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

andre1969

I hadn't noticed before but yeah, it does seem like Chrysler did a really good job at making that green consistent throughout the interior...not always an easy task across a wide variety of materials and textures. I was thinking that perhaps, if it had cloth seats, the cloth might be a bit harder to match up, but I found a pic of one, and I think they did a pretty good job coordinating the green on the fabric... One detail I notice that's odd, is that the pull strap on the door looks different than that one I posted earlier. It's also different from my two NY'ers, which use the same strap as that teal leather one. The 1980 brochure shows that type of pull strap, though. I wonder, if it was actually a running change that they made later in the '79 model year?

These cars were put together pretty badly in '79, but were improved for 1980. And then, taking a page from the GM playbook, they got them more or less right by 1981, only to cancel them. One other running change they made, was at some point switching the trunk lid from gas struts to old fashioned torsion bars to hold them up. I can't remember if they did that for '80 or '81.

ab348

texases said:

That's one of the best green interiors, everything matches.

Being colorblind towards that, it all looks like shades of gray.

imidazol97

I have a like for interiors that are other than black, graphite, carbon, or whatever other name they think of for a black/almost black interior.

The Chrysler New Yorker's green interior looks beautiful in color as well as plushness.
I'd like to see one in person, because it looks so subtle in the colors it contains. The color varies from picture to picture because of the windshield tint strip and the side glass tint I assume.

Have to watch for one when car shows start up again in the spring, hoping I'm able
to go to them.

andre1969

I know it will vary from person to person depending on your eyes, but to me, the green in that Chrysler makes me think of the light Jadestone of an early 80's GM product. I always thought of light jadestone as sort of a light silvery greenish-blue. So, start with jadestone, take away a bit of the blue, and replace the silver with gray, and there ya go!

At least, that's about the best way I can describe it.

fintail

I can really imagine those greens in early-mid 90s TC, CV, and GM. Interesting that such colors seem to have soared in popularity in the late 70s, were around a few years, but then in the early-mid 90s were stylish again for a moment

tjc78 said:

Ford brought green interior back in the 90s if anyone recalls. “Willow Green”

tjc78

@fintail said:
I can really imagine those greens in early-mid 90s TC, CV, and GM. Interesting that such colors seem to have soared in popularity in the late 70s, were around a few years, but then in the early-mid 90s were stylish again for a moment

I’d say the take rate was highest on the Panthers. I’ve seen it on the Taurus/Sable and a new one for me was the Explorer/Mountaineer above.

andre1969

I think it looks nice enough on that Panther in the pics, and in the Explorer/Mountaineer, seems pretty subtle. But I also seem to recall a green in the final '89-97 era T-bird/Cougar, and the "catfish/oval" Taurus/Sable that seemed darker, and on some of the shinier surfaces, seemed to have a greasy look to it that was a bit offputting to me. Although a green interior is such a rarity these days I'm sure if I saw one, I'd probably love it!

fintail

I looked around for a few seconds for a pic of a modern MB with a green interior - found nothing remarkable, only a couple cars with bright green highlights (most highline makers have special order options where almost anything is possible, but some things will likely never be chosen). So here's a 1981 build W126 280SE (I6, never offered in USDM) with a base cloth interior in a nice subtle color that shows the 70s weren't over yet:

tjc78

@andre1969 said:
I think it looks nice enough on that Panther in the pics, and in the Explorer/Mountaineer, seems pretty subtle. But I also seem to recall a green in the final '89-97 era T-bird/Cougar, and the "catfish/oval" Taurus/Sable that seemed darker, and on some of the shinier surfaces, seemed to have a greasy look to it that was a bit offputting to me. Although a green interior is such a rarity these days I'm sure if I saw one, I'd probably love it!

I’ve never seen a last gen Thunderbird with the WG… but a quick Google found one.

https://www.mcecars.com/vehicles/1445/1997-ford-thunderbird

explorerx4

You can get a Spruce Green interior on the explorer. It has some gray mixed it. Doesn't look very good to me.

ab348

Speaking of green, I saw a current-gen Corolla the other day (I think the version prior to the refresh as it didn't have the little black plastic triangle filler piece in the rear quarter window area, so maybe a 2017 or so) painted a deep metallic green metallic, a nice shade. First I've ever seen in that color.

kyfdx

In the '90s, we had a '97 Accord in eucalyptus, I think.. Then, a green '98 CR-V. So, we were doing our part. lol

fintail

I want to say my brother's Sundance Duster was a dark green (with gold accents, of course). I seem to recall that color being not exactly rare on 91-95 Mopar minivans as well.

tjc78

I swear almost all Mopar in the early-mid 90s was Hunter Green or that Black Cherry color they had.

stickguy

one of my favorite cars ever was my 1991 Mazda 626. that was in a dark green with Taupe interior. Loved those seats!

I know I had a few other greens along the way. A 1970ish Nova (never registered that one), the '74 Javelin was dark green too.

andre1969

Wow, that T-bird's green interior is definitely nicer than I remember! My uncle's '97 Silverado was a dark teal/green color, but its interior was gray.

ab348

The neighbors up the street evidently had a visitor earlier today.

imidazol97

I passed a Golf Harlequin on the way to lunch today. I believe one I saw locally decades ago had varied color wheels. This one just had alloy wheels of usual color.
Fewer than 300 make when I looked it up.

sda

This very nice stock looking Blazer CK has been parking in the company parking garage the past few days. It has the stacked quad rectangular headlamps, so a later model. It looks really nice and original

andre1969

Happy DeSoto Death Day, everyone!

And, I know it's probably not healthy to celebrate such anniversaries, but also the anniversary of the day my old 2000 Intrepid was dealt a fatal blow that exceeded its book value, and sent it to an early grave...I've sometimes wondered how long that Intrepid would have lasted, if it wasn't for this accident. That was back in 2009, so I'm sure it would be gone by now. It had about 150,000 miles on it at the time. I think I put around 56,000 on the Park Ave, and around 38,000 on my '03 Regal. And then there was about a year, between the time the Park Ave was no longer roadworthy and when I inherited the Regal, and during that time was relying pretty much exclusively on the Ram.

So in theory, it would probably have in excess of 250,000 on it now. The 2.7's in these cars were not known for their durability, and neither was the transmission...although the transmission seemed to have a better survival rate mated to the 2.7 than the bigger, torquier engines. I never had any problems with the engine or transmission, but I figured it was only a matter of time. The damage to the car doesn't look that bad, but it ripped a fairly major looking wiring harness, and that triggered a bunch of idiot lights. I was tempted to just try and straighten the fender, get a new headlight cluster, re-attach the fascia as best I could, and splice the wires back together. But then I figured it was just best to cut my losses, and move on.

Also, in Maryland at least, if I took a check from the insurance company, I think I would have had something like 30-90 days to get it fixed, get it inspected, and then I'd only get a salvage title. So if it ever got wrecked again, it would've probably been deemed totally worthless, with a salvage title. Or $300 or something like that.

sda

The damage certainly doesn't look that bad, but looks can be deceiving. I had a minor bump up in our 09 Civic, not my fault. It looked like just minor bumper and fender damage. The hood, headlights were not touched. It suffered suspension damage and though the control arm was replaced and an alignment done, it was never the same. Always pulled to the left and the paint, though blended to match, did not. That prompted the purchase of my 13 Accord EX. Didn't Chrysler locate the battery under the front wheelwell on the Cirrus and LH bodies, I think on the right side? A bit of a pain to access.

andys120

My sweet '00 BMW 330ci met a similar fate after I ran into a pile of rubble in the middle of a highway. At first I thought it was just a matter of replacing the air dam. Then idiot lights started flashing and the collision shop and insurance appraiser decided it was a total due to damage to wiring and other damage to the undertray of the car.

kyfdx

andys120 said:

My sweet '00 BMW 330ci met a similar fate after I ran into a pile of rubble in the middle of a highway. At first I thought it was just a matter of replacing the air dam. Then idiot lights started flashing and the collision shop and insurance appraiser decided it was a total due to damage to wiring and other damage to the undertray of the car.

🙁. Did that just happen?

uplanderguy

The '59 Chevy is a classic example of my theory that volume normalizes bad styling. That said, I can't look away from this car....a Biscayne with optional two-tone paint, 283, and Powerglide. Largely original car. I don't care for the '60 at all; I guess I figure if you're going to get one, you may as well go all-out for the original, most-wild one, LOL. Currently bid on eBay to $25.8K:



https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-for-sale/cc-for-sale-1959-chevrolet-biscayne-one-lady-owned-never-modified-or-messed-with/#more-458219

fintail

I like the flat tops, but if I had to pick a flat top, it would be a Buick or Caddy.

Not the same model of course, but color scheme made me think of this:

https://youtu.be/C_r5UJrxcck

Toyolex has certainly proven volume normalizes bad styling.

uplanderguy said:

The '59 Chevy is a classic example of my theory that volume normalizes bad styling. That said, I can't look away from this car....a Biscayne with optional two-tone paint, 283, and Powerglide. Largely original car. I don't care for the '60 at all; I guess I figure if you're going to get one, you may as well go all-out for the original, most-wild one, LOL. Currently bid to $22.6K:



https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-for-sale/cc-for-sale-1959-chevrolet-biscayne-one-lady-owned-never-modified-or-messed-with/#more-458219

sda

uplanderguy said:

The '59 Chevy is a classic example of my theory that volume normalizes bad styling. That said, I can't look away from this car....a Biscayne with optional two-tone paint, 283, and Powerglide. Largely original car. I don't care for the '60 at all; I guess I figure if you're going to get one, you may as well go all-out for the original, most-wild one, LOL. Currently bid on eBay to $25.8K:



https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-for-sale/cc-for-sale-1959-chevrolet-biscayne-one-lady-owned-never-modified-or-messed-with/#more-458219

It needs whitewalls and full wheel covers. That would dress it up nicely. I don't mind the lack of chrome as compared to the Impala.

texases

Not a fan of the '59, my interest starts with the '62, peaks with the '65-'67.

uplanderguy

The '65 is the most beautiful full-size Chevy of the sixties IMHO. I don't think there's a bad line on it. The interior of the Impala is pretty nice at its price point, too. I do especially like the '67 instrument panel, best of any full-size '60's Chevy though.

sda

I thought the 67 Caprice with the optional hidden headlamps was very handsome.

uplanderguy

I think you probably mean '68.

sda

I believe hidden headlamps were an option on both the 67 Impala and Caprice. I tried to find a brochure but for some reason my internet isn't loading with any speed. I did find this picture of an Impala.

uplanderguy

Man, in my entire lifetime of looking at Chevys, and about living at a dealership, that is the first '67 Chevy I've seen with hideaway headlights. Impala, too.

texases

The old car brochure site will let me view any Chevy brochure, except the '67 full line one. Grrrr.

edit- found it here, no mention of hidden headlights.
https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/brochuredisplay.cgi?year=1967&manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet&smod=&page=22&scan=22

ab348

Huh... I did the same thing as you and went to find another source. The Old Car Brochures site crashed or was hacked a few years ago and hasn't been quite the same since. The owner recovered a lot of it but there are still a number of holes that weren't there previously.

I think the '67 with hidden lights that @sda posted was a kustom job.

andre1969

I don't think the '59 Chevy is bad looking, from the front...it's the rear where they go over the top. Now some of that front end work is a little gaudy. For instance, do they really need those little round knobs across the center of the grille, where it peaks? To me, the biggest sin of that '59 Chevy, from that angle at least, is that narrow track. While fairly normal for the time, through modern eyes it looks like a big car body dropped down on a compact frame!

On the subject of cars getting totaled before their time, a good friend of mine had a 2001 or so BMW 5-series sedan. It wasn't his daily driver, but a "fun" car. Well, he drove it to work one day, in the winter. Unfortunately, we had freezing rain during the day, and when he left the office, he lost control , hopped a curb, and messed up something in the suspension that was enough to total the car. I think this was around 2016 or so, and the car was getting a bit miled up by then, I believe. Shame too, because that was a nice car. I don't remember much about it, other than it being a manual shift, and gray.

stickguy

have to at least give the 59 Chevy credit, for being (at least in my eye) the first "modern" design. the '58 still looked like an old fashioned '50s car, and the '59 introduced the '60s

fintail

Let's open up the local paper to this day in 1988, and see what obscure cars are available and what kind of deals can be had with the 89s coming in:

All kinds of Mazdas - I remember my dad liked the MPV, but they were somewhat expensive:



AWD Tempo or AWD Topaz, decisions decisions:



Those DX models could be relatively spartan, and not inexpensive - but resale was tops:



I wonder how many of the cars in this ad are still on the road:



More AWD Tempos, probable rental returns, and a brand long gone on these shores:



The early days:



For the brave:



Smorgasbord here - captive imports, mismatched illustration, 2 door Pathy, etc:



And some general classifieds - red on palomino 300D sounds very nice, and diverse others:

stickguy

I like a lot of that stuff! particularly the Mazdas.

in 1990 we went in to look at one of those MPVs (RWD stick shift). and got distracted by a B series PU. and somehow ended up getting a Nissan hardbody instead.

yeah, even back then, I got distracted easily.

Michaell

Huh - we bought a Trooper in 1988, and we paid considerably more than that ad price.

Not so sure I should be admitting to that.

andre1969

stickguy said:

have to at least give the 59 Chevy credit, for being (at least in my eye) the first "modern" design. the '58 still looked like an old fashioned '50s car, and the '59 introduced the '60s

I always thought that, of the GM cars in general for 1959. I think especially moving the headlights down into the grille, rather than having them above it, really made them look modern. Plus, they were more angular and creased, whereas the typical 50's car was more rounded.

Ford squared off the Ford/Edsel/Mercury models for '59, and Edsel even moved the headlights down into the grille, GM-style. However, to me the cars still seemed more like facelifted '58's, and not as up to date at the GM cars. Supposedly the Mercury body was all new though. And I've heard that the '59 Ford/Edsel used the '57-58 Mercury body, although I don't know if that's true or not.

Chrysler was stuck with mostly updating their '57-58 models and making them a bit more gaudy. Although, with DeSoto/Chrysler and Imperial, they did move the headlights downward, a bit, although not nearly to the degree that GM or the Edsel did. DeSoto/Chrysler also seemed a bit more squared-up to me, in the front-ends and the fins.

Among the GM cars, I really like the '59 Pontiac. It still has a few chrome excesses here and there, and perhaps four tailfins are a bit much. But I really like the overall shape, and the front-end. And, take the dog leg out of the A-pillars, shave off the tailfins, and it pretty much passes for a typical '60's car.

andre1969

Those Excels sure went up in price fast. I remember when they were introduced for 1986, they started as low as $4995. Of course, it doesn't take a lot of options to make that price go up fast.

tjc78

@stickguy said:
I like a lot of that stuff! particularly the Mazdas.

in 1990 we went in to look at one of those MPVs (RWD stick shift). and got distracted by a B series PU. and somehow ended up getting a Nissan hardbody instead.

yeah, even back then, I got distracted easily.

I’m becoming a little like you. I mean seriously who else goes from an S60 to a lifted Ram pickup

uplanderguy

For me, on that '59 Chevy, the narrow track is goofy as andre said, plus the proportions in general are goofy, like the super-tall windshield and fairly low wheel openings. But I love original cars, and that's probably as close of one in a '59 Chevy I've seen in a long time, and it being a low-line Biscayne is perversely appealing to me.

uplanderguy

I always thought "Biscayne" and this '71 body were two pretty incongruous things.


I think the standard Catalina four-door sedan that year had the same exterior level of trim, but a wayyyy better interior. Most I remember seeing, though, had the optional roof drip and side window reveal moldings. At least I remember those were optional, but I can't tell from the brochure....would most likely require the big Pontiac showroom album showing all the individual options.

I think the last year Chevys seemed like you were getting more interior and exterior trim than the similar B,O,P cars was '70. The '71 Chevy instrument panel was pretty dour. Even the '71 Chevelle interiors were downgraded from the '70.

sda

IIRC the Biscayne came standard with the 250 six and manual column shift 3sp transmission and rubber floor covering. Not sure if PS,PB were standard. Definitely bare bones.

uplanderguy

The '71 Biscayne, Bel Air, and Impala 4-door sedan and Sport Coupe, could be had with six-cylinder engine and 3-speed manual. Mid-year '71, Turbo-Hydramatic, power steering, and power brakes became standard equipment and the six went away. It returned for '73, available only with a 3-speed manual on the Bel Air.

andre1969

Those '71 full-sized Chevies look too upscale to be a "cheap" car! Well, on the outside, at least. Didn't the Impala still have a few interior details that the entry level B-O-P cars didn't, though? For some reason I'm thinking the B-O-P cars had a plastic strip that ran along the top of the door panel, whereas the vinyl on the Impala went all the way up to the window sill.

ab348

andre1969 said:

For some reason I'm thinking the B-O-P cars had a plastic strip that ran along the top of the door panel, whereas the vinyl on the Impala went all the way up to the window sill.

Not so for the B-O-P cars. Plus they had a color-keyed instrument cluster surround/steering wheel.

uplanderguy

The Catalina, and the base LeSabre I'm nearly certain, for '71 had hard plastic at the top of the interior door panels, like the Biscayne and Bel Air did. The Impala did not.

I always thought back then, I'd have had to get a black interior on the Chevy just to have 'color-keyed instrument cluster and wheel', LOL.

uplanderguy

Here's a '71 LeSabre interior: