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

magnette

Another bumper crop - particularly liked the Hudson Woody, which looked stylish, and also the Airflow - a car way ahead of it's time ( as with the DS, which is of course a more familiar car, but still revolutionary)
I also liked the Rambler wagon - I had a Dinky toy of one of those, or at least a close relative

fintail

Yep, the Dinky Rambler was somehow one of the more popular models of the time, produced in many different colors and two-tone patterns

magnette

Yes, I did have that one, too, although mine was (is) green with a pink flash, but Dinky later made a version which was closer to the one in the e-bay ad. I've still got the model, here, and I will try to photograph it - it was number 193, and mine is yellow with a white roof, and white tyres.
( I love the way the spellcheck on this site tries to change tyres for tires...)

fintail

I don't have that model, but via obsessing about the toys in various collectors books when I was younger, I know about them. I prefer the earlier models without windows.

On the Dinky note, I did recently pick up 5 military Dinky models from a friend who cleaned out his grandparents basement. I also got some Schuco toys.

Mr_Shiftright

Better yet, just shoot the owner now:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/759355207.html

oregonboy

Dang! Is that a TR under that... that... drek?

I am particularly fond of the way the license plate was molded into the "Lincolnesque" spare-tire hump. And certainly the quad-exhaust tips add panache. :sick:

andys120

Dang! Is that a TR under that... that... drek?

Worse, it's a '68 TR-250, possibly the best Triumph ever sold here. :mad: :sick:

fintail

Hilarious. I bet that was done in the 70s. I hope it was.

magnette

Here is my Dinky Toy Rambler Cross Country

bumpy

I like the old-school cleated truck tires on it. :P

bumpy

I saw some sort of FWDfront-engine-type Porsche on Friday... 951 Turbo? :confuse:

fintail

Spotted a ca. 1972 Pontiac convertible today....a dark burgundy color, a huge old thing in excellent condition...made me think of something Andre would want.

fintail

Looks like it survived decently. I like the white-tired models, just as I like grey wheeled Matchbox.

magnette

It's funny - the old model cars have being sitting in a couple of old boxes in my mother's attic for about 35 years, and now I have brought them back to London, so I am dragging them out and cleaning them up - this one seems to have survived better than most, as I went through a phase of "painting" some of them when I was a kid, so I have some which are really terrible, or alternatively look like they've been in a bad crash. These aren't going to sell for thousands at some auction...
It is a strange feeling looking through things, once so familiar, which I haven't seen for decades...

fintail

I find that fingernail polish remover is good at removing childhood painting exercises, sometimes it takes some hard rubbing though...and be careful of plastic windows. To clean the paint I use a simple automotive cleaner wax, applied firmly but very thinly,as you don't want to have to spend time cleaning the dried wax out of the little cracks later on. Generally the only cars from this era that bring thousands are in their original packaging and are pristine...but it's not about the money.

Mr_Shiftright

Porsche 928?

The FrankenTriumph--- yes, a TR250. This offense deserves the death penalty.

andys120

I saw some sort of FWDfront-engine-type Porsche on Friday... 951 Turbo

Possibly you saw a 968. There were/are only a handful of different Porsches with their motors in front: Types 924/944/968/928/Cayenne and variants thereof.

bumpy

It was one of those '80s hatchback things that had about half a dozen engines in them over the years. The model name was a decal in the lower left rear just below the hatch glass.

kyfdx

I don't remember the 968 ever being available as a turbo... Had to be a 924/944 if turbo, I think..

omarman

I don't remember the 968 ever being available as a turbo... Had to be a 924/944 if turbo, I think..

Yeah, I think the Host has it right.

Type 944 was left hand drive and 945 was the right hand drive model, while type 951 was the LHD Turbo version and type 952 was the RHD Turbo.

Something like that.

magnette

I know we had the 924 and 944 here in Britain, but I'm not familiar with the 945 - and the Turbo was just 944 Turbo, I don't think it was called 952.

lemmer

924, 944 and 968 were the actual models. The rest of the nonsense is just internal codes.

kyfdx

'74? In dirty white with a Starsky and Hutch stripe in cranberry... It's unreal how far the fenders hang out over the wheels on the '70s cars..

Mr_Shiftright

That's to aid in the foul handling characteristics needed to do 360s in crime movies.

explorerx4

a caravan of 6 rv's towing trailers(5 enclosed). all members of the model t club. i think it's the 100th aniversary celebration.
also, a couple of nice old tbirds, a white 50's square bird (it looked good except a droopy right rear spring) and an early 60's black convertible with the pratt and whitney jet exhaust lights in the rear.

Mr_Shiftright

I really like Model Ts. My dream is to build a Model T Speedster someday.

fintail

I saw something on TV the other day about the Model T anniversary celebration.

One of those would make a good in town commuter....I think if you now how to drive one properly, 30mpg isn't a stretch. They can cruise along at 30-40 and are light and should be easy to maneuver. Of course no niceties like ac or airbags or seatbelts or crumple zones (or windows on many models)...but that's what you pay for practicality.

I like Model Ts too, especially the early brass models, the center door sedan for its oddity, and the pickups seem like neat little things.

oregonboy

That's to aid in the foul handling characteristics needed to do 360s in crime movies.

I have observed that "chase scenes" in movies are frequently shot on wet pavement for just that reason; to facilitate the big slides and fishtails. Sometimes, the streets are wet, even though, in the previous scene it was sunny and dry. :P

Mr_Shiftright

I think wet streets help but you can get a powerful 60s car sideways pretty easily. The wet streets just give you more control of the mayhem from the 1935-era suspensions.

andre1969

Heck, it wasn't hard to get my '68 Dart to do a 180 if you power-braked it, and then let off the brakes and cut the wheel at the same time. It was also really easy to make it spin out. Same with my '67 Catalina, although I never tried the 180 thing. The Catalina would actually spin out more easily than the Dart, so I'm sure it wouldn't have been hard to get it to do a 180 or other treacherous things.

My 70's cars...not so easy. My '79 5th Ave will spin out in wet weather with little provocation though. I remember once with my '76 LeMans though, I went to stomp on it and the damn thing stalled! :surprise:

explorerx4

my 16 year old just got her driver's license this week. a few years ago we went to the henry ford museum and she sat in a model t. the lady working there said that 'back then', you didn't need a license, you just had to be able to reach the pedals. my daughter could reach the pedals and asked us to get a model t many times. i don't know if it is still at the top of her list.

fintail

This evening I spotted a nice red Porsche 356 with a sunroof shortly followed by a yellow Smart car...kind of an odd pair.

Getting a Model T for a kid...would that be a gift or punishment for some? I would have actually liked that.

Mr_Shiftright

I'll tell you one thing. If a kid learned to drive a Model T successfully, they could drive ANYTHING.

lemko

...driving a Model T was a chore. Just to get it started didn't you have to adjust the spark via a lever on the steering wheel, pull out the choke, and then crank it and hope the crank didn't fly back and break your arm? From what I've read, the car was shifted via three pedals marked A-B-C.

magnette

Here, we don't have kids driving until they are 17, as that is the earliest they can learn to drive on the roads. (They are allowed to drive mopeds and some other stuff like tractors in farm areas etc at 16, I think) It always seems amazing that you can drive a car at 16 in US, although it may be possible to do so in some European countries, too - I don't know about that.
When you take the test, presumably most people in America do so in an automatic. Do you still have the right to drive manual cars if that is the case ? Here, if you pass a test on an automatic (which must be quite rare - probably more likely to be elderly people) then your licence is only valid for automatics, and you have to take a whole new test for a manual transmission licence.
Once you pass your test here, however, it is valid until you are 70, so a kid of 17 won't need another licence until 2061. When someone turns 70 they have to apply for a new licence every 3 years, but only have to answer a short medical questionnaire.
(I think if someone gets banned for a serious offence like dangerous driving, the court can impose a re-test on the offender, at the end of the ban period...)

texases

"It always seems amazing that you can drive a car at 16 in US"

It's not amazing, it's scary! What's worse, in Texas, at least, a 15 year old can drive if he gets a 'hardship license', which isn't hard to do. Like giving a drunk a live hand grenade, IMHO...as for transmissions, as far as I know in the US a license is a license, no limitations regarding transmissions. You do have to get a separate motorcycle license/endorsement.

Mr_Shiftright

In America, you don't have to demonstrate competence for most dangerous things you want to do. On my Carspace page is a video of a 5 year old girl firing a 30 caliber machine gun.

Still there's no reason why a 16 year old cannot be taught to be a very good driver from the get-go.

bumpy

with that funky sort of multi-tone, multi-stripe paint job that you never see anymore, and it was a fenderside to boot.

fintail

A one year difference isn't too bad...I don't have a problem with the idea of 16 year olds driving...it's only some 16 year olds that worry me, and they continue to be worrisome at 26. I suspect a only small fraction of 16 year olds can drive a manual, and I will admit it has been so long since I have driven one, I am sure I would be quite lurchy.

What could be really amazing is that in nearly all situations one cannot legally purchase alcohol in the US until the age of 21, and in some areas cannot even legally consume it until that age. That's more wild than driving at 16, IMHO.

lemmer

I could shift great at 16. My problem is that I couldn't seem to stop for stop signs, wait for passing zones to pass or take my foot off the gas pedal for any length of time (to stay on topic this was done in my '78 Scirocco, now an obscure car).

andys120

I saw a pretty nicely kept Gen II (1982-'89) Scirocco yesterday, dark grey metallic.

texases

Given the number of enthusiasts and tuners that worked on Gen I/II Sciroccos and Rabbits, I guess I'm disappointed that so few are still on the road. I can't remember the last time I saw one.

kyfdx

Ashes to ashes...

Rust to rust...

lemmer

Not only were they incredibly unreliable, they were apparently made out of 3rd world tin. Mine only had a little rust, but was very much structurally fatigued by the time my brother and I were done with it at 160K miles.

texases

I guess they improved a little by the time I got my '83 GTI - 12 years in Anchorage, salt on the roads, no rust. And the '79 Scirocco I had in Dallas, no rust, of course.

toomanyfumes

My '75 Rabbit rusted until the front control arm broke off of the frame. This was in about '82.

I saw a Renault Encore moving under it's own power tonight. It looked like it was in good shape.

boomchek

I saw a Renault Encore moving under it's own power tonight

The Renault gave an Encore performance by doing such a feat. Hence it's name.

lemko

...a red 1990 Buick Park Avenue! They changed the hood ornament from the rectangle with a slash through it to a red, white, and blue tri-shield. At first glance the car looked good until I saw the very tattered grey leather interior. The paint was good, but the interior awful. The interior on my car looks great, but the paint is awful. Of course if I had both cars and swapped the interiors, you'd end up with a rather tacky-looking red car with a blue plush interior.

lemko

Maybe this car was an Encore because it was on its second engine?

fintail

Has to be one of the nicest remaining...I've always kind of liked them

Ouch

Unusual name

Generous use of the word "classic"

Cute little thing

Nice preservation

Almost new

Fins

Cool in its own way

Amusing

Questionable use of resources

This would be cool to have

Rare fintail

A few wrong things here

Handsome beast

Uncommon