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

stickguy

I had a bunch of cars without AC. never bothered me. first one I got with AC (well, AC that actually functioned!) was a Mazda 323 we got shortly after getting married. our first "grown up" car I guess!

andys120

I owned an '86 Mustang GT/5.0 (5speed) that I bought used, dark grey/white. Fun car, decent chassis/brakes, very fast for it's times, crap interior with lousy leather. Drove it for around a decade.

Glorious soundtrack from the twin pipes!.

uplanderguy

My first new car was an '81 Monte Carlo, V8 (somewhat hard-to-find where I lived), and no A/C. Didn't want to spend the money, and my parents had never had A/C in a car or their house at that time.

I remember one time when I was in MI with work and I drove a few VP's to dinner one night. "Billy, turn the air on". I said "It doesn't have it". VP in back seat looks over front seat and says, "Did (other VP name not present) buy this car?". They couldn't believe it.

andre1969

I guess I got somewhat spoiled in having a/c right from the get-go, with the 1980 Malibu my Mom gave me in early 1987, when I started driving on my own. In those days I could live without it, and indeed, many of the cars I've had since that Malibu have had non-working a/c.

But, I've noticed that the older I get, I'm less tolerant of the heat. Or actually, I think it's more the humidity. I don't mind a hot, dry day, but when the humidity starts creeping up, it gets to me fast! With the antique cars it's usually a non-issue. Whenever I have a car in a show, I'm usually out on the show field fairly early, and we usually hang around until the evening, so we're not in the car during the hottest part of the day.

explorerx4

Cheap Pimpin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz3PpspzxRM

stickguy

went out for dinner and passed a couple of 70s oddballs. An early decade MGB (top up). and really rare, a 1977ish Camaro Z28. one of the early ones after they brought it back. Black with gold lettering. looked to be in pretty nice shape. just driving around, heading into a shopping center.

andre1969

I think when the stock market opens on Monday, it'll be a good idea to invest in oil company stocks

fintail

Man that diesel spread. At least it isn't one of the GM V8 diesels of the era (if more than a few are still on the road)

uplanderguy

This '96 Roadmaster Estate wagon with 8K miles just sold for $35K on BaT. It is a beauty, good color, and it really was the only thing like it at the time (other than the Caprice Classic).

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-buick-roadmaster-42/?fbclid=IwAR0MSIXh-sSiqcdfiDjKgP3p6WOw-HWd0EULI3Ew9MJE63VT9QPu7TnHZrE

My wife gave me the OK to trade our '93 Caprice Classic sedan for a '96 Caprice wagon; we both knew it was the last year. I decided that'd be dumb for me to spend the money.

The wide rubber portion of the body side moldings on those Roadmasters always came loose, and it looks like the one on the RR door is beginning to do that here.

Funny that the Chevy had digital speedometer and Buick had analog, but I prefer the Buick dash all day long. I absolutely detest the '94-96 Chevy panel. The '91-93 panel wasn't stunning but it was better-looking than the later ones.

xwesx

uplanderguy said:

This '96 Roadmaster Estate wagon with 8K miles just sold for $35K on BaT. It is a beauty, good color, and it really was the only thing like it at the time (other than the Caprice Classic).

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-buick-roadmaster-42/?fbclid=IwAR0MSIXh-sSiqcdfiDjKgP3p6WOw-HWd0EULI3Ew9MJE63VT9QPu7TnHZrE

My wife gave me the OK to trade our '93 Caprice Classic sedan for a '96 Caprice wagon; we both knew it was the last year. I decided that'd be dumb for me to spend the money.

The wide rubber portion of the body side moldings on those Roadmasters always came loose, and it looks like the one on the RR door is beginning to do that here.

Funny that the Chevy had digital instrumentation and Buick had analog, but I prefer the Buick dash all day long. I absolutely detest the '94-96 Chevy panel. The '91-93 panel wasn't stunning but it was better-looking than the later ones.

I guess if you really must have it, this is the one. I imagine it scoots along nicely with the LT1 in it.

I had the opportunity to buy one many years ago (2002?), and I really like these cars, but I chickened out due to the RWD and wanting it as a year-round daily.

andre1969

fintail said:

Man that diesel spread. At least it isn't one of the GM V8 diesels of the era (if more than a few are still on the road)

IIRC, back in the heyday of the Olds Diesel, regular unleaded fuel was more expensive than Diesel. So you got not only improved fuel economy, but also saved money on the fuel itself. So as long as the car was reliable at least, over time you could expect the Diesel engine to pay for itself, and then some, in fuel savings.

I dunno if they can do that anymore, though. Just looking at the spread in that sign, Diesel is about 55.7% more than 87 octane. I put mid-grade in on this fill-up, which was $4.079. So it's a smaller spread, but still 44.1% more. I got 15.09 mpg on this last tank. So just to break even on this tank with a Diesel, I would've had to average about 21.75 mpg. Which probably is doable. Your typical full-sized GM car with a 350 Diesel back then was rated around 21/30. I could only find the city EPA estimate for my 5th Ave, which was 14, but the typical '78 Mopar B-body with a 360-2bbl was rated 14/22, so I'd think my car would be close.

BTW, the only time I've ever been able to get 20 or better was on a pure highway run. As in, fill up, hit the highway immediately, and don't make any stops until the next gas station. That 15.09 mpg involved running up to the Carlisle Mopar show in July, although that also included sitting in some pretty heavy stop and go traffic for about 15 minutes when I got close to the show field. There was also a little (very little) local driving, plus a few times where I started the car up in the garage and moved it out in the yard, whenever it was in the way for whatever reason or other, or drove it up and down the driveway a couple times, just to blow the cobwebs out. But, at today's prices, even if you could break even on the fuel, I don't think the engine would ever pay for itself. I guess one advantage you'd still get is increased range, though.

andys120

Nice weather always brings out the nice oldies. Today I saw a red 1968 Firebird 400 convertible (top down in November!)

Michaell

Member needs help identifying a grille

sda

Dad’s 79 Eldorado diesel would do low 20s in city and 29-31mpg highway. It did require an oil change every 3k instead of 7.5k for the gas engine.

explorerx4

In the way to the grocery store, I drive by a house that usually has mowers and other motorized small equipment for sale in the front yard. Today it had a white 64/65 Dodge Dart wagon.

fintail

I recall some points in time like that when I had the E250 Bluetec lease - diesel was a bit cheaper than PUG, and that car got remarkable highway mpg, I think passing 45 mpg on many an occasion. Different world today, where the fuel savings might not cancel out the cost. That was an interesting car, might have kept it if the dark color didn't drive me nuts and the wagon hadn't wooed me. It was also somewhat slow for a modern car, 195 hp to move ~4000+ lbs might have been nice in 1982, but it made for a ~8 second 0-60. I liked the muted clatter, which was imperceptible from inside once moving. Fintail settles in at 20-21 mpg on the highway, not bad for its age I guess.

On the road today: late 70s Volvo brick coupe (not a Bertone, the 2 door sedan type, 242 perhaps) and a Bronco II.

andre1969 said:

fintail said:

Man that diesel spread. At least it isn't one of the GM V8 diesels of the era (if more than a few are still on the road)

IIRC, back in the heyday of the Olds Diesel, regular unleaded fuel was more expensive than Diesel. So you got not only improved fuel economy, but also saved money on the fuel itself. So as long as the car was reliable at least, over time you could expect the Diesel engine to pay for itself, and then some, in fuel savings.

I dunno if they can do that anymore, though. Just looking at the spread in that sign, Diesel is about 55.7% more than 87 octane. I put mid-grade in on this fill-up, which was $4.079. So it's a smaller spread, but still 44.1% more. I got 15.09 mpg on this last tank. So just to break even on this tank with a Diesel, I would've had to average about 21.75 mpg. Which probably is doable. Your typical full-sized GM car with a 350 Diesel back then was rated around 21/30. I could only find the city EPA estimate for my 5th Ave, which was 14, but the typical '78 Mopar B-body with a 360-2bbl was rated 14/22, so I'd think my car would be close.

BTW, the only time I've ever been able to get 20 or better was on a pure highway run. As in, fill up, hit the highway immediately, and don't make any stops until the next gas station. That 15.09 mpg involved running up to the Carlisle Mopar show in July, although that also included sitting in some pretty heavy stop and go traffic for about 15 minutes when I got close to the show field. There was also a little (very little) local driving, plus a few times where I started the car up in the garage and moved it out in the yard, whenever it was in the way for whatever reason or other, or drove it up and down the driveway a couple times, just to blow the cobwebs out. But, at today's prices, even if you could break even on the fuel, I don't think the engine would ever pay for itself. I guess one advantage you'd still get is increased range, though.

ab348

Historically, diesel fuel was usually cheaper than gasoline but I don’t know if the refining process changed to yield more gas and less diesel from a given amount of crude, since diesel is now significantly pricier. Even worse is that since diesel is essentially home heating oil, that is also ridiculously expensive now.

uplanderguy

New, ahem, project parked out at my storage place next to the old '75 Monza 2+2 V8 4-speed. I'd choose the Monza of the two.

uplanderguy

Saw this car's exact twin pulling into a church parking lot in Stow, OH yesterday morning.

ab348

Changing lanes in one of those T-birds must be a harrowing experience. Just a huge blind spot.

andre1969

I kinda like those T-birds, at least up until they started putting the beak on. But I prefer the base model, with the roll-down windows in back. That Landau model outsold the hardtop, and usually by a pretty wide margin, so my tastes definitely don't jive up with what the public was wanting at the time.

I'll admit, I have a soft spot for the 4-door version, too.

andre1969

ab348 said:

Changing lanes in one of those T-birds must be a harrowing experience. Just a huge blind spot.

There's a "Family Guy" scene that shows kind of how to make those types of lane changes. A bit politically incorrect to post here, though 🤣

stickguy

That Camaro looks like toast. Midwest car, that much rust showing they underside must be Swiss cheese.

uplanderguy

Here's a profile shot of that Camaro, confirming your opinion! LOL

uplanderguy

When the '82 Camaro and Firebird came out, I thought the styling was an improvement. I was tired of the eleven-year-old '81 body which really hadn't changed that much. Just personally, I liked the Camaro's styling better--no hideaway headlights, and not a fan of the Trans Am's flat, black wheels. That said, I didn't like the special-edition models, like the one above. I actually would've wanted a maroon or navy blue Berlinetta with the gold wheels and subtle gold pinstriping, velour seats, and carbureted 305. In '84 they ruined even that I think with the video-game instrument panel.

sda

Remember this console mounted clock on the 82 Camaro? Most ended up scratched up and looking shabby like this one. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-0JvFxZ0U_NMZDhDPMh24PzR183EKoqt1wVKdYSWx3A&s

fintail

That Camaro must be a parts car, those things are still fairly affordable in good condition, even with the recent rush towards 80s material. No way it could be restored without the expense being 3x the value of the car.

uplanderguy

I actually liked that clock at the time!

I think the same guy probably owns both the Monza and Camaro, and my guess is he's one of those "I'll get around to them" kind of guys.

ab348

I liked the 3rd-gen Camaro when it was introduced too. By that time the previous style had gotten not a great image in my mind. I liked the slant-nose ones with the chrome front bumper ('76 or so I guess) better than the ones that came after. So the styling of the '82 was good, but they weren't the greatest cars. A pretty flexible structure, and for the first few years the engines were woefully weak. I remember driving an '82 Crossfire Z28 and being really disappointed. They improved it over the full run of course.

ab348

While I was out just now, spotted idling at the curb just down the hill, a Volvo P1800 sports estate, obviously well cared-for, in blue. Likely restored to original as it had the wheels I remember seeing on them back when they were new. Always liked those.

fintail

Just remembered, early Saturday morning, I saw an Lincoln Town Car coupe - not the angular peak malaise Continental coupe, but a TC two door Maybe MY 1981 only? It was still on the road with a bit of patina.

tjc78

80/81 Only.

1980 was actually branded a Continental Town Coupe. 1981 it was a Town Car whether it was two or four door.

You can tell the 1980 models because they say Continental just above the headlights. 1981-1984 say Town Car.

andre1969

I always remember one of those '80-81 Lincoln coupes in the first episode of "Knight Rider". There was a demolition derby for rich people, where you had to enter a new car, to show you had money to burn, or something like that, and somehow Michael and K.I.T.T. got into the fray...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlvobAHI3g
Just try to forget this was aired around the time the '83 model year was starting, so many of these aren't exactly "new" cars. The Lincoln meets its demise around the 3:45 mark, when a '78-79 Regal goes airborne and lands upside-down on it...
I think this video is just begging to be posted over in Malaise Motors, or the Brougham Society on facebook, just to see if any panties get ruffled... 😇

Michaell

Looks like Saugus Speedway

tjc78

I remember that episode. A Mark V but the dust too.

Knight Rider so cheesy, but so good. Lol

fintail

That was fun, I was into that show at the time but have no memory of that. To be fair, I was a kid and didn't watch the show in reruns. I've recently started reading Malaise Motors, and indeed some there would not be thrilled about that scene.

The Versailles being demolished caught my eye the most - I like the less former earlier cars more, but I notice that later formalized version had a moonroof. I wonder if the Caddys were already unwanted diesels. I guess at that time, the angular cars were still "new", so anything with that shape would appear legit to the typical non-car person.

andre1969 said:

I always remember one of those '80-81 Lincoln coupes in the first episode of "Knight Rider". There was a demolition derby for rich people, where you had to enter a new car, to show you had money to burn, or something like that, and somehow Michael and K.I.T.T. got into the fray...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlvobAHI3g
Just try to forget this was aired around the time the '83 model year was starting, so many of these aren't exactly "new" cars. The Lincoln meets its demise around the 3:45 mark, when a '78-79 Regal goes airborne and lands upside-down on it...
I think this video is just begging to be posted over in Malaise Motors, or the Brougham Society on facebook, just to see if any panties get ruffled... 😇

andre1969

It was the series premiere, which was two hours as I recall, although in reruns it was probably broken into two parts. That Versailles certainly took a beating. First it slams into the step van, then the black Coupe DeVille clips it in the rear, and then it finally gets flipped.

I was pretty impressed at how well the front of that Coupe DeVille held up after hitting the Versailles. The front-end is still distorted, but I figured all that plastic in the header panel/grille/headlight clusters would just shatter and go flying. When they show the Versailles a bit later, just before it flips, you can get a glimpse of the rear quarter, and it's pretty seriously caved in, so either the Versailles was flimsy, or it was a really hard hit.

Of course, being Hollywood, who knows, maybe they simply reinforced the bumper of the Caddy?

Modern audiences would probably roll their eyes at all this cheesiness, but for a tv show, the stunt work/crashes, and using fairly new cars was actually pretty impressive. Sharp contrast to "CHiPs", where you could always tell which cars were going to get wrecked, because they were old, and often beat up and already had damage.

uplanderguy

Back to Gen 2 Camaros for a moment--conventional wisdom is that '70-73's are the best-styled, but I liked these ones best--wraparound back window, slanted front, wraparound rectangular taillights. I also like the Type LT blacked-out rocker with molding at the top. Whatever year they started doing body-colored bumpers and big, dopey decals, stripes, model call-outs, etc., I lost all interest and in fact I never had that much interest to begin with, even as a teenager. Cliche to be my age then and like them, and I couldn't justify even then a car that size with that tiny of a back seat AND trunk.

ab348

I feel the same way Bill, as I noted in my post above. The style you pictured above ran from 1974 to 1977 and I like those much more than the urethane-bumper '78's and beyond.

uplanderguy

The wraparound window was new for '75, but you're right, all of the other basic changes started with the '74.

andre1969

I'm about the same way...I prefer the '74-77 Camaros. The '78-81 just gives me the image of under-aged drinking and smoking out behind the propane tanks at the trailer park. And the '70-73, while the most "pure," I just don't care for that too-narrow grille. I do appreciate them more now, that I did when they were newer, though.

With the Firebird and Trans Am though, I liked the entire run. But then, right from the start of that style in 1970, the front-end/grille just seemed fuller. I think my favorite is the '77-78, with the rectangular quads and the split grille between them. I didn't care for the '79-81 as much, where they moved the grille down into the bumper, had nothing in between the headlights, and spread them out a bit. But, overall, I still like them all, and better than the Camaro, year for year in that generation.

As for actually wanting one, when I was a kid I thought the Firebirds and Trans Ams were cool. In the 1970's there was, of course, "Smokey and the Bandit" that probably made them the most famous of all, but Ponch had one in "CHiPs". There were two of them in the Roger Corman movie "Cannonball." And, by the time "Knight Rider" was out, us kids all thought that generation was cool. By the time I was old enough to drive, I think I went through a stage where I WANTED to want one, if that makes sense...because something like that is what any "normal" high school boy would lust after. But I felt myself more lured to something like the Monte Carlo SS or a Grand National. Bigger, more practical, but still muscular.

andys120

I'm a Mustang guy and prolly always will be but there's no doubt in my mind about which was and still is the best-looking, most desirable
Camaro>

stickguy

That’s my favorite. 350 4 speed.

uplanderguy

'70. Although there are probably some colors unique to the '70 (1/2), the easiest way I can tell a '70 is that it's the only year that has the low-back seats with adjustable head restraint.

ab348

andre1969 said:

With the Firebird and Trans Am though, I liked the entire run. But then, right from the start of that style in 1970, the front-end/grille just seemed fuller. I think my favorite is the '77-78, with the rectangular quads and the split grille between them. I didn't care for the '79-81 as much, where they moved the grille down into the bumper, had nothing in between the headlights, and spread them out a bit.

I don't think very many people liked the '79-'81 Firebird refresh. Certainly not James Garner. When they were shooting the last season or two of The Rockford Files, they got new '79 models to use in the shows and he had the front clips changed back to a '77/'78 style because he didn't like the redesign. Probably helped with continuity and budgets too since they could recycle older B-roll footage more easily.

ab348

Speaking of Pontiac, I found this intriguing. Collectible Automobile posted this today on Twitter, a proposed styling concept of a '67 Bonneville from the GM Design archives I had never seen before. I kind of like it. It is a bit reminiscent of the '59 Pontiac. Maybe they should have used this for the '68 model.



I think those might be Cadillac concepts in the background.

sda

The sedan looks like the design language of an Olds 98 but certainly could be a Cadillac.

stickguy

Grill looks like a 1970 Dodge.

https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/1970_dodge_super_bee_1603788831f98764da1970_dodge_super_bee_160378883095d565ef66e7d85c3add5-d342-4fc0-824a-8a55bbecbc2a-ozpws0-scaled.jpg?fit=940,627

stickguy

My iPad hates posting pictures to this site.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

My iPad hates posting pictures to this site.

Ha.. my iPad is better than the PC browser, for me.