Lexus quit making the SC 400 hard top sport coupe in favor of a convertible in 1997 and was the nicest design for any sport coupe. I'm thinking of putting my 1995 on the market. I don't have digital pics to post. Maybe you guys out there know if this out of production machine is worth keeping.
Immaculate. Garage kept, orig. owner, pearlescent white body and beige'n'taupe leather interior, V-8, 42K highway miles. Fully loaded includes front and rear K40 radar detectors and K40 diffusers, Fittipaldi chrome wheels (plus original wheels)with gold center hubs. Nakamichi stereo system. Speedometer goes to 160mph and for that reason, to keep the back on track a whale tail is built into the trunk's design. A real cream puff.
Hahahaha....no, I'm staying for the summer "up the road" to a less toney part of Marin (Fairfax), and it's not as built up as southern Marin so there's more room on the streets and in driveways, and also more of a working class kind of person.
Also riding my bike more (less traffic, fewer hills) so I get to see more stuff lying around. You can't leave a car on the street for very long in most cities in southern Marin, they scoop it right up on you (72 hours) but in west Marin it's funkier (relatively speaking I mean).
If I were in Appalachia I would have noted that none of the cars had wheels.
Also in general you will see lots of old cars on the road in northern California. It is not as uncommon as in some parts of the country, probably due to size of the state and the benign climate.
I'm just guessing, but if it is a true number-match car
It sounds like a sweet ride, but I don't think that they ever did 454s until 1970. Can I hear from the experts? Did Yenko or Baldwin Motion go there before 79?
but weren't most Yenko Camaros 396'es or 402's? I think the 454 was designed with emissions controls somewhat in mind, so it probably isn't quite as brutal as its CID might suggest.
Weren't the Olds/Buick/Pontiac 455's and the Cadillac 500 kinda like that too? While initially they might have still been pretty powerful, but they were designed to work with emissions controls and burn just a tad cleaner, so they weren't always as powerful as some of the previous, slightly smaller mills?
I spotted a '62 Chrysler hardtop behind a fence, at a used car lot. It looked like a 300, but I don't know if it was a Letter Series or not. It was kind of an off-white color, almost like the "cool vanilla" Chrysler uses today. It also had these cheesy wire hubcaps on it, that would probably look more suited to my '79 New Yorker. From what I could tell of it, it looked like it might be in good shape, but I couldn't focus on it too much, because there was alot of traffic.
I've seen it before, but never had a chance to get a good look at it. And I'm NOT stopping off in that area at night and getting out of the car! :surprise:
now that you mention it, I saw an '86-91 era Seville today, too! It was a bit ratty though. Been awhile since I've seen one. They weren't popular when new, which is actually kind of a shame, because I'm sure they were much better performers than those larger bustleback monsters that came before them. I don't think they're a bad looking car, but I guess they were just too diminutive for the time, and just didn't come off as impressive enough. I guess it also didn't help that back then, GM had the Grand Am, Calais, and Somerset Regal sedans which were similarly styled, looked about the same size at a quick glance, yet were probably half the price!
I saw a load of stuff today as there must have been some kind of British car meet locally. On I90 I spotted several MGBs, a few MGAs, a lovely red MGTC, a few Midgets, a couple Austin Healeys, a Bugeye Sprite, a couple E-Types, one of those weird semi-convertible XJS, a 280SL, a ca. 73 Olds convert, a ca. 65 T-Bird, and the grandest of them all was a Bentley S2 Convertible...I was pretty amazed. Most of the cars out were convertibles, which was good in the hellishly hot weather we're experiencing in these parts.
The description for the Chrysler concept says the upholstery uses "unborn baby calfskin hide." I mean, it's probably super soft and everything, but ICK!
the auction on the two tone brown Caddy bustleback is very funny...it took 41 bids to get to $4,300....what, are they bidding a quarter at a time? AND the reserve isn't met yet? Yikes, some people need to sober up.
An NSU spyder for $10,000 asking price?....er....I don't think so....try $5,000, hug ankles of bidder.
I used to have a '57 Pontiac Chieftan. The convertible version of this car can be worth some serious bucks because so few survive.
that Diesel Seville, but wouldn't touch it for fear of that engine. I liked reading the seller's response to the question...sounds like he was getting a little testy. It also says that he bought this thing as his "fun" car, but ran out of storage space. Who buys an old Caddy Diesel as a "fun" car?! :confuse: I mean, I know my idea of a "fun" car might run contrary to what many people would consider normal, but buying an old Diesel Caddy reeks of downright masochism!
but I wonder what the seats look like under those covers? They should be a woven cloth/vinyl pattern that matches what's in the door panel inserts. I always liked that 4-door hardtop style too, but the price is a little too out there.
It's been awhile since I've really paid close attention to the interior of a '59 DeSoto. The dash is changed a bit from the '57-58, but in my '57, about the only plastic is maybe the clear plastic on the gauge faces, the hard plastic of the steering wheel, and the little "N", "R", "D", "1", and "2" inserts in the pushbutton controls. And maybe the little switch for the map light. Just about everything else is good old fashioned smear-you-like-strawberry-jam-in-an-accident metal!
I know one decontenting thing they did with the '59 DeSoto, though, was going from real gauges to idiot lights for the oil pressure and amps.
I think Buick might have still given you real gauges in 1959, but I'm pretty sure Oldsmobile went to idiot lights for amps, oil pressure, and even temp for 1957.
The metal instead of plastic was my point. Some got it. Of course they had much "better" plastic back then than the current cars, especially GM, would ever have used.
Was the red with white top 4-door hardtop the picture used in advertising for the Desoto that year. It really looks familiar.
how back then they could get away with calling something like a 1959 DeSoto "All New". It was really just a facelift of the '57-58 style, while the 383 was of the same engine family that debuted for 1958 with the 350/361.
I had forgotten that in '59 they would let you order the Adventurer engine, a dual-quad 383 with 350 horsepower, across the board. I wonder how many of the lesser cars were actually equipped with that engine? I'd imagine that a '59 Firesweep, which was on the lighter Dodge platform and came standard with a 295 hp 361-2bbl, would have been downright evil with the Adventurer engine! I guess it would have equated roughly to a '59 Dodge with the D-500 package, which looks like it could be had with 345 hp.
BTW, what woud equate to one setup having 345 hp and the other having 350? Did they use different carburetors? A more restrictive intake/exhaust? Or was it simply a matter of marketing, and advertising the DeSoto with 350 hp and the Dodge with 345, since you'd expect the more prestigious car to have more hp? And even if there really was a difference, I'd imagine that 5 hp wouldn't be noticeable.
Barely recognized this place with all the site changes. Glad to see this topic is still going. There's an early 60's Thunderbird parked at a guys house down the street and he's picked up a "new" early 50's coupe (I really stink at that era of autos, so I'll have to look closer at it to get an idea of what it is.)
Today I spotted two 59 Coupe Devilles, both at completely different times and locations. The odds of that can't be high. I also spotted a ca. 69 Mustang Boss 302, yellow. And I spotted a Bentley Azure, looking as regal as can be.
Co-incidence. I was appraising a '69 Mustang Boss 302 today. There aren't that many of them around--they only made 1,628 of them. I think they can be cloned. Fifth letter in the VIN should be a "G".
I just saw the lettering on the car - it was in traffic. It looked very well restored.
That reminds me...back right before I could drive legally maybe in the spring of 93, I was out with my dad looking for an easy project car for my first car. He had heard of a Mustang fastback languishing behind a house outside of town. We found it and the owner let us look it over...it was a 1970 I believe, I can't recall if it was a Mach I or what, but it was a 429 Super Cobra Jet, and it had all the special air intake stuff on the hood and all the insignias, I remember it vividly. It was weathered but complete and probably an easy restoration as it wasn't rusty. Of course, the owner was one of those "I'll restore it someday" guys....last time I was out in that area 5 or 6 years ago, it was still there. I bet it's been snapped up with the current muscle craze. I always had a feeling we should have pressed the guy, but my dad was never very ambitious about that kind of thing - he'd only inquire about an old car once, and not long after that I was away at school etc without much disposable income.
I don't really need the money, but it sounds like it could be kinda fun. I'm thinking about sending them a pic of my '67 Catalina, '76 LeMans, and '79 New Yorker to see if they'd be interested in any of them.
Oddly enough I happened to see an Opel Manta ca. 1970 the other day. It was in wretched (beater) condition with torn upholstery, the paint was shot but the stamped steel 13" wheels had been replaced by 14" alloys from a Rabbit GTI or Rabbit Cabrio. :sick:
It had the automatic tranny, which was rare in imports of that era.
Be careful Andre. They generally don't pay very much, sometimes they mess up your car, and sometimes you never get a check or an insurance settlement. Ask them for their insurance policy and what it covers, and if your car is going to be used or driven (as opposed to being a "background car" that is just parked), ask for a very healthy fee. Normally they offer like $75-$100 for the entire day, and you have to hang around, which can be quite boring. I'd ask at least $300/day for moving the car on film, and at least $500/day if they wanted to install a camera on the car. Movie people are a bit more reliable than TV people. Find out how and when you get paid, and get business cards, addresses, etc. so you can go find them later.
but if you want the experience and they don't use your car for anything but background, it might be fun. You might even get lunch.
from those movie people this morning. Not much, just a note saying "Thanks for the pictures. I am forwarding them to the director for consideration". So, I'll keep you guys posted.
With my luck, I'm thinking they'll say that they like my '79 New Yorker, but then whine about it having the copcar wheels and the raised white letter tires on it! I still have the old wire hubcaps that came with it, and two fairly new whitewall tires. I guess if they only wanted to shoot it from one side, it could look fairly authentic. I could see that happening though, but then they get some shots from other angles, continuity errors pop up in the movie, and suddenly my NYer joins the ranks of the Challenger that turns into a Camaro for the final crash in "Vanishing Point" or the Charger that lost FIVE hubcaps in "Bullitt", or the tanker truck going off the cliff with its driver's side door open in "Duel". :P
Saw two Rabbit pickup trucks on the way to work this morning. I don't think I have seen two of these actually driving around in the last couple of years combined. They were both beaters driven by workmen.
Background cars are usually shot from long distances, and often just for a brief 5 second pan shot. Authenticity really doesn't matter in most cases for movie cars. They really choose the cars for year and color and how they fit into the scene. If your car is white or red or black you don't have much of a chance.
My buddy with the 1978 Mark V is the one that told me about this photo shoot. He sent them a pic of his car, but I don't think he's heard back from them yet.
Years ago, one of my friends had a very minor spot in the movie "Deep Impact". Sounds like a porn movie, but it was that movie where the comet was going to wipe out humanity. No, not the one with Bruce Willis...the OTHER movie where the comet was going to wipe out humanity! He was one of many extras in the crowded highway scene towards the end, where everybody's trying to flee the coastal areas.
I think he had an S-10 Blazer back then. They had literally thousands of people and cars for that scene though, so I doubt you could ever spot him. It's kinda funny too, because the continuity in that part of the movie is really bad, and anybody who knows anything about geography or this local area would probably crack up laughing. That scene was filmed on what's called the 234 bypass. Before I bought my '89 Gran Fury, I actually test drove it on that same road, as the dealership I bought it from was nearby. It's probably at least 150 miles, as the crow flies, from the Atlantic Ocean. And the nearest mountains, or what could pass for mountains, is probably a good 50-60 miles to the West. But in the movie you see Frodo pull up in a motorcycle he got from the house across the street from the Leave it to Beaver house, Helen Hunt Junior and her baby brother get on board, and two minutes later he's driving up in these California-looking mountains where they probably filmed scenes of the Waltons and Little House on the Prairie, high enough so the waves can't reach him!
I answered an ad for a 1958 DeSoto Firesweep sedan for sale about an hour away. Turns out the guy had a real fetish for 1959 DeSotos, and wanted to sell everything he had that wasn't a '59. He had a bunch of old cars stashed on his farm, including a '65 or so Fury hardtop and a '55 or '56 DeSoto hardtop coupe. I forget how many '59 DeSotos he had, but one of them was used in a movie called The Accidental Tourist, I think. I believe it had Danny DeVito in it. Never saw the movie, though. I think it was also in some movie that had that big female impersonator, Devine or whatever her name is? "Hairspray", maybe? I think she/he did a few movies in this area.
**Edit: I think that Danny DeVito movie was actually "Tin Men", but the same '59 DeSoto might have been in both movies. Never saw either one, though.
Comments
Immaculate. Garage kept, orig. owner, pearlescent white body and beige'n'taupe leather interior, V-8, 42K highway miles. Fully loaded includes front and rear K40 radar detectors and K40 diffusers, Fittipaldi chrome wheels (plus original wheels)with gold center hubs. Nakamichi stereo system. Speedometer goes to 160mph and for that reason, to keep the back on track a whale tail is built into the trunk's design. A real cream puff.
Also riding my bike more (less traffic, fewer hills) so I get to see more stuff lying around. You can't leave a car on the street for very long in most cities in southern Marin, they scoop it right up on you (72 hours) but in west Marin it's funkier (relatively speaking I mean).
If I were in Appalachia I would have noted that none of the cars had wheels.
Also in general you will see lots of old cars on the road in northern California. It is not as uncommon as in some parts of the country, probably due to size of the state and the benign climate.
It sounds like a sweet ride, but I don't think that they ever did 454s until 1970. Can I hear from the experts? Did Yenko or Baldwin Motion go there before 79?
The decal on the air-cleaner stated 450 HP, if that helps...
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Weren't the Olds/Buick/Pontiac 455's and the Cadillac 500 kinda like that too? While initially they might have still been pretty powerful, but they were designed to work with emissions controls and burn just a tad cleaner, so they weren't always as powerful as some of the previous, slightly smaller mills?
I've seen it before, but never had a chance to get a good look at it. And I'm NOT stopping off in that area at night and getting out of the car! :surprise:
What myth??
Shot up?? with what? ... a Tommy Gun? :confuse:
Myth one that you can blow up a car by shooting at its gas tank. Busted it although I think an incendary or explosive round could probably do it.
The other one they busted was that you could stand behind a car door for protection from bullets. Also busted but I already knew that was the case.
you better have steel toes, too.
Now on to the show...
Shifty-mobile
Pimpmobile for Z-car fans
Smart car alternative
Who would dare?
"New" Fiat
Looks neat, Buy It Now is laughable
Easier on the eyes
These are worth a bit
Originality is nice
Try not to laugh or puke
Another nice original 57 Caddy
Hilarious upholstery
Lemko dream car - much better
This is the good bustleback, right?
This might not be
Guaranteed not to run into yourself at any car show
Kinda cool but looks too far gone
Another neat original...great speedometer
These are uncommon
50s sports sedan
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
An NSU spyder for $10,000 asking price?....er....I don't think so....try $5,000, hug ankles of bidder.
I used to have a '57 Pontiac Chieftan. The convertible version of this car can be worth some serious bucks because so few survive.
I like that the diesel Seville seller seems annoyed, but has a negative feedback rating. Dude, you need to change something.
I know one decontenting thing they did with the '59 DeSoto, though, was going from real gauges to idiot lights for the oil pressure and amps.
I think Buick might have still given you real gauges in 1959, but I'm pretty sure Oldsmobile went to idiot lights for amps, oil pressure, and even temp for 1957.
Was the red with white top 4-door hardtop the picture used in advertising for the Desoto that year. It really looks familiar.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
But it's a 2-door hardtop. Close but no brass ring.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I had forgotten that in '59 they would let you order the Adventurer engine, a dual-quad 383 with 350 horsepower, across the board. I wonder how many of the lesser cars were actually equipped with that engine? I'd imagine that a '59 Firesweep, which was on the lighter Dodge platform and came standard with a 295 hp 361-2bbl, would have been downright evil with the Adventurer engine! I guess it would have equated roughly to a '59 Dodge with the D-500 package, which looks like it could be had with 345 hp.
BTW, what woud equate to one setup having 345 hp and the other having 350? Did they use different carburetors? A more restrictive intake/exhaust? Or was it simply a matter of marketing, and advertising the DeSoto with 350 hp and the Dodge with 345, since you'd expect the more prestigious car to have more hp? And even if there really was a difference, I'd imagine that 5 hp wouldn't be noticeable.
Best looking: a 1960 Buick Electra 225
That reminds me...back right before I could drive legally maybe in the spring of 93, I was out with my dad looking for an easy project car for my first car. He had heard of a Mustang fastback languishing behind a house outside of town. We found it and the owner let us look it over...it was a 1970 I believe, I can't recall if it was a Mach I or what, but it was a 429 Super Cobra Jet, and it had all the special air intake stuff on the hood and all the insignias, I remember it vividly. It was weathered but complete and probably an easy restoration as it wasn't rusty. Of course, the owner was one of those "I'll restore it someday" guys....last time I was out in that area 5 or 6 years ago, it was still there. I bet it's been snapped up with the current muscle craze. I always had a feeling we should have pressed the guy, but my dad was never very ambitious about that kind of thing - he'd only inquire about an old car once, and not long after that I was away at school etc without much disposable income.
I don't really need the money, but it sounds like it could be kinda fun. I'm thinking about sending them a pic of my '67 Catalina, '76 LeMans, and '79 New Yorker to see if they'd be interested in any of them.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It had the automatic tranny, which was rare in imports of that era.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
but if you want the experience and they don't use your car for anything but background, it might be fun. You might even get lunch.
Also, a pristine looking dark blue ca. 69 full size Buick convertible, sailing down I-90 like the yacht it is.
Allante -- concrete proof that cars don't become collectible because everyone keeps repeating that they should be.
Will Caddy try for third time's the charm vs the SL? Allante didn't do it, XLR is better but still not in the same league...next?
I've been "working" today and trying to read up on that Mustang I mentioned...looks like it might have been a rare car.
The catering trucks are pretty good (g).
With my luck, I'm thinking they'll say that they like my '79 New Yorker, but then whine about it having the copcar wheels and the raised white letter tires on it! I still have the old wire hubcaps that came with it, and two fairly new whitewall tires. I guess if they only wanted to shoot it from one side, it could look fairly authentic. I could see that happening though, but then they get some shots from other angles, continuity errors pop up in the movie, and suddenly my NYer joins the ranks of the Challenger that turns into a Camaro for the final crash in "Vanishing Point" or the Charger that lost FIVE hubcaps in "Bullitt", or the tanker truck going off the cliff with its driver's side door open in "Duel". :P
For all the movies shot in my area, it's rare to hear of a period setting. I think my old beast could work in the right setting.
1967 Catalina convertible
1976 LeMans
1979 Fifth Ave
My buddy with the 1978 Mark V is the one that told me about this photo shoot. He sent them a pic of his car, but I don't think he's heard back from them yet.
Years ago, one of my friends had a very minor spot in the movie "Deep Impact". Sounds like a porn movie, but it was that movie where the comet was going to wipe out humanity. No, not the one with Bruce Willis...the OTHER movie where the comet was going to wipe out humanity! He was one of many extras in the crowded highway scene towards the end, where everybody's trying to flee the coastal areas.
I think he had an S-10 Blazer back then. They had literally thousands of people and cars for that scene though, so I doubt you could ever spot him. It's kinda funny too, because the continuity in that part of the movie is really bad, and anybody who knows anything about geography or this local area would probably crack up laughing. That scene was filmed on what's called the 234 bypass. Before I bought my '89 Gran Fury, I actually test drove it on that same road, as the dealership I bought it from was nearby. It's probably at least 150 miles, as the crow flies, from the Atlantic Ocean. And the nearest mountains, or what could pass for mountains, is probably a good 50-60 miles to the West. But in the movie you see Frodo pull up in a motorcycle he got from the house across the street from the Leave it to Beaver house, Helen Hunt Junior and her baby brother get on board, and two minutes later he's driving up in these California-looking mountains where they probably filmed scenes of the Waltons and Little House on the Prairie, high enough so the waves can't reach him!
Ya gotta love the movies!
**Edit: I think that Danny DeVito movie was actually "Tin Men", but the same '59 DeSoto might have been in both movies. Never saw either one, though.
Can you beat Magnette to the punch on this one?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
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