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

imidazol97

Help. I saw a small Olds convertible. Bright red. It was from the 60s. I've looked on search engine and can't find the view from the rear. The tailights were rectangular slightly taller than wide. They were about 5 x 7 inc with a peak on the top middle of the taillight that was part of the ridge that runs along the quarter panel. The taillights looked like 1963 full size Oldsmobile.

The car was on a truck and the rear was facing forward. It was small. Searching indicates it probably was called F85 and that may also have carried the Cutlass name later.

Is there a collection of good pictures including rears of Olds in that time period? I can't find one.

andre1969

like you found a 1963 Olds F-85 This was the final year of the compact F-85, as it would go midsized for 1964, and put on a lot of length. The '61-62 F-85's had a trim, sleek look about them, but for '63 they took the basic body and bulked it up, making it look more like a scaled-down version of the big Oldsmobiles.

imidazol97

Jackpot. Your knowledge (memory) of the size changes 63-64 helped. It was petite in size.

Pure red looked original with a white top probably not original but seemed like original color. Great looking car.

Thanks for finding the link. I googled it to death and didn't get that.

explorerx4

that's it!, except the one i saw was baby blue. it also had an aftermarket dual exhaust setup.

fintail

Today I got back from a little road trip to the southeast corner of WA. Old town, farming area, little rain so nothing rusts. I saw lots of oddball cars that were unrestored and still being used - Several 53-55 Chevys, a couple of Mercury Comets, a decent looking 61 Pontiac 4 door HT, a couple of 57 Studebakers - full size 2 and 4 door sedans actually owned by different poeple, a 58 Edsel convert that was restored, 5 or 6 Fiat X19s, c.67 Dodge Charger, and lots of other domestic iron that I am forgetting. Very little in the way of imported cars there, other than the Fiats and an old MB W114. Lots of old trucks being used as well, especially pre-55 Chevys.

But here's the obscure car I actually experienced, my dad's Datsun. It's a 76 610, 83K miles, in extremely clean and straight condition, that he paid $130 for. The biggest flaw is the mismatched old tires. It actually runs like a top, but it has manual steering, hilarious brakes, atrocious body lean (probably original shocks) and it is not fun over 60 mph - the metal is from old beer cans I think. It really just needs a good cut and polish to look excellent, and my dad hates detail work so it will likely never get done. Anyway, here's the car



It's really his speed...it is old and simple, and gets good mileage. A good hobby car for him until he finds something he wants (a slug like a 52 Chevy or a 49 Dodge fastback etc).

I think I'll stick to my cars.

imidazol97

Good picture. I remember those. Econoboxes. It's where the foreign brands got their toehold because people needed cheap-to-operate cars often as second commuter cars and the big 3 weren't provided very good ones. No power anything.

What climate has that Datsun been in? Arizona? Around here those disintegrated faster than sugar in hot coffee with the salt on the roads two or three months of the year. It looks to be in great shape for beer can metal as you said.

fintail

It's in southeast WA state, which is probably about as dry as Arizona with slightly less extreme temps. Nothing rusts there. Even in western WA, that Datsun would have been a goner 15 years ago for sure.

Not a glamorous car, but as a hobby car I think it is kind of neat. When do you see one anymore? Cheap, fairly cheerful, economical, and it seems reliable from what I experienced. It runs like a sewing machine.

imidazol97

Those early econos had really narrow, small tires IIRC. Does that one seem to have tires too narrow for the car? That was another way of saving build cost and saving gas was with narrow tires.

fintail

They were narrow yeah, and the rears are those old school knobby all season tires that are probably 20 years old. It's not a handling car...but it really can't get up enough speed to be useful for handling anyway.

ghulet

....you mentioned a coupe version of the VW fastback; I don't remember seeing one, but I do remember thinking this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1967-VOLVO-S122-2-DOOR-GOOD-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ4584146764QQ- categoryZ6458QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

....was a VW coupe, it's almost identical, at least from the back and side, IMO.

ghulet

Funny, I saw a car remarkably similar to your dad's Datsun 610, I think it was a late '70s Dodge Colt sedan, a picture of which I can't seem to find on the internet (too junky for even eBay apparently, too old for autotrader.com and too new--or too something else-- to be on anything resembling a 'collector car' site).

andre1969

actually somewhat upscale in Datsun terms back then? As I recall, they had a whole bunch of X10's back then, ranging from the 210 on up to the 910? Maybe they weren't all available at the same time, but I remember they had a very broad lineup back then, and as the numbers went higher the cars usually got more luxurious. Of them, I remember the...

F10 (nasty little FWD thing)
210 (became the Sentra)
310 (became the Pulsar and then went away)
510 (became the Stanza and then the Altima)
610 (dropped from the lineup)
710 (don't remember seeing them, but I've seen pics and ads for them. Looks like they were trying to bill it as somewhat of a BMW contender. Also note in the ad they call the 610 the "most luxurious Datsun!" :surprise: )
810 (became the Maxima)
910 (I don't think it was available here, but was also called Bluebird...probably the forerunner of near-lux brands like Acura, the ES300, earlier Infinitis, etc)

I don't remember a 410, but have looked around and found pictures of one. Was that an early model, perhaps replaced by the 510? And was the 610, along with the 710, perhaps phased out here in the US in favor of the 810?

andre1969

I always liked those...their style makes me think of a toy-sized '55 Chrysler. The grille even looks a bit like the '55 C-300! Haven't seen any of those in awhile, though.

kyfdx

Not positive, but I think the F10 became the 310... As the 310 was FWD, and didn't come out until the late '70s....

jrosasmc

Those late '70s Japanese cars were nasty when it came to overall driving dynamics. My dad had a '78 Toyota Celica that was just plain awful to ride in...I hated every moment of it.

imidazol97

But it's these Japanese econoboxes upon which the quality, long-lasting, and low maintenance reputation of Japanese cars was based. That's along with the 80's models as well...

Coworker had something like the Datsun in the picture only it was a hatchback. It had nothing, maybe not even a radio. He drove it 120K or so until the 3rd of 4th clutch was needed. It finally had rusted out so much he dumped it. It was cheap to buy, cheap to operate, and looked, well, cheap.

fintail

Yeah, the Datsun 410 predates the 510 by many years. I think it could have been an ancestor. And that 610 is anything but luxurious! I guess the door panels are kind of fancy...that's about it. The Hitachi radio is not. The car also oddly has an "EGR" light on the dash, away from the instrument cluster in the middle. "Extra Groovy Ride" as much as an EGR valve. Not valuable or collectible, but I can respect it as a toy or a car to putt around town.

I am sure you are right on the 610 and 710 being phased out too. I don't recall those cars existing after the late 70s. I have an uncle who had a 810 wagon...he said it had a "Z car engine" and it was loud.

Speaking of hatchbacks, when I was little, I liked the B210, the kind with the fastback kind of roofline usually seen with honeycomb hubcaps. I must have been smoking something.

Volvo 122 is a decent looking car, esp in 2 door form. I was thinking about one of those for my first car, but it's really hard to find a good one, and at the time was not hard to find a nice cheap 60s domesric. Speaking of that, I now recall another oddball I spotted on my drive...at a little deserted looking car lot way out in the sticks sat a big 62 Buick sedan, the long kind with the triangular shaped windows behind the rear doors. It was white and looked to be in excellent condition.

andys120

Yeah, the Datsun 410 predates the 510 by many years. I think it could have been an ancestor.

Not so many years, the 410 Bluebird was the immediate predecessor of the 510 (also
called a Bluebird in the JDM). Here's an ad from '64>>



I find it kinda nice looking for the era.

lemko

...spotted at lunch: green 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Deluxe and white 1965 Ford Mustang.

chuck1959

Wow that picture brings back childhood memories! My parents had the wagon version but it was a 1965 then traded it for a 1967 wagon. IIRC the 1965 had a problem with not starting some mornings. The neighbors would make fun too! The would say "yeah that's what you get for buying a foreign car!!" My how times have changed!

nippononly

all those old datsuns! Had a friend whose dad had a decade-old 510 way back when I was in junior high, got a ride to school about half the time in that car for several years. Just fab. Nothing killed them, but way back then they didn't sell in big numbers and they just faded away as Japanese cars got more mainstream and people traded up.

Reminds me (same topic, totally different car!), just the other day I was behind the cutest little Opel GT for several miles on the freeway. The plate read "71Opel". It was, of course, that omnipresent faded burgundy color all the Opels seemed to be from back then. Check out this pic:

http://www.zamek-rydzyna.com.pl/Album%201/album%20rajd%204/photos/photo18.html

I always thought that was a great looking car. I know, I'm weird! :-)

explorerx4

that car used to be known as a 7/8's scale corvette. opel is/was owned by gm.

chuck1959

Still owned by GM, I believe. The Opels were sold at Buick dealers.

Mr_Shiftright

7/8th scale but about 1/8th the performance unfortunately.

Nothing worse than a car that looks fast but isn't...think Fiat X1/9.

shipo

I drove an early Opel GT from Los Angeles to Detroit for a friend back in 1978. I'm thinking that "7/8th scale" is being extremely generous as there were a few times when I was next to something like a Datsun B210, and when I would look out the side window at that enormous Datsun, all I could see were the wheel covers. :-/

Best Regards,
Shipo

Mr_Shiftright

5/8th?

Opels are really weird cars...or were, back then. They seemed so odd in looks and yet so devoid of personality or character. The worst of both worlds in a way.

shipo

5/8ths? Yup, I'll buy that. ;-)

Mr_Shiftright

I get bad at fractions when we go smaller than 8ths :P

whahappan

Of course it wasn't a hatchback, it's rear engine :P

stickguy

there have been rear engined hatches and wagons (including the VW)

michaellno

Early 70's vintage, 2 door coupe, blue in color, sort of ratty condition, what you might expect of a car that is 30+ years old.

How does this model fit in with the Torino? Or, was the Torino name used later?

andre1969

since I've seen a VW Fastback, that I just presumed they were hatchbacks. I figured you'd open the hatch, and the engine would be there under a cover, like it was on the squareback wagons. But, judging from this pic, it looks like they weren't hatchbacks...really something more akin to the old fastback or "torpedo" body styles that were popular among domestic cars in the 40's.

Shame, though...I'd think a hatchback would've added a lot of versatility to these things. Maybe it would've made the body structure too loose,though?

fintail

In typical Detroit fashion, the Fairlane name was ran into the ground and replaced with a new name - the Torino. Fairlane was highline when it hit the market, quickly became mid range when the Galaxie was born, then went a little lower. Torino was a highline trim level on the Fairlane starting in 68 IIRC. 70 was the last model year for Fairlane, I am pretty sure.

andre1969

according tothis site. The Fairlane must have been really down to a bare stripper by '70-71, though. My Dad had a Torino sedan from that timeframe, that got handed down to him when my Great Granddad passed away in 1977, and it was pretty bare-bones, too.

Shame they did that, though. I thought "Fairlane" was a nice name. The domestics did that, though...they'd come out with a new name, but then downgrade it over the years as newer names were thought up. It also happened to "Bel Air", "Impala", "Galaxie" and "LTD", among others.

imidazol97

That name Fairlane had value to Ford because it's the name of Henry's estate. Guess they did over use it, didn't they. The name Edsel also had value.

andre1969

"Bel Air" named after? There's a mansion a few miles away from me called Bel Air Mansion, but I'm sure it's not that! I thought "Falcon" was a cool name, too.

kyfdx

City in the LA area, right?

Sort of a Beverly Hills type of community..

lemmer

I believe it was named after the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air."

andre1969

that was a D'oh type moment on my part! I'm sure, somewhere deep back in my mind I should've known that!

But then I guess that with the Fairlane estate and the Bel Air Mansion here in my area, I was going off on the estate tangent...

lemko

...the Falcon name was attached to Ford's plain-jane midsize car.

fintail

Here's another good Fairlane history

Those last cars consisted of an oddball semi-fastback 2 door, and a boring looking 4 door IIRC. A bad death to what was a good name. Can anyone do that better than GM and Ford?

Mr_Shiftright

"Fairlane" was Henry Ford's estate name, right?

andre1969

GM and Ford might have been pros at degrading names, but Chrysler made a pretty valiant effort at it too! Here's a good example. And then the "purists" cry about the modern Charger, yet this gets mercifully overlooked! :confuse:

fintail

Yeah, Henry's estate was "Fair Lane"

I forgot about that NYer...everything ended up a K-car

imidazol97

It's there in Dearborn. I've been through it on a tour. The shopping mall close to it is called "Fairlane."

Mr_Shiftright

I've been to the Henry Ford museum, which is REALLY great. Is that 300SL Gullwing still by the front doors? Or was it an SLR? I fergit.

explorerx4

shifty... they do move the cars around. great place to see some obscure cars(and more)!

andys120

VW Fastbacks weren't hatchbacks, luggage and cargo went up front, just like a Beetle.
The only point to the Fastback was styling, perhaps to get a family resemblance to it's little Bug brother.

IIRC the more practical Squareback, which had a lot of cargo room for a small car of that era, outsold the F/b by about 2:1.

michaellno

My folks traded in their '60 Bug for a '67 Squareback. Beige, as I think 95% of them were at the time. Was a stick shift (were they even available with an automatic). I can even remember the license plate - the old gold on black CA plates VVG 784.

In the summer of '71 we took that car on a cross country vacation - CA to NY and back - over the course of 3 or 4 weeks. Mom, Dad, me (age 7) and little sister (age 4). Had it packed to the gills, then my mom bought an old milk jug in Illinois, so that had to be squeezed in there as well. They folded the rear seat down and gave me a small rectangular space to be in - I think my sister rode on my mom's lap most of the trip.

I remember a few things about that trip:

--> the folks got lost outside of Youngstown, OH
--> a semi blowing one of its tires while we were following it on I-80 in Wyoming
--> eating a chuck wagon dinner in Evanston, Wyoming
--> seeing the trapeeze show at Circus Circus in Las Vegas
--> visiting a Navy buddy of my dad's in Mendota, IL and riding a snowmobile around the yard, even though it was summer

The Squareback eventually lost its engine and was traded in for a '73 Toyota Corona

lemko

They wrecked the Charger name even earlier than that when the name was applied to that Cordoba-wannabe Dodge. I have a particular dislike for that car, because a teacher I despised in elementary school bought one new.