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

ghulet

....the Aztek offers SOME utility with its silliness. The Blackwood, IIRC, was virtually useless as a truck by virtue of its non-removable lid (tilts up only) over the truck bed, should you ever be inclined to move a refrigerator or firewood in your $50k vehicle. Also, it had rear buckets, so only four could fit in that beast.

davem2001

I saw a Plymouth Prowler on the road yesterday. I think that might have been the first time I've actually seen one being driven on the road, and they've been around for almost 10 years now....

Blackwood - Well, there is definitely a market for "luxury" pickups - like the Escalade EXT. The Blackwood just had zero practicality, it was just a toy, really...you couldn't use it as a pickup. I think the new LT will do OK.

fintail

I saw a young woman driving a very nice looking 63 Impala 2 door HT yesterday, a nice light blue on blue. However, her driving skills left something to be desired. She'd weave and drift all over her lane, and vary her speed between 25 and 50 (limit 35-40) depending on absolutely nothing...as she played with her hair. I don't think daddy should have let pumpkin take the old beast for a spin.

I think the people who signed off on the Blackwood should have to face the public...just as those who signed off on the Aztek.

Mr_Shiftright

Well I hope they have it insured for market value and Daddy has a Chevy restoration parts catalog.

fintail

It was a pretty car, I'd take it. Not something for the 20 year old airhead. Easy enough to fix, lucky for the owner.

Saw a running Dodge Aspen this morning...that was it for my commute

andre1969

if it looked more like the concept...



It's still mucho fugly, but I think the concept at least has an aggressive stance to it, something that the production version is lacking. Sometimes you can pull off ugly, if it still has a bold, agressive look to it, but the way the Aztek turned out, it's just a mess from top to bottom.

They are versatile vehicles, though. A buddy of mine had one as a company vehicle, and there's a lady at work who has one. You can put a ton of junk in it. However, I guess it really doesn't give you anything that you don't get with a minivan, except car-like rear doors and roll-down windows. And nowadays, Honda, Toyota, and Mazda have seen to it that you at least get the roll-down rear windows!

seminole_kev

If I were a Mod, I would have banned you for that. I don't care what far reaches of the galaxy someone might be from, that is just universally ugly!

Mr_Shiftright

Yes but in a galaxy where everyone has two heads and three eyes dangling off spindly little tentacles....who's to say? They might like it. I mean, male banana slugs love female banana slugs, right?

kyfdx

Nope... just hard up...

seminole_kev

LOL!

michaellno

Don't be dissing the fine folks who attend the University of California at Santa Cruz. Their team nicknames are, you guessed it, the Banana Slugs!

Funny, my 18 year old son really likes the looks of the Aztek. Then again, my dad liked the AMC Pacer ... opinions like that, like some genetic diseases, must skip generations...

Although, on the most recent "Pimp My Ride" (yeah, I watch it .. what are you gonna do about it?) they took a '76 Pacer and painted it bright yellow and added 18" rims to it. Not to mention a gawd-awful wing that incorporated a solar panel to run the electronics.

docnukem

I was in Honolulu last week returning a rental car near the airport. There was an Infiniti-badged car at this dumpy little store nearby. I thought it was a G, but as I drove by it I saw Skyline on the back. I wonder what strings had to be pulled and what modifications had to be made to get that to HI with an Infiniti badge.

I'm kicking myself for not stopping and getting my camera out, but the family was with me and we had to catch a flight.

davem2001

My guess is - the guy just put the badges on the car, probably ordered the badges off some website and put them on himself....It's probably a bone stock G35.

seminole_kev

Isn't it possible that they just bought a Skyline badge and put it on the back? Kind of like how people put "Altezza" on the back of their IS 300s or "Bora" on the back of their Jettas.

davem2001

great minds think alike! lol

I'd say that's a lot more likely explanation than it was a "real" JDM Skyline that someone snuck past customs.

docnukem

Probably...I didn't look closely enough to see if said "GT" or "GTR" on the back. Thenebean on the skyline board said the same thing. My bad.

davem2001

I'm not trying to say you didn't see a car with Skyline badges - I'm just saying it's probably a 99% chance that it was a "fake" and 1% chance that it was a real JDM Skyline.

kyfdx

Ahh.. so, that's what "Bora" is all about... I saw a Jetta the other day with that.. I thought maybe it was an aftermarket tuner...

michaellno

Nope, the Jetta goes by the name "Bora" in European markets.

I gotta believe that a few of the JDM (or Euro-spec) Skylines have been imported .. at least two were used in the "Fast and Furious" movies.

davem2001

Yeah, I'm not saying it's totally impossible, but a more likely explanation is that the owner of a US spec G35 bought some "Skyline" badges.

Just like, when you see a Jetta with Bora badges, I have to assume it's a US spec car with an aftermarket badge kit.

fintail

I know Skylines have been shipped to Canada, which has much more relaxed used car import laws. Maybe someone snuck one over.

bumpy

The older (1989-2002) Skyline coupes can be brought into the US if they're legally converted to US crash and emissions standards by Motorex, which is obnoxiously expensive. A V35 Skyline (2003 and later) will almost certainly be a rebadged Infiniti G35, since they're basically the same car. Note that there is no V35 GT-R.

navigator89

I saw a beat up Lada 2107 parked at the mall today. That car is the epitome of boxiness.

merckx

...Haven't seen one of these little coupes in ages...I'd guess it's about a 1978...a pillar-less hardtop....and as usual in these cases,absolutely pristine.

fintail

This evening I saw a Ferrari F355 Spyder from the late 90s in a beautiful blue that I have never seen before. Even though it's not Ferrari's best body design IMO, it was still very easy on the eyes. Also saw a blue with white racing stripes 67-69 Camaro convert...I can never tell the years apart...it had hidden headlights if it matters. A lovely obviously restored car. And as I was parking on the quiet residential street where my fintail will be stored shortly, a black VW Phaeton drove by...2nd I've ever seen on the road.

kyfdx

Hidden headlights came with the RS package.. Most of these are '69s.. The '69s have longer, better looking tail-lights than the '67-'68.. '67-'68 have cheaper looking, plainer tail-lights...

stickguy

the first generation (what's that, about a '67?) THis was a dark blue with white top convertible. Looked ver clean. Nice looking car, almost seemed petite compared to the later models.

andys120

FYI the first generation Barracuda goes back to '64, and didn't come as a convertible.
As you can see it wasn't particuarly good-looking either=>

jrosasmc

Wasn't the first-gen Barracuda nothing more than a gussied-up Valiant with a huge back window?

I saw something you usually don't see every day last night- an early '80s Hurst/Olds coupe with that weird shifter setup. I never could understand the purpose of having three separate levers to operate the tranny.

lemmer

The first time I read your reply I thought you said "now THIS is going to be the BOMB!"

I thought you had gone temporarily insane.

lemko

...beat the Mustang to market by a few months. AMC had its version of the Barracuda based on the Classic called the Marlin. They later moved the Marlin to the Ambassador chassis.

seminole_kev

I thought the exact same thing. Had to do a double-take.

stickguy

Ok, then it must have been a seocnd generation. I had forgotten about that real early one.

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, generational mis-translation...I try not to use Gen Y slang because it never sounds right coming out of the mouth of anyone over 40 Anytime I try that I sound like a parent trying to be hip....painful.......

Can you imagine me saying "Yo, Blackwood, you da bomb".......good gawd...

Early Barracudas --- just don't have the "juice" of the 70-71s, which in the big blocks are REALLY hot right now.....My only affection for the first Barracuda V-8 is that it has the exact cubic inch displacement of my Porsche 928.

jrosasmc

What do you think about '80s Hurst/Olds coupes? You think they will be collector cars, as some make them out to be?

chicagodrive1

2004 Pontiac AssWreck today...man, those are rare.

Mr_Shiftright

Well it's kinda sorta a "second-tier" type of collectible, which means you have some interest but don't hold your breath for it to ever break $20,000---unless it's inflated money when a loaf of bread costs $40 (sounds like Marin county :P )

You can really count on one hand the number of modestly collectible cars from the 1980s....it wasn't a great decade...but you have the GNX, some Calloway stuff for Corvette, things like that. There are a few. But really, to have kept an 80s car 20 years and/or restored it and only have it worth $15,000--$20,000 isn't exactly a "car on fire". I think even 93-96s Impalas are doing better than that.

PF_Flyer

But saw a VERY nice '63 Corvette convertible today. Red with red interior. Not particularly "restored", but not worn out either. just looked like it was ready to enjoy the road.

Mr_Shiftright

Well they made 10,919 of the '63 convertible so it's fairly plentiful. Most Vettes have been saved unless they get too smashed up, so I bet there are still 5,000 or up to 7,500 of them running around. They made about an equal number of split window coupes. A '63 fuelie would be worth a LOT of money, but a ratty '63 small block not nearly so much of course. The FI option alone as an add-on is worth the price of an entire '63 small block car in average driver condition.

kyfdx

... sounds like it would be the one to fit my budget....

And.. I like to drive.. the last thing I need is something with collector value, that I have to keep clean...

Mr_Shiftright

That's why I usually buy the model nobody wants....914 or 928 Porsche vs. 911, or 230SL vs. 280SL, or C4 Vette vs. C5. Sometimes if you buy right you can get just as much fun for 1/2 the price (or less).

Wanna know one car I really like? (you're gonna laugh). VW squareback! Nice cheap little wagon, good on fuel, good in snow, parts anywhere, and getting obscure, since all the elementary schoolteachers have probably wrecked them by now. A mini-SUV for a pauper's wage.

fintail

I don't know where to ask this, so I will ask it here...

I had my 126 emissions tested for the first time today...as I have never lived in an area that required it until now. It passed, of course...but I don't know how well it did, and I don't know how to interpret the numbers. Maybe someone here can tell me.

Here's some stats"

HC (PPM) Cruise: Limit -150. Emissions - 31 (Pass). Idle: Limit - 220 Emissions - 17 (Pass).

CO (%) Cruise: Limit - 1. Emissions - .05 (Pass). Idle: Limit - 1.2. Emissions - .01 (Pass).

The other stuff like O2 and CO+CO2 has no limit, so there's nothing to compare it to...lots of N/A boxes, probably because the car is old.

Is this good? It is a 16 year old car about to roll over to 182K. It does have California emissions, as the car was bought new in LA, even though I am in metro Seattle. I am sure it's not as good as a new car based on tech alone...I just hope it isn't like driving a 1960s car.

I just noticed I can get the data online too...here's a screenshot of the test

kyfdx

I just had my wife's '03 325i tested this month... It has 32K miles..

HC Idle: Limit-220 Reading-1.4

CO Idle: Limit-1.20 Reading-0.01

CO2 Idle Reading-15.08

We don't have any tests at cruise.. My guess is that your car is still operating very closely to it's original standards... And, that mine is benefitting from better emission standards at the time of manufacture..

regards,
kyfdx

danf1

flew past me today. In Pittsburgh that is about as obscure as it gets.

grbeck

The second-generation Barracudas (1967-69) always struck me as neat cars, especially when equipped with either the 273 or 340 V-8s. The styling of the fastbacks is attractive. I like them better than the 1970-74 models, but the market apparently views them differently.

Today I saw a white 1963 Studebaker Avanti parked along the main street of my town. The car was in very good condition, with Pennsylvania "classic" license plates.

fintail

I guess that's good about the 126 emissions. The car runs so well that I was not too worried. I just don't know anything about the numbers.

Today I went to a couple high end lots to pass some time and look at cars. There was a white slantnose 911 that screamed '1986' very loud...I never liked those. They also had a nice Alfa 164 and a pristine c. 1986 XJ6, the last of the old kind. They also had a nice 1987 BMW L6, which must be some kind of sport edition 635. I looked over a 99 CL600, the big weird W140 coupe...I kinda like them, but as seems to be a disease on car lots here, the car was not very well presented. It appeared to be in very good condition, but come on guys...remove the water spots and the excess wax. My daily driver is better detailed than 95% of the cars I see for sale here with big stickers.

grbeck

fintail: It appeared to be in very good condition, but come on guys...remove the water spots and the excess wax. My daily driver is better detailed than 95% of the cars I see for sale here with big stickers.

Fintail, you should come to the Carlisle events with Andre1969 and I. You'd get a kick out of the cars with "new paint" (that looks as though it was applied with a broom), the "fully restored" vehicles (that have shiny paint, but pitted chrome) and the vehicles that are "rust free" (although the bondo has more waves than the Pacific).

All of the owners are asking top dollar, of course!

Mr_Shiftright

BMWs: The L6 isn't the sporting one, no. It's just a re-name for the 635CSi. The idea was that the L6 was the lazy tourer and the M6 was the hot rod. The L6 went over like an Elephanto Blanco and so they changed the name back again to 635 CSi.

1986 was maybe the only half-decent year for the XJ6, if you really have to have one. But don't pay more than $2,500 for it tops.

fintail

Ah I see. The weird name kind of reminded me of an Alpina car or something...but the car had no sporty cosmetic touches, so that explains it. I turned 9 in 1986, so I can be excused.

I bet I'd love to go to something like Carlisle, grbeck. Lots of nutty people and some good and not-so-good cars. Too bad it is completely across the country from me. There's nothing like that here in the northwest. Maybe one of these days I'll make it out there.

Ebay time:

Top notch name pedigree and the condition looks nice, but the design looks like a super-size Peugeot 203, and I don't mean that in a good way

Absolutely beyond redemption, but the good ones bring crazy money, so the parts might be worth something. Not those panels though!

It's not news that I like high-tech 1930s aero styling...this is top notch. Price is steep, but the car is great for deco lovers. The higher model of this car was IIRC the first with a retractable hardtop. Very cool.

Nice Dauphine...almost an oxymoron

I always thought these were nutty and kind of pimpy. What a color combo

I guess Caddy was still the Standard of the World....Mercedes and Benz hadn't merged yet.

I guess this is good in weight/size per dollar, condition included

I always kinda liked these things, I am ashamed to say. I like the colors, but this seems to be a low model...hubcaps and velour, etc

I like the fronts of these Buicks. I think GM hit an upper-middle pinnacle with Buick in the late 30s through the late 50s

"For the Collector" of unwanted orphans. I bet those missing emblems are easy to find

Neat little thing

This was an unusual concept

I wonder about the story behind this. Crumple zones work!

Probably the height of semi-sporty elegance when new

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Mr_Shiftright

Yep you are right, the AMPHICAR parts are precious and worth that bid. You are also right that one would have to be a lunatic to attempt a restoration. At best you can get around $20,000 for a nice one, and it looks to me that it would take about a billion dollars to make that one nice again. So I'd tend to say, yeah, part it out.

DAUPHINE: So, some guy has a reserve of MORE than $3,000 on a Dauphine. Who woulda guessed it could be bid even that high? Live and learn. I saw one for sale for $250 that actually ran. Poor Dauphines. They were actually much better designed than VW bugs and way more civilized, but alas, no parts and no service discouraged customers.

Peugeot: That's right again! First retractable hardtop in, I think, 1939. I've even seen pictures of it. I'm not sure it was a factory thing, though...might have been from a tuner/customizer named Darl 'Mat.

EDSEL: Beauty comes and goes, but ugly is forever.

NASH-HEALEY -- wow, look at the bid on that thing. I must be missing something. I never understood the appeal of British/American hybrids. A 4-liter flathead Nash engine coupled to a 3-speed tranny? Hmmmmm.....BUT..... One of these things actually finished pretty well at LeMans (not this model though), so that's credibility I guess. The coupes didn't do as well racing as the roadsters though. Probably the car's strong suit was endurance, not tight track racing.

Crunched Benz -- only in Hollywood can you use a car as cannon fodder in a movie and then try to sell it as a "celebrity". Poor thing.