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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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It'll be interesting to find what other ancient crap is in that garage, as I dig deeper into it.
As far as I know, the only triple-tone DeSoto was the limited edition Fireflite Coronado for 1955. It was only offered as a 4-door sedan, and was aqua/white/black. The only ones I've ever seen in person had an aqua body, and either a black roof and white spear, or a white roof/black spear. But, you could put each of the three colors anywhere you wanted. I think it looked best with an aqua body, white spear, and black roof, like this:
If you reverse the spear and roof, the black just seemed like it clashed with the aqua, to me:
And with a black body, having two contrast colors just doesn't look right to me:
I kind of like the color palette of black, white, and turquoise in the one car you pictured, above.
Duh, guess all four are those colors! LOL The third pic I mean.
https://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Dodge/1955_Dodge/1955_Dodge_Brochure/1955 Dodge-04.html
With the '55-56 Chrysler/DeSoto, I'll admit I'm not really a fan of the '55 Chrysler Windsor/New Yorker. I just don't like that front-end; it just seems a bit clunky. Although, the C-300 and Imperial are nice. On the DeSoto, I kinda like how the two-toning on the side droops down towards the rear. I think it actually makes the car look a bit slimmer.
One detail I'm not really a fan of is on the cheaper '56 models...the Windsor and Firedome, they had chrome headlight bezels that jutted out a bit. The more upscale Fireflite and New Yorker (and 300B/Imperial) had body-color bezels, that were peaked, and gave the front of the car a bit of a forward thrusting look.
But, for whatever reason, I think the jutting chrome bezels manage to work on the '55 DeSoto, and the C-300/Imperial. Just not on the Windsor/New Yorker.
I also like how they opened up the rear wheel openings on the '55-56 Chrysler/DeSoto. If they had a more skirted look, like how just about everyone else was doing (except for Buick, perhaps) the Chrysler/DeSoto would have looked REALLY chunky!
And oddly, even though the cars are labeled as "Custom Royal", on the illustrations themselves, they just say "Royal" (or "Royal Lancer")
My 62 Galaxie had a tube radio. It didn’t take much time to warm up and play. It worked well and got good reception in rural Virginia.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
My 62 Galaxie had a tube radio. It didn’t take much time to warm up and play. It worked well and got good reception in rural Virginia.
I want to say the radio in the 60 didn't work - or we couldn't get it to work. I have a vague memory of bringing a small boombox with us in that car. I recall the 68 Fairlane had a Philco AM radio (one of its very few options), and it worked perfectly. 66 Galaxie had an aftermarket unit installed by the prior owner that worked fine.
Fintail's radio worked when I bought the car, but the radio conked out just before y2K. I eventually sent it in to Becker, who is still in business, now specializing in rebuilding old radios. For maybe $300, they overhauled it, and it still works perfectly.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
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2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I like the 'regular bodied' midsize coupes better than the 'specialty' coupes then.
I always liked the exterior size and interior use-of-space in the '78 GM midsize cars.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a61900779/979-pontiac-grand-am-bring-a-trailer-auction/
Holy cow, I really like that, too! I had a ‘79 Pontiac with a 4-speed, but mine was a Sunbird.
Would be fun to bring to cars and coffee meets.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I saw this on the turntable at Summit Racing’s retail store near me this morning. 1970 Coronet R/T.
While I prefer the ‘69 styling, this car in Plum Crazy just stopped me in my tracks.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Several classics out Sunday.
1956 Plymouth Fury in white with the gold side spear. Classic carfeatured in ads...
Elderly VW van in white roof with faded orange body. I could hear the 4 banger putting away. From the 60s?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It's all what you're used to, of course, but I like the smoother lines of the Pontiac over the Newport.
I always thought of hiproom as being the measurement between the armrests. But since the armrests in that Newport are so thin, and don't extend back as far as the Executive's, I wonder if they're measuring hiproom either behind, or underneath, the armrests, so for the Newport that would essentially be the same number as shoulder room?
But, most people are wider at the shoulders than they are at the waist, so I don't know if the Newport really as an advantage there or not. And if, for whatever reason you have to sit smack up against the door, I think you're going to be uncomfortable whether the car has those larger, boxed armrests of the Executive, or the more knife-edged armrests of the Newport. I'd be curious to see what the shoulder room numbers are for both cars. I'd imagine the difference is negligible.
If I had to choose between the two, it would be a hard decision to make, as neither one is a car I really drool over. With these big Mopar C-bodies, I prefer the '65-66 models to the '67-68. But, if you want a big, conservatively styled car, I think the Newport does the trick. With Pontiac, I'm just not a fan of the '68's at all. It was basically taking the '67, and trying to make it look like a '68 Tempest/Lemans. It's sleeker and sportier looking than the Newport, but I still just don't find it attractive. Although most of my issue is with the front-end; from the side it looks nice. One other detail I don't like is the '68's taillights. The '67's seemed just about perfect, the way they kicked down a bit at the outer edges. But for '68, that kick-down part just seems too extreme, and I don't like how it cuts into the bumper.
It would be interesting to see another comparison of these two cars, but with a GM-bias, rather than a Mopar bias. And then, I supposed, the truth about which one is "better" would be somewhere in the middle. Of course, "better" is more of a subjective thing, and depends on the individual.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
I actually walked to school in first grade, but the school was right around the corner. Nowadays, often the kids don't even walk to the end of their driveway to catch the bus! My neighbors drive the kids down the driveway to the street, and let them wait in the minivan until the bus comes! Okay, so it's maybe a 600 foot driveway, but still...
That Executive has the cloth and vinyl interior. From '66 to '70, I liked that interior--luxurious, but subtle. You couldn't get it in the coupe, only all-vinyl, grrrr, which was a completely different seat pattern and even the door panels were different. That cloth seating is identical to 1968 Ventura Custom option on the Catalina four-doors.
I walked to all three of my schools. Sometimes I rode my bike to middle school. I never once rode a school bus.
Me neither. I pretty much grew up equidistant from all 3 schools just different directions.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I also agree with your view on the big Chryslers. For me the '65/'66 versions were beautiful cars, especially the '65 New Yorker and the '66 300 with its unique front end. For '67 I think they took a step backwards with the fully concave body sides and some other less elegant exterior details, though I like the '68 300 front end with its hidden headlights. The slab-like dash in those years was also a step backwards from the handsome astra-dome throwback version that was in the '65/'66 models. While they didn't sell anywhere as well as the Pontiacs, the Chryslers did well in those years, selling nearly a million copies over the 4 model years. They even had to add a second assembly plant to manufacture them in order to meet demand.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
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I lived within walking distance of my school through graduation, so I always just rode a bicycle to school... or walked on rare occasions. With my son, COVID put an end to his high school days before he was driving, so we never had to worry about it, and my daughter doesn't go to high school either, so it is a non-issue. BUT, they likely would have driven because the school bus that would pick them up has its nearest stop about a mile and a half from our house. As such, once the weather cools (which is about six weeks into the school year), my wife would drive him up to the bus stop. And, given the inconvenience of that, plus the additional people-time involved, he probably would have just driven all the way to school once the option was available to him.
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One interesting memory I have of 6th grade is one Friday, my paternal Grandparents came to pick me up, because I was spending the weekend with them. They had their '81 Granada 2-door, that was a nice 2-tone mocha/creme type scheme. One of my friends and I were looking out the window, at the line of cars waiting to pick the kids up, and he asked which one was my grandparents, and I pointed to the Granada. And he was like "WOW, are your Grandparents RICH or something?! That's the nicest looking car out there!"
I guess us 6th graders were easily fooled! Although I do remember that Granada getting a lot of compliments at the time. Nowadays the proportions bug me a bit. Things like the roof seeming too big for the rest of the car, and making it look top-heavy, and the wheelbase seeming a bit too short in relation to the overall length of the car:
In 7th-8th grade, I went to a different school, for middle school. It was probably about 4-5 miles away. There was a bus, that you could pay extra for, but it didn't come out our way. So, some of the families formed a car pool. There were 5 families, total, and 8 kids, so it started off with one family driving one day of the week. But eventually, the others ended up paying Granddad to pick up their days. Sometimes, on days that Grandmom wasn't working, he would use her '82 Malibu Classic wagon, but usually he used his '76 GMC crew cab pickup. On nice days, he'd let us kids ride back in the bed, something I imagine would get Child Protective Services called on you nowadays!
That middle school was kind of snooty. One thing I can remember is how, when we'd pull up, the other parents kind of looked down through their noses at us, because we were pulling up in a pickup truck. But the other kids were all jealous of us, because we got to ride in the bed!
Thinking back, none of the cars any of the families had were really suited for hauling around one adult driver and 8 kids, except for one, who had an '83 LeSabre estate wagon with a Diesel 350 that she just loved. I can still remember her loving that she could get 30 mpg on the highway with it. But, one other family had a '76 Aspen wagon. Another had a '78 or so Volare wagon. One family had two Buicks: an early 80's Electra coupe and an early 80's Electra. And we alternated between the Malibu and the pickup. Thinking back, how we squeezed 8 kids into some of those vehicles, is beyond me!
It was a creamy or pale-yellow color car.
In the following years Ford managed to mess with the Fox platform looks, with the 'basket handle' two doors, upmarket looks, etc. Some were OK, many less than successful, IMO.
An exception to that is I think the GM midsize specialty coupes got a lot better looking for '81.