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

Mr_Shiftright

"Antique" AMC Renault--GEEZ, even the seats are rusty! :surprise: I wouldn't give you $75 for that car.

AMC Javelin -- too bad Pierre Cardin didn't get underneath and clean up that mess of a chassis.

32 Fiat Truck --- oh darn, I was looking for a '31. Cute, I'll take it.

57 Dodge -- Gee for $12000 bucks you wouldn't dare replace the rusty hose clamps--LOL!

Jensen--I would take out the back glass and some trim pieces for $300 and throw the rest of the car away before Satan makes me do bad things.

Sbarro Gullwing--- "one of a kind" and now you know why.

NSU Spider --- strong money bid here.

Checker -- since when does anyone who owns a Checker go to the Opera?

Datsun 510 -- arguably the only Japanese sedan to ever become collectible for more than chump change.

oregonboy

Matador - too bad it isn't a car that people care about.

Javelin - why do they ALWAYS screw up a great design with the 2nd generation?

LeSabre - I kinda like the exterior... the interior looks like sh**!

Regal - No one will hit that starting bid. Unloved, unpurchased.

Fiat Pickup - Such a small market. Scrap the reserve. Take the money and run.

Fiat X-19 body-kit - I kinda like it, but same comment as the pickup above.

K-car - Send it to the crusher and shoot the guy that bought those wheels. Put him out of his misery

Datsun 1200 Coupe - Hey, you're bound to have fond memories of the car that you were driving when you first got laid.

BRE tribute car - That's pretty cool, but I wouldn't drive it.

1952 Dodge - No comment. Before my time/interest.

1957 Dodge - The pinnacle of over the top Mopar space-age styling... in aqua! What's not to like? It stalled out at very close to 90% of the "sale price"... the economy is worse than I thought.

1959 Dodge convertible - 90 grand+? Maybe I was wrong about the economy!

I gotta quit. Fin you wore me out!


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tjc78

Love the Olds 98 Coupe. I am sucker for monster coupes like this. Saw a Lesabre coupe from the same era yesterday in a charcoal grey color. Was in decent shape.

ghulet

....that Datsun 510. We had one when I was a kid (71 coupe, orange, 4-speed, optional FM radio), it pretty much rusted away by about '77, at which point it was given to my (then 16) uncle. Neighbors had a wagon, column shift automatic. Neat, cute car, and I guess fun to drive.

dieselone

Love the Olds 98 Coupe.

I always found the early to mid 80's Olds 98s to be elegant cars. I wonder if that was a "Mary Kay" special with the awful pink color.

tjc78

with the awful pink color.

Looks Beige to me on my monitor. If its pink, obviously "no sale!"

dieselone

Looks Beige to me on my monitor. If its pink, obviously "no sale!"

Okay, I went back and examined more of the photos. The shade on the car in the first picture looked Pink to me. The rest in the sun clearly shows it's tan/beige. Whew, that's much better.

tjc78

Scared me there for a minute I thought I said I loved a pink car

dieselone

Scared me there for a minute I thought I said I loved a pink car

LOL!

boomchek

Renault convertible - more of a curiosity than anything else. Not really suitable as a daily driver, not a collectible. It's great if you love Renaults though! Price is about right.

79 Regal - nice car but is it worth the $10k starting bid? Owner seems a bit overprotective of his vehicles, not even allowing test drives (test rides only).

Fiat X1/9 - different looking - not so sure that the body kit adds any value in my opinion. I can't believe the guy sank $32k into this. Wow!

86 Lebaron - poor man's donk.

Datsun fastback - surprised at the bids too.

Datsun 510 - I like!

57 Dodge - maybe it was parked outside it's whole life hence the rust repairs.

Honda City- great vehicle for a Honda collector.

Jensens - I think it's a good parts source if all 5 are cheap enough.

Simca - never heard of this car (or maybe just never notices) but it's a got a funky 3 seat arrangement in the front. Not usually seen on a sprty car (except the McLaren and one Ferrari that had something similiar). Nevertheless parts and glass would be difficult to find and whoever buys it is in for a big job I think.

Sbarro Mercedes - that Sbarro guy always builds oddballs and most of them aren't pretty, including this one. I don't know. This is an 80s show car that maybe has a little bit of historical value and that's it. Otherwise it's kinda ugly. $90k? I don't think so. I think the seller would have a hard time finding someone to pay $20k for it.

fintail

I'll admit that Sbarro is the most interesting car of the long list, to me. I've never seen a Sbarro "creation" for sale before. It's hideous, but if I won a big lottery and had my dream car collection, something like that could have a home in my "80s tuned" wing, alongside AMG widebody cars, Lorinser/Koenig tuned cars etc.

I think the Forward Look Mopars had severe build quality and rust issues overall...Andre knows more.

And today wasn't a bad day for MB sightings...I saw a couple of 70s vintage 107 SLs, a silver C43 AMG, a silver W210 E55 AMG, a pristine looking black C140, and a C126 that seemed to have a malfunctioning sunroof. Didn't see many old cars, but I did see a mint looking 63 Nova SS coupe.

british_rover

I think the last gen five series is about the heaviest and largest car I would want with a manual.

That E39 Wagon we have with a five speed is a great driving car and really doesn't need anymore power then it already has with the 525i.

kyfdx

In the parking lot next to my building, at work..

Sky blue with white roof.. Didn't really look restored.. but, good enough that it could have been the mid-60s...

lemko

...a really nice red 1974 Plymouth Duster with a white vinyl roof, white interior, and black striping at the Holiday Market on Dungan Road in NE Philly the other day.

andys120

There's a '50 Mercury two-door awaiting restoration at a wrecking yard near my house in NH. It looks quite restorable and unlike most Merc two-doors of this vintage it appears stock with no customizing. It's probably not running; it sits on a trailer.

fintail

A few oddities today... Very clean '86 Celebrity Eurosport coupe - I always thought it was odd there's one year in that series with specific detailing. A ca. 1970 Datsun pickup in very straight condition, and a cool early 80s Toyota 4x4 with period graphics similar to the little truck my brother bought last year. Also saw a 67 Chevelle, a big ca. 65 Dodge or Plymouth wagon, a Mazda RX3, a Euro C123, an unrestored looking driver quality MB Adenauer - the 300d hardtop type. Also saw something special at the MB dealer - a W126 300SE in the same colors as my car - I stopped to look at it to see if it was actually my old car. It wasn't. It didn't have plates...I don't know if the dealer is trying to sell it, or is just fixing it or something...they usually don't touch cars so old. It was an 89-91, but I couldn't tell more as the stereo had been changed.

imidazol97

I don't know how old but it's an early Taurus wagon from the era of the round rear window on the sedans an everything in large round shapes. The taillights are the narrow vertical slits.

It was an unusual color: the light thin green color.

fintail

1986-91 of course...I think those hubcaps might have been 86-87 only, so it's a survivor, as those cars liked to eat transmissions and head gaskets.

My uncle had an early 86 Taurus "L" (basic model) with those same hubcaps. It eventually vomited a transmission. That was the first car I ever rode in at over 100mph :shades:

texases

Yep, that's from before the oval Taurus. Amazing how such a successful, ground breaking design went downhill so fast.

imidazol97

The paint and the body was perfect, at least what I could see from the road as I went by.

lemko

I recall an article in Car and Driver on the 1988 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport wagon. The title was "A Little Euro, a Little Sport, But Not Much of Either."

fintail

I suppose the blackout trim was "Euro" for the time. And then it morphed into the "Euro" variant of the Lumina...which didn't exactly look (or drive) like a BMW.

Mr_Shiftright

Celebrity is to Europe as McDonald's french fries are to eating in Paris. :P

boomchek

And then it morphed into the "Euro" variant of the Lumina...which didn't exactly look (or drive) like a BMW.

No, not even close. :P

lemko

....1992-93 Toyota Camry wagon - there weren't that many new and are now getting rare. Also spotted red 1990 Ferrari Mondial coupe.

fezo

Going into work and coming in the other direction was a 64 Valiant convertible in like a baby blue with a white top.

fintail

So many good cars don't survive the ravages of time...and look what comes through unscathed...

Same color, same weirdness, but bigger

I am sure this handles great

Nearly new battleship...the color works

4-6-8

Fine fuselage

Not many of these survived so well

8 speed

Low point for the marque

Insane fintail

Big and green

This thing scares me for some reason

stickguy

pretty sure it is a riv. For sale in a driveway near my house. Think it is priced at $5,400.

haven't gotten a good look at it yet. Seems sounds, but far from restored.

Mr_Shiftright

I wonder what it actually feels like when you get an e-mail telling you that you won the auction for a Gremlin for $5,300 dollars? Must be like the day after a bad drunk.

At least with the Matador one or two people a month might ask about it. Should be worth the $2500 bid, but not a lot more than that. Kinda like it in a weird sort of way.

As compensation for 22" wheels on the LeSabre, keep in mind that there is no AC to give you a chill or create annoying fan noise. :P

Hmmm....$15K for a '73 Cadillac 4-door?....well, maybe. It's very nice for what it is. The low miles must be real...no one would restore a car like that, to that level of condition I mean. So what do you do with it?....show it I guess at the local show and shine. At $3 bucks a gallon, you'd best not go far---it's .25 cents a mile. Well at least it's smog exempt most places. Still a "real" Cadillac back in '73.

81 Cadillac-- "There will be no regrets with this one!" ....a bold statement indeed. :surprise:

69 Chrysler----GEEZ that thing is HUGE :surprise:

82 Dodge Colt ---who on earth cares?

Lancia HPE -- a fraud, a travesty, a besmirching of a noble name by Fiat.

63 MB Fintail -- charming little car, he shoulda took the $15K bid, there's no more to be had.

73 Olds--I'd much rather have the '73 Cadillac.

Stanley Steamer/Woods -- did you catch this line? "The next hurdle with this car is knowing how much water is in the boiler. Currently the original kidney water level gauge is in place and it "might" work, but I am not all that confident."

YIKES! :surprise:

I think the bid is about right at $24,000, even generous. I mean, this is a mutt....an interesting mutt but without pedigree. Steamer people will hate it, Woods people (are there any Woods people?) will hate it. Freak show, and an expensive one.

kyfdx

Don't really get the high bids on the '73 Cadillac.... It's a 4-door, and not exactly a stellar year.. The Olds 98 2-door is a better looking car..

oregonboy

I couldn't get past the GREEN on either one. The exterior of the Caddy is okay, but the insides would make me ill. The Olds interior isn't half bad, but the "Moss Green" excrement... exterior is not to my taste. :sick:

kyfdx

We had a '74 Caddy... It's what I took my driver's test in.. At the time, we also had a '72 Lincoln coupe.... The Lincoln was the better car, IMO..

I just don't see the appeal of the Cadillac..

Mr_Shiftright

It's all about the condition and the bragging rights you get for ultra low miles; however, sitting in a lawn chair telling people "yep, them's real miles" might get old after a couple of weekends....and then you have a $4000 car that you paid $15,000 for.

andre1969

...I like both cars, even though neither would be my ultimate choice. I like the color on the Caddy better, and the fact it's better-equipped, but I like the Olds better overall, I think. It's just a little bit more conservative and tasteful, in a 70's sort of way, where the Caddy seems more flashy and kinda screams "LOOK AT ME!! I'm RICH (or at least have lots of credit!)

That moss green really isn't my favorite, although I could deal with it. In 1973 though, I think Olds had nicer greens to choose from. I like the crystal green and emerald green. The brewster green almost looks black to me, so it's hard to tell, but I'd probably like it. I guess it's just sort of a very dark forest green?

When it comes to mastodons of this era though, my favorite is the Buick Electra. it's still not as flashy and flaunty as the Cadillac, but seems a bit more youthful and less conservative than the 98. The 1971-73 models actually looked a bit sporty for such a big monster, with their low grilles and clean lines, although I think the car got cluttered up for 1974. Then in '75-76 it got flashier with a bolder, more pretentious grille, but somehow it still appealed to me, and moreso than a similar-year Olds or Cadillac.

andre1969

was a productive day. I took advantage of the nice weather, and got every single one of my cars to start, and move under its own power. And here's a pic to prove it!


Well, every one except the DeSoto, which is still at the mechanic. Here's the last pic I took of it. Didn't come out too well, though, as my camera didn't like the lighting in the shop...

imidazol97

That's eight cars!

Wait. The Nissan isn't yours, is it. That's seven!

andre1969

The Xterra belongs to my roommate. It's been a good little rig. Pushing 60,000 miles, and he hasn't needed anything other than scheduled maintenance. However, I think he over-pays for maintenance because he takes it back to the dealer and has them do everything the owner's manual says. When I commented on how good it's been though he said, kinda sarcastically..."Thanks...you probably just jinxed me!"

Since the Intrepid gave way to the Park Ave in December, my fleet has had a GM bias for the first time in ages.

imidazol97

>my fleet has had a GM bias for the first time in ages.

Welcome back!

I'm all GM. I think Lemko has a Ford product in his fleet.

merckx

I'd love to have such a clean Fintail...But the red interior with the blue paint...Very poor choiced...With the tw0-toning...

fintail

Yeah, that's an unfortunate color, it would be so much better in blue, black, or maybe grey. I have seen other blue on red fintails though, so there's a good chance it is correct. I think the only way to tell is the data card, as I don't recall any of the data plates on the car mentioning the interior color. The standard of that restoration looks great, especially the mechanicals...if I win a lottery, I will put my old car into that condition.

And speaking of obscure MB, this wacky thing isn't too far from me...I have to believe something is wrong with it, it's just too cheap...a stock one would go for that if not a little more, and it probably has 10K+ in mods.

Mr_Shiftright

Seems like the typical/historical massive depreciation of any Mercedes hotrod.

fintail

True, they do depreciate like day old bread...but most similar age and mileage stock C63 I see are about 5K more, and that's without the Kleeman add-ons. I suspect the car has been abused somehow. I know aftermarket stuff doesn't help value, but German tuner stuff so new shouldn't make it depreciate faster.

Oh, a nice two tone black and white Volvo P1800 just drove by.

andys120

This AM I was pleasantly surprised by a beautifully restored example of one of my favorite cars, an Austin-Healey 3000. I believe it was a BN7 (no back seat) ca. 1962,
with the straight windshield and optional wires. I couldn't tell if it was a three-carb Mk I or a two-carb Mk II version. The chrome and fittings on the car were just perfect and the BRG paint was gorgeous, probably better than what it left the factory with.

It was driven by a guy old enough to be the original owner with a passenger who was probably a grandson, both enjoying a beautiful sunny day with the top off (pre-folding top version).

You could quibble and say this car was too perfect with the better than new paint, chrome and chromed wires but you should've heard that six purr. The only thing wrong w it was that it wasn't mine.

fintail

I just saw a goodie....C126 380SEC. Euro model - small bumpers and plastic hubcaps. It was black, and looked very clean. Nice curiosity.

Mr_Shiftright

A BN7 is quite rare and pretty valuable. They only made 2825 of the 2-carb BN7s and only a scant 355 of the tri-carb.

I do, I confess, cringe when I see an over-restored British car but it is nice that he's actually driving it around. These cars look best with mud spattered on them, painted wheels and a rich patina on the seats and wood IMO.

Nothin' like a straight six hooked up to a throaty exhaust.

The only British car club I ever joined was the MG TC club, because they drive the crap out of them.

andre1969

Yeah, that's an unfortunate color, it would be so much better in blue, black, or maybe grey. I have seen other blue on red fintails though, so there's a good chance it is correct.

For some reason, that color combination doesn't bother me too much. Not my first choice...as you said, blue, black, or gray would be better. Or white, or maybe even a light tan could work. But I could live with it.

I'm sure I've seen other old cars where the interior was red and the exterior was blue. Maybe back then it wasn't considered to be as clashy as it is today?

One combination that bugs me a bit, though, is a yellow car with a red interior. I've seen a few early 50's cars, like Caddies and Buicks, with this scheme. Usually it's more of a washed-out yellow though, and the red tends to be deeper.

tjc78

IMO the only color I can actually stand red interior on is a white car. On red/burgundy cars its just a little too much for me, on silver its not too bad, and on yellow or blue I find it absolutely hideous. Just my 2 cents!

merckx

I looked at a metallic silvery blue fintail with a red interior years ago....the metallic was actually more off-putting than the red seats.....

andre1969

On red/burgundy cars its just a little too much for me, on silver its not too bad, and on yellow or blue I find it absolutely hideous. Just my 2 cents!

Yeah, on a really bright red car, I can see a red interior being too much. My '76 LeMans has a red interior, but has been repainted a burgundy, and on it, I don't mind all that red. It's original color was "Firethorne", a metallic red that's somewhat subdued, IMO. So I probably wouldn't have minded it with the original color, either.

My '86 Monte Carlo had a burgundy cloth interior with some black trim on the dash, and I thought it looked pretty sharp with the two-tone gray over silver paint. I think a proper red might have been a bit much, though.

My '85 Silverado has a burgundy interior, although the metal on the dash is red. The exterior is two-toned, red with a white roof/lower body, again, here it doesn't bother me, either.

One car that probably looked sharp back in its day was my '68 Dart hardtop. It was white with a white/burgundy interior. The vinyl seats, door panels, and armrests were white, while the carpet, ceiling, dash, all the exposed metal, etc, was burgundy. By the time I got it though, with 253,000 miles on it, the door panels were missing, the panels in the back were pretty nasty, and the seats were shot, and more of a milky gray than white. I imagine a white interior must be a real pain to keep looking nice.

Mr_Shiftright

I think Volvo and Alfa did blue/red in the 1960s. I like it, I wouldn't mind, on a period car I mean, and if the "red" were a rich leather and the blue the right "blue" (like a baby blue).