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

ab348

texases said:

tjc78 said:

Wow, I love this one.

https://www.supersportmotors.com/copy-of-gauge-to-copy-1

That is a beautiful Eldo. My favorite style. Any idea what the thing is on the driver's side, under the hood, with all the hoses not connected?

It looks similar to what my '78 Olds 88 had in that same spot for a cruise control vacuum diaphragm.

The '67 Eldo was GM Design and Bill Mitchell at the height of their powers.

Mr_Shiftright

That's back when "Cadillac" was still at the top of their game. The name was well-respected around the world. Now, not so much.

uplanderguy

The '67 Eldo was GM Design and Bill Mitchell at the height of their powers.

That is a beautiful Eldorado. Bill Mitchell grew up in my small hometown of Greenville, Pennsylvania.

I thought they did a good styling job, too, in the '79 Eldorado, which reminded me of the '67-70.

I can remember checking a used one out at our Chevy-Cadillac dealer over a weekend, probably 45 years ago. Someone had left the keys in it. First time I noticed that the quarter windows went back, instead of down. Thought that was cool.

You can see in the '67 already, how they thought that an annual styling update would include parking/cornering lights in those front fender corners. I wish they'd have filled in those seams on the '67.

ab348

Yeah, it seems odd they would have gone that route for the first year of the model when it looked like an obvious place to put the indicators.

One neat thing on that car, aside from the heated seats which I had never heard of back then, was the cruise control wheel on the inside of the instrument binnacle hood. Not only did it let you set a cruise speed numerically, but apparently it also worked as a speed reminder in normal driving if you wanted, by pushing back on the accelerator pedal if you exceeded the speed you set.

fintail

On the road tonight I saw a first gen Caravan (blanked out rear quarter window), 944 cabrio.

roadburner

ab348 said:

Yeah, it seems odd they would have gone that route for the first year of the model when it looked like an obvious place to put the indicators.

One neat thing on that car, aside from the heated seats which I had never heard of back then, was the cruise control wheel on the inside of the instrument binnacle hood. Not only did it let you set a cruise speed numerically, but apparently it also worked as a speed reminder in normal driving if you wanted, by pushing back on the accelerator pedal if you exceeded the speed you set.

My 1967 Riviera had a knob in the instrument cluster that you turned to select the cruise speed- the speed was shown in an adjacent display. You pushed the knob to activate the cruise control.

tjc78

Grandpas Boat Tail Riviera has the speed minder control.  Cool feature I’d wish they bring back. 

uplanderguy

RE.: The original Chevy LUV--the cut of the door glass always reminded me of the Studebaker Champ as evidenced by this mongrel:

https://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/p1-630x354.jpg

uplanderguy

Looked at the pics of that Eldo again, and I saw that somewhere along the line, somebody slapped aftermarket body side moldings on it, ugh. Wonder what the paint will look like if you'd try to remove them.

texases

fintail said:

On the road tonight I saw a first gen Caravan (blanked out rear quarter window), 944 cabrio.

944? I thought only the 968 came that way.

Mr_Shiftright

1990-91. It was called a 944 S2 cabrio

texases said:

fintail said:

On the road tonight I saw a first gen Caravan (blanked out rear quarter window), 944 cabrio.

944? I thought only the 968 came that way.

1990-91. It was called a 944 S2 cabrio. Worth more than a 968 cabrio.

fintail

Yep, short run car. Easily distinguishable by the front bumper.

fintail

A few oddballs: another 92 no-grille Crown Vic - this one much nicer than the one spotted a couple weeks ago, a 94-95 300D that sounded fine but was insanely dirty, and a really nice looking 98-99 E430 Sport, high option car with spoiler, xenons, AMG wheels - as W210s are being ran into the ground and sent to the junkyard, it is becoming somewhat remarkable to see a good looking rare model.

uplanderguy

Back to that Eldo--I was reminded by a post on Facebook today how much I really like these cars. I'm an old guy, but I'd say they're close-to-timeless.

When we got our new '77 Impala in Nov. '76, I can remember more than one person telling me "It looks like a Seville". I wouldn't say people could get them confused, but the wheel openings, surfaces, and roofline do remind one of the other.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uXM2ogrLDNc/VgWAeJuJ_sI/AAAAAAAAZ3E/AkHBUpKm8Oo/s1600/00P0P_1jEo1WZivcy_600x450.jpg

fintail

I think the downsized Caprice/Impala definitely resembles a Seville, and I think that was the intent. The entire fullsize GM range got an angular somewhat formal greenhouse for the downsizing, and no doubt that was based on the Seville, which I believe was seen as quite elegant for the time, and a departure from the rolling bordellos of the recent past.

ab348

Both the Seville and the downsized big cars that followed had what was called "the Sheer Look" by GM Design at the time.

uplanderguy

I think the '77 big cars were the last cars designed under the supervision of Bill Mitchell.

It would be fun to find a Seville of that gen with no vinyl roof, the regular full wheelcovers, and cloth interior. The cloth was nice--not a fuzzy velour I don't believe.

EDIT: Found this pic online:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/e3/a2/e2e3a220a56cef3c2fefaae6f1fc3e9c.jpg

uplanderguy

At the time, I liked the styling of this model Seville, but boy how the interiors had fallen by this time:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-Cadillac-Seville-SLS/173067139620?hash=item284b9afa24:g:Y9oAAOSwCJxZ71jD&vxp=mtr

uplanderguy

Just killing time, waiting to leave for New Year's Eve....I remember seeing only one '77-79 Coupe deVille with no vinyl top, my whole life. The one I did see was at Ron Seidle Chevy-Cadillac in Clarion, PA, where I went to college. As this pic shows, there was a plastic or maybe fiberglass surround to the bright trim around the window. The one car I remember seeing had visible file marks around this window, which turned me off even then!

http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/uploads/photoalbum/1977-cadillac-coupe-deville-one-owner-rare-crimson-red-2.jpg

ab348

uplanderguy said:

At the time, I liked the styling of this model Seville, but boy how the interiors had fallen by this time:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-Cadillac-Seville-SLS/173067139620?hash=item284b9afa24:g:Y9oAAOSwCJxZ71jD&vxp=mtr

Yep, they were pretty bad. Really not much different from a Buick or Olds inside by then. A friend had a 1990 Sedan de Ville and it was far nicer inside than that. Of course the auto mags back then were criticizing anything with chrome trim and traditional decor touches inside so that was probably GM's attempt at countering that.

I've never seen a late '70s DeVille without a vinyl roof.

fintail

These seem to often or even usually lack a vinyl top, and are better for it. In single tone without wire wheels or caps, I think they are kind of cool:

roadburner

My law school friend(the Debbie Harry look-alike) had a black 1976 Seville with a red cloth interior. I drove it a few times; it was a very nice car.

kyfdx

Nothing cool about that bustle back Seville.

‘76 was cool, though

uplanderguy

I think (but not sure) that the bustle-back Seville wasn't available with a vinyl top (except the wretched fake-convertible tops dealers put on).

I remember the first one I saw at our dealer. I liked it...up until behind the rear doors! It was really a four-door Eldorado at that point.

I do like those wheels though.

Starting in '84 I think, I liked how on all models, Cadillac's body side moldings were the color of the car, which gave the effect of no body side moldings (nice clean look). It's really a shame the engines were so lame at that point.

ab348

fintail said:

These seem to often or even usually lack a vinyl top, and are better for it. In single tone without wire wheels or caps, I think they are kind of cool

I don't remember ever seeing one of these with a vinyl top. They often were given two-tone paint treatments as the design of the bodyside seemed to call out for one.

I remember driving one that a short-lived boss of mine had after he had too many drinks at lunch (which was why he got fired not long after, guy was brilliant but a bad alcoholic). It had the lightest power steering I ever experienced, even lighter and more numb than our '71 Monaco which is saying something.

Mr_Shiftright

uplanderguy said:

At the time, I liked the styling of this model Seville, but boy how the interiors had fallen by this time:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-Cadillac-Seville-SLS/173067139620?hash=item284b9afa24:g:Y9oAAOSwCJxZ71jD&vxp=mtr

Northstar engines are scary, though.

fintail

Yeah, I meant the cabrio top on those Sevilles. It seems from 82-83 on, a lot of them had the thick top, along with the faux Rolls-Royce grille, and even sometimes a really awful fake continental kit on the trunklid. Eldos also suffered this fate - I guess this is when Caddy kind of became a parody of itself.

I like the Eldo and Seville both in single tone paint with a metal top, and preferably some kind of wheels rather than wire wheel covers or wire wheels. The Eldo is a really clean design, and the Seville is just so weird, and it was daring, I can't hate it. I remember when I was a kid, I thought they had presence, and I remember my mom mentioning how she thought they were hideous. Usually GM seems to get it right when it kills off a car - for the Seville and Eldo, it seems the earlier, the better.

While out for a jog this morning, I saw a black Ferrari 328 out in the cold. I also saw a modern Ferrari 458 parked about a block away. To me, one is much cooler than the other.

stickguy

not old, but walking the dog this AM (about 12 degrees, and nasty wind chill) the guy who lives in my neighborhood drove past in his Maserati coupe (fairly new). I see him leave in the mornings sometimes, and know his driveway, so that is his DD (wife has a Q5 Audi). And out shopping, someone had a nice new Jag F type convertible parked. And the roads here now are absolutely white with salt. It is depressing.

washed the Jetta today, since the kid leaves to drive back to NC tomorrow AM. I forgot my squeegee and towel, and by the time I got home (a whopping 1 mile drive, tops) I had a film of ice all over it. Had to stick in the garage to thaw.

I hate winter.

kyfdx

12 F? High of 10 F here, today..

I'm ready to move... this is way too early for these temperatures. Minus 4 F predicted for tonight.
I'm below the Mason Dixon Line, for pete's sake! (okay, just 3 miles below).

stickguy

usually it takes until late February before I am this fed up with winter and being cold. This is going to be a really long year.

Pretty sure though this takes moving back to Saratoga off the table, regardless about how much my wife would like it. I can't afford to get a place way down south too, to snowbird.

ab348

Apparently they expect another week of this absurdly cold weather before things get back to normal next week. In between the weather presenters and amateur meteorologists on social media are hyping the heck out of an ocean storm that is expected to develop off NJ mid week and head up the east coast. At this stage it is still too soon to predict if it will even reach land but that doesn't stop them from predicting the End of the World.

fintail

This is an appropriate image for the weather in much of the country right now, another fun shot courtesy of the MB Museum. I estimate this is from around 1979:

explorerx4

I guess they were saying people from Hannover can't drive in the snow?

fintail

No doubt there'd be some "sexist" whine about the pic, if it was a new item. Maybe not a good snow car. That SL was a chic thing in the late 70s. Amusing ground clearance on the wagon, too.

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like she was offroading. Probably not the best car for that.

bhill2

Well for you people suffering under the extremely cold winter you could move to California, but I have to tell you from recent experience that it can get REALLY warm.

Michaell

bhill2 said:

Well for you people suffering under the extremely cold winter you could move to California, but I have to tell you from recent experience that it can get REALLY warm.

I just spent the better part of a week there, and wore shorts most every day. Saw some of the fire damage in Ventura; amazing how close it got to a lot of houses, despite the ones that did burn.

Truly tragic.

Mr_Shiftright

bhill2 said:

Well for you people suffering under the extremely cold winter you could move to California, but I have to tell you from recent experience that it can get REALLY warm.

We are in the 60s in northern California right now. Typical Mediterranean climate in wine country. In winter, you get near frost at night with high 50s to low 60s right about now. It gets REAL hot in Sacramento and central valley farm country. The grapes do better nearer the coast (but not too close). The cows like the ocean view.

explorerx4

A later 7xx Volvo. It was -6 when I left for work this morning. No wind, so not too bad. Truck started, it's an outside dog, but will get a new battery before next winter.

xwesx

I saw a hilarious sight in Palmer (Alaska) today. An early 70s coupe (the biiiiiig ones) sitting atop a 4x4 conversion.... it had to be a good three feet off the ground. The car itself was not in overly good condition, with obvious rust in the rear quarters around the fender skirts (yes, it had them in place).

I wish I could have snapped a pic, but was otherwises engaged.

bhill2

Mr_Shiftright said:

bhill2 said:

Well for you people suffering under the extremely cold winter you could move to California, but I have to tell you from recent experience that it can get REALLY warm.

We are in the 60s in northern California right now. Typical Mediterranean climate in wine country. In winter, you get near frost at night with high 50s to low 60s right about now. It gets REAL hot in Sacramento and central valley farm country. The grapes do better nearer the coast (but not too close). The cows like the ocean view.

Everything you say is true, Shifty. However, I was referring to my former place of residence, Santa Rosa. One day about 3 months ago we had a high of around 1200 degrees.

Mr_Shiftright

Don't exaggerate. I think it was only 107. I love hot weather. This is my inner lizard. Santa Rosa is a great place to spot Old Iron still on the road. Unfortunately, a lot of old cars were lost in the recent fires.

Mr_Shiftright

xwesx said:

I saw a hilarious sight in Palmer (Alaska) today. An early 70s coupe (the biiiiiig ones) sitting atop a 4x4 conversion.... it had to be a good three feet off the ground. The car itself was not in overly good condition, with obvious rust in the rear quarters around the fender skirts (yes, it had them in place).

I wish I could have snapped a pic, but was otherwises engaged.

People often have a lot of time on their hands in the Alaskan winter, to sit in the dark and contemplate doing things like that.

fintail

That kind of thing gets done now and then:

Mr_Shiftright

When Lifestyles Collide!

fintail

Works for Caddy, too:



Even fintails aren't immune:

stickguy

Does it make me a bad person that I want to look at the purple gremlin for sale?

stickguy

I actually think the continental looks much better that way.

stickguy

I actually think the continental looks much better that way.

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

Does it make me a bad person that I want to look at the purple gremlin for sale?

We're here for you, man. We don't judge.