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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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The big one... from the mid-80s?
Grand Wagoneer
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If it was a real 4.5 liter supercharged Bentley, 1929-31 with correct chassis, body and engine, you just saw over $2 million bucks putting up that hill!
One of them was idling. Sounded almost as sophisticated as the Briggs and Stratton in my grandparents' old 1969 Montgomery Ward tractor. Probably about as good for the enviroment too, and probably almost as powerful! :P
Here's a Kombi. Prewar engine technology with oddball structural design...I am sure you noticed a slight blue haze if one was actually running. The model T of the DDR, a few million were built, makes even an early VW look like a Bentley.
I want to hate the things for the system they represent, and their unreliability...but I see a little charm in something so simple.
I do to but the fact is the Trabant was a pretty advanced design when it was introduced in 1962. Back then there weren't many FWD cars anywhere (Minis and Citroens were about it.) and plastic bodywork was found only on Corvettes and Lotuses (Loti?).
The Trabi was a kind of Commie 2CV, simple yet advanced.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I think these look very European...kinda cool
I didn't know these came so stripped down...future lowrider
I've never heard of this trim level
Lots of blue
What a balanced and well-rounded piece of styling art
Someone got suckered into trying to restore a fintail...but someone is paying a little anyway
Not many left like this, impressive
Andre/lemko-mobile
That '57 Coronet is really sweet, though. I always thought the '57 Dodges were a bit heavy-handed up front, so the '58 facelift was, IMO, one rare case where the '58 model came off looking better than the '57! Still, I wouldn't mind having one.
Love that '72 Delta 88, as well. I never cared for the peaks between the headlights, but otherwise I think it's a nice looking car. I like the way GM actually tried to do a somewhat sporty, driver's oriented dashboard on those earlier 70's full-sizers. A time when Olds was viewed as a step up, rather than one step closer to Social Security!
My auto encyclopedia doesn't break out separate trim levels for that Riviera, so I guess that was just an option package. I don't think I've ever seen a '75-76 Riv with bucket seats and a console shift. Pretty cool. Price seems somewhat reasonable too.
That '61 Ninety-Eight is nice, too. I heard that Olds sort of got the short end of the stick with that year's facelift. The Buicks were pretty popular, and good looking cars, but that front end on the Olds makes it look smaller than it is. I like 'em, because of that clean, trim look, but I guess a lot of buyers thought it made them look TOO small!
I don't think I've ever seen a Regal that stripped down, either. Seems like the '78-80 models were pretty common with vinyl, but I can't recall seeing an '81 or newer model with it. And while a/c was still optional on them, I'd imagine it was rare to find one without it by that timeframe. I guess that rust-out on the rear bumper was a common problem by that time. My '82 Cutlass Supreme had rust in that same spot...only rust on the car. My grandma's '85 LeSabre started rusting out pretty badly in the bumper, as well. It was just starting to blemish through the chrome plating, but when I got up under the car, it was a lot worse than it initially looked.
That '61 Fintail is really sweet looking. I imagine that sliding roof must have been a pricey option back then. They're a little off on Cadillac pricing though...according to my old car book, the cheapest Caddy, a Series 62 hardtop coupe, started at around $4900, and the Sedan DeVille was around $5500. Getting into the more exotic Caddies, the Eldorado convertible was $6477, the Sixty Special was $6233, and the Series 75 was $9533-$9748. It was also pretty easy to option up a mid-priced car into more expensive territory. Last year at one of the local shows, I saw a '61 DeSoto 4-door hardtop, a car with a $3167 base price. However, this one had its window sticker, and was close to $5000. It was just about fully loaded though, with a/c, power windows/locks, etc. Air conditoning itself was probably $450-500 by that time.
What would the base price have been on a Fintail of that vintage? Also, I guess when you figure that one has crank windows and a manual tranny, and doesn't look like it has a/c, I'd imagine if you tacked those options on, the price would have been astronomical!
This is an odd thing to notice, I guess, but I like the way they were able to store the spare tire, vertically, out of the way in the rear fender well. I've seen old domestic cars from the 50's where they'd try to store the spare upright, but it wasn't tucked away against the edge so neatly, so it wasted a lot of space. A lot of cars would just have the spare stowed flat off to the side, or up towards the rear axle. They'd still have a lot of trunk space, just by virtue of being so big in general, but there was nothing efficient about it. GM's downsized 1978 intermediates stowed the spare in that same fashion, which opened up a lot of trunk space. And even though they usually came with a compact spare, the space was big enough for a standard-sized tire. Chrysler tried something similar in the 1979 R-bodies, where the compact spare tucked in neatly on the side. Unfortunately though, if you had a full-sized spare, it wouldn't fit down in there. I have my old Gran Fury's extra big copcar spare in my 5th Ave's trunk, and it seems to take up nearly half the space!
Our 1969 Volvo had it that way, and it made for a huge trunk.
My 1986 Mazda 323 had the tire upright on the left side, and combined with the square shape, that small car had a huge trunk. Nice and tall too, since there wasn't a spare on the floor.
I miss that little car.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
In '94, I bought a used '88 Mazda 323 GTX.. AWD and turbocharged..
It came with some previous issues, but I loved that little car. Unfortunately, I had to dump it about 18 months later.
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Funny how I survived driving a car with 82 HP and 92 lb/ft (ft/lb? I can never rememebr)
Even took it on the highway and lived to tell the tale!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Cool sport seats, german style crank-back metal sunroof.. Locking center differential.. Euro rubber spoiler package (a little over the top).
Turns out it had been abused before I got it... Cracked transfer case... When I lost a cylinder, I had to dump it.. It was going to be over $3000 to repair a car that I only paid $5K for..
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Well somebody's going to get the car at 1/3 the cost of buying and fixing it.
Back in those days, a Mercedes sedan was still something for a nonconformist - a college professor or an eccentric doctor etc. Power windows were never available on any fintail (and I don't think MB got power seats until the late 70s, maybe not until the W126), and AC was a dealer installed item. Vinyl interiors were standard, with cloth and leather being extra-cost options. Automatics are seen primarily on later fintails. Maybe 5-10% of 6cyl cars have a sunroof, it is a really cool item. It's certainly not American style luxury, and I am sure more than one original buyer wasn't thrilled with it when moving from a Caddy or Lincoln. Regarding your space-efficiency note, I will say the car is very well laid-out, and the visibility with the wraparound rear window and wide windshield is excellent.
A couple things irk me about that ebay car, seeing as so much money was spent...I don't think the wood is supposed to be so glossy, and the exhaust tip is incorrect. Trivial items, but if I spent 25K I would want it right!
model, it looked just like this one>
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
As easy as it is to rag on the 1974 GTO, truth be told it was only a $195 option, so it did give you a lot of bang for the buck. And it's not like Ford was putting out anything comparable. You could get a 220 hp 460...in a Torino or LTD, or the Mercury equivalents. Top Nova engine that year wsas a 185 hp 350. You could get a 275 hp 455 in a Cutlass, though. That must've been a screamer. By the old gross rating, that would've been around 400 hp! The Omega's top engine, though, was just a 180 hp 350, 4-bbl I'm guessing. The Buick Apollo's 350 was 175 hp. Pontiac forced you to go with a wussy 155 hp 350 2-bbl as the top engine in the Ventura...unless you opted for that GTO package. Oh, and back to Buick again, you could get a 245 hp 455 in the Century/Regal. In the heavier Centurion, that engine was good for 0-60 in around 8.7 seconds, so I imagine in a midsize it was good for around 8.
I think some of the most brutal domestics by 1974 were actually the Dart/Duster 360. 245 hp, in a lightweight package. They were also still offering a 440 with 275 hp in cars like the Coronet and Charger. Very muscular for '74 (again, probably about 400 hp gross). But nobody wanted a powerful engine like that in the wake of the oil embargo.
A car can tell you a LOT about what's going on in a country, don't you think?
One thing puzzled me about that restored SE. The seller kept referring to it as a 200SE. I had never heard of one of those, at least in this country. I can't make out the badge on the one rear view given. Could it be a gray market car or is the seller confused?
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Thanks. I wondered about that. I knew that there were 200's (in both gas and diesel form, I believe), but in the smaller body. I thought maybe they stuck it in the larger body as a more economical alternative to the 220SE. Kind of like the 300SE in the late '80s.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
I had a W126 300SE, good car.
German subcompact
Nothin but class
Not many like this
A good old name
Lemko-mobile
"Also Know as a Stretch, Opera, or Gold Edition" - also known as something else, not fit to be repeated
Andre-mobile
It's been a rough 30 years
Nice early 107 in an amusing period color
Like a new car
That '78 Electra Limited is nice, too. Of course, you just HAD to pick one that's just around the corner, relatively speaking, from where Lemko lives! Might just tempt him into dumping that '88 Electra he has and replacing it with this one!
And I REALLY like that '79 Newport. Even though it's somewhat basic compared to the two NYers I have, I almost prefer it that way. No power windows to fail...had two fail on my 5th Ave, and one has failed on my NYer. The 318-2bbl on that Newport can hit lower 20's on the highway. Maybe 12-14 around town, but that's still better than the 10-12 I get with my 360-2bbls. Haven't had the "new" one on a long enough highway stretch to see how it would do, but the 5th Ave gets maybe 15.5. The 2-bbl on the 360 looks like it's about twice the size of the one on the 318, so that might be why it's such a guzzler. 4-bbl would probably be more economical in this case!
Plus, I really like that interior pattern. I swear, for just being a Newport, I don't think it looks downscale from what's in my NYer. And I like the blackout dash trim on the Newport better than the "Driftplood" of the 5th Ave, or the "Roseplood" or whatever it's supposed to be on the base NYer.
I don't know what it is, about the Mopar R-body, that's always attracted me to it. In retrospect, it's really not that great of a car. But, IMO at least, it's Chrysler's last stab at a full-sized car. And when I slip behind the wheel of one, it just feels, well..."right", somehow. I dunno...it's hard to explain.
Zimmer -- I see they are on a 21-day auction schedule. Now THAT'S optimism. Were they expecting crowds at the opening?
Riley Hot Rod: Seems like a very cool car and probably worth the current bid, but that 302 Ford V-8 is vastly over-carbed. Maybe the rear carb is a dummy for show? Probably needs some re-engineering here.
And regarding that Riley...I don't care for that interior or steering wheel at all - I would prefer them to be closer to stock. But othereise, a cool resto-rod.
I think one thing that always attracted me to the R-body is that, compared to the downsized GM and Ford big cars, the Mopars just seem sleeker. They are a couple inches lower, coming in at something like 54.5". In comparison, I think my grandma's '85 LeSabre was 56.7" tall. The windshield on the R's is a bit more rakish, too, along with the front. The Ford products are almost brick-like in comparison, and they just seemed stubby, overall. And the GM cars had that thing going on where the hood and the rear deck sloped down. I prefer the R-body, the way the rear deck is almost level. Might not work with a taller car like the Fords and GMs, but with the Mopars, it made them look sleeker. First time I drove one though, it took awhile to get used to. I'd see the decklid in the rearview mirror and think that the trunk wasn't closed all the way!
The frameless door windows also give them a cleaner, customized look. Unfortuantely though, on the NYer models, with the thick, padded spacer window in back, they were prone to leaking.
And it wasn't really a new car anyway was it? Just a rehash of an existing platform IIRC...so they worked with what they had.
Yeah, they were basically a heavily modified version of the 1971-78 midsizers (well, through 1979 if you count the Cordoba/Magnum). That's probably why they were long and low compared to Ford's and GM's cars. Whereas GM/Ford could afford to come out with a clean sheet design (although I'm still convinced that GM's '77 downsized cars are derived from their '73-77 intermediates), Chrysler just squared up what they had. And since the older 70's cars were low, the R-bodies ended up being low. And then, to give them full-sized dimensions, they had to stretch out the wheelbase a bit.
I am sure it is a nice car to take a nap in
Well, try to take one down a narrow, twisting mountain road, and it'll get the adrenalin pumping. Not so much in a canyon-carving BMW type of way, but more like in "The Long, Long Trailer", when Ricky was trying to pilot that rig through the Rockies! :P Most reviewers at the time did rate them well below their Ford/GM rivals in ride and handling. I do know, though, that my '79 Newport handled a lot better than my grandma's '85 LeSabre. Now that's probably something like saying a Boeing 747 is more nimble than its Airbus equivalent, but I could tell the difference. That Newport had a handling package on it though, that beefed up the tires and wheels (15x7 wide offset), and had a few other tweaks. Neither of the two NYers I have now handle as well as that Newport did, but I can't remember how they compared to Grandma's LeSabre.
Whenever I see big cars of that era, I think of being driven around and taking a nap, due to the huge T-Bird my parents had when I was very little, which I remember sleeping in.
This car looked to be trimmed out in between a Catalina and a Bonneville and the Grille looked vaguely like that of a GP but it didn't have the extra pair of lights in the grille.
Also I saw a very nice pale yellow Cadillac Eldo Biarritz, ca. 1976 parked at the supermarket.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Another reason Hitchcock should of gotten an Oscar. Tough doing creepy killer bird pictures in an era of musicals. If only he did a musical about killer birds- after all Spamalot had a killer bunny...
That is the smallest they ever made, was called the "prosperity six". It is basically a depression special, the car to go for is the model after that one...
The riley seems a waste to me, they ran a nice twin cam 2.5L Four and went well.. I guess it is still on the road and looks kinda standard. It would certainly shift itself with that ford motor..
[quote\]"Also Know as a Stretch, Opera, or Gold Edition" - also known as something else, not fit to be repeated[\quote]
"also known as something else, not fit to be repeated" is most apropriate
Lots of old car sightings in that movie, too. When all the kids are running from the school house, Tippi Hedren and a couple of the school girls take shelter in a 1960 Dodge Polara 4-door hardtop wagon.1 I think they only made 1000-2000 of those.
There was also a 1951 Plymouth hardtop and a 1941 Studebaker pickup. I'd imagine both of these would be a pretty rare find today. There was also a Mercedes Fintail.
And here's that Aston Martin.
One thing that always bugged me about that movie, though...Rod Taylor drove a 1961 or so Ford Galaxie. Whatever happened to that car? I could understand them trying to make a run for it in the Aston, versus the truck, because the Aston would have been faster. But considering those birds could tear a hole in the roof of a house, and peck through the door, I think I'd rather be in a closed sedan, than a soft-top! :confuse:
Could have been for dramatic effect, though. Originally there was supposed to be a scene where the birds swarm down on the Aston, and the soft top does get torn away, but they eventually outrun the flock. Wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic in a closed car, I guess. That scene never got filmed though, so they just left the movie end, as is.
Oh, and if you want killer bunnies, check out "Night of the Leepus". Seriously...they made a movie about giant killer bunnies! It had DeForest Kelley in it, and some of the coolest miniatures I've ever seen. I swear the sets would look real until all these cute little pet store bunnies start hopping onto the screen, and then you know it CAN'T be real.
Then there was "Food of the Gods", a 1976 Bert I Gordon movie. The main killers were giant rats, which were pretty cool, but the giant killer chicken just took the cake!
That fintail is odd...it's a lowline W110, apparently missing a hubcap, and wearing a strange roof rack/container, which resembles a German wartime fuel generator container. Looks like one of those cars had been pressed into commercial service even by that time in the states.
And on the subject of the film, here's a pic I took a few years ago, that someone commented looked like a background scene from the film
I like the little diagram down by the gearshift that's shaped like the car...custom parts!
Fixer-upper
The things that Canada gets...
Probably the best of these left
Someone kept the miles off this, while still using it
Last of the elegant styles, with good history
Oh the French
As seen on TV
It's right at home in Texas
In the dictionary under 'period colors'
These usually didn't survive so well
Zimmer -- now there's a car I REALLY don't get. They look hideous to me. The styling is actually insulting to the history of automotive design.
KARNS-- very interesting. Certainly worth it if the research pans out.