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

uplanderguy

My parents' last car was a new '90 Corsica V6 with column-shift automatic. My Dad had an aversion to floor shifts, for some reason. Of course, he filled that blank space with his aftermarket open container for storage. I don't think any other car that size could be had with a column-shift. Say what you will, but I think column shifts (and lack of console) give an impression of room, even if in reality it's wasted space.

The worst thing about his Corsica was that it had the styled steel wheels with trim rings. In six years, he lost two of the trim rings and the others were loose. He never (I mean never) drove on a four-lane but instead drove around their northeast town, with its pockmarked streets. Mine had the plastic wheel covers.

Mr_Shiftright

Well that's because you got the cheapo stripper models of japanese cars at rental places. By the late 1980s, the Japanese were offering OHC 6 & 4 cylinder engines with variable valve timing and all the options you could get on domestic cars. This was the era when the Japanese were stealing from the domestics in market share, and just before the launch of Lexus, Miata, and their SUVs.

fintail

I think our Tempo had map pockets, but it has been so long ago that I am not sure. Ours was also a "GLX" trim, so it had everything. A base Tempo was very low - crude vinyl interior and everything. I don't know if a Corsica could be had so ill equipped.

I remember sometime in the mid 90s we had a Corsica rental - I remember it was a V6 car, moderately equipped, seemed definitely a notch higher than the Tempo.

ab348

Double standard, my friend. Rental places never bought anything but strippo models back then regardless of make. The domestics were the same. I remember rental Nissan Sentras that were exactly as described - crude, noisy, buzzy, thin-door wonders.

The domestics made some pretty awful cars during that period but many of the Japanese cars were equally bad to drive. We have the Japanese to thank for gray mouse-fur upholstery with all 4 paint color choices, roof ditch moldings instead of finished seams, and the demise of the hubcap.

Mr_Shiftright

Well most Americans apparently thought otherwise I guess, as market share for US automakers went down, year by year, in the 80s. We need to compare apples to apples....so compare the sub-compact Sentra to the Chevette.

GM thought enough of the Japanese cars to market them under their own names.....Nova, Spectrum, Prizm, Sprint, then the Geo line. GM never made a Sentra competitor again until 2011 with the Sonic.

andre1969

We need to compare apples to apples....so compare the sub-compact Sentra to the Chevette.

I think comparing crap to crap might be a better analogy! :P One had hard plastic inserts in the door panels and exposed metal at the window sill, while the other had paper-thin vinyl inserts and exposed metal.

One would have started squeaking and rattling sooner, probably experience stalling problems, and most likely had a crappy manual transmission, while the other would have started rusting more quickly, had the crappier automatic, and poor HVAC.

Overall, I'd imagine the Sentra was a better driving experience, got better fuel economy, etc, but to anybody accustomed to standard-sized cars, I'm sure they would both be considered crap. But, both Nissan and GM learned from their mistakes, and thankfully built better cars. Alas, GM didn't learn as quickly. :sick:

ab348

Japanese cars sold well for several reasons. Those had more to do with them being better at squeezing mileage out of a gallon of gas than it did with them being excellent drivers. Now, those fuel-sipping cars were better than a Chevette or an early Escort. But not all the '80s Japanese cars were twincam Toyotas or Preludes. There was an awful lot of crap.

uplanderguy

If domestic market share went down some each year in the '80's, I don't know that that means that 'most Americans thought otherwise'. As the number of Japanese models increased, their market share had only one way to go...up. That may have been the beginning of the big decline over the next twenty years, but the domestics still pretty-much owned the market in the '80's.

I'd have taken an '85 GM X-car over anything Japanese a rental car counter had, that year.

Mr_Shiftright

I would respectfully disagree. I thought the Datsun 510 and the first Toyota Corolla were fantastic cars for the money you paid for them.

As for reliability, japanese cars were second to none---not Benz, not BMW, not Rolls Royce, not nobody could run as reliably as a Japanese car in the 1980s on a cost per mile basis.

That's why people bought them---not for upholstery, for thickness of the metal, or even for gas mileage.

They bought them because they didn't break down as often.

Yeah, they were tinny and had crappy styling and some of them buzzed and rattled, but they were *so much* better than anything else for the money you spent.

Having owned my own repair shop in 70s and 80s, where we worked on anything that came in the door, I can report that the reliability level of the Japanese cars was substantially higher than most everything---maybe the Volvos of the day were equivalent.

I hated Japanese cars---I couldn't make any money on them! :P

PS: Would I own one today for fun? Noooooooooo

Mr_Shiftright

I remember one day when I went to my auto parts supplier, A&A in Boulder Colorado. I guess it was about 1980 and the owner (a great guy) called me into his office and asked me: "Joe, my store manager (this was a big store) said he thought Japanese cars were just imported junk and that we shouldn't carry more parts for them---what do the guys in the repair shops think?"

In short, I told him to put all his chips on Japanese cars and parts, because that's just the way things were going...

Well, the short story is that he did just that, and made himself a pile of money as the premier supplier of Japanese parts at that time.

within a few years all the parts houses had jumped in.

I used to sell used cars as a sideline to the business, and when I sold a toyota or honda, I never heard a complaint that I can recall.

Of course in colorado we didn't have any rust issues.

andre1969

That may have been the beginning of the big decline over the next twenty years, but the domestics still pretty-much owned the market in the '80's.

I'd have taken an '85 GM X-car over anything Japanese a rental car counter had, that year.

Definitely true. In 1985, the bread and butter of the American market was still mid- and full-sized cars, and trucks. And for the most part, that still holds true today...it's just that mid and full-sized have pretty much blurred together.

That's not to say that smaller cars aren't popular, or should be ignored. But in 1985, that's all the Japanese did. That year, the biggest car the Japanese made, in terms of interior room, was the Toyota Camry, a compact. The Cressida and Maxima might have been larger, heavier cars, but they had less room inside.

The Accord was a subcompact in those days (by my standards, it never made the jump to "mid-size" until the 2003 redesign, although I'm sure the EPA and may others would beg to differ!). Similarly, the Stanza was barely a compact. I think by EPA standards, the sedan was actually a subcompact, while the hatchback was a compact, so it was definitely borderline.

As the years went by though, the Japanese built bigger and bigger cars, while the domestics phased their larger cars out. The Japanese also moved into higher price brackets as well, yet at the same time, became much more competitive in pricing.

Contrary to popular belief, many Japanese cars really weren't that inexpensive back in the day. My 1985 Consumer Guide, for example, tested a Camry, and it MSRP'ed for $14,058! Now, granted, that's for a fully loaded model, but that's still not a cheap car. That same book tested a well-equipped V-8 Pontiac Parisienne, and while they didn't list what it stickered for, they said that "A fully-loaded on like ours shouldn't set you back more than $15K or so." They did test a Caprice, that was very well equipped, but only had teh 4.3 V-6, and it was $14,711.

kyfdx

On a downtown Cincinnati street, yesterday...

fintail

This morning, obviously restored later chrome bumper MGB, and a pristine new looking Peugeot 505 - either a preserved labor of love or something restored by a lunatic, as it looked brand new.

ab348

The tales of mythical reliability for early Japanese cars would tend to belie the claim of a parts supplier who made a fortune from them. Why would that parts supply biz be so lucrative if stuff doesn't break?

In any event that isn't what is at question here - they were more reliable back then as Detroit struggled with emissions controls and union woes. What has never made sense to me is why a country that loved big, cushy, powerful cars (and still does with todays trucks) would move so quickly to cars that were the opposite of all those things. I suspect reliability was only one of many factors.

uplanderguy

IMO, domestic iron was the worst when they attempted to ape foreign designs! I'd take the worst of a mid-'70's design over a more-efficient, yet far-more-boring mid'80's design that was packaged in a way to imitate foreign vehicles.

Mr_Shiftright

Maintenance parts are very lucrative, and an auto parts store can undercut the dealer. For a shop, maintenance repairs are the most profitable A shop makes much more on brakes and mufflers than on tracing down electrical glitches. Also the profit per part is probably higher than with domestics. And finally, the Japanese cars were easy to work on.

Japanese reliability does not appear to be mythical, as all consumer surveys of the period validate it.

Of course, as our "obscure" topic indicates, not all Japanese cars were created equal back then.

andre1969

Japanese reliability does not appear to be mythical, as all consumer surveys of the period validate it.

Well, according to Consumer Reports reliabily charts from the late 70's and early 80's, many GM products had just as many little half-red and full-red circles in those charts as the best of the Japanese models did.

However, it was mainly RWD cars using Buick and Oldsmobile engines, and to a lesser degree Chevy I6, V-6, and V-8 engines, that were getting those high marks. The smaller cars that competed more closely with the Japanese were coming up poorly.

fintail

If I look back say 30 years ago, during the height of malaise, and look at what I might want to buy - for Japanese cars, I might be into an Accord, but otherwise, it would be Cressida, Supra, or nothing. There'd be a number of albeit full sized domestic cars from many brands that I would consider. But if I had money, I would have easily gone German - I think that was the era when MB and BMW were maybe their most advanced against the competition in either quality or technology or both.

And for obscure cars, this afternoon I saw a maybe 66-67 Stingray roadster, in that beautiful period light blue. It was a pristine car, but not running very well, carb issues I bet.

andre1969

If I look back say 30 years ago, during the height of malaise, and look at what I might want to buy

I just realized...30 years ago would be tail end of 1981, or the 1982 model year. It was almost 30 years ago (Feb 1982) that my grandparents bought their Malibu Classic estate wagon, a car they ended up hating with a passion and dumping after a little over 2 1/2 years. Upon discovering the rear windows didn't roll down, Grandmom started calling it "the most expensive cheap car we've ever owned".

I might be into an Accord, but otherwise, it would be Cressida, Supra, or nothing.

I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a Japanese car from 1982 that I'd really want. The Accords in the upper trim levels were actually pretty posh, but just too small for my tastes. The 810/Maxima and Cressida were also nice cars, but still way too small. And the Supra, definitely a nice car, but not really my thing

But if I had money, I would have easily gone German - I think that was the era when MB and BMW were maybe their most advanced against the competition in either quality or technology or both.

If I had money to burn, I could see myself in a Benz S-class from that era. But if I was merely middle-upper-class, I could see myself going with something like an Olds 98 or Buick Electra, before a Cadillac. Caddy really shot themselves in the foot with that little 249 aluminum V-8. And even if it had been reliable, it just wasn't enough engine to move that much car. GM's lesser B-bodies were still nice cars as well, but I think I might have had reservations about the RWD intermediates, as they phased out the 305 and 307 V-8's for the most part. You might have still been able to get them in wagons, but otherwise, I think the Olds 260, Chevy 267, or Buick 252 V-6 were as big of an engine as you could get, although for 1983 they'd start offering the 5-liter class engines again.

I had a severe bias against Ford in those days, so I probably wouldn't have considered any of their products at the time. But, I could have seen myself in something like an M-body New Yorker, Cordoba/Mirada, or, if I was a bit more financially blessed, an Imperial.

Unfortunately, nothing spotted on the obscure front around here today. I did get the 5th Ave out of the garage for a few minutes to rinse off its rump, though. On Friday I had driven it to work, and the landscaping crew got it and a few other cars muddy when they blew a bunch of leaves off the parking lot and surrounding area. I was fit to be tied. Pretty much told 'em that they wre fortunate I didn't catch them in the act, or else the leaf-blower and the illegal wielding it would have most likely been tossed over the fence!

Fortunately, no real damage done. I'm getting a voucher for a free car wash, which I'll probably use for the Buick. I don't trust the old 5th Ave in the car wash anymore. I'm afraid it might take off a piece of trim, or shred the landau roof even worse than it is!

ab348

Thinking back to what myself, my family and friends were driving back then is sort of interesting. I had a '79 Impala and a '77 LeMans. The Impala was a better-built car but the LeMans was a 2-door and more fun. My dad had an Omega Brougham 2-door, I believe an '82. My brothers both had '76 Cutlass wagons. One of them also had a '70s Corolla as a beater that he welded new floors into - I remember going with him to pick it up when he bought it and seeing the road literally under my feet. Among my coworkers, Mustangs and Camaros were popular. I remember going to a work-related party and being impressed with the '81 Cutlass coupe one the boyfriends of a young lady in the office arrived in. Her boss drove a slantback downsized Cutlass sedan. One of the ladies in the office bought an early Cavalier as I recall. My boss had an Olds 98; his wife drove a Cordoba. I can only remember one Japanese car owner, a girl who bought a Civic hatch and had it rot out from underneath her in short order.

fintail

I am thinking back to that time, with 30 years being a nice even number, as it is about the beginning of my automotive awareness. I can remember what my family and relatives and even people on my street drove then.

1982 was the first year of the angular Supra - I like those, so that would be my first Japanese choice. Then a Cressida for a plush car, an Accord for a normal car, but not many others turn my head. The RX-7 was a hit then, but I am not into those as an adult for whatever reason.

Grey market imports were common then, tons of possibilities from Europe - a nice 500SEL would be an easy pic, if I was loaded. The US market V8 MB had the 3.8 engine which wasn't the best. The diesels were good then too, albeit loud. BMW also had some stylish cars with the period 7er, 6er coupe, and new 5er. Porsche 928 was super cool and the 911s were good too. Or if you were really rich, some exotics were cool, a Lambo or a Rolls etc was much more special then.

I don't know of a period Ford I would want other than a LTD/CV or maybe the right Mustang. A Town Car wasn't bad then, and I think the pseudo bustleback Continental was new then too - both both too fogeyish for me.

I'd take a 1980 good engined Seville or Eldo with the right trim, and I think all of the big GM cars like you mention, the big Buicks, Olds, and even Caprice were all decent with the right engine. The X cars and smaller never appealed to me much. For 82 the big Chryslers were new too, those weren't too bad I think, durable engines...and a t-top Mirada CMX would be different.

Oh yeah, I did see another old car, a 64 Galaxie 2 door HT, had classic plates but was unrestored in average condition, bad windshield, actually moved over when I came up behind it on a 40mph main road.

berri

We owned GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Mazda products in the 80's and 90's. The maintenance problems and expense on GM and Ford were considerably more than the Japanese brands. The Detroit assembly quality was much sloppier too. We lived in the snowbelt during most of that time and kept cars 6-8 years. Never had a big rust issue on any of the vehicles. Did have to replace some rust on the wheel well of a Taurus though. These days I think most vehicles are much closer to each other.

Mr_Shiftright

The Japanese were also incredibly lucky---they had the right products in place just when the gas crunch hit in '73 for the first time, and in the second crunch of '79, and their engineers jumped right on the emissions problems and solved them a lot more efficiently than Detroit it. Combine those two things----luck + faster emissions responses....and you had a couple of aces in your hand right there.

Detroit just didn't react quickly enough to changing times. It wasn't *all* about quality or reliability---only partially that---much of it was just the failure to develop products that fit people's tastes and needs and desires.

Detroit "didn't get it" for the longest time.

lemko

Back then, I'd have gone with a Buick Park Avenue or Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight as even I'd be afraid, (and still am) of that HT4100 engine that was in full-sized Cadillacs of the time.

lemko

30 years ago...

I had a 1968 Buick Special Deluxe.
My Dad had 1981 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau.
Grandpop had a 1980 Chevrolet Impala sedan.
My best friend had a new 1982 Chevrolet Malibu Classic sedan.
Another friend had a new 1982 Chevrolet Caprice Classic sedan.
My girlfriend had a new 1982 Cadillac Seville.

uplanderguy

My girlfriend had a new 1982 Cadillac Seville.

Was this her car, or her parents'? And...did you marry her?!

fintail

I was 5 in 1982. I had a bunch of toy cars.
My dad had a ~80 Plymouth Horizon
My mom had a ~75 Thunderbird
Maternal grandparents had a big 70s Chrysler and a medium newer Olds.
Paternal grandparents had a ~80 Chevy conversion van, a ~75 Ford Camper Special, and a ~75 Pinto.
People across the street had a white 4x4 Blazer and a white RX-7 that I was in love with.
Neighbors one one side had a Daisy Duke style Jeep and a red Super Beetle Convertible. One door down from them a woman had a yellow Fox Mustang replaced with a Mazda 626 hardtop.
Neighbors on other side had some forgettable cars, a Fiat X1/9 and a ~46 Chevy pickup.
Older man a few doors up the street had one of the 77-79 Caprice sport coupes with the glassy rear window.
Uncle had one of the Omnirizon fastbacks, aunt had a Pacer wagon (she actually loved it).
Other aunt and uncle had a Continental and a Fox body Mustang with T-tops that I liked. They also won an electric car around that time, but didn't keep it long.

You know you are crazy when all of this stays in your memory :shades:

au1994

30 years ago, late 81 my family's stable looked like this:

Mom: Omni 024. The 2 dr hatchback version. Navy blue
Dad: Olds 98 Broo-ham. Maroon inside and out.
nestled in the garage awaiting my 16th b-day in 6 more years: 66 Mustang convertible.

Paternal grandfather: ~8X Toyota p/u. Red and basic. Last truck he ever owned though. Drove for another 10 yrs beyond this timeframe.
Paternal grandmother: 79 is downsized Caprice sedan in light metallic blue. This held out till it was replaced by an 89 Olds 98 which she still has with maybe 30k on the clock.

Maternal grandparents: Grandmother on this side never had a license. Grandfather had a ~73 or 4 is Buick Lesabre which he stopped driving in another 3-4 yrs from this time.

Neighbors to one side had a Pinto wagon and Granada (parents) as well as a Mercury Comet and Mustang II (kids).

Neighbors to the other side had a new Toyota Starlet and a pre downsized 70's Monte Carlo. Green with white top and white interior. This later gave way to one of the 1st space ship looking Toyota mini vans.

Rest of the neighborhood was almost exclusively American. One guy way up the street had a BMW 3.0 CSI, I believe it was. This was VERY exotic for western Arkansas at the time.

Fun thread!! And yes fintail, it does speak to the craziness many of us here are afflicted with! My parents will ask me to recall an event from childhood and I will say "well, dad was driving the blue Olds and that was an 85, so..."

omarman

30 years ago...
This is kind of a fun topic, but I mostly remember the 70s Detroit iron from back then:
I had a '72 Olds Delta 88 coupe, 455/automatic and polycast wheels. Thirsty but at least it had an early 70s low-lead/no-lead engine.
My Dad had a '79 Dodge Monaco SW, 360 lean burn era V8.
Sister had a '79 Malibu SW.
Brother had a '77(?) Jeep Wagoneer.
My cousin had a '79 Bronco.
My best friend had a '77 Ford Pinto SW and was only sorry that he didn't buy a new Pinto before they were put out to pasture in 1980!

My girlfriend had a '76 Datsun B210 on its last rusty legs. I only drove it when I had to but we both loved her dad's 1970 Ford Torino Cobra, 429/4-speed. He was a contractor and actually drove that car to work when weather was decent.

fintail

Oh, I forgot one, my maternal grandfather was still working then and had a company car. That year he had either a Corolla or a Beetle - odd choices. I had a thing for Beetles then, not for how they looked, but for how they sounded, loud and clattery. I remember being near the neighbor's Beetle when they'd rev it, I liked that a lot. It's weird to imagine my grandfather driving one, but from what I was told he got to pick his company cars. Maybe reliability and mileage were key. I also had a thing for MGs then, Porsches, and the small VW and Mopar pickups.

I lived in eastern WA, which is pretty out of the way in some places, and was moreso then. I remember my mother knew a doctor who a couple years later had a W126 300SD, in the typical "German taxi" off white color. Even then, it was loud, but not very old. Probably poorly maintained, but it was exotic to me. One of her friends had an Audi 4000 coupe (can't remember the last time I saw one) that was also very unusual to me. And when I was in grade school, some old people along the walk had a fintail, a highline car in grey and white with a dark red interior. I didn't care for it, it was just strange to me. I wonder what became of it, something like that in those colors is impossible to find.

I also can remember what cars my teachers drove, from the time I was in 2nd grade onwards.

au1994

You jarred a couple of things loose...neighbors 2 houses up had one of the last Delta 88 convertibles, red with white top and interior. Believe it or not, this was replaced by a poop brown Audi 5000.

Assistant librarian in elementary school had a 68 Camaro convertible. She was ancient so the car absolutely didn't fit her at all.

Can't believe I forgot this one, but there was a 63 split window Vette in the neighborhood as well. Lord I loved that thing.

My mothers sister and her husband had a slew of stuff for a while...the ubiquitous Beetle while in college, a bright yellow Corolla, a light sagey green Cutlass, an early Escort which was the 1st stick shift I every drove and a Fox bodied Mustang for a very brief period of time.

lemmer

Fintail, should I take any interest in this car for sale by my wife's coworker?

1998 Mercedes 280C for sale:
One Owner
120,000 miles
Excellent condition
$5,000 or best offer

C280, presumably.

fintail

Yes, C280. Those W202s aren't bad cars, they were engineered before the cost-cutting, but maintenance and repairs are still going to be more than on a normal car. I'd want to have it looked at, and still maybe try to knock a little off, but if it all checks out, no harm done.

lemmer

Probably not much fun, though.

fintail

My memories of general area cars are still kind of sketchy for 30 years ago, but 25 years ago, I remember everything. Living in a very dry area, there were a lot of old cars still around in the 80s - 50s stuff was normal to see on the road and not too remarkable. I remember a block away from that fintail, there was a 49 Mercury woody rotting away in a backyard, alongside a 1930s era bus. I wanted to rescue that woody even then. The guy had a vicious dog and you couldn't get too close. I remember a number of kids who lived in houses with large lots having an old car or two out in the "back 40", including a Hudson and a ~55 Ford pickup. A teacher at a neighboring school had a 55-56 Crown Vic glasstop they drove almost every day, that was cool to me then.

None of my grade school teachers had anything too cool, although one had both a Vista Cruiser and a Pontiac 6000 2-door - both kind of oddballs. My third grade teacher had a newer Supra, which irked me because I liked the car but didn't like her. In junior high, an attractive and very nice middle aged woman teacher had a beautiful black on palomino 300CD, traded it in on a new 190E, which seemed pretty high tech then.

fintail

Yeah, boring car pretty much. Manual isn't too hard to find on the period C230, but I don't know if it was even offered on the 6cyl model.

texases

If I was going to put up with German parts and repair, I'd look for a 3er instead...

Mr_Shiftright

Back in the heyday of the Detroit Big 3, when GM by *itself* owned over 50% market share, the various neighborhoods in suburban Detroit were quite segregated regarding the company you worked for---never mind finding a furrin' car in a GM neighborhood---you'd be hard pressed to even find a FORD in one.

One GM exec relates a story of coming home one day and seeing a Toyota in his driveway---his son, visiting from college, had purchased it in some college town and driven it back home for the holidays. The exec made his son park it around the corner, as he was so mortified that someone would see a foreign make in his rather posh GM driveway.

Many years later, as he contemplated his own career, he remarked that he probably should have asked his son what he liked about the car he bought.

au1994

I can remember back to 1st and second grade car pool which was the 77,78, 79 time frame and there was a period custom van which everyone thought was so cool since it had a tv in it. Also in the mix was a new Town Car. I thought it huge even for those days.

Most of my parents friends and friends parents seemed to be on the same conservative scale. Lots of Big 3 4dr sedans turned over every 3 or 4 years for another one with GM being the majority, then Ford. A few GM wagons thrown in and the odd truck or full sized Blazer.

A couple of Caddy's is as fancy as my dad got until he retired. He did give up his anti import stance and bought mom and my sister a 626 and Protege respectively. He ended up having a Camry and now they have a Lexus and Enclave in retirement.

The memory of cars of my past has stuck with me more than many of the people of my past.

Mr_Shiftright

I love 60s American cars...they are the only ones I would consider owning again. Reliable, no computers, no emissions (or very little), plenty of styling, plenty of power, and with seat belts and disk brakes, safe enough for me.

lemmer

OK, I'll play. What is your list of American cars of the '60s that you'd consider owning?

fintail

I remember a family who were friends with ours who had a custom van, it was a Chevy but I don't remember it much past the mural on the spare tire cover. By the 80s in the area I lived, conversion vans became a big fad for affluent families (they could cost like 30K even then), and I remember some decked out ones with the boomerang antennas and all. Another aunt had a "Trail Wagons" conversion (made in Yakima, where they lived), and later in the 80s a family friend had a "County Cruiser", both Econoline based.

Not much brand loyalty in my family, everyone seemed to jump around a bit. My parents had all big 3 makes over the years, and now my mom drives a Camry. Both sets of grandparents were all over the map, although I think my paternal grandfather might have leaned towards Chevy as he was a Corvair nut when they were new - had like 5 of them when they were modern.

The cars help me remember the people, and vice versa.

Mr_Shiftright

Lessee...I'd consider owning:

'64-65 Buick Riviera

'66 Old Toronado

'65 Corvair Spyder (4-speed)

A Corvette Stingray, small block, 4 speed, power steering

'63 Falcon Sprint V8

'66 Mustang Fastback K code

Dodge Pickup, 6 cylinder/4 speed

Could I get a Dodge Dart or a Duster with a 340 and 3X 2V or would I have to build that?

lemko

Actually, it was a high school graduation present. She was from a very wealthy family with close connections to General Motors. She also had a mint-condition white 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham that once belonged to her mother. Didn't marry her though. I ended up with a girl who once had a blue 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 sedan when she was in high school around the same time.

lemko

I can remember my teachers' cars as well - those I liked as well as those I didn't like. One of my favorite teachers had a brown 1970 Plymouth Gran Coupe, my high school principal had a 1970 Volvo 164, my English teacher in 9th grade had a Dodge Dart Swinger, my music teacher had a red 1974 Mustang II notchback coupe. A science teacher had a blue Datsun 200 SX. In college, one of my professors had a nice 1952 Buick Super.

One guy I really hated was an obnoxious fourth grade teacher who bought a new red and white 1975 Dodge Charger, (Cordoba clone) and he acused me of scratching it when I was messing around with a couple of other kids. Shoot, I should've deliberately keyed it for the nonsense he put me through. I hear from friends of mine who now have kids in his class tell me he is still an (censored).

lemko

It would be easier for me to write a list of 1960s American cars I wouldn't want, and even some of them a pretty cool in their own way.

fintail

Grade 2: 77-79 T-Bird Grade 3: 82-84 Supra Grade 4: Buick Apollo Grade 5: Pontiac 6000 Grade 6: Ford Ranger. One grade school principal had an Accord hatch, the other a Ranger. Then after 6th grade it became 6-7 classes per day with many teachers, I remember several - English teacher had a 87+ Lebaron coupe, the teacher with the MBs, French teacher ~85 Accord sedan, junior high principal drove a F-series, high school principal drove a Reatta, another English teacher had a Mercury Monarch and another a 77-79 Caprice woody, crazy German teacher had a Cavalier, art teacher had a Subaru wagon and an Exploder (now drives a 560SL and his wife drives a W126 300SE), math teacher a ~90 Accord, and so on. Maybe holding on to this useless data will keep me from going senile...or get me there faster :shades:

fintail

Oh yeah, saw a brown unrestored sound looking 64-65 Falcon wagon this morning.

I remember when I was 16, I "found" a 63 Falcon Sprint 260, red on red, very good condition, that I wanted dearly. Seller wouldn't part with it though, was waiting for his middle aged son to "restore it", day never came as a few years later the old man passed on and the car vanished.

ab348

I lived in eastern WA, which is pretty out of the way in some places, and was moreso then.

I visited that area a few years ago - Yakima and Richland - and was fascinated by the terrain. I imagine it would be pretty good for old cars, except for the potential sandblasting and UV exposure.

When did the interstate to the west, up and over the mountains and eventually to the coast get built? I was constantly thinking about the engineering and effort that must have gone into building that road. Very impressive.

texases

Why stop at a 340 for the Dart? According to wiki you can get a 440! (no mention of a six-pack, though):

"The 2-barrel 273 cu in (4.5 L) small-block V8 was replaced on the option list in 1968 by a 318 cu in (5.2 L) 2-barrel engine. The 318 was rated at 230 bhp (170 kW) versus the 2-barrel carbureted 273's 180 bhp (130 kW). At the same time the 4-barrel carbureted 273 235 bhp (175 kW) was replaced on the options list by the 275 bhp (205 kW) 4-barrel carbureted 340 cu in (5.6 L) available only in the 1968-1972 Swinger and the hottest Dart, the performance-oriented GTS models. The Dart GTS came standard with the 340 cu in (5.6 L) V8. A 300 hp (220 kW) 383 cu in (6.3 L) big-block was optional. In 1968, fifty 440 CID 350 bhp versions were available for special order to satisfy NHRA sanction rules. They were special models removed from the regular assembly line as an unfinished, and sent to The Hurst Corp For fitment of the 440 Cid Engine. This was to satisfy NHRA Sanction Rules. In 1969, the 440 CID 350 bhp engine was upgraded to 375 bhp, and became available to the public as a regular production line option. This is according to Chrysler Corporations "MOPAR Direct Connection A Body Performance Manual", 1909 versions in 1969 were produced with this option."

Guy at the garage I worked at in the mid-70s had a Dart with a 340 cid, think it had a 4-bbl. Seemed like a fun car. Why the itch for 3X 2V?