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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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Well, today's the drawing for that '63 Stude. I found my ticket stub!
I bought two.
If I win I'd sell right away, but if I wanted to keep it, I'd have to paint the wheels the factory white Stude used. They've been painted black over the years. I hate seeing that even behind the full wheel covers, LOL!
I hope the car has the tach. I hate the big blank spot where one wouldn't have been ordered!
I'm pretty fussy about a car being given to me aren't I? LOL
Here's a link, with a bunch of pics:
https://sdckeystoneregion.com/2024-raffle-car/
Say that five times fast!
Here’s the old ‘65 Corvair Monza being worked on at the end of our street today.
first, getting onto the highway, a Plymouth Satellite 2 door. dark red. Looked very nice and man did it smell like the 60s with all that exhaust/gas smell. Very low compared to modern cars. sounded good.
then parked at the mall a bright red Nova SS, with some mods (wheels/hood). looked brand new. Then a bit later on local busy road, a bright yellow Modded 67ish Chevelle.
rarest was actually being towed on a trailer, a perfect looking 57 Bel Air, with some cragers so not bone stock. The rare part? It was a 4 door. Nobody restores a family sedan like that!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Fin, I seem to remember that taillight formation on some early Celebritiys, maybe '82 and or '83, with a yellow section, which I dislike. Nearly certain that by '84 and '85, that was gone.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I’d really like to win this set; I would sell both and pick up a nice F87 M2 CS and a dual sport Beemer.

Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
MBCA has raffles, never won anything so I haven't entered in some time - car is always something odd like a CLS AMG or AMG GT sedan etc, something I would sell if I won. I am not sure if I recall a vintage car being raffled, as maybe they think some aren't into it.
I’ve been entering the BMW CCA Raffle since the early ’80s; hope springs eternal.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Yep, same here.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Oh, with the Celebrities, in '82-83, they also had a lower grille slotted in between the headlights, whereas the '84-85 had a larger grille that went almost to the top of the headlight bezels. I wonder if they did it that way because in '82-83 the Malibu was still around, and they wanted to give the Malibu a bigger grille for a bit more status? But then with the Malibu gone, they went more full-grille with the Celebrity?
But then, they did a similar thing with the Cavalier. In '82-83, it only had single headlights and a low, thin grille. But for '84 it went to quads, and a fuller grille.
I thought the Celebrity hit its peak, style-wise, in 1984-85, although I'll give the '86 a close runner-up award. I think the slightly aero front end was a nice update, maintaining the quad headlights. But when the composite lights went in for '87, I didn't think it looked as nice.
I bought my '85 to beat the CHMSL which I knew was coming and thought would look stupid.
A small thing I liked was I ordered the optional couple of instruments. The needles were very thin and reminded me of stereo receiver instrument needles.
One dumb thing on my car was I did not order the tilt wheel. Since it was the Eurosport, it had a thick wheel--which completely hid the linear speedometer from where I sat.
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I guess it was a real thing. Even had power upgrades.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=ranger+thunderbolt&mid=79D27F1C80646EA52E9779D27F1C80646EA52E97&FORM=VIRE
Speaking of Celebrities, I recall an aunt had an 86. I remember it as I recall riding in it when it wasn't terribly old, my dad driving, and he complained that it needed brake rotors - obvious pulsing. My uncle was very mechanically inclined, but I think he never drove or rode in her car, and she apparently didn't think it was worth mentioning. For whatever reason I've always found that amusing. I can't recall what replaced the Celebrity, but I know her last car was a cloud car Stratus, which she drove regularly until she was in her late 80s.
Spotted today - a Kizashi, and an immaculate pre-facelift 90s style LeSabre, little old lady driving it, the car looked nearly new.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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fin, my Celebrity was the last car I remember owning that seemed to eat rotors. But too, back then I think the idea of shops using a torque stick to evenly tighten, as opposed to just slamming those guns on, hadn't happened yet. I know one Firestone or Goodyear shop actually took a chunk out of my Celebrity's aluminum wheel near a lug nut, which I didn't notice right away, sigh.
https://www.powernationtv.com/post/93-year-old-turns-in-keys-after-567000-miles-with-her-1964-mercury-comet-caliente#:~:text=Rachel Veitch had quite a,is hanging up the keys.
Hopefully the car is still around.
Guy posted a pic of a gorgeous triple-black '84 Fleetwood Brougham coupe.
Now, I believe people come to sites online to enjoy pics and also get factual information.
One guy said, "That's a Coupe deVille. It doesn't have four doors".
I post, "It's a Fleetwood coupe, made from '80 to '85. Don't believe me, Google the '84 Cadillac brochure online".
Reply: "I had one. It's a Coupe deVille".
Then, "Whatever. I had one. It's a Coupe deVille".
Yeesh....I don't have to be right, but I also don't have to pretend to be wrong just to massage someone's ego, sheesh.
Blockhead.
https://www.preludeonline.com/threads/prelude-w-700-000-miles-yes-700-000.34918/
A couple weeks ago, a guy posted on a Cruze forum his odometer had just turned over 400K miles on original engine and trans. That's a goal for me, LOL! Only 292K to go.
Several years ago a guy posted an odometer pic of an early Cruze with over 700K miles. The guy was a courier of some sort. I'd say the chance of it being all-original are slim. I sent the pic to my younger daughter, who was driving the car I'm driving now, that I expected her to get that out of it!
The old lady with the Comet, I want to say I remember one of the later trips she took in it was all the way to Erie, PA and back to FL for her high school reunion!
The checkerboard wheel was 6.5" wide. But I found that on google, so don't take it as the gospel!
Spotted by me this morning. '60. Owner said his Dad bought it in 1968. Decent driver, not-great paint.
I still like these, although of course they are dated now.
One thing I like about Corvette is that the car is in the same place in the lineup as it was in 1953 when introduced, a fiberglass-bodied two-seat sports car. The name hasn't been moved around to other cars....at least not yet.
My friend has a lovely red-on-red-leather '63 Riviera. He is a self-taught mechanic-of-sorts, and enjoys working on it as much as he can, himself. He has the new-car sales paperwork in it, showing dealer name and original owner.
He wasn't as interested as me, but on Miller, SD's FB page (maybe historical society page), I found a 1959 pic of the dealership, which also sold Chevy and Cadillac as well as Buick. It was small and had gas pumps out front, as the town was small (I want to say 3K people now but I'm fuzzy on that). Anyway, the original owner of the car was a pharmacist and owned a (the?) drug store in town. He was born in 1891 and was 72 when he bought the car. I imagine that in that town, it may well have been the only '63 Riviera sold by that dealer. The original owner's son was later a state representative. I love all that kind of stuff. My friend bought it about a decade ago in Wisconsin.
High mileage on modern cars can be interesting, runs in the face of those who claim the cars will be shot at 200K miles. It's all about the maintenance and the the driver. Here's a pic from a MB group I am in, this car started production in late 2016, so it can't be older than that:
On an odd wheel note, I think all MBs from the 60s through the 90s anyway have the same or nearly the same pattern for factory wheels, which is why one might see a fintail on bundts or a 70s car on 90s 8 hole wheels.
Not my first wheel choice but maybe kind of period correct for the owner, I could see those in the 70s when such a thing was just a neat old used car.
To my eyes, a '63 in silver looks like something from a 1959 B-level space movie, LOL. Especially with the headlights open.
I do think it's funny 'experts' will comment on the Avanti's king pins, but completely leave out that all Corvettes through the end of the '62 model year (when Avantis were also being built), had kingpins.
Of course, there are also a lot of taxis that make it to high mileage. But I'm sure it's a safe bet that they get a lot of maintenance and repairs along the way.
I bought my '68 Dart in 1992, with 253,000 miles on it. However, the previous owner put a rebuilt 318 in it, around the 242,000 mile mark, and that promptly destroyed the existing transmission and rear end. So he had those replaced, although they might have been with used parts. He also used to brag about how you could manually hold first gear until around 52 mph. I used to think that perhaps that was part of what killed its transmission. But then I noticed my '67 Catalina, which I bought a couple years after the Dart, would hold first on its own until around 55 or so if you floored it, chirp a tire going into second, and sometimes even chirp going into direct drive. Similarly, my '79 New Yorker would hold first until around 55 mph, all by itself. But, not enough guts to chirp on the 1-2 shift! As for axle ratios, the Dart was a 2.76:1, while the Catalina is a 2.56:1, and the 5th Ave is a 2.45:1. So, the Dart was geared a little shorter, but I dunno if 52 mph is really THAT extreme.
I stopped driving the Dart in 2001, when it had about 338,000 miles on it. The biggest issues I had with it were brakes, suspension, radiator, alternator, power steering, exhaust, etc. And, it was starting to rust pretty bad in the rear quarters, but the main structural areas, like where the sub-frame mounts to the body and such, were fine. I ended up letting it sit for too long, and couldn't get it to restart. However, I think it was just something simple, like either a fuel line or the fuel pump. If you poured a bit of fuel in the carb, it would fire right up, and run for a couple seconds. But by that time, I had pretty much lost interest in it, and it just sat around, until I eventually sold it around 2009. The guy I bought it from actually did get it to fire right up though, again with some fuel dumped in the carb.
In theory, that car could have gone on for a lot longer, I'm sure. I also used it to deliver pizzas, from early 1996 until around April or May of 1997, and I'm sure that wasn't exactly easy on it. On a busy Friday or Saturday night, I'd occasionally log about 200 miles, of mostly short-burst, stop and go driving.
I had a '79 Newport that I rescued from the junkyard, that I used to replace the Dart as daily transportation. And that gave way briefly, to my Mom's '86 Monte Carlo. She gave it to me in March of 1998, with 179,000 miles on it, and I got T-boned 3 months later, and in that short time I had it up to around 192,000. After that I went back to the Newport, but that gave way to an '89 Gran Fury ex copcar in the fall of 1998, and that gave way to my 2000 Intrepid in November 1999. So from around April/May of 1997 until I couldn't get it started that fall day in 2001, the Dart mostly just sat around, only seeing occasional use. And after that it just sat.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive