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

kyfdx

That's a kit car, based on a VW, right?

stickguy

It is a kit car, and I believe it is on the bettle chassis. Real low slung, somewhat reminiscent of a race car in profile. makes me think of a Chapperal for some reason.

mazda6iguy

After doing a little research here on the net, the car i was driving behind was a 1960 Buick Electra 225. It kind of reminded me of the car in the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (the cruising vessel), although more luxurious.

lemko

I believe Judge Reinholt's car in "Fast Times" was a 1960 LeSabre.

ghulet

....I kinda like this for $3000 (which buys nothing in the way of old cars anymore, at least if eBay is any indication), if you can get over the body style (at least it's original, in good condition, well-equipped with a desirable drivetrain):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-CHRYSLER-NEW-YORKER_W0QQitemZ280131922785QQihZ018QQcategoryZ6178QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Conversely, this seems like a WHOLE lot of money for something that would need to be 'unrestored' IMO (incorrect drivetrain, hubcaps and interior, original options like power windows removed, and so on):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951-Buick-Roadmaster-Convertible_W0QQitemZ140135169388QQihZ004QQcategoryZ6143QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Mr_Shiftright

How funny...we are thinking so opposite on these two.

A '70 Chrysler 4-door can't be worth $3,000. It's so....so....unwantable.....but I'd give $1,200 bucks for it.

The '51 Buick Roadmaster is "ruined" in a sense, you're right, but really putting a modern drive train in a 50s Buick is a great idea---what worries me about this car is that there is not one single picture of the underside, and the engine hood in the inside looks very very funky. So I'm wondering if what we have is a tarted up old wreck.

If the Buick were restored underneath (springs, bushings, shocks, exhaust, no rust, steam cleaned, undercoated, new engine mounts, trans mounts, rebuilt driveshaft, overhauled differential) then maybe $35K isn't bad for a slick street rod with a drop top and a lot of eyeball that you can actually drive somewhere. Wonder if it has AC?

imidazol97

If I remember right that those Chryslers were LARGE cars. Lots of large flat areas emphasized how big they really are.

fintail

Real ones of these are pretty cool anyway

I wonder how much was sunk into this

Shifty-mobile

Tinny oddity

For hauling very very very small loads

Interesting survivor

Of all the things to survive

Almost identical twin to my fintail, crazy buy it now price

A little pimpy

andys120

"Faux-Cabriolet"- Does that mean Fake convertible or was that an actual model of TA? :confuse:

"Disappearing door" car- I watched the video twice and still can't figure out where the door goes :confuse: :confuse:

If the spaces on parking lots get any narrower, everyone will need one of those. :mad:

british_rover

It folds under the car just like a sliding door but in a vertical way.

The door must have just a little bit of curve in it and a double hinge at the bottom.

texases

Looks kind of like that GM tailgate in some station wagons - didn't it retract into the floor?

mazda6iguy

didn't it retract into the floor?

Yes the tailgate portion retracted into the floor and the window went up into the roof. My dad had a '72 Buick Estate Wagon. I remember a couple of times the bottom tailgate came off the tracks and could not be closed. His was a power tailgate. On other GM wagons the tailgate was manual.

bumpy

...for me, anyway. Some guy up the road has an early-80s (?) Subaru microvan-based pickup for sale. If it wasn't LHD, I'd swear it fell out of a dimensional portal straight from Yokohama.

magnette

Mercedes Benz 220SE - registration plate indicated early 67
Saab 96 - 1972
Ford Capri Mk 1, about 1970
DUKW - this one does trips around town for tourists - including a cruise along the river...

seminole_kev

Saw some guy melting away in a black vinyl interior, no A/C equipped '67 Jag Mk2 sedan today in Orlando, FL.......oh yeah, that poor sap was me. Thank God for quarter windows to keep it bearable with air flow.....but long stop lights.....Ugh. Let's just say I lost a few pounds in sweat today. :sick:

andys120

We forget how rare A/C was just 40 years ago. '67 was the year my folks got their first car with Air ('67 Firebird/326), I didn't own one un til 1983!

fintail

Was that 220SE a fintail or a coupe? 220SE production ended early in calendar year 1965, but I know there were leftovers.

And I can agree about the AC in old cars, my fintail lacks AC of course, and I am to the point where I would rather not drive it if the weather is over 80F...if I do, it is with at least a couple windows down.

Mr_Shiftright

Well MY fintail had AC...but if was an aftermarket American unit, not German, so it actually WORKED!

AC was fairly common in the 60s in the higher lines of American cars, but not so much in the "base" models (back when every brand had "tiers" of content). AC was NOT common however, in imports, and when it was there, it sucked.

When it came to AC, American units were easily the best in the world.

AC was an option right around 1949 or so, but I'm sure there were a few units installed just pre-war (THAT war being WWII for you young 'uns).

fintail

Was it one of those 'Kuhlmeister' setups with the American made compressor? I have seen those for ca. $500, but it seems like a lot of work to install for a car that I drive maybe 1000 miles a year.

I believe Packard had AC as an ultra-high cost option (something like $1000 back then) in 1941.

magnette

Until my current Vauxhall Corsa, I've never had a car with A/C, it isn't really something they were offering on smaller cars here until a few years ago.

andys120

I believe Packard had AC as an ultra-high cost option (something like $1000 back then) in 1941.

I think one of the first went to General Douglas MacArthur, then serving as Commander of the Army of the Phillipines.

andre1969

Every 60's car I've owned had air conditioning, but I've only had later 60's models: a '67 Newport, '67 Catalina, '68/69 Darts, '69 Bonneville.

I think by the late 60's, a/c was down to about $350, which is much more reasonable than it would have been in the 50's. I think GM's a/s was about $565 in 1956. When you figure that a Chevy/Ford/Plymouth probably started at around $2,000, $500+ was a huge chunk of change!

I'd imagine that by the late 60's, a/c was still pretty rare on something like a Dart. I think my '68 270 stickered for about $3300 as equipped, while the '69 GT was around $3600. So by that time, a/c was representing maybe 10% of the total cost of a well-equipped compact, and maybe 15% the cost of a base compact.

british_rover

somewhere that Volvo was the first car company in the US to make AC either standard or available on all of their cars.

bhill2

Before 1973, A/C was a dealer add-on unit in the Volvo (although specifically made for the car, at least the 140/160 series). In 1973 the cars were redesigned and the A/C (if ordered) was integrated.

Incidentally, I believe that AMC (in the Ambassador) was the first to make A/C standard across the board; at least in a medium priced line.

texases

When did big 3 a/c stop being add-on? My dad's '63 Polara has the factory ("Airtemp") add on unit under the dash, but you could hang meat in there - it still works great!

andre1969

When did big 3 a/c stop being add-on? My dad's '63 Polara has the factory ("Airtemp") add on unit under the dash, but you could hang meat in there - it still works great!

I'm not sure when the last add-on AC unit was produced, but I think GM went to systems where the duct-work was fully integrated into the dash before Chrysler did. It wasn't the same time for all cars, though. My '67 Newport had integrated duct work, and I think by 1968 the Mopar intermediates did, but the Dart/Valiant NEVER had integrated duct work, right up through the end in 1976. It just had this unit with three long, horizontal vents, centered under the dash. Back then though, the dash was slender and high enough that there was plenty of room under there to hang optional attachements. The replacement Aspen/Volare had integrated ductwork, right from the start in 1976. If you didn't get a/c, they blocked out two of the four vents in the dash, but I forget if it was the inner two vents or the outer two.

One thing that I've noticed about older cars, is that once you get back into the real early 70's and 60's, they seem to be more bearable without a/c. Those flip-out vent windows, roll-down rear windows, and fresh air vents under the dash helped out considerably with airflow. The more modern vent systems, where the HVAC fan blows fresh air through the dash vents, just don't seem to be effective. Maybe while you're standing still at a traffic light they are, but once you're moving, the old style vents where you just opened a little door just seemed to deliver cooler air and a stronger breeze.

They also started making cars more airtight in the 70's, and also I guess those more curvaceous side windows and rakish rear windows started allowing more heat build-up as well. I remember my '82 Cutlass Supreme coupe was more unbearable without a/c than my '68 Dart hardtop. Both cars had it, but neither had operational units. The Dart was white with a black vinyl interior, and an aftermarket sunroof, while the Cutlass was jadestone (light greenish blue) with a matching cloth interior. Sitting out in the parking lot all day, the Dart would feel worse initially, but once I got moving, it would cool down better.

magnette

Sorry Fintail, I overlooked your query regarding the M-B 220 SE. It was a 2-door pillarless coupe, and the plate had an E suffix, which indicates it was issued in Jan - Jly 1967 but that isn't definitive - for a start, it could have been re-registered in 1967 - even then people had personalised plates especially on what would then have been a very high priced car, and if it was registered with a distictive plate in say 1963, then when it was sold, the first owner may have kept the reg in order totransfer it to the next car, and the rules then would have allowed the car to be re-registered with the new plate, ie an E suffix. They've tightened up these rules since those days, so it is generally not possible to transfer a plate to a car which would have the effect of making the latter look younger than it is - ie it wouldn't now be possible to transfer from a 1985 car say to one made in 1982... Also it could have been imported secondhand, although it was RHD - it could even have come from a Forces import - British forces in Germany wouldn't pay tax on a new car, and it wouldn't be registered in UK until they were posted back home- this was quite common, and of course most of these cars were RHD because the squaddie or whatever would be intending to bring it home eventually...
It looked good, anyway - not over-restored, just a good honest car, which I always think looks better, and is more useable.

texases

It did seem that GM led the way in AC. I ended up installing an AC in my '72 Duster after one year at college in Houston. As good as the ventilation was, I couldn't handle the humidity. That led to overheating of the 198, with new fan and radiator taking care of things. Glad those were so easy to work on!

lemko

Funny, that's probably why I didn't seem like I was baking in the heat in my 1968 Buick Special Deluxe station wagon which just had the vent windows and little doors in the kick panels as I do in modern cars without running the A/C. It's been brutally hot in Philly the past two days.

mazda6iguy

I remember my grandfather once owned a 1969 Chevrolet Impala (no ac) and by the vents there was a sign "Astro Ventilation".

Oh, and my Dad's buick had "Sonomatic AM Radio"

grbeck

The 1968 AMC Ambassador was the first carline to make air conditioning standard across the board (even the lowest trim levels).

I think air conditioning was optional even in most Cadillacs and Lincolns of that time. (Although virtually every one was ordered from the factory with the units alreadly installed, by either dealers or customers. I would imagine that by the late 1960s a brand-new Cadillac or Lincoln without air conditioning would have been a tough sale.)

fintail

Interesting, very involved. I have never understood why the UK has that idea for license plates, with the year being distinguishable save for personal plates.

I too prefer non-overdone cars as well, especially well-preserved originals.

bhill2

Yeah, that would be about right. For some reason I really liked the looks of the late '60s Ambassadors (I was kind of an offbeat kid; played the accordion). Anyway, I thought it was really cool (pun intended) that they offered A/C as standard (did I mention that I was kind of an offbeat kid?)

grbeck

The 1967-69 Ambassadors are good looking cars, especially the two-door hardtops.

The problem with AMC cars is that after about 1966 or so, the company really started cutting corners with its products. The company almost went broke in 1967. Assembly quality also took a nosedive starting in the mid-1960s.

magnette

Originally, when they introduced the year distinguishing suffix, it was just to open up a new set of numbers, as some issuing authorities were running out of available numbers, but instead of just having a serial letter, which would have lasted several years, they decided that as testing for cars more than three years old had just been made mandatory, they would have a year letter, so that police etc would be able to tell the age of a car and whether it needed a test or not..It isn't so easy here to tell what age a car is, compared with the annual model year changes in the US at that time.
We had letters starting from A for 1963 (although some counties didn't adopt the system until 1964 so they started from and the car market became distorted within a few years, with a sales slump in Nov/Dec as people waited for the new year plate, so they changed to for 1967, and although E was issued in Jan, they decided to switch to F from August 1967 as supposedly the car market was strong throughout the summer, so they thought it would have little effect with a change every year on August 1st. Needless to say that soon became distorted too. They didn't issue a couple of letters, to avoid confusion with numbers ( I, O ) and didn't use U as it looked too much like V, while Z was also avoided as it wasn't used here at all at that time being reserved only for Irish plates ( both Northern Ireland and the Republic).
We changed again in Aug 1983, to a year prefix, starting from A again, and eventually they changed to a six month new letter as the number of new regstrations increased, but the system changed again in 2001, and we now have a numeric period distinguisher, which changes twice a year, in March and September.
( That must be one of the most boring posts ever on this site, except perhaps for the ten people out there for whom this sort of thing matters - don't even get me started on how they allocated the codes for counties/cities etc, on the old plates)

fintail

I find it interesting. I've known the first year was 1963, I will have to keep 1983 in my head for when things switched. The current method is even weirder. I don't know if any other country handles license plates in such an overcomplicated manner.

fintail

Here's something you won't see every day

"Custom built to exacting CCCP standards" doesn't inspire confidence

Such nice photos of such a monstrosity

This has good bids

Shifty-mobile

Can't be many of these left in this condition

And from this point on the commies became infatuated with Packards - a car owned by the other bad guy would be worth more though

Fancy Studebaker

Fixer-upper

Vintage AMG...big price, but its pretty cool

Nice fintail

New Oldsmobile

andys120

Yugo Cabrio- seller claims "40mpg", suuure, going downhill with a tailwind. It's hard to believe anyone would spend the $$$ for 10 yrs of heated storage.

Armored Packard Limo- I'd wanna see what proof they had the "Uncle Joe" had used it.

'61 220Sb Heckflosse, Wow a first year Fintail what a beaut! You must be tempted even if the "driven daily for 44 years" claims seem inflated.

bumpy

The Soarer is definitely not an everyday sight. I guess the trickle of DOT exemption cars is finally beginning.

Mr_Shiftright

eBay people are totally loony in the claims they make...whether it's that "Joe Stalin drove it" or "Hitler's car brought $6 million and this one should be worth twice that", or that "California black plates bring $500" or "cracks in dashboard easily repaired"-- Yeah, in your dreams.

What a babble-fest.

andre1969

I followed my uncle out to the muffler shop so he could drop off his '03 Corolla to get the catastrophic converter fixed. It's out in kind of a rural/commercial area with a lot of repair/body shops, an Eastern's Motors (where yo' job's yo' credit), etc. On the way back, I noticed what looked like a '55-56 Packard 4-door, 2-tone gray/white, sitting in a yard, next to a burgundy '77-79 T-bird. It looked like it was in pretty good shape. I dunno what model of Packard it was, but it looked kinda small...so a Clipper, maybe? It was a "real" Packard though, not one of those Packardbakers.

Also saw a standard-sized '61 Ford 2-door sedan in someone's yard, in a pale blue. Looked good from a distance. And back, closer to home (muffler shop's about 11 miles away), I saw a well-maintained '79-81 New Yorker 5th Avenue pass me in a turn lane while I was stopped at a traffic light. It had some kind of sporty looking rims on it, gold with kind of a spoke pattern. I think these were common on Miradas and Cordobas, but dunno if they were available on R-bodies. I have seen them swapped onto them though.

Kinda interesting, for a car they only made a handful of (~15000 in 1979, ~3000 in 1980, and probably only a few hundred in 1981), and tended to get subjected to taxi duty and used up, that I've spotted two of them recently in my neighborhood...in addition to mine. And it's not like I saw the same one twice. I saw another one a few months ago, and this one was in much nicer shape.

Oh, and my uncle's Corolla had a happy ending. The dealer had originally tried to milk my uncle for $1500 to replace the converter, while some local shop estimated $2000! But this muffler shop was able to do it for $582.

imidazol97

Wouldn't Toyota handle the catalytic converter free? It's a Toyota. Or wasn't it covered under a 5 year 50 thousand miles EPA pollution warranty?

Was it a Cavalier sedan 1954? link title

fintail

I think that is an excellent looking fintail, and indeed first year for NA imports (but production begain in September '59), but nope, I'm not tempted. I've already got one of those things chained to me, that's enough for now lol.

I'm leaning towards maybe an old motorcycle if I get another toy...I can't afford most cars I really want, not to mention store them.

fintail

Today I saw some unusual sights...a really nice looking 65 Mustang fastback, a 56 Chevy 2 door post with the 70s looking rod treatment, a Dodge Dakota convertible, and the highlight, a breathtaking '46 Ford woodie keeping up with 60mph traffic on I-90.

andre1969

Wouldn't Toyota handle the catalytic converter free? It's a Toyota. Or wasn't it covered under a 5 year 50 thousand miles EPA pollution warranty?

Unfortunately, this thing was pretty far out of warranty. It has about 140,000 miles on it, and I think they're only required to cover pollution controls up to 100,000 miles.

As for the Packard, I've browsed some pics online, and I'm leaning toward a 1956. Next time I'm up that way, I might stop to have a look. In addition to the Packard and T-bird, there were also some interesting looking (to me, at least), late 70's/early 80's domestic hulks.

fintail

I saw this handsome old beast today - took it out for a drive with an old friend who wanted to check out the new diesels at the MB dealership. Of course a salesman approached us and had to look at it...he was amazed by the wood in the car, of all things.

Apparently Lemko has moved up here too

imidazol97

>Apparently Lemko has moved up here too

What year Porsche is that in his drive?

Actually the other drive has two leSabres and a Chevrolet wagon in it. What years are those?

fintail

I think the Chevy is a '66, with the LeSabres being from the late 80s of course. Someone who has a set of vehicles like that must be an old school GM-lover. I bet there's a big old Caddy in the garage. Maybe a long-lost relative of his.

The Porsche is actually an oldie too, ca. mid 70s.

fintail

In the past 24 hours I have seen 3 LR Defenders - a white 4 door, a white 2 door, and a yellow 2 door.

magnette

The GAZ Chaika might be fun - I've got a 1/43rd model of one of those, although I suspect parts aren't going to be available from the local car part factors..

I also like the Vespa 400 - they never officially imported them into UK, apart from the Channel Islands (Jersey/Guernsey etc), and they were LHD, but there are a few here - I've seen them at car shows. Saw a lime green one once running through Paris, clouds of smoke billowing out of it's exhaust, and making a terrible racket.