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

stickguy

I like them all!

fintail

MB is a W108, 1968-72 (some sold as 1973 MY) with the sidemarker, so a 280SE, could be an I6 or V8 - no way to tell from this angle. Color looks like it could be the delightfully named "tobacco brown", which replaced "Havana brown".

andre1969 said:

Oh, and then we went to Hardee's for lunch, and out in the parking lot, this beauty showed up

explorerx4

I could be wrong but the blue and purple convertibles near the top of the picture seem to be different years.

texases

Saw what I consider 'peak Mercedes', a W124 300E on this morning's commute.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

I could be wrong but the blue and purple convertibles near the top of the picture seem to be different years.

Yes, I noticed that also, which gave rise to my suspicions about the photo being legit.

explorerx4

Saw a 67-68 Mustang with a black California JJZ 107 plate on the front today.

kyfdx

@uplanderguy Saw the C8 with the black hood, again, today.

Turns out it isn't a C8. It's an Aston Martin.

So, never mind.

jwm40517

Saw a Facebook post today that C8's were being built 9-18-23 per a GM spokesman.

fintail

texases said:

Saw what I consider 'peak Mercedes', a W124 300E on this morning's commute.

I think the intro of the 124 (85 for the 86 model year) was probably about peak MB compared to the rest of the market, in the US anyway.

On the road spotted a Starion/Conquest, late 70s Datsun pickup.

uplanderguy

Saw a Facebook post today that C8's were being built 9-18-23 per a GM spokesman.

Mine is in the VIN range scheduled to be built Sept. 26.

Yeah, guys without a contract building my car, LOL.

andre1969

Well, here I am at day seven since I bought the Charger. No buyer's remorse yet, so I guess I did the right thing! Yesterday was baby's first 100 miles, so I took a pic to celebrate

Oh, and yesterday I did see something I wish I had been quick enough with the cell phone camera to catch. A black VW Karman Ghia convertible, top down. I can't remember the last time I saw a Karman Khia, period, let alone a convertible!

Oh, also an old guy in a '91-93 era Sedan Deville, white with a blue carriage roof. He was doing something that made me cringe...smoking in the car! How times have changed.

uplanderguy

Friend's '93 Allante. I think the styling looks good after 30+years; simple wears best IMHO, and so do large round wheel openings I think.

He drove an hour or so to Kent from Geneva, and then we went in my very-pedestrian '15 Cruze LS to go to a lunch with Ohio Studebaker Drivers' Club members in Akron. It sounds good too.

How can a ‘93 car be thirty years old already?

stickguy

I say the same thing about my kids.

fintail

Black must be at least somewhat less common on those. At one time the final run Northstar cars were the most valuable, but I don't know if that held true as the engine ages. Nice looking car, just impossible to nose into the one niche that MB owns.

ab348

That Allante needs a set of white sidewalls to counteract the gloom of the black exterior. I can't tell from the pic if the interior is black or not. I hope not. It seems it might be a GM "sea of gray" inside but I can't be sure.

andre1969

I think that Allante is either gray or sort of a, for lack of a better word, "putty" color. If you really zoom in, you can see the sunlight on the passenger seat, and it highlights the color.

andre1969

I played a little round of "musical cars" this morning, along with doing a little re-arranging in the garage, trying to see if I could squeeze the whole fleet in. In the process, I took a few more "nose to nose" pics with the Charger.

First, here it is nuzzling up to the LeMans...
And here, cozying up to the DeSoto...I did a mirror reverse with the LeMans pic, so that the Charger would show up on the same side with both pics. Its amazing how much rear overhang those old cars had, by modern standards. I don't really notice it so much in person, or sometimes even when I see pictures. But when you see it in comparison to a modern car, it really stands out.

I wonder if my cell phone camera is distorting these pictures, though? The LeMans's rear looks a bit exaggerated in that pic. It also makes me see what a miracle of packaging modern cars are, that they still have as much trunk space as they do. With older cars, most of the trunk space was in that rear overhang! Although, I guess getting the spare tire underneath the trunk floor helps a lot.

It's funny too, how tiny the wheels and tires on the older cars look in comparison to the Charger.

**Edit: There's definitely some camera distortion at the edges. I really notice it when I look at the DeSoto's rear wheel, compared to the front. But I guess it should still equal out more or less, since in theory, it should be stretching out the edge of the pic on the Charger's side, as well. It's just that the car is stubbier, so perhaps the stretching looks more subtle?

tjc78

@ab348 said:
That Allante needs a set of white sidewalls to counteract the gloom of the black exterior. I can't tell from the pic if the interior is black or not. I hope not. It seems it might be a GM "sea of gray" inside but I can't be sure.

I can’t agree with the whitewalls, but black is certainly not the best Allante color.

A few years back, the guy who bought my 04 Grand Marquis had a mini fleet of Allantes. He brought his early black one over the day he test drove the Merc.

Claimed he had two others. I didn’t see them when I dropped the car off to him, but who knows.

ab348

tjc78 said:

I can’t agree with the whitewalls, but black is certainly not the best Allante color.

My memory was playing tricks on me because I thought that was how they came from new, but apparently not. I can't even find a pic of one with them.

Maybe it was the lighting of that picture because that black one looks very blah even with the chrome or polished wheels it has.

texases

There are cars that I like in black, the Allante isn't one of them. And I'm not a fan of chrome alloys.

uplanderguy

I like it in black. I seem to remember most of them being bright red, which I'm wayyyy tired of.

It's gray inside. I like the looks of the hardtop. I didn't know he was coming to my house in it. It looked nice as he was turning onto my street in it.

texases

Here's a combination I'd prefer, not that I'd get an Allante. Too bad they never got a great engine in it.

uplanderguy

With those flat wheels, I like the chrome. The standard wheel looks like a plastic J.C. Whitney wheelcover to me.

I'm old, but I remember when they tried to make wheelcovers look like a wheel. Then, they tried to make wheels look like a wheelcover, LOL.

fintail

I seem to recall a number of later Allantes on "mayonnaise and mustard" Vogue tires:

fintail

andre1969 said:

I played a little round of "musical cars" this morning, along with doing a little re-arranging in the garage, trying to see if I could squeeze the whole fleet in. In the process, I took a few more "nose to nose" pics with the Charger.

First, here it is nuzzling up to the LeMans...
And here, cozying up to the DeSoto.. I did a mirror reverse with the LeMans pic, so that the Charger would show up on the same side with both pics. Its amazing how much rear overhang those old cars had, by modern standards. I don't really notice it so much in person, or sometimes even when I see pictures. But when you see it in comparison to a modern car, it really stands out.

I wonder if my cell phone camera is distorting these pictures, though? The LeMans's rear looks a bit exaggerated in that pic. It also makes me see what a miracle of packaging modern cars are, that they still have as much trunk space as they do. With older cars, most of the trunk space was in that rear overhang! Although, I guess getting the spare tire underneath the trunk floor helps a lot.

It's funny too, how tiny the wheels and tires on the older cars look in comparison to the Charger.

**Edit: There's definitely some camera distortion at the edges. I really notice it when I look at the DeSoto's rear wheel, compared to the front. But I guess it should still equal out more or less, since in theory, it should be stretching out the edge of the pic on the Charger's side, as well. It's just that the car is stubbier, so perhaps the stretching looks more subtle?

Yeah, phone cameras can do weird things. I sometimes have to fight my Note 20 on lighting and focus, too.

Funny thing about pairing old with the new, I have done the same with every car I've bought since the fintail. Here's a pic from over 20 years ago (long before the fintail got wide whites):

uplanderguy

My friend was just saying when he was in Muskegon, Michigan at a meet with the car a few weeks back, he saw one with Vogues and said what a turnoff it was to him. I’d agree.

andre1969

I think the only part of the Allante that bugs me is the part of the car between the back of the door, and the beginning of the decklid. The beltline kick-up is just a bit too abrupt. But, on a car that short, I don't know if they could have done much else, style-wise, to fix that. Unless you raised the beltline throughout the door sill, so that the kick-up was less abrupt, or even non-existent? But then that would REALLY make the car feel claustrophobic when you were sitting in it, and might also make it look more top-heavy, overall?

The effect seems toned down with the hard top in place, but with the convertible top up, it seems awkward to me. Other than that little quibble though, I think it's a nice design, that's aged rather well.

Those Vogue tires actually don't bother me. But for some reason, this morning, reading that "mustard and mayonnaise" description is making me feal a bit nauseated, for some reason!

fintail

I wonder if the kick up in the Allante was in any way to mimic the competitor SL, which has a kickup in the hardtop window (no bodyline kick up):



While the soft top went for a wraparound corner window for visibility:

uplanderguy

I was never in love with the Allante, although in the '90's I was married, a new father, kind-of peak-career, travelling with work, and had an ill parent so was paying less attention to new cars than I had even a decade before.

I do think the styling has aged pretty well, although the instrument panel doesn't do anything for me.

My friend with the black one grew up on Cadillacs and has a soft spot for them, although he also owns a Continental Mark VIII now, as well as a '74 Avanti II, a Geo Prizm for a beater, and an '08 Toyota Tundra.

uplanderguy

At the risk of being goofed on, here's a '93 Cadillac I'd probably rather have than any other. There's one identical to this that drives around Kent in good weather.

No, it's definitely not stood the test of time, styling-wise, LOL, but I like the plain top, big glass area, and that it's reasonably-sized outside with good leg-and-head-room in the back seat. And I think the 4.9 is a good engine. I like the instrument panel, and it's definitely American-styling inside and out.
I'd want cloth seats.

kyfdx

We rented a Cadillac to drive to Naples in 1990.. Sedan De Ville. The down-sized model. Amazingly spacious back seat. Four adults. I really liked it.

stickguy

Ford truck today. out driving, a distant spot of a bright yellow early 50s vintage PU (no clue if a Ford or Chevy). definitely not stock!

then later, a late 50s/early 60s ish Ford panel delivery. also modified but not excessively. Looked sharp.

and a real rarity. a 68-69 AMX. Heavily modified this time. Huge rear tires, and a big supercharger ram air sticking out of the hood.

fintail

uplanderguy said:

At the risk of being goofed on, here's a '93 Cadillac I'd probably rather have than any other. There's one identical to this that drives around Kent in good weather.

No, it's definitely not stood the test of time, styling-wise, LOL, but I like the plain top, big glass area, and that it's reasonably-sized outside with good leg-and-head-room in the back seat. And I think the 4.9 is a good engine. I like the instrument panel, and it's definitely American-styling inside and out.
I'd want cloth seats.

No vinyl top, good color, subtle wheels - definitely not an offensive car. Maybe dated, but compared to many modern designs, that's not a bad thing. I might want leather if it was a restrained style.

Sandman6472

Love that red DeSoto to be honest, especially with the white in just the right places. Both my grandpa's were Mopar guys with my dad's dad buying a new Imperial every other year. They were snowbirds from the mid-fifties on, so they'd only be at their summer house in New York from May to late September. When they'd visit our house, he'd never park in the driveway I'm guessing because it went straight down. He'd leave it on the street so when the bus was driving us home, we'd see it and know our grandparents were there.
My mom's dad had a Dodge dealership in the 50's to early 60's and have vivid memories of playing in the cars of his showroom. Guess that's where my love for automobiles started. My grandpa with the Imperial bought my grandma a '57 Plymouth Fury hoping she'd get her license and drive. This never happened and to me, it was a play toy for me whenever we visited them. I'd go down to the garage and pretend I was driving...that Fury was a real looker to. But after about six months, it was gone unfortunately.
My folks were strictly GM people from the late fifties into the mid eighties. Mostly Cadillacs with a Buick, a few Pontiacs and a Corvette thrown in here & there. They weren't really Ford people but my mom died have a couple Lincoln Continentals & a few Mercury Grand Marquis's at the end there. We've been mostly foreign car drivers for the most part with a Buick & Oldsmobile in the early years.

ab348

kyfdx said:

We rented a Cadillac to drive to Naples in 1990.. Sedan De Ville. The down-sized model. Amazingly spacious back seat. Four adults. I really liked it.

A buddy who was into Cadillacs at the time had two of that generation, I think both were Fleetwood sedans. He had a light metallic blue one for a few years but being somewhat anal about such things he was aghast at how the fabric piping on the seat upholstery wore through. He replaced it with a black one that started life as a funeral car. It finally went away when he decided to buy late-model used S-class M-B sedans.

roadburner

Today I took the Club Sport to a charity car cruise in my hometown. There was a huge turnout with a wide variety of cars. There was an older NSX, a newer TTRS, an R33 GT R, and the usual host of musclecars and hot rods. My ti and an E46 M3 were the only Bimmers. I was parked next to a 1964 Galaxie with a fiberglass Thunderbolt hood. Nice car and the driver was a good guy as well. I brought a bag of Hot Wheels to give to the younger kids and that was a big hit as well.

stickguy

I can't remember the last time I saw a ti in person or out on the road. Rare as hen's teeth in the NE at least.

andre1969

I swear I've seen like four of those Benz SL's over the past couple days. I went on a bit of a Barnaby Jones binge, and it seemed like just about every episode had one in it. One was red, one was a pale yellow, one was a really subtle light green that almost looked grayish. Forget what the other was. Last episode I watched even had what looked like one of those Pagoda models in the background, and in another scene one of those funky hardtop coupes that had the louvered window just ahead of the C-pillar.

Ford supplied the cars for the show, with Buddy Ebsen getting a new brown LTD coupe every season, and Lee Meriweather, perhaps a bit embarrassingly, getting a new red Pinto. Well-to-do characters would usually be seen something like a Grand Marquis or a Lincoln. Earlier seasons often showcased one of those big Mark IV-class T-birds, but oddly, neither the Mark IV nor the Mark V seemed to make an appearance very often. And in the last season, I guess Barnaby Jones investigations might have been a bit cash-strapped, because that year he got one of those cheaper Panther LTD's, the style with the single headlights, rather than a 4-headlight model. Although, it still looked pretty well-equipped and nicely trimmed.

But, throughout all 8 seasons, they'd occasionally slip a Benz in here and there. Oddly, there was this sort of faded sandy-copper 1964 or so Dodge Dart 2-door sedan that popped up pretty often, as a background car. I guess it was owned by a crew member, or maybe even the studio itself? Sort of like that maroon '73 Caprice wagon that tended to pop up alot in "CHiPs"

fintail

andre1969 said:

I swear I've seen like four of those Benz SL's over the past couple days. I went on a bit of a Barnaby Jones binge, and it seemed like just about every episode had one in it. One was red, one was a pale yellow, one was a really subtle light green that almost looked grayish. Forget what the other was. Last episode I watched even had what looked like one of those Pagoda models in the background, and in another scene one of those funky hardtop coupes that had the louvered window just ahead of the C-pillar.

Ford supplied the cars for the show, with Buddy Ebsen getting a new brown LTD coupe every season, and Lee Meriweather, perhaps a bit embarrassingly, getting a new red Pinto. Well-to-do characters would usually be seen something like a Grand Marquis or a Lincoln. Earlier seasons often showcased one of those big Mark IV-class T-birds, but oddly, neither the Mark IV nor the Mark V seemed to make an appearance very often. And in the last season, I guess Barnaby Jones investigations might have been a bit cash-strapped, because that year he got one of those cheaper Panther LTD's, the style with the single headlights, rather than a 4-headlight model. Although, it still looked pretty well-equipped and nicely trimmed.

But, throughout all 8 seasons, they'd occasionally slip a Benz in here and there. Oddly, there was this sort of faded sandy-copper 1964 or so Dodge Dart 2-door sedan that popped up pretty often, as a background car. I guess it was owned by a crew member, or maybe even the studio itself? Sort of like that maroon '73 Caprice wagon that tended to pop up alot in "CHiPs"

SLs were pretty chic in the 70s, I think, and a SLC (the one with the louvers) was top of the line, costing more than the open cars. By the time production ended around 1980, I think a USDM MSRP was approaching 40K.

fintail

On the road today - 1926-27 Model T roadster, wire wheels, dark red - the final run where there were colors. Had some kind of two speed axle, I think, as you could hear the whine. It was keeping up with arterial city traffic just fine. Also saw a 3rd gen Accord coupe (lights up), early MGB, 64-5 Skylark 2 door post. Wackiest thing was an electric unicycle kind of thing - in crowded arterial traffic, had to have been going 25-30 mph.

Michaell

fintail said:

andre1969 said:

I swear I've seen like four of those Benz SL's over the past couple days. I went on a bit of a Barnaby Jones binge, and it seemed like just about every episode had one in it. One was red, one was a pale yellow, one was a really subtle light green that almost looked grayish. Forget what the other was. Last episode I watched even had what looked like one of those Pagoda models in the background, and in another scene one of those funky hardtop coupes that had the louvered window just ahead of the C-pillar.

Ford supplied the cars for the show, with Buddy Ebsen getting a new brown LTD coupe every season, and Lee Meriweather, perhaps a bit embarrassingly, getting a new red Pinto. Well-to-do characters would usually be seen something like a Grand Marquis or a Lincoln. Earlier seasons often showcased one of those big Mark IV-class T-birds, but oddly, neither the Mark IV nor the Mark V seemed to make an appearance very often. And in the last season, I guess Barnaby Jones investigations might have been a bit cash-strapped, because that year he got one of those cheaper Panther LTD's, the style with the single headlights, rather than a 4-headlight model. Although, it still looked pretty well-equipped and nicely trimmed.

But, throughout all 8 seasons, they'd occasionally slip a Benz in here and there. Oddly, there was this sort of faded sandy-copper 1964 or so Dodge Dart 2-door sedan that popped up pretty often, as a background car. I guess it was owned by a crew member, or maybe even the studio itself? Sort of like that maroon '73 Caprice wagon that tended to pop up alot in "CHiPs"

SLs were pretty chic in the 70s, I think, and a SLC (the one with the louvers) was top of the line, costing more than the open cars. By the time production ended around 1980, I think a USDM MSRP was approaching 40K.

My dad knew a cardiologist when I was a kid - he drove an SLC.

roadburner

My dad always liked the W113; he came close to buying one in the early '70s but balked at paying so much for a used car.

fintail

roadburner said:

My dad always liked the W113; he came close to buying one in the early '70s but balked at paying so much for a used car.

I have a couple of 1976 KBB/NADA guides. Due to burgeoning inflation and probably rising prices on new SLs, 113 280SLs at 5-6 years old had higher retail values than their price when new.

sda

fintail said:

roadburner said:

My dad always liked the W113; he came close to buying one in the early '70s but balked at paying so much for a used car.

I have a couple of 1976 KBB/NADA guides. Due to burgeoning inflation and probably rising prices on new SLs, 113 280SLs at 5-6 years old had higher retail values than their price when new.

Sadly like today on some vehicles.

uplanderguy

Pic of that forlorn ‘75 Monza 2+2 V8 4-speed at my old storage space at my last day there. I still have an irrational appreciation for those cars.

This particular car has declined just sitting outside for several years.

andre1969

Is the color on that Monza what they called "Dark Green Poly?" Looking at the paint chart, I'm guessing that's about all it could be, unless they came up with some last-minute colors for the Monza?


Odd, that Chevy's marketing gave up on exotic names for their colors by '75. Meanwhile, Pontiac called that color "Alpine Green Poly", Olds called it "Forest Green poly", and Buick called it "Verde Mist." And of course, Cadillac had to go off on a tangent and use a word I had to look up..."Inveraray Green Poly".

From what I could find, Inveraray is a town in Scotland, and there's also an Inveraray Castle there.

Anyway, if it looked the same on that Monza when it was new, as it does on this Cadillac...wow! That must have been a beautiful car when it was new!

uplanderguy

I think 'Dark Green Poly' is it.

I have a thing, usually, against huge cars, but I think that Coupe deVille is beautiful. I do wonder about that bulge in the vinyl roof.

I'm a sucker for original/authentic looks and at least from the outside, that Caddy checks all the boxes.

uplanderguy

I had two high school friends with new '75 Monza 2+2 V8's. First thing I loved about them was V8 sounds coming out of Vega-sized cars!

The Sport mirrors, as the green car has, look nice, but because of the teardrop shape of the door glass, they were mounted pretty low to be of much use; that I remember when driving my one friend's orange Monza.

The dark green Monza has the factory aluminum wheels, not often seen where I lived.

andre1969

My only beef with that Caddy is that I'm not a fan of the coupes, once they went to that style with the stationary rear windows (I think that thing's too big to be called an "opera window", but who knows). Part of it is that I'd rather have a true hardtop, but also, I hate the way the lines of the car seem to clash at the B-pillar.

But, make it a 4-door hardtop, and I'm happy!

roadburner

When I bought my 1974 Monte Carlo the 1975 models were just being released. My dad and I went to a Louisville dealer to look at a new Monza V8. Unfortunately it had overheated on a test drive and was sitting in the showroom.