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

andre1969

this morning I had to run by the post office. Normally I just turn around in their parking lot and go back to the main road the way I came in, but today, I just took the little side road all the way down, as it eventually circles back out to the main road. Well, at one point it goes past the back fence of a used car lot. Sitting on that lot was a '65-66 Ford Galaxie 4-door sedan, in a pretty shade of turquoise. I'm kinda tempted to go up there sometime, and see how much they want for it. I only saw it from the rear, and didn't stop to look at it, but it did look like it was in nice shape, at a quick glance.

I just went to their website, and couldn't find that Galaxie. I did, however, find this. Warning, may cause temporary blindness, nausea, vomiting, etc. :P

Mr_Shiftright

Not for you Andre, I don't think (If I may be so presumptuous). They're kinda dogs.

andre1969

Oh don't worry...that thing doesn't do much for me. MT or C&D did a luxury car comparo in 1980, and they managed to eke out a 0-60 time of 11 seconds from a 1980 Mark VI. I think it had the 351 instead of the 302 though, and fuel economy be damned, Ford actually used a comparatively quick 3.00:1 axle ratio in those cars.

I remember they also tested a 1980 Seville that clocked a blinding 10.6 seconds, and a 1980 5th Ave, stuck with a 120 hp 318, that struggled to hit 14.1 seconds.

I could actually live with the leisurely acceleration, if the vehicle is something that I liked, otherwise. But those downsized big Lincolns just never did much for me. I think it's just that they were too boxy and upright. The GM equivalents just seemed sleeker, while the '79-81 big Mopars were downright rakish in comparison.

andys120

Was Chevy considered an old folks car back in 1954? I never would have thought of that, although the '53-54 Chevy did look a bit stuffier and pretentious than the cleaner, simpler 1949-52 models, no doubt the result of an attempt to ape Cadillac.

I think Chevy became an old folks car the day Ford introduced the flathead V8 in '32.
That changed with the introduction of the fabulous small-block in 1955 but you still had an entire generation of gearheads who equated Ford with fast and Chevy with slow. That's one reason why 1930s Fords were favored for building hot rods, even if many of 'em had Chevy power.

fintail

Wow, that Mark is so malaisey.

Don't hit any train tracks or bumps in that - I bet it would shed parts. I also don't like how the A-pillar bends at the top, which makes it look like an amateur job.

If I wanted an 80s domestic luxo chop job, I would get one of the period Eldo convertible conversions - they look halfway acceptable.

fintail

What is that, a 5 litre V8 putting out ca. 130hp?

andre1969

Yeah, by 1982 I think the 302 was putting out 130 hp. There's only one chop-top that I've ever driven that I really liked the looks of, and that was a Dodge Mirada. It looked a bit clumsy with the top up, because it had no rear quarter windows, but at least still had a low, sleek look to it. And with the top down, it looked really sharp. Horrible shaker, though!

tjc78

The question on that Mark is why? It just doesn't look right as a convertible. I always liked the Mark VI (not nearly as much as the Mark V though) and growing up my Grandfather had one... it was Givenchy edition. They had some neat features back then such as digital dash and the keypad entry Ford uses to this day. I'll always remember that car, as it caught on fire in the driveway one winter morning. "Quality is job one!"

lemko

Wonder what your friend with the Diamond Jubilee edition would make of that Mark VI convertible? Well, at least it doesn't have those gruesome headlamp doors!

lemko

...and the keypad entry Ford uses to this day.

My 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis LS has that. I have yet to try it out. It seems kind of redundant this day in age with the keyless remote.

tjc78

Its great when you don't want to carry your keys. Just throw them under the mat and use the keypad to get in. I really like that feature, even more than the totally keyless system I have now.

If you don't have the code for yours it is usually on the right trunk hinge (and other places I can't remember) its five digits. You can also input a second code of your own (the original is always there). After you input the code the drivers door unlocks, pressing "3/4" unlocks the rest of the doors, and "5/6" pops the trunk IIRC.

tjc78

Yeah, by 1982 I think the 302 was putting out 130 hp.

even worse is that by '89 even with multi port injection and dual exhaust it barely broke 170. Funny though, I never found my '89 Town Car sluggish, thank the torque rating for that. I am sure a new 4cyl CamCordima would blow it away.... but at 700 or 800 lbs less I guess so.

fintail

Cutting the top behind the kink where the A-pillar joins the roof was the big mistake, IIRC. It might give the windshield some stability, but it somehow throws something off balance.

When I was a kid my aunt had one of those downsized fake-bustle Continentals, mid-80s....but I don't remember much about it. The red T-top Fox body Mustang they had sticks in my mind, though.

Mr_Shiftright

Andys right. The 53-54 is sometimes described in the literature of the time as a "librarian's car". That Stovebolt Six was virtually unchanged from the early 1930s--that was over 30 years of the same powerplant!! :surprise:

Probably the only domestic car that was remotely "sexy" in 1953 was the Cadillac Eldorado. Even the svoopy-doopy '53 Studebaker still offered a flathead 6 that would look normal in a 1910 automobile. '53-54 Fords were....MEH..... Hudsons were kinda cool but still flatheads and still not modern styling.

1955 was most certainly the Golden Age of postwar American car design. Yes there were some bumps in the road, and some tarnish on the gold (1958 being the grimmest reminder) but all in all, it was a watershed year--1955.

explorerx4

convertible red with a black top. it was missing a piece of trim on the right rear quarter, so i didn't have time to see what engine badge it had.
it's a lot of car to take in during the short period of time you see it, as it drivers by.

explorerx4

i guess andre explained it pretty well. the bumper looks like it was designed for the sedan version with the rear quarters that went straight back.

explorerx4

i had an 88 tbird 'sport' that had the same setup, but was rated at 155 hp, up 10 from the 87 version.
80 mph @ 2k rpms. 28 real highway mpg with a 22 gallon tank made for a great cruising range. drove from central ct into florida and only stopped once for gas.
taught me to take bladder control to a whole new level. :surprise:

andre1969

even worse is that by '89 even with multi port injection and dual exhaust it barely broke 170. Funny though, I never found my '89 Town Car sluggish, thank the torque rating for that.

Yeah, didn't Ford use some trick, like a long intake runner or something like that, to get the torque up to around 270 ft-lb? I think Ford also tended to use somewhat more aggressive gearing than GM, which helped with acceleration.

I have an old Consumer Guide from 1985 that tested a Crown Vic with the trailer towing package, or whatever it was called back then. The hp stayed the same at 140, but the car got better wheels and tires, a 3.55:1 axle, and dual exhaust, and CG managed 0-60 in 10.5 seconds...quite a feat back then for that type of car. In comparison, a Caprice with the 305 or a LeSabre or Delta with the 307 was more like 12 seconds. They also tested a Grand Marquis without that package and a 2.73:1 axle, and it was a dog in comparison. And somehow, the Crown Vic managed to get better economy, despite the quicker ratio!

I think sometimes those quicker axle ratios might hurt the EPA estimates, but maybe in some situations, they might actually benefit real world economy, since you don't have to rely on the lower gears as much.

fintail

Survivor

Tasteful mods

Classy

Someone loved this color

West Virginia? No way

Easier to throw a suitcase full of money in a lit fireplace

Lofty claims

Wordy name

Preservation

It's on the wrong continent

Japanese cool

Weird fantasy

I've always liked these, but insane price

British flair

Knockoff Mopar styling, knockoff Mercedes interior

andre1969

Okay, maybe my redneck/trailerpark roots are starting to show through a bit too much, but for some reason I'm kinda digging that '70 Caddy on the Ford pickup chassis! I just hope they did that to one that was already a bit beat-up, and not a really nice example. Or, at least, did it long enough ago, in an era when that was just a cheap old car and not such a stately old beast.

And for some reason, that jacked '78 Electra with the wire wheels and continental kit appeals to me, in a twisted sort of way. I think it might be because it's jacked up, rather than lowered, so it's sort of a crossover between redneck and pimp.

As for the '76 Electra, not my favorite color in the world, but I think the car wears it well. I'm just sorta bored with that color though, as I've had 5 cars now in similar shades of creme/beige/washed-out yellow. That's also a fairly basic Electra, with vinyl seats, which I'm sure must have been a rarity by then. I think I'd rather have cloth, even if it was just the base level cloth.

That Dodge Custom Royal Regal Lancer is a nice looking car but yeah, the name is a bit wordy. Custom Royal was the top line, while Lancer denoted the fact it was a hardtop, but I can't remember what "Regal" denoted. Maybe one of those "spring special" interior trim levels that were popular back in the day?

That '39 DeSoto limo certainly is a rarity. Not anything I'd aspire to own, but neat to look at.

andys120

-1953 Sunbeam-Talbot. When I was a kid my favorite Dinky Toy was a yellow Sunbeam-Talbot.

Mr_Shiftright

39 Desoto - a "100 point car" with rusty head bolts? I don't think so pardner. :surprise:

1962 Buick Wagon --- "IF GENERAL MOTORS KEPT MANUFACTURING CARS LIKE THIS, THEY'D STILL BE AT THE TOP OF THE COMPETITION. "

Er..........no.

1958 Dodge 2D Hardtop...Regal Royal whatever -- asking $19,995, bid to $8600, once again eBay bidders know the real value.

53 Sunbeam Alpine -- $25000 should be about all the money here, so we are a tad overpriced.

1980 GAZ -- so I guess I just send the money to Russia and then I get the car, right?

fintail

Spotted something cool today...a 2 door cloth top G-Wagen, in black - and I think it was even a relatively new one, from the 90s - updated wheels and trim, etc. Couldn't spot the badge as it was oncoming....certainly something not seen every day.

After that I saw a pristine early Cordoba. Also saw a Ferrari 360/430 in white, must be a rare color.

fintail

Today I was out in the old beast, it's a nice day, and I was thinking to myself that I hadn't seen anything interesting and old today. Then within about 5 minutes I saw a W110 fintail (probably a 230 as it was going up a steep hill at more than 5mph), a sky blue 62 Impala 2 door HT, and a red chrome bumper MGB.

texases

Must have been a show nearby, driving home we pass a `68 or so Shelby GT350, great condition, 2 minutes later passed a '72 or so Boss (I think). Earlier in the day passed a red 1st-gen M3. All were in exceptional shape.

uplanderguy

Although you didn't mention it in your post, remember that Studebaker by '53 was in its third year of a modern OHV V8, described by many to be a copy of the Cadillac V8...although admittedly in '53 of small displacement and horsepower but a decade later capable of incredible performance. Little Studebaker had a modern OHV V8 ahead of Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Packard, and probably others if I thought more about it.

Bill

Mr_Shiftright

Yep, small V8---rather heavy but a good engine. But it wasn't that short-stroke V8 that Chevy developed, which of course made all the difference in racing, and for the Corvette as well.

berri

Weren't Studebakers notorious for losing oil?

Mr_Shiftright

Mostly for losing customers :P

fintail

Speaking of Alfas, yesterday evening I saw the early boat-tail Duetto I see now and then, with the glass headlight covers etc. It was out in the rain...dangerous in a period Italian car, no?

Mr_Shiftright

Alfas don't leak, but they are not great cold weather and wet-weather starters. Hey, Italian electrics are good enough for brand new Harley Davidsons!

fintail

I was thinking of the old Italian propensity to become a pile of oxidized slivers upon exposure to relative humidity higher than 50% :shades:

Are new Harleys really the best example of quality?

Mr_Shiftright

Oh yeah rust. Many old Alfas are mini Iron Oxide mines, that's true.

toomanyfumes

Got me stumped.....

">link titlehttp://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto/1318370428.html

Could it be an old Dodge Daytona? Looks like front visibility would be terrible.

fintail

That's atrocious.

For some reason, I smell a Fox-body Mustang or Capri under there.

lemko

Looks like something an obscure comic book super hero would drive.

Mr_Shiftright

I could see Politeness Man driving that car, pulling people over and reminding them to be nice.

boomchek

It's a GRX Interceptor!! Can't you people just see? :mad:

lol, Actually think Fintail is right about it being based off a fox body Mustang. The front lower bumper gives it away:

boomchek

lol

bhill2

Well, whatever it is, I can tell you what it isn't; it isn't worth $29000!

explorerx4

give that man a cigar!

andre1969

That's not a GRX...
THIS...is a GRX:

ghulet

....saw a pretty, burgandy 66 Pontiac Catalina (66s are probably my favorite) two-door hardtop, lowered with low-profile tires on some nice nouveau-mag rims (graphite, not chrome). Didn't look so bad.

Also, an early '70s (maybe even late '60s--like a 142?) Volvo station wagon, in a kind of bright blue (looked factory), with the same mods....graphite wheels, and lowered. I should have investigated/snooped a little further, but I was at the Secretary of State's office and frankly just wanted to get the hell out of there. It had the cleanish horizontal grille, not the Studebaker-meets-Edsel treatment.

kyfdx

Accord LXi hatch... hidden headlights, so I'd put it about '87 or '88? The LXi was fuel-injected (woo hoo..lol). In burgundy, and in great shape. (no visible rust!)

explorerx4

the little old lady from pasedena.
if i ever get an ipod that is one of the songs that will be on it.

fintail

I can play my ipod via the period radio in my fast-approaching 50 year old fintail :shades:

andre1969

One of my friends (the one who's never had to pump a gas pedal to start a car in his life and was afraid of my truck) has a laptop with Itunes and a GPS on it. He went to the GM show in Carlisle with me, and brought the laptop, which hooked up to the cigarette lighter port. It almost felt Buck Rogersish, driving around in my '67 Catalina, but having access to a wide array of music, plus being able to plot out our course (okay, it's not like I couldn't figure out how to get there on my own, but it's still cool to get a computer to show it to you), and calculating the speedo and odometer discrepancy in the car.

A couple years ago, one of my friends went with me to the GM show, when I took my LeMans. It has a short in the radio, where it usually plays, but sometimes you hit a bump and it kills it, but then another bump turns it back on. Well, he brought some portable XM thing and hooked it up to it. It worked for awhile, but then fizzed out. I tried smacking it a bit, turning it off and on, but nothing. So we forgot about it, but I didn't realize how high I had it turned up. Then, about a half hour later, out of nowhere, the Doobie Brothers start shouting about hearing some funky DixieLand...nearly scared the hell out of us! Fortunately, the radio worked for the rest of the trip, because that ride can get boring with no tunes.

toomanyfumes

My Lincoln has a USB port the Ipod connects to and you can control it via the radio.(It's an aftermarket stereo) Really nice for long trips. My wife's Outlander has an aux port but it has Sirius/XM so we usually just listen to that.

fintail

I have an app on my phone that uses GPS to determine true speed. It's startling how innacurate the fintail's speedometer can be, it is very optimistic - maybe 15% fast.

Maybe the LeMans just channeled a radio station from the past :shades: - I use my ipod for that in the fintail now, especially now that this area lost its only oldies station. Period music in an old car gives it the "Christine" treatment, especially for passengers.

fintail

I remember when I was a kid, those early 70s Volvos with the weird front end reminded me of Jaguars, and I thought they must be special. Turns out I guess they aren't much better than a period Jag.