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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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Wow, that is REALLY a great price for covered storage!
We were paying more than that for uncovered storage on a gravel lot when we had our motorhome and that was twenty years ago!
I was lucky to to find it. Other spots in the area seem to be about 50% more. And it's not far from the indy mechanic I patronize, so dropping it off and walking back is easy.
If I ever couldn't find covered parking, I'd really look into selling the car - I don't think it would hold up well in the damp.
Saw the little old lady in a 560SEC I see now and then - car looks pristine, that white on light grey two tone popular around 1990. Original owner I bet. She sits so close to the steering wheel, I cringe at the thought of airbag deployment. Saw another little old lady I see now and then, in an immaculate later perhaps 86-87 XJ6. Also saw a Porsche 356 on the road, and a late 60s Chevy van.
Followed a '62 Chevy for a few blocks - base, 4 door sedan, two tail lights (not three), but it looked in decent shape, not hacked up.
A running 80s XJ6? Now that's a labor of love.
Not just running, but fairly spotless. It has some kind of grille badge too - someone is or was an enthusiast.
Probably no worse than an early XJ40 series car, almost never see those on the road anymore. While E34s and W124s are still a common sight.
Not old, but rare, a last gen gray Saab 9-5. I wonder if GM uses that chassis for any other models?
They sure do..... Lacrosse, Impala, XTS, Regal. Heck even the Lambda triplets are largely based on the same platform.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Where we live in suburban London we had to park on the road with our normal car (currently the Alfa) as we have a tiny front garden and no rear access, being a mid-terraced house. Our local council charge us to park in the street, but it is only about £50 per year for the first car, (it doubles for any others) and as we only have abut a 25 foot frontage if everybody down this road had two cars we would be forced to park miles away - we are in site of a tube station though so it is necessary to restrict parking or the commuters would drive in as far as here and then go on in by train, and when we come home they would still be there...
However, luckily when I was getting the Magnette up from Wales, when my mother had to leave her house (it was stored in her garage) we found a lock-up garage in a block just up the road - two minutes walk - but we had to buy it, which cost £10.5k, which sounds a lot but it is worth it, as we now own it for 125 years or so and when we sell the house it will presumably sell again for something similar or more. Its crazy prices here anyway because it is London.
Here in Boston, a space in a parking garage of a building will sell for $50K or more. Then there is a monthly association fee - some which can be over $200 a month.
It sounds so much nicer calling the front area of your house a garden instead of our "yard". Although plenty of people here park their cars in their front yards, and if we said garden, everyone would have visions of smashed tomato plants.
@Magnette
That airport you went to over the weekend, was that where Top Gear shoots their episodes?
It seems to me I've seen a Concorde in the background.
One time I saw the Concorde in flight. It had been diverted to our Hartford area airport from JFK, due to fog.
Working near the airport, airplane noises were not unusual.
One overcast day, I heard one that sounded 'different', so I walked over to a window.
The Concorde appeared through clouds for a few seconds on its' landing approach and then disappeared back into the low clouds.
I'm not sure if I didn't say anything because my jaw was hanging open, or just that it was only visible for a few seconds.
Here in Boston, a space in a parking garage of a building will sell for $50K or more. Then there is a monthly association fee - some which can be over $200 a month.
That's expensive - is that in central Boston, or suburban ?
I would imagine a space in Manhattan, or Westminster, London would fetch many thousands of £ /$ - dread to think what it would be in Tokyo or Hong Kong...
How did I manage to do that? _ I put my comment in as a sentence in your but - it was much better when you could reply to these posts - you knew where you were. And I still don't know how to edit the thing...(or post pictures)
When you quoted Rob, you didn't leave a space between the quote and where you started typing. Mind the gap and hit enter a couple of times. :-) (I edited it).
Pic posting. If the photo lives on your computer, use the "Attach a file" link at the bottom left of your posting box, and browse to find the photo. It will show up as you are drafting your post and when you click Post Comment it should be there. Attach a file isn't available when you edit; the pic needs to be in your first draft.
For a photo from a web page, you click the "scenery" icon and http:// will show up in the box. Paste over that with the web link and hit ok. Then click Post Comment. That's what my pic is trying to show.
For editing, hover over the right side of your post; there should be a gear and Edit should appear when you hover over it with your mouse. Click and edit, then Save Comment.
Mystery underneath the car pic from 2008:
10K for a garage spot wouldn't be too bad - about 10 years worth of storage here. Although with the way some buildings are built here, I'd be afraid of being forced to participate in an assessment when the building needs an emergency repair at 10-20 years old, as many seem to here.
My building was brilliantly designed to have one spot per unit. Good for one car singles, I guess. Buildings in Seattle proper now aren't required to have any parking, IIRC. Thanks, greenie weenies.
That is Boston proper - financial district, theater district, south end, north end. Here are some for sale: http://bostonrealestateobserver.com/boston-parking-spaces/
Once can find uncovered spots in the more residential areas of the city for $150-200 a month. One can also buy an outdoor space in the city which comes with monthly fees to pay for plowing and maintenance. Two tandems spots sold for over $500K last year.
Most of these spaces are in garages that are part of luxury residential buildings. Any assessments should be proportional to the value of the building so they shouldn't be that bad. But I could understand being upset at having to pay for windows when you don't own any. OTOH, there's one 40 YO building here where the space owners are getting a new garage floor and condo owners without any spaces are paying for that.
There's a new building going up in the South End that will have parking spaces available for $75K with a $50 a month maintenance charge. It includes a car detailing station. But most of the condo owners there will be more interested in the on-site Zip Car facility.
If I lived in a big city, I think I would just keep a car at a family members house that I could easily get to when I needed to take a long trip. Financially, it doesn't make much sense. In addition cars in NYC, Boston, Philly pretty much get destroyed.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
I caught an old episode of "Highway Patrol" this morning flipping through the classic tv channels. Wasn't in the mood for "Bachelor Father" or "My Three Sons", so I figured hey, let's give it a try.
Lotta cool old cars in it. Caught the tail end of one episode that had a '56 DeSoto Firedome wagon, an early 50's Pontiac, and a '57 Ford 4-door sedan, the cheaper 300/Custom 300 series. Broderick Crawford was driving in a Mercury...either a '55 or '56.
Next episode must had been from a later season, as they had the bad guys in a '59 DeSoto Fireflite hardtop coupe. Another character, who the bad guys kidnapped, was driving a '59 Chevy 4-door. Broderick wasn't driving anything this time, but kept getting rides in a '59 Dodge Coronet 2-door sedan police car. They also showed a single-headlight '57 Mercury police car.
I also noticed the opening credits, which showed a few different Highway Patrol cars, were mainly Buicks, Dodges, and an Oldsmobile. This is pretty realistic, as the California Highway Patrol had a minimum wheelbase requirement of 122", for a long time. So something like a Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth would be automatically disqualified.
Speaking of cars on TV, the other day I saw the Dennis the Menace episode featuring this nice Sunliner:
Ford sponsored the heck out of that show.
Those are crazy prices, but I know Seattle isn't Boston. I am not sure what extra spaces cost at some of the tonier buildings in my area - but no doubt with healthy 7 figure penthouses, they aren't cheap. Makes my little rent seem like no big deal. Now just to make the car a deductible dependent, if it works for mortgages, why not?
It's all a matter of supply and demand. In Boston, new residential towers are being approved without parking. Luckily we have a great public transit system and most city dwellers really don't need cars unless they work outside the city. Further, the number of cars registered in the city has dropped 19% since 2009 and population is up by 3%. It seems like people are giving up their cars.
I did a quick google search and saw spaces for sale at Trace Lofts in Seattle for $10K+.
Public transit, what's that? Seattle has a lot of buses, a mono-thingy from the World's Fair, and a train line that serves a limited area at limited times. Otherwise, you'll need to drive. The tech boomburb areas like Bellevue and Redmond have grown in large part because of ample and usually free parking. Maybe it will evolve in the future.
Your Mustang?
Here's a 300 square foot parking space in DC for $55,000: http://www.redfin.com/DC/WASHINGTON/NOT-ON-FILE-Aly-SE-20003/home/53562438/mris-DC8288789
Saw an Acura SLX today - can't be too many of those around.
Also 2x BMW E31 8er coupes - one driven by an older guy who laid into it coming off a light, the other driven by a younger guy driving gently. Both cars looked to be in excellent condition.
Is that the Trooper twin? Yeah.. really rare..
Went to the local Cars and Coffee gathering this AM.. not too busy, as most people haven't got their toys out of the garage yet, this year.
E30 M3
Opel GT (in primer)
C7 Corvette
Cayman S
GTI Fahrenheit edition
E46 ZHP sedan
Newer BMW 550i M-Sport with stickshift
Early Acura NSX
Early '70s BMW 2800 CS
Porsche 911 Turbo coupe (964 model)
BMW 1M coupe
Nissan GT-R (zzz)
Various WRX models..
Early '90s Nissan 240SX with roll cage
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What color was the C7? I'm smitten with the dark green.
That's funny. I am too. I saw a picture of one in a Corvette enthusiast magazine (I was in a grocery store browsing so I don't remember which one) and just went 'wow'.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Yep, SLX = rebadged Trooper. Might have been sold only for a year or two.
I too like the C7, Corvette finally screams "exotic", instead of "boomer's toy"
I might be mistaken, but it seems they had the SLX in the showroom, at the same time we bought our 1994 Vigor...
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I want to say I remember SLX being 1996, but that might be the year I remember them from new.
Went to a kind of junky auto auction today - saw a few oddities. It was like a late 80s-early 90s car show. They had a decently clean looking 93 Volvo 240 wagon - 5 speed! That has to be uncommon, final year car too. There were a couple of neglected 200K mile W126s, and a Fiat X1/9 with no wheels. Also a W140 S420 that looked really clean outside, but inside it was a mess, and had suffered airbag deployment - abandoned rebuild project, I think. I attended to see a 1972 350SL - low serial number, just to see what it looked like, but it had apparently been withdrawn. A few "old people" kind of cars that were maybe donations from estates or from relatives when grandma stopped driving - a nice 92 Crown Vic - type with no grille, but the clearcoat was going. A very clean 91 Sable, clean 90 Escort wagon set up to be towed, clean loaded 92 LeSabre in a nice blue with blue leather, etc, decent 85 Accord LXi, etc. It was raining pretty good, so I didn't stick around to see them sell.
I also stopped at a used car lot to check out an 80K mile 1996 S500 . It was nice, but it didn't give me any warm feelings. Price was also steep at 10K, but I think it's the kind of place there they expect you to offer 5K. They had some interesting old cars indoors - nice 54 Mercury 2 door HT, 64 Falcon Sprint, a couple of nice early Camaros, other muscle cars, all priced optimistically.
how the heck do you auction a car with no wheels? Certainly not rolling it across the block!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I assume it brought under scrap value, given the fun of hauling it. It wasn't a fancy indoor place, just a big lot with cars parked, probably not driven for the auction. But you could start them and listen to them.
This morning I saw an early R129 500SL, ca. 1990-91 maybe. White, gold emblems, period Lorinser wheels - that would have been a HOT car back in 91. Kind of a funny throwback now.
Also an early 80s 280Z in decent condition.
@fintail: Probably Sir Mix A Lot's early ride, or someone from his posse from early 90s.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Funny thing, I saw it again this morning - spotted an oncoming white R129, then saw the gold star and the wheels. A retro car, but maybe not in a way most would want.
Spotted a faded blue 1966 Ford Thunderbird with a dry-rotted black vinyl top near Longshore and Bingham in NE Philly.
Saw a Euro W124 wagon today - small bumpers, hubcaps, correct lights (facelift hood was an update I think), kind of unusual here. Also a mint looking maybe 1990 XJ6.
Spotted a rather rough Mercedes-Benz 190E on the 7200 block of Oxford Avenue in NE Philly. I remember when the 190 came out people called it the "Baby Benz."
I've seen a few web articles that mention the 190E in glowing terms. I don't remember anyone particularly liking it when it was new...
Probably because everyone associated the Benz badge with upper end luxury type vehicles, not small cars. |It was still quite pricey for that time in the early 80s. They were $30k+ I think when they debuted.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
The 80s retro car cult has made a bit of a star out of the W201 - it does have a fanbase now. I don't see it getting much positive attention when new other than in 16v form, or maybe the final run sportline cars.
Agreed... except for the 2.3-16 model, it was universally panned, when new..
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Cool 1964 Imperial Crown Coupe I spotted on Bleigh Street between Horrocks and Large in NE Philly this afternoon.
were those front headrests standard in '64? or a factory option? Or just a later date modification?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
it's probably just me, but I have always considered these battleship-class coupes to be a contradiction in terms. Two-doors have distinctly less utility than four-doors, and are usually chosen either because they are cheaper or because they are 'sportier'. Neither of these would apply to an Imperial. A Coupe-de-Ville at least had a sleeker roofline than the sedan. Lincoln didn't even offer a two-door at that time.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
It's pretty amazing they could find a nice front like that clip for it.
Turned out to be the Baby Lemon.