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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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I tried to find a pic online for one of those but found something else instead. Somebody turned a '55 Chevy 2dr model kit into a replica of an Ohio Turnpike Patrol car.
I wouldn't mind having an ex-police car R-body. '79 is really the year to have, when they had the 195 hp 360-4bbl. It was cut to 180 or so hp the next year, and then for 1981 all they offered was a 165 hp 318-4bbl.
And it wouldn't be until 1989, that big police cars got BACK to the performance level of a 1979 R-body. And even then, it took a fuel-injected TBI 350, 4-speed automatic, and 3.42:1 axle to do what a 360-4bbl, 3-speed, and 2.94:1 axle did a decade prior.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/12/autos/john_lennon_ferrari/
'Yes, but it's John LENNON's car....so now I'm famous, too!"
I never understood why people care if a car was celebrity owned. Its not like the 200K Ferrari is gonna sing for you in your garage.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
and posted elsewhere:
"Everybody’s talkin’ at me...I can’t hear a word they’re sayin’...just drivin’ around in Jon Voight’s car..."
Imagine no high gas prices,
I wonder if you can
No need for air bags and seat belts
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing their parking spaces
You may say I'm a Mopar dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And all chip in for gas.
How about:
I hope some day you'll join us
and fill the tank for fun.
or
I hope some day you'll join us
but realize we pay road tax by the ton.
Maybe we won't get too far,
Baby it's a big Mopar,
And that's why we're walking...
For the most part, I never really cared for most of Mopar's 1969-73 "fuselage" offerings. I always thought the 1969 Dodge Polara/Monaco was the best looking of the bunch. It's sides were a bit more squared off, so it didn't look so fat and tipsy. It made me think a bit of a '69 Coronet, just blown up to full-size proportions.
The '69-73 Imperial was a good looking car, too, and I kinda like the lesser models when equipped with hidden headlights, at least.
I think GM did the "fuselage" look better with the '71 models, mainly because the beltlines were lower and the glass area was huge. And with the more creased body work and larger rear wheel openings, they didn't seem quite as fat.
I'm actually surprised that GM's '71-76 wagons have a bit more cargo space than the '69-73 Mopars: 106.4 according to the '76 Chevy brochure, and 104.2 according to the '73 Dodge brochure. I would've thought that clamshell tailgate would eat up a lot of storage space on the GM cars.
When the Mopars redesigned for 1974, the wagon lost a few cubic feet, down to 100.8. However, they were also about 5" shorter, and that ate into interior space. The length behind the front seat dropped from something like 99.5" to 97.7", so that theoretical 4x8 sheet of plywood would now have to be force-fitted in, probably doing some damage (or is a 4x8 really not truly 4x8? kinda like how a 2x4 is really something like 1.75x3.5"?)
Interestingly, the midsized '71-78 Mopar wagons had the same 48.5" of clearance between the wheel wells in back that the full-sizers did, so they could hold that theoretical plywood sheet flat on the floor, even if the tailgate wouldn't close all the way. In contrast, GM's '73-77 intermediates only had 44.5" of clearance.
Why didn't grocery bags become the unit of measure? Or sacks of dog food?
The parents of a kid I knew, who owned a corner bar, had a '69 Polara 500 in gold with a black top. I thought it was sharp at the time, but in hindsight those cars seem so 'porky', even for a big car! Nice buckets-and-console interior I remember.
I don't do it on a daily basis, but I've done it from time to time. I was SOOO glad when I finally got my '85 Silverado. Made it a lot easier than trying to strap a 4x8 to the roof of an '89 Gran Fury or '85 LeSabre!
IMO, the 4x8 thing was always what separated a full-sized wagon from all others...where even if you couldn't close the tailgate all the way, at least you could lay it flat on the floor. And similarly, in trucks, I always thought that being able to lay it flat between the wheel wells is what separated a full-sized truck from everything else. I've heard that with the Dodge Durango though, that it has a bit over 48" between the rear wheel housings, and that's the main reason they never based the Dakota on it. Didn't want it to steal sales from the full-sized Ram!
Yeah 4 x 8 anything is a pain in my S10. It gets the job done, but doesn't fit neatly between the wheel wells. I think the reason that became to be is that most home projects have a need for 4x8 something (plywood, drywall, lattice, laminate, rigid insulation etc) that it just makes sense that if you can stack it perfectly flat you can haul more and get it home in good condition.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
probably not.
probably not.
Well, if you truly need the capacity, and it couldn't handle it, you'd have no choice BUT to walk away, and find something that suits your needs. But, for most people, being able to hold a 4x8 sheet is more of a side benefit than a necessity.
I'm just curious...what ARE the cargo measurements of a Pilot, anyway? I think it's really impressive that something that short can hold a 4x8. A Pilot's only about 190" long, so the plywood is just over half of the vehicle's total length!
Nishi and Fred Seamen, John Lennon’s personal assistants, also used the car in New York City, running errands and shopping for the family. When Fred expressed concern about the car’s bad brakes and worn-out tires, Yoko Ono instructed him to go to their business manager and get a check so that it could be replaced with a Mercedes Benz W123 300 Touring.
According to this History channel video that Mercedes wagon had to be special ordered since it wasn't offered for sale in N.A. at the time!
That pic reminds me my high school job. I worked in the carpet department at Rickel (remember them?). Two guys come in at 830 on a Friday night needing a fairly large carpet roll. We had something cheap in stock and we loaded on a cart and I proceeded to walk them out the door. I said pull your truck and I'll help you load it up.
"We don't have a truck, I'm gonna strap it to the top of my Thunderbird"
I explained that I wouldn't recommend that and I wouldn't assist in it.
They decided to do it anyway and blew out the back window, the moonroof, and crushed the roof pretty well. I wish I had a cell phone camera back then.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Once in the late '70s I was standing on the corner of Fifth and Central Park Drive/W62nd one day when a cream colored W123 wagon pulled up to wait for the light and I spotted John Lennon in the passenger seat. I think that Merc changed hands recently.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Yes HD and Lowes blew away all the other home center chains in our neck of the woods, pretty amazing how fast too.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
I've toyed around with the idea of getting another truck when my '85 Silverado finally bites the dust. But in all honesty, I could probably get away without it. I can always borrow my uncle's '97 Silverado if I have to. The only downside is that he has the short bed, and a camper shell on it. Still, it could hold just about anything that would fit in an 8-foot bed; it would just need to be secured.
About the only area where it wouldn't come in handy, is if I went to load up on dirt or mulch, where they just dump it in with a front-end loader. But, I really shouldn't be doing that even with my '85 Silverado, as it's only a half-ton truck, and a cubic yard of dirt weighs about 2800 lb! I tried that a few times with my truck, but on the third load, I guess it was pressing down on the rear axle enough that the tailpipes got pinched, and broke off. They were rusty though, and about to break anyway.
Oh, okay...so the cargo area isn't quite 8 feet then? I know the Pilot is very roomy inside for its external dimensions, but 8 feet is an awful lot!
If I didn't have the odyssey (will fit, likely not flat though) or I had to haul a bunch I would either have it delivered (if big enough) or just spend the $20 to rent their truck for 75 minutes.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
One interesting thing I've found is that this generation does not seem to be nearly as long-lived as the earlier Mopar fullsizers from the mid-60s. Don't know why, but there are a lot more of the earlier cars around than the fuselages.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
'66 Newport 4-door hardtop
No idea on the reserve price. I wish I had a place in my garage for something like that.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Looks like it could be to make room for that alternator if it had a big block motor. Maybe they were all like that.
It would take up a lot of room as it's over 18' long. Looks nice and is the same color as the one I had. Drove great with that Torsion-Aire suspension, and had plenty of room.
Being a bottom of the line Newport and a 4-door hardtop, this is not a car a lot of people actually want to own. A '66 300 2D HT could bring you double the money.
I think that indent in the inner fender is factory and is as the poster noted, to make space in a big-block car.
It is the bottom-line model for '66, true, but it shows you what a Chrysler of that era was like. Later on, the Newport became pretty stark, almost like a late-70s Impala. This one was still trimmed nicely. I like it.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet-1973-BelAir-/300513922564?pt=US_Cars_Tr- - ucks&hash=item45f8068e04
From the pic of the dealer paperwork, I can see it was indeed built new with clock and AM radio and whitewalls.
For some reason, in my mind I could see this car in the "Green-Gold" color they offered that year.
My sister and her husband had a new '73 Chevelle Deluxe station wagon with six and Turbo-Hydramatic, and I thought THAT was unusual!