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

uplanderguy

I like the cornering lights, not often seen in my memory on those cars. Down low in the rocker trim.

fintail

The Monte trunk pic had me thinking. I have mentioned it before, when I was a student, a friend/roommate had an 83 Monte CL, 305 and a TH200/250 (?) that bit the dust a little after 100 K miles, but he liked the car, so he had it remedied. The car was grey with a grey top and interior, pretty loaded with power everything. He owned the car until maybe 5 years ago, but for the 10 years before that it sat in his dad's barn, as he became married with kids and wife didn't want it hanging around. The car is still alive, as a lowrider, maybe in Yakima. He also has an 85 SS he bought around Y2K, it is also a neglected garage ornament now, and I suspect wife wants it gone, I've heard he's thought of moving it along.

In the 90s, he usually had the car on maybe 13" wheels and low profile tires, as was the style for such cars at the time. He had a big stereo in the car, with components in the trunk. I remember looking in the trunk many times, and I swear the car did not have a bare trunk, it had carpet maybe like in that photo.

I recall the car had stock wire caps he used in the winter with snow tires - with that look, we called it a "Peggy Hill" car, which was funny as the character ended up being shown in a G-Body Regal:

fintail

Fun local ad from July 1990 - "The better...!" line amuses me:

explorerx4

I saw a fuselage body blue Chrysler 300 convertible today.
Shocked how narrow the track was compared to the body width.

fintail

From another forum, spotted in Ireland of all places:




Was out in the old dear earlier, borderline hot weather (high in the low-mid 90s) so many oldies aren't coming out, I think. Did see about a 70 Chevy pickup in the typical orange and white scheme, 70s Beetle convertible, 70s Scout.

tjc78

That price on the Cougar is very close to what my Stepdad paid for my Mom’s 96 Thunderbird. I don’t know why but I remember the sticker being slightly under 20K and he bought it (demo, 5K miles) for $14,700. That was a screaming deal at the time. Hers was just the V6 but pretty loaded with power moonroof, auto temp, power everything and nice 16” wheels. Of course it was a very 90s Pacific Green over tan. I really liked that car and quite honestly if I was a V8 I’d probably still have it.

Not her car, but pretty close.

fintail

Did the Bird have leather? I remember some held on to the final 1997 cars as some kind of imagined collectible, which of course didn't pan out so much.

tjc78

It was beige velour with a typical 90s pattern

fintail

I kind of miss 90s interior patterns, a different world. The early ovoid Taurus pattern that kind of reminds me of a rash always comes to mind:



You could get this very 90s pattern as basic trim on a Euro MB W140, quite rare:

ab348

The thing I notice on most new cars is that aside from a few high-end jobs that use a smallish diamond-pattern stitching on uplevel trims (which I'm not crazy about), most stitching patterns now are very basic and unremarkable. No more tuck-and-roll or waffle-pattern stitching. And of course 90+% are done in black which kills an interior anyway. It's like nobody cares any more.

tjc78

Yeah cloth interiors are usually pretty boring these days. On the truck I have on/order the cloth part of the seat actually has some color and a pattern which I love.

andre1969

Well, looks like the V6 engine in Peggy Hill's Regal finally gave out, and it got sent off to its final destination...Found this on a facebook post

xwesx

fintail said:

I kind of miss 90s interior patterns, a different world. The early ovoid Taurus pattern that kind of reminds me of a rash always comes to mind:

Hahahaha! I NEVER though of that before, but this is just something you can't unlearn now. I am going to laugh every time I see this fabric pattern going forward. Thankfully, these cars are getting quite rare despite millions of them being produced (I use that figure figuratively).

andre1969

I was a bit bored today, so I figured I'd look online at used cars. Stumbled across a 2015 Impala, in that nice light blue color I like. However, one thing I never noticed before, from the right angle, the steering wheel/gage (it is GM, after all ) cluster does that psychedelic frog/duck/Sid&Marty Kroft thing, as well!
And, I know it's beating a dead horse, but good LORD prices are ridiculous! Here's the actual ad:
https://www.sheehy.com/vehicle-details/used-2015-chevrolet-impala-lt-fredericksburg-va-id-47869184

Just in case that link doesn't work, it's a 2015 LT, with a 4-cyl, 47,782 miles, for $19,500. That just blows my mind, nearly $20K for a fairly basic car that's going to be eight model years old in about two months.

In a morbid sort of way, I'll confess I'm a bit intrigued by the 4-cyl, in sort of a "How bad is it really?" kind of fashion.

ab348

The Impala steering wheel was always the worst part of that design. Not sure what they were thinking.

fintail

I call that a "tech" pattern. I think I have seen similar on other products before, maybe not on cars.

tjc78 said:

Yeah cloth interiors are usually pretty boring these days. On the truck I have on/order the cloth part of the seat actually has some color and a pattern which I love.

fintail

I've always seen that wheel as influenced by the MB W221 wheel, which entered production in late 2005:



I bet that particular Impala could have been bought for as much or less in 2017.

andre1969 said:

I was a bit bored today, so I figured I'd look online at used cars. Stumbled across a 2015 Impala, in that nice light blue color I like. However, one thing I never noticed before, from the right angle, the steering wheel/gage (it is GM, after all ) cluster does that psychedelic frog/duck/Sid&Marty Kroft thing, as well!

Just in case that link doesn't work, it's a 2015 LT, with a 4-cyl, 47,782 miles, for $19,500. That just blows my mind, nearly $20K for a fairly basic car that's going to be eight model years old in about two months.

In a morbid sort of way, I'll confess I'm a bit intrigued by the 4-cyl, in sort of a "How bad is it really?" kind of fashion.

uplanderguy

Insane money IMHO. And I like the last-gen Impala a lot. I couldn't see how anyone needed more luxury than the Premier model inside, and I thought the overall styling was better than the LaCrosse. The idea of added prestige or whatever of the division name, never meant a thing to me.

I like that there's bright metal in the interior, among other things.

Friends of mine leased a 2015 and a 2018 and enjoyed both.

They joke that if they like a car, it's the kiss of death. They had a '90's Cutlass Supreme, then a Grand Prix, before the two Impalas.

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

I couldn't see how anyone needed more luxury than the Premier model inside, and I thought the overall styling was better than the LaCrosse. The idea of added prestige or whatever of the division name, never meant a thing to me.

That's pretty much my take on "prestige", as well. I do like a nicer car, to a degree, but there comes a point where in my opinion it's "nice" enough and I don't need/want anything "better".

I guess, the highest up the prestige ladder I've ever gone, at least considering where the cars were placed on their hierarchy when new, might be a tossup between my '79 New Yorker 5th Avenue Edition, and my '00 Park Ave Ultra. But, the 5th Ave was a whopping $900 (plus about $250 to get it to pass inspection), whereas the Park Ave was $7500. So, when driving these cars, I never had any illusions that I was ready to hobnob with the snobs at the Mortimer Club or whatever

uplanderguy

RE.: Odd cloth interior patterns, '90's.... the optional Lumina Gen 2 cloth interior, I saw one review say something along the lines of, "It looks like somebody left wet tea bags on the seats overnight". Mostly the gray color IIRC.

I'll have to see if I can find a pic online.

No luck finding a pic or brochure photo.

uplanderguy

This was on the 'Old Car Dealerships' FB page...a new '77 Caprice Classic coupe at a dealer in Germany, apparently.

Always loved the coupe body style, and those tires and wheel covers.

My guess is the car is that light cream over gold sides.

uplanderguy

Just thinking, the "Caprice Classic" nameplate here appears higher than normal. I remember when these cars had vinyl rooves, they stopped at that edge just before the 'notch' in the window, and the nameplates were below the vinyl roof.

ab348

I took a look at some online pics and there appears to be a great deal of inconsistency in the position of the emblem, surprisingly. Some are up higher than that, some are where that one pictured is, and some are even lower. No idea why.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

RE.: Odd cloth interior patterns, '90's.... the optional Lumina Gen 2 cloth interior, I saw one review say something along the lines of, "It looks like somebody left wet tea bags on the seats overnight". Mostly the gray color IIRC.

I'll have to see if I can find a pic online.

No luck finding a pic or brochure photo.

GM's "sea of gray" era reaching it's peak with that dismal car. Here's a '96:

tjc78

@ab348 said:
I took a look at some online pics and there appears to be a great deal of inconsistency in the position of the emblem, surprisingly. Some are up higher than that, some are where that one pictured is, and some are even lower. No idea why.

Probably was dependent on who was working the line on a particular day.

uplanderguy

I think since those nameplates were stick-on, during repaints a lot of them were sloppily reapplied. I about lived at Chevy dealers then and I don't recall any inconsistencies in that particular item, and sloppy emblem placement during repaints or restorations is an enormous pet peeve of mine. Pics online are now of 45-year-old cars. I'm sure there was a template used on the line to place them.

I do remember not-great line-up of the rocker trim, exacerbated by the blacked-out portion. This car has that.

uplanderguy

It was the Lumina CL interior I was remembering. Here's a maroon interior that has the 'feature' I think I remember. I know this car is over 20 years old but I think when new the coloring was still like this. Abysmal!

fintail

I think my uncle's LeSabre had a maroon/burgundy interior like that, big in the 90s. I want to say it had a pattern too, but nothing fun.

That German Caprice coupe is interesting, if the cult following of US cars in Europe in recent years had existed then, they probably would have sold a few.

tjc78

About a block over from us at the shore, I noticed three woody Panther wagons in very nice shape. I figured the guy was a Panther enthusiast and always wanted to talk with him, but never see him outside.

Well, I stumbled upon a post in the Wildwood group and they are actually a retro Uber of sorts taking people around the island. Pretty cool.

https://m.facebook.com/101608095630938/

Im going to have to try it at some point.

stickguy

You need one of their T shirts!

tjc78

stickguy said:

You need one of their T shirts!

It crossed my mind!

uplanderguy

andre, highest up the prestige ladder I've gone is Chrysler--but it being a PT Cruiser got me knocked off that upper rung! LOL

Every other car I've owned, besides the PT, was a Chevrolet or Studebaker.

I used to rent constantly in my job though, so I've driven 'em all....every size and price point, every make just about, including Merkurs and Town Cars back when.

uplanderguy

TVLand is showing the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, which I think are actually better written, GENERALLY (!), than the older episodes. Last night Barney came back for his high school reunion and finds that Thelma Lou is married. It's bittersweet.

But he's driving a '58 Edsel convertible which backfires at every shutdown, LOL.

Andy asks, "Is that a '61?". Barney replies, "It's a '60 with a '61 grille. I thought about buying new but thought I'd let somebody else take the first six years of depreciation".

I thought it was a great episode.

laurasdada

White Mazda Millenia. That had been left out in the sun a bit too long.

sda

Sighting a Mazda Millenia is far and few between today. I did a 24 mo lease on this 96 and at the end of the lease bought a 98 Millenia. I would have bought the 96 but the residual was $3k more than market value and I got $7k off the 98. They were both the L model with the Bose upgrade. I really enjoyed those cars. The front end styling has a bit Jaguar influence, lol.

fintail

I remember that one, although that show is a bit before my time, it was on syndication throughout my youth (and still is, I think). I recall seeing that and thinking "there's no such thing as a 61 Edsel!". The depreciation line (I think back then cars depreciated about 85% in 6 years) also makes me think of the later Happy Days episode where Mr. C replaces the DeSoto with a Lark because he wanted something "sportier".

The old TV thought also makes me think of the recent passing of Tony Dow. Leave it to Beaver was also in syndication when I was a kid, and I watched it a bit, amazing car spotting in some of those shows. RIP.





(I think that's from the episode where Beaver and his friend are playing in the peak wacky 61 Plymouth 4 door HT, knock it out of gear, it rolls back, Wally drives it back, and gets in trouble).

uplanderguy said:

TVLand is showing the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, which I think are actually better written, GENERALLY (!), than the older episodes. Last night Barney came back for his high school reunion and finds that Thelma Lou is married. It's bittersweet.

But he's driving a '58 Edsel convertible which backfires at every shutdown, LOL.

Andy asks, "Is that a '61?". Barney replies, "It's a '60 with a '61 grille. I thought about buying new but thought I'd let somebody else take the first six years of depreciation".

I thought it was a great episode.

andre1969

Yeah, that second pic where Wally is getting out of the car is the one where Beaver rolled it out into the road, I'm almost positive. The car itself was a '61 Plymouth 4-door hardtop. However, the car they used for interior shots was a 1960 or 1961 Ford Custom or Fairlane 4-door sedan. So, I think they put that cardboard strip or whatever it was at the B-pillar area of the Plymouth to maintain some kind of continuity.

When I was a kid, if there was an old tv show that had part of its original run in black and white, and part in color, it seemed somewhat rare for them to run the black and white episodes. One exception though, was the Andy Griffith show. Although that might be because it had something like five seasons in black and white, and three in color, so the bulk of them were black and white. Then again, it was a very popular show, in general, so perhaps it was one of the few to survive the "black and white stigma" of back then.

But, I remember some shows, like "Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie", and "My Three Sons" only showing the color episodes. I didn't see the b/w episodes of "Bewitched" or "My Three Sons" until Nick at Nite (I don't think TV Land was out yet) showed them in the early 90's. I didn't even see a black and white Jeannie episode, until just a few years ago! Antenna TV shows it. It was funny...one morning, I was watching it, and my house mate walked by and happened to catch the opening credits. First thing out of his mouth was "What the hell is THAT crap! That's not the Jeannie music! It sounds fake to me!"

"The Adventures of Superman" and "Gilligan's Island" are two other shows that I do remember, as a kid, they showed both the color and b/w episodes.

fintail

We discussed that car in the past, now that I think about it - I recall mention of the Ford interior (when they show Beaver behind the wheel, it's the wacky Plymouth wheel). A 61 Fury 4 door HT has to be incredibly rare, I know I have never seen one in person, and I suspect very few survive.



Even the rear was offbeat. I recall the 36 Ford, a car bought by Wally for $25, and I think he never got it running. I also recall Lumpy had a 40 Ford convertible, which even when I was a kid I knew was now a very desirable car.

I recall Gilligan's Island being aired in color and B&W in the 80s. The idea of black and white was hard for me to grasp when I was little, I didn't know about film - I thought the world was black and white until maybe around 1960, then everything suddenly changed to color. The old show in syndication I liked most was Dennis the Menace - Mr. Wilson always amused me, I think it was entirely in B&W.

ab348

andre1969 said:

But, I remember some shows, like "Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie", and "My Three Sons" only showing the color episodes. I didn't see the b/w episodes of "Bewitched" or "My Three Sons" until Nick at Nite (I don't think TV Land was out yet) showed them in the early 90's.

Up here in the Great White North, one of the streaming services has 8 seasons of Bewitched available. All of them are in color, even season 1. I have to assume they have been colorized digitally.

texases

A lot of re-scanning of the old shows must have occurred. The Perry Mason episodes from the late 50s early 60s, while in black and white, almost look like HD as far as detail. Nothing like what was broadcast.

kyfdx

I'm not sure I remember Bewitched in B&W. That was one of my favorite shows.

fintail

I like looking at real estate listings - to see what flippers are trying to get away with, bad new trends in decor, what people's houses look like inside, fun preserved time warp houses, and garage contents. This new listing of an apparent 2 owner 1955 time capsule preservation piece had this in the garage - someone is into it (bike appears to have a 1951 plate):

sda

fintail said:

I like looking at real estate listings - to see what flippers are trying to get away with, bad new trends in decor, what people's houses look like inside, fun preserved time warp houses, and garage contents. This new listing of an apparent 2 owner 1955 time capsule preservation piece had this in the garage - someone is into it (bike appears to have a 1951 plate):



If that is a 64, it was the last year for the smooth but inefficient Dynaflow automatic transmission.

fintail

64 I guess, here's another listing photo:



I think the realtor is playing a fun trick in this listing, too - from what I can tell, they are counting the underground garage as part of the square footage of the house. They do that with unfinished basements too.

sda said:

fintail said:

I like looking at real estate listings - to see what flippers are trying to get away with, bad new trends in decor, what people's houses look like inside, fun preserved time warp houses, and garage contents. This new listing of an apparent 2 owner 1955 time capsule preservation piece had this in the garage - someone is into it (bike appears to have a 1951 plate):



If that is a 64, it was the last year for the smooth but inefficient Dynaflow automatic transmission.

uplanderguy

That is a ‘64 Riviera, with its stand-up hood ornament.

I think the first season of ‘Bewitched’ was B&W but I can’t swear to it.

I was always amazed that Agnes Moorehead was in ‘Bewitched’ at the same time she played trash maid Velma in ‘Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte’. Totally different characters.

I’m sure we’ve discussed it but there’s a wonderful five-minute commercial about the new ‘65 Chevrolet line, featuring the cast of ‘Bewitched’, ‘Bonanza’, and ‘The Man From UNCLE’, viewable online.

sda

Yes the first and I think second season of Bewitched wasn’t in color. I think you can watch the first seasons on Roku.

roadburner

My mother's side of the family was... different. My grandparents had one of the first RCA color TV sets- which was nice, but not enough to trump a B&W show that I actually enjoyed watching.
I remember at 7 or 8 I was spending the night there and I wanted to watch The Outer Limits in B&W. They tried to convince me to watch Flipper instead; "It's in COLOR, and the blue water is SO pretty!!!"
It was nuts.

andre1969

If anybody gets MeTV, they show the entire run of "Bewitched", and they kept seasons 1 and 2 in unmolested black and white. They're in the middle of season 7 now, so they'll probably go back to the beginning around late August/Early September.

I'm surprised that "Flipper" came on at the same time as the "Outer Limits"! Some of the monsters and effects in the "Outer Limits" could be a bit corny, especially by today's standards, but many of the episodes themselves could be down right creepy, disturbing, even nightmare-inducing! It's almost like the show itself was designed to go over the heads of your typical kid, but then they'd throw in the goofy monsters, just to give the kids something to look forward to.

I didn't discover "The Outer Limits" until late into the 1980s, when I was a freshman in college. One of our local stations, Channel 54 in Baltimore, used to show it really late on Saturday nights. I'd catch it when I got home from my part time job at Denny's. At first I didn't like it, because it seemed like a weird Twilight Zone knockoff, but it grew on me pretty quickly.

uplanderguy

I love seeing oddball factory stuff on cars. Saw this '73 LeSabre sedan for sale on Facebook, with no radio. Never saw this before--filler plate says "BUICK MOTOR DIVISION". No A/C either.

sda

Mom’s dad, unfortunately who passed a year before I was born, worked for RCA Victor in sales, primarily business related products such as calculators. He liked technology and bought one of the first tvs, and later one of the first color tvs. Mom told me it wasn’t unusual for them to have the ‘neighborhood’ in their living room to watch and experience color tv. As he was in sales and needed to project a successful image, every 2-3 years he bought a new Buick.