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

Mr_Shiftright

Starliner looks great but drives not so great....a sheep in wolves clothing. Pretty car though for 1953, when most cars were overweight piles of chrome and metal.

RE: Fiats --- oh, a Fiat 500 is a whole other THING from a 128. Lots of history, very charming, very cute. But a 128 is just a mass produced bread box.

There are a few postwar Fiats worth owning...the 500, the 600, the 1500 cabriolet, the 124 Sport coupe, the 124 spider and turbo spider, and maybe the X1/9 with the 1500 cc engine, if you are a patient dwarf. I also like the 124 wagon, which is not related to the 124 spider and coupe oddly enough. The Fiat Dino has a 6 cylinder Ferrari engine, so you get Fiat prestige with Ferrari maintenance costs.

lemko

...a really nice white 1965 Lincoln Continental sedan with antique plates and a rougher looking blue 1951 Buick Special sedan that is apparently used as a daily driver.

fintail

How about the Fiat 2300? I like those

Out on my jog this morning, saw one of those odd Volvo Bertone coupes from the late 70s, in really nice shape. Yesterday while in the fintail, I saw about a 54 Buick sedan, huge top of the line looking thing, driven by a woman who looked to be at least 80 years old. It was amusing.

Mr_Shiftright

Please warn me when she's out on the road.

Volvo Bertone---an excellent example to demonstrate that rarity does not always translate into more value.

andys120

a Pontiac woody wagon, late 40s or very early 50s in derelict condition, seen in the Albany, NY/Saratoga area.

You can always tell Ponchos of that era from the Chrome stripes

Mr_Shiftright

Too bad, that would have been a neat car to restore.

lemko

...those "chrome stripes" were called "Silver Streaks" in Pontiac ads. They were on Pontiacs from 1936 through 1956 and were designed by none other than Chrysler styling guru Virgil Exner during his tenure at GM.

jrosasmc

What brought you to the Albany area? I live an hour east of there (Bennington, VT)

wimsey1

Celica All-Trac Turbo. Haven't seen one in a while.
Funny, Toyota gets grief for being to conservative but they were offering 4wd on a lot of cars for a while, but they were ahead of the trend. That Celica (updated) would run against the WRX pretty well.

ateixeira

The 4WD Tercel and Corollas were sort of a precursor to the RAV4. That started a car-based SUV phenomenon.

-juice

seminole_kev

I think the AMC Eagle 4x4 cars would pre-date the 4WD Tercels and Corollas.

wimsey1

I saw an AMC Eagle the other day, and it was running! It was the Hornet/Concord sedan based one. Was that innovation or desparation or both?
Overall a good point Kev.
Now a Jensen FF would be a sighting! Talk about obscure.

seminole_kev

I have no idea what the point of the 4x4 AMC cars were other than to see how high a car could ride above ground.

Actually they were probably more usefull than a lot of the SUV's I see running around today. Hell an Audi Allroad or Volvo XC70 are modern day versions of those AMC's (Concords and Eagles right?)

wimsey1

Up here in Minnesota there was a point 4-5 months a year!
The Volvo/Audi analogy is rather amusing! ;-)
TTFN

Mr_Shiftright

AMC Eagle---gas eating slug basically. You could probably make a car out of it, but it would take some imagination. Think of it as something like a backyard project, where you had a Gremlin on this side of the yard, an old Jeep pickup on the other side of the yard, and a welding torch and lots of cold beer in the garage. And then a few friends drop by, and, well......

andre1969

when I dropped my truck off at the shop for servicing, they had a '65 or '66 Olds Delta 88 convertible in their lot out back. Looked like it was in good shape, but rain tends to hide flaws, and we're getting plenty of it right now! It was kind of a putty color, almost looked like the color of drywall spackle.

Funny though, with a car like that, even in the most mundane color imaginable (and it probably doesn't get much more mundane than spackle!), the sucker was still gorgeous!

ajvdh

Used a viscous fluid center diff. Pretty advanced for its day.

fintail

It's funny how common 60s GM cars can look so nice. This morning I saw a 65 Impala SS...not a rare car by any means, a pretty normal volume selling mainstream car back in the day. It was even boring white. But it sure looked nice.

Here's a nice obscure old car, a top of the line fintail

I discovered this pic when cleaning out some old files stored from an old comp. This car was on ebay about 4 or 5 years ago. Judging by the flat horn ring, it is a 1963 model, being the first year of production for the LWB. I remember this vaguely, as being something like a 70K mile original car, untouched in any way, just maintained, and I think it went for 10 grand. I think it has some bizarro period AC setup in the trunk, but to be honest, I don't know. But I do know this is a lovely fintail, and it would show well at MB events due to its extreme rarity and preservation. I know that upholstery alone costs a fortune to replace.

Mr_Shiftright

Somebody offered me an AMC Eagle a couple years ago. I was thinking it would make a good beater to take up to Tahoe for skiing, etc. But it was such a slug I couldn't imagine getting it up the mountain. I think it would be a great car for winter in the Midwest---nice and flat (more or less) and cheaper gas than in Calif. They suck gas at an alarming rate.

bricknord

Saw an 83 VW Pickup and an 87 VW Quantum Syncro (AWD) Wagon this morning. Oh, wait, that was in my driveway... Uhh, there was a Dodge Raider there, too.

Mr_Shiftright

I used to have a VW pickup....had a turbo hooked up, too. I liked it except it was a tight squeeze for a tall man.

ateixeira

kev: true, but Subaru had AMC beat by half a decade, they first put 4WD on a raised car and wagon in 1972!

pic:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291908527&p=4258247604- &idx=8

It had 4WD, low range, raised suspension, the works. AMC largely gets credit, but Subaru beat them to it by several years.

-juice

lemko

...near a repair shop in NE Philly are a 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 1970 Lincoln Continental.

Mr_Shiftright

I think "crossover" implies a 4X4 that rides and drives as smooth as a car, but neither of these vehicles was the equal of a passenger car in that respect. I'd say you'd have to give the credit to Audi, with the CS5000 turbo wagon, but the point is very arguable. Just my two cents.

ateixeira

We all draw a different line in the sand, but that Audi was just a very good, all-weather capable car, IMO.

The Soob and the AMC were cars that crossed over into the truck segment, hence the label I use for them.

-juice

fintail

I saw two Merkur Scorpios this morning

There's a 65 Continental 4 door convertible sitting out in the weather a few miles from me. It has a for sale sign in it, but I have never been tempted to look. I like the earlier ones.

andre1969

have additional ground clearance, to give it any advantage in winter/off road driving? Or is it going to snowbank itself once there's more than a few inches of snow on the road, or get hung up on the first pebble it encounters off-road?

While the AMC and Sube aren't going to be as capable off-road as something like a Jeep Wrangler, perhaps, they're going to be more capable than a car that just happens to be able to divert power to all 4 wheels.

ateixeira

Agreed.

This is a funny and sensitive topic. Generally people's reaction will depend on which cars they like or are more familiar with, i.e. this is a case where personal bias means everything.

Subaru took a car, in 1972, and put in true-blue low range 4WD, jacked it up, included factory skid plates, and IMHO created the first crossover vehicle.

AMC made a bigger one.

Audi then made a more refined one, minus the lift and skid plates. So really it was just a great all-weather car.

Subaru brought them back from the dead in 1995 with the Outback. Or 1996, really, which is when it got raised up.

Now there's a whole flood of them.

-juice

fintail

Nice truth in advertising

lemko

...a beautiful, immaculate gray 1950 Oldsmobile 88 sedan. Last night I say an equally nice white 1973 Eldorado convertible on a used car dealer's lot.

lemko

...I finally spotted a Chevrolet Classic rental car based on the old Malibu. Funny, it still has the Malibu "wave" logo with the Chevy "bowtie." I'd change that badge to just a plain "bowtie" to somehow sever the connection between the Classic and the new Malibu.

lancerfixer

That's a classic.

And now for something completely different:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cate- gory=6458&item=2473457717&rd=1

Mr_Shiftright

The ultimate "Hell's Granny" car!

stickguy

Well, even Shifty won't be able to complain that that Volvo is a slug.

ghulet

seminole_kev

same thing I said to myself when I saw that.

Mr_Shiftright

Probably small strong body. Remember how popular the Henry J was (is) with dragster builders.

Yeah, 1/4 mile in the 9s would induce me to lay off old Volvos a bit.

andys120

I saw one of the biggest coupes ever to grace our roads, a Lincoln Mark VII, light green, black top from the Cannon era (early '70s). This Linc had no plate but the bodywork appeared reasonably straight and complete.

Yeah Shifty, Anglias and Willys were also popular for their light strong bodies with the street rod set.

wimsey1

Nice '63-'67 vette convert. black.
late '60's chevy convert. fullsize.

2003tls

Saw a 1970-1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible in pretty beat up shape on the road today. Funny how I see a lot more Olds A-body convertibles around here than Chevy, Pontiac and Buick combined (well, besides mine anyway). They must have sold more.

wimsey1

The Cutlass was the best selling car in America for a while, was it the '70's?

ghulet

I want to say the Cutlass Supreme was the best selling car from like 1975-ish til about 1982 or so?

Andys120, do you mean the Continental Mark III ('68-71) or Mark IV ('72-76)?

wevk

The one with the aluminum V8. White wagon looked restored, white walls on alloy wire looking wheels

andre1969

was a Mark IV? I know they varied a bit, because of the mandated crash bumpers, so the later models are longer. One of my buddies recently bought a Mark V, and he's memorized every stat of it. I think it's like 230.3" long, which has got to be pushing the upper limit of regular production, non-limousine cars. I think the regular Continental sedans and coupes were a touch longer, like 233". And the big DeVilles, Fleetwoods, Electras, and 98's had to be damn close to that. Lemko?

wevk

The one with the aluminum V8. White wagon looked restored, white walls on alloy wire looking wheels

lancerfixer

A co-worker of mine drives a Mark IV. It's simply the largest car I've ever seen. Bigger than pretty much any SUV you'd care to name, and likely heavier, too.

ghulet

....I'm pretty sure my '71 Electra was 227", so not really in the running, but ridiculously long nonetheless.

andys120

My bad, I guess it was a Mk.III that I saw or perhaps a IV, it was the whale I remember from the late 60s or early 70s.

andre1969

that makes those Marks look even bigger, whether it's a III, IV, or V, is that, in addition to being long, they're just so low-slung, with a long hood, long rear deck, and small-ish greenhouse, which just accentuates the length. I think those cars were only about 53" tall, which puts most cars today into the minivan class, when it comes to height!

andys120

How's this for an unlikely sighting on the downtown streets of a medium-size New England city, a Ferrari 330GT (2+2) aka 330 GTE.

This particular car was light metallic blue and looked like it was brand new! che bella!
It had two headlights rather than the four seen on earlier cars ('64-'65?) which would make it a '66 or possibly a '67 IIRC.

It had all the classic Ferrari V12 cues, Borrani wires, four chromed exhaust tips, PF badges, everything but the gated shifter.

Tifosi are divided over the merits of the four seaters but I've always liked them. They're a little heavier than the GTs but they're real V12 (4 -liter) classic-era Ferraris, how bad can they be?

Seeing this car on city streets reminds me of the days when I'd walk over to the far West Side of Manhattan at lunchtime just for a look at these cars at Sr. Chinetti's establishment.

A rare sight then, even rarer now.