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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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I know of that old color you mention, that was named 'tobacco brown', and in the old days 'Havana brown'. I have seen late fintails and even a 6.3 in that color. Not my first choice!
james
This is how it looks in a normal setting - this pic is from the Sunday before last I like to think of my car as in a condition it might have been in ca. 1968, so I guess they can work with that.
Looked nice and clean, but the best part? It was barney purple, otherwise looked stock.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Might have to stop and check it out one day.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Volvo
james
1991 Geo Metro Convertible
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I don't think I'd buy a car from someone who didn't even know the correct name for it. :sick:
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Even if it isn't technically correct, it is certainly the common name for it, so I don't really see the problem using the P.
The price isn't really out of line if the thing is in great shape. Really depends on what, if anything, it needs. Maybe a little optomistic, but not crazy. I would easily go $7,500 on it.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Lots of bidding on this
Expensive rebodied SL
More akward brother to the 2CV
Doesn't look like a bad old beast
Very green Andremobile
Not many designo W210 E55s were sold in NA, perhaps a couple dozen per model year...not surprisingly
I don't really get those wood and leather colors either - very Lexus-like, not MB. Sometimes I think my dark grey-on-dark grey-with dark wood E55 is somewhat somber and cold...but at the same time, it isn't pretentious, and it suits the car.
It's a total basket case, but looks like it's being restored. Sitting outside the shop that my buddy with the two Mark V's uses. I dropped my Intrepid off there to have him check the suspension and a/c, and that's when I saw it. There was a whole slew of other old stuff out there, including a few other 1960 Dodges. One of my buddy's Mark V's was there, too, unfortunately looking a little worse for wear.
When I go to pick the Trep up, I'm going to try and remember to take my camera with me.
He also had the shell of a 1960 Plymouth wagon, stripped down to literally nothing but the windshield. It's kinda funny, but once you strip everything off that car, especially the front end clip, the bare body shell actually has a sort of beauty to it.
But I will mention this: While walking to work yesterday, I spotted a well-known member of Congress driving a rather ratty-looking 5th Avenue. It had to be an '84 or '85, I think. Maybe congressmen don't wish to be seen sometimes?
That style of Cordoba was known as the J-body. However, it was based on the M-body (5th Ave, Diplomat/Gran Fury), which itself was based on the F-body (Aspen/Volare). The 1981-83 Imperial was also based on the J-body, but I can't remember if it carried its own platform designation or not.
The old 1971-78 intermediates (actually, the Cordoba/Magnum variants made it through 1979) were known as the B-body. The 1980-83 Cordoba/Mirada were big cars, though, around 210" long, riding a 112.7" wheelbase. While they were "downsized" from the old Cordoba/Magnum, and shed around 600 lb or more, they didn't lose much length. The older cars were around 215" long, on a 115" wheelbase, so the new models really didn't appear that much smaller. That could be one reason they sold poorly, in those fuel-starved recession years. That, plus the fact that Chrysler was on the ropes, and a lot of people probably didn't want to take the risk in ending up with an orphan.
In contrast, when the Monte Carlo was downsized for 1978, it went from a 116" wheelbase to a 108.1", while overall length probably went from around 215" to 200-202. The T-bird, downsized for 1980, saw a similar shrinkage.
Despite all that extra length though, the Cordoba/Mirada weren't all that big inside...not space-efficient at all. Basically, the length of a 1980 Caprice with the interior room of a 1980 Monte Carlo.
In 1980, at least, you could order the Cordoba/Mirada with a 360-4bbl engine that put out 180-185 hp. Short of a Corvette, turbo Trans Am, or maybe a Camaro Z-28, that was about the most power you could get out of a domestic that year. 0-60 came up in a blistering 10 seconds. :sick: Most of them just had the strangled 120 hp 318-2bbl, but some of them had the sickly 85 hp slant six 1-bbl too.
Yeah, I think it did go up through 1989. I've always heard horror stories about it, but I've had three cars with it...a '79 Newport with a 318 and two NYers with 360's. My '89 Gran Fury was a police car, and while it had the little box for the Lean Burn, I don't think it actually had anything in it. So with police cars, they may have been a bit more lenient.
Supposedly, it's not TOO major of an undertaking to switch a car from Lean Burn to a regular electronic ignition setup. I think you have to replace the carburetor, distributor, ECU box, and then either drill a hole in the intake manifold to run the vacuum advance hose for the distributor, or get an intake off of a pre-Lean Burn car.
Now that I've found a mechanic who's not afraid to work on old cars, I might look into converting my two New Yorkers.
Back when Accords were small
Before we had crossovers
Lots of blue
Nice bustleback
O r its predecessor
This needs a club, as every car thief wants it
New K-car
Good project
Early fintail
Rare fintail
Big but not so useful
Seems kinda spartan for one of these
Those cars aren't very space-efficient, but that trunk looks HUGE!! Almost makes that spare tire look like a space saver.
I like the '83 Delta, as well. It is kind of spartan, but that was actually the base model by then. In 1976, the top model was called Royale, but by '83 the cheap model was Royale, the next step up was Royale Brougham, and then at the top of the heap they had the Royale Brougham LS. I never liked that center cap on those rally wheels, though. My '82 Cutlass Supreme had the Rallys, but it had a smaller center cap that left the lugs exposed. I wonder if you could fit that center cap on the Delta's Rally?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
1987 Civic 4X4 -- one of those unheralded but really neat little cars. Worth every penny at $1,900 if it's clean and runs well.
Cadillac Bustleback-- epitomizes everything wrong about Cadillac in the 1980s. Signaling the death of a great marque IMO. And to think, before WWII Cadillacs were made with silver inlay in the door panels! Asking price is optimistic but you never know. Some people love freaks.
59 Imperial---that club might be to beat the bidders into submission. They seem to be laying down on the job. I rather like this car for the freak show effect. You sort of look at it and say "oh my god!" It's like a lab experiment gone horribly wrong.
1937 Frankenbenz: Ay, carumba! One would be much better off finding a correct engine for this car. Putting in a 280SE engine is borderline nuts on a rare car of this type. Hopefully, some bidder will be more sober than the seller about this. Save me from the barbarians!
83' Oldsmobile--doesn't the navy need something like this for gunnery practice?
The Imperial from that era I really like is the 1960. The '57-58 were nice, although the '57 with single headlights looked really awkward. The '59 is kind of heavy-handed looking. The '60 just has a glittery, handsome look to the front that I find attractive. The fins are a bit over-the-top, though. Actually, the whole car is. But it just looks, well, "proud" of it, somehow!
I thought 1980 Sevilles used a 145 hp Caddy 368? Upon looking in my old car book, it looks like the Diesel 350 was actually standard, with the Olds gasoline 350 or the Caddy 368 being optional. I wonder why they'd offer two engines so similar in displacement? Maybe the Olds was a California-only engine? I know that GM replaced Pontiac 350/400's with Olds 350/403's for California Pontiacs back in the late 70's, because the Olds was a cleaner running engine. Maybe it was cleaner than the Caddy engine, too?
That Toyopet looks like something that I'd have to pay to have hauled away! :sick:
overloaded vehicles
james
I remember he said he's never buy a GMC, because that was the initials of his mother. Gladys Marie Christian, I think. Evidently, they didn't get along.
Parked on the shoulder of I295 in S. Jersey.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
a 1969 Corvette T-top. 4 speed (hurst T bar shifter).
Had a hi rise (big block) hood, but had 327 painted on it.
Looked OK condition, but the cowling had obviously been replaced (it was unpainted) and the molding/trim at the bottom of the windshield seemed to be missing.
THe real kicker, it was shades of the 70's. Car was white, but had an assorment of blue stripes, and some kind of funky murals painted on it. Very busy paintjob, and didn't look close to new. Seemed to be a real period piece.
Best thing? It had a for sale sign in it!
DId sound OK when the owner fired it up and rumbled away. ANd it did get a lot of looks!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
ON the way in, in a not particularly nice looking neighborhood, was a small lot (can't remember the name, darn it) with some odd stuff.
a chrome bumper MG-B, priced at IIRC $5,995
a MG Midget for $4,995
An early BMW 3 series, white with a black hood (?)
ANd I think a 1972ish mustang.
There was some other stuff that I would have liked to browse at, but I was too busy trying not to wipe out 2 rows of parked cars at the same time.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Main thing I notice about older cars is how low-slung they are compared to modern ones. Even something relatively upright like a downsized late 70's GM midsize or full-size.
And with the high beltlines and tapered front and rear-ends of newer cars, it actually makes the old ones look skinny to me...or I guess the flip side of that is that it makes the new ones look fat?
As for wheels and tires, I know they're wider these, but with regards to overall diameter, has the shrinkage in sidewall kept up with the increase in wheel size? I swear a lot of cars these days look like they're under-tired, even though they might be riding on 16-18" rims.
But yes, old foreign cars like a BWM 2002 or the old British sports cars from the 60s and 70s look quite skinny and awkward from the rear to me at least.
It reminds me that there was a time when foreign and domestic cars were entirely different universes. Stepping from a 60s American car into a 60s foreign sports car was a totally "foreign" experience, quite shocking to the senses.
Now everything is kind of mushed together between foreign and domestics. You don't get that contrast at all.
My other NYer has 225/75/R15's, just mounted on the standard 15x6" rim. When viewed from the front or back, they actually look kinda narrow IMO, but from the side, appear to fill out the wheel well pretty nicely. Stock on these cars was just a 195/75/R15. I imagine those looked awful on a car this size!
My '67 Catalina just has 215/75/R14's, a size that's getting harder to find. I imagine it had bias ply tires when it was new. I think it's a 6" wheel with only 2" of offset and 4" of backspacing (I think that's how they say it). I recently picked up some 15x7 Rally II's for it, which I think have a 3" offset and 4" of backspacing. Can't wait to get them on the car, and see how they look.
Often with older cars, when you got the optional wheels, they tended to stick out more, and had more "depth" to them. So maybe that helped give the wheel well a more filled out look, too.
Most of my old cars have had oversized wheels/tires on them, so sometimes I guess it's easy to forget how they could look in their basic form.
It was the London _ Brighton car run on Sunday, so I was there on Westminster Bridge at 07:00 to watch about 450 veteran cars ( pre 1905 ) clatter rattle and grind over the bridge ( some of them were actually quite silent - but they were electric or steam powered usually..) Too many different weird cars to name but there were a number of unique ones, and a number that were the only one known to have survived etc...
Most common individual model was as always the Oldsmobile Curved-Dash - there must have been at least 20. Also common - DeDion Bouton - they seem to have made so many cars that survived. This year there were loads of Panhard - Levassors, and ahighr than usual number of American cars - the theme was America on Wheels or something...
Also saw a number of other great cars as people with something unusual tend to bring it along for the ride - highlights included
Two Ford Cortina estates ( Mk III & Mk V ) - strange how an everyday car can become a rarity... Also a Mk I Cortina saloon.
Vintage Rolls Phantom
Morris Oxford "Bullnose" - mid 20's
Ford Model T ( actually I cheated there, that one was on Saturday)
Jensen Interceptor - about 1972
Aston Martin seemed to be having a field day - saw several including a rare DB7 Zagato
Several pre-war Austins
Ronart kit-car - looks like a 50's racer, but is a two seater powered by Jag 6
A 1970ish (pre-bash bumper days) Ford Maverick. 2 door, hood scope, V8, back end jacked up a bit with oversized tires. Stick shift 2 (From the sound). Looked pretty clean, but a driver.
No idea what use I would have for it, but fun non the less!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The big one... from the mid-80s?
and... a Subaru SVX
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