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

andys120

"of 1937 Nash" (a line from Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three that could apply to the Volvo 544).

fintail

Saw a 69 Ford Torino GT fastback today...don't see many of those around

Headgasket on the Jag? Have fun!

seminole_kev

not that bad really. Getting the timing chain off the cams is going to be the biggest part of that.

Honestly I think changing the oil filter with the drop in/canister type recessed where you really need to put the whole car on a lift to do it right is the bigger pain!

fintail

I like those cars, that make my fintail with its MFI and weirdo transmission seem so simple

andre1969

in DC tonite. Driving in, I saw a '46-48 or so Oldsmobile 2-door sedan, in a shade of green that only the 40's could have produced (and I mean that in a good way!) Parked right behind it was one of those little Citroen Deux Chevauxes, or however you spell it. Anyway, the Olds dwarfed it!

Also got a chance to ride in an '04 Prius. The things are actually kinda cool inside, although I don't like the exterior styling. Weird too, feeling it moving without hearing the engine...the only time I've ever been able to experience that was when my Dart ran out of gas and I coasted into a gas station! About the only thing I didn't like about it is every once in awhile there was a clunk that you felt more than heard. I think maybe it was the gasoline engine turning off, but it felt more like a tranny dropping!

We parked in front of a really nice 1969 (I think) Eldorado. It had exposed headlights, but still was a true hardtop. I think the '68 still had hidden headlights, while the '70 had fixed opera windows, but I'm not sure.

Also must've seen about 4 or 5 RWD Cutlasses, ranging from a '77 4-door sedan that was still in fairly good shape, to a '78-79 coupe, an early 80's coupe, and an early 80's sedan. Kinda sad to think that you see more models of a 20-25 year Oldsmobile around than you do new ones!

PF_Flyer

I was in Columbus, OH for a day and even though it was being towed on a single car trailer, it has to count. I have no idea of the year, but looking at the styling I'd guess early to mid 80's... a Nissan Gloria. Have to admit I didn't know what it was when I first saw it, but made a few mental notes about it so I could Google it when I got home! Mf FIRST Japanese market car sighting!

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lemko

...1967 and 1968 Eldorados have hidden headlamps. The 1969 and 1970 models have exposed lights and look nearly identical. The grille patterns are slightly different. I don't believe opera windows appeared until the 1971-1978 generation.

There's a very weird movie called "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" where they totally trash a beautiful white1971 Eldorado convertible and pretty much beat a nice orange-red 1971 Impala convertible.

andre1969

I don't know why I was picturing the '70 Eldorado as being somewhat different from the '69. I might be thinking of the '70 Riviera which, while it was the same body style as the the sleeker '69 and earlier models, just had a "formal" sheetmetal redo that made it look porky. It was still a hardtop, though.

And yup, the opera windows first showed up on the '71 Eldorado, while the Buick Riv and Olds Toronado wisely kept roll-down windows in back. I think it was '74 when the Riv went to fixed windows in back, although I have seen '74 Toronados still with roll-down windows in back. I think they did away with 'em completely for '75.

lemko

...is still based on the 1966-69 platform but looks to me like a porked-up Skylark. Unlike the '66 thru '69 Riv, it has exposed headlights. The '70 also has fender skirts and an odd "sweepspear" molding with a vinyl insert. At least the '70 had the potent 455 V-8.

wimsey1

Real old, '50's maybe. It is pre-Gladiator style with the slightly V shaped version of the traditional CJ grill. Like the original Wagoneer. Very basic stepside box. Anybody know the age range?
This was an "invisible" one (in spite of being yellow), it's only 3 blocks away and I see it every week and it just struck me yesterday that it is rare!
andre-thanks for sharing observations on Prius, I would like to get a test drive myself.

scanty

A red '63 Impala wagon, and a yellow Z06 Corvette.

Mr_Shiftright

here's a nice way to burn money faster than a whale can suck krill:

http://www.craigslist.org/nby/car/25743067.html

Here's an interesting car but unfortunately about $975 overpriced.

http://www.craigslist.org/eby/car/25708244.html

I don't even know what this is!

http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/car/25514677.html

ateixeira

Is it even worth anything with a replacement engine?

-juice

ateixeira

You sure that Austin's gas tank is really full? )

-juice

andys120

like the one Wimsey describes and went to the Gaspe Peninsula and Montreal in it w two freinds. The sucker had a homebuilt camper built onto the back of it.

Handling, needless to say was percarious. This was in 1967 and that truck was prolly 8-10 y/o
at that time. It was not a Wrangler/CJ-based Scrambler or a Cherokee-based Commando. If I had to guess I'd say it was based on the old Jeepster with which it shared some styling elements.

andys120

via Google, I don't think it ever came to the US officially.

http://students.fct.unl.pt/users/ejr/127intro.html#whatis

I think he's got a wrong year on that Austin America, it's listed as a '62, my friend's dad had an '62 or '63 MG1100, essentially the same car, but I don't think they sold the Austin version here until '67-'69, I believe it like the 1100 were based on the Austin Maxi.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/news/news105.html

My girlfreind's dad owned a <<shudder>> Austin Atlantic!

http://www.adclassix.com/ads/51austin2.htm

fintail

I had a toy Fiat 127 when I was little.

I like this: "1952 JAGUAR MARK 7(ROLLS ROYCE)"

That's like saying "1961 Fiat 1500 (Ferrari 250GT California Spyder)

I like that Austin Atlantic, somehow. A couple years back an estate was liquidated locally, and several cars came out of it, including an Austin a40/Devon. Very cute little car, like a 3/4 scale 1940 Chevy in a way. Out of the same estate came an immaculate MB 170D and a pretty nice 49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan

Mr_Shiftright

To drive a Mark 7 is to never want a Mark 7, I mean VII. Think of a 6 cylinder 1957 Buick with Lucas electrics and a piano tied to the roof. Yeah, it'll really be great with a Chevy 350 in it---oh my god....

seminole_kev

Don't make me beat you over the head with a non-function Jag V12 for that comment about putting the 350 in there!

I like the looks of the Mk VII though. Pretty car.

Mr_Shiftright

hahaha...you repeated yourself with "Jaguar V12" and "non-functioning".

You really like the way a Mk VII looks? Most jaguar enthusiasts don't. I think they are big ugly blivets myself, sort of parodies of a Rolls.
But you know, beauty is in the eyes, blah blah.

I am still totally mystified why people take the very best part of a jaguar, the 6 cylinder engine, throw it out, put in a tractor engine better suited to a fire-breathing Chevelle with fat tires, and then still keep the worst part of an old Jaguar, the electrics and hydraulics. Don't get it, just don't get it. No way that old crate is going to handle the torque of a Chevy 350 and I can't imagine how the suspension and brakes are going to feel about this. I've seen Chevy engines actually TWIST the frame of a Jaguar.

fintail

Today - Nice nice 66 GTO in silver and black, a mint looking Chrysler Cordoba, International Scout Diesel (I bet that's fun), another nice MGB-GT...that's about it

Mr_Shiftright

BIG car spotting day! There was a car show in conjunction with the "Art Deco" show opening at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, so about 20 cars of the "art deco" design were there. This is, as you may recall, basically a 1930s design element, so most of the cars were of that ilk. A Desoto Airflow is pretty rare, Lincoln Zephyr, a Delahaye (more "streamline moderne" than art deco I think but what the heck, close enough), 1937 MG SA (friend's car, dashboard is very art deco), two Cords, one a Beverly and one a Westchester, the difference being in the shape of the trunk lid. Also, the Cord owner told me that the names were picked for each side of the country...Beverly Hills and Westchester county. I don't know if that's true but it's a nice story don't you think?

Also met the guy who owns the "Yellow Rolls Royce" from the movie. Says he is restoring it to show at Pebble Beach this August.

Couple nice 30s Ford V8s with that art deco grillework, a Stutz (didn't see the AD connection), and a Rolls Silver Ghost which is much too early for art deco, but fun to look at.

They all started right up and ran from Sausalito over the Golden Gate Bridge into the park. Great caravan.

Oh, some nice 30s Cadillacs, too. Those were handsome, handsome cars back then. I can see why they were King of the Hill back then, along with Packard.

And last, a supercharged Graham Paige sedan...I think this model was called a Hollywood? and was the death knell for the company more or less.

fintail

I bet that was an awesome sight. I really like those styling themes, like Airflow, Lincoln Zephyr, etc. Beautiful cars. I'd like to show up at something like that in something really wacky, like a Pierce Silver Arrow or a retractable roof Peugeot 402 or a Tatra 77 or one of the fastback MB sedans from the late 30s.

Was the Graham a "Sharknose" model? Those are pretty cool too.

seminole_kev

Now, it is not my idea of a fun drive, but I do actually like the Rolls-esque style. After talking to my father about my MK II, I think this is what he pictures Jags as. He didn't know they made "small" jags like mine.

chrisducati

My family owned mostly European makes when I was growing up in the late '60s early '70s. We had several Fiats and I don't remember seeing any 127's on the car lots or in the sales pamphlets. I would imagine that most of the private imported 127's most likely rusted away just as fast as all other Fiats. We lived in the midwest and found out fast that road salt would eat a Fiat in about 4 years! I have been told it was because they used cheap Russian steel.
My spot of the week was a little two seat car that said Nash on the one hubcap that was left on it. I forget what they called them but it had tires as wide as some mountain bikes.

Mr_Shiftright

Please forgive me, I think that Mark VII is really unattractive from top to bottom. It is so overblown and clunky. It reminds me of that early 90s Chevy Caprice. Everything about the car is too fat. Grille too thick, bumpers too fat, rear fenders too bulgy, ditto fronts. A well-done Bentley is everything this car is not. It's hard to believe the same company that designed your Mk II, which is a lovely car, could make that "thing". And it drives as bad as it looks, too.

Here's how a designer who wasn't blind from birth would do it:



And this is why this car is worth many times more that what a Mark VII is worth even though they are approximately the same age and from the same country.

Better to scrap the big Marks and use the parts for the nicer cars I think.

andre1969

...about an early 90's Chevy Caprice! ;-)

fintail

It's that time again...

It's baaack...Most expensive fintail I have seen for some time...I wonder if the bids are legit

More reasonable fintail

If I was gonna get one, I would want an injected one like this

This is a weirdo, never seen one in the flesh. I know they are still in business too, and the cars look 30 years old

This is odd, and cool in a way. The first Japanese sports sedan?

The statelier BMC Farina

Pretty and very rare...I like it

This needs everything, but it is too unusual to simply junk. Maybe the whide whites and the 4 door hardtop help it

Cool Euro Citroen, seller seems honest..."Keep in mind that this is an 18-year-old French car. It&#146;s not going to be like owning a four year old Honda. It is a somewhat complicated machine that will break and need to be fixed"

Gorgeous DeSoto...I'd drive it

These early hardtops had an elegance to them

I can't remember the last time I saw one of these this nice

Is this a viable project, at the price? Why does it sit so high? I don't see blocks

Most expensive Opel I have seen here. It looks like a nice car...but wow

Just showing this as it is the same make/model/year of my first car. This car looks amazing

This needs everything, but is such an unusual configuration, it has to be worth saving

andys120

I've long been of the opinion that '56 was the best year all-round for US styling. Despite the fins, two-tones and overall size, Exner's '56s had a nice European flair to them especially the fronts.

Saw a RR Silver Shadow in a local wrecking yard today (?!) The right side was trashed, the rest looked good from what I could see.

Up the street another yard had a '63 Galaxie with the slope back "Nascar" roof.

fintail

I once saw a battered Silver Shadow on a flatbed tow truck...looked great with no hubcaps!

I wonder if this baby could suck down 15K or so just getting it roadworthy

andys120

I saw one go by me yesterday, the first I've seen outside of an Auto Show. It has an excellent

"presence" on the road, very clean and aggressive looking in black w those big fenders.

It looked so good with the top up, I found myself thinking GM ought to dispense with the expensive retractable top and offer a fixed roof version for $6-$8 grand less.

wimsey1

Desoto-even I like it, and I'm not big on '50's domestics!
Isuzu Opel-My sister had a rusty green one. Even if perfect, why? There has to be a better use for 4 grand!

Yesterday I saw an early Mustang hartop, dark blue, white vinyl top. Tired but straight, little rust. Auto trans, badge on front fender said "260". Didn't know they used the 260 V-8 in the 'Stang, is this a pretty early car?

seminole_kev

going off some real rusty memory here, but I seem to recall the 1964 1/2 to 1965 had the 260 from the falcon available.

Mr_Shiftright

Early Mustangs had it, along with a generator rather than alternator.

No such car as a 64 & 1/2 Mustang though.

The write up on that Japanese competition sedan was rather amusing. The Porsche 904 driver must have been drunk.

The Hudson convertible is too shabby for what seems to be too high a reserve. You can buy them nice for not all that much more than price bid.

Yeah, I'd save the Edsel but not the '63 Ford wagon. No upside in that car unless maybe you are an ex-body man in need of a lifelong hobby.

I'm surprised the '72 Chrysler wagon isn't pulling any good bids. Those old 60s and 70s wagons are (were?) pretty hot there for a bit.

rollie

Living here in Orange County, CA I get to see VERY interesting machines both because of the affluence of the area and the fact that many automotive firms have their U.S. operations based here.

In the past week alone I've seen:

Ferrari Enzo(s) - twice
Lambo Gallardo - twice (seeing it in the flesh from the rear is a real let down)
Maybach 57 - once (seen in before in the recent past)
Rolls ??? - the new BMW variant in black that looks like Darth Vader's car

The Maybach and Rolls are driven by their owners which I find odd (these are cars to be driven in not to drive if you ask me.)

Last week my wife spotted the new Mustang that will be out later this year and even she liked it. I'm guessing someone at PAG headquarters in Irvine must be driving it.

I'll have to pay more attention this week. There's quite a few exotic cars around here and it's hard for one to pop out and make an impression at this point.

Thanks.

-rollie
rdollie@att.net

andre1969

the '65 models that had the 260 V-8 and not the 289 were referred to as "1964 1/2" models, even though they were still registerd as 1965 models.

seminole_kev

If you follow Mustangs, the very early ones are refered to as 64 1/2 models.

seminole_kev

Here's a quick list of differences between a 1964 1/2 Mustang and a 1965. Not sure of its accuracy, but here you go.

http://www.svs.com/zim/mustang/64faq.html

Mr_Shiftright

Well hobbyists have given them that name, that's true, but Ford didn't make a 64 & 1/2 Mustang, nor do they list such a thing to the best of my knowledge. To Ford, they made the Mustang as a 1965 model and introduced it way early for PR reasons. So if you want to be historically accurate, that year designation shouldn't be used but really no harm done. It's not a bad way to differentiate differences, but they really are the same car. It's not like a 64&1/2 has a different body.

If you check the big classic car price guides, like the Gold Book (www.manheimgold.com) you'll see that no 1964&1/2 Mustang is listed.

seminole_kev

Ford released them with the 1964 product cycle (albeit late) and actually refered to them as a 1964 model early on. Let me see what I can fine.

Regardless, if everyone refers to them as a 1964 1/2, then you might as well call it a 1964 1/2.

Kind of like how everyone refers to the early Jag 3.4 and 2.4 sedans as the "Mark I" even though it never was called that. Just a retroactive name from when the Mk II came out.

*edit - here's some more info on the 64.5 http://www.darknest.com/mustang/history/64.htm

andre1969

that states that the earliest a new model year car can come out is in April of the calendar year before. For example, right now, the '05 models technically can't be offered for sale until April of this year.

Isn't April of '64 when the Mustang was launched? Interestingly, the two cars that broke the Mustang's record for first model year sales, the '70 Maverick and '80 Citation, were also released in April...April '69 for the Mav, and April of '79 for the title-holder of most recalled car in history!

ateixeira

Hmmm, I think it's January 1st. Or at least it has been more recently.

-juice

andys120

the day after my 21st Birthday, April 17, 1964 at the NY world's Fair. I did not get one as a belated birthday present </:^(

Shifty is right there was no 64 1/2 Mustang, they were titled and registered as '65s. It's analogous to the argument about Jaguar XK-Es, officially they were "E-Types" but almost everyone but hardcore Jag nuts calls the XK-Es.
[I knew a guy who liked them so much he named his radio station WXKE-FM (Ft. Wayne IN)]

Early Mustangs, like early Cobras came with the 260cid engine which was unusually compact and based on the 221 cid Fairlane engine. Later it was enlarged to 289 and 302 cid for Mustang service (among others).

andre1969

behind the XK-E, anyway? All I know is that I've heard if you call them that in front of a bunch of hardcore Jag nuts, they'll gasp and faint just like when that guy on the Polaner All-Fruit commercial said "Can ya pleez pass tha Jelly?" ;-)

I guess XK-E just sticks in my mind because of the old song "Little Cobra", where one of the verses says something like "There were plenty of Stingrays, and X-K-E's..."

andys120

that they use to separate the cognoscenti from those who are not. It comes down to the fact that Jaguar never used the term "XKE" in any ad, brochure or factory literature.

The popular morphing of "E-Type"(successor to the famed C-type and D-type race cars) into "XKE" probably stems from the fact that the public was more aware of the XK-120/140/150 sports cars, the Street predecessors of the E-Type.

Just to further confuse things another race car predecessor to the E-Type was a modified D-Type known as the XK-SS.

While we're on the subject, the February issue of Octane has some really good stuff on the small industry that has developed in Britain refurbishing old Jaguars, mostly E-Types and MkIIs
fitting them with better than new electric, ignition cooling and brake systems.

Shifty will be relieved that they all use rebuilt original XK powerplants, not GM V8s. The article also provides a reminder of the great impact the E-type had when it was first shown in '61. It was as if a manufacturer today were to produce a sports car with the performance of an Enzo priced a little more than a Corvette with fabulous styling that eclipsed all other sports cars.

Almost 50 years later I don't think anyone has made a more standout sports car.

wimsey1

The Jag E-type may still be the coolest looking street car ever. And they nailed the styling on both the coupe and ragtop! Incredible. Lust, pant.

fintail

Wow, Orange County sounds like a great car place. Up here, in the northwest, it can be anything but. Extremely boring day on the roads. Most exciting thing is when I see another Mercedes.

Mr_Shiftright

Well I certainly don't mind if you call Mustangs 64 & 1/2 or Jaguars XKEs, but any mention of destorying a Jaguar with a V8 engine will make me foam at the mouth, I'm sorry I just can't help it.

I've love one of those updated 3.8 MkIIs. I always like the way the slightly newer "S" type 3.8s drove but I really think the styling is awful. So if they could slip an S chassis under a MkII body with a modern Jaguar engine and all the goodies of FI and decent engine cooling and hydraulics, that would be a really nice car.

jrosasmc

Saw a super-nice Alfa 164 Quadrifoglio today. Looked to be a '94 or '95, and these cars are super-rare today and very much coveted by dedicated Alfisti (like Shifty!).

seminole_kev

yeah, the interior is nicer on those 3.8 S's but the exterior just doesn't look right. The headlights look sad and weary and the bigger trunk looks wrong to me. It does have the E-types IRS though which is nicer than my 3.4's leafspring rear.