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

kyfdx

Nice car.... I remember my uncle's secretary had one.. Isn't it a Tercel, though? Funny that they don't mention the model name anywhere in the ad..

geez louise.... when was the last time you heard anyone actually say that?

gsemike

I saw two Isuzu Axioms yesterday and one Ascender. The Ascender is new but I think it already qualifies as a rare car.

I always thought that the Axioms were nice looking and I think that they were Isuzu's last attempt at anything that wasn't a GM rebadge. Were Axioms decent cars? Could a used one be a good value now?

fintail

What a coincidence, just the other day on Seattle CL

And another popped up too

I remember when those were new...I lived in an area that got a bit of snow, and they were fairly popular in my town. I remember a teacher I had in 3rd grade (who I hated) had one. I liked the Civic 4x4 a little more, somehow.

ghulet

...have the 'regular' Tercel engine? My brother had an '84 Tercel briefly, a real dog even with the 5-speed, I can't imagine it with an automatic.

Mr_Shiftright

Yep, plain ol' Tercel engine...was it a "3AG" or something like that?

It's not too bad with a 5 speed but it is a typically cheesy 80s Japanese car in terms of materials they used on it...the finest tinfoil and cardboard...but a pretty durable car drivetrain-wise. Good in snow, too as long as ground clearance is not an issue. Not an "off-road" vehicle, no, no.

fintail

No upside but kinda neat...also the worlds rustiest Packard in the background

Elegant, healthy bidding

The colors suit it

Another kind of Seville

Price reflects demand

I admire the preservation, but please change those hubcaps

People want this

"Palm Beach"

"One of a kind" - I sure hope so

Seems nice, but I don't know about that shade of blue

Very sad

Best color for a W111

Lovely looking W110

Nice 'Luxury Sedan'

This is kinda pretty

Nice big battleship coupe

<a href=

<a href=

<a href=

<a href=

Mr_Shiftright

Chrysler 300C coupe -- with a top end price of maybe $40,000, I don't see how one could restore this car and not take a brutal beating on it. On the other hand, they only made 1,918 of them that year...which is "rare" but not super rare like the convertibles. A ragtop version of this car, properly restored, should break $100K. I'd suggest buying it as a parts car for cheap and junking the pile of rust formerly called "a body".

62 Rover -- I like this car. Too bad it's a RHD, that just kills the value in America unless that's the only way they made them (like the MGTC). But you could buy this Rover LHD. I'd bid on it if it were LHD and selling cheap. Old Rovers are rather dull, middle class cars, so don't expect sport or luxury. It's more like an MG Magnette than anything else I think, or a Peugeot 403.

76 Pacer -- I'll guess we'll find out what a Pacer is REALLY worth...could it make it to $3,500? $5,000? Has the world gone mad?

andys120

The only thing sillier than wire wheel covers on an old Pacer is saving one in the first place. :P

andys120

a completely absurd asking price>>

I wouldn't pay $40, let alone $4000!

kyfdx

A '74 or '75 Pontiac Catalina Safari wagon.. Definitely a top of the line model.. A little rust in the front doors and quarter panels, but dent-free...In a gold/tan color.. Couple of mid-20-somthing guys driving it, and definitely loving it.. Reminds me of the Chevy Chase Vacation movie...

The other one I didn't get real good look at.. .but, I think it was the Mercury version of an early-60s Ford Falcon... in Black/Red.... pretty cool..

fintail

Someone wants $4K for that sorry old Pontiac? I see some people still find quality crack.

Funny about that Mercury...last night I met a friend at a fairly upscale local hotel. While waiting for him I observed the valet parking area - 3 cars came though. A current 7er, an 07 Escalade, and a 63 Mercury Comet convertible...well, it drove through and didn't seek valet attention.

fintail

Here's a nice one. Earlier today I stopped and took a walk in a park, and when I got back an old man came up to talk to me about the fintail...he has a 190SL he bought new and once had a fintail too. It was pretty interesting. And then this thing pulls up and parks beside me. I thought the cars looked good together. This little roadster looked pretty unrestored too...the seats had age, the paint was certainy old, and the chrome was more dull than that on my fintail. Still, a neat pair from the same point in time, both carrying patina. Cellphone pics, but you get the point:

andys120

That's a classic pair Fintail.

I can't tell from your photo if the Porsche is a Speedster or a Convertible D.
Both are getting so rare that I always assume that as with Cobras, if I see one it's 99% sure to be a fake but you've obviously stumbled on a real one, very cool!. I suspect Convertible Ds are even rarer than Speedsters, there's replicas
of those around too.

fintail

I like to think it was a Speedster (I think they were called 'Roadster' by then right?) rather than a convertible - it just seemed smaller. I don't know if that's what distinguishes them though. But anyway, it was certainly a real car, a very original looking car in "driver" condition. I kind of like old cars like that. It also had 1962 plates on it, so I assume it's from that year.

Mr_Shiftright

No Speedsters in 1962. All Speedsters were stripped down regular 356s....de-contented cars sold at a bargain price....ironically now worth much more than their more lavishly equipped counterparts. But same body, engines, etc.---just a different windshield and other little bits and pieces. Your car looks like a 1961 roadster, registered as a 1962 (common occurrence).

fintail

What's a Roadster like that worth in driver condition?

Today I saw a really good one...I dropped my C43 off for its big service, and as I pulled up the guy who owns the shop pulled up, in a pristine Subaru Brat! Apparently his dad used to be a Subaru dealer, and collects Brats. The one he was driving today was an 85 with 60K on it. It looked new.

michaellno

On Saturday, the wife and I were out tooling around in the town where she works, and ran across something that I never thought I would see...

... a Renault Alliance limo!

This one was black and silver and seemed to be in pretty decent condition. It was parked in front of one of the few restaurants in town.

I cannot imagine why someone would go to the trouble of cutting up and stretching something so odd as a mid-80's Alliance to make what I would suspect to be a cramped limo.

Mr_Shiftright

#3 roadster? Maybe $40---$45,000, if it wasn't all boogered up by somebody.

fintail

So, it probably cost less than the fintail when new, and is now worth maybe 10x as much. Cool. And yeah, I think it was a legit car...it appeared very original and the driver was a respectable looking older guy. He even commented that he once had a 190D fintail.

About that Alliance limo...i saw one on ebay a few weeks back. Why did they make those? A cheapo eoonobox turned into a limo?

stickguy

tooling around at lunch, an original (but not shabby) looking Mercury Monterey convertible. I would guess early 1960s'? Don't think I ever saw one before, certainly can't be too common.

imidazol97

Saw a 1956 Crown Victoria black/white/black in a historic neighborhood. Fit right in with the homes from the 40s and 50s era.

Also saw a Grand LeMans. Might be 1973 based on pictures in wikipedia. Had loud mufflers. No idea if stock motor. Had nice chrome wheels that weren't oversized but were not GM wheels.

bhill2

Early version with small round tail lights. Refrigerator white. Well worn, and being driven by someone who understood what it was for.

kyfdx

I saw a square taillight model today.. (no, not the tii).. '75 or '76 in period orange... Looked almost perfect.... Man, are those bumpers huge!! I bet they stuck out almost a foot in front and back!

Still... great looking example..

fintail

Those awful DOT bumpers are called "park benches" on W116 MB. I can see why.

I saw a really nice 116 today. I think they are actually still depreciating.

ghulet

Don't know what made me check these out, but they're both odd, as Regals go, anyway. First, the loaded one, replete with '60s-style handle shifter and console, and power sunroof (never seen one on a Regal, IIRC). Kind of hard to read, but check out the sticker with ~$3900 in options on top of a ~$4700 base price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1977-Buick-Regal-S-R_W0QQitemZ4633642850QQcategor- - - - - - yZ6141QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Next, the strippo, or at least one with a three-on-the-tree, which I've never seen on a Regal, or much of anything else other than a domestic pickup, circa 1977:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1977-Buick-Regal-with-rare-stick-shift_W0QQitemZ4- - - - - 633960884QQcategoryZ6141QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Other than 'motor sounds great', there's no mention of it at all....could be a 350, or perhaps the 3.8 V6, in one of its earliest years.

andre1969

That loaded blue Regal looks like it would definitely be a keeper for somebody into 70's cars. I always thought it was a good looking style.

That stripper Regal does have the 231 V-6. It's hard to see in the pictures, but if you look reeeaaally close and focus hard, you can see a little badge on the front fender, right behind the marker light. This is the "V-6" badge that, for some reason, Buick seemed really proud to show off. I would think it would be a badge of shame, but I guess in those days, with fuel economy concerns, and the fact that most other 6-cylinder cars this size would've been an inline-6 back then, maybe there was a bit of honor to it?

Also, I think you could only get the 3-on-the-tree with the 6-cyl models. IIRC, if you got a V-8, you were forced to get an automatic, with the exception of the rare sporty model where you could get a 4 on the floor. Those may have been gone by '77 though.

chuck1959

I am not sure about this....but wasn't the 231 v-6 with 3 on the tree part of the "super saver" or something like that package?

fintail

I saw a really nice medium grey LWB W126 today...all I could tell is that it was a post-1985 car. It had Euro lights and blinkers, Euro side marker lights, and very cool 1980s style AMG wheels. Nice car.

fintail

This afternoon I saw an Unimog *and* a Pinzgauer. Weird

lemko

...nice light green 1979 Cadillac Sedan DeVille with a dark green top.

andys120

I stopped at a highway rest stop to make some notes and when I looked up from them I found myself parked next to a black Citroen DS-23

Tres cool!

fintail

Last night I saw some kind of old ca. 1970 Porsche Targa...I don't know what model it was, but I don't think it was a good one...it sounded like a 1971 VW transporter pulling an 80% grade.

Mr_Shiftright

Probably a 912 targa--dinky little four cylinder out of the earlier 356 model. A wheezy 90 HP at best.

fintail

Today I saw a red C36 or C43...I couldn't tell which as it was some distance away, but I could tell from how it was sitting that it was an AMG car. It looked very nice, from that distance.

Then on the way home some high school-age looking kid in a TL looked over my car as we were stopped at a light and gave me a thumbs up...not something most late 90s cars can garner.

fintail

This is getting some interest

Something you don't see every day

Canada can import cool stuff...the US gets...more dumpy SUVs!

I always kinda liked these in wagon form, although I'd want a nicer one than this

Can't be many left like this

Fixer-upper

I'd drive this

The Bradys should have had one

And its younger brother

Hey Andre...

Worst color for something like this

"Sports Wagon"

For the downsized pimp

I've never seen one of these like this

Nice early downsizer

Quite cool, quite pricey

No ebay time next week, I'll be away

prosa

The seller of the Toyota Tiara certainly believes in full disclosure ... rather than merely stating that the car has been in two accidents, he adds the information that they involved a dog and a delivery car full of eggs

fintail

If any car were to be hit by a car full of eggs, it would be that Tiara. Funny car, funny ad.

stickguy

proves that there really aren't any new ideas.

All the hypoe over the Honda Ridgeline offering the in bed trunk, and that Mirage had one in 1976!

andys120

It's my favorite of the letter cars. The fins were proportioned very nicely in '56, much nicer than the little chrome fins of '55 (C-300) or the larger really exaggerated fins of '57 and later cars.

I assume with the general rise of interest in Hemi-power the "Letter Cars" prices are skyrocketing, after all the 300s were the greatest of all Hemis at least IMO.

Mr_Shiftright

some of the later "letter cars" are bogus so buyers are falling for that. It's the early ones they want.

chuck1959

Can't be many left like this

No there's not. It's funny back in the 70's you would AMC EVERYWHERE now you don't see ANY! I know why...I was just making an observation.

The Bradys should have had one

Actually I am surprised they didn't. I mean he was an arichetetic .

"Sports Wagon"

Yeah those were so cool also. In 1979 I saw A Caddy wagon on a Cadillac dealer showroom. Of course based on the current full-size C-P-O-B wagon

I've never seen one of these like this.

I never heard some were re painted due to "not selling well" IRC Didn't any and all the Pace cars sell out as soon as the dealers got them?

Hey Andre

OMG that makes me miss my 1979 New Yorker 5th Avenue

explorerx4

a restored early 50's beige ford pickup.
a purple dodge challenger with a black vinyl top.
a 70's stingray with 2 chrome 4 barrels sticking out of a hole in the hood.
a '68 or so dark green roadrunner with little dog dish hub caps.
a red austin healey that had been backed out of a garage around the corner.
a 90's yellow mr2. the driver was getting a lesson on driving a standard transmission.
it was a sunny warm day.

british_rover

Hey did you go to the classic car show in Simsbury commons today?

It was right in front of Bertucchis.

fintail

Today's most unusual non-new car sighting today here was a Rolls from ca. 1996, one of the last of the old Spirit/Spur type before the Seraph took over. It was black.

lemko

Per the AMC - it must be the best one in existance.

I'd take either the 1973 or 1977 Chrysler Town and Country wagons over any modern SUV

Per the red 1977 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight - I had a light yellow 1979 model.

fintail

I'd rather look at one of those old trucksters than most SUVs.

See the plate on that 59 Pontiac? "59 SUV"

explorerx4

i didn't know about it. maybe that's where all those cars were going to or returning from.
did you go?
i'll be putting the insurance back on the 'stang soon.

british_rover

I had planned to go but by the time I convinced the wife to go, she hates going to car shows in general unless it is new cars, the show had already ended and there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot.

chuck1959

I saw a very clean and restored 1973 Datsun 240Z today. To bad the front end was UNDER a late model Silverado! I swear the owner was crying!!!

british_rover

oohh that is painful.

Was it a rear ending accident or did it look like it was the Chevy driver's fault.

I would be crying if tha that happend.