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

ab348

"Put that steering wheel over on this side where it belongs!"

Mr_Shiftright

Old Bentley Mark VI Standard Steel Saloon. Still relatively cheap to buy, still frightening expensive to fix. Nice old cars, I like 'em. That one looks in better shape than most I see.

uplanderguy

I went to the nearby Randolph swap meet for the first time in probably almost ten years today and had a good visit. Bought a '54 Hudson Club Coupe model kit for a buddy of mine, and in the car corral saw some interesting stuff. I thought of andre--'77 Bonneville Brougham sedan, factory two-tone chamois over dark brown (not sure what Pontiac called it), 400 engine, Rally Wheels, cornering lights, full instrumentation, and that awesome period striped interior which looked like new! I couldn't see a flaw on the car walking around it--45K miles, asking price $7,650. He's not giving it away, but it's probably a fair price. I wish it had been another color....and a coupe, of course.

There was also a nice, original, authentic, faded light turquoise '63 Falcon Sprint hardtop, nice original interior, reasonable patina. Andre mentioned once his opinion that Larks in the '62 and later years were larger than other compacts and I became quite aware today that my '63 Lark Daytona was a larger car than this Falcon. I liked the rounder styling of the '63 better than the '64 and later Falcons.

andre1969

Seems like brown hues were really popular on Pontiacs back in the 70's and early/mid 80's. I used to hate brown, but my attitude has softened on it over the years. I guess it just depends on the shade. The only reason I wouldn't be enthralled at the idea of a coupe is that it would most likely have one of those landau roofs that really blocked out that big quarter window, and just looked chunky and awkward. It reminded me of the treatment they'd sometimes do to the '75-79 Ventura/Phoenix coupes. Really a shame, because in bare form, the '77-79 Catalina/Bonneville/LeSabre coupe roofline is gorgeous, IMO.

I'm with you too, on the rounder Falcon styling, compared to '64 and later. I don't mind the '64-65 too much, but pretty much lost interest by 1966. At least the '64-65 could be dressed up a bit to have a sporty flair, and offered a hardtop and convertible. But for '66 they dropped all the "cool" body styles, to get them out of the Mustang's way, and what was left just seemed a bit too bargain-basement.

As for the Lark, I would imagine that even the pre-62 models would be bigger cars, inside at least, than a Falcon, even if the wheelbase might have been shorter. Despite the 109.5" wheelbase, the Falcon was really a petite little thing. I wonder if the '64-65 models were any sturdier than the '60-63? That squared-off styling, while less attractive IMO, still managed to make the cars seem a bit more substantial than earlier models.

sda

uplanderguy said:

I went to the nearby Randolph swap meet for the first time in probably almost ten years today and had a good visit. Bought a '54 Hudson Club Coupe model kit for a buddy of mine, and in the car corral saw some interesting stuff. I thought of andre--'77 Bonneville Brougham sedan, factory two-tone chamois over dark brown (not sure what Pontiac called it), 400 engine, Rally Wheels, cornering lights, full instrumentation, and that awesome period striped interior which looked like new! I couldn't see a flaw on the car walking around it--45K miles, asking price $7,650. He's not giving it away, but it's probably a fair price. I wish it had been another color....and a coupe, of course.

There was also a nice, original, authentic, faded light turquoise '63 Falcon Sprint hardtop, nice original interior, reasonable patina. Andre mentioned once his opinion that Larks in the '62 and later years were larger than other compacts and I became quite aware today that my '63 Lark Daytona was a larger car than this Falcon. I liked the rounder styling of the '63 better than the '64 and later Falcons.

The Bonneville sounds really nice especially since it has the 400 and not the weak and fragile 301. Hues of brown were really popular for about 10 years. I know we had, between personal and dad's company cars at least 5 that I can remember. The 1971 Catalina coupe, dark metallic brown, darker brown vinyl top, medium brown interior, Rallye III wheel wheels was a sharp looker. Dad got fussed at for picking out a 2 dr for his company car. The other, and my favorite was his two tone 79 Elorado diesel, metallic brown on top, copperish color sides, saddle brown leather interior. The copper color on the sides reminds me of Lemko's Fleetwood!

ab348

At a car show out of town today, lots of interesting stuff. too much to post but I will tempt you with a couple. This first one surprised me in terms of how much I liked it, probably because I don't even remember seeing one here when they were new. The interior was lovely. 1975 Buick "Free Spirit" pace car replica:

ab348

Second one blew me away. A 1968 Impala SS 427, first I ever remember seeing in the flesh. Note the fender vents, domed/vented hood, 4-speed stick, and IP gauge package. I would (almost) kill for this car.

stever

Supercar Sunday

andre1969

A couple nights ago I got suckered into taking a friend home from the bar, after we stayed out too late and they rolled up the train tracks in this little one-horse town known as DC. Dropped him off in Arlington, VA, in a neighborhood where the houses could easily run $600K-1M. Found a trio of old cars parked along the curb, that looked like they hadn't been moved in ages. So I went on Google maps, and found this...


A '67 El Camino, '55-56 Pontiac hardtop coupe, and a '70 or so Cutlass coupe. With those recycle bins scattered about for good measure, almost looks like they were set out for the trash.

Mr_Shiftright

they look a bit rough. Maybe somebody's dream gone astray?

uplanderguy

I get tired of red, but besides that, I sure like that '68 SS427. Not often seen, that is for certain. And I like the fastback roof much-better than the squared off Custom Coupe which was available in SS equipment too.

Mr_Shiftright

they even made an SS station wagon at some point didn't they?

texases

I'd take mine in a '67 4-door hardtop, I like the proportions better than the 2-door, and the taillights better than the '68:

roadburner

Olds even made a prototype 442 wagon based on their Cutlass Vista Cruiser; some folks created them on their own as well.
Back in the early '70s there was a 1970 Torino wagon running around Louisville with a 351C and the shaker hood. My dad had a 1970 GT with the same setup so I looked in the Torino brochure and sure enough, that was a possible option on the wagon- talk about a unicorn...

uplanderguy

The only year there were production SS station wagons were in the '73 Chevelle line. I've never seen a real one, only photos and brochures.

uplanderguy

I like the '67 Chevy better than the '68 too, but it seems the SS, especially 427, is less-seen today than the '67's. I've always thought the '67 instrument panel was probably the best ever in a full-size Chevy.

roadburner

uplanderguy said:

The only year there were production SS station wagons were in the '73 Chevelle line. I've never seen a real one, only photos and brochures.

Same here- if I recall correctly the SS package essentially consisted of some badges; the one picture of the SS wagon in the brochure was the size of a postage stamp.

uplanderguy

It came with the wider Turbine I wheels and tires, and had 'special suspension', but was mostly striping, badges, blacked-out grille, round instrumentation, and emblems.

ab348

Ah-ha, I have claimed several of you with my fiendish trap!

The thing about that Impala isn't that is is a SS, or that it has a 427. You could get the SS trim on various Impalas over the years (and it was mostly trim), and you could order a 427 back then in lots of different fullsize Chevys.

However, for 3 years only ('67 thru '69), Chevy offered RPO Z-24, the SS427 package for the Impala. That got you both the 427 engine plus special things like the fake fender vents and domed/vented hood you saw on the '68 I took pics of. They are exceedingly rare cars.

The amazing thing about the show yesterday is that there was ANOTHER SS427 there, a '69 convertible, However it was very rough and not very interesting. What are the odds of seeing 2 at the same show?

I didn't get a chance to speak to the owner of the red '68 but someone standing there said the guy actually owned 3 of them. He runs a large wrecking yard in the area and has access to a network of contacts around North America so he likely found them through that. I highly doubt they were local cars given the low production.

Learn about the Impala SS427 here: http://www.impalass427.com/

texases

As rare and exciting as the 427 SS would be, I'd probably be happier with a 350 crate motor...

uplanderguy

A friend of mine who buys and sells cars for a living, maybe three years ago sent me photos of a '68 Impala Super Sport coupe (fastback) he was looking at to buy. It was just the Super Sport appearance package and even had the same full wheelcovers a regular Impala got. It had subtle "Super Sport" badging, and bucket seats. But get this..it was a 307 with 3-speed! Column-mounted. It had a console, but where the shifter normally would be, a block-off panel was there!

I had looked at that SS427 site before. I learned there about the '67 strato-bench seat available with column-shift on '67's. I've seen the strato-bench on Camaros and Caprices before, but never in person on an Impala SS.

fintail

Back from my trip. Trying to recall anything especially odd. Lots of 60s cars an even older trucks still around eastern WA. Didn't see any remarkable old MBs, did see a little old lady in an immaculate VW Dasher wagon moving along at a mild pace east of the Tri Cities. I recall seeing a 70s Civic and a Subaru Brat, and a early postwar Studebaker truck sitting out on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

Today in traffic spotted a Vanagon Syncro.

stickguy

lots of nice cars tooling around in Keene NH this weekend. a 70ish Goat convertible (judge or clone) and a yellow Cutlass convert. plus a 65 Mustang convertible. and on a trailer on 91, some late 40s vintage sedan that looked like new.

explorerx4

A 49 or 50 Ford 4 door. Blacked out with dual exhaust and a snotty sounding flathead.
I was so happy the guy revved it up a bit when he back it out of a driveway and started moving forward.
James Dean stuff.

roadburner

I've seen a 1969 Judge coupe several times in the past week- likely to be a clone.

Mr_Shiftright

http://www.thelastdetail.com/1968-chevrolet-impala-ss-c-629.htm

uplanderguy said:

The only year there were production SS station wagons were in the '73 Chevelle line. I've never seen a real one, only photos and brochures.

uplanderguy

Every SS piece on that '68 wagon, owner-installed after-the-fact.

stickguy

I noticed they had a picture of the window sticker. No SS package listed, unless that was the actual model designation shown.

ab348

I think they were pretty up-front in the description that it was never an SS, just had the stuff added.

Mr_Shiftright

John Moss, newly named manager of special vehicles for General Motors and for years creative guru of Chevrolet dream cars and concepts, said that in the early '90s one Impala SS wagon was built by engineers who wanted to apply all the SS performance goodies to a wagon. He thought it was probably destroyed. That would be a real find.

andre1969

Mr_Shiftright said:

John Moss, newly named manager of special vehicles for General Motors and for years creative guru of Chevrolet dream cars and concepts, said that in the early '90s one Impala SS wagon was built by engineers who wanted to apply all the SS performance goodies to a wagon. He thought it was probably destroyed. That would be a real find.

Just out of curiosity, what would the '94-96 Impala SS have in the way of performance that the rest of the B-bodies didn't? They all used the same 260 hp LT-1 350, as far as I know. Was the transmission or gearing different on an SS, versus a regular model? I could see an SS getting a quicker axle ratio than a non-SS, Roadmaster, or Fleetwood, but then I'd think a wagon, being heavier and more likely to be overloaded, would also have a quicker axle ratio than a sedan.

My guess is you could probably make an Impala SS wagon pretty easily. But, of course, a home brew isn't going to be as valuable as the real thing!

Back in the late 80's, Buick experimented around with putting their 3.8 turbo into a few vehicles you wouldn't normally expect. One of them was an Electra Estate Wagon, the type that normally got an Olds 307. 0-60 came up in something like 5.0 seconds! I'm sure those one-off models were destroyed. Shame, because I'd think that wagon would have been really cool!

uplanderguy

Since we're talking '90's versions, it always struck me that Impala SS's looked lower than Caprices, and they had tires not available on Caprices. But the LT1 could be had on Caprices and Roadmasters as well; I don't really know if there were any differences in the engines between a Caprice and an Impala SS but I'd rather doubt it.

uplanderguy

Here's a guy's site about the only production Chevrolet SS station wagon model (i.e., available to the retail market):

http://www.g3gm.com/gallery/Chevelles-Malibus/1973/1973-Chevrolet-Wagons-brochure-Chevelle-wagon-SS-option-picture-with-production-car-pic_827.htm

stickguy

Pretty neat..

explorerx4

Last year I saw a tri 9 Caprice wagon the was done up in SS trim.

scott1256

I saw an impeccable navy blue Citroen SM on I-10 South of Phoenix, AZ. Imagine what it has cost to keep an SM in showroom condition for 40 years.

fintail

Saw an immaculate first gen DSM car (maybe an Eclipse) today, and a not so immaculate 300ZX convertible.

Mr_Shiftright

The 94-96 Impala SS had a special lowered suspension, shocks, larger disk brakes, 17" tires and any color you wanted as long as it was black (in 1994). Other colors added later.

The LT1 is generally considered a "BAS-TARD" (the word used in the traditional sense of a peculiarly-derived offspring) small block, with annoying quirks like reverse cooling and the dreaded Opti-spark ignition (derived I suspect from being opti-mistic about it not crapping out randomly). Most serious rodders swap in an LS3 engine rather than trying to breath on the LT1.

andre1969 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

John Moss, newly named manager of special vehicles for General Motors and for years creative guru of Chevrolet dream cars and concepts, said that in the early '90s one Impala SS wagon was built by engineers who wanted to apply all the SS performance goodies to a wagon. He thought it was probably destroyed. That would be a real find.

Just out of curiosity, what would the '94-96 Impala SS have in the way of performance that the rest of the B-bodies didn't? They all used the same 260 hp LT-1 350, as far as I know. Was the transmission or gearing different on an SS, versus a regular model? I could see an SS getting a quicker axle ratio than a non-SS, Roadmaster, or Fleetwood, but then I'd think a wagon, being heavier and more likely to be overloaded, would also have a quicker axle ratio than a sedan.

My guess is you could probably make an Impala SS wagon pretty easily. But, of course, a home brew isn't going to be as valuable as the real thing!

Back in the late 80's, Buick experimented around with putting their 3.8 turbo into a few vehicles you wouldn't normally expect. One of them was an Electra Estate Wagon, the type that normally got an Olds 307. 0-60 came up in something like 5.0 seconds! I'm sure those one-off models were destroyed. Shame, because I'd think that wagon would have been really cool!

omarman

texases said:

I'd take mine in a '67 4-door hardtop, I like the proportions better than the 2-door, and the taillights better than the '68:

At first I thought that was a Metallicar pic above except for the right hand drive and missing spotlights.

berri

I like 4 doors and station wagons because they are like the real life cars I grew up with.

roadburner

Somebody here needs this: 1964 Jetstar 88 for $9k OBO

andre1969

I like that Jetstar, but for some reason, I always have trouble keeping track of the various Oldsmobile models over the years. They made sense to me in 1956 when it was simply 88, Super 88, and Ninety-Eight. But then they had to throw "Golden Rocket" onto the front of both 88 names for '57, and tack on a "Starfire" to the Ninety-Eight.

Then for '58 it was Dynamic 88, Super 88, and Ninety-Eight. But then as the 60's rolled on, the Starfire came back as its own model. There was a Jetstar 88 in there at some point. Also a Jetstar 1. Then Delta 88, and Delmont 88. I end up losing track on which ones were available which years, and where they all fell in the hierarchy.

For some reason I was thinking that Jetstar 88 was essentially a cheap big car with a big engine...but maybe that was the Jetstar 1?

I think the big '64 Olds models were handsome looking cars. They have a muscular look to them, even in the more sedate variations.

stickguy

I am not a fan of big American iron (especially early 60s), but I actually like the style on this model. Actually looks somewhat tasteful. Still way too big of course!

Mr_Shiftright

Kinda pricey for what it is. Looks like he just avoided all the really hard stuff. Just redoing the dash and chroming those big bumpers requires some serious money and it's probably not a DIY kind of job. Without looking at it, I'd say it's worth about $6K persuming no serious rust issues in the body structure.

Even nicely redone, this is not a big buck car, so one has to get in cheaply.

roadburner said:

Somebody here needs this: 1964 Jetstar 88 for $9k OBO

ab348

The Jetstar 88 was the entry-level model for the fullsize Olds line back then and was really a bit of a mongrel. It took the 330 V8 from the F-85 and used the 2-speed Jetaway (not a Powerglide) transmission. Also had the small 9.5" drum brakes from the F-85. That particular example is a bit of a mess. Notice there are no cranks to open the vent windows and that's how those are supposed to work. Everything the "restorer" touched is done wrong. Run, do not walk, away from it.

Mr_Shiftright

the more I look at it, the less I like it. It might be a real turd. I recently helped an estate sell a '65 Catalina 2D HT for $8000 and it was 2X as good as this thing.

fintail

Saw a beautiful looking late 70s Lincoln sedan in downtown Bellevue - kind of a lighter blue, metallic, looked like it was new. I've seen it a few times in the past.

fintail

Today I spotted a bugeye Sprite and an 80s 911, along with an SLR McLaren cabrio sitting at the MB dealer.

texases

Saw one of these on the way to work, first time I remember seeing one. The Baur versions seem to be more common:

roadburner

texases said:

Saw one of these on the way to work, first time I remember seeing one. The Baur versions seem to be more common:

The '02 cabriolets were never officially imported into the US; the targa style Baur cabriolets are not all that common, but became so during the E21 3 Series' model run.