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

boomchek

Some nice cars this week. The 2nd Gogomobil looks to be in much better shape for about the same money.

The writeup on the 84 Accord is a mile long like it's some sort of a collectible car. :confuse:

Mr_Shiftright

Citroen Traction Avant -- the seller must have forgotten that he was selling three of them at once when he posted the asking price.

Honda Accord Time Capsule -- to think, you go through all the trouble of being sent back in time, only to be bored to death when you get there.

1962 Benz 220S -- well if it were a 220SE might be worth the trouble. This would be a great candidate for plugging in a later drivetrain from a late 60s 250. Or not. Hard to justify putting an $8,000 engine in a $5,000 car....obviously hard to justify, since HE didn't want to do it! Value? $500 maybe.

Corolla Wagon--kinda "cute". These were good cars. But at the current bid of $2,200, we are fast approaching top dollar here.

AMC Eagle--where's my sludgehammer. Stop me before I kill again. Hate those cars...hate, hate.... :mad:

Fiat Berlina -- ah, the old "Fiat Across America" Sports Car Market car! The idea was to pass it from driver to driver to get it across the country. I think it took about a year and a million dollars or two, but it made it apparently. Current bid of $1,300 seems generous for this roach but you WILL be the only person on your block with one, so that's kinda cool.

1957 Cadillac -- it's what we call in the classic car world a "dated" color but then, it is a 50 year old car, so....duh...I like the '57s...the year just before the calamity of horror hit Cadillac styling.

Adenauer -- I never did "get" these cars, but then I never wanted to drive my mom's sofa around. I wouldn't mind sitting in it though and eating a sandwich or something. Looks very comfy

boomchek

Adenauer ...... I wouldn't mind sitting in it though and eating a sandwich or something. Looks very comfy

LOL :P

"I came to look at your Adenauer"
"Ok, you're in the market for one?"
"Not really, I always wanted to eat a sandwich in one; these seats have scotchgard? Some mayo just dripped on 'em"

Mr_Shiftright

Well it's no more strange than kicking the tires.

Hey Mom, can I have the keys to the sofa?

Oh, I know, I should be kinder to them, but they are so....so....GERMAN...and not in the "good German" way....

On the other hand, sometimes a motor from an Adenauer can keep a 300S coupe alive, so it's not all bad....

fintail

Hey, the Adenauer couldn't have been that bad. A few should survive.

I forgot to post this yesterday...I always thought that little kick up of the window line at the C-pillar made it look unbalanced. Nice preservation though

andre1969

looks like something that would've been more fashionable in the 70's than the 50's. It makes me think of a color somewhere in between the original "Firethorne" or my '76 LeMans and the deeper burgundy that it's painted now.

Instead of a "dated" color, I think I'd call it an "ahead of its time" color. Part of it may also be the monotone color. I'd imagine that it was much more common for these cars to have a contrasting roof color. For the most part though, I think Cadillac was fairly restrained when it came to two toning. I believe some of the pricier models had the lower rear quarter done up in stainless steel, but by and large I don't think they were too into wild two-tones along the sides.

andre1969

is an odd little thing, but it doesn't help that the pictures are scrunched up, making it look shorter and narrower than it really is. Still, I think the 7-9 extra inches of wheelbase that the American models had (122-124" wheelbase, depending on the model) over the Chevy frame really helped in giving these cars a better-proportioned look.

andre1969

I think it's an interesting time capsule, in that it shows how much effort the Japanese were putting into small cars back then. Some of those interior features, like those full-length, integrated armrests and the nice cloth on the door panels were more reminiscent of what you'd find in something like an Electra or Ninety-Eight than your typical domestic small car of the time.

But yeah, I don't know if I'd want to go back in time to 1984. Back to an era where home videogames still had a problem having more than 3 moving objects in the same row without one of them flickering, padded shoulderpads in EVERYTHING, counting yourself lucky if your tv got more than 5 or 6 channels, home computers that cost thousands of $ and probably had less computing power than a modern day Game Boy, wondering if the next day would be "The Day After", etc.

Oh well, I remember "V: The Final Battle" was way cool in my 14 year old mind. Too bad they mucked it up with the weekly series, and putting it in a timeslot where the Dukes of Hazzard and Webster whooped its butt regularly.

Oh and, it was also pretty cool when they blew up Walnut Grove. And at least back then you could still tell what ethnicity and gender Michael Jackson was. :P

kyfdx

I think a lot of people forget how desolate the automobile landscape was in 1984.. The Accord was light-years better than any domestic in the market, especially in reliability.

It is unfortunate that in this example, the car has an automatic transmission. The Honda manuals of that era were as good as you could get.

So... it's easy to make fun of now.. but then, those cars were like a gift from above..

fintail

Ha, indeed. I remember 1984...I think the Ciera my mom had was new then, it wasn't a bad car per se, but wasn't the best built thing on the planet either. My memories of what my dad had at that exact time are muddled...in 1985 he bought an S-10 Blazer that was probably the worst car he ever owned, and before that he had a Plymouth Horizon and an Audi 5000 turbo from maybe 1980 or 1981, for a time he owned them concurrently. Neither were horrible, but I think they both required more attention than a modern car. I remember the turbo sound in the Audi, I thought that was very cool. By that time I think my MB fixation was developing, and I also loved vintage cars, especially of the 20s and 30s. My phone has more computing power than the Apple II or Atari 2600 we had, and the VCR my parents bought a couple years earlier cost nearly $1000!

And I still remember watching Walnut Grove being blown up!

andre1969

my Mom had her 1980 Malibu coupe, and my stepdad had just bought a new '84 Tempo. Grandmom & Granddad had an '82 Malibu wagon that they were learning to hate very quickly, and when the ECU died on it the second time, they traded it on an '85 LeSabre, which turned out to be one of the best cars they ever had. It would probably still be running, except that Grandmom quit driving in 1999, signed it over to me, and my uncle and I only drove it sporadically until 2002, and just let too many little things go on it. They also had a '76 GMC 3/4 ton crew cab, although that was about to give way to an '85 Silverado 1/2 ton.

One thing that was interesting, showed just how far GM has fallen nowadays, was that my grandparents ended up getting about $6,000 in trade for that '82 Malibu. I forget what they paid for it but it stickered for about $11K new. It was 3 model years old, and the ECU was bad at the time, so it wasn't running right. How many GM (or Ford or Mopar cars, for that matter) will fetch ~55% of their sticker price in trade after 3 years? Heck, just a few years ago my Dad paid about 40% of the original MSRP on his '03 Regal, when it was only about a year old!

That timeframe was also when I really started getting a fixation for older cars, mainly 1950's Mopars. The movie "Christine" came out in late 1983, IIRC, and it really made a big impression on me. Looking back, that movie also taught me a few new words! I remember asking one of the neighbor kids, who was a bit more "worldly" than me, what a few of them meant!

fintail

Yeah, that resale is amazing. Before the Camcords took over...

Today I saw a nicely restored ca. 1934 Buick sedan driving along on a 50mph road, and a 1957 Ford non-retractable convertible in an odd kind of peach and white two tone.

seminole_kev

While I was driving the old Jag early today, caught an Opel GT (1900 or so the label said) and an early 1960's Pontiac. Not so sure what version as it wasn't too familiar to me. I'll try to look it up.

seminole_kev

It looked a lot like a hardtop version of this convertible.

Mr_Shiftright

1961.

Nice cars--Catalina, Ventura, Bonneville.

Pretty quick, and you could get a 4-speed.

This is the era when GM was king and Ford styling really really sucked....soon to change with the Mustang, the Cobra and the rise of the Mopars.

kyfdx

The first car that I can remember my mother driving was a '62 Star Chief.. in that same shade of blue...

texases

Nicer original car - but, the wheels? Why, on an otherwise good looking stock car, put wheels 40 yrs out of date??

michaellno

brings back some serious memories.

When I graduated college in October of 1985, I moved from Phoenix back to my home town in CA. I didn't have a car, so I needed to buy one.

My dad knew the Sales Manager of the local Toyota dealer, so he thought he'd hook me up with a great deal.

I ended up purchasing an '85 Accord LX for something like $8600. On the inside, it looked just like the one being offered for sale. Mine was a stick, however, and a hatchback rather that the sedan.

I kept that car for about 3 years and 40,000 miles, 5000 of which was spent driving from CA to Michigan and back in the fall of 1986.

Great, great car.

seminole_kev

I had an '84 Accord in high school. It had been rear-ended, so the back end looked rough, but it ran and the A/C worked (the most important feature in Florida of course!). The CV joints needed to be replaced, so I had a shop take care of that. Only problem was they didn't do it right. Stopped at a stoplight on the way home from the CV replacement and when I went to go, just revved like it was in neutral. Had to get it towed back to the shop to get it squared away. Good little car though.

One thing I do remember about it is the doors felt like wet cardboard as far as strength. Felt like you could have pried the doors open with your bare hands.

Mr_Shiftright

That's one reason you don't see too many old Japanese cars around, despite the huge numbers imported--they could be totalled by a ten year old using nothing but his/her hands and feet. I even remember my Labrador retriever denting the fender of my Datsun 510 by running into it. Big dent, too.

andre1969

That's one reason you don't see too many old Japanese cars around, despite the huge numbers imported--they could be totalled by a ten year old using nothing but his/her hands and feet. I even remember my Labrador retriever denting the fender of my Datsun 510 by running into it. Big dent, too.

Heh. I have to confess that wasn't neccessarily a Japanese thing, but more of a 70's thing in general! I dented the door of my 1980 Malibu once when I didn't close it all the way. Instead of unlocking it and then slamming it harder, I just took the palm of my hand and shoved hard against it, right above the door handle. It left a noticeable dent.

Back in high school, somebody did a hit and run on the rear quarter panel of that car in the school parking lot. I was able to pound it back out into more or less its original shape with my fist.

I guess sometimes it might just depend on what part of the car you smack against, too. For example, with my '85 Silverado, which is basically just an updated 1973 model, sometimes the driver's door won't close all the way unless I slam it hard. So sometimes I'll just shove against it just below the window sill, at the back part of the door, and it'll usually latch. That spot seems sturdier than the same area on my Malibu did.

The tailgate doesn't always close quite right, either, so sometimes I'll just take my foot and kick it closed. Probably wouldn't want to do that on a modern truck! But then there are spots on it where it doesn't feel that stiff, like the center spot on the doors. At least the rear bumper is pretty sturdy though, if the I30 and the Hyundai Elantra that tried to run up under it on separate occasions are any indication! :surprise:

oregonboy

Hey, Labs are pretty solid dogs. Besides, 510s had other redeeming qualities.

I never owned one, but I had buddies that did, so I've had seat-time. Light and tinny, it's true. But that's part of their charm... (at least the light part) :P

lehahimik

Hello everybody. I'm a russian physician and i offer you an incredible chance to buy a legendary car. It is POBEDA, the most famous soviet car. Stalin himself considered it the best car. It is absolutely original, except may be a radio (an original radio was broken). As to other parts, everything's working fine. I have pictures so if you're interested just give me a sign. You won't regret if you have such a car for yourself.

andys120

Stalin himself considered it the best car

According to what I've read, Stalin prefered the ZiS, but then they named the factory after him.

ZiS=Zavod imeni Stalina

Mr_Shiftright

Of course Stalin had good luck with his POBEDA---who would dare not fix it when he brought it in for service?

Sounds like a great car for a museum to buy.

fintail

I remember one of those 'Mechanix Illustrated' type magazines tested a Finnish-export (I believe) Pobeda back in the day. They summarized the styling as something along the lines as a random assortment of parts from a 1946-48 American car.

fintail

I saw a very nice C43 today...I thought it might have been my old car, but it wasn't.

jrosasmc

Have you seen the recent issue of Automobile Magazine yet? If you haven't, I'd highly suggest going out and buying one, as it has a great article in the back about the Fintail series under "Collectible Classics." The article lists the good points and bad points, as well as the wide variety of models. Like you, I believe that the series started a new direction for Mercedes-Benz in terms of engineering and styling.

I'm not too schooled on the Fintails so you'll have to help me out here- what year is yours, what model is it, and does it still run fine?

fintail

I will have to take a look at that. Nice to see the cars getting some recognition now and then. They were indeed very modern cars for the time, and the cars that replaced them starting in 1965, the somewhat similar looking W108/109 models really set Mercedes on its current path.

I have a 1964 220SE, which apparently is a better one to have as it is later. It is fuel injected, has a 4 speed auto, dual circuit discs, and the later cars were tuned a little better so they put out ca. 140hp, might not seem like a ton, but fintails are light, mine weighs just shy of 3000 lbs I think, so it moves it along competently. The cars were used heavily in competition in the early 60s, winning dozens upon dozens of events, so they weren't complete dogs. It actually runs amazingly well, I can let it sit for 6-8 weeks and it will fire right up and run like a normal car.

jrosasmc

That's great that your '64 runs really well- there are not many cars from that model year that are still on the road in regular service, especially not vehicles such as Fiats or Renaults!

At least your Fintail is not a 200 Diesel; I've been told those cars accelerate much slower than a VW Beetle of the same era.

seminole_kev

Too bad we're so far away from each other. Would be nice to get the old gals out on the road together.

fintail

I am lucky to have an SE, that makes all the difference. The dual carb models can be especially temperamental, and offer no performance advantage. The fact that it is FI was a selling point when I bought it...the endless carb problems of my Galaxie were still fresh in my mind, and I was ready to move on from that. It's a tiny (2195cc) 6, fairly revvy, and relatively smooth. It has some age-related quirks, but is a very sound car for being as old as it is, and not restored.

A 200D is dangerously slow for highway use. I think 0-60 must be around 30 seconds. 55hp, I believe.

Yeah, it would be fun to have a little cruise or race between that Jag and the fintail. They competed back in the day!

andre1969

that they were able to get 140 hp out of a 2.2 liter engine. On the domestic front it would've usually taken something in the 3.7-4.1 liter range to get that kind of power. Discounting stuff like the HyperPak slant sixes, high-output Corvair engines, etc.

jrosasmc

Of the GM cars in your current fleet, which one do you think is faster- the Catalina or the LeMans?

fintail

I think the FI makes a world of difference. IIRC 2.2L = ca. 140 cubic inches, so that matches other period FI (wasn't a Chevy 283 fuelie ca. 283 hp?)

seminole_kev

A cruise would be nice. I avoid racing her. The 3.4 was rated at 210 horsepower back in the day, but I'm sure that horsepower advantage would be offset by the Moss box manual tranny in there - where you could basically make a sandwich between "proper" shifts (meaning where you don't want it to sound like a toaster being sent through a wood chipper). One day I'll drop that tranny for a modern 5-speed......oh that will be a happy day indeed!

fintail

I usually go for at least one hard acceleration when I take the car out, and I try to toss it around a little. I think the car likes it...it gets a little upset if it just dawdles around. I am sure with your hp advantage you could dust my car...mine has that famous 60s MB auto, it upshifts to 4th by 30-35mph, so you really have to rev it for any performance.

I have no plans to modify the car...I like that it is an auto, less for me to fuss with, I would hate a colum shift 4 speed manual. Next thing for the car will likely be some period correct wide whites (which MB used through model year 1964), but the current tires will have to deteriorate first. Sometimes I wonder why I keep the old thing...it seems kind of silly. But, I am attached to it, and it doesn't cost a lot to keep around....and I wouldn't be able to get a fortune for it anyway.

andre1969

Of the GM cars in your current fleet, which one do you think is faster- the Catalina or the LeMans?

Oh, definitely the Catalina. My LeMans is actually a bit of an embarrassment when it comes to acceleration. Real shame too, because it has a tough look to it, and sound real sweet, but from a standstill it's just not that fast. And just to show how far downhill cars went in the 70's, my Catalina is heavier (I'd guess about 4100 lb compared to 3800), has a bigger engine (400 versus 350) and more power (at least 325 gross, compared to the LeMans's 160-170 net), yet the Catalina gets similar or BETTER fuel economy! Both of em only get around 10 mpg in local driving, but I've gotten the Catalina up to around 17-18 on the highway, compared to maybe 15 for the LeMans. Ah, progress.

The Catalina has enough power that if I stomp it hard enough, it'll break traction and just keep spinning, which makes a lot of racket, but gets you nowhere, and isn't good for the rear tire (no positraction, so only one spins). But if I launch it right, it'll hold first gear up to about 50 mph and then chirp the tire when it goes into second, and I've been able to get it to chirp occasionally on the 2-3 shift.

The LeMans doesn't have enough power to chirp the wheels. Now one advantage that the LeMans does have is at higher speeds it seems more responsive. At, say, 70-75 mph, it seems to have good power, and will downshift pretty readily. In contrast, the Catalina, if you punch it around that speed, just stays in top gear and tries its best from there.

I dunno what the top speed of either car is. I have had the Catalina up over 100, but I was younger and dumber then. I've had the LeMans up to about 80-85. The Catalina has a 4-bbl, compared to the LeMans's 2-bbl, so I'd imagine the Catalina would breathe better at higher rpms, and therefore be able to go faster.

As for gearing, both of them are stupidly tall. The Catalina has a 2.56:1 rear. The LeMans, if it's stock, would have a 2.41:1 rear.

imidazol97

What years are the Catalina and LeMans? IIRC there was a big push to reduce pollution and car performance went way down. I recall a Mustang with a 307 or 305 that was a larger version for the 289 and had a retard on the vacuum advance for the distributor and really dogged it down.

andre1969

The Catalina is a '67 and the LeMans is a '76, so there's 9 years of difference there. Still, the LeMans just seems like it should be faster. My '79 NYer is about the same weight, and has a similar-sized engine, a 360-2bbl, but it definitely feels quicker off the line.

And my '86 Monte Carlo, with a 305-4bbl and the added benefit of probably 500-600 pounds less weight, would have most likely smoked the LeMans. But, I didn't by the LeMans to race it. I bought it because I thought it looks purty. I blame my father for that. He took me to see "Smokey and the Bandit" when I was a kid, but instead of being a normal kid and lusting after Burt Reynolds' Trans Am, I ended up getting a fixation for Jackie Gleason's LeMans! :P

I had a '79 Newport with a Lean Burn 318-2bbl, and it was pretty slow. But I discovered that if I advanced the heck out of the timing, to the point that it required hi-octane, it was kinda quick. Well, for a 3800+ pound car with a 135 hp 318!

explorerx4

saw a 2 door chevette with new paint(purple). then at a traffic light, a gen 1 maroon camry in the left lane and a black accord lx-i right in front of me(it had the folding headlights).

Mr_Shiftright

You'd walk away from a fintail Benz, no problem. You have a lot more HP and a whole lot more torque (presuming you don't have the BW automatic I mean--otherwise, it'd be a close race).


But both engines like to rev, which is how they got the power they did out of them. That Benz engine can wind up tight-tight-tight and sit there all day long. Do that with a 60s American V8 of the time and you'd overheat or break something sooner or later...probably a valve spring or rocker arm.

boomchek

My fiancee was all excited a few days ago because she found a Rolls Royce limo for rent for $150/hour.

Knowing how much i want to get a Rolls Royce for our wedding and she wants a limo, this would be a nice compromise.

That is until she said it's a "lookalike" Rolls.

Me: Waaaaaiiiit a minute!! :surprise: This looks more fake than a chinese Gucci bag knockoff!



Thanks for the thought honey, but no thanks!

So we're in the process of trying to find some kind of a neat car with character for our wedding day.

seminole_kev

Shifty and Fintail - Oh I open her up from time to time, but racing...not so much. I'd just as soon be happy cruising along with some other old cars. I imagine the ol' Benz and Jag could garner a few stares.

fintail

Yeah, I get more than a few turned heads whenever I take the fintail out. A vintage sport sedan (relatively speaking) cruise would be a new idea, as a SE fintail and a 3.8 Jag were the Euro sports sedans of their day.

Oh, and LOL at that fake Rolls. Horrible.

95towncar

I am almost tempted to do that to my '95 Lincoln Town Car. The side mirrors are a fairly good match and the body is fairly angular like a real Phantom. PLus too the headlights look pretty accurate to the untrained masses. Looking around the cost of a conversion is about $10,000 which is only $2,000 more than it would cost to fix my car after it got rear ended. I wish the front was hit instead, so I could just make a quick run to the pick 'n pull and get a new front clip, but alas no. Acutally the car took a pretty good hit, as on the side that was hit the body is pushed 2 or so inches foward so that the body bushings are crushed an the bolt is at about a 60 degree angle relative to vertical.

lehahimik

May be you someone who'll got interested? This car is worth buying, i'm sure.
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-page.php/carno/11814">

andys120

This car is worth buying, i'm sure.

Geez, 19,800 pounds is over $38K US, I doubt it's worth more than half that.

Mr_Shiftright

Well it's an interesting curiousity for certain but at that price it seems that only a museum would find it worthwhile. If Stalin owned it, that would be different; otherwise, less than $10,000 USD seems more than enough for somewhat dumpy 1940s design in a 4-door car. You could by a Bentley Mark VI is superb condition for less money than 20,000 English pounds and maybe even a decent Rolls Silver Dawn.

boomchek

These used to be called Warszawa (capital of Poland), and we had a ton of them in Poland, usually used as taxis. Nothing special there.