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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Here's an '82 Cutlass, in light jade, like what I had (except mine was nowhere near this nice)...
My Dad was deciding between two '74 Impala Sport Coupes with the identical bottom line of sticker--$4,408.00. One was that baby diarrhea non-metallic green with green cloth and white painted top, and the other was the maroon of your Dad's with white painted top and the black and white herringbone interior, which reminded me of a sport coat. I wanted the latter, but Dad chose his third light green car in a row.
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2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1977_Chevrolet/1977 Chevrolet Chevelle Brochure (Rev)/image4.html
I could be wrong though, and it might be my eyes playing tricks on me. Admittedly, the resolution of the door panel in this pic isn't the greatest. And it's possible that they made a change after the brochure was printed. Reading the text, it makes it sound like the cloth seat is standard and all viny is optional. So If that's the case, I could see a Chevy dealer spinning it, saying that you were getting the "upgraded" door panels with the cloth seats! I guess it's also possible that the all-vinyl was simply a no-cost option?
Anyway, with the Malibu Classic, I think the cloth looks pretty nice. But the base Malibu's cloth/vinyl mix looks so cheap, I could see springing for the upgrade to vinyl!
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/L2cAAOSwUJNdl3Lj/s-l1600.jpg
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
Yeah, I'm sure. I saw that blue interior pic and my immediate thought was they probably reused it from the '76 brochure, as the seats themselves were the same pattern. I always liked that tuck-and-roll design as it gave you a little lower back support you might otherwise not get in a bench seat at the time.
A couple examples of '77's with cloth seats but vinyl trim on the door:
I could like the exterior of a '76 base Malibu coupe--decent grille, although I bemoan the lack of rocker moldings, of which I'm usually a big fan. And I'd have added the optional five-slot Rally Wheels. But there is just no way to make that base-model low-rent interior look better. The optional round instrument package doesn't do it; the optional woven vinyl doesn't do it. Beginning in '74, to me there should've been a model between the Malibu and Malibu Classic.
That also reminds me of how, in more recent times, Dodge did a similar thing with the Intrepid, for 2002. Back then they had a base cloth, and an ES cloth. You could also get leather on the ES, and I think it was standard on the R/T. Anyway, for '98-01, if you got cloth seats, you got matching fabric on the door panels. If you got leather, the door panel was vinyl. But for '02, they made them all vinyl. They also de-contented a few other details, too. They took the carpeting off the lower door panels on the base models (can't remember if they did that on the nicer models as well though). They also took the rear sway bar off the base model, and changed the cupholder in the center console from a design that would pop in and out as needed, to one that was stationary.
I guess eventually, though, most cars went this way, abandoning the fabric on the door panels. Now that I think about it, my friend's '95 Grand Marquis GS, with cloth seats, just had vinyl on the door panels. My '03 Regal has these inserts that have wrinkles in them, trying to give it a leathery look. Which it has, if your eyesight is bad and you've had enough to drink!
Now that I think about it, I don't believe the Grand LeMans, of the Colonade generation at least, ever had cloth on the door panels. Actually, with the LeMans, it seems like the vast majority of those had vinyl seats. I just tried looking up pics for a '76, and one of the first ones with cloth was right-hand drive, so I guess that's a sign they were pretty rare! As far as I know, though, if you got cloth seats in the Grand LeMans, you got the same door panels, which were basically leftovers from the '73-75 Grand Am.
I don't know how much of an indication a car's GVWR is of its "beefiness", for lack of a better word, but that rough '73 Catalina for sale on Hemmings was only rated at 5566 lb.
The parents of one of my friends once had a '76 Delta 88 4-door hardtop. He said that the car was extremely shaky, and seemed a bit TOO flexible for its own good. Now, that could partly be a product of it being a 4-door hardtop, but then I remember my old '69 Bonneville 4-door hardtop, and that car had a nice, solid feel to it. The only area where that car felt cheap was the trunk lid. It felt thin and flimsy, and also sounded so when you closed it. But the hood and doors, nice, solid thunks. And it didn't shake, rattle & roll down the road, either. My grandparents' '72 Impala was a 4-door hardtop, and I can't remember how it felt, but I was a young kid at the time and really didn't notice things like that. The main thing I remember about that car, is that by the time it was about 6 years old, Granddad had a yearly ritual of bondo-ing the lower part of the front fenders, behind the wheel opening (most likely where the cowl drains into). I can still remember, asking Granddad if he would hold onto it until I turned 16 so I could have it, and he said it would be long gone and rusted away by then!
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I can't find a pic of our '74 Impala Sport Coupe. Other than this one is the better light green metallic and ours was that creamy pale pea soup green with white top, it was trimmed out like this one. Ours had bumper guards though:
Our interior was this interior. I did like the pattern at the time. This car is missing the loops in the head restraints for the shoulder belts. The swirl pattern in the seats was kind-of satin-y, but these seats have some wear.
I think the way the light sets it off though, makes this color show a lot better in person, than it does in real life. When I was younger, I seem to recall seeing a '74 Catalina locally, from time to time, in this green. But I think it had a white top at least.
Back then I was somewhat interested in the short girl. What's funny is, haven't seen or spoken or communicated with her in well over 30 years, but I'm still friends with her old roommate, the taller one.
This is on some beach in northern FL.
It's interesting how, in that pic, that dark Jade looks like it's midnight blue. I'd imagine that dark jade as a solid color was pretty rare. I recall seeing plenty of light jade cars, and even a decent sprinkling of the two-tone light/dark, but off the top of my head, I can only think of one dark Jade car in recent memory. It was a 1982 Cutlass Supreme sedan, for sale at the GM show in Carlisle one year. I know I took a picture of it, but I just looked through a bunch of old pics and can't find it. It definitely caught my eye, and if I had money to burn, I would've bought it, just for that color!
a drive north, and of course east, of there IIRC.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Of all the places that begin with "Fer", THAT is the first one it tries to auto-fill?!
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Speaking of which, the last time I was there in 2013 and was driving my rental back to Norfolk airport. On the street leading to the airport I suddenly got a strong smell of natural gas. Apparently there was a leak somewhere. Yet traffic kept flowing and people did not seem particularly concerned, although I did see a few official vehicles with flashing lights parked. Here, they would have evacuated and closed off blocks.
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On the car note, spotted a tired looking but still on the road 77-79 Sedan DeVille, yet another 64 Galaxie - this one kind of a fintail blue but on big wheels, Ferrari FF (quite unusual out here).
But, once I moved in late 2018, and got thrust into it, full-force, I got to see just how bad DC area traffic had gotten over the years, and learned quickly to hate it with a passion. My commute was now about 18 miles, and in the mornings would take around 35-45 minutes. In the evenings, more like 45-60. Evenings got bad enough I started working alternating short/long days. On my long days I'd stay til around 5:45, and while local traffic was still bad, I found that if I took the long route, which was mostly highway, but longer, at around 23 miles, I could often be home in about 40 minutes, sometimes less. And on the short days, I'd take off around noon. But, I only had to deal with that for about 18 months, thanks to COVID, and the whole work-from-home thing.
My attitude with Florida is that it might be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. If you're close enough to the beach, it's too expensive and you have to worry about hurricanes. But then if you get into the inner parts of the state, I imagine it's mostly just hot, muggy weather and bugs. And, I guess I just think of what if I had my fleet of antique cars down there...I'd probably need a more heavily fortified building, to withstand the storms, and that would cost a lot more than the garage I had built in Maryland.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
woman. Likely an inhertied vehicle from a relative that was driven little?
Volve 144e. In a medium Earl Scheib blue but looked original and powdered
from age. Driven by elderly man who hoped I'd ask him about his car as he got out.
Probably volvo's light blue
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0271/7931/9375/files/1972-volvo-pg01.jpg?9356
Rear lights looked smaller than this car, but....?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
But, unfortunately, nothing stays the same, and things do change. Heck, right now as I type this, the people in back of me are having a bunch of trees taken down. There's still about 150 feet or so of forest between my house and theirs, all of it on my property. But it's opening it up enough back there, that suddenly I feel, well, exposed! It's like it's changing the whole Feng Shui or whatever you want to call it! Hopefully once the trees get leaves on them, it'll block them out.
And, back at the old neighborhood, where my family has had roots since before the Civil War, it's really changed for the worst. As I like to say, "Look for it now, only in books, for it is little more than a dream remembered. A civilization, gone with the wind!"
Funny you'd mention New Mexico, ab348. I've always had a fascination with the Southwest and deserts. Dunno if I'd want to live there full time, but I definitely want to get back to that area. When I was a kid, in 1982, my grandparents and I went on a long trip out to California and back, and some of my favorite parts of that trip were in the desert area (Zion canyon, Bryce canyon, that "four corners area", the Great Sand Dunes, the Sandia Peak aerial tram, etc). Of course, vacationing in a place, and actually living there, are two different things!
We're hoping to move from CO to NM in the middle future. We're thinking Las Cruces, about 45 minutes north of El Paso. It's a college town (NM State) and about 100K population. Real estate is still reasonable - I've seen new build houses between 1600-2000 sf for $300K or so.
Yes, it's a poor state, with not a lot beyond some fantastic scenery to its name.
The desert is what I have to drive through to get from where I live in CO to where I grew up in CA. Vistas in Utah are spectacular, and that's just from I-70 and I-15 - I can't imagine what it looks like from some of the secondary highways.
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color chart that I linked. The source said it's a 1972 and this is 1972 color chart...
The color chart looks darker.
It is pretty. Much better than the turquoise colors to my personal eye.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)