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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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All good items. I remember the stereo radios being well into the $300's, which did seem shocking. I might be remembering that with cassette player, but still.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-ford-crown-victoria-4/
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A non-woody wagon that late has to be rare.
Here is one that may be of interest.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdyEQVCr/
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While I love the buttery softness of domestic leather back then, it never seemed to hold up without a lot of maintenance. In Cadillac Calais models, they offered 'expanded vinyl' which for the most part, looked like smooth, soft leather, but held up way better than the leather they used in DeVilles.
That Concours in the tiktok video...I guess to put that custom console in, he had to replace the front seats with something other than factory. Still, nice looking car overall.
Everybody, including myself, always says the 's' at the end of 'Concours'. I can't remember where I saw it, or when, and can't remember if it were from Chevy or Cadillac (who used the name later), but I think the official pronounciation of it leaves the 's' sound off the end.
Surprisingly missing the third row, because otherwise it’s very well equipped. In all honesty that wagon is about as good as it gets. No wood, LX trim, leather, dual exhaust and turbines. I didn’t dig into the pictures too deep to see if they posted the axle code but I’d wager it is a trailer tow car too.
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But, they did square these cars up a bit for '74, so it's possible that '71-73 Custom roof might not have worked quite as well, as it was a bit more rounded.
Still, in the overall scheme of things, it's a minor quibble with me. For instance, going just on looks, I'd rather have a '74 or '75 Impala Sport coupe, than a '73 Impala Custom. There's just something about that '73 front-end I don't care for.
I know we've talked about it before, but for some reason, I have an odd fascination with that hybrid "Colonade/true-hardtop" style that the B-O-P B-body hardtop coupes used. I know it's "wrong" on so many levels, and challenges good taste, yet I still find one of these appealing...
I've always wondered though, if you're sitting in the back seat, isn't that C-pillar pretty much going to kill your view? Seems to me that the roll-down window is too far forward, while the fixed window is too far backward, to really give much of a view.
It probably gave the driver pretty good visibility, though.
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/pontiac/catalina/2419679.html
To me, this seems like the kind of car you pay maybe $1500-2000 for it, and you have a fun old beater to drive around for awhile, until something catastrophic breaks on it. Or, you restore it, if it's a true labor of love, that you know you'll never get your money's worth out of it. But, I might be out of touch.
Anyway, last fall at the Carlisle PA swap meet, there were a couple of nice Catalinas for sale. Here's a really nice '73...
Here's a '72...
Now, these prices were also as of last October, so who knows? With inflation, the economy and such, maybe these prices would be jacked up more if these cars were for sale now? I would think that inflation, and this type of economy would sort of put the damper on the prices of cars like this, though, as these are essentially toys that nobody really needs.
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Most of it's the bumpers, but there are other things that make me not like '73-76 Pontiacs as well as '71 and '72's. Just small detail stuff.
andre, the '73 is probably my least-favorite '71-76 big Chevy as well. I don't like the front, I don't like the taillights, I don't care for the upper interior door panels (shared in '74), the wheelcovers don't do much for me, and I don't like the side moldings going over the front wheel openings, LOL (same with '74).
I like the Custom Coupe roofline up through '73. It's elegant. But I never liked the Sport Coupe roofline from '71 to '73. I don't mind it on the B-O-P cars, but it looks small to me on the Chevy body, I think because the Chevy has slab sides and square wheel openings. So, I preferred the squared-off '74 Sport Coupe quarter window to the '71-73 style.
My sister's in-laws, who lived in our town, had a base-model '74 LeSabre coupe in a russet metallic color. It was a cheapie with no wheel opening moldings. I don't mind that roofline when all the windows are down, but I don't like the three-window look on the side otherwise, like I don't like a partition in rear door glass then a quarter window behind it, on some Ford and Mopar products.
It does get some ventilation back there, unlike the Chevy Custom Coupe and the more-expensive B, O, P big cars.
I've ridden in the back of my buddy's old '73 Chevelle SS coupe and my view was the B-pillar, even with that big quarter window. I agree that it looks like the same thing would happen with the full-size pillared coupes, including the Chevy.
I still think that after the '64, the formal-top big '68 Chevys are the ugliest sixties big Chevys!
Anyway, he claims he didn't know, but the 'mongrel' is in the city I live in, LOL.
I do find the Impala SS for '68, and also '69, intriguing because the volume seemed to go waaaayyy down on those models after '67. I really like the '68 SS bucket seats in lighter colors as the seats have a two-tone treatment, light and dark color. The '68 SS has very nice door panels too IMHO.
This car for sale locally was originally Grecian Green, which was popular but I've always largely detested, although now it's a turquoise metallic similar to what was offered that year. It's black original interior, which doesn't look as nice as of course, black seats are monotone. But the car isn't for the faint of heart, LOL.
Here's a '71 Impala and '72 LeSabre, to compare...
From some angles I think the '71-73 Sport Coupe looks nice, but then from others it looks a bit awkward. In the above pic, for instance, it almost looks to me like the designers of the front of the car and the back of the car weren't quite in sync, and when they got to the middle they tried to blend it the best they coulde. They had a similar issue, I thought, when the C-body coupes went to those fixed-windows. Or the '74+ Caprice coupe and Impala Custom, where those cars just seemed like they didn't line up right at the B-pillar.
Looking at the date, April of 68, Granddad would have been 51, turning 52 in November of '68. And ouch, suddenly I feel old! I turn 52 in a couple weeks, and here I am, looking at a pic of Granddad, from when he was younger than I am! Where does the time go?!
It's also interesting how the memory can play tricks on you. This is probably the first car that I can remember. But, I remember it being a more vivid bluish-green color, like a turquoise or something. Basically, more blue than green on the color scale. I've thought that perhaps it could simply be the picture being faded over the years, plus that washed-out color film they used back then anyway, but in looking at modern pics online to where I can see what a Grecian Green Chevy looks like today and still nope, that's not how my mind remembers it!
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Big mid 70s Pontiacs always make me think of this:
You know me, I usually don't like skirts, but I think they look OK on that Impala.
The first '71 big Chevy (Impala Custom Coupe) I saw at our hometown dealer's was that green. I believe the Chevy and Buick pictured are the same colors.
I like in '71 and later, how the Centurion ditched the fake portholes (sacrilege, I know) of the LeSabre and put the series nameplate down lower on the car.
Something I always liked about the '71 Impalas was they all had that wide rocker and sill trim. In fact, with that wide trim, I sort-of liked the plain side trim and even no wheel opening trim as I think those cars could get away with it.
Favorite '71 big car color: Sea Aqua is what Chevy called it. I remember seeing exactly one new car at our hometown dealer in that color--a Bel Air with black vinyl interior. They had it a loonnnnngg time.
I like the full-size Buick's instrument panel best of the four divisions starting in '71. If we include Caddy, I like the '71 DeVille's brushed metal appliques on dash and door panels, which didn't last the whole way through the model year before being replaced with fake woodgrain.
Ahhh, choice of fifteen exterior colors. Plus add painted top or vinyl top if desired.
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The most extreme example, I think, is the '71-72 Bonneville. It used that same roofline, but the wheelbase was 126". In comparison, the LeSabre was 124" and the Impala was only 121.5." As far as I know, all the extra length was ahead of the cowl, to give it a longer hood. GM used to stretch the Bonneville (and Star Chief/Executive) a few inches in the rear, pulling the rear axle back, but without making the passenger cabin any bigger. But for '71, they went the other way, stretching it in front, instead.
Buick and Olds did stretch the wheelbase 3" for the Electra/Ninety-Eight, versus the LeSabre/Delta 88, but in that case the stretch was in the back, and gave you a bigger back seat, at least.
For '74, Pontiac put them all on the 124" wheelbase (except wagons, which were on a 127")
It's amazing, too, how many different shades of green/blue they offered back then. Of those 15 colors, 8 of them are variations of green or blue! In contrast, when I bought my 2000 Intrepid, I think they had 10 or 11 colors. But they were down to a light green that I always called "sage"...sort of a grayish-green. They had a dark green that was sort of a "sequoia" I guess. And the only blue at the time was sort of a steely gray-blue.
https://jalopnik.com/heres-the-story-behind-the-oldsmobile-crushed-by-300-lb-1848658789
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RE.: Tripoli Turquoise '68 Chevy--my friend a couple years ago sent me an ad for a car he actually drove a couple hours to look at. It looked decent in the ad but was crusty underneath. It was a Tripoli Turquoise '68 Impala SS sport coupe (fastback) with 307 and column-mounted three-speed manual. It had a console (part of the SS package), but where the shifter would be was a factory fill-in plate. So weird. It's absolutely the only one I've ever seen like that.
I have to confess, I actually like it more than I'd normally expect myself to. I normally go more for frosty greens, greenish blues, forest greens, and such.
I just noticed though, I can't find any pics of a full-sized Pontiac or Oldsmobile in lime green. But I found a LeSabre. It was a low resolution pic so I didn't bother to post...it was a hardtop coupe with a white top, green rims, and dog-dish hubcaps. I wonder if it was one of those V6 "Special" models they offered that year? A Toronado in lime green popped up, but it was an illustration...
And, I just found where that illustration came from...
I’ll have to dig up a picture but I’m pretty sure my Dad’s late 70s Grand Prix was that lime green color.
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Pretty clearly, no power steering!
When I did production order research on '63's some thirty years ago in South Bend, I saw a few production orders (build sheets) that said "Tag for The Price Is Right" at the bottom. I also saw a black supercharged Lark tagged for "Diocese of Chicago Raffle Car".
I'm surprised in that Olds illustration though, that that none of the cars showed the dark green. It was a nice color in my opinion, and would probably be my first choice. Here's a '76 Cutlass in that shade...
Tripoli Turquoise in '68 was known as Ocean Turquoise at Oldsmobile and was the original color of my Cutlass. But with the black interior I didn't think the two shades got along well, and the paint was old and dull when I bought it. When I had it repainted I thought the '68 red was a better choice, although as time went on I warmed up to the turquoise shade more. Freshly painted I'm sure it would have looked good.
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A lime green was available on the '76 Vega. I'd think it was metallic too but maybe a slightly different shade. Often, the Vega and Corvette had their own colors, and Nova/Chevelle/Full-Size had their own colors. Don't ask me about Camaro as I really didn't pay much attention.
That '76 dark green reminds me that on 'All Original Cars' on FB, a couple weeks ago was a dark green metallic '72 Vega hatchback with 10.9K miles. Utterly remarkable original condition, which I have to admire--I probably haven't seen one so original and nice in over 40 years. Sandalwood (light beige) Custom Interior option too, which makes the interior waaayyyy more palatable. Story was a woman bought it, drove it 'til she died in '77, and her family (son?) stored it in a barn 'til recently and then sold it to the current owner. Really remarkable condition for an early Vega.
There was also a lime color still showing, simply "Light Lime" at Chevy and "Royal Lime" at Pontiac. It's a non-metallic color, and a different code from the '76 Non-metallic lime. And again, I can't imagine what kind of car would have used it, except something like a Vega, Chevette, or Astre, maybe? I googled "1977 Chevrolet Lime" and not a single 1977 Chevy in a lime color showed up. When I did the same for Pontiac, again, it was basically everything BUT. Well, except for this...
And I have a feeling this ain't stock!
Both the green and blue interiors in those cars were a very light shade. I remember quite liking a green Olds Delta 88 Royale in a light green metallic exterior and a pale green interior. The inside, while clearly green, didn't jump out as such, but rather as just a nice calming, muted shade.
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Besides being all in to the new full-size GM's that year, something that kind-of turned me off in a minor way to Chevelles that year, was the door panels on the Malibu Classic previously had a big cloth insert that matched the seats, if the seats were cloth, and vinyl door panel inserts for all-vinyl interiors. The urge to cheapen/simplify must have been overwhelming for '77 as you got the vinyl door panel inserts no matter if you got cloth or all-vinyl interior!
I did like the spoked plastic wheelcovers from the full-size Chevys, which were seen (not often) on Chevelles and Monte Carlos that year.
As you and I have discussed, I so wish Chevy would've offered the Malibu Classic with the triangle window as a choice and a delete option on the hood ornament, LOL. In '74 I found out that Pontiac offered the Luxury LeMans interior on the base LeMans sedan, and maybe even the coupe with triangular window or the Sport Coupe, which is nice if you wanted that interior but didn't want fender skirts.
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