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

stickguy

did a weekend jaunt to the finger lakes.

upstate NY, a pair of old beetles. a slightly custom looking yellow job (probably late 60s) and a stock black super early one. Had to be just beyond the tiny windo (was not split) vintage, but looked decidedly older. Maybe late 50s?

A few other oddballs in passing. nice clean 70ish Nova 2 door with some hop ups. and a 70ish road runner.

uplanderguy

I trust eBay results more than anything. I think way, way more cars are bought and sold that way than through dealers. The club members who give me the most advice are the ones that haven't bought or sold a car in years. For Studebaker pricing, I trust the guy I know of who has sold probably 1,000 Studebakers over the years, many on eBay. I don't believe anyone has sold more Studebakers than he has, since the company closed up shop. He has several times mentioned how outdated the pricing guides are, and I can see that myself based on my constant looking at eBay.

fintail

I am not familiar with that plate, odd.

Funny thing about the Daimlers, when new were a bit pricer than a nearly identical Jag, today are worth a bit less.

Mr_Shiftright

The better price guides are all digestions of current auction results so they shouldn't be outdated. Your friend isn't a disinterested party, so he's bound to cherry-pick the best prices since it benefits him to do so. And besides, he may be a helluva salesman, and they can always get the best price. So I'm not discrediting his abilities, or his results, just his partiality. Also I haven't seen what he sells. Some price guides do not feature cars of show quality. They are better for clean drivers or local show cars.

andre1969

Other than being extremely lowered, and with those oversized blingy wheels, I don't find any of them that bad. I don't care for the fender skirts on the '58, though.

I think the '58 Buicks and Oldsmobiles are so over-the-top, right from the factory, that those more conservative colors, such as that nice blue, help tone the car down overall.

Mr_Shiftright

I have no problem bastardizing a car that was bastardized from the factory :P

If anything, I think the job they did makes the cars more appealing to modern tastes. These are cars after all, not Monets. It's still a '58 Buick, it's still reflecting the history of the 50s, and it's still making people happy, so what's the harm in this case?

I'm more concerned when someone takes something beautiful and nearly perfect and really makes it ugly. Sure, if you put a truck diesel in an E-Type, or turn a rare Mopar Hemi into a 4X4 with cammo paint---then yes, IMO you're guilty of a crime.

As long as the customizer is a true artist, I can *usually* get behind it.

imidazol97

>no problem bastardizing a car that was bastardized from the factory

WOW. You really know how to hurt a guy. :sick:

It's a Buick. :shades: A Buick wouldn't have been configured in any such way even adjusting to the contemporary modifications of its day.

Now here's the kind of car that gives me a thrill to see: it's stock. It's just the way it would have been when originally on the road.

Andre should like this one too. Its style is spot on for the period. And I like them in white, which usually makes cars look bad by showing oddities in styling if there are any.

imidazol97

Here's another original. Mo' power to MoPar.

Owner claims it's 1 of 500...

Mr_Shiftright

yeah, it's one of 500 because nobody wanted them. Not a good reason to be rare. Actually it should be modded up, at least so that it doesn't blow up, which they liked to do with alarming regularity.

Not *everything* is worth preserving---sometimes people just gotta look at a vehicle and say "oh, nice old used car".

I guess I'd put the Shelby Turbo in the "Curiosity Department" of collector cars, so it has a place on the oddity shelf. But would I throw myself in front of the customizer's sawz-all to save it?

No.

tjc78

The 86 Shelby Omni GLHS was pretty rare. They were also pretty quick cars for their day, IIRC they made 175 HP and had manually adjustable Koni struts.

fintail

Ah, a fuselage coupe...like maybe a 70-71? The trunk is as long as the hood, funny design.

andre1969

I think it's a '69 New Yorker. It does have nice, clean lines, and I think the white color helps keep it from looking too fat. My problem with the Mopars of that fuselage area is that it seemed like they were having problems really differentiating the styles. Other than being larger overall, I don't think it really has a more prestigious look about it than a Plymouth or Dodge.

In contrast, I think GM did a pretty good job at making the competing Electra and 98 look like expensive cars, and Mercury did a good job giving its Marquis that "baby Lincoln" look.

With the fuselage cars, I think my favorites are the Imperials, followed by the Dodge Monaco/Polara. I thought the Dodges looked great in '69, sportier and not as fat as the other cars, and I liked when they started putting hidden headlights on the Monaco, even though it did make it look like a ripoff of the Mercury Marquis.

fintail

When I was a kid, I loathed the fuselage cars - they were so big and fat compared to the clean-cut modern generation before, but lacked any pseudo-fanciness of the following cars. I've accepted them more now, they are kind of a 1969 version of modern, one which wouldn't last very long. They must have been seen as pretty different when new, and mostly lacked any pretentiousness. The kind of ring bumper on that Chrysler is an interesting feature that few others used.

omarman

Another interesting feature is the 440 CU IN - at least on the license plate! Mopar police cars always seemed to have a good rep with law enforcement back then. That's what I was thinking with the white car until I noticed it's a 2 door.

berri

I actually thought the fuselage look may have come out better on the wagons of that era.

ab348

I always loved the fuselage cars, as indicated by several posts over the last while here.

You are right; they look best in 4-door versions, as the greenhouse seems a bit taller. That includes the wagons. The 2-doors, while swoopy, had an unfortunate shallow greenhouse (that is back in vogue today of course) which to me never looked right.

There was a sameness to all of them, as Chrysler didn't do all that much to differentiate the Imperials from the Chryslers from the Dodges from the Plymouths. But I liked them for a bunch of reasons: the sheer audaciousness of the design, which Chrysler said was akin to a jetliner (it was the jet age, after all), the hefty loop bumpers they used on many, and (this is odd, I know) I absolutely loved the rounded top of front windshield corner garnish molding they used, which was unlike most other cars and just seemed right to me. Such a minor point, but as a 12 year old, it seemed important.

Unfortunately they seem not to be built as well as earlier models, but I still go for a nice one.

uplanderguy

I was never a fan of the fuselage cars, but then, we were a Chevy family. The cars always looked so fat to me, even worse in wagon form (a friend's parents had a '72 Town and Country...a wagon with fender skirts? I know Olds' Custom Cruiser did too, and it looked fat too IMHO!). But then, I like Studebakers for trim proportions and large rear wheel cutouts, and no one in my family ever had one.

andys120

I don't think I've seen a Caddy Cimarron for a decade but I've seen the same one twice in two weeks. It wasn't cherry but appeared to be in decent driver shape,

Go figure!

tjc78

I don't think I've seen a Caddy Cimarron for a decade

Probably a good thing! I saw one not that long ago and it certainly looked well worn.

fintail

Saw an 83-85 Camry today, not sure exactly what year as didn't see the front. They are still around in this part of the world. Also saw an early 2000s Maserati cabrio.

hpmctorque

Stylewise, that was my favorite generation of Camaro. In addition to the style, I like the fact that they were a little trimmer than the generation that preceded it and the ones that came after. Too bad their quality didn't match their appearance.

One of the things I don't like about the new Camaros is that they're porkers. Hopefully, that'll be addressed in the next generation.

Mr_Shiftright

They are BIG cars and also you can't hardly see out of 'em.

tjc78

Saw an 83-85 Camry today

Wow no one even notices a Toyota in print.....

fintail

A Camry really is the most invisible car :shades:

andre1969

Yeah, I kinda caught that, too! FWIW, I kinda like those '83-86 Camrys. I think my favorite generation is the '87-91. They have a conservative, tasteful look about them.

fintail

The Camry 5 door from the early era is an oddity, I swear there about 10 still on the road in my zip code alone. Not long ago there was an 89 Camry All-Trac on local craigslist that looked pretty nice, too. Even the Camry was more interesting then.

berri

I remeber a decade or so ago seeing lots of used mid 90's camry wagons as Taxis at Washington Reagan (National) Airport. Durable little vehicle.

fintail

The kind of weird looking one with two rear wipers? Toyota had more guts then for sure.

berri

Yep. Interstingly, most of the other cabs were GM RWD like caprice and Roadmaster. That Camry wagon may have looked a little weird, but it seemed it was built truck tough.

lemko

I believe Camries are a favorite among bank robbers as getaway cars because they are so anonymous.

tjc78

Yeah imagine saying..... "he just sped away in a silver Camry" good luck. Bank robbers in NYC should always use a black Town Car too, lol.

berri

Actually, the V6 Camry is deceptively quick. Bonnie and Clyde used Fords. But yeah, Town cars and Caddy's better fit the image.

andys120

Spotted a very clean looking Porsche 356 in my rear view mirror and slowed to let him pass so I could have a look. It turned out to be the 356B Karmann "notchback" coupe which was created by welding a hardtop onto the Cabriolet body.

These are pretty rare and this car for some reason didn't have the raised centers on the hubcaps that usually denote a 356B,. it wore the flatter hubcaps seen on 356C models. :confuse:

It was ivory with a black top and obviously restored. A very nice sight for a old sports car guy.

fintail

My boring odd sightings today - Chevy Citation, Volvo 940, early 90s Chevy truck smoking like my fintail when a piston ring broke

tjc78

I had an 06 Avalon with the same engine, so I can agree. Toyota may be boring but the 2GR V6 is a sweet engine.

explorerx4

... oh oh, the road isn't straight anymore. :surprise:

uplanderguy

Those Camry wagons always reminded me of late '50's/early '60's Rambler wagons (that's not a good thing!).

Mr_Shiftright

Oh people are always switching things on 356s. I often find wrong parts on them, even on nicer restorations.

The notchback is the least popular and least valuable of all the 356s. It's not a very handsome car. Sometimes in Europe they get chopped and passed off as cabriolets. Not nice.

Mr_Shiftright

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280746464890&viewi- tem=&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123

explorerx4

It definitely has a ford 2.3 in it. That's the valve cover from a turbo motor.

Mr_Shiftright

Good eye...so not only does it look like a washing machine, it will run like one! :P

lemko

...rough looking white 1980 Cadillac Eldorado followed by an even rougher looking maroon 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

stickguy

how exactly do you change the tires on that? Heck, check the tire pressure?

andys120

Sometimes in Europe they get chopped and passed off as cabriolets. Not nice.

Considering that they basically are cabrios which had the h/ts welded on, that doesn't seem so bad. :shades:

fintail

80s day - Tempo coupe, pop up headlight Accord, 200SX with the tetris taillights, MB W123 (could have been from the 70s), BMW E21

oldbearcat

I was in Pittsburgh visiting a client, and, sitting in his parking garage was a beautiful Rolls Royce convertible - looked just like the one Rodney Dangerfield drove in the movie "Caddyshack".

Regards:
Oldbearcat

wevk

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid35036491001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAACC6Og- zE~,L0bTvfk9n161rxAUbRKUHVmDGRBSHx-N&bctid=958137284001

fintail

A few things today - mint pristine red Saab 9000, Austin Princess, 1962 (per year of manufacture plates) Beetle with big sunroof, late series Lexus SC300

fintail

Today's oldies - Euro W123, 560SEC, Peugeot 505 wagon, early Cressida, Geo Metro convertible

texases

In 4 days I saw two of these - can't remember the last time I saw one: