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

uplanderguy

Little known factoid: 1973 was the only year you could buy an SS station wagon.

True. I've never seen one in person, but I remember the brochure photos and there are pics online of them.

For some reason, the SS wagon came with the Turbine I wheels standard--the wheels used on that year's Monte Carlo Landau, and optional on the SS coupe. I wonder if they thought that Rally Wheels (as provided on the SS coupe) wouldn't support a wagon?

ab348

uplanderguy said:

I can remember my friend's '73 Chevelle SS that had a Monte Carlo emblem ('knights head'; luckily it didn't say 'Monte Carlo') above the glovebox, LOL. Whoops! Someone at Baltimore reached into the wrong bin.

Heh. My dad's '78 Grand LeMans wagon came with a "Safari" emblem on the dash. The dealer ordered a "Grand LeMans" emblem instead and put it on. It was also built in Baltimore. I wonder if it was the same worker on the line?

ab348

It's a shame that the Chevelle wasn't originally ordered with a bucket seat interior. That bench really lets it down. I also always hated how Chevy left the opening on the left side of the dash empty when a Chevelle wasn't ordered with A/C. I guess it was a useful cubbyhole but it looked unfinished to me.

And those bumpers are not good. Olds gave the '73 Cutlass much better-looking bumpers, too bad Chevy didn't do the same.

uplanderguy

To me, that SS would look much better without the bumper guards, with black vinyl swivel buckets, and with the optional Turbine I wheels.

I think Olds chromed their bumper further back towards the grille, and moved what is the large section underneath the top-most part of the bumper, back towards the car--making the bumper appear thinner. It worked.

I remember reading in the auto mags at the time that for '73, in sales, Chevelle came in behind both Torino and Cutlass. Now, Cutlass included what was both Chevelle and Monte Carlo, but still, what a shock. The '74 Chevelle introduced the pretty-luxurious 'Malibu Classic' line and less black plastic inside, but got rid of the pretty round '73 taillights, added an opera window on the Classic coupe, added the pseudo-Benz grille (not a good look on a Chevy IMHO), and replaced the '73 Deluxe with the '74 Malibu line, leaving a huge trim gap IMHO between Malibu and Malibu Classic.

'74 did introduce the Laguna Type S-3. Wish they'd have just called it the SS.

berri

I think somewhere around the middle 70's Cutlass became the top selling car name plate in the US

uplanderguy

I'm thinking in the '75-76 period, it was. I'm not sure that it ever outsold the combined Chevelle and Monte Carlo nameplates, which the Cutlass lineup entailed in full, but it was good marketing on Olds' part, and it was an appealing product, for sure. Pretty sure (although going from memory; notoriously dangerous!) in '77 the crown was regained by the full-size Chevrolet, which had had the crown for a decade or more prior to the Cutlass.

Remember a few years later, about everything in Olds' line started with "Cutlass...", LOL! Well, not exactly, but....Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Salon, Cutlass Calais, Cutlass Ciera!

berri

That 77 GM downsizing of their full size lineup was some very impressive engineering in my book

uplanderguy

I still like those cars. The Turbo-Hydramatic 200 trans wasn't brilliant, but buying the 350 or bigger engines got you the heavier trans.

fintail

A relative spotted this on the road today (don't blame me for portrait mode):

berri

Nice trailer park aerodynamics!

ab348

uplanderguy said:

I still like those cars. The Turbo-Hydramatic 200 trans wasn't brilliant, but buying the 350 or bigger engines got you the heavier trans.

I think that didn't go into the V-8 B-bodies until 1980 or so though, didn't it? I know my '78 Delta 88 with a 350 Rocket had the TH-350.

I thought the refresh of the B-body for 1980 took away as much as it improved.

thebean

ab348 said:

I thought the styling on all of those cars from GM regardless of make was a step backwards from the year before, with the possible exception of the Cutlass 2-door for '73. Attn.: @thebean

I have a set of those wheels the blue Chevelle is wearing sitting in my garage gathering dust.

LOL @ab348. Point taken. I did have a '79 Cutlass which the styling (horrible) was the best thing about it. Both the ignition lock and the trunk lock crapped out. Paint also corroded despite yearly waxing. Front passenger seat would not stay in place (great on quick stops). But, it was probably typical of domestic quality of that era of Big 3 production. Traded it in on a Camry in '84, which had some quality issues also.

uplanderguy

The 305 Chevy engines in Impalas and Caprices starting in '77 had the THM 200. We never had problems with ours, but I didn't like the way it felt when shifting. That said, I enjoyed the car in almost every way more than the '74 Impala we had before.

ab348

Hmm. We had a '79 Impala with the 305 and the transmission seemed different (in a better way) than the THM200 in our '78 Grand LeMans. I assumed it was a THM350. Maybe it was one of the rare 1st-gen 200s that worked well.

imidazol97

1956 Ford Country Sedan in black. Paint looked original but aged. It had the chrome side moulding that was just the narrow strip with the swoop near the middle of the doors. Driving at full highway speed in the opposite direction .

explorerx4

Not real old, a Saab 9-7.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

Not real old, a Saab 9-7.

I saw one of those yesterday.

fintail

There was some recent talk about Monte Carlo convertibles. I was out in the fintail this morning, and I just happened to see this:



Let's take a closer look - in not perfect condition, but pretty well done:









Still not the oldest car on the lot though

fintail

My Monte-loving friend had an 83 with a 305/200. When the car hit 120K around the year 2000, the transmission called it quits. As he liked the car, he replaced the unit with a TH350, I think. The car was his daily driver for many years, but marriage and time eventually relegated it to being stored outside, where it aged poorly.
He finally sold it to a guy who customized it and made it into a lowrider, not a bad fate, much better than scrapping it.

uplanderguy said:

The 305 Chevy engines in Impalas and Caprices starting in '77 had the THM 200. We never had problems with ours, but I didn't like the way it felt when shifting. That said, I enjoyed the car in almost every way more than the '74 Impala we had before.

fintail

This wasn't something I expected to see in the garage where the fintail sleeps - a SEAT Ibiza. No plates, but appears to be from Mexico. Long drive:

berri

I'd have been interested what the MC looked like with the top up. That's an area a lot of those convertible conversion modifications lag in.

Nice day today and more than a few people out cruising around. Most interesting one to me was a 1960 Ford Fairlane 500. Quite a bit more chrome than the plain old Fairlane I learned to drive in. I think Fin would have liked it because it was red like the old 60 Ford wagon his dad owned. I believe the Country Sedan would have been the wagon model equivalent to the Fairlane 500. That name always seemed a little odd for a wagon, but maybe I was just too young to get its meaning from the old days of wagons several decades earlier.

fintail

Too warm for top up here today, and it might not have AC or working AC. It was noteworthy to me that the car was on CO plates and I think had a Missouri tax sticker.

I saw few other old cars out today, a couple of Vanagons caught my eye, and a 67 Camaro. Been a while since I have seen a 60 Ford. The car hoarder near me had a Fairlane 2 door post, purple, but I think he moved, as I haven't seen any of his cars lately. A red 60 Ford would be cool, the tomato red that liked to oxidize, I remember working to keep the wagon shiny. That car was red on white on red on white, attractive combination. Country Sedan has a 1940s sound to it.

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

I'm thinking in the '75-76 period, it was. I'm not sure that it ever outsold the combined Chevelle and Monte Carlo nameplates, which the Cutlass lineup entailed in full, but it was good marketing on Olds' part, and it was an appealing product, for sure. Pretty sure (although going from memory; notoriously dangerous!) in '77 the crown was regained by the full-size Chevrolet, which had had the crown for a decade or more prior to the Cutlass.

Remember a few years later, about everything in Olds' line started with "Cutlass...", LOL! Well, not exactly, but....Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Salon, Cutlass Calais, Cutlass Ciera!

I think the Cutlass actually won out in 1977 as well, depending on what metric you use. The Cutlass Supreme was often declared the most popular model throughout the early 70's, if you define "model" as simply the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe. But, if you took the whole Cutlass lineup, the full-sized Chevy lineup usually outsold it. By that time, they were grouping all full-sized Chevies together (Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala, Caprice, and I think wagons as well) when it came to counting sales. I think they did that because Plymouth had put all their big cars under the "Fury" nameplate starting in 1965, and Ford started lumping all their big cars together as well.

Anyway, for 1977, the Cutlass lineup actually managed to sell better than it did in 1976, which threw GM for a loop. They had anticipated that the downsized big cars would cut into intermediate sales, and in all the other divisions it did. But not Oldsmobile. Anyway, I'd have to look it up, but I seem to recall the Cutlass won out by one metric, but not the other. i.e., the Cutlass Supreme coupe might have outsold the Caprice sedan (which I believe was the most popular full-sized Chevy that year, but the Impala/Caprice as a whole might have outsold the entire Cutlass Lineup (S, Salon, Cutlass, Supreme, Brougham, wagons, coupes, sedans, wagons, whatever). Or vice versa.

For some reason, I'm thinking the Caprice/Impala came in at just under 700,000 for 1977, while the Cutlass lineup came in around 715,000. But don't quote me on that!

Anyway, for 1978, the Cutlass tapered off. The Supreme coupes sold fairly well, but the hunchback Salon coupes and sedans sold poorly. I think wagons maintained fairly well though. Meanwhile though, the '78 Caprice/Impala recorded another year about as good as 1977.

The Cutlass lineup, as a whole, did hit #1 again, but I can't remember the year. It might have been 1982. I know the Citation was #1 in 1980, and I think the Chevette managed #1 for 1981, but for '82 it may have been the Cutlass. Now this is just the RWD models, as the FWD Ciera was counted separately. So, it would still be sort of like lumping the Monte Carlo and Malibu together, or the Grand Prix and Bonneville G. For 1983 I think the Escort came in at #1.

For 1984, the RWD Cutlass still managed to come in at #4, and then dropped to #5 in 1985. So, that name still had some magic to it, I guess, despite an aging platform.

andre1969

Anybody want a free Town & Country? You haul it away and it's yours!

uplanderguy

That Monte convert is a pretty good job; I think the lines would have carried a convertible nicely in production.

RE.: That '56 Ford Country Sedan--one thing I always thought was strange was that if you got the two-seat Country Sedan, it had 'Customline' trim, like this one does. If you got the three-seat version, the Country Sedan had 'Fairlane' (higher) trim. But both were nameplated "Country Sedan".

uplanderguy

RE.: The Mopar van--I'm reminded of the scene in "Vacation" in East St. Louis, LOL.

uplanderguy

I remember as a teen, anyway, every single year in the paper: "Best selling auto line, sixteen (or whatever) years straight, Chevrolet Impala". Not an ad, but on the Business page.

In any full-line Chevrolet sales brochure, they always called the big cars, "Chevrolet"; i.e., front page would say "Chevrolet/Monte Carlo/Chevelle/Nova/Vega/Camaro/Corvette/Wagons".

Mr_Shiftright

andre1969 said:

Anybody want a free Town & Country? You haul it away and it's yours!

Nah, you'll need to throw something extra into the deal

texases

Haul it? Heck no! That's my new 'efficiency' apartment...

Mr_Shiftright

For Rent: Studio apartment on spacious lot. Air conditioned, carpeted, skylight, furnished. No formal kitchen,

texases

...plenty of parking...

fintail

There are probably smaller ones in Seattle.

Mr_Shiftright

texases said:

...plenty of parking...

Ah, forgot that in the ad. Is that a "convenience" or an "amenity"?

fintail

Out in the warmth today: early 80s Subaru, square light Rabbit, brand new looking early 90s Regal sedan, solid looking unrestored blue and white ~70 Chevy pickup, and that 300SD I see all the time.

sda

ab348 said:

It's a shame that the Chevelle wasn't originally ordered with a bucket seat interior. That bench really lets it down. I also always hated how Chevy left the opening on the left side of the dash empty when a Chevelle wasn't ordered with A/C. I guess it was a useful cubbyhole but it looked unfinished to me.

And those bumpers are not good. Olds gave the '73 Cutlass much better-looking bumpers, too bad Chevy didn't do the same.

Olds tried to minimize the look of the newly required 5mph bumpers by curving the grille into the bumper and hinging the grille at the top so that it would move away in a bump up. It really made the bumper look more integrated into the design. I think the full size Pontiacs had the worst looking obtrusive front bumpers. You could use them as a seat. Chrysler and their huge bumper guards were pretty bad too.

explorerx4

T&C?
Roomy studio that sleeps up to 8.

sda

fintail said:

There was some recent talk about Monte Carlo convertibles. I was out in the fintail this morning, and I just happened to see this:



Let's take a closer look - in not perfect condition, but pretty well done:









Still not the oldest car on the lot though





The '70-72 Monte Carlo looks great as a convertible. Too bad it wasn't a production model. Always good to see fintail out and about and looking good.

andre1969

Today while running errands, I spotted a first-gen Mazda 929 by a church across the street from the post office. Looked like it was in really nice shape...


It's been ages since I've seen one of these.

Michaell

andre1969 said:

Today while running errands, I spotted a first-gen Mazda 929 by a church across the street from the post office. Looked like it was in really nice shape...


It's been ages since I've seen one of these.

I really thought there was a version before that, but I cannot seem to find any decent pictures.

Guess not - Wikipedia shows your version as the first to be sold in North America

andre1969

I just looked on Wikipedia, and it looks like the 929 goes back as far as 1973, being a rebadge of something called a Luce, but we didn't get it in the US and Canada until 1987. I guess it's possible that some of them sneaked in earlier, though?

During some generations, they marketed a "hardtop sedan" version, but it wasn't a true hardtop. Just a pillared sedan with frameless windows, Mazda's version of the "Colonade".

fintail

I think the 1988+ 929 was the first one sold here. Also quite rare even in this area, but I see one now and then.

I think the mid 70s Luce was sold here as the RX-4, now all quite rare.

fintail

Today I spotted a very clean late 80s Regal coupe to go with that sedan from yesterday - maybe a sport model as it had fancier stock wheels, that same W201 190D in the same spot purring away like new, the same 300SD I see several times a week, the same blue 68 El Camino I see maybe weekly, and the CFO/EVP of my workplace in a late 90s 500SL.

iluvmysephia1

Our son called last night and he just scored a new job in PHX. To go along with the new job his girlfriend negotiated a new to him 2007 Buick 4-door sedan for $1,000. 140,000 miles on it, newer tires, intact catalytic converter, great blowin' A/C and a new stereo unit. I asked for photos and will demand them again so I can get a visual on it.

He usually gets Lincoln Continental type "old man" rigs that he can stretch his legs out in. I'll have him tell me the model name, that would help. I'm thrilled for him since PHX is so huge and spread out. He's probably walked 200 miles on roads down there since moving there 3 years ago!

xwesx

After riding home tonight, and pining for my Q7 much of the way, an "old man" type rig in which one can stretch the legs is sounding really good to me! May it serve him well!

uplanderguy

Who invented silver painted wheel covers--Taurus or that Mazda pictured? LOL

texases

uplanderguy said:

Who invented silver painted wheel covers--Taurus or that Mazda pictured? LOL

I think those are alloy wheels.

uplanderguy

Yes, thank you for pointing that out.

I remember when manufacturers back then tried to make wheelcovers look like wheels. Then came the time, and they all did it, when aluminum wheels were made to look like cheap plastic wheelcovers, LOL.

fintail

It was definitely the thing in the late 80s-early 90s. I remember my mom's 93 Taurus had wheels that did an amazing impersonation of hubcaps:



The wheels on the Tempo also did a hubcap impression:

ab348

The first car I remember seeing with plastic hubcaps was the Ford Tempo, and they did not make a good impression.

fintail

I think these were metal, early base Tempos had hubcaps that never looked right to me, didn't match the style of the car:



MB started using plastic hubcaps on the W126 by 1980, I don't think these look like anything but plastic hubcaps:



Cool car though, kind of wacky color indicates a very early car, and it's a large engine model.