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

berri

When I was a little kid back in the late 50's or early 60's I believe that a friend of my uncle had a MB Adenauer. It was a hulking (for a Mercedes) 6 window 4dr HT as I recall.

Today I saw a pink Mary Kay Cadillac SRX. I hadn't seen a Mary Kay car in ages and thought they had maybe gone out of business. Years back I used to see a lot of them in the DFW area. I think they were headquartered somewhere in that area. This driver had to be a big producer or the manager on top of the sales pyramid I suppose.

uplanderguy

I'd seen these roto inserts in person before.

http://s691.photobucket.com/user/canbstudebakers/media/DSCN0353_zpsff95b3a0.jpg.html#/user/canbstudebakers/media/DSCN0353_zpsff95b3a0.jpg.html?&_suid=142956095761203648194217664262

You could buy a Scotsman and an Adenauer at the same place.

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

The Adenauer Club does not consider the coupes as such, and most books I've read exclude them from that listing. They are all model 300s though.

I know nothing about them other than what the article discussed. It included them in the discussion.

robr2

andre1969 said:

I'm convinced there's some kind of trick photography going on there. For one thing, that's an F-250 at the right of the pic...shouldn't that thing dwarf the Tundra? I think there's a bit of forced perspective with the position of the trucks and the camera, and maybe a little stretching at the edges of the pic.

Let's add the F250 to the mix

Dimension VW Tundra F250
Height 56.25" 76.4" 79.8"
Width 64.5" 79.9" 79.9"
Length 171.5" 247.8" 246.8"

The Tundra and F250 are about the same. Of course, you can pick the LWB F250 which adds about 20" to the length.

fintail

I consider it in the Adenauer family, so it is

Fintail people consider W111 coupes and cabrios to be fintails, too.

Nice day here today, saw the same very nice 66 Mustang I see now and then, a very clean silvery blue later run W123, Buick Skyhawk ca. 1986, Vanagon Syncro, dark blue on white ~70 Caddy convertible.

Michaell

Cross posting to reach the widest audience .. help out a new member with his old car....

http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/33781/chrysler/x/in-over-my-head#latest

fintail

I saw two obscure things today, a resto-mod FJ40 Landcruiser, and a 81-83 Imperial.

A friend of mine is in California and visited the MB Classic Center. He spotted these things - a W111 fintail in the showroom:



And a peek into a shop or storage area - another fintail in there, a W110:

stickguy

what the heck is that ancient wooden wagon up on the 2nd level?

fintail

It looks like some kind of maybe early teens era wood bodied thing, I have no other pics of it.

uplanderguy

Yesterday in the drug store parking lot, saw a dark-plum-colored '95 Caprice Classic, with the red leather interior and lacy-aluminum wheels. While it wasn't clean (washed), it was clean as no visible rust or marks or dings. I even commented to the lady that I couldn't remember when I last saw one in our part of crusty, rusty NE OH and in her cigarette voice, she patted the car and said, "It's a good-running car". It had blackwalls though and I don't like that on those cars...I always liked the little pinstripe whitewalls that came on those cars when the F41 suspension was ordered.

explorerx4

Yesterday, a brown/tan top '79 or so Monte Carlo. Looked nice, although going 40 mph on the interstate.
Right after that, a same era Caprice Classic that looked cherry. Black and gray two tone with wire wheel covers.

andre1969

I saw those lacy aluminum wheels yesterday on...get this...a '75 Impala 4-door hardtop. It was for sale at the spring swap meet in Carlisle PA. The wheels were a bit dirty and scuffed up...as nice as the car was, the seller should have found a better example to put on the car. But, the overall design of those wheels complemented the car surprisingly well.

robr2

This morning I saw a 1969 or saw Pontiac Bonneville convertible out on the highway with the top down.

It was black with a couple of pink bondo patches. Looks like a restoration in progress.

uplanderguy

I saw those lacy aluminum wheels yesterday on...get this...a '75 Impala 4-door hardtop.

I'm trying to picture that, but I can't see the car pulling it off.

Those wheels were first offered on '91 Caprice Classics and offered through '96, though never available on Caprice wagons of that era.

The '75 full-size Chevrolets never offered an aluminum wheel from the factory--or anything but a steel wheel with a wheel cover (unlike Monte Carlos which could be had with the urethane 'Turbine I' wheels).

Although the wheel size is probably the same, I'd think the tire size of what was normally put on '75 Impalas was bigger than what was put on '77 and later Caprices, although I could be wrong. I'd wonder if those wheels would support a '75 Impala, long-term.

I used to like the brown ('saddle') Herringbone cloth interior available on '75 Impalas and Caprice Classic convertibles. Looked like a sport coat. I think when the herringbone interior got older though, the two colors of thread started to bleed into each other.

andre1969

I'd imagine that a '76 Impala/Caprice would've had a 225/75/R15 standard, while a '77-90 would've had a 205/75/R15. I remember my grandmother's '85 LeSabre having 205/75/R15 tires standard, at least. The downsized wagons, may have had a larger tire, though. B-body wagons, as well as the C-body, used a 5" bolt pattern, while the B-body sedans and wagons used a 4.75". I'm not sure if that carried over to the '91-96 models, though.

FWIW, here's a pic of that '75 Impala...


I'll try to get the rest of the pics from yesterday up soon.

uplanderguy

That looks better than in my mind!

I remember the '75 full-size brochure bragged up about the two versions of body-side moldings that year being a first in that holes weren't drilled; they were glued on. I can remember seeing new cars on dealer's lots with the side moldings laying on the ground next to the car.

I guess this car's moldings are long-gone. A narrow side-molding was standard on Impalas and a wide molding with 'argent' center was optional.

explorerx4

Went to a local fundraiser/car show.
The most insane thing I've seen.

explorerx4

Here are some other pics.
I skipped taking pictures of all the usual American Muscle cars, Ferrari Enzo's, etc...
Ok last one was a mistake.

texases

One of those 'why is that car in that driveway' - suburb driveway with a guy hosing off what looked like a Testarossa (red, of course), strakes on the side, but with round taillights. Would that be a 512M?

andre1969

As promised, here's the batch of pics I took yesterday:

Carlisle PA Spring 2015 swap meet.

Oh, and as a bonus, there's a video at the end of my drive into Pennsylvania. I always get sort of a giddy feeling every time I cross the border and leave Maryland...

uplanderguy

On first glance, I'd take the light yellow '65 Grand Prix (I think the most-expensive looking instrument panel in a '60's car), followed by the '68 Bonneville convertible, last full-size Pontiac I liked a lot.

Another friend of mine posted some pics on Facebook of Carlisle, and it made me miss it and Hershey, neither of which I've been to in a few years. I can only take a certain number of days off so close, and I've chosen the annual South Bend Studebaker swap meet at the end of this coming week. South Bend is the only place in the world where absolutely everybody knows what a Studebaker is! I've been daydreaming of a light blue metallic '64 Daytona Hardtop, blue buckets, R2 supercharged, disc brakes and Powershift automatic on the floor. Not that I've seen such a car, or for sale, or that I could even buy a wheelcover for one right now, but nice to dream.

I am getting the itch for a big multi-make meet though.

I'm going to try and visit a privately-owned Hudson collection that's open to the public, in relatively-nearby Shipshewana, IN on the way home Sat.

fintail

Yep, round lights = 512M, the last gasp of the Testarossa - not a pretty facelift.

texases said:

One of those 'why is that car in that driveway' - suburb driveway with a guy hosing off what looked like a Testarossa (red, of course), strakes on the side, but with round taillights. Would that be a 512M?

fintail

Eye-catchers for me - faux convertible Mirada (?), Corona wagon, pretty blue wedge Supra, Spirit of America Impala/Caprice (I remember seeing one identical to that when I was younger), 65-66 Mercury wagon would be cool without those wheels, 75-76 Fleetwood looks like a Tomy Pocket Car of the era, 68 LTD with hidden headlights is cool.

andre1969 said:

As promised, here's the batch of pics I took at the Spring Carlisle swap meet yesterday:

Photo Album

andre1969

As much as I like those J-bodies, that Mirada CMX (the fake convertible) really caught my attention at first. However, upon closer inspection, the paint job didn't look good at all in person. It was also pretty basic...crank windows and such. There was also a black Cordoba, which had the stuffy front-end I don't really care for, but it was a much nicer car. Gray leather interior, lots of power stuff, etc. Each one was priced around $3995 asking, so they were a reasonable start, at least.

One car there that really caught my eye was the reddish/burgundy '73 Olds Ninety-Eight hardtop coupe. It looked almost brand-new, and was low mileage. I think they wanted something like $10,900 for it.

stickguy

on I95 near Wilmington, a very sharp 1970ish Caddy convertible. top down. burgundy. certainly stood out! from the rumble, if not the engine at least the exhaust was not stock.

then local, driving around a good looking Dodge Dart. 63-66 someplace. I think a 63. V8 and I think lightly modded.

stickguy

nice pics Andre. my favorites, for some odd reason, are the 2 GTOs (the "not real ones"), and of course the Wedge Toyota. I love those.

imidazol97

explorerx4 said:

I skipped taking pictures of all the usual American Muscle cars, Ferrari Enzo's, etc...
Ok last one was a mistake.

I like the black and white 55/56 Buick in 2nd photo and the black Lincoln in the
next-to-last photo--it's between the two red cars behind the Metropolitan Police vehicle.

fintail

I noticed that Spirit of America Chevy was listed as low miles, along with a Lincoln next to it. I suspect a lot of those cars will be coming out of the woodwork soon - now.

Saw a few things today - a lowrider-ish 62 Impala 2 door HT that was really well done, 2x Vanagon Syncro at different times, the 67 or so Chrysler that used to live near me.

imidazol97

andre1969 said:

As promised, here's the batch of pics I took yesterday:

Carlisle PA Spring 2015 swap meet.

Thanks for posting those. Lots of great cars there. My favorite is the cream Buick
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But what is this vehicle?

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andre1969

That last one was a Lincoln Cosmopolitan, of the '49-51 generation. I forget which year, though.

fintail

That Buick is like the Rain Man car (but it was a 4-holer).

texases

My favorite Supra, too, but I like it better in black:

explorerx4

@imidazol97, I should have taken some more pictures.
My wife and I liked that black and white Buick.
It had a plastic covered ad in the open hood posted from the newspaper at the time(Drive it home for 2386!), including half a dozen local Buick dealers.

stever

Love the Bug. One of my neighbors just sold off his tractors (3+) and low and behold, there's a yellow Bug in his yard now. May just be visiting....

explorerx4

@stever,
I'll be impressed if that Bug has a modified elephant motor Hemi like one in my picture.

stever

I've only met the wife there, but maybe he has a spare tractor engine lying around for it.

They also have a Ranchero in the fleet.

ab348

The other day I found a stash of some old snapshots that go all the way back to 1980. I have a Canon all-in-one so I decided to try to scan a few of them. I found these interesting, from 1988 or thereabouts - my 1985 Toyota MR2 that I owned from new up to late '89 or so. I forgot all about these pics until now.









What I found doubly interesting was that despite having no memory of actually taking these pictures 25 years ago (!) they were shot in virtually the same exact spot I picked last fall when I got the ATS and wanted to get some pics of it.

stickguy

Nice car. I like thise

texases

I like that MR2. It's aged a lot better than the later version, IMO:

fintail

Was the MR2 kept in the garage during the winter, or did it eventually dissolve on the roads up there?

I still see those around here and there, as I live in a gentle climate.

ab348

fintail said:

Was the MR2 kept in the garage during the winter, or did it eventually dissolve on the roads up there?

I still see those around here and there, as I live in a gentle climate.

I lived in an apartment building at the time so I was able to park it in the underground garage, though I don't know how much good it did. I understood that parking a car driven in snow and salt in a heated garage may do more hard than good as the salty stuff melts into brine and rots things more quickly. I didn't drive it to work every day but did drive it in winter otherwise. It was actually quite good in snow even without snow tires because of the weight being over the drive wheels. It only got into trouble in heavy snow when it would bottom out because of low ground clearance.

In '88 I hit a critter on the road and the lower front valance was damaged, so it went into the body shop for repairs. They did discover some rust there that needed extra work not covered by insurance, so it was probably on its way to a untimely fate, though it still looked quite good otherwise. I sold it privately in '89 for what I thought was a very good price. It didn't have a whole lot of miles on it - I forget the number - but it had blown a head gasket after overheating (or maybe vice-versa) which was repaired under warranty and I never felt the same about it after that, plus the throwout bearing was starting to make a worrying noise. It had a lot of other niggly problems too while it was under warranty. It was actually quite troublesome during my ownership. Hardly a paragon of quality and reliability.

boomchek

I picked up this 2nd gen MR2 Turbo about 5 years ago for a mere $500 from an overseas student who had it sitting in his condo underground parkade and couldn't be bothered to getting it fixed up. He just wanted it out of his parking spot. It was rough. Rebuilt title, needed a new battery (I jumped it and drove it home though), exhaust leak (couldn't pass emissions), pop up lights would sway up and down when driving over bumps, etc. I stuck a new battery in it and sold it for $1900 within a day. I advertised it for parts, as is, because of its rough shape and still had about a dozen calls and 6 people show up within a few hours of advertising it as the Turbo versions were typically sold for $6000 and up.

That's my son in the driver's seat, when he was just 6 months old or so.

kyfdx

@ab348 Great pics!

Personally, I like both generations..

fintail

I saw half a 2nd gen MR2 being hauled away for scrap not long ago. Eventually, the Turbo model 1st gen will be a minor collectible, give it another 10 years or so.

ab348, I think your experience wasn't too unusual. Even reliable builders make cars on the Friday before a holiday weekend, sometimes it shows. They were still working on interior quality then, too.

Spottings today - filthy Fisker Karma, nice W126 300SD and early R129 500SL, K-car LeBaron, Ciera, Ferrari 456GT - still nice looking ,clean.

texases

Saw a Karma a couple of weeks ago, broke down by the side of the road. Not missed.

sda

ab348 said:

Today I visited a restoration shop about 90 minutes out of town. My buddy was using them to redo the seats on his '71 4-4-2 project and I decided to have them redo the front seat of my '68 Cutlass. We pulled the seat in short order, secured it in the bed of his Ford Ranger and ventured forth on one of the nicest days we have had here in months.

The shop is located in the woods outside of a smallish town. The main building is a large well-equipped building with several areas inside including lift areas, paint booths and general work area. In the basement of another building is the upholstery and trim shop. The business started out there and gradually expanded to one of full restoration and customization. The owner is a very nice fellow, a bit of a perfectionist, who has great talent.

What this brought home to me today was just how much money people are willing to spend on their toys. There is a '54 Chevy convertible there, a resto-mod, that has 2000 hours into it so far and is nowhere near done. There is a '58 Impala hardtop there that he figures will top $100K before it leaves, not including the original cost of the car. A Jag XK-120 is there in pieces - he couldn't even begin to tell us what that will turn out to be. Saddest story of the bunch was a '55 Chevy 2-door post that someone bought for $20K believing it to be a solid car that turned out to be a rust bucket. That is turning out to be a multi-year project as the owner's budget allows.

This is not a "production" shop. They do things right, and the owner does not allow stuff to be covered up with lots of filler. If something needs metalwork, they fabricate what is needed. It makes you look askance at the shows on TV where cars are "restored" in a week or two.

The work they did on my buddy's interior was beautiful so my little project should be a piece of cake. I should be getting a call in a couple of weeks. New carpets are going in in the interim.

Were you able to get the same pattern upholstery? The 68 Cutlass S that my grandmother special ordered had a neat Oyster white interior. It was slightly off white with a very subtle metallic look to it.

ab348

sda said:

Were you able to get the same pattern upholstery? The 68 Cutlass S that my grandmother special ordered had a neat Oyster white interior. It was slightly off white with a very subtle metallic look to it.

Yes. A company called Legendary Interiors reproduces the interiors in an identical material and sewing pattern. Mine was black so color match was not an issue, but my friend's '71 was Pearl White, which I had never seen before, and they repro'ed that as well. It is not a pure white but has a sort of semi-transparent coating on top of the white vinyl that gives it a tone change.

fintail

Saw a Suzuki Samurai today, disco era Vette, 79-83 Toyota 4x4, W126 300SD emitting a fine smoke pall that probably means it is a 35 year old car that has been driven 10K miles a year for each of those years.

Mr_Shiftright

I saw a Datsun Bluebird station wagon----kind of a rat, for sale for.....(gasp!) $9000. Looked to me to be about a $3500 car.

berri

Passed a pretty nice condition 58 Edsel on some two lane highway today. Couldn't tell the specific model, but it was a 2 dr sedan with a lot of chrome including around the windows. Looking in the rearview mirror, I know that model frequently gets bashed for it's front end, but I think the rear end is actually worse looking, at least to my way of thinking. All in all though, I still think the 58's are kind of neat, maybe because they are a bit unique.