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

tjc78

Yes there was an LX Sport.  Essentially a loaded LX with all the goodies from the P71 cop cars.  Center console and monochrome exterior.   The Grand Marquis had the same thing.  LSE trim, pretty rare.  

ab348

The guy at the end of my street used to be the Vespa dealer locally. Something went sour there so he is now not doing that any more and instead is running a Vespa repair/restoration shop out of his garage. The things sound like a chain saw on their best days but seem to have quite a following even if many of them seemingly are topped out at about 25 mph. Young ladies seem to gravitate to them so that is not all bad.

Mr_Shiftright

fintail said:

I kind of like scooters, but not how the small wheels deal with decaying roads. Really, I like the small bike experience without constant shifting.

Problem is the "rake" of the steering post and the size of the wheel. One quick avoidance maneuver and you're on the "belt sander of life" .

iluvmysephia1

Scooters are too wobbly to control over the bumps shifty?

fintail

I've seen some pretty surprising tricks on Piaggio mp3 scooters, maybe those are more stable.

Mr_Shiftright

No, they just have weird geometry. They turn too fast. Most scooter drivers are rookies as well.

texases

That's a big issue - scooters are cheap, so first timers get one instead of a small motorcycle. Mistake. My favorite scooter video:
https://youtu.be/Piadj1URv3Q

xwesx

texases said:

That's a big issue - scooters are cheap, so first timers get one instead of a small motorcycle. Mistake. My favorite scooter video:
https://youtu.be/Piadj1URv3Q

LOL!!!! Best video ever! Honestly, I think the outcome was probably the best for everyone (on the road that day).

jwm40517

At a local car show in East Ky this evening a 1989 Nissan Skyline GT R . Poster with it said it was purchased in Japan in Sept 2015 and took 4 months to get to US. It was right hand drive and all wheel drive. I did not know what it was but a friend said it was a real rocket.

roadburner

You can import an R32 with relatively little hassle as it is now over 25 years old. It had a unique AWD system that routed 100% the power to the rear wheels most of the time. As for being a "rocket," it was fast for it's day with a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds- but that's not especially quick by today's standards. Still, it's a great car.

kyfdx

jwm40517 said:

At a local car show in East Ky this evening a 1989 Nissan Skyline GT R . Poster with it said it was purchased in Japan in Sept 2015 and took 4 months to get to US. It was right hand drive and all wheel drive. I did not know what it was but a friend said it was a real rocket.

That's definitely a rare spotting. There are a couple of them in my area that will show up to local cruise-ins, occasionally. Pretty cool.

Mr_Shiftright

1958 Plymouth Plaza 4-door "Silver Special" Edition. Anyone know much about this car?

jwm40517

That Nissan drew a lot of people to it, and there were a lot of nice cars there.Usually around 200 total. Small town event called "First Friday" from April to October, where they shut down four blocks downtown and parts of the cross streets. I was surprised the local cops did not use their SWAT team on some burnouts at the end of the event.

I am sure I would have a hard time shifting that Nissan with my left arm. Probably would be very slow in order to hit the correct gear.

berri

Don't know specifics on that Plymouth, but I think Plaza was the base model and Mopar had a lot of special edition model promos in the late 50's into the early 70's I believe.

Mr_Shiftright

I actually found one:

http://www.collectorcarads.com/Plymouth-Silver-Special/63987

Another forum says this about them:

"The Silver Special was a spring offering that differed slightly from other Plymouths. The side trim and mouldings were unique to the Silver Special. Also, the roof and wheels were painted silver while the main body color was usually white. They were also included with wide white wall tires and offered at $1958. Production figures are not available for Silver Specials. Silver Specials are quite rare however they are within the lower level Plaza line Plymouth. "

imidazol97

Saw a Lincoln Zephyr on the way to a car show 50 miles from home. Later saw it at the show. I knew it was a 1937 Zephyr because that's what the license plates said, LOL. I don't know that I've seen one in the wild before.

roadburner

Judged a friend's car show today. Mostly '60s-up American Iron, but there was a nice Sunbeam Alpine driver and a gorgeous chopped, channeled, nosed, and decked '49 Merc- with lake pipes. Seldom seen oddballs included a 1965 Barracuda and a 1969 four door Thunderbird.

fintail

I've been in a small town for a couple days - sightings: 67 or so Dart GT convertible, cigar 'Bird, Tempo coupe, 77 or so Eldo, gold 380SL, 2 Daewoos and 2 Suzuki Esteems, an old Korean war looking deuce and a half truck hauling a large piece of machinery, and the oddest thing, a Testarossa with its rear bumper removed sitting at a body shop.

bhill2

roadburner said:

Judged a friend's car show today. Mostly '60s-up American Iron, but there was a nice Sunbeam Alpine driver and a gorgeous chopped, channeled, nosed, and decked '49 Merc- with lake pipes. Seldom seen oddballs included a 1965 Barracuda and a 1969 four door Thunderbird.

Four door Birds always intrigued me. What a contradiction in automotive concepts.

imidazol97

http://www.onzuka.com/tbird.html

Mr_Shiftright

Looked at a rather rare 1942 Ford GPW military Jeep:

stickguy

that Plymouth was just a 6? I imagine that was no speed demon.

I may be odd, but I was much more interested in the blue Gremlin buried under a bunch of leaves in the background of some of the Plymouth pictures.

uplanderguy

I was out at South Bend for the annual May swap meet and when I was leaving yesterday, spied a Fintail in the meet visitor's lot at the fairgrounds. It was a darker gray and had some sort of aftermarket slot wheels installed.

During the car show I got up close to a car I've drooled at when I saw it at the 2007 and 2012 international meets there--a Horizon Green (light metallic) 1964 Gran Turismo Hawk, all the instruments including tach, floor-shift automatic (PRND21), absolutely-authentic and correct-original restoration of a car that the owner said didn't need a lot of restoration.

I told him I was amazed that the whitewall width and placement from the wheel looked dead-on to brochure photos. He said the tires were Hankooks and that he still had an original Firestone 500 that the car had when he bought it--in 1966!--and he measured the whitewall from the wheel and the width of the whitewall, and had the whitewalls placed (?) in the correct width and location on the Hankooks. (Apparently cut; not moved from the Firestone 500's, LOL)

I admire that dedication to authenticity. Most people stop short of that.

EDIT: Here is a photo of the car online--it has to be this same car, even down to the small details. The owners live in Chicagoland. It's such an early-sixties color and nice to see a Hawk that isn't white, black or red. Interior is original green vinyl and has that great concave instrument panel just full of gauges.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/113/257890743_320db7774b_z.jpg

Mr_Shiftright

I'd love to make one of those into a very stock-looking Pro Tourer, with updated brakes, suspension, AC, Tremec 5 or 6 speed, etc, and maybe aftermarket supercharger.

berri

Uplander, I like that green color on the hawk. I'm not sure that it was all that common?

uplanderguy

I don't know the numbers, but I've never seen another Hawk in the flesh, that color. It's called "Horizon Green", a metallic. I have seen lesser '64 Studes that color.

texases

Saw a '63 ish Lark in traffic yesterday...not very common in Dallas!

bhill2

Mr_Shiftright said:

I'd love to make one of those into a very stock-looking Pro Tourer, with updated brakes, suspension, AC, Tremec 5 or 6 speed, etc, and maybe aftermarket supercharger.

Does that mean you would keep the stock engine but with a new blower?

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, I think the Studebaker V8 could handle a blower, even if it didn't come with one originally. Who wants YET ANOTHER Chevy small block rod?

You know, the usual precautions are in order when bolting on a "huffer"---the engine would have to be rebuilt or at least overhauled, modern head bolts, modest boost, colder plugs, premium fuel. Modern superchargers are much lighter and more reliable than the old stuff. And having an overdrive gear would make the car a nice cruiser. This wouldn't be built as a drag car.

andre1969

Mr_Shiftright said:

I actually found one:

http://www.collectorcarads.com/Plymouth-Silver-Special/63987

Another forum says this about them:

"The Silver Special was a spring offering that differed slightly from other Plymouths. The side trim and mouldings were unique to the Silver Special. Also, the roof and wheels were painted silver while the main body color was usually white. They were also included with wide white wall tires and offered at $1958. Production figures are not available for Silver Specials. Silver Specials are quite rare however they are within the lower level Plaza line Plymouth. "

Yeah, I was going to say that it sounded like one of those "Spring Special" models that Mopar was pretty well known for back in the day. And, being a trim package, rather than a separate model, they usually didn't keep very good records on how many were produced. And, for some reason, they seemed to like to add those special packages to the lower-level models, rather than the nicer models. DeSoto used the name "Seville" in 1956 and 1959, and it was on the lower-priced models.

Mr_Shiftright

I bet that trim is unobtanium these days.

sda

Seems odd that DeSoto used the name Seville during the same period Cadillac was calling their hardtop version of the Eldorado, Seville.

Mr_Shiftright

It was a 4-door hardtop, technically called the Desoto Firedome Seville.

I'd love to tell someone at a cocktail party that I drive "a Desoto Firedome Seville".

sda

Mr_Shiftright said:

It was a 4-door hardtop, technically called the Desoto Firedome Seville.

I'd love to tell someone at a cocktail party that I drive "a Desoto Firedome Seville".

That's a mouth full, but cool name. I am just puzzled that the name Seville was being used by two brands. I would have thought the Seville name would have been trademarked or something like that.

tjc78

Two door Pinto station wagon, not sure of year. Odd duck!

Mr_Shiftright

sda said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

It was a 4-door hardtop, technically called the Desoto Firedome Seville.

I'd love to tell someone at a cocktail party that I drive "a Desoto Firedome Seville".

That's a mouth full, but cool name. I am just puzzled that the name Seville was being used by two brands. I would have thought the Seville name would have been trademarked or something like that.

Might have been a "jump ball". Both Cadillac and Desoto used the name in 1956.

andre1969

I always thought it was curious, too, that no lawsuits were ever filed over the whole Seville thing. In 1956, DeSoto used it the name as a stripped down version on the 2- and 4-door Firedome hardtops. I don't know how, exactly, the car was de-contented...I tried googling for pics, and the '56 Seville still looks pretty nice. I think DeSoto offered stripped down versions of the Firedome hardtop for 1955 too, but that year they just called them "Specials"?

Anyway, the name resurfaced for 1959 as one of those Spring Specials, this time being used on the Firesweep and Firedome 2- and 4-door hardtops. I don't know much about it, exept that it used special fabrics, and it seems like most, if not all of them, were painted a pale blue that almost looks a bit lavender in certain lights, with a white roof and spear. By 1959, I think everybody knew DeSoto was on its way out, regardless of how much Mopar executives tried to deny it, so maybe that's why GM didn't press the issue too much?

Another name that got shared was "Suburban", which GM has used almost since the dawn of time, but DeSoto used it for a few years in the 40's and early 50's. Plymouth picked up on it in later years for its wagons. But in that case, maybe "Suburban" is a generic enough word that you can't trademark it?

berri

I wonder if Seville was being used sufficiently different to avoid trademark litigation. Cadillac used it as a specific line of vehicle, while Desoto simply used it to designate a sub line 4dr ht model?

imidazol97

uplanderguy said:

nice to see a Hawk that isn't white, black or red. Interior is original green vinyl and has that great concave instrument panel just full of gauges.

That was a really beautiful color in those days compared to the usual greens/blue-greens offered. I remember seeing it on some Studebakers. But I don't recall seeing many Hawks and certainly not that color for a Hawk.

stevedebi

stickguy said:

that Plymouth was just a 6? I imagine that was no speed demon.

I may be odd, but I was much more interested in the blue Gremlin buried under a bunch of leaves in the background of some of the Plymouth pictures.

The gremlin looks like a '73, maybe '74. Always a quirky car...

berri

I recall that some people referred to a Gremlin as a "caboose", but don't know if that meant it's looked like a RR caboose or it had a, shall we say, big rear end.

uplanderguy

I had mentioned earlier my friend who was shopping for a '63 or '64 Riviera as his first collectible car. He bought a very original-looking red '63 from a dealer in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He's pretty excited to get it delivered back home to Baltimore. While I'm no expert, I've looked at enough pics he's sent me of those cars, that I can tell it's authentic/original outside and in (no missing emblems; interior door panels correct, etc.). Red interior, which seems unusual on a red car, too. I'm happy for him. He's 66 years old and can do smaller maintenance (brakes, etc.) on a car himself.

I tried to find a link with the car in it, but it looks like the dealer may have removed it from their site already.

Mr_Shiftright

Did he manage to have it inspected before he bought it? You know, sometimes they aren't always as advertised. Depends on the dealer's reputation.

uplanderguy

He did have it inspected, and they sent a gazillion pics and completed a report. One simple thing I would've wanted them to do, but they didn't, was they took close-up pics of all four tires, but didn't bother to get the date codes off of them, which is very easy to do and interpret. I'd like to know if I'm buying a car with tires five years old or twenty.

One other Riv he had looked at, elsewhere, a few weeks back, was inspected by another company. Sheesh, there was stuff visible to my friend and I that wasn't even mentioned in their report. He went with what seems like a better company with this red Riv.

sda

uplanderguy said:

He did have it inspected, and they sent a gazillion pics and completed a report. One simple thing I would've wanted them to do, but they didn't, was they took close-up pics of all four tires, but didn't bother to get the date codes off of them, which is very easy to do and interpret. I'd like to know if I'm buying a car with tires five years old or twenty.

One other Riv he had looked at, elsewhere, a few weeks back, was inspected by another company. Sheesh, there was stuff visible to my friend and I that wasn't even mentioned in their report. He went with what seems like a better company with this red Riv.

Have your friend join us and post some pictures!

uplanderguy

I should!

Mr_Shiftright

Many "inspection companies" just broker the jobs out to retirees whom they have never met, and pay them $90 bucks for the entire job. You can't expect much for that. Others are local operations and I think do a much better job.

roadburner

Mr_Shiftright said:

Many "inspection companies" just broker the jobs out to retirees whom they have never met, and pay them $90 bucks for the entire job. You can't expect much for that. Others are local operations and I think do a much better job.

Just out of curiosity, what do you think a 1980 TR7 convertible might be worth? A local auction house is holding an estate sale and a TR7 is listed, Probably be best to stay away...

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, they have those head gasket issues. You know you're in trouble when the FACTORY tells you to use double head gaskets---LOL!

Probably the best one in the world, preserved in amber, is a $10K--$11K piece. A "good", solid, clean driver I'd guess about $5K. I've seen running ones with "ok" body and interior with some driveway-level problems sell for as little as $2K.

You could always make a TR8 out of it.

stickguy

Will a hemi fit? Or at least a small block Chevy?