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

prosa

Spotted two Chevy SSR's today, within a few blocks of one another and about six hours apart (they weren't the same vehicle). Seeing one of the automotive oddities is unusual enough, two on the same day is quite a catch.

jaserb

Worse yet, Acura also sold Isuzu Troopers rebadged as the Acura SLX. Talk about eroding brand equity.

-Jason

prosa

Dodge Aspen -- despite the low mileage and the 318 V8, I just don't get this price being bid. There's no justification for it and I've never seen another sell for that. Oh, well, another eBay maniac bites the dust.

What's the old saying? A fool and his money are soon parted.

Mr_Shiftright

It's a $2,500 car until the cows come home.

kyfdx

Pontiac Astre (is that right? the Vega twin) wagon.. In the middle of restoration, evidently... in full primer..

andre1969

for the Aspen/Volare than most of y'all on this board, but even I think it's too much! FWIW, I've seen Aspen/Volare's go for $6000 and even more plenty of times! After all, that's about what a nice one would've gone for back when they were new! :P And the way prices shot up back then with inflation, even not-so-nice ones were more than that by 1980. :sick:

Also, it's kinda interesting the way times have changed...that Aspen is longer than a current Magnum, yet when it came out for '76 it was considered the return of the compact wagon. Something that had been missing from Detroit for years, with the exception of those little Hornet Sportabouts, which didn't have a true wagon tailgate.

Mr_Shiftright

it's not a respect thing to say it's worth $2,500, it's just the economic reality of that age old formula of "supply and demand" setting the value.

fintail

I'd say it could be worth 3K without much hassle with wagons being popular right now. But 6K does seem steep for a fairly unloved car, unless to an all-out mopar or 70s nostalgia nut.

jlawrence01

The three or four people who I know who have an Amphicar say that that purchase was the worst they made. AND one stated that the you NEVER buy one on Ebay!

Mr_Shiftright

It's a totally silly purchase, but then one could argue that it's no more silly than other vehicles we could name. It's really about "having what no one else has" or perhaps having more money than one knows what to do with.

mazda6iguy

At a local Chrysler dealer used car lot, a 1989 Dodge Dynasty in White. Quite a specimen too! It looked like the previous owner stored it away in their garage during the winters. The window sticker said it had 70k miles on it. They were asking $2500.00

fintail

German version of that Aspen wagon, price and all

Maybe there's a new trend for a price explosion in unloved 70s wagons. Yeah, that's it.

ghulet

Those Dashers, er Passats, were kinda fun to drive, when they ran, but 5000 Euro?

ghulet

I saw a really ratty (picture daily driver condition in, say, 1979) '67 Caprice four-door hardtop, gold with black vinyl top, same combo as the one owned by my aunt, then given to my uncle on his 16th birthday (I'll let you guess how long that car survived). Not a straight panel on that thing (I mean the one I saw yesterday). Hmmm, maybe it was the same car...?

chuck1959

Back then weren't those called "Dasher". As I recall they were a piece of crap! IMO, of course

andys120

It was common in those days for VW of America to rename models for sale over here thus:
Golf=Rabbit and Passat=Dasher.

lemko

...nice black 1963 Plymouth Belvedere sedan with a red interior. It was driven by a little old lady with orange-red Ronald McDonald hair - probably the original owner.

fintail

Today on a couple hundred mile I-5 drive I spotted a very original looking red and white 61 Pontiac 4 door hardtop driven by an older woman, and an oddball c.80 Olds 98 2-door. I can't recall the last time I saw the 2 door model. It was kind of like the 88 2-door but the back side window was smaller.

kyfdx

I don't know..early '90s?

The license plate caught my eye..

PAIID 4

fljoslin

I saw what I thought was a mid-late 70's Datsun, but after it went by I saw that it was an Opel. Not exactly sure what! In Spokane at 10F!

themoon77

Approximately '63 Buick Lesabre for sale, black, very nice condition in and out, for $6500. Unusual styling on that one, but still neat.

fintail

But I did spot this beauty

Mr_Shiftright

amazing condition but an unfortunate color, and what looks to be a really bad paint job. What did they polish it with---steel wool? Might be worth sending an inspector to check out that paint work.

Gee, steering wheel isn't cracked nor dashpad.

andys120

I wonder how a car gets only 35K in forty one years. It must've sat for a very long time. I don't have any problem with that color, it's what they call "period correct" and seems very appropriate for the car.

The paint looks like it could just use a good compounding.

fintail

Yeah the paint quality looks awful, but the color is correct, I've seen another fintail in that same color. Maybe it just needs a good cut 'n polish. Great interior though...I have to suspect that car will see its way back to Europe...

Mr_Shiftright

It may be correct but it is a very unflattering color for this car. I don't think you can do too much with that paint because it was obviously painted by somebody who used a broom or a vacuum cleaner :P . Europeans would hate that color BTW I think. And at $1,500 for shipping, plus taxes, etc., seems hardly worth the trouble.

Someone here should buy it for $5,000 and repaint it properly, maybe put a dark brown roof on it and dress the wheels.

I'm very skeptical about the mileage, too, but who knows?
Something that needs some detective work.

Bidding looks strong, though---should been kinda topped out already at $4,400 with the bad paint but it's a free country, so.....

fintail

I've seen several mint fintails at over EUR 10000 back home, so it could be worthy to ship a (supposedly) rust free one from the states rather than a repaired local car, especially as the differences between NA and Euro models are very minor.

I like the two tone idea.

Maybe the cars are slowly coming into their own...at least as much as pontons anyway.

Mr_Shiftright

Well this car is about 10000 Euros away from "mint" so shipping makes no sense (to me). Aside from the fact that a German collector would want top notch paint, he'd have to fork up for shipping, port fees, taxes and a rigorous safety inspections that most old cars in the U.S. would fail miserably I'm afraid.

But let's see if the buyer is European or not.

fintail

5-6 grand is all I would realistically expect the car to make...but I could see a European paying that much and shipping it back. I'll say without much hesitation that you won't find a genuinely solid 6cyl fintail in Europe for 5K anymore. I think it all depends on how genuine the car really is. I notice the old documents on the car are from New Jersey...I don't think thats a good thing.

But when I got my fintail, even those prices were unheard of it seems...beats depreciation.

bhill2

I always thought that the performance of these cars would be kind of unfortunate with an automatic. Am I right?

andre1969

doesn't bother me so much with its color, probably because that looks pretty close to the color of my old '69 Dart GT. But then my Dart had a black interior and a black aluminum strip down the beltline to give it more contrast. Originally it also had a black vinyl roof, but I pulled it off and just went with the monotone look. Oh, and it had a black aluminum panel on the decklid between the taillights which looked really cool.

Still, I think that fintail wears that color pretty well. Probably better than most cars.

fintail

It's no dragster, but it is not bad, fully competent for the time. My fintail is an auto, but it is an SE (injected), so it has a little extra oomph. 0-60 will run around 12 secs on S and SE cars I think...and for good performance, you really have to rev it up, it's like the period equivalent of a little 4cyl Japanese engine. It likes to rev and is perfectly safe to do so, but many owners don't. These cars were used extensively in competition, they can peform.

The floor shift manual cars are uncommon, and I'd rather have an auto than a 4 on the tree. There have long been rumors of late 300SE fintails equipped with a ZF 5 speed, but I don't know if any have surfaced.

andys120

i've seen documentaries on rallying in the early 60s and Fintails were well represented at the Mote Carlo, Sofia-Liege, Solitude and other name rallies of the era.

151ranch

An Infiniti M30. Never knew Infiniti had made a coupe. It was that beige-like color that was so popular on the early Qs.
:P

chuck1959

They made a convertible version also.

fintail

The fintail was 1-2-3 at Monte Carlo in 1960...I don't know if that has ever been repeated

Mr_Shiftright

a 220SE was the winner. It must have been Benz's lucky year indeed!..they never won before (since 1911), and never won afterwards (to 2005). Nowadays Citroen dominates in an obscure car (to us) called a Citroën Xsara WRC.

fintail

I once considered getting some different steel wheels and a few other add ons and making my car look like a rally car. But those also had lower line bumpers, so it seemed like too much work.

I think if anything the 1960 results show how advanced the 220SE fintail was.

Mr_Shiftright

I think a fintail car looks best when decorated and painted conservatively.

fintail

A nice light blue works well

The fintail's offspring - it's overpriced but the work the guy lists is quite minor - a couple hundred bucks (and if there is no rust). And it's nice looking, even though that's not "leather"

ghulet

...for an earlier S-class sedan of that ilk, especially a non-injected (lower line) model, to have electric windows, no?

I recently saw a '71 280SE convertible with manual windows, which I thought had electric windows as standard.

It seems about 90% of pre-90s Mercedes owners advertise their cars as having 'leather', even if the reality is closer to 50% that are so equipped.

imidazol97

I saw a 1952 Chev 4 dr sedan in behind a home in the neighborhood we're visiting friends. Also saw a 1955 Ford medium blue bottom lighter blue top parked in a barn or leanto with a couple of other older cars.

Mr_Shiftright

MUCHO overpriced. If somebody offered him $2,500 he should take it.

Mr_Shiftright

Chevy steel wagon of that vintage is one of my dream cars actually.

fintail

Yeah that price sounds right. They are such a timeless design in my eyes though, very pleasing.

I've noticed the door bottoms look discolored....that's almost always a sign of rust, too. And those carbs...no thanks.

I think the 108s were the first to get power windows en masse, undoubtedly to cater to the US market. And as far as I know a 280SE should indeed have power front windows anyway...I can't recall if it did in back or not. But if the car was a hack job from a 111 coupe, it might not

The leather thing is something I have noticed too. I think MB-tex is really just that good. It lasts and lasts yet doesn't feel horrible.

Mr_Shiftright

MB TEX is great stuff. Biggest problem is that the seats collapse with age.

andys120

While waiting at the car wash I saw a Fly Yellow Ferrari
360 Modena Coupe and a Chrysler Crossfire convertible in a kind of pale yellow. I think I've seen more 360Ms than Crossfire ragtops so they're both pretty obscure.

Yellow works better on some cars than others.

Mr_Shiftright

An Edsel convertible in a pouring rainstorm---that couldn't have been fun. Couldn't tell the year from my handy "Edsel profile spotting chart" :P but Edsel convertibles are rare birds.

andre1969

Shifty, were you able to get a good look at the front or back of the Edsel? The '58 had its headlights above the grille, while in '59 they were level with the grille. From the rear, both the '58 and '59 have kind of a "gull-wing" thing going on with the rear deck, kinda like a '59 Chevy, but on the '58 the taillights were at the top, actually in the "wing", while the '59 taillights were lower on the back, and had three lights on each side.

I'm presuming it wasn't a '60, because they only built 76 convertibles that year.

Mr_Shiftright

Ah okay based on what you've told me, I'd say it was a '58 then.