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

Mr_Shiftright

What are these people talking about? It's not "iconic history". It was purchased long after JFKs "history".

What car do people associate with Jackie O? Exactly---not this one.

bhill2

Mr_Shiftright said:

What are these people talking about? It's not "iconic history". It was purchased long after JFKs "history".

What car do people associate with Jackie O? Exactly---not this one.

But it's Jackie O, Shifty. Jackie O!! The Guenevere to JFK's Lancelot!

Mr_Shiftright

Well she wasn't exactly Miss Popularity in the 1970s. She bathed purely in reflected light and once that went out, well....

I'd say she has about as much current celebrity pull as Amy Grant.....oh, wait, that was cruel......

stickguy

I wonder how much they could get for Hillary's 1984 Oldsmobile?

Mr_Shiftright

Janis Joplin's 356 Porsche brought a pretty penny. Now there was a gal with personality.

roadburner

I saw that tonight. It's a 3.0Si. Nice car but $10k would all the money without the Jackie O connection.

berri

But it's Jackie O, Shifty. The "Guenevere" to JFK's Lancelot!

That was the title of a fairly successful ballad for Crosby, Stills & Nash

fintail

Hillary's Ciera brought a nice chunk of change

stickguy

wow. Wonder if the buyer regrets it now?

fintail

Probably, but the contentiousness of the idiocy last month will never be forgotten. The car will always have some extra value. And it's an 86 Ciera, a timeless classic in its own right

uplanderguy

Oh, I remember how people would try to get a photo or even glimpse of Jackie O in Onassis/post-Onassis years.

Years ago, someone I knew at work was related to someone who worked for an insurance company who insured the Kennedy family's cars, including JFK and his parents. She made me copies of a policy that had stamped on it "cancelled 11/22/63", and one that had Jackie's name ("Jacqueline B. Kennedy") with a lettered street address in D.C., as owner of a 1963 Mercury Colony Park station wagon.

BTW, Shifty, I can't stand Amy Grant, musically! I'm always reminded of a good singer at a high school recital, LOL. But gosh she's cute and always has been.

One other thing about that video clip--they make it sound like Jackie herself signed the inside page of the owner's manual or other owner's paperwork! LOL Dealers always have that filled out for me when I pick my car up! Plus, I have seen her signature on various papers and what the video shows isn't even close to hers.

Lastly, the clip was a bit overdramatic in saying "John Jr. and Caroline grew up in the back seat of this car". Caroline was 17 and John Jr. 14 when Jackie bought this car.

uplanderguy

That was the title of a fairly successful ballad for Crosby, Stills & Nash

Guinevere, drew pentagrams.

Love CSN.

Mr_Shiftright

uplanderguy said:

Oh, I remember how people would try to get a photo or even glimpse of Jackie O in Onassis/post-Onassis years.

Years ago, someone I knew at work was related to someone who worked for an insurance company who insured the Kennedy family's cars, including JFK and his parents. She made me copies of a policy that had stamped on it "cancelled 11/22/63", and one that had Jackie's name ("Jacqueline B. Kennedy") with a lettered street address in D.C., as owner of a 1963 Mercury Colony Park station wagon.

BTW, Shifty, I can't stand Amy Grant, musically! I'm always reminded of a good singer at a high school recital, LOL. But gosh she's cute and always has been.

One other thing about that video clip--they make it sound like Jackie herself signed the inside page of the owner's manual or other owner's paperwork! LOL Dealers always have that filled out for me when I pick my car up! Plus, I have seen her signature on various papers and what the video shows isn't even close to hers.

Lastly, the clip was a bit overdramatic in saying "John Jr. and Caroline grew up in the back seat of this car". Caroline was 17 and John Jr. 14 when Jackie bought this car.

Good bit of research there UP. There is so much nonsense that goes on in the "classic car" business.

uplanderguy

Sadly, I had all that stuff in my head. My wife says I need to "delete some files"!

kyfdx

Jackie O makes great beer.... in Athens, Ohio!

fintail

I wonder what became of the Mercury.

Mr_Shiftright

Controversial figure IMO. Certainly one of the last American "aristocrats". Not sure fox-hunting would go over so well in 2016. (she liked to do that).

Well, notoriety didn't seem to hurt the Delorean, so maybe that $10K BMW is worth more---but surely not the ridiculous asking price.

explorerx4

On the way home from work, next to me a silver gen 1 CR-V and behind me at the same time a slightly darker gen 1 Rav4. Both in very good shape.

fintail

Those early RAV4s and CRVs are still a frequent sight here, I suspect rust doesn't get them in this area. The 2 door RAV4 is the oddball.

stever

Older two door Tercel, white, good condition, no rust visible.

sda

fintail said:

Those early RAV4s and CRVs are still a frequent sight here, I suspect rust doesn't get them in this area. The 2 door RAV4 is the oddball.

I still see a lot of them around here as well. They still demand crazy money and many have 200K+ on them.

fintail

One of those nutty situations where someone will happily pay 5K for an 18 year old car with 250K+ miles on it.

sda said:

I still see a lot of them around here as well. They still demand crazy money and many have 200K+ on them.

Michaell

I knew a pizza delivery co-worker who drove an '06 CR-V with 258,000 miles on it.

When it got totaled in an accident, he replaced it with an '03 CR-V with 190,000 miles - I think he paid around $4K for it.

Mr_Shiftright

Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup---nice shape, and a very rare bird.

Michaell

Mr_Shiftright said:

Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup---nice shape, and a very rare bird.

Those were very common in SoCal in the 70's and 80's - as were all small Japanese pickups.

Mr_Shiftright

Those need to come back I think, in modern form. Very handy little trucks.

Michaell

Mr_Shiftright said:

Those need to come back I think, in modern form. Very handy little trucks.

Yep, the Colorado / Canyon / Tacoma have gotten too large. More like a 7/8ths scale truck.

My first wife owned an '87 Isuzu P'up. 5-speed, bench seat, AM/FM/Cassette radio. Capable, but oh-so-not-fun to drive in LA stop-n-go traffic - I commuted to downtown LA for a summer in it. Left leg got quite the workout.

andre1969

My grandparents briefly owned a 1981 Dodge D-50, which was essentially a rebadged Mighty Max, I think. It pulled a sudden acceleration stunt one day at the gas station, a few years before Audi made such things trendy. Ended up over the embankment at the back of the parking lot, nestled among the pine trees. No major damage, but it spooked Grandmom enough that she made Granddad get rid of it. He sold it to the neighbors a few doors down, and I think they had it until the early 90's, so it must not have been too bad.

Oh, and my next door neighbor is renting her in-law apartment to a guy who has a '97 or so Toyota RAV4. It's starting to look pretty ragged at this point, but I'm sure it has well over 200,000 miles on it. The paint faded and peeled off, so he sanded it down the best he could and painted it with a spray can. Didn't do *too* horrible of a job.

stickguy

I would buy an actual compact compact truck. Basically a modern Ranger that didn't grow too much.

Might try to sell my wife on a ridgeline. Party up front, business in the back!

But even that is on the too big side, at least in length.

sda

At my daughter's HS, a teenager driving a very clean '75 Ford Gran Torino 2dr, dark metallic blue, black vinyl top and crager like chrome wheels. Not jacked up and nice sounding dual exhaust--not too loud.

jpp75

stickguy said:

I would buy an actual compact compact truck. Basically a modern Ranger that didn't grow too much.

Might try to sell my wife on a ridgeline. Party up front, business in the back!

But even that is on the too big side, at least in length.

I like the new Ridgeline. Will be on my short list when it's time to buy, which could be 2 years or 2 months depending on how VW deals with this transmission shudder.

roadburner

I loved the 1972 Gran Torino Sport Sportsroof(fastback). The later cars with the railroad tie front bumpers leave me cold. I know that was the era of those awful 5 mph bumpers, but I thought that Ford did the absolute worst job of integrating them into their vehicle design- at least compared to GM and Chrysler.

uplanderguy

Although I still like the car, the 1973 Chevelle did a bad job of integrating the front bumper--real bad. I still like the simple grille better than later Chevelles, where the bumper was a bit more integrated.

And while I liked the front of the '73 Chevelle Laguna (soft front end), I hated how the rear bumper was soft and body-colored, too, instead of chrome.

sda

I thought Olds did a better job than most with the '73 bumpers. The Cutlass and full-size cars had the grille mounted close to the bumper and was hinged so that it would move away in slow speed bump ups. Pontiac did a horrible job with the front bumper on the full sized cars and intermediates, Grand Am excepting. Buick intermediates, not so good either. Who can forget the huge bumper guards (black blocks) that Chrysler used to meet the bumper requirement for '73? '73 was a tough year for looks and performance.

ab348

roadburner said:

I loved the 1972 Gran Torino Sport Sportsroof(fastback). The later cars with the railroad tie front bumpers leave me cold. I know that was the era of those awful 5 mph bumpers, but I thought that Ford did the absolute worst job of integrating them into their vehicle design- at least compared to GM and Chrysler.

Yes, I totally agree. I love the '72 Torino fastback but especially the '72 front end treatment which was a high-water mark for Ford. The interior was well-done also, especially for a Ford in those days which tended to be a bit behind the other makes. Not only was it a 1-year only design but there seem very few around these days. Maybe they didn't sell well, or had other problems that led to premature scrapping, I don't know.

I know the bumpers on our '74 Maverick were similar in design to all those Ford used in those years on their other models, and they were awful. Big, heavy things the size of railway ties, vinyl fillers that spanned 5 or 6 inches away from the body, and on ours, a rear license plate that hung below all that stuff by a couple of inches, which would hit the pavement on steep driveways and bend the plate assembly.

fintail

Import makes didn't do a good job of integrating those bumpers either - almost like they were taunting the owners to convert back to Euro style. MB park benches and and BMW railroad ties - I suppose Porsche did it OK.

sda

This afternoon I saw a clean International Harvester Scout III diesel. It was a solid beige in color. The man driving it had a Garmin mounted on the windshield. That has to be a rare vehicle.

fintail

I remember when I was a student in the late 90s, someone who lived in the same apartment complex (and was likely a student) had a yellow Scout diesel. Smoked like a 1910 steel mill at startup.

Mr_Shiftright

I have a friend who swapped in a modern Cummins diesel into his Scout. That thing really hauls.

uplanderguy

I always liked the looks of Scouts, both generations. I was in my old hometown last weekend and my wife and I ate at a wonderful little local place called "The Bent Fork". The building was D.R. Thompson Farm Supply when I was younger--International-Harvester dealer. They have some signage inside the place now. I can remember parked out front on grass on any given day, a Scout, a tractor, a pickup, a tractor, a used truck, a tractor, LOL! But, I never heard a cross word about the owner, Mr. Thompson, only good stuff.

uplanderguy

I thought Olds did a better job than most with the '73 bumpers.

For sure. By far the best GM '73 front bumpers.

In '73, for the first time, the Cutlass outsold the Chevelle. Torino was the best-selling intermediate, followed by Cutlass, followed by Chevelle. What resulted is the '74 Malibu Classic line with nice interior and opera windows, and a reduced-battering-ram-looking front bumper. The Chevelle became the best-selling intermediate again in '74.

It's all a bit misleading because the Chevelle and Monte Carlo combined are essentially what the entire Cutlass line should be compared to.

Olds was the only division, too, that offered the swivel buckets in the "S" model Cutlass and "regular" bucket seats in the Supreme line--not mentioning the wide corduroy buckets in the Cutlass Salon, available as only a four-door in '73.

ab348

I always thought the Colonnade series of Chevelles was just a styling failure. I like only 2 specific things: the Laguna once they angled back the front end at an angle in '75, and the '73 taillights. The flat-nose Lagunas that came earlier just looked unfinished to me, and the regular chrome-bumper models just looked heavy and awkward up front.

I could never understand why Chevy didn't do a skinnier bumper in '73 like Olds and Buick did.

tjc78

92 ish Camry 2 door in that dark green/teal (I swear over half of them were that color)

stickguy

from the train (tjc would know it!) I saw street parked a late 70s Celica/Supra. The round style. Hatchback. Have not seem one of them in person in years.

fintail

Out in the rain today - Fiero GT, MB W123, 1st gen Mazda 626.

Re: Camry coupes - I think 80% of them were sold in the PNW, I still see them around a bit. For coolness/weirdness, beaten handily by the same gen Camry wagon.

iluvmysephia1

Has anyone seen one of those old Toyota Celica's from the 70's around lately? They must be rusted out and crushed nationwide now. Actually they have that small, sporty econo-scooter look to them. Model years would be around 1973-77 or so. Anyone seen one lately. I haven't seen one in a few decades...they were out like knats and mosquitos in the hot Missouri summer in the Seattle area where I grew up in the 70's.

Michaell

iluvmysephia1 said:

Has anyone seen one of those old Toyota Celica's from the 70's around lately? They must be rusted out and crushed nationwide now. Actually they have that small, sporty econo-scooter look to them. Model years would be around 1973-77 or so. Anyone seen one lately. I haven't seen one in a few decades...they were out like knats and mosquitos in the hot Missouri summer in the Seattle area where I grew up in the 70's.

Been a long time.

A friend of my dad's had a '79 hatchback in bright yellow that I lusted for, like this:

iluvmysephia1

Yeah, Michaell, there's that larger bodied Celica, and the one I'm thinking of actually has a smaller body.

ab348

One of these? They were absolutely biodegradable in our climate here, though the mechanicals had a great reputation.

fintail

There are still some around Seattle, which I am sure does not surprise you. The first gen ones are legit collectibles now, and you won't find a mint one for cheap anymore. There was a fastback sitting in a driveway in east Bellevue for some time, don't know if it is there anymore. The 2nd gen model that Michaell posted is a lot cheaper these days.

iluvmysephia1 said:

Has anyone seen one of those old Toyota Celica's from the 70's around lately? They must be rusted out and crushed nationwide now. Actually they have that small, sporty econo-scooter look to them. Model years would be around 1973-77 or so. Anyone seen one lately. I haven't seen one in a few decades...they were out like knats and mosquitos in the hot Missouri summer in the Seattle area where I grew up in the 70's.