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

Michaell

stickguy said:

Though we signed up for a company to put in a fancy master closet organizer system, and cabinets in the laundry to replace the one cheesy wire shelf. Oddly that was much cheaper than I was expecting! So getting that done. Nice design, should double at least the usable space in our closet. But the wife is still supposed to do a lot more weeding out first.

Which company did you go with for the closet? We've used Closets by Design for all three of our houses and have been happy with their work. Lifetime warranty doesn't hurt, either.

stickguy

Local outfit, not one of the chains.

I’ve always done these myself but just buying all the components might cost nearly as much. And this will be all wood, no brackets and wire shelves. And of course, much less of my labor! I’m getting old so writing checks looks like a better option.

Michaell

stickguy said:

I’m getting old so writing checks looks like a better option.

I learned that lesson years ago.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
You should find out if there a coyotes in your area. It can be dangerous to tie up a dog outside.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

@stickguy,
You should find out if there a coyotes in your area. It can be dangerous to tie up a dog outside.

We have that issue here (plus hawks and owls). We don't let our dogs go outside for very long on their own.

stickguy

well, you have hot dogs so must look tasty!

I would not let him be out unattended. Just easier if we are out in the yard to not have to hold a leash, or if I wanted to let him out to do his business without walking around with him.

explorerx4

Here's a picture of a tire on the Mustang. Aggressive tread, like I said. Can't find anything close.

tjc78

Our fence was a little shy of 5 figures for just 2.5 sides of the property. Ugh.

We have a very nice closest system the PO installed. You basically don’t need any space in the dressers with it. So convenient.

stickguy

My wife is looking forward to it. She did not come close to finishing the required clothes purge but that needs to happen as part of loading the closet after the redo. And the cabinets over the laundry will really neaten things up.

My rough measurement is maybe 90 feet of fence, with 2 gates. That was $6kish. Getting another estimate but likely to be close. I should do it myself but I really don’t want to deal with it with just my wife to help. I was only getting it for the dog when he visits but for that much $ I will buy a longer leash instead and just take him out!

ab348

Up here, prefab fence sections, all 8" long, go for a range of $60 (traditional pickets) to $100 (stockade) to $150 (boards w/lattice top). So lets say $600 to $1500 in worthless Canadian dollars, plus a dozen posts, some sort of premade gates, and rental of a post hole auger and a few sacks of cement. Sounds like not much more than a day's work for most of the people here.

andre1969

I just looked up fencing out of curiosity. I haven't bought any since 2018, when I needed to replace a few sections along the property line at the old place. Back then, This type of stuff was about $40 a section.

Now it's $60! When new neighbors moved in next door, they put up a bunch of new fencing, but managed to find some stuff that was even cheaper. That would've been like early 2020, and I swear, that stuff looks like it's warping, and coming apart already! But, those three sections I put up are holding fine.

I had also bought a bunch of it back in 2006, to redo the courtyard area at the old place. Back then it was only around $30 per section. 16 years later, the only problem is one little slat had popped loose.

I thought about having part of the area surrounding the swimming pool fenced off, with white vinyl fencing, for privacy. Right now it just has a 4-foot chain link fence surrounding it. I looked at the price of that stuff, and just gave up! A few years back we bought some 7' tall metal fence posts and just strapped them to the chain link fence. During swimming pool season we've been putting up this privacy screen stuff, which is really just sort of a glorified tarp. I think two of the sections are 6x50 feet, and the third is 6x25. I'd like to get something nicer, and more permanent put up, but at these prices I'm gonna have to budget for it!

stickguy

we are looking at something like this. ballpark, would need 15 sections? maybe a few more, so round it off to 20. Fence guys mark it up (or hopefully use something better) so call it $100/panel. That comes out to about $2k being generous.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Freedom-Actual-4-5-ft-x-6-31-ft-Pre-Assembled-New-Haven-Black-Aluminum-Flat-Top-Decorative-Metal-Fence-Panel/3850923

Gates are about $300 x2 so another $600.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Freedom-Common-5-ft-x-4-ft-Actual-4-775-ft-x-3-8917-ft-New-Haven-Black-Aluminum-Decorative-Metal-Fence-Gate/3850921

another $300 for end posts, something for hardware, I guess concrete so call that $500?

so padding it a bit if I went in and got something good quality from the fence dealer and had everything delivered, I could be in for $3k OTD (on the driveway). Which basically puts having the pros come out and do it right at another $3k. And having had it done before and watching it done, is probably reasonable. I have a post hole digger but using it for that many holes would kill my arms. And of course, the pesky issue of potentially screwing something up and having it come out crappy. No amount of money saved is worth listening to the boss about that daily as long as we live in this house!

andre1969

There's a home in my area, maybe 2 miles away, that has one of those types of metal fences around the entire perimeter. Here's a screen shot of the street view... The property is just under 2.5 acres, and looking at the overhead view I think that fence goes around the whole yard, other than being set back from the road a bit. I imagine that cost a pretty penny.

But, I've also seen the owner about to pull out of his driveway once or twice. Drives one of these...So, I'd imagine he didn't have too much trouble paying for that fence

ab348

stickguy said:

so padding it a bit if I went in and got something good quality from the fence dealer and had everything delivered, I could be in for $3k OTD (on the driveway). Which basically puts having the pros come out and do it right at another $3k. And having had it done before and watching it done, is probably reasonable. I have a post hole digger but using it for that many holes would kill my arms. And of course, the pesky issue of potentially screwing something up and having it come out crappy. No amount of money saved is worth listening to the boss about that daily as long as we live in this house!

So you better cough up the cash and get it done. Put that dream of a fun sporty little car on hold for a bit.

stickguy

oh, I am taking plan C. Don't do it at all!

might get lucky waiting out my neighbor that has just weeds so far (I think they finished that house back in maybe April). I figured they were going to landscape at some point (they literally had nothing in the back) and today a crew showed up to start putting in a nice big deck. so likely after that they will landscape around it, and if a fence is in the plans should happen then!

uplanderguy

Saw this '69 Bonneville convert on a FB Pontiac page, that was used in "I Dream of Jeannie":

andre1969

Funny, Lemko sent me that same picture, on facebook! At a quick glance, that color makes me think of the old '69 Bonneville 4-door hardtop I once owned, but I looked up the color chart, and I think Tony Nelson's convertible is "champagne", whereas mine was "antique gold".

After driving those blue GTOs, Tony looks out of place in this '69 Bonneville. My first thought is, he'd better get it back to Dr. Bellows before he realizes it's missing!

Oh, and for anyone curious about the black and white first season, here's a shot from the opening credits of the first season. Didn't realize that Sam and Darrin also lived in Cocoa Beach, and that it was near the mountains

uplanderguy

I closed in to see if it might be a Brougham--it isn't--and noticed this bad fit gap at the front of the left door. Yeesh, for a TV car!

Well, for some reason, I can no longer blow up/focus on the LF door fit. But up close, it's pretty bad.

The big Pontiacs that year got away with the tiniest side marker lights in the industry it seems! But they are nicely-integrated into the styling.

Buckets available on Catalina and Bonneville that year, but no console. I've never seen one in person so-equipped.

uplanderguy

Some questionable old iron in Cocoa Beach in 1965 or whenever it was!

uplanderguy

Riviera friend asked me about Hershey this year and tasked me with finding a hotel. If you have any suggestions, drop me a line here or PM me andre, thanks.

andre1969

There was an episode where Jeannie crashed Tony's car. At first I was thinking maybe they wrecked that '69 and put it back together again, and that's the reason for the poor door fit. But then I found a video clip...turns out it was the '68 that Jeannie wrecked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heGCmSPiVHE

So, that bad door fit on the '69 is all on GM! I wonder what prompted them to switch Tony from GTOs to Bonnevilles in the later seasons?

Oh, as for hotels, I really don't know that area as I live about 2 hours away, and just go up for the day, but I'd imagine this late in the game, most places that are actually close to Hershey have long since been booked. Back when I used to make a mini vacation out of the Mopar show and would book a motel, I'd usually have to get a place a good 10 miles out. A lot of people would make their reservations for the following year, as they were checking out!

I'd say, maybe try someplace in Harrisburg, or a bit further out, like Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, etc. The last time I booked a motel up that way was in 2017, for the GM show in Carlisle. That particular motel was the Rodeway Inn, 1239 Harrisburg Pike, Carlisle, PA 17013. Nothing to brag about, but it was cheap, and had a swimming pool (not exactly a bonus in October though). I remember the pool had a nice view of the dirty book store on the other side of Middlesex Road

If you're going to Hershey, Uplander, we should definitely try to coordinate a meetup. It would be great to finally meet you! Lemko, Grbeck (dunno how many of you would remember him, he hasn't posted on Edmunds in ages) and I are planning to be there on that Saturday.

uplanderguy

I think the show is on Friday now though!

uplanderguy

Riviera friend lives in Baltimore. He called me to ask if I wanted to meet him there, then tasked me with hotels!

Once I stayed in a hotel in Gettysburg (!), and once I stayed in Mechanicsburg, but I usually stayed with a Mopar friend in his motorhome. I'm getting too old to sleep on a floor or in one of the two seats upfront though, LOL.

andre1969

Odd...but I just looked it up and yeah, looks like the show is on Friday. I wonder why they made that change?

Wow, if you're going to be in Baltimore, depending on where in Baltimore, you're not going to be far at all from where I live. Oh, and also, if you're going into Baltimore, depending on what area, watch out for the Squeegee Boys. They've been making the local headlines with their violence and mayhem, but I don't know how much they've made the news, outside of our local area.

uplanderguy

He lives in Lutherville/Timonium, but I'm meeting him at the show apparently, assuming we can get a hotel. He's 72 and not in the greatest physical shape, same as me. He wants to show his Riv; it's a '63 in red-on-red-leather. It was sold new in a tiny town in South Dakota which now has 1,300 people. I wouldn't be surprised if his was the only one that dealer sold that year. Original owner was born in 1891!

fintail

Speaking of Jeannie, I saw this just yesterday:



I've read that set (house also used as Clark's Griswold's boyhood home in Christmas Vacation) has been razed, as there was an offer they couldn't refuse on the Warner Brothers Ranch land, and production was relocated.

andre1969 said:

Funny, Lemko sent me that same picture, on facebook! At a quick glance, that color makes me think of the old '69 Bonneville 4-door hardtop I once owned, but I looked up the color chart, and I think Tony Nelson's convertible is "champagne", whereas mine was "antique gold".

After driving those blue GTOs, Tony looks out of place in this '69 Bonneville. My first thought is, he'd better get it back to Dr. Bellows before he realizes it's missing!

Oh, and for anyone curious about the black and white first season, here's a shot from the opening credits of the first season. Didn't realize that Sam and Darrin also lived in Cocoa Beach, and that it was near the mountains

uplanderguy

Was Mrs. Bellows' cousin 'Homer', in the 'crash' segment you posted, the same guy who played Lt. Carpenter in 'McHale's Navy'? Kind of looks like him.

sda

While out this morning I saw a very nice red with black painted top, 67 Buick Wildcat coupe. It was turning into the gas station (ha). Looked really straight, perfect bumpers, Buick rallye wheels, not hot rodded up, single exhaust.

imidazol97

We've talked about the Cordoba era autos with the Corinthian leather and Ricardo Montovan...

Where was the soft, fine, rich Corinthian leather that upholstered the seats in Cordobas and other Chrysler/Dodge models of the 1970s manufactured?

A. Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece
B. León, Guanajuato, Mexico
C. Newark, New Jersey, USA

*from rockauto newsletter.

sda

NJ. A friend had a 78 New Yorker Brougham with red tufted leather like the Cordoba. It was soft and supple, very comfortable. The leather in our Audi, while very nice, feels stiff and hard by comparison.

imidazol97

BTW, in case anyone didn't figure out the right answer, it was C, New Jersey,

sda

Seems old red cars are a theme today. Just got back from running an errand and saw three red cars, a 72 Cutlass 442 convertible with white interior, top down, 93 ish Miata, late 80s MB SL convertible, tan interior, top down. It is overcast today, mid 80s temp.

imidazol97

At the morning coffee shop I saw a 1965 Chevrolet convertible, black with beautiful red interior.
Then I looked at the side view and saw the stupid 20/22 inch wheels with
a weird spoke pattern. Yuk.

andre1969

Damn, that sucks about the Warner Brothers Ranch being razed. I found this article on it...
https://www.archpaper.com/2021/11/burbanks-historic-warner-bros-ranch-will-be-redeveloped-in-500-million-overhaul/

Hopefully they can relocate some of those old sets, although it still won't be quite the same. Universal Studios relocated the Beaver house and other notable sets sometime in the late 70's or early 80's I think, to its current location on "Colonial Street". But, it still doesn't look quite the same, as the street is laid out differently, they put some of the houses in different spots, etc. Still, better than simply demolishing it.

Useless trivia...if anyone ever watched that sitcom "The Middle", the Heck House is (or was, if it's already been razed) located where the church is in that "Cocoa Beach" picture above. Without looking it up, I believe the Partridge Family house was to the right of the church, then the Mr. Wilson/Jeannie/Father Knows Best house, then the Donna Reed/Dennis the Menace house.

stickguy

a few lately. a nice yellow 75ish Corvette convertible, driving with the top down. and the real oddball, a very early car (model T or something similar). roadster, no top on it. actually driving around on busy roads. very, very slowly. older couple in it, seemed to be have quite a good time!

uplanderguy

Found a room with two beds at the Best Western Plus Harriburg East for $599 total, three nights. (We'd agreed to not spend more than $100 per person so juuussssttt under that). Like South Bend hotels during Notre Dame games, hotels in that area jack up prices for Hershey week.

The reviews aren't great, but better than in the single Hershey-itself motel that had availability still for those dates--one read, "I wouldn't recommend this place to a bunch of feral cats".

andre, we'll plan on meeting during the show on Friday.

andre1969

Yeah, the nearby motels/hotels would also jack up their rates for the Ford and Mopar shows at Carlisle. I'd imagine the Corvette show as well, and most of the really big events. One plus to the GM show being a relatively small event, is that it was always easy to find a place, and the prices weren't too ridiculous.

I always thought it was a bit odd that the GM show is much smaller than the Mopar and Ford shows, despite GM being a much larger company historically. The GM show is a "younger" show, only dating back to 2001, but at this point, that's 22 years of shows, so you'd think it would've caught on by now.

One one hand, Carlisle events also has an all Corvette show, so that might dilute the crowd somewhat, but there's an awful lot more to GM than just the Corvette! I did hear that a few years back, the producers of the show pissed off the Camaro club. And for a couple years, GM actually asked them to call the show the "Chevy Nationals", and that pissed off a lot of non-Chevy GM owners.

Anyway, when I put my Catalina in that show, it gets lumped into a rather broad category of Pontiac full-size RWD, 1955-89. One year, I won first place...because I had the only car in that class! I think that was one of the years they were trying to call it the "Chevy Nationals".

tjc78

Airbnb or VRBO?

kyfdx

@uplanderguy Last year for a ND game, we stayed in Portland, the night before, then Warsaw, that evening...

explorerx4

We usually stay in Elkhart when going to ND games.
Might be a day trip now.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

We usually stay in Elkhart when going to ND games.
Might be a day trip now.

That was our first time. It’s about 4 hours, one way.

imidazol97

kyfdx said:

@uplanderguy Last year for a ND game, we stayed in Portland, the night before, then Warsaw, that evening...

Wow. Portland IN? That's my area where I grew up.
Has some history in auto industry: produced steering wheels and padded
dash from the Sheller part of the Sheller-Globe Corporation. IIRC the local
factory burned sometime in the 80s. Sheller had begun in 1916 as a wooden
steering wheel manufacturer.

https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/67/SHELLER-GLOBE-CORPORATION.html

https://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php?t=4895&start=75

kyfdx

Yup.. just 20 miles to ND, from there. We went up to see UC put a whipping on them, last year.

We were going to stay in Kokomo on the way back, but the road construction was so bad on the way up, that I re-booked the hotel, and we came back through Ft Wayne, the next day (ergo, Warsaw).

My wife is from the Ft Wayne area.

uplanderguy

I'm about 4.5 hrs. from South Bend. I've been going there at least yearly for Studebaker functions for over 30 years. I enjoy going US20 most of the way, when I'm not in a big hurry. There've been a couple Studebaker events there over the years that clashed with an ND game or two, but not too many.

When I was younger, I'd drive out in the morning, do the swap meet and parts gathering at the big vendor of leftover NOS that was still in town, and come back that night. Just too old to do that anymore.

explorer, if you're in north central OH now, and if by some chance you might be even remotely interested in U.S. presidential history, I can't recommend enough a tour of Rutherford B. Hayes' home in Fremont, even if you don't care about him. It's awesome. Even the wife and mother-in-law enjoyed it. I find Warren G. Harding interesting, as he's been largely maligned in an over-the-top way IMHO, mostly by Arthur Schlesinger starting way back then, and most people just picked up on that. He was the last president from OH. There is a one-year-old museum in Marion about him, and his burial spot in Marion is almost unbelievable--looks like a monument in D.C. His home is modest but part of the tour price for the museum too.

In Elkhart, IN is the RV Hall of Fame. I visited a decade ago with RV'er friends, and I enjoyed it. And of course in South Bend is the Studebaker National Museum, not huge but nice for an orphan brand for sure.

I cannot recommend enough Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, and if time permits, the Gilmore museum north of Kalamazoo, MI literally can't be done in a day. Really top-notch cars and displays.

andre1969

I'd really be curious to see that RV Hall of Fame, as I've always had a fascination with RVs and camping in general. Do they actually let you go inside any of the motorhomes, or are they all roped off?

kyfdx

I was reading a book, this week. The author also recommended the Hayes home, for a visit.

uplanderguy

I'm pretty sure I remember going inside at least one or a couple, but my memory is a bit foggy on that.

uplanderguy

I didn't even look for VRBO's or AirBNB for Hershey. At wanting to keep at $200 or less per night, not sure how'd successful we'd be.

On the other hand, my daughter who's now in CT has repeatedly found us very nice places when several of us have been to visit.

fintail

Yep, there are a number you can go inside, from ancient to modern - I visited a few years ago. It's not an enormous facility compared to ACD or maker-owned facilities, but has a surprising amount of exhibits, worthy of a stop IMO. I am not into camping and have no desire to actually own a MH or camper, but I have always been interested in these and modular housing (I think they had an exhibit about manufactured homes there too, as it is a big industry in that region).

andre1969 said:

I'd really be curious to see that RV Hall of Fame, as I've always had a fascination with RVs and camping in general. Do they actually let you go inside any of the motorhomes, or are they all roped off?

fintail

On the road: first gen Prelude, 240Z with obvious V8 transplant, late run Rabbit sedan.