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

fintail

I remember those vans...I recall an ad for one on the back cover of some period car mag I have laying around. I'll have to look for that. I don't think that one had a name either...just 'Van' I bet.

I think it would qualify as obscure too, as there can't be more than a handful left out there, as they didn't sell to begin with. So, certainly on topic. Very rare....and as often comes with it, very little demand. I searched autotrader...there was one...no pic, and none on ebay.

mrwhipple311

I couldn't even find a decent picture of one of those vans on Google. This is the only thing, I think, I haven't been able to find there

stickguy

one of those vans did have some kind of buy back, and I think it was Nissan (pretty sure it wasn't Toyota). A neighbor of mine had one about 10 years ago, and I remember that he got way more than it was worth when he got rid of it.

stickguy

Is it a Porsche or a Lambo?

Well, they made tractors back then, why not a pick-up?

scott1256

I spotted my first VW Phaeton. It was parked in front of an office furniture store.

Very understated styling in an Audi A8 sort of way and not a bad looking car. Exterior fit and finish were excellent. I did not get a good look at the interior.

It has a strong family resemblance! (Can you say Jetta XL?)

It has a minimum of 'flash' compared to many vehicles in this price range. If being noticed is important to a buyer they may be disappointe in this car.

It might appeal to a VW buyer moving upscale if they are not attracted to an Audi A6 or A8.

Cheers, Scott.

Mr_Shiftright

Here is how the owner described that l'il red pickup:

"1955 Tempo Viking pickup-ultra rare German truck (looks similar to VW pickup) with front wheel drive, and a Heinkel 2 cyl. 2 stroke motor under the seat. Runs great! Original tools and manuals. Wide whitewalls. You'll never see another in the U.S!"

Mr_Shiftright

This is a...................? (n0, not a "Samba"!)

andys120

fintail

exactly....too easy LOL

comfy seats

So it was a Tempo Viking...well, you'd never pull up beside yourself at a red light (probably the only chance to meet other traffic in it)

andys120

andre1969

that's what they used on "Fantasy Island" once they couldn't afford to keep the Volares running anymore, isn't it! ;-)

fintail

Nope never heard of it

I want to say I have heard of an old motorcycle called "Tempo", but I could be off. Or maybe they made 3-wheeled utility vehicles or something.

And then there's the Ford Tempo...LOL

fintail

aha they did make a 3-wheeler

wimsey1

My brother had one of those Nissan vans (I think it was rather cleverly named the "Van"). I also remember a very icy/snowy drive from Colorado to Minnesota in it. Some goof in an Aerostar spun in front of us and hit the ditch near Lincoln NE (it was a hockey rink night), 5 minutes later he passed us again going just as fast!
No recent sitings of cool stuff the local Caterham must have moved. Oddly, when I went to school in Fargo ND in the 80's there were a lot of odd ones. I recall a Series 2 Esprit, a Merak, several Minis (parked by a Rabbit they made it look HUGE) and a Citroen SM! Met and old chap there who had a garage full of cool old Brit stuff including a flat radiator Morgan. Come to think a very nice guy once let me crawl into his 300SL Gullwing. Fargo of all places.

Mr_Shiftright

You never know where you will find interesting cars. They end up in the weirdest places!

michaellno

...in downtown Denver. 4-door, two-tone brown, I think. Huge, ugly thing.

andre1969

I saw a '79-80 Chrysler NYer approaching in the distance. Had to do a double-take at first, just to make sure somebody didn't steal mine! But then as it got closer, I saw it was a shade or two different in its tan/beige color...more of a platinum/putty, I guess. And no fake grilles on the side, which would signify a 5th Ave. Looked to be in pretty good shape.

Real old guy driving too, so I doubt he'd be the kind to hotwire and steal somebody else's car, although you never know!

It's kinda interesting how, back then, there were so many more color choices. I've often wondered though, why they'd even bother, with some of them being so close. For instance, my '79 Newport ("Cashmere"...a creme-ish color), '79 Fifth Avenue (2-tone beige/creme) and this NYer I passed yesterday (a duller putty color) were all very close, but not exact. Would've made more sense I guess to just pick one color, but I guess variety is the spice of life!

highender

with the external oil cooler ? I used to see a lot of them, I think the oil cooler on the left rear quarter panel was made by Rveeco ? Have not seen one for over 7 yrs now.

shifty: like the pics with obscure cars... !

fintail

It must be a lot cheaper to only offer a handful of colors. Looking back in old literature, it seems everything had a dozen colors.

Here's something obscure...and I am not quizzing on this, I am really asking. I have my own personal collection o'junk, this is from it. The car in the foreground is no mystery, it's a just-prewar Opel Olympia (I can't ID the plates though). The truck in the background with the hood up is a c.1938 Ford (I think). But what's with the wheels on that large late-20s looking American sedan in the background?

lancerfixer

I think you just found historical evidence of the first set of "Jordans" ever mounted on a car...

tarik

...I was thinking the exact same thing *g*

I have seen pix of cars from pre-war and early-war Europe, in which some cars had their rubber tires replaced with what looked like steel rims. I cannot imagine those cars having seen lots of highway miles, and some of them could catually drive on railroad tracks. Tire shortage? Financial issues?

fintail

LOL yeah, that car might be 'blingin', 1944 style. I think it is certainly a wartime shot, judging by the attire of the people in the background, and the shell of a building too. That Ford truck might also be lend-lease or something.

I suspect that is what those wheels are too, something devised because of a tire shortage....they sure look strange and uncomfortable yes...you'd feel every bump. And I was thinking the same, they look like they could be adapted to rail use. I have never seen anything like that though...although along those lines, I do have a series of pics of a mid 30s Ford with some kind of weird fuel conversion, all this crap tacked to the front and back.

Mr_Shiftright

The tires are probably solid rubber tires and wheels from a truck or a trailer.

The little car in front looks a lot like a Rosengart (France) but the shield on the front grille doesn't quite match.

fintail

The car in front is definitely an Opel Olympia...with the headlights faired into the front of the hood sides, and that badge in the middle

Here's another good one...I have never been able to find out what this was, although I have never looked too hard. The man in the pic is my great-great-grandfather, the girl is my great grandmother, who passed on a few years back at the age of 100. The pic is from 1913. The car appears to be pretty worn from the bad roads, no doubt...although it looks contemporary for the time. Any ideas?

ateixeira

That Fiat looks like a Trabant with 4 lawn chairs in it. )

On Wednesday I saw a Ferrari Scaglietti, the new Corvette, the new Mustang, and a Chevy Nomad concept. Anyone want to guess where I was?

-juice

lancerfixer

Newbury Street? :-)

Mr_Shiftright

Hard to identify cars that old because back then there were some 1,500++ manufacturers. (Boom Town for cars).

 Too bad we can't rotate it to see the grillework better.

Another problem is that many cars back then were "assembled cars", that is, the maker merely bought parts from different suppliers and put a car together. So for that reason many cars look quite similar. What I would do is locate where grandpa was at the time of the photo and then research local manufacturers in that area. Many cars were made in the Midwest for instance, far away from Detroit, and quite a few on the West coast. Not too many in New England or the Middle Atlantic but some certainly. Very few down South.

Hey, that wasn't too bad I guess on the Opel, since Rosengart and Opel have some historical connections with people who worked for both companies.

fintail

I have looked in a couple vague books...seems a few dozen cars used that grille shell design, so I am really down to spotting details. The grille is very Cadillac-esque, but the fender line is hard to match...I can't match it to a Caddy with carbide lights wearing the same fenders...but who knows of either were replaced. It also looks to be a fairly big car, so that might help out sometime, it's not a little model T or Maxwell or something. I am too lazy to do any real research on it at the moment, and there are no other documents in the family about this car.

Nice headlights, though

Here's one that might be easy for you...what's this? The grille and emblem might be a giveaway

wimsey1

My brother just told me tonight that he saw an early 70's GMC equivalent to the El Camino maybe called the "Caballero"? Anybody know anything about these and was that the name?

andre1969

yup, that was the GMC equivalent of the El Camino. There really wasn't much to differentiate it from the El Camino, except that it had GMC badging on it. I'm not sure when they started making them, but the last year was 1987, same as the El Camino, and the last full year for GM's RWD A/G body.

Back in the late 70's, GM built a couple of prototype El Caminos with Pontiac styling. It may have used a Pontiac engine too, but I'm not sure. They used the front-end clip and front doors from a Pontiac LeMans instead of a Malibu, and had LeMans interiors. I think they did something different with the rear-end too, instead of just using a station wagon rear bumper like the El Camino did. Kind of an interesting exercise, and definitely a preview of things to come, as nowadays we have more upscale vehicles like Buick, Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, etc offering trucks in their lineup.

Mr_Shiftright

Lessee...an Auto Union emblem but in front of a Czech storefront---VERY tricky, fintail. I'm not sure of the model...is it a Wanderer? That is pretty obscure. I was just reading an Auto Union history book a few weeks ago and the grillework looked familiar. Almost guessed Skoda until I looked more carefully.

Mr_Shiftright

Here's an interesting car. The roadster version actually raced at LeMans. I found a coupe version of this car one time in a warehouse in Nevada, in pieces, and brokered it to someone for restoration.

hint: French, connected to Peugeot.

I apologize for the large photo but I wanted everyone to see the lines on this most unusual automobile.

No fair clicking right and reading the jpg file label!!

fintail

Yep, it's a Wanderer...I think many people might not know of how that is directly connected to Audi, along with DKW. History is always fun to trace.

I think the car next to it is an old commie era Skoda, or maybe a Wartburg

I clicked on the filename of your post...as I had no clue, so I won't blab it. It really has that Peugeot look to it, though. A Peugeot 402 would be very cool to have.

I saw a couple of oddballs today...a 2 door Falcon wagon...some hot rodder or customizer will snap it up I am sure...and I saw about a 1988 Pontiac Optima, also known as a Passport Optima. The Optima was the Canadian market Pontiac LeMans, which of course was a Daewoo built Open Kadett. What a sordid web we weave.

Here's a Caballero...there's actually an old woman in my town who drives one of these. She's quite a sight in it...and the truck is in pretty decent shape.

Mr_Shiftright

Didn't Buick make some kind of Cabellero station wagon or am I just confused?

fintail

Yep, that was a top of the line hardtop wagon in 57-58, and an expensive model when restored

Here's one on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item- =2452982682

Mr_Shiftright

nasty looking thing. And pink, too.

fintail

Looked better in red and white, maybe

ghulet

....called the Fiesta, which was also the name of their ultra-expensive Eldorado/Century-type convertible of 1953, IIRC). The Fiesta can be quite expensive restored, also, especially when equipped with the triple two-barrel J-2 engine. I think Mercury also had a four-door hardtop wagon around the same time, though I think Merc's lasted til around 1960, whereas GM's were built only in 1957-58.

IMO, those Caballeros are really quite nice looking, as '50s wagons go.

andre1969

The Olds version of the 4-door hardtop wagon was called the Fiesta. Rambler also offered hardtop wagons for awhile too. And Mopar had a hardtop Chrysler wagon, I think from '60-64. I don't believe Plymouth or Dodge offered it though.

Those Caballeros do look better in red and white (or in a black and white photo!). Also look really good in the '57 sheetmetal, as does the Olds. The '58's though, are muy hideoso!!

Mercury was kinda interesting in that they also offered a 2-door hardtop wagon, in addition to the 4-door hardtop.

fintail

Oh yeah I know that Chrysler hardtop wagon...one was the feature car in "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation", a 1962 movie I watched way too many times with my sentimental mother as I was growing up. Pretty cool car



The Mercury hardtop wagon wore the dazzling name "Commuter"

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, I would say that red & white and maybe $20,000 is a marked improvement over pink rust!

badtoy

the Buick looks sweet. Sometimes you want a pickle, sometimes a chocolate sundae!! =D

andre1969

for some reason, I don't like the way it looks head-on. Hard to put my finger on it, exactly, but it just doesn't look right proportionally. It might have something to do with those big protrusions in the bumper, but somehow, the car just doesn't look wide enough when you look straight-on at it!

andys120

narrow and tall by comparison to those of even the following decade. Maybe that's why it doesn't look wide enough.

 My favorite Buick of the 50s was the awesome '53 Skylark, in fact it's my favorite 50's car except possibly the '56 Chrysler 300B.

andre1969

I don't have the same problem with, say, a '57 Olds or a '57 Caddy. I think part of it may be also that from just about every other angle, the Buick has a sleek look to it, but looking at it from the front, it just has a blunt look to it.

BTW, there was a '57 Buick 4-door hardtop in the Spielberg/Sci Fi channel miniseries "Taken". The poor sap who was driving it though, years later (in the context of the movie) they showed him driving a Pacer!

andre1969

the '53 Skylark was a sweet looking car, too! Wasn't there also a '54, that wasn't quite as unique?

michaellno

In the movie "The Hours", a couple of late 40's models were featured. One was a two door sedan with a "woody" treatment, the other was a generic 4 door sedan of some sort.

Can anybody identify them? I know I'm asking a lot, since I don't know how much overlap there is with the experts on this board with folks who would be watching that sort of movie (I sat through it with my wife; we tend to alternate movies from Netflix).

andys120

it wasn't as pretty even though it had it's own unique trim, wires and a wraparound windshield. They discontinued it in '55 probably because the Skylarks cost as much as the equivalent Cadillac.

I haven't seen The Hours but it's a good bet the two-door woody was a Chrysler (Andre'll tell you if iot couldve been a DeSoto or Dodge).

magnetophone

Speaking of woodies, two people at my work have woody PT Cruisers. I don't understand the desire to own plood on the outside, or the inside.

Now that I work at a new company, in the automotive industry no less a whole different set of cars are in the parking garage. Ironically, just about as many foreign cars as there were at my last job.

fintail

I know of period wood conversions that were offered on Chevy's two door 'aero coupe/sedan' fastbacks in 47-48. Chrysler sedans also had something like that available, I believe, in the same time period....the beginning of the 'Town & Country' package.

Never seen the movie