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

Mr_Shiftright

Well think of the work that went into it. This was originally a Holiday coupe.

stickguy

out driving around today, a robin's egg blue rubber bumper MG-B. old guy driving. Cold so top up. He was smoking in it. Must have been nasty.

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

You Won't See Another One of These I Bet

There are a few of those around, various years. All custom-built of course.

Mr_Shiftright

I've seen Cadillacs done like this, but never an Olds. It's an odd choice for a custom of this sort.

stickguy

That really might be a 1 of 1. I have seen others but I think they were all just El Caminos with a different GM front end (fenders/nose) bolted on.

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, that's the way I often see them---this one was an Olds coupe and the bed and tailgate were grafted on from a donor El Camino. Quite a bit of skillful work to do that.

bhill2

Mr_Shiftright said:

Yeah, that's the way I often see them---this one was an Olds coupe and the bed and tailgate were grafted on from a donor El Camino. Quite a bit of skillful work to do that.

A case of 'necessity is the mother of invention'. A tree fell on his Cutlass coupe and he decided to make lemonade.

ab348

stickguy said:

That really might be a 1 of 1. I have seen others but I think they were all just El Caminos with a different GM front end (fenders/nose) bolted on.

In other words, how GM would have made them.

I actually don't like how he handled the bodysides. The wagon quarter panels did not have the curved section in the sheetmetal you see just aft of the door. In the wagon, that was in the rear doors. But because he was dealing with a coupe as a base, he made do with the coupe quarters. I don't like the result as much as if he had used wagon of sedan quarters.

There are also a number of Pontiac versions of these around.

PF_Flyer

One of the benefits of working from home is I have control of my "background noise". Today's classic iron from the movies. I expect this group to nail the convertible with suicide doors, I wonder how many come up with the movie

ab348

'66 Lincoln Continental convertible from the movie Hair.

texases

ab348 said:

'66 Lincoln Continental convertible from the movie Hair.

Shouldn't the top be down

PF_Flyer

ab348 said:

'66 Lincoln Continental convertible from the movie Hair.

Are you Gene Siskel, car enthusiast?? LOL

andre1969

Well, it looks like the end of an era. My grandmother's 91 year old cousin, who lives next door to me, can't drive anymore, and after living in her house since 1971 (the property, like mine, has been in the family since at least before the "War Between the States"), has decided she wants to sell within the next year. She also can't see to drive anymore, and put her '89 Coupe DeVille up for sale. Here's a pic of it...



It looks horrible, but actually runs quite well. Nice and smooth, and its 4.5 V-8 actually has a nice, muscular sound to it. I don't know how many miles are on it, as the odometer quit working years ago, but I'd guess around 120,000 or so. Asking $800.

Here's a shot further out, which has my house in the background. I thought this would be a cool shot, because I have a few other pics, taken in the past, of other cars in that same rough position. So, here's my cousin's '89 Coupe DeVille, taken just today...


Here's a pic I took back in 2005, when I would sometimes park my Intrepid by the house...


I quit parking there because it was getting too dangerous to back in that spot. Sometimes, the neighbors would have parties, and there were a few times people would park so close that they hit the house when they'd open a door! At that point I decided it was enough, and started planting trees and shrubs to let the area grow up.

And, here's an old black and white pic, that had a 1965 date on the back. At that point the house was used as a rental, so I don't know whose '53 Chevy that is.


Somewhere, packed in my grandmother's house, most likely, are some pics taken back in the late 30's, that show a 1937 Plymouth belonging to my grandmother's aunt and uncle, parked in that same spot. I haven't seen those pics since the 80's...would be kinda cool to find them, and put one of them in the retrospective, as well.

fintail

Cool pics. I like 'now and then' shots like that. I have a few I have pieced together over time that I should dig out.

imidazol97

andre1969 said:

Somewhere, packed in my grandmother's house, most likely, are some pics taken back in the late 30's, that show a 1937 Plymouth belonging to my grandmother's aunt and uncle, parked in that same spot. I haven't seen those pics since the 80's...would be kinda cool to find them, and put one of them in the retrospective, as well.

Neat group of pictures. I like seeing how changes were made to the house and the different cars.

andre1969

imidazol97 said:

Neat group of pictures. I like seeing how changes were made to the house and the different cars.

Thanks, although I'm a bit embarrassed to say, the house is going downhill. Originally, it was a little country store, and originally built in 1916 (although it replaced an older building that dated back to at least the 1860's), and that's why it's so close to the road.

My Granddad put the stockade fence up around 1981, I think, and sometime in the early 80's, my stepdad re-did the enclosed front porch, taking out the door and just about all the windows, and turning it into an office and walk-in closet. And, the little decorative railing across the windows in front upstairs got too rotten, so it just got taken down.

I ended up re-doing the stockade fence in 2006, and brought it across part of the front of the house, in an attempt to isolate it from the road a bit more. The house is essentially worthless, because it's too old, needs too much work, and is too close to the road. Most of the value is in the land, roughly 4.25 acres. I'm thinking about selling in around 4-5 years, so I'm just trying to do the bare minimum at this point, to keep the house liveable. I figure that when it does sell, it'll most likely go to a developer who will just tear everything down, subdivide, and put up McMansions.

Mr_Shiftright

We could pick that baby up and move it back 50 yards, no problem. Well, problem...paying for that.

stickguy

Not really that much. At least compared to moving across town.

imidazol97

andre1969 said:

Originally, it was a little country store, and originally built in 1916 (although it replaced an older building that dated back to at least the 1860's), and that's why it's so close to the road.

I appreciate reading the history of the home. I grew up in a rural part of Indiana where every 6-8 miles was a country store with a group of houses around it. The proprietors lived in the back part of the building. I'm picturing the house as being like those little stores. Lots of memories seeing something like that. I polished my highway driving skills before I had my license driving my neighbor's 54 Chevy with my parents and them in the car.

Mr_Shiftright

Isn't the rule of thumb something like $15 a square foot to move a house?

stickguy

No clue. Probably wildly varies depending on the job. Just did one last night on fixer upper. 1k SF. Shotgun, so easy move, a couple miles so easy move. Cost 5k. Though Waco Texas is probably cheaper than the Bay Area!

Mr_Shiftright

I'd be afraid of a car coming through my living room, that close to the road.

stickguy

I would put up some concrete planter boxes. Like at an airport or federal building.

Actually I would subdivide, build my house in the back, then build and sell out the other lots and make a lot of money!

Mr_Shiftright

That'd be smart, if you could get a construction loan. Or you could keep that house and turn it into a deluxe garage!

fintail

Here's a then-and-now shot I dug out - unfortunately, no modern day car in the recent shot.

This was taken in 1940, I think that's a 37-38 Ford in the driveway:



Same place, several years ago. I think this might be a "plan book" house, I know of a virtual twin 100 miles away:

ab348

That's a nice house.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

That's a nice house.

Ditto..

andre1969

Mr_Shiftright said:

I'd be afraid of a car coming through my living room, that close to the road.

I used to worry about someone hitting the house...in fact, that's one reason why I used to park my Intrepid in that spot. I figured that if someone ran off the road, they'd hit the car first, and push it into the house, and that would soften the blow. But, then I figured nobody has hit the house as long as it's been there, so chances of it are pretty slim. For one thing, the road is a pretty straight shot at that point, and there's a telephone pole not far from the house. So a car would have to actually cut the wheel sharply to the right, immediately after passing the telephone pole, in order to hit the house. Here's a Google street shot...


However, that telephone pole just on the other side of my house has been hit a few times. I remember back in 1985 or '86, an early 70's Pontiac Ventura hit it. The driver was able to limp home, but left a long scrape on the pavement. We actually followed the scrape back to their house about a mile and a half away, and saw that the car was pretty much destroyed. It had taken out our mailbox, which aggravated me, but once I saw how torn up the car was, I felt vindicated

And, in early 1987, a mid 70's Ford pickup hit that pole so hard that it knocked a chunk out of it, and it caused the pole behind (the closest one in that picture) to fall over, into the neighbor's pine tree, and catch on fire.

There's an S-curve at one end of the street (this shot is coming out of it) and the houses down there regularly get cars planted in their front yards. And there's a ditch along the narrow part of my street, down in that little low spot, that occasionally catches a car. But, my house has been lucky, so far. However, just to be safe, that's one reason I let those trees grow up along the property line, in the off chance that my luck eventually ran out, they would stop any stray cars. Of course, by the time the trees got big enough to stop a car, that'll probably be when I'm in the process of moving!

Oh, and I did look into getting the house moved back from the road, about 11-12 years ago. I was quoted an estimate of $25,000, but that was just the cost of moving the house...I still had to pay for permitting, putting in a new foundation, extending the utilities, etc., so I figured it wasn't worth it, with all the other work the house needs. Plus, the county wants to widen the road. They have a 60 foot right of way up the street, but my property throttles it down to 30. If they tried to widen the road now, they'd have to at least pay me for the house, which would be demo'ed. But if I paid to have it moved back, that would be one less expense for the county, and would make it easier for them to widen the road.

Mr_Shiftright

That telephone pole is to your house like Jupiter is to earth---grabs all the hurtling asteroids.

lemko

Mercury versus Mercedes:

https://youtu.be/11QOh1daDSU

Just saw this on television.

Mr_Shiftright

Gee, that's almost violent as NASCAR.

roadburner

I love the squealing tires- on ice...

fintail

I love OHMSS, very underrated installment. Remind me not to roll the fintail, I don't want it to catch on fire and explode 5 seconds later. I am sure they all did that.

lemko said:

Mercury versus Mercedes:

https://youtu.be/11QOh1daDSU

Just saw this on television.

fintail

Speaking of fintails:

The oldest registered street legal AMG car in the world is a late run W110 fintail

omarman

So that car is model year '67 and was modified by AMG in '72 with over 100 km on it by that time? Which means that you could still grab the title fintail. Ship your car back to the father land, full AMG conversion, and then return to Subaru Nation with a real love story which can not be rivaled by tired old dogs and tree hugging.

fintail said:

Speaking of fintails:

The oldest registered street legal AMG car in the world is a late run W110 fintail

xwesx

omarman said:

So that car is model year '67 and was modified by AMG in '72 with over 100 km on it by that time? Which means that you could still grab the title fintail. Ship your car back to the father land, full AMG conversion, and then return to Subaru Nation with a real love story which can not be rivaled by tired old dogs and tree hugging.

Hah! Great idea. Fin, you better keep those wide whites, though. The car just doesn't have the same character without them!

fintail

Yep, definitely gotta keep the wide whites - best cosmetic improvement I have made to the car (of course, all I have done to it in that realm over the past 20 years is keeping it clean).

An AMG conversion could be cool - I like that old time AMG badge on the linked car, but it might not technically count, as my car would not be an old conversion. It's likely the oldest conversion still on the road, as AMG wasn't doing many road cars before then. It wouldn't compete with Subaru "love" in my region - those things have their own lifestyle around Seattle.

berri

Fin - That house looks like, well - are you really Beaver Cleaver???

Andre - you know you'll end up with that Caddy

Lemko - Remember in the mid 60's when Ford and Mercury pushed the quieter than a Rolls Royce ads. Then there was the jeweler in the Grand Marquis who became the circumcision on Saturday Live. Of course Granada would go on to basically steal MB styling cues. So you didn't have to be James Bond to appreciate it all!

sda

andre1969--these are for you. Saw them at the Atlanta car show this week. 59 Desoto, note the factory a/c. 61 Plymouth Fury, said to be original with 45000 miles. The Plymouth was exceptionally clean.

PF_Flyer

Going on a little road trip to DE this weekend, traveling thru PA Dutch country. With a little nice weather, I'm thinking the camera stays ready as "weekend classics" are likely to be out driving.

fintail

Good eye, it does kind of resemble the Cleaver house, with those flush dormers - a fad during the 40s and early 50s, I think.

Saw a very clean 75-79 Corolla wagon - something once ignored and discarded is now rare and kind of cool.

berri said:

Fin - That house looks like, well - are you really Beaver Cleaver???

andre1969

berri said:

Fin - That house looks like, well - are you really Beaver Cleaver???

Andre - you know you'll end up with that Caddy

Funny, but when I saw the house that Fin posted, it made me think of "Leave it to Beaver" as well! As for that Caddy my grandmother's cousin is trying to sell, there was a time that I would have actually considered it, as a spare/backup car. But, I don't need any more of those!

andre1969

sda said:

andre1969--these are for you. Saw them at the Atlanta car show this week. 59 Desoto, note the factory a/c. 61 Plymouth Fury, said to be original with 45000 miles. The Plymouth was exceptionally clean.

Sweet cars; thanks for the pics! I love the color on that '59 DeSoto! Factory a/c was probably a pretty rare item, even on a mid-priced car like this.

Looking at the color chart, I'm guessing this was "Capri Turquoise Poly"

imidazol97

andre1969 said:

Sweet cars; thanks for the pics! I love the color on that '59 DeSoto! Factory a/c was probably a pretty rare item, even on a mid-priced car like this.

Looking at the color chart, I'm guessing this was "Capri Turquoise Poly"

On that chart, the word "poly" is used several times with the blue tone colors. What did they mean
by "poly"? Was it polyurethane? Polynesian?

fintail

Why wasn't that 61 Plymouth on display at the Lexus stand?

andre1969

imidazol97 said:

On that chart, the word "poly" is used several times with the blue tone colors. What did they mean
by "poly"? Was it polyurethane? Polynesian?

For some reason, "poly" is how they used to refer to metallic colors on the paint charts back in the day. I'm not sure when they changed, but even in the early 80's, they'd use the phrase "poly".

berri

sda - that Desoto is beautiful! Now maybe aging is making me more mellow, but I also liked the 61 Plymouth coupe shot.

Andre - I wonder if poly was a reference to metallic polymers in the paint?

That color chart sure makes me envious. I am just so sick and tired of today's basic black, white, silver, grey,red and dark blue color choices. And they wonder why more people are getting bored with automobiles these days.

berri

Fin, I'm not sure that Toyota styling these recent years isn't making early 60's Virgil Exner look like a moderate Maybe today's Lexus and Toyota styling will make these models interesting for their extreme Anime like looks in half a century down the road. I really think that if it were not for the extreme reliability of Toyota products they would be experiencing a sales plunge.

stickguy

Like colors, get a jaguar. Picked up a brochure for the new XE, and counted. 20 separate colors. 3 blues, 2 reds, and of course, British racing green!

berri

I'm sure they are nice, but I'm not looking for a mortgage