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

andre1969

With the popularity of silver paint on new cars today, an interior color choice of blue or red would be a welcome change from the requisite black or gray.


My 2000 Intrepid was silver, with a charcoal interior. This is sad, I know, but I thought the charcoal was actually a welcome change from the more typical beige/putty and lighter gray colors!

I guess it might work on some cars, but I'm trying to picture my Intrepid with a burgundy or blue interior, and I just don't think it would work. Maybe if the burgundy/blue was dark enough.

A friend of mine used to have a 1995 Grand Marquis that was midnigt blue, with a matching blue cloth interior. It looked pretty nice.

As for radios in the late 70's, I think even an AM radio was often a $100-150 option, so maybe there were just enough buyers who would forgo it? I wonder if, by that time, they at least made all the cars with all the wiring built in and the speaker in the dash, so the only real differences were that they had to make a windshield without the antenna built in, and the delete plate?

imidazol97

1980: Oldsmobile Cutlass. I ordered it with the radio delete but with an option so it was wired and radio ready. I had read about the choices in Edmund's Pricing Guide. I bought my own radio to install with lots more power.

imidazol97

I would like the claret color with the silver. My 80 Black Cutlass had claret, a deep rich color.

fintail

Saw a real oddity today, an Audi 5000/GT coupe - not a Quattro of course. Around 1983 I guess...can't be many left on the road anymore as I know those things could be a pain to work with.

Also saw a pristine brand new looking 90-94 Legacy wagon, highline with polished metal wheels etc, most of those were trashed by the snowboard crowd here 10 years ago.

uplanderguy

I really miss red, maroon, and blue interiors. I'm not a Ford guy, but a friend had an '87 Turbo Thunderbird he bought new that had a navy blue cloth interior. It looked great.

ab348

There was a '77-'79 Olds Delta 88 Brougham I was familiar with when they were new that had a pale green interior. Sounds hideous by todays standards but it was really very attractive.

imidazol97

Like this? only in a more plush cloth format...

ab348

That's the one! I always liked that color for an interior.

imidazol97

GM had a wide selection of interiors back then. Today makers offer tan and black.

uplanderguy

GM had a wide selection of interiors back then. Today makers offer tan and black.

Yep, that's thirty years of improvement for you.

kyfdx

...looked at some new cars today...

Interior choices

Audi: charcoal, beige, cinnamon and light gray

Acura: charcoal and taupe

Volvo: charcoal and beige

Toyota: gray and beige

ab348

The same holds true for paint colors. In their mainstream new cars, GM has offered the same basic paint choices for the last 3 model years. They will offer the occasional different paint in their specialty/premium lines, but even there the basic choices remain the same. I do not understand why a different paint choice would be so difficult to accommodate.

This seemed to start with the growing popularity of Japanese imports in the '80s, where you were lucky to get 4 or 5 paint choices. People bought them on that basis, and Detroit followed suit. The same held true for interior color choices. It's all about cost-cutting.

I think you can still get a dark blue interior in a Mercedes.

uplanderguy

I believe this '79 Bonneville coupe with buckets and console was for sale a year or so ago. I would love a dark-color specimen without the vinyl top, and with the buckets and console. Really more of the mid'60's concept of the Grand Prix, than the '79 Grand Prix was.

I'd love one with the biggest engine, aluminum wheels....ahhh, sweet to dream.

uplanderguy

Duh, here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979-Pontiac-Bonneville-T162378-/370540681198?pt=- US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item5645f217ee

bumpy

300D 2.5 Turbo, one in black and one in a sort of dark metallic gunmetal bronze or something. Both with the gray lower flanks that were popular circa 1990.

ab348

What a shame that it is totally shot. I have never seen a fullsize Pontiac of that vintage with buckets and console - must have been quite nice when new. Olds used the same concept with the Holiday 88 package, which seemed reasonably popular when new.

andre1969

I think I've only seen those bucket-seat Pontiacs in the sales brochure! And yeah, shame that sucker's so far gone. That would have been a really nice car, when it was new. And even better still if it didn't have the 301!

A few years ago, I used to see a green Olds Delta similar to that one posted above fairly regularly about the neighborhood, and in person I thought it was quite attractive. The color had a nice, soothing quality about it, and even the interior seemed a nice shade of green. There have been other years where the green GM used on the inside wasn't quite as nice; when it had more of an olive tint to it.

Did Chevy ever offer a Caprice of that vintage with bucket seats? I'd imagine the Buick LeSabre did, at least in the model with the turbocharged 231.

uplanderguy

Here's an '80 Bonneville with bucket seats--even farther-gone than that '79 (page about halfways down):

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13698

I like the '79 styling better--less bulky--and I believe the 350 was gone in '80 except for CA, sadly.

They never made a '77 and later Caprice with bucket seats. I would've loved that.

andre1969

I have mixed feelings about the '80-81 styling. I think it looks slightly cleaner overall, with slightly raised rear deck and more sloping hood, but then I don't like some of the details, like the narrower grille and the turn signals mounted between the headlights.

I kinda like the personal luxury-coupe notchback treatment they gave it, but preferred the older '77-79 style, with the large triangular windows. However, many Bonnevilles ended up with smaller opera windows and a thicker C-pillar, which I thought looked a bit awkward.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure the 350 was gone except for CA, where they used an Olds 350 with something like 155-160 hp. Pontiac V-8's were still too "dirty" for CA, although I think that changed for 1981, when the computer controls came out. Too little too late though, as 1981 would be the last year for the 301 and 265. V-8s.

I think I read somewhere that the Pontiac 350 and 400 went away after 1978, although they did put some leftover '78 engines in the '79 Trans Am? I looked at a '79 Bonneville sedan locally about 12 years ago, and it had a Buick 350 under the hood.

ab348

It's odd that Chevy never did a buckets-and-console version of the '77-up cars. I think they would have sold a few. When Olds did it with the Delta 88 they used the seats and console from the Cutlass, so it would not have been hard for Chevy to do the same using Monte Carlo bits. I don't know if Buick did it with the Lesabre turbo, though it makes sense that they would.

Speaking of such things, two doors up from me lived an elderly couple. The man died a few years ago but his wife still lives there, well into her 80s. When I first moved here he used to come by occasionally when I was working on my Cutlass and we would chat. He was an aircraft mechanic by trade, retired by then, and his pride and joy was his '78 Monte Carlo. It was pretty handsome - as much as one of those could be, because I never cared for their looks - painted copper with a white vinyl top, bucket seats and a 4-speed on the floor. I assume it had a V-8 but never asked. He told me that he had ordered it new, and had traded in (get this) a '60 Pontiac 2-door hardtop on it. Even though the Monte was 20 years old when i first saw it, it looked brand new.

After he died a few years ago their neighbor would go in the garage and run it occasionally, but the last time I saw it, it was beginning to show signs of neglect. Last weekend a flatbed showed up and I saw it leave there for the last time. I don't know what it sold for, but I think it wasn't cheap. The flatbed had Alberta plates on it, a long ways from here.

uplanderguy

Unlike the Cutlass, though, the console for the Monte Carlo and Malibu Classic met up with the same shape at the bottom of the center of the dash, so that would have presented a problem. I do wish they'd have done a Caprice with buckets and console too. I still love those cars.

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1978_Chevrolet/1978_Chevrolet- _Monte_Carlo_Brochure/1978%20Chevrolet%20Monte%20Carlo-02.html

I did like on the '78 Monte and Malibu Classic, the 'piano black' panels outlined in gold pinstripe.

ab348

That was the bodystyle that Car & Driver referred to as a steaming pile left on GM's doorstep by Bill Mitchell as he left for retirement. I could understand why.

Check out that "Madeira velour" fabric shown on pg 6 and 7 of that brochure. Yikes.

I never cared much for the copycat dash GM used on that generation. I always felt that the main and center dash were the same regardless of whether you had a Malibu, Monte, LeMans, Cutlass or Regal, and the only thing they let the divisions change was the instrument cluster. That detracted from these cars.

uplanderguy

The best things I can say about them, is they were amazingly roomy for a car of that exterior size, and were the smallest cars you could buy with body-on-frame construction. That said, I was shocked when I saw my first '78 Malibu Classic (two-tone gold sedan) and first '78 Monte Carlo (dark blue) at our dealer's. They pushed the envelope waaaayyyy more than the full-size cars a year earlier, I think. In fact, the sedans' wheelbase was down nearly eight inches, compared to only five for the full-size Chevys the year before. The fixed rear windows and compact spare were shockers IMO.

andre1969

The best things I can say about them, is they were amazingly roomy for a car of that exterior size, and were the smallest cars you could buy with body-on-frame construction.

They were actually smaller externally than anything marketed as a compact that year, except maybe the AMC Concorde. For 1978, I remember Consumer Reports actually dropped their midsized classification, and grouped cars into subcompact, compact, and "large". "Large" was now a fairly broad category that included the downsized GM B/C bodies, the mastodon-size Fords and Chryslers, and the old-school midsized Fury/Monaco and LTD II/Cougar.

Even though the Malibu and its siblings were marketed as midsized cars, CR compared them to the compacts of the time, such as the Volare/Aspen, Fairmont, and Granada.

In addition to the stationary rear windows and compact spare, another area where I thought they went too far were some of the engines. The Chevy 200 and Buick 196 V-6es were just too small for cars of this size. My '80 Malibu had a 229 and my '82 Cutlass Supreme had a 231, and even those engines, in retrospect, were marginal at best.

But, compared to 4-cyl Fairmonts, Granadas that were lucky to get 98 hp with a 250, and heavy Aspens and Volares sporting a 100 hp 225 slant six, I guess they were competitive.

Overall, I like these cars well enough that I wouldn't mind having another one someday, but would want a 305 or 307. One of my friends had an '82 Cutlass sedan with the Olds 260 V-8, and it actually didn't seem too bad. I wonder how the Chevy 267 was in these cars?

uplanderguy

My parents bought a new '80 Monte Carlo in a dark military green (similarly to a current Camry color), gold painted pinstripes, Rally Wheels, and optional rocker trim--that at the time I thought was an improvement over the '78 and '79's--four small headlights, carpeted lower door panels inside, and lot of woodgrain on the panel. In hindsight, I like the '78 and '79's better. Theirs was a 229 V6.

My first new car was an '81 Monte Carlo, 267 V8, two-tone Light Jade over Dark Jade, no air, positraction, FM radio, and intermittent wipers. I insisted on a 267 because I thought the sounds emanating from my parents' V6 Monte didn't seem right coming from a car like that! The 267 was smooth, quiet, and sounded like a V8, but it was slow.

explorerx4

first I saw a 70/71 yellow Torino Cobra for sale at a repair shop, then a mid 70's red AMC Matador sedan and finally a red Maserati BiTurbo!
It was parked at a coffee shop, although I thought the owner was a bit brave for parking it nose in.

omarman

I drove 2 new '79 Malibus with the 267 V8, one a station wagon and the other a 2-door coupe. Both seemed smooth and quiet too. The only thing missing was "value." Neither car was a screaming deal compared to the competition and they were appliance-like in function, somewhat cheap in features. No prop rods under the hood though. :shades:

ab348

That's right, to their credit, no prop rods. GM used what seemed to be a transitional design between the older style coil spring hood hinge and the gas strut. I always admired the radial clockspring style hinges used on these.

Prop rods are a pet peeve. Even the locking style telescopic rod used on some Euro cars seems a better solution than the cheap Ford prop rod.

wevk

"Until recently, an old coupe with whitewall tires sat outside a barn in Madison, Conn., rusting among the pieces of junk in the backyard of a local firearms engineer.
A C-3 recently found in a Connecticut barn.
On Sunday, it will be a star. Auto aficionados from across the country are expected to come check out what had been the last missing piece in a small but notable collection of classic cars built by famed millionaire yacht and car racer Briggs Swift Cunningham.
The recently discovered treasure was one of only 25 C-3 sports cars built in the early 1950s by Mr. Cunningham, a Connecticut bon vivant and son of a wealthy Ohio banker who rose to fame racing cars and skippering his yacht Columbia to victory in the 1958"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903927204576574930220070292.html?m- od=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks_4

ab348

You don't often find these in good original condition. This one would be an exception. The colors don't do much for me, but it appears well taken care of. You don't often see these interiors looking this good.

1969 Imperial

ab348

Just ran down to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription and I parked next to a silver Volvo Bertone Coupe, the odd-looking design with the chopped roof. Was wearing antique auto plates and looked totally unrestored, and a bit rough to be honest. Didn't notice any significant rust, though what's under that black vinyl roof would scare me. The seats looked very nice, though the dash pad was cracked.

Are people restoring these?

ab348

I have been looking to find one of these for sale for a long time, and here it is, even in the colors I prefer. And it's in Canada! If I had a spare garage space I would be bidding. Even without, it sure is tempting.

'70 Dodge Polara convertible

ab348

Wow, this is sure nice. While the 1970 Toro styling isn't everyone's cup of tea, I find it unique and distinctive. This appears to be in beautiful condition and a real bargain.

1970 Olds Toronado

andre1969

I don't like the '70 Toronado as much as I like the '69 and earlier models, but I still find it passable. At least it still kept a bit of a sporty pretense to it, whereas that year's Riviera suddenly looked like a bloated, pimped-up Skylark.

That Imperial and Polara you posted were pretty sweet, as well.

fintail

Nope, nobody is restoring those, being kept up even less than period MB coupes.

texases

I agree, I've always liked the earlier Toros, so I'd search out one before 'settling' for that '70. And why do folks put such high opening bids on their cars? Why is that in any way better than a reserve?

As for that Imperial, it's too bad how much it looks like the Polara and other Chrycos of the day. Not distictive, unlike Caddys and Lincolns.

texases

I imagine the Volvo 'faithful' spend their time restoring the Amazon/120/140/240 types, mostly the 4 cylinders. The Coupes just don't fit...

ab348

That's a Hemmings ad, so it's the asking price, not a starting bid.

One of the neat things about the '70 Toro (though not this particular example) is that you could order the GT option, which had a really hot 455 under the hood, and a dual-cutout rear bumper for exposed exhaust tips, among other things.

texases

My mistake, I meant to refer to the $10,500 starting bid on the Polara.

fintail

Yeah, I think the 444/544 cars and some Amazons are the ones being saved, along with P1800 of course. Nothing newer. Some people like to maintain and preserve later brick models, but not really restoring them.

texases

Well, there are Volvo nuts out there restoring the bricks (no many, true) - isn't there a company that remanufactures them for the 'faithful'?

Mr_Shiftright

70 TORO --- does look very nice...wouldn't call it a "bargain" though--that's about all the money for a '70. I'd call it "soft retail".

VOLVO BERTONE -- no, nobody's restoring them, at least nobody with any common sense. If you did restore one, you'd be lucky to get $6K for it and it would have to be really something. Can't get there from here. You'd be much better off restoring a Volvo wagon actually.

fintail

Wouldn't surprise me, with the Vanagon Westfalia restoration shop out there and all.

Mr_Shiftright

Well at least a West-failure (as Klick and Klack call it) has a utilitarian purpose when you're done. You can go camping! In a Bertone, with the cut-down roof, you can hardly sit in it. And how can we say this....it's not terribly handsome....

Dwell on this concept: Volvo + padded vinyl roof

andre1969

Dwell on this concept: Volvo + padded vinyl roof

Well, it WAS the 70's, after all, and a padded vinyl roof and opera windows and thick C-pillars were what defined "luxury" in that era.

At least Satan had the good taste to check the vinyl roof delete option when he placed the order for his car!

Mr_Shiftright

true but Volvo wasn't even remotely considered a luxury car in the 70s. It was the Swedish Chevy, at best. Can you imagine a Nova Bertone? Volvo didn't succeed in going upscale until the 90s.

andre1969

true but Volvo wasn't even remotely considered a luxury car in the 70s. It was the Swedish Chevy, at best. Can you imagine a Nova Bertone? Volvo didn't succeed in going upscale until the 90s.

Again, it was the seventies. EVERYBODY tried to be a luxury car, even if the car buying public didn't fall for it...

hpmctorque

What the heck is the platform of that shrunken, distorted Cordoba wannabe? I'm tempted to guess that a Plymouth Turismo or (compact) Dodge Charger underpins that monstrosity.

andre1969

Believe it or not, it's a Chevy Chevette! :surprise: It was called the Leata Caballero, and I think the builder was based in Idaho.

andre1969

spotted on my lunch break, parked outside the local Federated auto parts store. The pickup bed had been removed, and replaced with a flat bed.

I'm also proud to say that my '79 New Yorker got me there, and back to work, under its own power, without stalling even once! If this keeps up, I might get really bold and start driving it through bad neighborhoods at night with the radio blaring! :shades: