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

kyfdx

yeah.. I think the first model he had was a '74.. I know for sure that he got up to at least a '77... not sure how far after that..

andre1969

Rockford's priorities were mixed up. He lived in a trailer that looked like it was about to fall apart, yet he got a new Firebird every year! What a posuer ;-)

 

It's been awhile since I watched that show, but I think it was usually an Esprit that he drove. And even though he got a new one every season, it was always breaking down on him in some distant little town, which usually looked an awful lot like the same little town he broke down in the week before!

 

I guess they were trying to do a realistic portrayal of 70's cars? ;-)

jrosasmc

Ha good observation Andre...

 

I bet Firebirds had dismal reliability records back in the '70s. It's usually the base V-6 models I see from, say, '79-'81 that are usually the most tattered, but I always see nicely restored Trans Ams from that era. (Maybe it's because of Rockford's or Smokey's popularity!)

andys120

I dunno Andre, I distinctly recall those Formula-style hood scoops being on Rockford's car, did the Esprit have those as well?

 

Frankly I can't recall exactly what an Esprit was?

 

I wonder why he always got the same bland color every year?

toomanyfumes

That was an Esprit Rockford drove.

blh7068

"Does anyone here know what kind of Firebird James Garner drove in "The Rockford Files" during the '70s? Was it a '75 Esprit or a '78 Formula?"

 

In the earlier episodes for sure they were Esprits(74 and 75...76?) as denoted by the script on the sail panel. In the later episodes(77 on ?) I have seen cars with at least the correct formula hood, but without the formula decals.

 

I dont recall seeing what exhaust extensions were on those cars- the dual with two tips on each side would be correct for formulas(and T/A's) on those later 2nd gen birds.

blh7068

"I dunno Andre, I distinctly recall those Formula-style hood scoops being on Rockford's car, did the Esprit have those as well?"

 

Andy- see my previous post.at least some of the I recall the latter episodes show cars as having the formula scoops as well. But for reasons I stated they may have not been true formulas.

 

and no, for Joe Consumer the scoops were not available on the Esprit, neither was the dual exhaust that came on the Formulas and T/A's.

 

"Frankly I can't recall exactly what an Esprit was?"

 

I have a mostly original cameo white '71 Esprit with 66k on it...so I can help!

 

The Esprit was the "luxury firebird"- and it came standard with the custom interior,and the 350-8 where the base model had a 250-6 as standard. There were also a few options that could be had on the Esprit that were not available on the base model.

 

In the early 70s at least, one of those options was a 400-2bbl that put out about 20 more hp than the base 350. My particular car has that 400, and I have yet to see another Esprit equipped as such.

 

Pricing back in the day was comparable to a Formula...but today the Formula commands much higher $$$ than an Esprit(higher performance/fewer built).

fintail

I spotted this 57 Olds today (cellphone pic). The tires that somehow seem too big and moon hubcaps are a little questionable, but otherwise it was very well done.

 



 

I also saw a red Porsche 356 convert with the factory hardtop, but my phone ate the pic.

fintail

I wonder if this has any rarity. Missing t-tops = no fun

 

You can't beat a three tone car

 

Supercharged Packardbaker

 

Not many of these have been restored

 

4WD 2CV

 

1 of 76?

 

Hey Andre...

 

The ad makes the seller look really jerky (his other ads aren't so smarmy) and the price and justification for the price are sidesplitting hilarious, but it is perhaps the only one left like this.

Mr_Shiftright

Olds: that sounds like a pretty hard 4400Km, doesn't it? Well I guess we'll find out what a "brand new" 1980 Oldsmobile is worth.

 

Many of those auctions bring up a common misconception people have--that because a car is rare it is valuable. The two do not go together more often than not.

 

Why? Because sometimes the rarity is in the color of the sun visors and sometimes the car is rare because nobody wanted to go near the damn thing when it was first made.

 

OBSCURE SIGHTING:

 

I did an appraisal today on a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Gran Convertible with matching # 383/ 4v/330HP. They only made I think 560 or so of the Gran Convertible in a V8 and most were 318s. (it's not a Barracuda and it's not a 'Cuda, it's in-between).

 

Interestingly, even though it's rather than a 'Cuda convertible it's not worth more, and worth way less than a Hemi. Still, the car was immaculate and correct and all #s matched, so it'll bring $40K or more.

 

Actually, it's probably not a pleasant car to drive, but that's not the point anymore.

lemko

...Ninety-Eight, but I hope those are $10,000 Canadian dollars - and even that's way overpriced. What's with the Buick factory wheels? Maybe it's because I had both a 1979 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency and a 1979 Buick Park Avenue with the kind of wheels that are on that Olds.

 

It most certainly isn't the last of its kind or even the last of its kind in such great condition. A ladyfriend of mine is still driving a 1981 model similar to the one in the ad.

andre1969

The Mirada wasn't a particularly popular car in 1980, with only about 30-35,000 built, and the vast majority of them were 318-2bbls. But I'm sure that the 360-4bbl found its way into more than 76 of them! By 1980, the Cordoba and Mirada with the 360-4 was about the closest thing to a musclecar left in Detroit.

 

I always thought the CMX package had bucket seats and a floor shift?

 

That Gran Fury police pursuit has "Andre" written all over it! Unfortunately the 318-4bbl was a bit of a dog compared to the 360-4bbl. It was improved for '81 though, with 165 hp. The '79-80 318-4 only had 155 hp, didn't breathe as well, and was a true slug. By that time though, most cars were. The 1980 Impala 350-4bbl was actually disqualified from the Michigan State Police bidding process because it was too slow!

 

And that 1980 Olds 98 is really sharp, but overpriced. Those Buick Rally wheels look out of place on it, too. Maybe this is an indication that Olds was really starting to cater to a more elderly crowd by that time, but I think that 98 would look best with stock GM wire wheels! In contrast, a Buick LeSabre or Electra looks really sharp with those rally wheels. $10K is way overpriced, although I have seen much more ridiculously-priced low mileage GM cars from that era.

 

At least it has the Olds 350, and not a 307 like most of them had. Did the Electra/98 offer the Buick 252 V-6 in 1980? I know it was standard in 1981.

toomanyfumes

Has a '81 thats as nice as that ninety-eight. His is Brown Metallic,(surprise),with a tan top and interior. It has close to 100k, With a recently rebuilt 307. Ill have to remember, though, the next time I sell a car, to include the insurance costs in the selling price.

andre1969

I just took a closer look at the interior pic, and considering that this thing is only supposed to have like 4400KM on it, don't the pedals look a bit worn/dirty? Also, the driver's side seat fabric looks a bit worn.

 

It is a nice looking car, but truthfully, the pedals on my Grandma's '85 LeSabre, which used the same parts, looked about the same after 157,000 miles! And her seats weren't any more worn, either.

 

Anybody who has to put "DO KEEP YOUR VIEWS AND ADVICE TO YOURSELF" on their listing must be quite a character. That's pretty much an admission right there that he's looking for a flaming.

 

Anybody got a blow torch? ;-)

kyfdx

Daewoo Nubira wagon... We aren't missing anything by this company going away..

 

And.. two (2!) Infiniti M45s.. I can't remember ever seeing two of these..ever.. and today, I see two within 5 minutes..

lemko

...has an interview with automotive designer Allan Kornmiller. He started his career with Ford, then went to Nash and eventually to Chrysler. He briefly mentions the R-body which was one of his designs. However, he says the cars weren't popular and just wouldn't sell. He made a comment that workers were going to wait for the next to the last R-body to roll off the assembly line and bust it up with sledgehammers.

bumpy

Ah, but Daewoo came back as the Chevy Aveo, Suzuki Verona, etc.

kyfdx

Kind of like a fungus... hard to kill, I guess..

andys120

I saw what I thought was an Aveo last night but it wore a Suzuki badge. It was too small to be a Verona, it was tall and short like the Aveo, what's the Suki version called?

andre1969

Or something like that. I think it's essentially what replaced the Daewoo Lanos.

kyfdx

Doesn't the Suzuki Aerio look something like the Aveo? Or am I mixing up my names that don't mean anything?

andre1969

as far as I know, is a totally different design, but I guess is somewhat similar in style. The Aerio is bigger and taller, though, and makes me think of a hatchback that has just a hint of minivan infused.

 

"Aerio" is also the name of a god that Dr. Quest made up to mess with the minds of some savage natives in an episode of "Jonny Quest". But no, it wasn't the same episode that had the DUKW ;-)

andys120

it was dark and a kinda flew right past the li'l Suki,

it prolly was an Aerio.

 

Does GM have too many similar cars in this class too?

lemko

...Chevrolet has the Aveo and there was once a Willys called an Aero...

andre1969

there's the Chevy Aveo, Suzuki Aerio, and Suzuki Reno, which I think is replacing the Aerio. So yup, yet another class of car where GM has too many entries.

 

There's a Chevy model in Canada called the Epica, or something like that, which is essentially a Suzuki Verona, which I believe is basically the replacement for the old Daewoo Leganza. It's actually a nice looking car in Chevy form, from what I've seen.

 

There's yet another Daewoo-badged Suzuki that slots between the Reno and the Verona, but its name eludes me at the moment. It replaced the Daewoo Nubira.

andys120

 Perhaps it can.... http://www.hemmings.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/articles.editorial/article_id/598" target=_blank>http://www.hemmings.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/articles.editorial/article_id/598

.

andre1969

I always thought hardtop wagons were way cool!

lemko

...the last manufacturer of hardtop wagons? I believe 1964 was the last year. Mercury had both two and four-door hardtop wagons. Buick and Oldsmobile also had hardtop wagons.

fintail

"hat's pretty much an admission right there that he's looking for a flaming. "

 

Believe me, I was so very tempted. I can assure you that car will not receive a single serious bid.

 

I'd rather have that Olds (or a Buick Caballero) than the Magnum, maybe not as a daily driver though.

michaellno

The 'tweener Suzuki is called the Forenza.

 

And, I agree, the Epica doesn't look half bad.

andre1969

here's a photo gallery of a nice looking '64 NYer wagon: http://www.ev1.pair.com/1964_Chrysler_New_Yorker_wagon/index_1.ht- m It mentions that '64 was the last year for the pillarless hardtop wagon. But now I dunno if they mean the last Mopar hardtop, or all hardtop wagons.

 

I think that the hardtop wagon is something that pretty much went the way of the 2-door wagon. By the early 60's, they pretty much figured out that 4 doors was the way to go when it came to wagons. And most people who want a wagon want luggage capacity, something that a low-slung hardtop body style will usually cut down on.

 

I think Chrysler started running out of money though, and may have used the same roof for the 4-door hardtops as they did for the 4-door sedans starting in 1960, so maybe it wasn't too far-fetched for them to stretch either one out to a wagon.

andyman73

Andre: My dad went and got his driver's license, in 1963, in a 63 New Yorker Wagon w/413 Hemi. I can't recall the tranny in that one.

 
He said it went like stink, and the posi made for nicely matched pavement resurfacing marks.

 
Kyfdx: Can you say there's a fungus amongus? One of my coworkers dropped her Daewoo Lanos, and upgraded to a 20 year old Sentra.

chidoro

There was a smart car on the Garden St Parkway on my way to work this morning. It was black with silver vertical lines around the rear pillars. The thing was moving faster than me so it must have been going at least 70+. Pretty nifty looking

stickguy

The M-B headquarters are right off exit 172, so it might have been heading to or from there.

john500

on a flatbed truck today. I was told that a movie version of "The Dukes of Hazard" was recently made in this area (Baton Rouge, LA).

stickguy

Great, there go the last 1/2 dozen Chargers left!

fintail

An immaculate c. 1975 Buick Lesabre 4 door HT just drove past my window. Never noticed it in the area before.

 

Period colors of brown with a creme colored vinyl top

 

I wonder if Hazzard county has any paved roads yet

andre1969

buy another white car, but I think this one is kinda purty:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate- gory=80732&item=4523728866

 

I'm guessing that $4000 is probably what the nicest one in the world would go for, though?

 

Also, can anybody tell me if the seats in this car are leather or just vinyl? It's hard for me to tell by the texture, but the pattern makes me think of vinyl, because weren't leather seats usually plusher back then?

fintail

That looks like the thing I saw yesterday, it was the style with that little window behind the main ones. Maybe it was an Electra.

 

4K and hasn't hit reserve. It's not bad at 4K, but much higher would indeed be world beating.

 

I bet it's vinyl. That's some nice plood too.

kyfdx

Somehow, I can't remember those cars coming with vinyl... Either leather or velour..

andre1969

the '75-76 LeSabre were very close in style to the Electra. I think the main differences were in the rear, where the Electra was longer and more formal, and had a Cadillac-ish rear with those dreaded easy-break plastic fender extensions, while the LeSabre was shorter, sloped off more, just had a normal bumper that jutted out, and long, simple horizontal taillights.

 

I believe the Electra also had a longer roof, as it had a bigger back seat than the LeSabre, but it's probably one of those things where you'd have to see them both side by side to really tell the difference there.

 

Oh yeah, and the simple stuff, like 4 portholes on the Electra and 3 on the LeSabre, slightly different grilles, and old fashioned round headlights on the '75 LeSabre.

andre1969

from the '71-76 era with just vinyl, but they were all '71-72 models. I don't think I've ever seen a later model with vinyl though, as the later ones really pimped up.

 

Now that I think about it though, I may have seen a base level '77 or so Electra with a vinyl interior. So maybe it was one of those things that was ostensibly standard equipment, but 99+% of them were equipped with leather or velour?

 

Here's more along the lines of what I think of, when it comes to a leathered-up mid-70's Electra:

 



Maybe this one's a Limited, though? Did they have the Park Avenue edition in '76?

andys120

here's some really obscure old

cars....

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/automobiles/31CARS.html?oref=lo- gin

andys120

the NY times reports on SMART cars and other oddballs rarely seen on American Streets....

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/automobiles/30AUTO.html

merckx

In this month's C&D, a road test of this Opel was reprinted. Was the Kadett really that bad? I'd still take one over a Beetle or Corolla from 1968. This road test strikes me as sensationalistic and inaccurate.

stickguy

C&D was looking to make a rep for itself, and they decided to totally roast a car just for that reason. IMO, in comparison to the other small cars of the time, it wasn't that bad. And if you read the summary chart, it actually got high marks for being well built. Not much of a performer though, but certainly better than a Beetle!

andre1969

hating the Opel Kadett because it's a small, cramped torture chamber with board-flat seats and pedals so close together you can easily hit both with one foot.

 



 

But I'm sure that, in all fairness, it was quite competent for the time. And I'm sure it was a much better effort than some of the Big Three's later attempts at small cars, like the Pinto, Vega, and Gremlin, and the various imported stuff that they slapped the Chrysler/Dodge nameplates on. By the time they got to the Omni/Horizon though, I think that was the first really decent, semi-modern American attempt at a small car. Nevermind the fact that they copied the VW Rabbit, and initial models even used Rabbit engines!

andys120

I have a feeling that you'd find the Kadett/Manta

quite spacious compared to a Beetle or a Corolla, Andre. They certainly weren't the worst of the sometimes geek little cars extant in the late 60s.

 

Frankly I'd say the Omni-'rizons were better than a Gremlin or Pinto but nowhere near as good as the Rabbits they copied. Boy talk about torque steer, I can't imagine how they got so much TS from all of 1700cc.

jlawrence01

I had a Chevette (1980 automatic) and even though I am large, I had no problems with the car being uncomfortable. The vehicle was reasonably reliable as there were very few things that could go wrong with it.

 

The issue with the Chevette was a serious lack of power. You would need to floor the car to get to 55mph. And the interior was far more spartan than that Opel Kadette.

 

The Omni/Horizon was a GREAT drive with a lot of oomph. It was great in snow. The problem was the the construction of the vehicle was terrible. Slam down the hatchback and the logo would fall off. Be careful opening the door so the handle wouldn't come off.

 

I would choose the Chevette over the Omni/Horizon as it was better made (and you NEVER had to worry about a speeding ticket).

stickguy

I actually had a Manta ('74 or '75, whichever was the last year). Actually a pretty snazzy car for the day, compared to the other small car crap available. Drove like a little BMW clone to some extent.

 

Biggest problem was the FI had a problem, and given how rare it was in those days, and how few of them were sold, bad experience (unless you like fouled plugs).

 

Fun though when it was running. THis was in '81 BTW.