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

andys120

The Gullwing coupes with their "swing axle" IRS were infamously tricky to drive. I wonder how many were lost to wrecks.

300SL Roadsters introduced in 1958 had a revised suspension and eventually disc brakes. They were better cars in many ways with better visibility, easier, ingress/egress and IIRC the first compound headlights.

I'd take one over a GW any day.

lemko

Do 300SL Gullwings have any peculiar handling characteristics or was he simply driving too aggressively? I'd baby something like that knowing how much I'd have to lose driving like a knucklehead.

Oops! Looks like andys120 already answered that question.

fintail

I think as long as the car can pass the relatively strict TÜV inspection, it is fine. No doubt it is being restored (again) right now - not the best history to have for a car, but German shops should be pretty good, and in this new gilded age, there's plenty of demand for cars with values approaching or passing 7 figures.

fintail

Better ventilation in a roadster too, IIRC the coupes become ovens in the sun.

I wonder what the survival rate is on a gullwing - has to be huge. Maybe many of them have had fender benders. My fintail has a swing axle setup too, I've seen video of the rear end seeming to randomly break loose in hard driving.

For obscure cars, this morning saw an early Dodge Shadow sedan and a ~69 442 convertible that looked brand new.

Mr_Shiftright

Gullwings are still relatively fast for their age---with the right gearing you could approach 140 mph---not bad for a 50s car. I'd say you'd have to be a fairly skilled driver to push one very aggressively.

robr2

saw an early 80's MB 300D getting on the ferry to the Vineyard - it didn't have the CHMSL so I know it was before 84. In good shape - was not restored, just a survivor.

Also saw a 85 or so Celica GTS convertible - red w/tan top - again a survivor.

Lastly was my godfather's 1985 MB 560SL - red with black top and saddle interior. It was his retirement gift to himself 5 years ago. Strictly summer duty and is in great unrestored shape.

fintail

Funny thing that somewhere out there, a few nuts are restoring 123s. Especially later model Turbo wagons. And I have to be "that guy" :P - no 123 will have CHMSL, as production ended in 1985 - just in time for the CHMSL and for the W124.

560SL will also be 1986+. Maybe 10 years ago ago when I had a W126, I was sorely tempted to buy one, as I found a pristine 1988 model that was the same color as my car. Could have picked it up for maybe 13-14K. Genuinely nice ones seem to have hit a floor of about 10K.

robr2

Can I be a jerk and point out that wiki says the 300D "W123" was sold in the US until 1985 and CHMSL's were required starting with the 1985 model year??

fintail

Nope, because CHMSL started with the 1986 model year :P

andre1969

Yeah, it was 1986 that the CHMSLs were federally mandated. However, I think some cars might have offered them as an option earlier on. And some were certainly retrofitted with them.

robr2

Nope, because CHMSL started with the 1986 model year.

Right you are. My brother had a Grand Am with the CHMSL which was an 86 but he got it in 85.

I shall leave with my tail between my legs.....

fintail

There certainly were some cars that were on the road with them in 85, and lots of aftermarket models, so the goof is easy.

My family had an 85 Tempo, very late production (8/85 or 9/85) that had a factory CHMSL and what I think was a 1986 style steering wheel. My grandma had an 85 Olds which lacked the extra light.

It's something I paid attention to a lot when I was a kid, as a way to determine the model year of a car. For example, first gen Camry with composite lights and CHMSL is 1986 only.

lemko

...light beige 1977 Dodge Aspen wagon with the faux wood paneling that appeared to be in fairly decent condition and a rather nice two-tone beige 1983 Ford LTD Crown Victoria sedan.

explorerx4

couldn't get quite close enough to tell.
White coupe with black vinyl roof and rallye wheels.
Looked clean and straight.

uplanderguy

Nope, because CHMSL started with the 1986 model year

Correct...which is why I ordered a new Celebrity Eurosport in March '85, thinking that a CHMSL would look stupid. As it was, I didn't like the small detail stuff on an '86 Celebrity as well as an '85, also.

Today, I fear (somewhat) driving in a car without a CHMSL, as I think today's A.D.D. drivers don't see two lower brake lights without a center one.

robr2

...as always, the town 4th of July parade brings out the local luminaries riding in classic cars. Today we had:

2 - 65 Thunderbird convertibles
a 66 Coronet 440 convertible
a 54 Dodge M37 military truck
a 68 Kaiser Jeep Duece & an half
2 - 2013 Ford F550 town trucks - gotta show off our tax dollars at work.

Special thanks to the local Rotary that coordinate and raise the funds for this parade. It's a little hokey but it's small town stuff that brings everyone out.

bhill2

light beige 1977 Dodge Aspen wagon with the faux wood paneling

That reminds me of a car that I didn't see, but did see an ad for in Hemmings. Someone was advertising a '59 Rambler Custom Cross-Country wagon woody. I have never seen one of these (despite having, umm, been around when they were new). I looked in the Classic Car Brochures site, and darned if one wasn't shown. It had woodgrain in the area between the chrome strips, which in the Custom sedans was painted a contrasting color. The kicker was that it wasn't even shown as being optional, although I have to believe that it was. For some weird reason, this intrigues me. Has anyone ever seen one of these in the wild and/or knows whether it was an option on that model or was standard like on the Ford Country Squire?

explorerx4

Our town didn't have a parade today, but we did have 2 on Memorial Day.
2 towns 'merged' at some point, but mostly on a governmental administration level.

fintail

86 was an oddity for the Celebrity, one year only details. I wonder why they did that - the composite flush lights must have been delayed or something. I remember those cars well, my aunt had an 86 - I think her driving style combined with cheapo engineering made it eat brake rotors.

And no doubt, the CHMSL is more obvious to texters/talkers/eaters et al.

Saw a few oddities today - 52-53 or so Packard convertible, 62 Impala, W126 300SE in the same color as one I once owned, customized mid 70s Toyota pickup, E24 633CSi, Unimog going ~50 (probably top end) in a 60.

explorerx4

I'm pretty sure I read on a Mustang site that the Feds delayed the approval of the flush headlights around that time frame.

fintail

Strange though, many others gained them that year, and some had them in 85 as well. Maybe held up by red tape, knowing how well the DOT must work.

When I was a kid, having flush lights is a big part of what made a car "modern" to me.

berri

'59 Rambler Custom Cross-Country wagon woody.

I never saw one either and being close to Kenosha, the Chicago area was a fairly big Rambler market. I wonder if that Rambler Woodie was actually an Ambassador or maybe it was just an option package?

I always thought the king of "non-wood" Woodies was the Mercury Colony Park followed closely by some of those big Chrysler Town & Country versions.

fintail

In the past hour I have seen a Lotus Elan and Europa, and a pastel light grey 41 Ford Tudor, correct restoration, old flathead sounded good.

bhill2

I wonder if that Rambler Woodie was actually an Ambassador or maybe it was just an option package?

No, it really was a Rambler Custom Cross-Country and there was no mention of a special package. Check it out in a brochure from that year.

berri

Thanks. Never did see that, although that may be one of the smallest looking fake Woodie jobs I've ever encountered.

bhill2

Yeah, calling it a 'woody' kind of stretches the meaning of the word, but that was how it was described in the ad. Anyway, in an odd way I think it's attractive. The ad is not on the online site, so someone may have agreed with me and bought it. I never did see it online, though, so it may just not be posted there.

berri

If that wagon was just a couple of years older, that Woodie spear would be anodized gold trim or a tri-tone color bar!

fintail

Saw a red W126 300SD - rare color. Also a ~70 Cutlass convertible, yellow.

tjc78

Here is an oddball. Certainly a surviver

fintail

I can't recall the last time I saw one with that paint scheme. Kind of Starsky & Hutch. Don't know what it's worth, but has to be worth 5K anyway.

This morning I saw a 75-77-ish big Ford wagon (no wood) that looked like it had Chevy rally wheels, it was in nice condition. Also a big early 70s Impala coupe, a stock blue and white 55 Ford 2 door post and a nice 63 or 64-ish Nova SS 2 door HT.

And on a MB forum, someone discovered this:



Carat Duchatelet 1000SEC, widebody, color matched Ronal wheels, apparent original US import, 1987, 14K miles. I love period tuned widebody SECs. I'm waiting for him to show more pics, I bet it has an interesting interior. I'd like to have a garish 80s custom MB. I was 10 in 1987, and something like this was definitely one of my dream cars.

fintail

This afternoon saw a ~65 Chevelle convertible, and 2x Lincoln Mark VII - one was burgundy and driven by an older driver, the other was black and driven by a young woman who looked very uncomfortable (sitting very forward) - seemed like maybe someone inherited dad's/grandpa's car.

fintail

I thought this was cool:

Sunset Strip, 1964 (some claim it is 1963, the Getty Images site where it originates from lists 1965, who knows)

A very diverse automotive landscape, and a surprising lack of older cars. At around 0:08 you can see a sky blue wide whitewalled fintail - my car lived in LA then. Hmmm

andys120

Great stuff, Fin. Back then I believed all the cool cars lived in SoCal but that film shows they really did. You could drive around NY for hours and not see so many cool cars.

fintail

I was surprised to see a few Lincolns, must have been a good seller. And throwing things like a Borgward Isabella and Austin America into the mix really adds variety. That clip has a big "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" feel to it as well.

This 1967 clip has tons of interesting cars too - in a short bit I can spot a Bentley S1-S2 Continental Flying Spur 4 light, MB Adenauer, Singer, Alfa Spider, Mini, Porsche 356, and a Citroen breezes by (not to mention the classic Detroit iron). Must have been amazing car spotting in southern California back then.

andre1969

I saw a Mark VII today, in a parking lot on the way home from work, before I got on the main road. It was crème, and just had hubcaps, so it wasn't a fancy model most likely. Looked to be in very nice shape. I've seen it there a few times.

Oh, I drove the 5th Ave today, and on the way back from lunch, I saw our secretary out in the parking lot. Slowed down and rolled down the window to yell hey to her. She said something along the lines of "I'd LOVE to have a car like that!!" and I just replied with "No, you wouldn't. Trust me!". She drives a '98-02 style Accord so yeah, most likely, she really would NOT want something like a '79 5th Ave! :shades:

hpmctorque

People fantasize and express their spur-of-the moment feelings, without really thinking about the negatives associated with collector cars. That's natural, I guess. Many of us probably make similar comments about other peoples' hobbies and interests, such as, say, fix-it-upper second homes. I wouldn't want a beach front cottage or cabin in the woods if it was given to me, unless I could sell it immediately. I love to visit and vacation in those places, but only as a renter.

berri

Both are neat clips. I had to think a moment before getting the 67 song and the accompanying the film track. The repeat segment and the backwards filming make sense with Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit". Maybe some Sinatra to go with the 63/64 segment? What shocks me is that traffic is flowing in LA! Back in 63/64 there were still some propliners flying into LAX and rock was transitioning from doo-wop and Elvis to the British Invasion. In many respects it was actually a more interesting time of significant change than the 67 summer of love and San Francisco. But 63/64 belongs to LA and Vegas. Fun stuff!

berri

I think old cars are like old music and pictures - brings on nostalgia for the old and curiosity for the young.

fintail

I think both that I saw had wheels. Those cars still look pretty imposing in black. The design has aged well for being virtually 30 years old. Aged well outside, anyway.

I've had similar comments in the fintail. Yeah, you'd love to have a quirky ancient car with few modern amenities, expensive repair potential, low potential value, but it has some looks anyway. I wonder if to a teenager today, a 1979 car looks to them like what a 1955 car looked like to me in 1989.

fintail

Definitely different eras over just a few years. You can see it in the cars too - the clean modern mid 60s domestics taking over from the gingerbread of late 50s models and the kind of halfway there themes of the early 60s.

The lack of traffic caught my eye too, I wonder if the videos were shot on holidays.

lemko

...on TV last night. A man brings in a 1963 Chrysler New Yorker "police car" to Les Gold's pawn shop on "Hardcore Pawn." Cool car, but there are several things wrong with it I could see right off the bat.

1. In the unlikely event a police agency actually bought a Chrysler for a police cruiser, it would likely be a plain-jane Newport versus a New Yorker.

2. Obvious aftermarket chrome wheels with baby moon hubcaps. The car should've been sporting black steelies with dog dish hubcaps.

3. Silly conflicting livery: i.e. SHERIFF along with NYPD on a black and white cruiser. What kind of schizophrenic police agency is this? Did the Mayberry Sherriff's Department merge with the NYPD? An NYPD cruiser of the time would've been dark green with a white roof and black front fenders and black lower quarter panels. The NYPD used Plymouth Savoys in 1963. About the only agency I'm aware of that used Chryslers at the time was the New Jersey State Police in 1959.

As a plus, the interior and engine bay looked nice and it had a 413 V-8.

The guy wanted $7,500. Les would only offer $3,800.

lemko

...red 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with black vinyl top near Bingham and Loney in NE Philly.

Mr_Shiftright

Those were probably decals put on by the production company to stage that segment. I doubt it was ever a police car, and I doubt the person posing as the owner even owns it.

garv214

ironically, the one things reality shows seem to lack is....well... reality :confuse:

texases

"ironically, the one things reality shows seem to lack is....well... reality"

That was proven (yet again) to me while watching 'How it works - dream machines' on Discovery. It was the episode on making a 911, and they were showing the engine assembly steps. After carefully assembling 3 pistons to connecting rods and inserting them into half the block, they then showed the two block halves being assembled...with no pistons on the remaining 3 connecting rods :confuse:

Kind of difficult to put in wrist pins with the connecting rods already in the block, don't you think? :surprise:

Or is there some secret Porsche magic?

fintail

Saw a couple of late 70s 911s, both red, one with an open sunroof, a Mercury Topaz, I think the same burgundy Mark VII I saw the other day, and a later Fleetwood like Lemko's, white, little old man driving it, looked decent (not mint, but cared for), sounded like a 350 maybe.

fintail

This is up in the air at the huge and awesome Sinsheim Auto + Technik Museum in Germany. I suspect NYPD didn't use many (any) 68 Galaxie 2 door HTs in their fleet:

Mr_Shiftright

Pretty funny---the got just about everything wrong on that car.

andys120

Boy I'll say, even the tires are wrong. Whitewalls on an NYPD cruiser, I don't think so!

fintail

Beautiful day here but not many old cars out, maybe too warm. Saw an MGB and a couple 107 SLs, and a Lexus ES250.

Drove the fintail just a little - it goes into the shop tomorrow for its yearly service and random repair. I took it to a car wash to clean off the underside (it has a couple leaks, I like to make it clean for the mechanics), and a couple people there kind of went nuts about it - one guy in a Land Rover couldn't stop talking about it, and a woman in a Malibu was interested in it too. Maybe people who bother to clean their cars are more observant.