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

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Comments

  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I think if I creaked open some old duffer's garage door and saw that car I'd faint on the spot!
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    I can't even imagine stumbling into something like that. If I knew someone who's grandpa had an old car in the garage, and they wanted me to take a look at it, it'd end up being a Chevy Celebrity or something.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,723
    i just read the same story from a different source.
    it's kind of funny to me to think it was only 23 years old, when last driven, and has been sitting around for over twice that long, since then.

    i did see a late 70's green tbird today. not quite the same thing.
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    Cool story. The car looks like it's in decent shape too from the pics.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • hpmctorquehpmctorque Member Posts: 4,600
    " If I knew someone who's grandpa had an old car in the garage, and they wanted me to take a look at it, it'd end up being a Chevy Celebrity or something."

    If it happened to be a '82, the first model year for the Celebrity, you would have discovered Motor Trend's Car Of The Year. Of course, judging from Motor Trend's dismal track record with its cars of the year, that may explain why you chose that model as an example of an unremarkable, forgetable car. Or am I being too kind with those adjectives?
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,670
    ...not exactly as rare or exciting as a Bug Atlantic but I did see a nicely modified '69ish 510 2-door. It had all the period "street-racer" mods, alloy wheels, big tailpipe, discreet front and trunk spoilers, no bumpers and a nice repaint in a shade of light pastel blue that I thought fitting for a car known as the Bluebird in the JDM.

    California plates naturally. ;)

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    It's a car I always somewhat disliked as a kid (whwn they were new)...I especially hated the cheesy dashboard and hilarious fonts used on the instruments. A real dumbed down car, and it would be real fun with a hoary old iron duke 4. Although I will admit its platform clone siblings never really offended me at all, GM did a respectable (for the time period) job of moving them just enough upmarket to be palatable.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    64 Mercury Montclair -- nasty looking thing. I forgot how lost Mercury was in those days.

    Marmon---fine automobile, and first car to win the Indy 500.

    48 Packard Super 8 convertible -- bids are way too low. This car should bring $40K or more.

    1958 Studebaker Wagon -- now that's going to be a b** to restore. One of 159 made? Hope you never crash it.

    AMC Pacer -- well as long as they don't attempt to drive it anywhere. GEEZ, $6700 bid? People are crazy.

    53 Benz diesel -- asking price is mighty, but who knows? If it was a gas car, he could get that $$$ for it, but a diesel, I kinda doubt it. This is a rough little powerplant and absurdly slow. 0-60 in maybe 30 seconds, if ever. Nice for a museum maybe.

    1976 Pontiac Bonneville -- current bid is $100.Does anybody care? Doubt it.
  • bumpybumpy Member Posts: 4,425
    I like that '62 Catalina. Looks just like a straightforward, no-compromises go-fast machine should. The price is pure silliness, though. I could build one from scratch for less than that.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,107
    I like what's in that Catalina, but it goes beyond 'sleeper' to 'comatose', as far as looks go - I'd want something a little flashier. And what does he mean by 'aluminum front end and bumpers'? Did they do the fenders, etc. in aluminum?
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,670
    '64 Mercury-- With all due respect to Shifty, it's a lot better looking than the '59 Monterey I learned to drive on and it's probably a better car,too(at least I can't imagine it being worse!).

    '58 Packardbaker--rare for a reason. You know that but what a sad ending for a once-great marque.

    '62 Pontiac Catalina SD/421--before there were muscle cars the real hot shoes of the early 60s bought these stripper Poncho, Fords and Dodges with big motors, stick shifts, bench seats, dog-dish hub caps and lighter non-hardtop bodywork. The car shown was probably lighter than the typically optioned '64/'65 GTO h/t or 'vert and faster too.

    Sleeper? You bet if it didn't have an engine badge you 'd think it was a police cruiser unless untnotice the stick shift or the big tail pipes. Love it!

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    Actually, the Camaro Z28 was Car of the Year in 1982. I have an old Motortred or C&D from early 1982 that has a road test of a Caprice in it, and they reference the Celebrity in the text. Here we were, at the height of a recession, and GM had to throw heavy incentives to get people to buy Celebrities, while the relatively thirsty Caprices were going out the door at close to MSRP.

    IIRC, the Celebrity didn't even outsell the Malibu, the car it was supposed to replace that year. Even in 1983, I think the numbers were close. However, part of that may have been the model mix. While both offered 4-door sedans, the Malibu had a wagon in '82-83, which the Celeb didn't have until 1984. The Celebrity had a coupe (well really more of a 2-door sedan), while the Malibu dropped the coupe after 1981. The Malibu wagon was pretty popular even in those down years, but the Celebrity coupe was kind of a flop.

    I've joked with my uncle in the past, that if something ever happened and I'd die prematurely, they're gonna have a heck of a time clearing out my estate. He just said nah, they'd call the crusher and clear it out all at once! :surprise:
  • wevkwevk Member Posts: 179
    I believe that Chevy also could be had with an aluminum front end, drag race cars.

    WVK
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,723
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • lokkilokki Member Posts: 1,200
    Somewhere during the depression, my grandfather owned a Marmon. The details of exactly why he choose one are a little fuzzy, but the car was legend in the family for several reasons....

    1. The nicest car the family ever owned... it had a very luxurious interior - to the point of having a pair crystal flower holders.

    2. It was silent.... my grandfather loved to sneak up behind people who were walking along (not always family!) and blow the horn.

    3. It was incredibly powerful... my grandmother once drove it home with the parking brake on and never noticed. She got caught when my grandfather happened to look out the window and notice her coming up the drive - with smoke billowing from every wheel!.

    4. Aluminum body work. My grandfather always claimed some sort of plot by the steel companies stopped car companies from producing aluminum cars after the Marmon.

    I don't know what model it was - My memory says was one of the Marmon Sixteen's but it was probably a Marmon Big 8.

    http://auto.howstuffworks.com/marmon-cars2.htm

    My sister, 1200 miles away) has all the old family photo's - I'll see if I can get her into nostalgia mode deep enough to look for old car pictures! (Wish me luck).

    The pciture below is a 1930 Big 8

    image
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,670
    Man, talk about "off-topic". :sick:

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    post removed for solicitation in the forums.

    Shifty the Host
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,107
    Pretty impressive - talk about a bunch of unobtanium! That one sold for $450,000 at the auction.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    Good luck. Please do find some pics and post them!

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,723
    i guess i should go back and look more closely at that link i posted.
    finding a picture of the chassis was the only thing i was looking for. :blush:
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,862
    I remember that Chevy launched the Cavalier in spring '81 as an '82 model, and the Celebrity later in '81 as an '82 model. Both were lousy launches. Celebritys were slow in getting supply ramped up to dealers, and early ones had transaxle issues right out of the box (I know two people who had new-car trans issues with '82 Celebritys).

    Chevy priced the '82-model Cavalier and Celebrity, for what they were, way too high. In '83 both were reduced in MSRP and content added (and in the case of the Cavalier, the engine bumped from 1.8L to 2.0L). Later on, say '84 and later, both lines were strong sellers.

    Bill
    2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    1976 Pontiac Bonneville -- current bid is $100.Does anybody care? Doubt it.

    Heck, if I could get that thing for $100, I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat! FWIW it's up to $2700 now. It's actually been on eBay for what seems like forever now. It'll usually bid up to $6-7K or more, but never hit the reserve, so then just gets re-listed.

    You'd think that the seller would figure out that it ain't going any higher...he might as well just bite the bullet and sell it while he can, rather than being doomed to repeating history.
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    I'm not surprised the Celebrity was outsold by both the Malibu and Caprice! I remember my friend's family getting a Celebrity as a loaner car when their 1982 Malibu was being repaired after being hit by a drunk driver.

    The car was a tinny mess with wafer-thin doors and seats and a finish with such bad orange peel, the car should've been stamped "Sunkist!" It had a gutless 4-cylinder engine and a weird dashboard where ll the instruments were crammed into this skinny deep-recessed slot. Ads proclaiming the Celebrity as Chevrolet's new direction frightened me more than anything Stephen King could pen!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    $7K is already crazy money for that car. It won't be worth that in ten years IMO.
  • hpmctorquehpmctorque Member Posts: 4,600
    "Actually, the Camaro Z28 was Car of the Year in 1982."

    Thanks for correcting me on this. I think I was misled by the fact that Motor Trend featured a Celebrity on the cover of one of its issues at around the time that model was introduced, so I'm guessing it may have been the September, October, November or December '81 issue. Anyway, in that issue MT praised the Celebrity and described it as the right family car for the time, since it was space and fuel efficient, and featured front wheel drive.

    We can criticize Motor Trend in hindsight, but if GM, and Ford and Chrysler too, for that matter, had delivered good quality, Motor Trend's evaluation of the GM A-bodies would have been reasonable. Let's remember that the superior reliability of the Japanese cars was not nearly as obvious in late '81 as it became later. Also, GM was recognized as a trail blazer in down sizing, while retaining interior space, as evidenced by the downsized '77 large bodies and the '78 intermediates. Converting the intermediates to FWD seemed a logical next step for achieving further gains in space and fuel efficiency.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,723
    what have been you biggest surprises good and bad?
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Ah thanks for asking. It gave me the opportunity to review some of my fondest and not so fond memories of car "discoveries".

    On the plus side:

    One time I got a call from a woman who said she was moving to a retirement home and needed to know the value of her old Mercedes, which "hadn't been driven in many years".

    Well I was thinking..."yet another 1980s 4-door sedan with a frozen motor and chickens in the back seat"....

    but lo and behold, what I saw when we opened her garage was a baby blue 190SL convertible, with 1971 license plates tags on it, the key still in the ignition, original untouched with about 80,000 miles on it, plus a factory hardtop.

    The car needed restoration but was undamaged, unrusted and it looked like not one factory part had ever been changed. She had all the books, original bill of sale, all of it.

    Anyway, I called a dealer friend--he came up, wrote her a check (quite generous I thought), picked the car up and it was sold back to Germany within a week. And I made a tidy commission. Lady happy, dealer happy, Shifty happy, car happy.

    Another time I was called to appraise a collection of cars in a warehouse in Reno Nevada. While some of the cars were interesting, mostly they were old 20s and 30s American iron, and while a few were open cars, none were specialty coachwork or large-bore engines.

    However, way in the back I spotted pieces of an unusual car....one fender, a grille, a trunk lid.

    "What is that"? I asked.

    "Oh, one of Dad's weird French cars I think. Do you think it has any value in that condition"?

    "Is that all of it?"

    "No, the rest is in another building, in boxes".

    After examining the other parts, I suggested we try to bring it all together and kind of piece it up, to see what we have.

    Well, turns out what we had was a 95% complete and correct Darl Mat Coupe, 1938... a custom built Peugeot 402 spports coupe by coachbuilder Pourtout.

    image

    My other fondest memory is a similar story, but from an attorney handling the estate of what was apparently a very eccentric (okay, CRAZY) car collector who had apparently run up $63,000 in storage fees on an MGTC!

    So I found the car in a storage locker, and here again, it was unusual in that it was in bad shape, but all there, solid, and totally unmolested from factory new. And this one had racing badges from Pebble Beach way back when they raced there in the 1950s---so this car was one of the veterans of those days.

    That one went back to the UK. It needed a complete restoration, and being a TC and not a Mercedes 190SL, I don't think one could have restored it in the USA and come out ahead---but in the UK, they are worth more and parts are more readily at hand---those rare bits that are so hard to find in America.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    Now here's a nice barn find :P

    (actually, the car beside it is a very rare machine)

    What was paid for the 190SL? And what happened to the Pug?
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    Neat stories Shifty. I'd like to come across a "barn find" one day.

    This is the closest barn find that I have come across: My elderly aunt in Califronia is in a nursing home (we're her only family), and her garage has a...drum roll.....

    a banged up 1997 Mercury Tracer! Not really a barn find as I knew about the car when she was still driving it. :blush:

    One of the coolest stires I read was in a 90s issue of Road & Track or Car and Driver about some Mercedes Benz from the war era in a eastern european barn, and how the "investors" smugglled it ouf of the country.

    Apparently it was super rare like one of 10 ever made, I can't recall the details of the car's year or model, but I knew it was an older Mercedes.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    The Pug underwent a full restoration and I think showed up finally at Pebble Beach.

    The 190SL? I'm not sure what the Germans paid for it---something like around $15,000---$20,000. In Germany, when restored, you can get $75K for one of those, or more depending (in Euros--to us it would be $100K). Of course, we are talking professional restoration of every little bit, not Johnny's Whack-A-Fender Malibu Restoration Service.

    Yes, there's a lot of old junk in barns, too. Sometimes people let the cars go way too long, and basically they destroy what might have been saved.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    I've seen $25K+ fintails in Germany too...either mint low mileage originals or concours restorations, of course. There are some really good restoration shops in Germany.

    The cars being let to rot for so long...I've seen that before, the stubborn old owner isn't poor enough to need to sell, but doesn't have the funds to revive the car. So, the car suffers, often to its death.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    Isn't there a Mercedes Benz owned museum in SoCal that stocks parts for all Mercedes ever made, and if I am correct can perform restorations too?

    If so they gotta be as good as the resto shops in Germany.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Benz has done a fabulous job of helping people restore their cars (ahem...for a price).
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    Oh yeah, I forgot about the new "classic center". I am sure the work they'd do is just as good, maybe without the entire mystique of sending a car back to the homeland to be restored.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,723
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Organ donor. A noble end.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    55 Chrysler convertible -- surprised it hasn't bid up higher so far. Should bring $45K I would guess.

    51 Buick Roadmonster Sedan -- bid was a little light by about $1,000. $4K--4.5K should do it.

    56 Desoto 4 dr -- good god man let it go for $20K if that's the bid. If you got your $26K, that would indeed be a HOME RUN. I would have bid $15K tops for it. Not bad lookin' for a 4Door though, I have to say.

    58 Edsel Bermuda -- these can bring strong money, even as a #3 car like this one. I'm guessin' $25K on this one.

    1958 Lancia Appia -- you know, if it weren't refrig white I'd be tempted at $4,600. These are such sweet little jewels, very well made cars. Had it only been that lovely slate gray with red interior, I would be *sorely* tempted. Check for rust, natch--we see many with crusty floors.

    1978 Toyota Celica -- that'll run for another 200K miles.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Andre should get teh DeSoto. H eprobably has parts lying around for it if he needed it.

    Love the Edsel. It's amazing what they are going for. I'd still like a 58 convertible but there's no way on earth I could pay what one would bring.
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • oregonboyoregonboy Member Posts: 1,650
    Here's a cheaper Firedome. The steering wheel looks at least as nice. I like the 2-tone paint job better. It's a '55. :)

    1955 Firedome
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    Actually, I do have a set of 1956 DeSoto windshield wipers packed away somewhere! Years ago I went junkyarding with a friend who had a 1955 Fireflite Coronado, the spring special with the triple-tone paint job. Well he saw this '56, and decided to get the windshield wipers. The '55 and '56 DeSoto are almost identical, so you'd think the windshield wipers would be the same part, right? Nope! I forget what exactly was different about them, but they wouldn't fit. He was just going to chuck them, so I took them off his hands.

    I like that '56 DeSoto, but if I was gonna get a '56, I'd want a Fireflite. They were much more luxurious inside, and the headlight surrounds were more peaked than the Firedome, with a bit of a forward thrust. It made the car look less bug-eyed than the Firedome, or the 1955 models. I think $20K is crazy for something like that though.

    As universally derided as the 1958 Edsel is, I have to profess a certain fondness for the bigger, Mercury-based models. I think that styling wears better on the bigger Mercury body than it does on the Ford.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,670
    1980 Sunbeam-Lotus- Not much chance anyone on this side is going to be interested in that.

    1958 Lancia Appia S2- What a cool little car, going cheap so far.

    1960 Caddy Hearse- That black beauty is in a lot better shape than the '76 Hearse we had at the radio station I worked at in the mid-'90s.

    1977 AMC Hornet wagon- A surprising number of cars like it are still used as daily drivers by retirees living in AZ. I talked to a couple that had 288K on their Hornet wagon. :surprise:

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    AMC Hornet--- I bet that couple in AZ AND their car have both exceeded their statistical limits. Now and then someone always beats the odds.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    I like the old Citroens from the 70s and 80s. I'm sure they're a pain to upkeep but they never "age" in my eyes.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,723
    mazda 323 wagon! didn't see any rust.
    also a late 70's ford pickup.
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    coming home from work, I saw a couple old furriners. First, a mid-1980's Nissan 300Z, the 2+2 style. Burgundy color. Looked like it was still in decent shape. Also saw one of those little early 70's BMW hardtops. The 3.0 CS or whatever it was called? Wasn't pristine, but wasn't a beater either...just looked like a decent daily driver.
  • hpmctorquehpmctorque Member Posts: 4,600
    I waved at you, but your eyes were focused on the car.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    Wait, you weren't in it, were you?! Or are you just messing with my head? ;) You were the first person I thought of when I saw it!
This discussion has been closed.