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

explorerx4

next time tell her you're taking her to eat at 'tuccis. there just happens to be a car show when you get there.

andre1969

identify this?

It had an Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 in it, so I was thinking it was some kind of Olds. But I tried Googling various pics of 1930's Oldsmobiles, and couldn't find anything that looked like it. Also, it looked kinda small to me, more like about the size I'd expect a Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth from that era to be.

This was at a local cruise-in/car show that took place this evening. There was another Olds-powered custom job there...a 1936 Chrysler buisiness coupe! It was actually kinda refreshing to see a hotrod that DIDN'T use a Ford or Chevy smallblock! :P

fintail

Looks like a heavily modified '36 Ford to me.

ghulet

For some reason, if I'm sitting at a particular place at the bar I used to work at, I see tons of cars (insert 'hallucinatory' jokes here), including most recently:

'60-ish Falcon Ranchero, very nice, white, I think somewhat lowered
Light Ivory MB 450SEL w/correct bundt alloys, a big banana
Beautiful dark-green 'pagoda' MB SL, with incredibly irritating incorrect (right)-side trunk insignias; this is my biggest pet peeve with repainted Benzes
LWB W140 Mercedes-Benz S320 sedan (I think kinda rare, I like the 6-cylinder LWB combo, or at least the notion of same; owned by auto repair shop across from bar, natch!)
'87-ish BMW 535i, black w/tan leather, pristine
ratty '87 SAAB 900SPG (black with gray lower trim), I love these, too bad they're so labor-intensive
'85 (only year offered) SAAB 900 turbo four-door, in my favorite combo, Rose Quartz with burgandy inside, non-running, neglected with impending-tow sticker, of course
'86 or '87 Honda Civic sedan, unfortunately automatic, in great shape, similar to the car in which I learned to drive stick. My favorite of everything-you-need-nothing-you-don't cars of the era. Small, roomy, efficient.
Lastly, almost twins...a Pontiac Bonneville Model G (these were SO dull) sedan (so '85-87?), in requisite gray, and a much more attractive if gaudy two-tone burgandy, earlier ('78 or '79) Grand LeMans sedan.

stickguy

Karman Ghia convertible. Look in good shape, somewhat modified (almost "hot rodded"). Even had a nifty 4 -> 1 upswept exhaust sticking out the back, like a dune buggy.

chuck1959

Not sure. But probably not the Chevy driver's fault considering he was sitting at a red light.

lemko

...a 1984 Toyota Cressida in a beige/gold two-tone.

ghulet

this looks like a pretty good deal, and even has the unusual Olds factory (mag? alloy?) wheels:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/car/156691090.html

fintail

I went out to lunch today, and spotted this old beauty in the parking lot.





It might have been repainted, but was otherwise very original...the interior was original and under those old plastic seat covers. It was a two tone blue and white, kind of an aqua. Very pretty.

Also, as we were leaving, I spotted a rat-rod '35 Ford 3 window, a 69 Toronado, a ratty 66 Belair, and a sad looking W116.

And that Olds does seem like a decent deal

imidazol97

Beautiful car!

andre1969

is kinda purty. I wonder if it has a 350 or 455?

ljay2

That's my dream car! (Both of them!) What would it cost in Canada, in American dollars?

Back in the pack, I recently saw a Mercedes S-600 and an S-55 AMG, both black, following each other on the Santa Monica Freeway (where else?). They were "only" the 2006 model, but they looked fine. :shades: I'd take the smooth 600 over the racy 55.

fintail

I don't know what a nice Mk II Continental like that is worth...maybe 20K US? I seem to recall them being fairly inexpensive compared to their original price, and rarity.

S600 = depreciation mobile. There's a local lot here with a CL600, 2002, 28K miles, for 43K. That's like 80K less than new! I somehow like the odd wheels on the S600 though.

Mr_Shiftright

MK II - a very VERY hard sell. Yeah, $20K sounds about right for a clean driver.

kyfdx

1) A yellow Gremlin.. In really great shape.. a base car with dogdish hubcaps...

2) '69 Camaro convertible Indy pace car (or clone).. White with orange stripes.

3) '69-'71 Corvette coupe... that orangey red color... almost perfect

4) Old mid '70s Beetle with the '49 Ford front-end.. again, almost like new.

5) Buick Grand National... uh.. it was black.. :surprise:

andys120

-Volkswagen Beetle ca. 1965, looked exactly like my red Bug when I got it the summmer of 1965.

-2 Myers Manx dune buggies.

chuck1959

I saw a fire engine red '74 MG Midget. The first one I have seen years! Looked perfect.

Mr_Shiftright

fun cheap car. '74 was the last good year.

explorerx4

2 red australian capri convertibles.
a beautiful 70's orange challenger and blue barracuda.
on speed channel the other night, they had a show testing those 70's muscle cars. no wonder those chrysler pony cars didn't sell. they looked good. other than that, 'fugget aboud it'. have to admit, the market loves them today.

andys120

-a black Jaguar XK-120 DHC w skirted rear wheels
in fabulous condition.

-a flatbed mounted orange Porsche 914/4 in good condition, I thought it might be a race car but it wasn't wearing numbers and the wheels looked street.

gsemike

I spotted a 64 Vette and very clean driver condition. I'd say that it's a show car but not a show winner.

I also saw a Plymouth Prowler. The guy was trying to speed around but it just wasn't doing too much. Since it was being driven agressively, it was pretty unimpressive.

british_rover

wheelbase.

It is in our showroom and I will get some pictures on my carspace site a little later.

lemko

...nice orange 1969 Chevrolet El Camino with a black top pulling a trailer carrying a 1933 Willys street rod.

fintail

I saw a few goodies over the weekend...Hillman Minx, a really nice 66 Impala sedan, a sharp boattail Riviera on unfortunate wire wheels, a MG Midget at a yard sale that had been off the road for 20 years, a showroom looking 81-84 Dodge/Mitsu Colt driven by an old man, a ratty 58 Chevy 2 door post, a really mint looking 86-87 XJ6, and the coolest of all, an Austin A40/Devon pickup parked outside a small garage in a little town.

ghulet

Spotted today:

a non-factory purple '71 Olds Cutlass 'S' two-door hardtop, with 22" wire spoke rims

nice, original-looking light yellow '65 Lincoln Continental

'77-79 Mercury Cougar Villager, similar to the Matchbox version, only darker green

explorerx4

red over white ford fairlane with a continental kit.

fintail

I saw a beautiful looking 560SEL today, in a rare color, kind of a dark red/maroon (maybe "almadine red". It actually looked pretty classy on this well kept car.

british_rover

Phots of our 1956 Series II Land Rover onto my car space site if anyone would like to see.

http://www.carspace.com/british_rover

lemko

...semi-rough 1965-66 Mustang hardtop coupe.

kyfdx

That Land Rover is very cool...

Mr_Shiftright

Looks great. When Rover was a "land rover" instead of a mall crawler. I'd like to have one of those.

british_rover

Its for sale hint hint.

I would like one to although I think I would like a long wheel base station wagon or a short wheel base soft top model.

That thing drives like a tank. If you drove it a couple days a week for a while your left leg would get bulked up from using the clutch.

It does have a manual overdrive selector and that winch is PTO powered with another PTO drive shaft that runs out the back for running equipment.

The PTO driveshafts aren't installed right now since they had gotten lose in their mountings and were making lots of noise when driving. The owner still has the driveshafts at home but if you wanted new ones installed they would probably have to be fabricated using the old ones as a template.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh I love noisy nasty vehicles. The more they sound like machines, the happier I am.

fintail

So, how much for the old LR? Wincingly expensive, I assume.

Mr_Shiftright

$15K-$20K should be more than enough for it.

british_rover

Yeah you got it about right. We don't actually own that car it is owned by a customer of ours and we are helping him sell it.

We have it listed at 24,000 right now.

fintail

I expected more, given your area

Today's most unusual sight was an old 85-88 Cressida wagon, dark blue as so many were

fintail

This evening I spotted a 420/560SEL on what must have been at least 20" wheels, if not 22"s. Poor old thing.

chuck1959

I had a good day of spotting today. A 2001 or so Rolls Royce Silver Seraph, a 1965 (I think) Datsun 2 seat sports car (don't recall what they called them). 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Here's a great story and I swear it's true. On my way home from work I saw a 1964 Rambler American station wagon sitting in the back of a Toyota dealer (small town just south of Houston, Tx) used car lot. It was ALL original! Get this only 31,000 miles! 3 on the tree, no options, not even A/C, original red paint and black vinyl interior, spotless. It was owned by an 89 y/o man who traded it for a Toyota Corolla :sick: While I was there the old man showed up to get his umbrella he left in the car. I swear when he looked at it tears welled up! So I talked to him, as it turned out his family was on his case for months about not having a newer "safer" car. So he gave in to the pressure and traded it. He told me candidly that they just want to inherit a newer car! He said in his will he is going to donate his Corolla to his church! LOL I felt so bad for him.

fintail

He should have saved it for sunny days/donated it to an AMC club or museum/something like that. I bet the dealership gave him like $100 for it. That is kind of touching...I'll probably be like that in 60 years with my fintail (if we have cars and/or gas then).

chuck1959

The old man wouldn't tell me what the dealer gave him for it.....all he said is that it was a fair deal. I wished I had asked him why he didn't try to sell it or donate it.

merckx

Driving to work,a first generation Monte Carlo passed me. It was white,no vinyl roof,nice burble to the V-8. It looked really sharp and desireable,even though I scoffed at them when new.
right after it came a Honda Insight. Watching that misshapen jelly bean trail the Monte,all I could think is "sigh".

fintail

I'd be curious to know, yeah. A Rambler isn't the hottest commodity, but wagons are gaining in popularity, and in pristine condition, someone would have wanted it.

Mr_Shiftright

It would be a hard sell, but sure, if it were cheap enough. It's not exactly a swell car and has zero curb appeal, but it'd get you around.

fintail

Bad crash

Mr_Shiftright

Interesting that the older the car the worse the injuries, as one might expect. It resembles the way James Dean got killed.

fintail

I never thought of it relating to James Dean...looks like the same type of crash.

I have to wonder how the fintail would fare in such a mess...I think it would do OK. Scary thought, but one that should cross the mind of anyone who has an old car that actually gets driven.

andre1969

ran up under the back of a truck? Or am I thinking of that "Deadman's Curve" movie, where one of the Jan & Dean singers did that? But then in the movie "Crash", they supposedly re-enacted the James Dean crash by running a Porsche head-on into a 1950 or so Ford. So which was it?

Anyway, the dynamics of any given crash probably have more to do with who lives and who dies than any safety equipment the car might have. And the fact that the Corvette ended up UNDER the Mustang speaks volumes on that subject.

About 4 years ago, while on vacation, I saw a pile-up on the interstate involving a tractor trailer, several modern cars, and a '73 or so Cutlass Supreme sedan. The Cutlass hardly had a scratch on it. But that was still more a matter of how the cards fell, so to speak, than any inherent safety/strength advantages of the Cutlass! I mean, it's not THAT Supreme! :P

fintail

He got hit by a 50 or 51 Ford I believe, either he pulled out in front of it at highway speeds, or it pulled out in front of him.

Several years ago there was a 40 car pileup on ice on I5 north of Seattle....all modern cars/trucks and a 59 Buick sedan thrown into the mix. The Buick made it through with just a bent bumper IIRC...but as you say, who knows how the cards fell. It was interesting to see though, and I was glad to see the old car didn't get slaughtered.

Mr_Shiftright

An old car generally can't compete with front and side airbags, deformable front end, collapsible steering wheel, door beams, re-inforced roll cages.....and a Corvette of that era is really, quite frankly, a death trap. I mean, old fiberglass goes up like a puff of smoke. It's just a plastic tub bolted to a steel frame.

But having said all that, there is a certain amount of luck involved, and a '63 Chrysler or '63 Mercedes could use the other car as an energy absorber----but if you hit a tree, you really want to be in a modern car in any case.