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

texases

I was surprised that such an experienced owner had that kind of wreck.

I'm also surprised at all the Bugs for sale on this site.

Mr_Shiftright

You gotta be very careful buying an old Bugatti--lots of "bitsa" cars, re-bodies, etc.

Was that guy an old race driver?

texases

I don't know, he's referred to as a racing car enthusiast and the director of the Bugatti Owners' Club in this news report (lots of pics).

Mr_Shiftright

Well you don't see the old time race drivers cracking up vintage cars--even when they were still driving in their 80s. I think this guy just drove beyond his abilities.

Blaming the car is kind of lame.

Cracking up in a vintage race is not a badge of honor these days.

fintail

A few old MBs today - saw a 300CE, 560SEC, mint earlier W140 in Whole Foods parking lot, ~80 Corolla.

explorerx4

Late 30's Gray Chevy Master Deluxe 5 window coupe.
Not in great shape, but didn't see any rust.

fintail

BMW Z8, 70s Ford truck, horribly modified NSX.

michaellno

Saw a '75 or so Buick Skyhawk hatch in decent condition.

fintail

Goodie today, saw a Reliant. Not a Plymouth, but the three wheeled wonder from Limeyland. It was a Rialto, a small 2 door wagon/van kind of thing:

ab348

Those things are infamous for this of course:

Reliant Rolling

andre1969

On tv, I just saw Cameron Diaz pulling a Tri-Power setup out of a '65 GTO convertible in a junkyard. In a 2010 movie. Realistically, would you even find something like that in a junkyard anymore? I would think that anybody who sent a junk GTO to the junkyard would pull off anything worthwhile like that before sending it off. And if not them, surely the owner of the junkyard would pull it pretty quickly?

There was also a couple of '71-76 era Eldorado convertibles in this movie junkyard, an old 80's Saab, and an old VW bug. It was kinda interesting how most of the old cars were sitting there, relatively intact, but then you saw a bunch of modern cars, smashed pretty flat, and stacked into dangerous piles that looked like they could easily topple.

texases

Yep, only 6-pack in the junkyard would be in the guard's cooler...

fintail

I'd think the only junkyard parts from a 65 GTO would be very rotted frame or body panels. Someone would want the trim, glass, of course powertrain, and the engine/body tag would be worth a bit.

fintail

Went and picked up the fintail this morning - Toronado is still there.

On the road have seen grandma driving a decent enough ~85 Cavalier, ~65 Mustang with year of manufacture plates, 70s Beetle, mint restored 70s Westfalia van, Sunbeam Tiger with rollbar, a couple R107 SLs, very nice black on black Continental Mk III, and parked at a park, The Bandit:





This thing was as-new. Only spotted the smallest paint flaws. Odometer read 064xx.

That's an extremely nice 86-88 Volvo 740 in the background, too.

And parked at the same park, this thing, of course:



Was approached by an older woman who drives an 85 190E 2.3 who was raving about the fintail - the tires and old license plates really got to her, along with the fins. She was very attached to her W201 too, it being in the family since new.

Mr_Shiftright

Well the 80s Saab certainly belonged in the wrecking yard movie :P

I doubt you'd find a tri-power in the wrecking yard in the mid 80s, but you could probably find one up until about 1980. i bought a low #3 '66 GTO coupe in San Francisco in 1979 for I think something like $800.

Car collector prices didn't start revving up until the Boom-Boom-Reagan Years-aka the Masters of the Universe-Coke-Snorting, Crazy-Money, Easy Credit, Re-Fi your house for a classic car Era.

andys120

That reminds, I saw a '73 (?) Trans-Am this AM, pretty good shape, a kind of orangy red, no big chicken or any other markings.

Always liked the dashboards on those>

explorerx4

Charger GLHS in nice condition sitting in a driveway 25 miles north of Detroit.

lemko

...heavily modified blue 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS convertible with white top at Oxford Avenue and St. Vincent in NE Philly.

fintail

This morning saw a ~76-77 Grand Prix, 2x (!) DeLorean, Buick Somerset.

tjc78

My Dad had a Shelby Charger. His was an 86, not quite as rare as the 87 GLHS you saw.

fintail

Saw a Lamborghini Diablo today, oh the 90s. Also a 70s Datsun extended cab pickup.

andre1969

spotted during my lunch break. It was gray, good but not great shape...seemed to have some body work and a mis-matched front right fender. How rare are these things? I don't think I've ever seen one out on the road. I have seen Irv Gordon's once, when it was at the Philly auto show a few years back.

bhill2

Well, they stopped making them (or at least stopped importing them) in '73, and they didn't sell that many of them anyway. They aren't considered especially collectable and so were not selectively preserved. In all, seeing one on the road at this point would be fairly rare.

explorerx4

dark colored and looked kind of worn.
Also, a mint looking black 1959 Ford Galaxie, with lots of chrome including those half rounds over the top half of the headlights.

andre1969

on Saturday, I saw yet another P1800. This one was up in Carlisle, on the way to the GM Nationals. It was a battered looking brown thing, parked outside a garage, slowly forming a bond with the earth. It was that two-door wagon-ish style that I think the Brits call a "shooting brake" or something like that.

explorerx4

Dark Red, down by the shore yesterday.

There is a car show down the street today and saw in short order:
Red 66 Ford Galaxie convertible, black over red 57 Bel Air coupe, black early 50's Chevy panel van.

In the parking lot at the grocery store, a later 90s Mercury Mystique in very good condition.

Mr_Shiftright

Volvo called them "sportwagons" and a clean P1800ES (the last version) can bring very decent money. As for the "sport" part, well, the car is kind of a slug in acceleration and handling, especially with the automatic. Many people modify them invisibly but expensively to correct the car's shortcomings--hence the premium price for an "improved" version.

fintail

Saw something odd yesterday - a late 90s E50 AMG. That model was never sold on this continent. Had California plates - I wonder how it got in.

Spent the past few days in small town western WA - lots of 80s cars and 70s trucks still around.

magnette

Where on earth did you see that ? I wouldn't have thought you had any Rialtos over there - they are rare here now...

fintail

Suburban Seattle. There's a Robin in the area too - they are old enough to skate in under the arbitrary and asinine US private import rules. Same person with the Robin has also imported a (UK) Ford Granada hearse, of all things.

lemko

...outside my Grandmom's place! :P




The blue Subaru in front is my Dad's 2012 Impreza.

fintail

The Fleetwood looks brand new. Do you store it at your grandma's place? Funny your dad, who I thought was once a Ford man, would end up in a Subaru.

-This morning spotted an Omni GLH, a sport model 86-87 Tempo sedan, an 87-88 Ciera, and I forgot last weekend, I saw a Datsun B210 still driving but in very poor condition.

lemko

I store the Brougham at my place from October until the Carlisle GM Show in June, then swap the cars out and take the DTS back to my place and put the Brougham in my Grandmom's garage. My Dad's car occupies the other space. When October comes around, I swap them again. I used to keep the DTS at my mother-in-law's house, which was only a block away, but she sold the place in July 2010 and moved to Florida. It's a real PITA, but I don't want to leave either car out in the weather.

fintail

Is it far from you?

I know the feeling about storing a car outside - I rent a spot for the fintail to keep it dry. If I had to park it outside, I'd just sell it - it wouldn't fare well outside for any length of time even in this mild climate.

lemko

About 106 miles NW of Philly! :sick:

fintail

Yikes, that's not fun. I rent a garage no more 3 miles from home. I've thought of asking my grandmother to make room in her garage, about 15 miles away - but I don't know if I want to risk her or my uncle's driving :shades:

andys120

It's not unusual to see a nicely preserved or restored Mercedes-Benz W113 ("Pagoda" SL). They've always appealed to people who like to keep their cars up and they were among the best-made cars of their day.

I saw a really beautiful one going thru downtown. It was cream-colored with a dark brown soft top and the paint and chrome were perfect (probably recently restored). I didn't catch the badge on the tail but it was most likely a 280SL and one of the nicest I've seen.

lemko

...maroon 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with white top near the SE corner of Magee and Oxford Avenue in NE Philly.

lemko

Spotted a black Chevrolet HHR where the owner filled in the original taillamps and grafted on 1955 Chevrolet taillamps. I think he was trying for a '55 Nomad look, but it only came off as weird.

stickguy

and parked out front, was a pair (yes, there are at least 2 left) of late 70's vintage Fairmont Futuras. Both in south Jersey, with pennsy plates, parked side by side.

in decent shape. one was bright orange and the other black.

I assume this was the entire Futura owners club. at least the 2 left that can move under their own power.

fintail

Saw a Type 34 Karmann Ghia, which is a real oddity and was never officially sold in the US. Also a couple 107s, an extreme 50s style custom late 30s GM pickup, and not much else - too hot here. I even took the fintail back to it's garage early, just not feeling sitting in traffic in an ancient car with no AC and lots of glass. It wasn't running too happily either.

I examined the Toronado that lives in the same garage with my car - it hasn't moved since I first "discovered" it. I think it is actually a low mileage original car, maybe repainted but maybe not. I examined the interior and rubber gaskets - I believe they are original. Odometer reads ~60K, which for a roughly 40 year old car would still make something nice, if cared for - and the Olds has been cared for.

toomanyfumes

Late 50's GM pickup (maybe Apache?) all red even the bumpers. Tubbed rear wheel wells with wide tires. Not ny favorite treatment for that era truck but this was nicely done.

stickguy

parked outside a Pep boys, a very original looking '67 Baracuda bubble back.

and our driving, a very sharp looking restored 29ish Nova 2 door.

and at the same Pep Boys, a 60s vintage VW bus. with lots of hippie decals.

and street parked in Haddonfield, what looked like a late 40's vintage Buick.

andys120

...but pretty obscure, I saw a Jaguar X-Type Estate/wagon.

fintail

Visited my indy MB mechanic to make a fintail appointment - he is now sharing a space with a specialty car dealer, and in the large foyer of the shop building, some interesting cars were hanging around. An unrestored 300SL gullwing, a 1986 Aston Lagonda (appeared as new, and very cool), and an 88 Allante with 37K on it, among others.

andys120

An unrestored Gullwing must be extremely rare. It'd cost a young fortune to restore but it would probably be worth it.

fintail

It's a nice driver, but the paint is a little iffy, and the underside is definitely aged from use. Which might be the way to go - the car is driven occasionally, and enjoyed. I don't know if I would restore it just yet.

bhill2

An unrestored Gullwing must be extremely rare. It'd cost a young fortune to restore but it would probably be worth it.

That reminds me of the news story a few months ago about a Gullwing that had been restored and an employee of the place that restored it took it out for a run and stuffed it into an embankment or something. He should be released from the dungeon some time soon.

fintail

That was this - 26 year old mechanic "testing" the car, damage estimated at 650K EUR.

I am sure it will buff right out: :shades:

Mr_Shiftright

650K Euros?---that's about a total I'd say.

But they'll fix it anyway. Do they allow "salvage" cars in Germany?