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

sda

My ex-wife had a similar experience. She had a deposit on an 85 navy blue Prelude automatic (ugh). This was before I met her. She kept getting delayed on delivery but found out that ‘her’ car had come in several times but somehow was delivered to someone else. Her dad went in and read the riot act, and who knew, within days she had her Prelude. I have no idea what she paid for it. She had that car longer than our marriage lasted, alas.

ab348

I'm pretty sure I told this story here before, but it deserves repeating. Back in the spring of 1990 after I had sold my MR2 the previous fall - I was living downtown, was walking to work, and thought I could also walk to shop for necessities nearby, but the winter changed my mind on that - I decided to shop for a new car. After looking around for a while I went to the local Honda dealer. I should have known better, as a co-worker had bought an '85 Prelude there at the peak of Prelude mania, months on a wait list, no choice of color, price inflated by all sorts of dealer add-ons, but Hondas were the car to get at the time. She liked it even though she told me she felt like they had taken advantage of her. I tried a Civic, I think a SI, and was totally underwhelmed, but quite liked the Accord coupe I drove next. I went into the showroom and sat down to discuss a sale.

The sales guy would not tell me the price. I was dumbfounded, but he wouldn't even hint at what they wanted. We had no price sticker laws here at the time so it was all their secret, not uncommon here, as even some domestic dealers would take a razor knife to the price stickers that came on cars from the factory to remove MSRP numbers. Thankfully that has now changed. Anyway, this clown said words to the effect that "You need to commit to buy the car from me NOW and then I will tell you what we'll charge." Uh, no. We had a minute or two of back and forth because I could not believe my ears before he said that was how they sold all their vehicles and I could play along or not. I said not, got up and left. I have never considered a Honda since.

There was a VW dealer up the street and I stopped there next. Looked at a couple of new GTIs, drove one, and knew within the first couple of blocks that it was what I really wanted anyway. They had a few to choose from including a black dealer demo and that was a little bit cheaper than the rest, so I bought it. Wish I still had it, just a great car.

tjc78

Had to share this one

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRTtahJn/

kyfdx

Wow.. My mother had a '71 Grand Ville, and hated it (after two straight Pontiacs). Traded it in, after just one year.

ab348

A 1974 GM full-sizer of any sort, even with a 455, does not strike me as desirable in any way.

texases

Yeah, could be the best one on earth, I'd be buying something else with my $38k.

stickguy

Visited a little island off Portland Maine today. Saw a few oddballs. 2 Kei pickups (one was a Suzuki). and a very clean looking Honda 600. Tiny little thing.

texases

Does anyone here remember a post with a link to GM design studies for when the quad headlights first came out? I remember some real odd ones, but I can't find the link.

fintail

Yeah, and not even insanely low mileage. I am sure it is nice, but for my 40 grand I can still get at least a couple interesting cars.

tjc78 said:

Had to share this one

andre1969

ab348 said:

A 1974 GM full-sizer of any sort, even with a 455, does not strike me as desirable in any way.

As much as I like these big 70's mastodons, I couldn't see me parting with $38K for one, no matter how nice. Even if I happened to have an extra $38K just laying around begging to be spent! I think '74 was pretty much the low point when it came to performance, but for the GM cars, I think that might be a low point for me, style-wise as well. I do think the '74 Oldsmobiles, and the Caprice, are attractive cars. But the others just don't do it for me.

uplanderguy

Boy, there's an example of 'taste is subjective', LOL! You gotta wonder if a '74 Grand Ville had been a part of the buyer's life.

There's not a full-size '74 GM I'd ever want enough to own--MAYBE a '74 Riviera.

You did remind me that the '74 Caprice Classic is not a bad styling job IMHO, even with skirts standard. It thankfully doesn't have the body side molding that goes over the front wheel opening like that year's Impala, a feature I can't stand, and it doesn't have the clipped front corners of the '75 and '76 (and '73 Buick as well), which I also can't stand, LOL!

Here's one that is apparently in Europe:


I'll never understand why they didn't use the vinyl interior available on the coupe and sedan, in the wagon and convertible. I always thought it looked thickly padded. This seat was also available in 50/50, with passenger recliner:

uplanderguy

Just noticed, the head restraints in that car are installed backwards.

andre1969

Yeah, I could see paying a premium if a particular car that's just an old car to most people, holds a special memory in someone's life. For instance, if I wanted a '71-76 Chevy, my first choice would be a '72 Impala, and that's probably my favorite, because my grandparents had a '72 Impala 4-door hardtop, in "Sequoia" with a white vinyl roof.

And yeah, taste is definitely subjective! For instance, I actually LIKE the way the '73 Buick front end angles! With the '75-76 Chevies, I don't love it, but don't hate it either. Even though my preference usually runs towards Pontiacs, for the '71-76 big cars, the Buicks are my favorite. The only year I really don't care for is 1974. I just don't like the way the headlights are separate from each other, and half in, half out of the grille.

Oh, on the subject of quad headlights, they factored into an episode of "Barnaby Jones" that I watched on YouTube yesterday. Claude Akins had done a hit-and-run with a Jeep, and broke a headlight in the process. Some glass fragments were found on the ground, and the victim. Well, to cover up the crime, they said it was a Cadillac that did the hit and run. However, during the investigation, when they pieced some of the headlight fragments together, they determined it was from a single-headlight car, not a quad. Something like "a compact, or Jeep".

It's amazing too, just how much content they cut out of old tv shows to make them fit modern formatting for commercials. This scene, and a few others, were actually cut out of the version that gets shown on tv. On YT, it was about 51 minutes long, but nowadays I think an hour of programming has something like 18-20 minutes of commercials, so they probably had to cut like 9-11 minutes out.

It also reminded me that I've watched WAY too much television over the years, too, because I recognized just about everyone in that episode. In addition to Claude Akins, it had the school bus driver from "Duel", Reverend Alden from "Little House on the Prairie", that bum and a moron Claude Cainmaker from "Mama's Family", the lady Archie Bunker had an interview with at the unemployment office on "All In The Family", and Mrs. Bakerman from "The Bob Newhart Show". Sometimes I wish my brain would hold on to more useful information, but it is what it is, I guess

uplanderguy

My favorite '71-76 Chevy B-body, overall, is the '72 Impala Custom Coupe. Inside, and out. It does drive me nuts that there is no rocker molding at all, when even the Biscayne and Bel Air had it!

I do like the wide rocker and sill trim on the '71's, though, but like the interior just a smidgen less than the '72. I like the '72 grille.

In Pontiacs, I like the '71-72 big cars, Catalina Brougham and up. Besides the bumpers, I didn't care much for the '73 and later big Pontiacs, particularly the Grand Ville. They tried to puff up the interior, and had 3-D woodgrain on the right half of the instrument panel and doors that always reminded me of a western-style 'Ricochet' air rifle stalk, and had that multi-diamond-pattern design in the seat backs.

I liked the optional Custom interior on the '72 Grand Ville, "fluted damask" I think they called it. You got a rear-seat center armrest, but only on the four-door.

uplanderguy

Seems like I watched the most TV in the sixties (born '58). As a kid my favorite show was "My Three Sons", although in hindsight I think "The Andy Griffith Show" is overall the best show of that period. Seems like I can remember some game shows and sitcoms as far back as '63-64 or so.

In the '70's I watched, regularly, 'All In The Family', 'M*A*S*H', 'The Bob Newhart Show', 'The Waltons', and probably 'Mary Tyler Moore'. I had an AITF repeat on the other evening, an early season, and there was so much yelling I didn't enjoy it. I kind-of liked the later shows when a sympathetic side of Archie was shown. And 'M*A*S*H' seems preachy sometimes to me now.

I'm hard-pressed to think of an '80's show i watched with any regularity. Oh, 'Newhart' was a favorite.
Starting my career then and travelled a lot. In the late '80's/early '90's I enjoyed 'The Simpsons' and of course, 'Seinfeld'.

In reruns, this last decade or so, I enjoyed 'The Office', and 'Everybody Loves Raymond', which if you have in-laws, you can relate. The idea is so basic--parents with no boundaries who live across the street--I'm surprised someone didn't try it before. But I think the best sitcom writing since 'Seinfeld' is 'Modern Family'.

fintail

Spotted a couple now obscure cars lately - a very clean I think early facelift Tempo coupe in the powder blue that seems to have been common then - driver looked to have bought it new when he retired 35 years ago. Also an early Mercury Tracer 5 door.

Speaking of TV, my memories only go back to around 1980, I believe I am a few years younger than Andre. Nickelodeon carried a lot of old shows in the 80s, I liked Leave it to Beaver and Dennis the Menace the most - great car spotting, and some of the characters are under-appreciated. I remember I was a big Dukes of Hazzard fan when I was a little kid, also Knight Rider and CHiPs - although I don't know if I can make it through an episode today. Those are also great car spotting shows. I remember watching The Jeffersons in reruns, and even Good Times - Norman Lear was ahead of his time. My mom liked Little House, that and Mama's Family are more where I have probably seen every episode at least once. My dad liked Newhart, and I recall he also watched Dr. Who and All Creatures, and another British show called Lovejoy. I still crack up at Married with Children, and Seinfeld is timeless. I will admit I followed Roseanne for awhile, especially before the show got a little weird - I still think it represents a working class American family more accurately than others. I haven't had cable in some time and only occasionally watch network TV now, I think the latest shows I really followed were Arrested Development and Malcom in the Middle.

uplanderguy

I used to like "Dennis The Menace", until he got to be like 13 or something, LOL.

The original Mr. Wilson was great. Every neighborhood had an old guy like that!

Gale Gordon was great as Mr. Mooney in "The Lucy Show"--exasperated with her secretarial blunders..."MRS. CARMICHAEL!!!!!!!!". But he was a weak 'Mr. Wilson'.

fintail

Yeah, the Joseph Kearns era was best. Underrated performance, and he had a career before that show - Ford sponsored, so good for spotting those, I remember a couple 60s.

I remember Gale Gordon was also Walter in "The Burbs".

tjc78

@fintail
I think we are within a few years of one another and I have similar memories. All the old shows used to be during the day or when school was out.

I can actually still watch Knight Rider and Macgyver both are great for malaise era car sighting.

ab348

Born in ‘56 here, so I have some memories of the big TV series of the early to mid-60s. We only had 2 Canadian channels here then so choices were a bit limited. Much of the time you just watched whatever was on whether it was any good or not. I remember when I was little that my oldest brother was a fan of Peter Gunn, and even bought the record album of music from the show. Having watched it recently on one of the streaming channels I suspect he was more of a fan of Lola Albright than the jazz tunes. The folks liked Perry Mason, and later, Ironside. I watched The FBI religiously later in the ‘60s, loved that show.

A lot of it hasn’t aged well at all for me. Compared to what we’ve become used to in recent times the scripts were often weak and production cut lots of corners. I barely watch episodic TV of any sort these days and haven’t for years. I was always mildly annoyed at the message-ridden Norman Lear et al shows of the ‘70s along with M*A*S*H as mentioned, especially in its latter seasons. The folks always watched Dean Martin’s show in the ‘60s/early ‘70s and Ed Sullivan on Sunday Nights - I remember the Beatles appearances there, and I enjoyed MTM along with Carol Burnett’s variety show. Perhaps my favorite shows were the ‘70s detective genre of Mannix and The Rockford Files. I think I can recite a lot of Seinfeld shows from memory, since I’ve watched them so often. Just brilliant.

explorerx4

Peter Gunn theme one of the best of all time.
https://youtu.be/oysMt8iL9UE

fintail

In the 80s and even into the 90s there was a ton of old stuff in syndication, yeah. I clearly remember being at a friend's house, watching DuckTales, and his mom chewed us out for watching junk or something. She turned the TV to Rockford Files, which I thought was pretty wacky (it seemed old even then).

I remember trying to watch a Dukes of Hazzard some time ago, it was tough. CHiPs was kinda cheesy too, but the cars made it tolerable. My brother was huge into Macgyver back in the day, like an idol - so we teased him for it, saving the world with a strip of duct tape, a bobby pin, and a pop can etc. I have a memory of Macgyver driving a Nomad that had belonged to his mother, or something like that.

Still seems to be a lot of that on the myriad basic cable channels that seem to cater to boomers - I know my mom watches stuff like The Waltons or Perry Mason even today, and I've caught Dennis the Menace and Donna Reed or Leave it to Beaver on some channel too.

tjc78 said:

@fintail

I think we are within a few years of one another and I have similar memories. All the old shows used to be during the day or when school was out.

I can actually still watch Knight Rider and Macgyver both are great for malaise era car sighting.

ab348

Rockford was great. James Garner owned the role, and writers like David Chase of Sopranos fame and Stephen Cannell cut their teeth there. Great cast too, along with some wonderful car chase scenes.

roadburner

In the late '60s/early '70s liked the few British shows around, particularly because they showcased European cars- The Avengers, The Protectors, and Strange Report were my favorites.

Michaell

I remember watching the UK show The Professionals - early 70's era. One of the main characters drove a 1st or 2nd gen Capri, the other a generic Ford sedan of the era.

andre1969

We watched "Little House on the Prairie" a lot when I was a kid, and a lot of them really stuck in my mind over the years. Some of them could be downright disturbing. I distinctly remember one where Caroline finally had a son, which Charles had always wanted. Well, Laura got jealous. The baby got sick, and the parents asked the girls to pray for the baby's recovery. Laura didn't pray, the baby died, and Laura felt guilty. She went to Reverend Alden for advice, and he said something like "you need to get closer to God". She took that literally, and climbed the highest mountain in Walnut Grove, and asked God to take her life instead of the baby. I was only like 4 when I first saw it, and naturally most of the deeper themes went over my head, but I still remember it pretty well. I watched it again, decades later, and was thinking damn, this is actually some disturbing stuff!

I was also a bit disappointed, when I got a little older, and learned that the Minnesota/Wisconsin region really doesn't have towering, snow-capped peaks

One thing that bugs me about a lot of newer tv shows, is there just seems to be something a bit off, about the pacing and the speech patterns of the actors. It's like one character says something, and then there's just a bit too much of a pause before the next character speaks. It just doesn't seem like normal conversation. And the actors often seem to dwell on their words a bit too much, if that makes sense. It's like they're trying to take every line from the script and make it into an "As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!" or "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more!" type of moment.

Thinking back, one of the earliest examples I can think of with that slow pacing, with the gaps between spoken lines, was "The Shining". But back then, it seemed novel, and kind of added to the atmosphere of the movie.

As for car spotting, I wonder if, decades into the future, people will watch today's shows with the same sort of nostalgia when they see a car on it. I can see it now..."Look sonny, there's a Tesla model 3, just like the one that burned down Uncle John's garage back in '24! Ooh, and a Hyundai Sonata! Back in the day, we used to be able to steal one of those with just a flathead screwdriver and a USB cable!"

kyfdx

fintail

The car is the only thing I remember from Rockford, although I have the James Garner movie 'Tank' still in my head, I remember we rented the tape when I was a kid and for whatever reason I liked it.

Speaking of Little House, even when I was a kid I thought Charles was too preachy - the Oleson family made the show for me. I remember we called my sister Nellie, and the back and forth between Nels and Harriet always amused me. Underappreciated characters, and skillfully played. I also remember watching the final episode when the railroad land guy (played by James Karen, who also played the property developer in Poltergeist) tried to take over the town claiming the railroad owned the land, so the townspeople blew it up instead.

Car spotting: lowrider 77-79 Fleetwood, brown on brown of course, and like many lowriders it was shiny and spotless.

Michaell

Out and about today, and spotted a pristine AMC AMX. Root beer brown, with stripes on the hood and trunk. Very sharp, and very original looking.

fintail

Watched TPiR recently - November 3 1975. Decent cars considering that less than fantastic era at least for drivability:

First, a pretty "silver blue diamond fire finish" Lincoln Continental (no mention of Town Car). MSRP $12304:




Then a pretty sharp and well optioned Vega GT, MSRP $4198:




And in the showcase (so no MSRP), a Mustang II Stallion. I've seen a Maverick Stallion before, but never a Mustang II version in real life (I believe there was also a Pinto Stallion), has to be rare:

stickguy

don't hate me, I would much rather have the Vega than the Lincoln. Surprised they could fit that behind the door.

tjc78

The Continental has the “Town Car” option. It has opera windows (base doesn’t) and you can see the script on the fender.

What I find funny is, it’s brand new and the headlight covers are starting to come up. I wonder if they turned the lights on without starting the car. Without the car running the doors usually didn’t have enough vacuum to come back down or wouldn’t stay fully closed.

andre1969

I remember watching an old game show rerun once; I think it was "Let's Make a Deal", where a Vega was the prize. I remember the description, they bragged about the cylinders being sleeved for improved durability, or something like that.

Of those two, I'd pick the Lincoln over the Vega, but I can see the charms, of each one. That Vega would look sharp in that Limefire metallic green they offered that year. Back in the 1990's, one of my friends had a neighbor who had a Pontiac Astre that sat out at the curb, in that Limefire green.

ab348

Looks like Johnny Olsen (best announcer ever) wearing a type of Superman costume in the Mustang II shot.

I found a "director's cut" video of making TPIR that had the director's instructions to the production crew on the soundtrack tape of a rehearsal. It was quite intense and a lot of work. They were blocking the shots of both the games to be played and the prize presentations. The models were in their street clothes with styrofoam cups of coffee in hand as they took instructions about where to stand and what to do, while the camera operators were totally at the mercy of the director's instructions - zoom in, pull back, pan left or right, every move was practiced, while the announcer read the script during the prize segments. Not a simple show to make.

sda

Wasn’t the Stallion group pretty much a dressed up MPG model with limited options available on it?

kyfdx

My mother had a '76 Lincoln, but it was the Coupe, without the "Town" treatment.

stickguy

I still like the mustang II. the hatch version. The 73 was a bloated barge.

uplanderguy

I like that Vega. The '74 and '75 front and rear styling is my favorite of the whole run, although I'd want a Kammback from '76 or '77 for ALL of the constant updates and revisions. Finally, the car the mags loved early-on but with the long-term durability it should've had.

I am disillusioned with TPIR ever since I saw the light blue with white top and interior, '78 Malibu Classic Landau Coupe; shows the 50/50 front seat, special instrumentation, A/C, power windows, Sport wheel covers, and more, and said the price, I think I remember, was $5,023. Absolutely, positively, not the car they showed. That was a $7K Malibu Classic all day long. I know, I was a student of those cars, about lived at a Chevy dealer, plus a friend's parents bought a new four-door '78 Classic and it was $6,600 sticker without some of the stuff that Landau had.

stickguy

That’s a long grudge to hold onto!

andre1969

According to my auto encyclopedia, the base MSRP for a 1978 Malibu Classic Landau coupe was $4684 with the V6, and $4874 with the V8. In those high-inflation years, I think they raised the MSRP several times per year, so my book is probably quoting the MSRP of when the car was first released. So I could totally see the base MSRP of the V8 creeping up to $5,023 later in the year.

Or, the $5,023 could have just been the $4874 base price, plus shipping.

As for a '76 Lincoln Continental sedan, my book lists its base price at $9,293, so the one Fintail posted was definitely with options. My book doesn't list a Vega GT. Unfortunately, the GT was an option package, rather than a separate model of the Vega, so my book doesn't break it down like that. But, a Vega 2-door started at $2894, while the hatchback was $3099. A Cosworth started at $5066.

uplanderguy

I remember Johnny's readout didn't even say "Classic", just "Malibu". I think it's reasonable to assume when you're playing the game, that the car you're looking at is the prize. Misleading when it's not.

I only saw that clip a couple years ago when fin, I think, posted it here.

Johnny Olson was a strange-looking guy, with that shoeleather-black hair, but a great voice. I don't think I ever saw an announcer before him, as they'd show him.

His replacement, Rod Roddy, dressed very goofy on purpose. He didn't live real long after he got the job, it seems.

uplanderguy

Here's an original window sticker for a '78 Malibu Classic. $6,379 and this one has crank windows and no radio.

uplanderguy

fintail

Is the opera window a Town Car feature for that era of Continentals? I assumed it was one, but found it odd TC trim was not mentioned in the description.

I bet the Malibu incident was just oversight, someone probably read the wrong line of the window sticker or something when writing the script.

That episode had a heavily produced showcase spectacle with Johnny as Superman, yeah - that kind of thing didn't last long into the show. I think Rod Roddy had a decent tenure there, maybe 1985 or so until maybe 2003? But he passed away still relatively young.

uplanderguy

Yes, the bottom line for me is they showed a car that was 40% higher than the price they quoted.

tjc78

@fintail said:
Is the opera window a Town Car feature for that era of Continentals? I assumed it was one, but found it odd TC trim was not mentioned in the description.

I bet the Malibu incident was just oversight, someone probably read the wrong line of the window sticker or something when writing the script.

That episode had a heavily produced showcase spectacle with Johnny as Superman, yeah - that kind of thing didn't last long into the show. I think Rod Roddy had a decent tenure there, maybe 1985 or so until maybe 2003? But he passed away still relatively young.

Generally yes, however, I’ve seen TC’s without it and base with. I guess you could order it a certain way back then. What was always odd to me was the 79 Collector’s (top trim) deleted it.

uplanderguy

I guess really, shame on Chevrolet for giving away a car but providing another one for the show. The disparity was so, so significant in that one example.

stickguy

Pretty sure it is a dealer that supplies those cars. And the show might be paying for them.

fintail

I always thought the cars were donated by the manufacturer through a dealer for promo purposes. In the scheme of things, it's a small expense, especially to have your product featured as gushed-over big prize on maybe the most popular show of its type.

I think the Malibu thing might have been a honest mistake, and the prize car was delivered as shown. I like to think someone just read the base price instead of the total price, put that on the script, and that was it.

fintail

Becoming rare coupe spotted in a real estate ad (this fixer upper opportunity, roughly the same age as the car, was pending in under 48 hours - cooling market nope):