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

uplanderguy

Yep.

imidazol97

From listening to my favorite Saturday morning 700 WLW talk show
Happy birthday to Simply Red and Boz Scaggs (from Canton, Ohio). Two of my
favorites to listen to while driving (at high volume which drives my wife crazy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG07WSu7Q9w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErwjtsOL2AM

kyfdx

I saw Boz in concert, along with Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen. Maybe, 10 years ago?

Michaell

I love Simply Red.

uplanderguy

As a lifelong fan of Carly Simon, I remember when radio people said at first they thought it was her singing “Holding Back The Years”.

fintail

I always assumed Simply Red was British. Both of those are good tunes to listen to in an 80s car.

My parents listed to Carly Simon a bit when I was a kid, I can associate that music with my mom-s T-Bird.

texases

@kyfdx said:
I saw Boz in concert, along with Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen. Maybe, 10 years ago?

Thanks for reminding me-I saw Boz…in 1980 or so…

ab348

fintail said:

I always assumed Simply Red was British.

They ARE British.

fintail

ab348 said:

fintail said:

I always assumed Simply Red was British.

They ARE British.

hah, good - I read the "from Canton" as applying to both.

kyfdx

imidazol97

imidazol97 said:

From listening to my favorite Saturday morning 700 WLW talk show
Happy birthday to Simply Red and Boz Scaggs (from Canton, Ohio). Two of my
favorites to listen to while driving (at high volume which drives my wife crazy).

Only Boz Scaggs is from Canton, OH. My placement of the comment apparently
was ambiguous.

xwesx

fintail said:

My parents listed to Carly Simon a bit when I was a kid

I'm not sure they ever did right that ship. They wouldn't be the first, I'm sure.

fintail

Spotted today - medium blue unrestored looking 57 Sedan Deville, white Fiero notchback on aftermarket wheels but looked immaculate.

fintail

Saw a mid 70s Continental sedan on the road, the kind that usually has an oval opera window but this one didn't, definitely didn't look restored.

stickguy

saw the 1970ish Lincoln convertible that lives around the corner out driving today. so not just a garage queen. Not positive exactly the year or model, but it is a normal 2 door, not the 4 door Kennedy style.

kyfdx

fintail said:

Saw a mid 70s Continental sedan on the road, the kind that usually has an oval opera window but this one didn't, definitely didn't look restored.

Those are the non-"Town" editions.

My mother had two of them. (both coupes). 1972 and 1976. I learned to drive on the '72.

andre1969

On the way home from work today, I spotted one of those MGs with the black rubber bumpers. Burgundy color. Top down, being enjoyed, as Mother Nature intended. Just curious, does anyone know how roomy those cars are? I imagine legroom's a bit tight. Probably a bit small, compared to what I go for. But, they do look like fun little cars.

texases

I’ve heard MG-Bs are pretty tight, but I’ve never been in one.

kyfdx

The toe box is the real killer with most of the roadsters. MGBs are better than MGAs, but not by a lot.

I had to take my shoes off to drive my friend's MGA. The space between the brake pedal and the center tunnel was too narrow to get my foot on the accelerator.

Guess that's how driving moccasins came about.

uplanderguy

At a little privately-owned garage half-a-mile from my house, saw a rusty, light turquoise '65 Corvair Monza convertible with the top down. As I rounded the corner it actually started and moved, puffing some blue smoke out the rear.

uplanderguy

My former B-I-L had an MGB of some year in the late '70's, for a short period of time. I rode in it once. All I really remember is the three short windshield wipers, which on my ride came on and off by themselves once.

fintail

From a local estate sale ad:

stickguy

I recall the B being reasonably roomy for a small sports car. At least I fit, probably better than an older Miata. But a Midget, that was super tiny.

sda

For those of you that get FETV, there is a show, Highway Patrol, which is kind of fun to watch. I enjoy seeing some of the vehicles they drive, and rather aggressively.

andre1969

I'd catch "Highway Patrol" on MeTV sometimes. It comes on at 5 am, right after "Barnaby Jones" at 4 and "Dragnet" at 5:30. I just checked the schedule and yup, FETV shows "Highway Patrol" twice, at 7 and 7:30 am!

I often wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep unless I put the tv on. Seems to happen around 2 am. I know this, because I'll put FETV on, and "Bewitched" is showing. Then they go to "Leave it to Beaver", "Hazel," and then at 5 am switch to some religious programming. For some reason, my body is trained to wake up around 5, whether I need to or not. And it's VERY rare that I need to be up that early!

I like "Highway Patrol" partly for the cars, but also, just an overall glimpse into what the landscape was like back in the 1950s, since it was mostly filmed outside. They were also pretty accurate, with the police cars. I think in the first two seasons they actually used de-commissioned police cars, but in the second two seasons, they used regular cars dressed up. But, they'd always use larger cars, like Oldsmobiles, Buicks, a '58 Mercury, and '58-59 Dodge Coronets.

In real life, the CHP had a wheelbase requirement, of something like 120" minimum. And a lot of other state police departments followed the CHP's lead. So back in those days, a Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth would not have made the cut. Although, I think some police departments used Plymouth wagons, of all things, starting in 1957, as they were on a longer 122" wb shared with Dodge. Other models were on a 118" wb. Ford/Chevy/Plymouths were still common as police cars, but that would have been county, city, local police and the like.

I wonder too, if that wheelbase requirement was what prompted Plymouth to go to 120", and Ford to 121", in 1969? And, I'm guessing the CHP dropped that requirement for 1976. At least, I found a list that shows the cars through the years. In 1975, they bought full-sized Dodge Monacos, on a 121.5" wb. In 1976 they bought midsized Dodge Coronets, on the 117.5" wb.

Here's the full list: https://www.policecarwebsite.net/fc/capdcars/chp/chplist.html

ab348

I have only a vague memory of “Highway Patrol” but I do recall reading that Broderick Crawford was a bit of a handful for the producers. I also remember reading that the CHP choice of Buicks for that one year in the ‘50s wasn’t universally loved by those who had to drive them. But I also remember Crawford reprising his role for a Canada Dry commercial.

https://youtu.be/-R2RrgpNI10?si=e1JFe0tbCiP2QNBf

andre1969

I remember reading that Broderick Crawford had lost his license because of drunk driving, so for most of the run of that show, if not all of it, he was actually driving illegally. That's why, even though the show was called "Highway Patrol," it was very rarely shot on actual highways. Usually residential areas, rural backroads, etc.

I remember him playing himself in an episode of "CHiPs". He was a childhood hero of Ponch's. I think he was driving a Ford Granada in that episode, but can't remember for sure, as it's been awhile since I've seen it.

sda

It is neat to see the back roads and countryside where Highway Patrol was filmed. I find it interesting that most men including crooks are dressed in at least a coat and tie and often a hat. Ladies always in a dress. Only the most manual worker didn't dress like that. I assume that was the attire of the day? Not today!

fintail

Some here might like this (apparently there's a part 2 coming):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHs5CdeCfIU

When I was a kid watching these in ancient reruns, Otis's car always caught my eye. Never saw the Ferrari episode, that's a 7 figure car today./

uplanderguy

I remember that episode!

I'm a weirdo--I prefer the color episodes, where Andy isn't such a hick and Gomer and the Darlings are no longer on it.

EDIT: I see it's a compilation. I like the episode with the MG and 'Father Mulcahy' coming to town as the new doctor. The Ferrari episode is one of my very favorites--"Goober Goes to An Auto Show". Storyline is that Goober tags along with the Taylors as they are looking for a new "American compact car", as Andy puts it, for Aunt Bee. Goober sees his old mechanic school friend who was a bragger. Goober was proud that he owned his own station and wanted to rub it in a little. The friend said he was an engineer for 'Amalgamated Motors', and married the one (hot) female who was in their mechanic class. He humiliated Goober for only owning a small station and for staying in his small hometown. Goober was dejected. On the way home from Raleigh, Andy stops for gas and gets a bottle of pop. He sees the "engineer" is a grimy-faced grease monkey at the gas station. Andy quietly gets Goober out of the car to show him, and says, "Want to say 'hello' to an old friend?".

Goober says, "No....no, that might embarrass him. I wouldn't want to do that".

It's actually more poignant in viewing than I can type it here.

sda

@uplanderguy This is for you. https://youtu.be/b9X0LaAThsQ?si=1KWVl8Tu-Sy7GSdI

uplanderguy

Thanks, lovely car.

I've seen it somewhere before.

One inauthentic thing added to this car along the way somewhere....in '65 the Impala SS did NOT have rocker/sill trim. Ironically, that was standard on the regular Impala but was deleted on SS models. No, it wasn't an option on SS or a 'special order' item as some would no doubt insist, without any factory documentation of any kind. The brochure supports my take on this; that, and in almost 60 years I've never seen another '65 SS with them. And for that long, they've turned my head on a dime.

I love the Evening Orchid color, and I love the white interior.

andre1969

I actually saved that "Goober Goes to the Auto Show" episode on the DVR. I still prefer the black and white episodes, but there are still some color ones I like. One of my favorite later episodes was one where Opie befriended a rich kid, and Andy and Aunt Bee putting on airs to act like they were more well-heeled than they were. One thing in particular I remember, was when Andy got invited to the country club, he borrowed Aunt Bee's convertible because he didn't want to be seen showing up in the squad car. Although Aunt Bee's convertible was a '55 Ford, I believe. So I doubt if that was impressing anybody in the late 60s!

It was one of those common "Grass is always Greener on the Other Side" plots.

One thing I do like about the black and white episodes though, is that it's easier, for me at least, to just let my mind go, and believe they really ARE in North Carolina. For one thing, they did a better job hiding the mountains in the background, and it seemed like the black and white didn't pick up the dryness so much, nor the hazy skies. For instance, in that opening scene above, with the '61-63 T-bird, it almost looks like it could be some sleepy back road in North Carolina, whereas in real life it was probably just the perimeter road that ran around the old Forty Acre Backlot, out back behind the Tara Plantation or something.

But the color episodes have more of a "studio backlot" feel to them.

fintail

If I had time/desire/skill, I'd like to do a video like that on the cars of Dennis the Menace, another Ford-sponsored period show with a fun lineup of cars in supporting background roles. I assume the next installment of the Andy Griffith video will get to Aunt Bee's Studebaker.

On the backlot idea, that makes me think of Little House on the Prairie, even as a little kid I knew Minnesota didn't look like that, always looked more Simi Valley than Walnut Grove.

uplanderguy

Aunt Bee's '66 Stude was seen only in one episode of "Mayberry RFD", the one called "The Mynah Bird" from 1970. It is shown several times, being driven by both Miss Bavier and Ken Berry. Cleaned up, including whitewalls. The California license plate had "CALIFORNIA" taped over, probably with black electrical tape, since the show was set in North Carolina.

That was Bavier's final episode. I'll assume it was just easier to use her own car instead of showing her driving something else. Chrysler sponsored that show.

Ironically, from info I got from the archives at the Studebaker National Museum, she bought the car 58 years ago today, June 14, 1966, which was also my eighth birthday, LOL.

The car was bought at Frost and French in LA, a large Stude dealer that had previously sold Packards. I don't believe they sold M-B. After production stopped in March '66 they went up and down the coast and bought remaining car inventory from dealers who were choosing to get rid of inventory. Bavier's car was one of those. I'm thinking it had originally been shipped to Santa Barbara but without digging I'm a bit fuzzy on that. But I definitely remember the June 14, 1966 delivery date. Her salesman was Walter Bibens, who owned Frost and French at that time.

uplanderguy

andre, other color episodes of TAGS I like a lot--my absolute favorite of the entire series is "Barney Comes to Mayberry", where a girl from his class has made a movie which is debuting in Mayberry. It's poignant near the end and garners Barney sympathy. I'm a softie about that kind of stuff, and my favorite episodes are ones like that. I also like where Barney comes back in the Edsel (shown in fin's link above) from Raleigh for his high school reunion and finds that Thelma Lou has married in the year since he left. I like the episode about Aunt Bee's wig, and her prize flower that Opie ruined with a football by accident, and the one where Opie gives up his grocery store job to another kid whose parents needed the money (this is the very first color episode), and also the one called "The Church Benefactor", as it reminds me of my hometown.

"Emmett's Brother In Law" is a poignant episode too, and opens with the scene up and out of a new Lincoln Continental's open, reverse-hinged hood, with Andy, Goober, Howard, and Emmett admiring the engine from above.

I like the episode of putting on airs too, that you remember.

Seems like among the color episodes, a lot of people like "Dinner at Eight".

sda

uplanderguy said:

Aunt Bee's '66 Stude was seen only in one episode of "Mayberry RFD", the one called "The Mynah Bird" from 1970. It is shown several times, being driven by both Miss Bavier and Ken Berry. Cleaned up, including whitewalls. The California license plate had "CALIFORNIA" taped over, probably with black electrical tape, since the show was set in North Carolina.

That was Bavier's final episode. I'll assume it was just easier to use her own car instead of showing her driving something else. Chrysler sponsored that show.

Ironically, from info I got from the archives at the Studebaker National Museum, she bought the car 58 years ago today, June 14, 1966, which was also my eighth birthday, LOL.

The car was bought at Frost and French in LA, a large Stude dealer that had previously sold Packards. I don't believe they sold M-B. After production stopped in March '66 they went up and down the coast and bought remaining car inventory from dealers who were choosing to get rid of inventory. Bavier's car was one of those. I'm thinking it had originally been shipped to Santa Barbara but without digging I'm a bit fuzzy on that. But I definitely remember the June 14, 1966 delivery date. Her salesman was Walter Bibens, who owned Frost and French at that time.

Happy Birthday! Enjoy!

fintail

uplanderguy said:

Aunt Bee's '66 Stude was seen only in one episode of "Mayberry RFD", the one called "The Mynah Bird" from 1970. It is shown several times, being driven by both Miss Bavier and Ken Berry. Cleaned up, including whitewalls. The California license plate had "CALIFORNIA" taped over, probably with black electrical tape, since the show was set in North Carolina.

That was Bavier's final episode. I'll assume it was just easier to use her own car instead of showing her driving something else. Chrysler sponsored that show.

Ironically, from info I got from the archives at the Studebaker National Museum, she bought the car 58 years ago today, June 14, 1966, which was also my eighth birthday, LOL.

The car was bought at Frost and French in LA, a large Stude dealer that had previously sold Packards. I don't believe they sold M-B. After production stopped in March '66 they went up and down the coast and bought remaining car inventory from dealers who were choosing to get rid of inventory. Bavier's car was one of those. I'm thinking it had originally been shipped to Santa Barbara but without digging I'm a bit fuzzy on that. But I definitely remember the June 14, 1966 delivery date. Her salesman was Walter Bibens, who owned Frost and French at that time.

Happy Birthday

I've never studied the LA market, but I am unaware of that name tied to MB. Most LA MB material see of that era is the old Packard dealer Simonson (where my car was sold new) and Downtown LA Motors.

uplanderguy

There was a beautifully-restored '64 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk with Avanti R2 (supercharged) engine in the best '64 color of Jet Green (dark metallic green) that sold for $48K about a decade or so ago. It had been sold new by Simonson-Schachtmeyer in Santa Monica as well.

andre1969

Happy birthday, Uplander! And here's to many, many more! Are you planning to come back to Hershey this year, by any chance? Or any of the Carlisle shows?

Kinda cool that your birthday is Studebaker-related. Well, Aunt Bee's Studebaker, at least!

My birthday, April 2, is the same as Walter P. Chrysler's, so I wonder if that's why I've tended to have good luck with them! Alas, it's also the same day as my supervisor's, someone I'm not really a big fan of.

It's too bad that Mayberry RFD isn't widely shown in reruns. I do remember it occasionally, as a kid, but it's been years. I did find the first episode somewhere, either online or streaming, though. Or maybe it was an episode of "Andy Griffith" that served as a transition to Mayberry RFD? I don't remember much about it, except that Vinton Harper, er, I mean Sam Jones went to the train station to pick someone up. And, for Mayberry being such a podunk little down, that was one sprawling rail yard! I seem to recall a lot of Union Pacific locomotives and coaches in that scene. Somehow, I don't think Union Pacific had much of a presence in rural North Carolina, but I guess I could be wrong.

Actually, I wonder what railroads would have passed through North Carolina back then? Locally here in Maryland, I remember the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio. But I dunno if either of those went that far south. Looking up on Wikipedia, it looks like the Pennsylvania Railroad took over the New York Central, and changed its name to Penn Central, and that was in 1968 before I was born. I guess I always know it as Pennsylvania Railroad because my Granddad worked for them, from 1939-1974.

Nowadays, the old PA railroad corridor is what Amtrak uses, while the old B&O line is mostly freight trains, although the MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) uses both right-of-ways.

Mayberry must have been really amusing, being an all-Ford town, and suddenly everyone jumping ship to Mopar. Although, didn't Howard Sprague drive something like a '63 Chevy full-size wagon?

uplanderguy

Thanks Andre. I think for now I’ll just come to Hershey for the show, weather-permitting. A couple years ago I found that walking around the corral and flea-market had me feeling like dead man walking by noon.

uplanderguy

Couple screenshots of Aunt Bee’s ‘66 from Mayberry RFD. Unfortunate color choice that year IMHO; Algonquin Green.

uplanderguy

andre, color episodes of TAGS:

That first color season or so, it looked like a LOT of interiors were painted green. The last season or two, that had changed somewhat, thankfully.

andre1969

Speaking of Studebakers, either last year or the year before, there was a raffle for a '63 Gran Turismo Hawk. Lemko, Grbeck, and I all bought a raffle ticket. I just found the postcard, and the drawing is tomorrow!

Alas, it's a 4-speed, and I can't drive a stick worth a damn. So, with my luck I just might win it!

uplanderguy

When I was in South Bend a couple weeks ago, I bought a couple tickets for that blue '63...a one-owner car! Yes, the drawing is tomorrow! Downside; winner pays sales tax on estimated value of the vehicle.

andre1969

I remember that from the color seasons of "Andy Griffith." They definitely loved that green!

stickguy

that bugs me about winning a car. I can get paying incoming tax on winnings, but you should not have to pay sales tax too. or at least should be able to deduct that from the income claimed.

uplanderguy

I can't remember Howard driving anything in particular on TAGS, but in the "Mynah Bird" episode of 'RFD', he drove a '69 Coronet Deluxe four-door sedan, small hub caps and blackwalls, a Howard-esque vehicle.

andre1969

Well, today's the drawing for that '63 Stude. I found my ticket stub!

uplanderguy

that bugs me about winning a car. I can get paying incoming tax on winnings, but you should not have to pay sales tax too. or at least should be able to deduct that from the income claimed.

I may have misspoken when I said 'sales tax'. I think it's taxed as income.