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

sda

We had a white 71 510 wagon similar to this one. It was a good car overall but rusted fairly quickly. Replacing and setting the dual points was always fun.https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://feralcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Screen-Shot-2013-12-27-at-10.14.15-AM-700x469.png&imgrefurl=http://feralcars.com/?cat=4&tbnid=9QS1eXFR5vzW0M&vet=10CGYQMyiUAWoXChMI2O2Xh6D--AIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAI..i&docid=AnJrt4PewokpkM&w=700&h=469&q=white Datsun 510 wagon&hl=en-us&client=safari&ved=0CGYQMyiUAWoXChMI2O2Xh6D--AIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAI

uplanderguy

One of the few early Japanese econo cars I liked the looks of. They looked substantial.

texases

Yep, and then they followed it up with the B210…ugh.

uplanderguy

My uncle had a B210 Honey Bee. What an embarrassing looking thing. Parked next to one, the LeCar never looked better.

fintail

When I was a little kid, I liked the B210. Well, I thought the honeycomb hubcaps were cool and I thought the fastback style one was kind of racy looking. I remember getting a ride in one, and learned it was just a look.

Michaell

C’mon … Don’t you all remember the F-10?

That was the bullpen car for the dodgers in the 70’s

kyfdx

Michaell said:

C’mon … Don’t you all remember the F-10?

That was the bullpen car for the dodgers in the 70’s

The F-10 was the first FWD model.

Also, the B210? You didn't have to lift off the throttle to shift. Even with the clutch in, it wouldn't rev.

sda

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e2/b4/cd/e2b4cdbffe6d7a3fb931cc5794b77d04--bucket-seats-cherries.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.pinterest.com/pin/410249847301293074/&tbnid=3dFca_5DerkEQM&vet=12ahUKEwiIlYLm7v74AhXoQkIHHRsFAbwQMyhVegUIARCvAQ..i&docid=m7I3Z2xv_Wo80M&w=736&h=541&q=Datsun F10&hl=en-us&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwiIlYLm7v74AhXoQkIHHRsFAbwQMyhVegUIARCvAQ

uplanderguy

Who stole the hubcaps?!

That's one of those cars that makes me think, "Who deliberately styled the car to look like that?". I know I'm out-of-touch, but I always felt that way about the Prius too. I feel that way at least particularly about the drooping black trim from the taillights of Camrys too.

ab348

The B210 and the F10 were from Nissan's famed "atomic cockroach" era.

uplanderguy

Unk's "Honey Bee" was the two-door sedan, so it didn't even have the general nice lines of a fastback.

andre1969

I like those early 510s. The "Poor Man's BMW", I think they were often called. They really never had any presence around these parts though, although it's possible that Datsun, themselves, just hadn't caught on here yet. I do remember my cousins having two Datsuns in the later '70's. My memory's fuzzy, but I think one of them was a 510 wagon.

kyfdx

andre1969 said:

I like those early 510s. The "Poor Man's BMW", I think they were often called. They really never had any presence around these parts though, although it's possible that Datsun, themselves, just hadn't caught on here yet. I do remember my cousins having two Datsuns in the later '70's. My memory's fuzzy, but I think one of them was a 510 wagon.

I think that's it... very few Datsuns around in the early '70s. The Z-car really put them on the map.

explorerx4

I saw a 510 at a gas station on a trailer years ago, all done up in Martini livery.
Probably headed to or from Lime Rock.

uplanderguy

Speaking of Historical Plates in Ohio (never need renewing), spotted this Accord with missing rear nameplate and some (not a lot) of rust around the rear wheel openings:



Always somebody workin' the system.

fintail

96 or 97 with those rear lights, must be a 25 year rule. Surprised those standards haven't been updated, as they were set at a time when few car reached 25 years.

uplanderguy said:

Speaking of Historical Plates in Ohio (never need renewing), spotted this Accord with missing rear nameplate and some (not a lot) of rust around the rear wheel openings:


Always somebody workin' the system.

uplanderguy

Nice that he's showing it with the 'AAA Premier' and 'Thank A Democrat For Access to Health Care' stickers on the car.

fintail

Out in the old car today, warm but spotted a few - 58-50 Ford pickup, larger (maybe 1 ton) maybe 57 Chevy truck, 77-79 T-Bird on period Cragar style wheels.

uplanderguy

School buddy of mine posted about that Accord: "Historical plates because it's in the Bible--Acts 2:1: "They were all in one accord", LOL.

kyfdx

uplanderguy said:

School buddy of mine posted about that Accord: "Historical plates because it's in the Bible--Acts 2:1: "They were all in one accord", LOL.

Good post..

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

School buddy of mine posted about that Accord: "Historical plates because it's in the Bible--Acts 2:1: "They were all in one accord", LOL.

Yeah, but it took a Plymouth to get Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Didn't God drive them out in his Fury?

imidazol97

This is my belly laugh of the day! Choked on my coffee!
This along with the previous accord post made my day.

andre1969 said:

uplanderguy said:

School buddy of mine posted about that Accord: "Historical plates because it's in the Bible--Acts 2:1: "They were all in one accord", LOL.

Yeah, but it took a Plymouth to get Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Didn't God drive them out in his Fury?

fintail

Today was listening to the SXM 80s channel with a clean 82-85 Camaro in front of me, younger guy driving it, probably sees it as a classic. Then for more time warp mode saw an unrestored looking oval window VW not even on collector plates, and not 5 minutes later saw a very clean street parked yellow and white 70s VW bus.

explorerx4

Just for grins, I searched Hemmings for an early 90's Mustang Cobra or 91 Mustang GT.
None listed for sale. Weird.

explorerx4

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/gallery/2022-pontiac-oakland-club-international-convention-gallery
There is one picture that has me scratching my head.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/gallery/2022-pontiac-oakland-club-international-convention-gallery
There is one picture that has me scratching my head.

I guess they lump in GMC with Pontiac? Seems odd.

andre1969

ab348 said:

explorerx4 said:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/gallery/2022-pontiac-oakland-club-international-convention-gallery
There is one picture that has me scratching my head.

I guess they lump in GMC with Pontiac? Seems odd.

I always grew up as thinking of GMC as sort of a Pontiac truck. I remember Granddad buying his '76 GMC crew cab from a Pontiac-GMC dealer, and that dealership setup was pretty common, once upon a time. At least, in these parts. Granddad also once had a '57 GMC pickup that had a Pontiac 347, so maybe engine sharing is where some of that relationship comes from? I think GMC might have used an Olds V8 here and there as well, at one point.

In theory, I think GMC gave the B-O-P dealers the opportunity to sell a truck, but without attaching a Pontiac, Buick, or Oldsmobile nameplate to it. However, I don't know if it was every very common to pair up Buick or Olds with GMC.

Now at one time, we did have one local dealer, that started off as Capitol Cadillac, where I bought my used 2000 Park Avenue from, that expanded to sell Buick/Pontiac/Cadillac/Hummer/GMC/Saab. It wasn't long before they were down to just Buick/GMC/Cadillac. And, on November 18, 2020, they closed up completely.

texases

Same here, Pontiac/GMC dealers, competition for Chevy/Chevy truck dealers I guess.

ab348

Well, for decades we had Pontiac/Buick and also Chevy/Olds dealers, but that doesn't mean both makes get invited to each other's shows these days.

xwesx

I remember that there were all sorts of dealership shenanigans going on during the Great Downsizing of... 2009? My extended family has a large dealership down in Texas that my great uncle started up back in the 1940s (IIRC). They carried GM's higher end brands, such as Olds, Pontiac, Buick, and GMC. There was another GM dealer in the same town that carried Chevrolet and a smattering of others that came and went (such as Saturn).

Of course, Oldsmobile died in 2001, which was simply a lost plate for them. However, in 2009 when the "new GM" came about, not only did Pontiac die, but they had the GMC brand pulled from them to give to the competitor, and GM was going to pull their support altogether (not sure of the politics of it).

I don't recall of the craziness that ensued, but it seems to me that they always kept Buick, and initially they lost GMC, picked up Jeep and Ram, then were able to keep GMC (along with the Chevy place) but lost Jeep and Ram.

So, they went from four brands in the GM family down to two, but they still seem to be doing well and it's a four-generation family business now.

ab348

Back in 2010 the dealer from whom I bought my '09 Lacrosse from (a lousy car from an even worse dealer) had started as a Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Hummer dealer. When both Pontiac and Hummer went away in the bankruptcy they expected to get a Chevy franchise to offset the loss of Pontiac. To their surprise GM Canada terminated their franchise outright, likely because they were such a crummy dealer.

explorerx4

We had a Chevy only dealer in town that started in 1928.
GM forced him to move to build a new facility at the cost of millions of dollars.
About 2 years later they pulled his franchise.

fintail

On the road today, blue Stingray roadster on 70s style wheels, and a W203 C-class hatchback in decent shape.

uplanderguy

In 2009, I had four Chevy dealers within ten miles of me in any direction. I always liked that about Chevy; every town had a dealer. In 1971 they advertised having 6,300 U.S. dealers.

The one in my current town, went away.

Of two that were about four miles from each other, both survive today.

The one, a dealer since 1919, and who sold more new Chevys than any dealer in Summit County the year before, lost its franchise. Trying to understand some of the decisions initiated by the 'Auto Czar' at the time were a head-scratcher. After three months of losing sales and longtime employees, and after a customer letter-writing campaign, they got their franchise back and they survive today. Whispers at the time were that he was a significant Republican donor at the time his franchise was taken away.

uplanderguy

In my small hometown, Chevy and Cadillac were paired, and Buick and Olds were paired. Pontiac was by itself, and GMC was by itself on the outskirts of town--looked like an amateur pole building; no showroom.

Eventually, the Chevy/Cadillac dealer got Buick and Olds when that dealer retired. Although I thought this was clever, I recall a newspaper ad like this:

DART
CHEVROLET

There's really nothing in-between!

CADILLAC

Snotty, but put a smile on my face.

ab348

We are down to just 2 GM dealers here. Actually most of the top selling brands have just 2 dealers though both Ford and Chrysler/Stellantis have 3 (each of those used to have at least 4). Luxe brands like M-B, BMW, Porsche, Jag/L-R, Audi, Volvo all are solo as is Subaru. Sales catchment area has a population of about 450,000 people.

fintail

Out in small town western WA where my mom lives, I am surprised a local Chevy dealer wasn't cut. Small place (old brick building, town has maybe 3K people tops), family owned since the 20s - but the larger key city of the region (with adjacent areas maybe 25-30K people) also has a Chevy dealer, much larger, and it is only about 10 miles away. In that larger town, Chevy and Toyota shared a building until the late 90s at least, and in the same town there was also a Honda-Buick-GMC (and I think Caddy) dealer sharing one building well into the 2000s, but Caddy was cut years ago and I think it is Honda-only now.

sda

More recently, late 90s, a new Olds dealership was built mimicking Saturn’s dealership model. Dad had his 95 Cutlass Ciera serviced there. The dealership was not large, but somewhat minimalist in architecture, modern, attractive. Soon after GM announced Olds would be axed, the dealership briefly operated down the street with Cadillac. The new Olds site now sold Toyotas for a few years. No change except signage. It is now the location of the VW dealership where I frequent. It has been expanded a bit and given a minor face lift. Last week when I was buying a part I mentioned to the man that was helping me I remembered when this site opened and it was an Olds dealer. He said, really?? and seemed intrigued. For you Olds fans, sorry for the pun.

xwesx

I'm not sure what the story is on this, but Pendleton, OR, does not have a single car dealership (of any kind, that I saw) today. When I was growing up, there was Ford, GM, and Dodge all in the town, spread across four different dealerships.

You had to go to Hermiston or Washington for any of the imports. Now, you have to go to those places for anything at all!

It does have a huge RV dealer, though: Thompson RV.

stickguy

Driving around the beach town a gorgeous red 65 mustang convert with a white top. And a later VW bug cab.

fintail

That's weird, Pendleton isn't a metropolis, but it's not a tiny hamlet either.

Living in Moses Lake in the 80s, which was smaller than Pendleton is now, population around 10-11K then I think, we had numerous new dealerships. I think we had all of the Big 3 along with AMC/Eagle, I also recall Toyota and VW (and I have to believe Honda and/or Nissan was there).

xwesx said:

I'm not sure what the story is on this, but Pendleton, OR, does not have a single car dealership (of any kind, that I saw) today. When I was growing up, there was Ford, GM, and Dodge all in the town, spread across four different dealerships.

You had to go to Hermiston or Washington for any of the imports. Now, you have to go to those places for anything at all!

It does have a huge RV dealer, though: Thompson RV.

andre1969

sda said:

Last week when I was buying a part I mentioned to the man that was helping me I remembered when this site opened and it was an Olds dealer. He said, really?? and seemed intrigued. For you Olds fans, sorry for the pun.

That's a bad pun. You can do better, you under-achieva

andre1969

I stumbled across this 1982 Monte Carlo for sale, that was mentioned on facebook. It's that light Jadestone color that I like. And a Diesel!
https://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/d/beaverdam-monte-carlo-diesel-1982/7511992714.html

One detail that caught my attention was this pic of the trunk...


I never knew the A/G body intermediates ever offered a trunk dress-up package like this, that hides the spare tire.

laurasdada

andre1969 said:

sda said:

Last week when I was buying a part I mentioned to the man that was helping me I remembered when this site opened and it was an Olds dealer. He said, really?? and seemed intrigued. For you Olds fans, sorry for the pun.

That's a bad pun. You can do better, you under-achieva

Well done, Andre. Bravada!

fintail

The hard loaded diesel Monte is cool, but eighteen thousand dollars and not a time warp preservation piece, wow.

ab348

andre1969 said:

I never knew the A/G body intermediates ever offered a trunk dress-up package like this, that hides the spare tire.

Interesting. This it what those without it (i.e. almost all of them) looked like:

sda

andre1969 said:

sda said:

Last week when I was buying a part I mentioned to the man that was helping me I remembered when this site opened and it was an Olds dealer. He said, really?? and seemed intrigued. For you Olds fans, sorry for the pun.

That's a bad pun. You can do better, you under-achieva

groan, lol

uplanderguy

Do people price their cars without ever looking at what similar cars have sold for? I guess there aren't many '82 Monte Carlo diesels out there, but sheesh. I do remember looking at a new one when I bought my dealer's '82 demo in November '82, after my '81 had been stolen a month before.

That '82 has the EXACT interior and interior color my '82 had. That was before they called it "CL". At the time I loved the seating. Weird that in '82 that seat was a bench. You could get a 55/45 or 60/40 seat in the standard Interior trim, but not that optional interior. In '83 this interior all had the split front seat in the same design.

I've said it before, but I absolutely detest the expanse and look of that woodgrain on the '81 and '82 Monte Carlo. I much-prefer the dark, almost-no-gloss fake wood of the '83 with the gold pinstripe outline replacing the chromed outline, and the gold background in the nameplate rectangle instead of red.

Changing directions entirely, yesterday for the first time I drove a C8 Corvette. I'm still impressed. It's rock-solid, nicely trimmed inside with some bright pieces, and could be driven quite comfortably. It's not a wild animal unless you put your foot in it. It sounds great when you do. I did get it to 89 but backed off. My friend, the owner, got it to 117 on our morning donut run. Stupid male behavior of course, but it was fun. Truly rocket-like/sucked-in-the-seat.

I'm sure this is not an exclusive, but I liked the way it could sense a driveway apron with a dip and would automatically raise the front end beforehand so as to not scrape.

uplanderguy

Friend sent me this. Nice truck, but I don't really like the 'Super Sport' package and its graphics. I'd prefer the same truck in a Conquista or standard trim (like Malibu Classic). 350 with 4-speed is nice. You could only get the 350 in a wagon in a Malibu.

I always really liked that instrument panel and (optional) cluster. I always wanted one in a '78 Malibu Classic coupe with the 50/50 split bench and dual folding center armrests.

I don't recall a vinyl top on them. Too lazy right now to look at the brochure.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2022/07/like-new-1978-chevy-el-camino-ss-headed-to-mecum-harrisburg/

ab348

That ‘82 Monte diesel looks pretty rough.