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

andre1969

of those service-type cars have very little room up front for the driver? That's one reason why I'm weary of old hearses and ambulances. While I think they're way cool, they just look like they have no room up front.

At the Mopar Nationals at Carlisle a year or so ago, I actually got to sit in this ambulance. As big as this sucker is on the outside, the front seat is pushed really far forward, because there's a partition right at the B-pillar.

What are Checkers like inside? Are their front seats in a fixed position, or can they move back to accommodate a taller driver?

lemko

Holy smoke! That's the first time I've ever seen a Mopar ambulance. Is it a DeSoto? I recall seeing a picture of Imperial hearses once.

Mr_Shiftright

Funny that they'd be so concerned to make the dead body comfortable and yet torture the driver.....

mazda6iguy

Bunch of Pontiac Solstices on a car transporter on their way to the local Pontiac dealer down the street from where I work.

lemko

...but over 20 years ago I spotted a car transporter on I-80 on its way to New York loaded with brand-new 1981 Checker taxicabs in NYC livery.

Mr_Shiftright

I need to see that car in person but in photos I think its ugly up front. Very forced, tortured corporate identity.

explorerx4

with caveat that i hve not actually seen one, i agree with your opinion of the sol... the buzz can't be about the styling.

andys120

Don't most of those service-type cars have very little room up front for the driver?

I spent a little bit of time behind the wheel of a 1976 Cadillac ex-hearse (500C.ID.!) that one of our radio stations acquired as a station vehicle. At 5'61/2" I found it confining, the bench front seat was wicked uncomfortable even with the seat rolled back thru 80% of it's travel.

I figured what the , it beats riding in the back.

andre1969

I don't think it's bad looking, but it's just not all that...ummm, I don't know what the right word is here. Tough? Macho? It just looks too "playful" like a puppy or kitten squatted down, ready to pounce and then roll over and have its belly rubbbed.

At least it looks better than the new Miata, which up front looks like a rejected Saturn or Olds mock-up from a few years ago. :P

When it comes to these little roadsters, I think the Honda S2000 and the BMW Z-3 are probably the best looking. I even like the Z-4, although IMO the new one is a bit stressed and tortured and overdone in the style department. Somehow it seems to work on that car, though.

fintail

I had the fintail out today for its oil change and in the oncoming lane spotted a lovely W112 300SE coupe, a legit euro model no less. Silver and quite elegant.

imidazol97

for a car in the paper today. 1975 Buick Electra 225. 31K miles. $800 or best offer!!!. Good condition. Isn't that a misprint if it's in truly good condition. Note I do not own the car, know anything about it. I am not selling it. I just find that interesting when similar cars are in the thousands for asking price.

Think they left a zero out of the price? or left a "1" off at the beginning?

Mr_Shiftright

Price guides list a "fair" one at $800 and a "good" one at $1,200, so it's about market correct. As for low miles, well that's fine but maybe the seller really wants to sell it rather than hang a high price tag on a car that nobody wants anyway, and not have anybody call him.

Bottom line, cars like this aren't worth anything. It's all about supply (a lot) and demand (a little).

andre1969

where are you located, again? Want to pick me up at the airport and drive me out to that beauty? :P

About 3-4 years ago, I happened to see a '75 Electra 4-door hardtop for sale locally, for around $1400. It was black with kind of a pinstriped cloth interior. Only thing I could really see wrong with it is that those plastic spacers between the rear quarters and the vertical part of the rear bumper were missing.

Supposedly that's a common problem, but I wonder if it's possible to find reproduction parts for something like that?

I really could go for a car like that, either a '75 or '76 Electra. Although I also love the '75 LeSabre convertible. I guess one of those would really be a better bet, and more fun per $.

andre1969

Here's a '76 wagon that's positively yummy! :shades: I can't remember the last time I've seen an Electra wagon of this generation.

This '76 Park Avenue 4-door is pretty interesting, too. I've never seen one with bucket seats and a console before! I wonder if those are left over Talisman parts or something?

fintail

That wagon looks outstanding. I'll even admit that I like it.

fintail

Nice deco Pierce...funny how quickly things evolved back then, by the time 1941 rolled around this car would have looked obsolete...but today many 10 year old designs look fine

I don't think ebay is the proper venue for such machinery....fun to look at though

Shifty-mobile

Seldom seen marque...I think I read about this as well in Automobile Quarterly as a kid

Big money, small car

For the pimp in all of us...and it ends up in Berlin

FoMoCo pimp

They all end up on ebay

Nice DeSoto

This pretty unit from last week got some healthy bids

Neat decked out DS

Pretty ponton in my fintails color

This can't be common

stickguy

OUtside Don Pablos (on a cold night), an odd place to see it.

a 1970ish Dodge Dart Swinger, orange with black racing and bumble bee stripes, nostril hood. COuldn't see the tranny, since the front seat was tilted forward (they go at an angle, a neat idea), and no engine badging. Had the typical rallye wheels.

looked brand new, obviously well loved. Seemed smaller than I remembered( or maybe just lower), but I would love one with a 340 and 4 speed.

imidazol97

My thoughts were that the electra 225 was the luxury version. I can see some collector having a car with a great start for a restore.

I found another guy in the scout troop restores cars. He had a 66 Chev 2 dr htp that he restored down to bare body and back. If it had had the 348? cu in motor it would be worth $80,000. He has a 396 with 348 manifold and tripower on it!!! Even has Cragars. Talk about good old days. I liked those chrome wheels. He has the original spinner hubcaps for it.

That's why the newspaper ad caught my eye. I actually was looking for Buick pricing, but had found the collectible classifieds first.

gsemike

He had a 66 Chev 2 dr htp that he restored down to bare body and back. If it had had the 348? cu in motor it would be worth $80,000

80 grand for a Chevy II????? I don't think that's possible. That would be good money for a 57.

imidazol97

"2" is the number of doors.

kyfdx

1st generation Camry.. ('84?).. The five-door hatchback model... Really angular..

jlawrence01

Regarding the Messerschmidt, I got a note from my friend:

Just so you know its been a " Not hit the reserve " for at least four times now but this time it's just a little higher. Its amazing a car with a non-original paint color can
bring that type of money!!!

Or as I put it "Hope springs eternal."

andre1969

I had to consult my history book to be sure, but by 1975-76, all of the Electras were called Electra 225. Actually, now that I look back, all Electras from 1962-1980 were Electra 225's. It was just your typical Detroit name-game. In 1959-61 there was the base Electra and upscale Electra 225, but from '62-73 the lineup was, technically, Electra 225 and Electra 225 Custom. In 1974 there was 225, 225 Custom, and 225 Limited. Then in '75-77 it was back to two series, Custom and Limited. In '78-79 there was the base, Limited, and Park Avenue.

They dropped the 225 from the Electra name for 1981. I guess they realized by then it didn't mean anything. Originally it denoted the car's length, but by '71-76 they were a lot longer than 225 inches! Although the '72-73 did have 225 hp standard. Then the '77-84 were shorter, only around 221 inches.

Now that I read into it, I'm a bit disappointed...I'd always thought that the "225" had more significance. Not quite so special when basically ALL of them were 225's!

ghulet

...IIRC began as a trim option in '67 (initially only on the four-door hardtop), consisting of apparently real walnut trim, fancier brocade cloth upholstery (or specific-patterned vinyl) and map pockets on front seatbacks. Strangely, though most were so equipped, things like power windows and seats weren't technically standard until around 1975.

andre1969

that I've seen with crank windows was a nicely preserved '72 hardtop coupe that I used to see regularly at local car shows. Haven't seen it in awhile, though. I wonder if it eventually got to the point though, that while technically an option, the factory just built out all the cars with power windows, so it was a forced option?

It's strange how some cars back then could be equipped, though. I've heard that my '79 New Yorker, even the pricey 5th Avenue Edition, still had air conditioning as an option! :surprise: I just can't imagine someone buying a car like this, blowing an additional $1500 or so for the 5th Ave package, and not wanting air conditioning!

Yesterday surfing on the internet, I found an '84 Cutlass Supreme for sale, with leather seats (that must've been incredibly rare for a car like that at the time), but crank windows!

imidazol97

Thanks for these picks from Ebay. I always look forward to them when I see the post.

The Mercedes by the lake is beautiful! The scenery helps too, but it's a beautiful car.

The DeSoto convertible is a rare one in my memory! The DeSoto hardtops were around the area I grew up. But convertibles in Chrysler and DeSoto were rare if any.

andre1969

DeSoto only made something like 1100 Firedome convertibles, and about the same number of Fireflites. The Adventurer convertible only saw around 350 copies. They wouldn't come out with a Firesweep convertible until 1958, and sales of DeSoto were so low that year that convertibles were ultra rare. I think 700 Firesweeps, around 596 Firedomes, 484 Fireflites, and a mere 82 Adventurers.

Oddly, that '57 eBay Fireflite convertible appears to have Firedome door panels. Fireflites had integrated armrests and different door handles. I wonder if DeSoto just used the same door trim when it came to convertibles, though?

chuck1959

I agree. I'm going to buy the new M-5 (Miata) based on the looks alone. It looks FAR better than the Sol....sorry Pontiac!

chuck1959

That's before thedays of all the "package" options we have now....you are forced to get something you don't want. Give me all stand alone options anyday.

ghulet

....was a '74 Electra coupe, owned by a friend's mom in junior high, with crank windows. Strangely, there were some years in the '60s that they were standard and some that they were optional, which was also the case with the Olds 98.

lemko

...has a 1967 Cadillac Calais with crank windows. He refers to the car as "the working man's Cadillac."

bhill2

Working man's Cadillac it may be, but any Caddy after about '58 with crank windows is just sad.

ghulet

andre1969

it looks like power windows were a $116 option on the Calais. FWIW, there was about a $400 price difference between a Calais and a DeVille, so by the time you optioned up a Calais to be equivalent, the Deville was probably cheaper! BTW, if anyone's interested, here's a website put together by a guy who seems to live and breathe Cadillacs. http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/ Lots of great info and details here.

andys120

I saw an actual "Chrysler TC by Maserati" parked in Manchester today, in very nice condition, pale yellow in color. I'd forgotten about the portholes in the hardtop (ala '56-'57 Tbird) with
the Maserati Trident in them.

Can't remember when I last saw one.

andre1969

since I've seen a TC on the road, but at the Mopar Carlisle show, there's usually around 15-20 of them. Enough, in fact, that they have their own club and class on the show field! I've heard they're a pretty hard sell. A friend of mine has one in burgundy, and it's got the Maserati head and the 5-speed, which is supposed to be "THE" combination to have if you want one of these. She tried to sell it in 2004 at the Mopar show, and still had it in 2005. I don't know if she still has it or not, though. And she wasn't asking an arm and a leg, either. I forget how she had it priced, but it seemed fair.

andys120

I don't think they have much traction among collectors. Performance is no better than a LeBaron and the styling isn't anything special.
As much as I'd love to have a Maserati, this isn't really much of a Maserati, is it?

kyfdx

Sitting at a red light... up ahead of me, in the turn lane was a Mitsubishi 3000GT.. nothing really obscure there..

But, as he pulled away, right across the back bumper in 8" high letters...

STUDENT DRIVER

Sure enough.. a commercial driver instruction car.. :surprise:

bumpy

If I'm ever ordered by the court to go back to driving school, I hope it's that one.

Mr_Shiftright

Karl Brauer's blog has some interesting ideas on new "retro" versions of older cars we all like or find interesting---one for BMW, one for Saab.

Go keep him company and post a comment or two if you get a chance.

http://blogs.edmunds.com/karl/

lemko

...yesterday going south on US 1 toward Maryland: a black 1955 Chevrolet 210 two-door sedan, a red 1932 Ford roadster hotrod, and a green Ford Model A pickup truck.

fintail

Today in the driving cold rain and mindless traffic I saw a pretty red Porsche 356, and a 72 T-Bird in really nice condition

fintail

I know these were trendy in England during the 20s...it belongs there

Hahahahaha

There was a time when GM could put a new front end on an existing car and it worked

I have to wonder what's the point, but I guess it's kind of funny

Another nice low mileage DeSoto

I don't know how "Luxus" it is, but I have always kind of liked brocade cloth

Big pimpin

This seller has some interesting old heaps

You can't argue with a gear selector like that

A supposed 100K restoration (yeah right) and the tires are horribly wrong. Nice attention to detail

Shame this is so far gone....sink a mere 25-30K into it and you might have a 10K car. But I still like it

Rare fintail part....maybe a handful of people in the world would care

I must be missing something...surely it's nice, but come on

Very pretty survivor

An almost new very big car

One for Andre...it needs rallye wheels or equivalents

Those skirts are just odd somehow

Mr_Shiftright

Mercedes 190Dc Automatic -- well gee, why not bring along a magazine to read while entering the freeway on-ramp? Look at that bidding. Are they shills, or is the fintail diesel the next muscle car craze?!! :P

INTERESTING OLD HEAPS -- you can see that the smart money is on the '49 Packard Woody and the '53 Skylark convertible and the dumb money is on the '58 Cadillac Brougham convertible. The Cadillac is worth half as much as the other two cars but already the bidding is way too much for the car in its deplorable state. The buyer will never come out alive on that one, but the woody bidder might when all is said and done, and the '53 Skylark is easily worth DOUBLE the Cadillac. I wish people would check the market before throwing $20,000 into the wood chipper.

57 Chrysler -- a real survivor that looks to be in fine shape, but not a very attractive car. Kind of loony tunes but some people like that sort of thing. No wonder they fired Virgil Exner's butt. How can a 55 & 56 look so good and this one look so grossly proportioned? VALUE? I'll guess it will be bid to $12,000. Over that is all blue sky and gossamer dreams. On the plus side, these cars handled well for their day, on the minus side, they rust as well as a Fiat ever did.

andre1969

Love the '57 Imperial except for one little detail...the single headlights. I wonder how hard it would be to convert it to the optional quad headlight setup? The '57 DeSoto Firesweep has the same problem...just something about those big single headlights makes me think of an owl. Now you couldn't get quads on a '57 Firesweep but you could in '58, so I'm sure it could be retrofitted. Incorrect if you're going for originality, but I think it would be an improvement.

Even on the big '57 DeSotos and Chryslers, I just think they looked SOOOO much better with quad headlights. When I was talking on the phone to the seller of the '57 Firedome I bought, the first question I asked him was whether it had single or quad headlights!

Love the '76 Delta! That blue velour interior looks so inviting and comfy. I like the two LeManses as well, although yeah, that blue '75 is just screaming for some Rallyes and the red '73 needs to lose the skirts. If my '76 had had skirts on it, I think the first thing I would've done was ditch them!

fintail

Now that I think about it, my old MB specialist got around 12K for his pristine 110 diesel, and it wwas show quality. It sold on ebay to a local buyer who was very happy. Funny how with fintails the lowest models seem to be the most sought after. I'd rather have a mint 220SE or 300SE than a 190D. It must be maintenance costs....but driving pleasure outweighs the costs. My 220SE performs like a modern car.

I'd think a quad light conversion on that Imperial would be pretty simple so long as the fender is the same. Of course, locating the parts almost 50 years later might be a chore.

lemmer

I saw someone driving a Sunbeam Alpine in some little town in Georgia, and I saw a dookie brown Citroen 2CV in Orlando.

prosa

I bought an Alliance back in 1987 and owned it for about five years. Alliances never got much respect at the time, but mine was a nice little car that handled well, needed minimal service and was surprisingly roomy on the inside. They seem just about extinct today, however; it's been months since I've last seen one on the road (and years since I've last seen an Encore, the hatchback version).

andre1969

my great-uncle from California came out to visit, and the rental car he got was an Alliance. This was back when they were new and before people knew how troublesome they were. He was impressed with it for the time he had it.

Seems like back in the 80's, Renault commercials were all over the place on tv, with phrases like "Now more than ever, Renault is the one to watch!" But, a sign of the times I guess, I remember one commercial that was touting zero percent financing on them, and this was way back, before I would've even known what that meant!

toomanyfumes

:lemon: Bought an Alliance new in 1984. It wasn't a bad driving car, although it was slow. Unfortunately, In the year and a half he had it, it went through two sets of rear brakes, and the transmission crapped out. Even with that stuff fixed, he had a hard time finding a dealer that would take it in trade, and it only had about 14,000 miles on it.