At Meijer's, a Michigan-based grocery that has recently opened in our area, they have Bill Knapp's brand celebration cakes and some other baked goods. We enjoy them and yes, apparently are suckers for the nostalgia.

andre1969

Hmm, I never really noticed that, about the El Camino vs the Malibu coupe, either, but now in looking at the two in profile, I definitely see the difference. The door itself looks the same to me, but the angle of the rear part of the glass is definitely more rakish on the El Camino!

It also wasn't until somewhat recently that I realized the El Camino was on the 4-door's 116" wb, rather than the 112" of the Chevelle coupe. And, in looking at the two in profile, again, the extra 4 inches of quarter panel between the door and wheel opening is noticeable, although it doesn't really jump out.

I'd always wondered what the Colonade coupes would have looked like, if they had let them have the same wheelbase as the sedans, so that you could get that extra 4" of legroom in back and make the rear seats more usable. Would it have thrown off the proportions overall, I wonder, and made the cars look awkward?

I guess one bad side effect of doing that, would be that the Monte and Grand Prix would then be on a 120" wheelbase, since on those cars the extra 4" went ahead of the cowl, to give the cars a longer front. And that would push them into Riviera/Toronado territory!

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

I was just daydreaming the other day about how I could possibly enjoy a '75 Impala Sport Coupe, conservatively styled, all four windows go down, not often seen, and probably the best Impala interiors up to that time on that iteration, anyway. I was reminded that the trunk in the Custom Coupe was 18.1 cu.ft. instead of 18.9 in the sport coupe. I can remember thinking as a kid that the Custom Coupe trunk was bigger, as the lid was much bigger. All appearance I guess.

Here ya go, Uplander...

I know I've posted this pic before, but here's a '75 that I saw at Spring Carlisle back in 2019. I believe it was already sold by the time I took this picture. It was also drawing a decent amount of attention, so apparently I wasn't the only one who appreciated it!

Hmm...almost forgot that I took a pic of this car's 4-door twin back in 2015...


I could definitely see myself being happy with the Sport coupe, as I'd prefer a true hardtop with roll-down windows in the back. One thing I never can remember...did the Custom Coupe give you a nicer interior than the Sport, or was the only difference the roofline? I could see spending a bit more for the Custom in '71-73, for the nicer (in my opinion at least) looking roof, but by '74-75, I would definitely balk at the idea of paying more, for a design with stationary rear windows!

I'm really digging that 4-door hardtop as well, though. I could be happy with something like that. In fact, in some of the styles, like the later Electras and Ninety-Eights, and the DeVille, I'd rather have the 4-door, because it was still a hardtop, compared to the 2-doors, which had landau roofs and fixed windows. Once they got to a certain size, too, I think the 4-door hardtops had nicer proportions than the coupes.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Greg--I always liked 'Red Robin' although a couple nearest us have closed. I think they were/are a Canadian company, is that right?

Hmmm. I’ve never heard of them. Could be a Canadian firm though. Sometimes Central Canada thinks of the Maritimes as an outport…

tjc78

Red Robin makes a pretty good burger. We have one nearby. Kids like it.

laurasdada

And, unlimited fries at Red Robin! Heading there this weekend.
In and Out may be the only reasonably priced place I've found in California. No way to retire there without large amounts of $$$, imo.

kyfdx

Red Robin: Pretty good burgers. Not fond of steak fries, though. (like you could eat more than the huge amount they give you to start with)

Started in Seattle
HQ in Colorado

laurasdada

kyfdx said:

Red Robin: Pretty good burgers. Not fond of steak fries, though. (like you could eat more than the huge amount they give you to start with)

Started in Seattle
HQ in Colorado

Unfortunately, I can and I do. I consider all you can eat a challenge to my manhood.
Not that there aren't consequences, but pride before the fall.

fintail

On all this food talk - no normal Steak N Shake or Shake Shack or Bob Evans etc in the PNW. There is a little storefront Steak N Shake in Seattle, but it isn't like the ones elsewhere. I like a good shake, so I am a fan. No Cracker Barrel either, although there are a couple in the Portland metro, and one in north Idaho - I think I heard something about WA franchise laws doesn't work for them, or something similar. I like Cracker Barrel too, for breakfast. My first stop when I arrived on this trip was breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

Red Robin, however, is a PNW thing, and they are in most cities of import in the region (in at least western Canada or BC, too). Hard to go wrong there.

texases

It was a big deal when Red Robin first opened in Anchorage. Competition for Arctic Roadrunner, where I tried to distract my wife from the mouse running by...

uplanderguy

andre, I don't know why, but I don't think there was a '75 Impala that still had its standard (narrow) or optional (wide) body side moldings on after about 1980. What's weird is, Caprices had a wide molding that was a different style than the Impalas, and I still see them to this day with all their side moldings intact.

Besides liking the '75 instrument panel better, and the herringbone cloth or all-vinyl seating better, plus I like that the body side moldings didn't go over the front wheel openings, we had a new '74 Impala Sport Coupe that I know I have a picture of me in my graduation cap and gown in front of. My Dad hated the idea of rear windows not rolling down so was anti-Custom Coupe.

Our '74 was that terrible non-metallic creamy light green, with the optional white painted top ($31 option). It did have the nice cloth seating that year...a brocade-y cloth with a bit of a satiny swirly pattern in it, in light green.

I didn't notice this 'til later, but the '74 big Chevy full wheelcover was the '70 big Chevy full wheelcover. First time I ever knew Chevy to recycle a wheel cover. The '75 Monza Towne Coupe wheelcover was actually an old Corvair wheelcover I'm pretty sure!

Not sure of a color I'd pick, but in a '75 Impala Sport Coupe, I'd go with no skirts, wide body side molding, wheel opening moldings, Quiet Sound Group (Caprice Classic insulation package), Econominder Gauge Package, 50/50 front seat with passenger recliner, A/C, and power windows. Probably a 350 4-barrel for power.

Our '74 had the optional wheel opening moldings (couldn't stand the car without them), and the Quiet Sound Group. No A/C.

Although the 'Spirit of America' thing is gimmicky, in hindsight I could like a dark blue '74 Spirit of America Impala Sport Coupe. No body side moldings, truck-style Rally Wheels, and the '75 Impala vinyl interior with carpeted lower door panels.

stickguy

I always liked the spirit of America Nova hatch.

sda

I think I’d add to your list, sport or heavy duty suspension, power locks, am/fm with rear speaker ( the over priced stereo wasn’t that good, at least not in dad’s 73 Catalina), 6 way power seat.