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

davem2001

LOL! that was the worst of both world's - It was truck based, but styled like a car. A reverse crossover! All the bad ride, bad handling of a truck, combined with all the load capacity of a sports car!

kyfdx

I see one almost every day... Parked in a parking lot near where I work.. daily driver... poor sap..

andre1969

my uncle was thinking about getting an X90. He wanted something small and cheap and economical, but also liked the idea of it being high-up, so it would be like stepping into a truck, and would also be easier for my grandma to get into. Thankfully he changed his mind! Turns out, I don't think they were all that economical. I'm sure especially with 4wd and an automatic tranny they wouldn't be! My buddy's '98 Tracker is automatic (3-speed, no O/D...they wouldn't offer that until 1999), and only 2wd, and it gets worse mileage than my Intrepid, which must outweigh it by at least a half-ton.

debaser853

I see a Red Bull modified one running around here pretty regularly!

wimsey1

Also spotted an early Avanti (Stude or early revival) in a remarkable orange hue.
And a Merc G-500.

I like the tc's look but I think the Alfa might look real good in person.

kyfdx

A late '60s Beetle... in restored condition... Don't see too many of these around here any more...

fintail

kyfdx - you probably saw a first series 300 car, a non-hardotp top of the line sedan from earlier in the 50s. Also called the 'Adenauer'.



I also saw a nicely restored old beetle today, a silver one. Something less old but odd in decent shape was a Mazda 323 sedan, c.1988. It appeared to be a pristine little old lady car. Kind of a gold/bronze.

ghulet

http://chicago.craigslist.org/car/75132195.html

Mr_Shiftright

Now there's a car you REALLY want to stay away from.

The seller is talking nonsense. There were over 3,000 of them made. Having a sunroof doesn't make it a different car. Value? Maybe $15,000 if it were spectacular. Then you get to see your Mercedes mechanic leap for joy.

Can you say Elephanto Blanco?

morven

Bizarre looking beast. Utterly gutless, unfortunately. If it had had some power, the impracticality of it might have been worth it.

morven

I daily-drive a '67 Thunderbird four-door landau (with the suicide doors) and my opposite neighbor a beat-up Lincoln Continental Mark V in pale metallic blue. Neither can be very sensible to drive with current gas prices.

shipo

A Volvo P1800 ES in very nice shape passed me. For me at least, the P1800 series is the only Volvo that has ever appealed to me visually. ;-)

Best Regards,
Shipo

Mr_Shiftright

I like the fuel-injected wagon-types a lot more than the earlier tail-fin cars, which are looking pretty dated. But the ES is very practical, and with some aftermarket parts from IPD you can actually get it to handle and to move out of its own way. You can also correct some chronic Volvo problems, like really soft camshafts and timing gears by buying improved versions from IPD. The car's a bit clunky and clumsy in the Volvo fashion (you have to like the seating position of your left ear level with the top of your door), and it has an annoyingly clattery engine, but it's pretty rugged car and quite practical for everyday use. . Also, none of your dash gauges will work for very long, so a set of auxiliary gauges are a must. Real easy car to work on except maybe for the overdrive unit. I wouldn't mind having one.

kyfdx

thanks, fin... I'm pretty sure that is it... It looked like it could have come straight from a car show..

I love those Volvos.. both the coupes and the wagons...

Anyone remember a TV show where the main character drove a P1800?

andre1969

but didn't Columbo drive something like that?

kyfdx

Don't know about Columbo, but this show was not before your time.. I'm thinking early '90s...

shipo

Roger Moore in The Saint.

Best Regards,
Shipo

debaser853

Yesterday, saw a vw microbus pickup. What's the correct name for those?

kyfdx

Okay... then there are two...

This was late '80s, early '90s.. very popular show, with lots of angst....

shipo

Columbo drove a beat up 1959 Peugeot 403 Grande Luxe Cabriolet.

Best Regards,
Shipo

stickguy

One of the whiney charecters on "Thirtysomething" drove a P1800 (sedan).

kyfdx

We have a winner!!

Coupe, actually....

Ken Olin, who played Michael (?).

stickguy

It was him. I meant coupe, and was just noting he didn't have an ES.

I don't remember the charecter's name, so I will defer to you on that one!

kyfdx

He basically kissed his wife's behind all of the time.... and yet, all she did was complain to him and about him...

The writing was good on the show, but the characters made me want to shoot the lot of them....

I did like the car, though...

lemko

...I saw the musical "Sweet Charity" with Shirley McLaine on TCM this past weekend. In one scene, Ricardo Montalban is seen riding in a really classy black 1966 Cadillac Series 75 limousine. This is what a real limousine looks like - not the tacky cut-n-paste jobs seen today. It would've been better if it were an Imperial Ghia limo. Then Mr. Montalban could've mentioned to Charity about the "rich Corinthian leather" in the chauffeur's compartment.

kyfdx

'80s era Thunderbird Turbo Coupe... in black..

Really looked great.. I think this is the one that used the 2.3 litre 4-cylinder Turbo? I'm guessing '87-'88..

stickguy

Passed a roll-off yesterday. had a very rusty gen 1 Bronco (arond a 70ish I guess) on the back, and towing along on the hook, a decent looking '75ish Granada! Green with green vinyl roof.

Why someoneone would be spending money to tow a Granada (I can almost see the Bronco) I don't know.

andre1969

wasn't just getting towed off to the junkyard, was it?

stickguy

I cut through a a short local street (in a lower end section of town) to get to lunch. Someone on the road lkes old, rusty Chevies. They have a '66ish Impala SS, a '65 malibu (in primer), and a 70ish 4x4 PU with oversized tires. Also a '70 Monte Carlo on the grass accross the street. All quite rusty, but some of them on the road still.

Down the street, an imacculate Bonneville. I guess about a '67, dark blue with a white top (First thought it was a convert, but possibly just a vinyl roof). Looks like new.

Quite the time warp road.

kyfdx

They had to tow it...

Because they couldn't throw it that far...

lemko

...1969 Chevrolet Impala Custom with Ralleye wheels. Nice car except it was painted the most garish purple I've ever seen!

au94

spotted another new Lotus Elise last night. This one was lime green. I've also seen an orange one. These colors look like what was on the Mopar muscle cars, Sublime, Plum Crazy etc.

This is a cool website--www.carsinbarns.com. It will bring a tear to your eye the condition some of these great old cars are in. You'll catch youself saying more than once "if I had the money...."

jlawrence01

I have seen perhaps a dozen Chevettes and Pontiac Acadians this week in British Columbia this week in various states of repairs. And quite a few Omni/Horizons.

I cannot believe that a Chevette would still have an operable AC system as they must be at least 18 years old as the model was discontinued in 1986.

andre1969

REALLY vulgar?

http://www.countryclassiccars.com/Pics/3005_1.jpg
http://www.countryclassiccars.com/Pics/3005_2.jpg
http://www.countryclassiccars.com/Pics/3005_3.jpg

Here's a quick description, pasted as-is, with no spelingg/grammer korections....

1976
CHEVETTE,24,xxx orig miles,cold a/c,soldi souther car,nice paitn,int,runs and drives good
red/white
$4,950.00

Any takers? :P

stickguy

forget the Chevette, I want the red Camaro in the background.

stickguy

Out at lunch, enjoying the nice weather, I went by a full-on General Lee repo. Orange, with the numbers and "general lee" lettering, everything. Looked brand new, and certainly stood out in a line of traffic!

Also saw a nice green Porsche 356. Just up the road from the dealer, and it had one of their dealer plates on it. Shoulda stopped in to browse!

au94

Perhaps I should clarify, I was taking drivers ed in the summer of '87 so the T1000 was only a year old.

fintail

This morning I spotted a decent Ford Fiesta, a white Corvair convert, and a pretty light blue 64 Impala Convert...both converts had their tops down. Also noticed a beat c.66 Mustang and a late (square lights) Rabbit.

andys120

Speaking of 356s I saw what appeared to be a pristine 356A Speedster drive thru downtown this noon, black/top down (threatening clouds be damned). Most likely this was a fake built on a V-Dub platform by Beck or Intermeccanica. There's some cunning replicas out there.

kyfdx

Speaking of 356s... 48 HRS was on TV the other day.. Eddie Murphy drove a 356 Cabriolet...

fintail

Couple more oddballs today, a Ford Ranger diesel and a Nissan Pulsar with that weird station wagon-esque attachment from the late 80s

Mr_Shiftright

Well cunning until you drive one. A VW is a VW is a VW and never a Porsche shall be. The interior and the windshield are two big give-aways but in traffic from 50 feet, yeah, they look pretty good. Probably even faster.

lemko

...two-tone blue 1955 Oldsmobile 88 sedan in Glenside, PA and a red and white 1956 Ford Fairlaine near my house in Philly. The nice weather brings 'em out!

jlawrence01

Have seen 25+ Chevettes/T1000/Acadians in my week in Washington State and BC. That is more than I have seen in the midwest in the past TEN years.

I would bet you $1 that $4950 is more than that car cost NEW. Also, since the Chevette would only have an odometer that went up to 99,999, how likely would the vehicle be under 100k miles considering that the carpet is almost worn on the drivers side. I would also bet that the floorpan under the drivers side is rusted through. That would generally occur after 4-5 years of normal use in the midwest.

shipo

Driving north between Manchester and Concord New Hampshire on I-93 this morning I saw what I believe was a 1963 Rambler 660 Classic in what appeared to be unrestored condition yet good enough that it looked to be only a couple of years old (as such a car would have looked in say 1965). I say unrestored because the chrome bumpers and trim showed a little clouding, and the white over burgundy paint, while shiny, didn't look at all recent. All in all, an extremely nice example of one of what I suspect to be a very rare car.

Best Regards,
Shipo

Mr_Shiftright

Well rare in the sense that they all died young. Natural selection at work.

I saw a Diesel Scout yesterday. I didn't even know they made them.

lemko

...on Sunday in New Hope, PA: a beautiful unrestored cream-colored 1960 Dodge Pioneer sedan.

jrosasmc

An extremely rare sight in southern VT yesterday- a fully restored 1970 BMW 2800CS coupe...those were the predecessors of the coveted 3.0CS models.

Shifty how much would those 2800CS coupes cost today, in average condition, and are the restoration costs high?

kyfdx

Saw one today... Anyone remember these? Emblem said it had a V-8..

A few miles away, spotted a Jeep pickup for sale... Looked to be a mid-'70s model.

regards,
kyfdx

Mr_Shiftright

A 2800CS coupe in decent condition? Maybe $6,500 or so. Restoration costs would be extremely high, yes, which is why they aren't worth much...the cost of restoration exceeds the value of the vehicle. They really are worth no more than a chrome-bumpered MGB and tend to be real rust buckets. I've seen show cars sell at $12,000 but it would cost you $35,000 to make one.