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

british_rover

Yeah 164 sounds right. It was fairly large and sleek and sexy.

Mr_Shiftright

Much better car than the piece of junk Milano, that's for sure. No wonder Alfa caved in, in America, with merchandise like that.

explorerx4

the 164 i see looks a lot like this:

red 164

Mr_Shiftright

Fun fun car, the 164, but don't ever buy an automatic...or plan to rebuild it every 30K or so. Great engine sound, excellent performance....a bit hard on clutches, and niggling electrical issues abound.

fintail

I saw an odd early 80s BMW 5er today...it had a bodykit, period wheels, and a spoiler kind of like on the first M3. Maybe an Alpina? It was too far away for me to read any badging. I am sure it wasn't an M5.

I also saw an 01 E55 on a lot, it had two tone interior (very late use of this), sunshade, and parktronic. No nav or vented seats. Odd combo, couldn't have been more than a few equipped like that.

I'd love to be able to get some breakdowns per option, like they do on muscle cars (you know, there were 6 examples of car X made in orange with a bench seat, floor shift, wood wheel, and 8 track, etc). I need to start an AMG historical society.

british_rover

Yeah the car I saw looked like that as well but the red was not so deep. The one I saw looked more burgandy or red wine colored.

Didn't those 164s have a kind of funky rear suspension/axle set up?

Mr_Shiftright

164s are front wheel drive.

british_rover

Hmhh then what alfa sedan am I thinking of that has a strange rear suspension set up...

british_rover

Maybe I am thinking of a Fiat...

Mr_Shiftright

Alfetta for sure, maybe the GTV6--gotta look that up....it's not "weird" at all. Doesn't Corvette use that?

british_rover

Well the Vettes suspension is weird with the composite monoleafs but the Alfa rear end had something even stranger.

I think I remember this car having a transaxle too instead of a transmission.

british_rover

This looks like a nice one but no idea if the price is reasonable.

I like this one too again no idea if the price is reasonable.

andys120

IIRC Alfettas and '70's era GTVs had deDion rear axles and transaxles. I'm not sure what exactly a deDion rear is...some sort of hybrid indie, live-axle setup methinks.

bumpy

ambulating its spongy way down the road this morning with a cracked windshield, loose exhaust pipe, and an ill-fitting, torn top that should have been replaced five years ago. Body looked surprisingly decent.

Mr_Shiftright

that's the way they built them back then! :P

andre1969

y'all might get a kick out of. I got a book for Christmas called "Cars of the Sensational Seventies", which is chock full of color and black and white factory photos of cars, as well as interesting stuff like old ads, paint charts, etc.

Well, one of my roommates, who's anything BUT a car nut, picked it up and started going through it. At one point he just said "EEWWWW!!! That's UGLY!" I asked him what car he was talking about and he showed me the picture. It was an orange-red 1973 Gremlin. 'nuff said. :P

He also saw a '72 Grand Prix that must have been some kind of special edition...it was done up in what looked like a 2-tone creme-over-gold. Now he thought that one was cool, although I'd imagine if he saw one in person he might not be so enamored.

edit: at least I *think* it was creme-over-gold. My mind could be playing dyslexic tricks on me, though. I just did some quick checking online and it looks like there was a Hurst edition of the '72 GP, which was kind of a dark gold over white.

lemko

Holy smoke! I have the whole set -

Cars of the Classic Thirties
Cars of the Fascinating Forties
Cars of the Fabulous Fifties
Cars of the Sizzling Sixties
Cars of the Sensational Seventies

I wonder when they're going to come up with books

Cars of the Exciting Eighties
Cars of the Gnarly Nineties
Cars of the Terrific Two Thousands?

au1994

They are probably still researching the book for the 80's, but can't find anything that fits the category of "exciting"

kyfdx

Audi Turbo Coupe..

Buick GNX..

british_rover

Two cars a book does not make.

kyfdx

Maybe a pamphlet? :surprise:

andre1969

I think "Cars of the Awesome 80's" might work. I remember the word "awesome" being pretty popular for awhile when I was a kid. I think Nissan (Datsun) actually used it to describe their 280ZX.

I've had the Sizzling 60's book for a few years now. This Christmas I got the 30's, 40's, and 70's book, so I'm just missing the 50's book. My Mom got me the 30's and 40's. I remember opening the 40's one first, seeing what it was, and it tipped me off that the other gift was in that series. I could read part of the title through the paper, and could make out the word "Classic", and the first thing out of my mouth was, "Well, I know it's NOT the Seventies book! :P

From an historical standpoint, I think an 80's book would still be interesting, even if the cars, by and large, weren't. The 80's saw Chrysler, and to a lesser degree Ford, bounce back from death. They also saw GM momentarily rise to new heights (7 of the top ten selling cars in 1985 were GM models), only to start losing ground in 1986 to a resurgent Ford, and then Japanese imports that started to expand into more markets.

fintail

The 80s were pretty awesome for Mercedes anyway...many timeless designs, top of the JDP rankings, high prices, little competition.

I wonder what an 80s book would have...stories on the Celebrity, Tempo, Corsica, etc...

Mr_Shiftright

Well cars from the Awesome 80s could be a coffee table book---you wouldn't bother to read it, just use it as a coffee table. Of course, we'd make it large enough to work and charge maybe $139, like a cheap table from IKEA. You'd have to put the book together yourself, of course.

Pretty slim pickins' in the 80s. The cars were really very dull to look at, with a few notable exceptions.

The GNX is about the only car I ever read about from the 80s that is featured in any kind of enthusiast magazine. Even the Ferraris from the 80s sucked. The 1983 Porsche SC was okay though.

I suppose we could cherry-pick maybe a dozen cars from the 80s that we could tout without feeling ashamed. No, make that 1/2 dozen.

boomchek

That's right, there weren't too many interesting cars in the 80s. I think towards the end of the 80s some cool cars started showing up such as the 300ZX, the MB SL series, BMW M3 and M5.

It seems like most of the other sports cars were not too interesting: the Delorean was a flop, so was the Fiero, the Ferrari Mondial had odd proportions, the Rolls Royces and Bentleys didn't have the timeless lines compared to the previous models.

the Saabs were ugly, the Volvos boxy, and the full and midsize domestics pretty much all looked alike save for the headlights and different landau tops.

As boring as it is the Taurus was probably one of the most significant cars for domestic manufacturers because of the hope it gave them, and because it ushered in a new era of jellybean styling.

The Caravan brought in the minivan era. The first gen Explorer brought in the SUV craze which lasted till ummmm right about now.

But since we're on the topic of project cars, I don't think we will see many 80s cars being restored in the future. :sick:

lemko

Pretty slim pickins' in the 80s. The cars were really very dull to look at, with a few notable exceptions.

Yeah, there were only four cars I can think of that were any good from the 1980s:

1985 Chrysler Fifth Avenue
1987 Chevrolet Caprice Classic
1988 Buick Park Avenue
1989 Cadillac Brougham

seminole_kev

Yes the 80's were tough (but so were the 70's), but there are still cars to potentially put in there that haven't been mentioned yet.

The Supra in a couple of guises could go in there.
300 ZX probably.
Mazda RX7
VW GTi maybe?
Maybe the "whale" looking Chevy Caprice just for weird styling and cop car presence (did that come out in late 80's or early 90's?

I'm sure there are a few more that are lurking out there...

andre1969

Well if you're going to go there, Lemko, I have to add...

1985 Buick LeSabre Limited
1985 Chevy C10 Silverado (just don't t-bone it at 70+ mph :P )
1986 Chevy Monte Carlo
1980 Chevy Malibu

I did have a 1982 Cutlass Supreme coupe with the V-6 and an '89 Gran Fury ex copcar, but in retrospect neither of those were that great. Oh yeah, and an '88 LeBaron turbo coupe. That thing became a giant turd in its later years. A good looking turd, IMO, but a turd nonetheless.

andys120

there weren't that many but some come to mind:

-Mustang 5.0 Liter GT and LX, not great looking but cheap reliable and fast, at least from '85 on.

-VW Rabbit GTI, wound out like a rubber band on highway trips but as much fun as any FWD this side of an original Min.

-Lamborghini Countach, not the most beautiful Lambo but way better-looking than it's Ferrari contemporary, the Testarossa.
I think kids still put these on their walls.

-Mercedes 560SEC, the German muscle car from an era when you couldn't get one from Detroit.

-Porsche 928, derided as the German Corvette but an interesting and underrated design. Look for the concept to be revived by Porsche before the decade is out.

-Porsche 944, another underrated car and a superb handler by all accounts.

andre1969

came out for 1991, but it was the 1994-96 models that were the real performers. That was when they got the LT-1 350 that put out 260 hp. IIRC, the TBI 350 that was in use before that only put out 185 hp. It was a torquey engine though, so performance, or 0-60 at least, was probably a bit better than that hp suggests.

kyfdx

'85 Maxima.. The 1st FWD model.. That was a nice vehicle (for that era)..

michaellno

I'll add my .02 ...

'85 Honda Accord LX Hatchback
'86 Isuzu P'up
'88 Isuzu Trooper

Hmm, I sorta thought that list would be longer....

Mr_Shiftright

Geez, I hardly see any of those cars you guys are listing as "memorable". They'd be on my forgettable list for sure.

But yes, IMO you did score a few hits. The Porsche 928 was interesting and had a lot of "juice" for the enthusiast. The Mazda RX-7 was a competent little coupe and is still fun to drive.

The Countach is, of course, Iconic. How could I have forgotten it?

To me, cars like the Mercedes SLs and 300ZX are bloated parodies of past greatness---they never exceeded their ancestors...if there had never been a 280SL or 300SL Gullwing or had never been a 240Z, well then maybe.

A 500SEC is an interesting choice, although it falls on the cusp of the 90s.

A Caprice and a Chrysler and a Cadillac? Just more mediocrity to my eyes--same old Detroit cookie-cutter "good enoughs, let's quit". I can even remember what they look like.

More like just "obscure" than "obscure classic".

The Mustang 5.0 was kind of a blah thing, but given the desert out there, it was at least an attempt at performance, so sure, let's include that.

fintail

Gotta have MB W124 and W126 in there, for their quality and all round competence in a dark time.

500SEC started production for MY 1982, is indeed a key car of the 80s.

Mr_Shiftright

Memorable isn't about competence though. They're great cars but they are boring in terms of charisma, history, etc. You could say an 80s taxicab is competent and certainly a Greyhound bus of the 80s was built to the highest quality.

It's like celebrities...there is Steve McQueen and there are character actors who were very good but not memorable. They might have even been better actors, but you won't see them as subjects of film festivals.

Even a lowly VW bug has the aura of history about it.

andre1969

is that most of the "better" cars, at least in terms of reliability/durability, were actually conceived in the 70's. Stuff like the Panther, M-body, GM's RWD B/C body, etc.

Ironically, the stuff that was often made into taxicabs in the 80's! :P

imidazol97

my lowly important factor but it's the A-body as in Celebrity and Century and 6000. They gave comfort and size of a full-sized car with midsize cost to buy and operate.

They sure sold a lot of them and many are still on the road (so are VW Bugs!).

andre1969

Those A-bodies were fairly cheap to fix, and later models were pretty reliable. Unfortunately though, the early models were pretty troubleprone, and that's when they tended to sell the best.

I kinda liked those Cutlass Ciera and Century coupes that had the semi-fastback roofline, which vaguely recalled the '87-88 T-bird. And I thought the 6000 was a good looker on the outside, but I couldn't stand its interior...the dashboard seemed a cobbled-together mess just waiting to fall apart.

I still see Cieras around pretty regularly. I think that's partly because of the buyer demographic. The Celebrity usually outsold the Ciera, but I'd imagine that a lot of Celebritys found their way into government and rental fleets, and a lot of strippo models were sold to the public and used as throwaway cars. In contrast, the Ciera and Century were often outfitted like little limousines, and bought by people who wanted a bigger car. The buyers were probably a bit better off financially, a bit older, and probably maintained the cars better than your typical Celebrity buyer.

They're never going to be anything sought out by collectors, but I can appreciate the A-body for being a cheap, fairly comfortable used car that you could still get years of service out of. And heck, they're even starting to make the car show circuit. I snapped a pic of this poor, worn-out Ciera at the GM Nats back in 2005. :P

chuck1959

I agree with you about the 2-door Cieras and Century. A 72 year ols lady friend of my family has an '90 Ciera and she has always loved it. Never any trouble of course it's low mileage....56,000 miles. Still looks like new.

michaellno

When my wife was living in Cheyenne 20 years ago, she really wanted one of these as her 'dream' family vehicle.

Even then, she didn't want to drive a minivan.

She ended up buying a Ford Tempo instead -- oh well!

au1994

My mom had an 87 Ciera Brougham. It had the 3.8 V-6 and would get up move off the line. Nice little car all the way around. Silver with a gray vinyl top and the wire hub caps.

I was pushing for the International Series coupe when they got it.

imidazol97

They drove solidly, at least the higher brand models did. The cars had a heavier feeling than they were. A friend has colleced low mileage used cars from estate sales and so on and had a blue 1988 Ciera International (Salon?) with the flags with V6. He nearly cried when it was stolen out of his driveway for a joyride and wrecked in the city late at night; couldn't be repaired. A neighbor who runs a used car lot has a 1988 Century in his drive in dark blue. Looks formal.

FWD. Solid. Economical.

andre1969

had an '87 or so Ciera, the style with the little flags on it. I think it was called the International Series. It had a little badge on it that said "FE-3", which I think was a code for the firmer suspension. All I remember was that Grandma's friend said the FE-3 makes the car "special". :P

I think it was a light silver with blackout trim, and seemed a nice car all around. She moved back to her childhood home of North Carolina years ago, but if she's still alive, she probably still has the car. She kept her cars a long time. The only other car I remember her having was an early 70's Maverick.

When they were newer, I think I had a grudge against the A-bodies for awhile. No rational reason, except that my first car was a 1980 Malibu coupe, which I liked, and I just didn't like the fact that the Celebrity replaced it!

magnette

Citroen CX 25 GTi -esp Turbo
Audi Quattro
Ford Sierra Cosworth
Lotus/Vauxhall Carlton (1989)
Mazda RX7
Toyota MR2
Lancia Thema 8.32
Fiat Uno Turbo
Bentley Mulsanne
Peugeot 205 GTi
Porsche 928
VW Golf GTI
Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint

- ok, so I'm only looking at stuff available here, but most of the above were entertaining, fast compared with their competitiors, and if you ignore long-term durability (esp the Italians), then they would still be decent cars now. It's funny how cars which were thought cutting edge then have become unfashionable now, though.

kyfdx

Toyota MR2.. a very good one that I hadn't thought of..

fintail

Oh, you know what I mean. W124 and W126 were easily the leaders in their categories, the W126 being so for all most the entire decade. The W124 almost defined a new category. Not charismatic, but people see them today, 20-25 years later, and still associate them as being fine cars.

fintail

We had a Ciera when I was a kid. I am pretty sure it was just a 3.1. It was a 'Brougham' trim I believe, but it only had an AM radio...my mom picked it up at some year end sale as a leftover. I think it was anm 83 or an 84. It was reliable and plush, but was not assembled very well...door handle broke off in my grade school hands, fake wire wheel caps always rattled, various bits fell off and had to be reattached, dashboard chirped.

british_rover

1997 Land Rover Defender 110 TDi.

Not US legal but out front of the dealership right now.

The guy is talking with our center manager about it so I gotta hear how he got it into the US.

altair4

My Dad had an '85 (I think - maybe '86) Ciera, with the screamin' 2.5 litre "Iron Duke" engine. It had the international flags on the front fenders, too. It was also equipped with hideous wirewheel covers and a vinyl roof. Even then, it certainly wasn't my taste...but to each his own.

I don't recall him having much trouble with it, but I do remember him stalling it out after hitting a particularly deep puddle on Roosevelt Blvd in NE Philadelphia while visiting us once from Pittsburgh. It took about 24 hours for everything to dry our sufficiently to run again.

95towncar

I just found out that a car only has to be 12 years old to register as a classic car in Pennsylvania. Which means I could theoretically register my Town Car as a classic car. Random I know.