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

andys120

I can't believe that idiot expects to get anything foe the Murena with those crappy
photographs which tell me:
 
-He's probably hiding cosmetic defects.

-It's a long way from running condition but he could've at least dragged it out of the barn!

I kinda liked the Packard too and the detailed photographs are a textbook example of how to display an interesting car.

jlawrence01

I liked it a lot but it looks so weird when photographed against ultramodern buildings in the background.

If I ever had anything to sell on E-Bay Motors, I would hire the seller. He does a great job on a car that I would otherwise not be all that interested in.

wimsey1

I like the Nauticabuono, why couldn't the world see that we all needed an open top Multipla? It seems obvious to me. ;^)
Fintail, I liked the Fuego a bit to when introduced. At least it didn't look like everything else, but then it was French, whaddayaexpect!
Andy-I think you are right on the 928, the integrated bumpers really stand out (or don't?) in the '70's. I think the general shape is pretty '90's also.
Kev-I like that coupe too. Shame it wasn't produced, though Jag is hardly hurting for lookers in its history.

andre1969

looking at Mapquest, I could be in Benson, NC to pick up that 1980 5th Avenue in about 5 hours! It actually looks like it's in fairly good shape too, although I wonder what kind of hassle that whole lost title thing would be?

It looks identical to my 1979 NYer though, so I wonder if I'd have much of a chance of getting in trouble if I bought it and then, when I felt like driving it, just switched my tags? It's been ages since I've gotten a ticket, but I don't ever remember a cop checking my vehicle registration against the VIN on the car!

As for that odd description on the '81 Imperial's fuel injection, I remember reading that in some early road tests (maybe on prototypes, or something?), it actually did really well. Excellent fuel economy, and 0-60 in something like 11 seconds, which was pretty good for anything in 1981, let alone a two-ton sled! Once it was out on the street though, it was very unreliable, and I doubt anybody got the acceleration or the fuel economy that those early tests promised. And they only had 140 hp, just 10 more than a 318 with a 2-bbl carb at the time.

I've heard that it's fairly common to ditch the fuel injection on them and convert them either to a 2-bbl or a 4-bbl setup. I think the 2-bbl is the most common, because to get the full advantage of the 4-bbl, which was a copcar only package, you'd probably need to change the cam and rear-end, too.

As for that Packard, well I never really got turned on to them for the most part, but seeing those pics on that eBay example have given me a newfound respect for it. I'm still not crazy about the front-end, but the overall body shape looks very modern, sleek, and ahead of its time, for a '41 model!

lemko

...a really nice 1969 GMC pickup truck in an unusual orange and white color scheme. Is somebody restoring old PennDOT trucks?

andys120

I dunno about PennDot, but there's a couple of 60s vintage orange Chevy P'ups running around here in NH. They're in very nice (restored) condition. Orange was a popular color in the late 60s and early 70s for many vehicles.

michaellno

Yep, my dad owns one. 1970 Chevrolet 1/2 ton, bought new, orange (puce, I think, is the official color name) with a white roof, black vinyl interior, rubber floor mats, dog dish hubcaps, 350 4-bbl carb, 3-speed auto tranny.

I think he paid something like $2900 for it. When he bought it, my mom told him it had to last 15 years. Well, 34 years, one engine overhaul, 2 paint jobs and one minor accident later, it is still his daily driver. I think the body has something like 150-175K on it; he had the engine rebuild at about 105K, IIRC.

He keeps turning down offers of $7500 and more for it - personally, I think he should jump on one of those offers and get himself a new truck.

Lately, he's been talking about getting some major work done - some rust spots have appeared. The folks live in SoCal, about 3-4 miles from the ocean, and the salt air has gotten to the fenders. Another stem to stern paint job -- a HS buddy of mine has his own body shop and he specializes in Chevys.

<sigh> - I loved driving that truck when I was a teenager. In fact, I did a TSD (time, speed, distance) rally in it once with a friend of mine.

andys120

What a coincidence, this noon I spotted a GMC version of the '69-70 C-10. This was a stepside painted Metallic gold with a white tailgate.
It could have been original but given the use that most pickups got back in the day I suspect it was restored a while back.

I also saw a '54 Bel Air 4door-sedan, cream over brown. This car looked a little tired, perhaps original but not at all crappy.

lemko

...1950 Chevrolet Deluxe sedan in my neighborhood. It's a faded dark green with black fender skirts and pitted chrome, but the car still runs and the body isn't perforated by rust.

andre1969

used to have an old '68 or so Chevy pickup. IIRC it was kind of a non-metallic orangish-red with a white accent. It rusted away ages ago.

My Granddad usually bought GMC pickups back in the day, because he preferred their style to a Chevy. He missed the '68-72 style completely though. I think he had a '66 or '67 GMC, but then went from that to a '73 Chevy that was kind of a nasty goldish-yellow, and that gave way to a '76 GMC crew cab that was kind of a metallic orangish-brown, with white accents.

lemko

That '70s obsession with earth tones and some otherworldly colors. Who can,(but would like to) forget the avocado and goldenrod appliances that were once found in just about every home!

Andre - I remember seeing an old ad for the 1975 Plymouth Road Runner with these god-awful white vinyl seats with plaid earthtone inserts.

andre1969

right now I have a 1969 (I think...I remember Grandmom telling me her kitchen was redone a year before I was born) Norge refrigerator in avocoado, sharing canopy space with my '79 New Yorker. I'm waiting for the Salvation Army to come pick the thing up! (The fridge, not the NYer!)

Actually, maybe it's not *quite* avocado, but it's a pretty nasty shade of green! Normally I like green cars, but I think I'd run from one in this color!

kyfdx

I guess that is redundant, but anyway..

This was on Saturday night.. I didn't catch the name of it, but he is returning to prison from some kind of furlough... and his girlfriend (?) is driving some kind of Charger R/T with hood scoops, side scoops, etc.. really sharp, but I have no idea what year.. I'm guessing '68-'70?

andys120

He preferred their style to a Chevy Well your Grampa must've had pretty good eyesight, except for a slightly different grille there was no difference between a Chevy and a GMC truck now.

I gather that the GMC division was started to sell heavy trucks to commercial users. I dunno why they went into competition with Chevy for the "pleasure truck" market. I guess it was just another case of redundancy in GM that they could afford when they sold more than half the vehicles in America.

Well they can't afford it now.

michaellno

On Saturday, I watched "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" -- the only Bond movie to feature George Lazenby in the title role.

Anyway, the female lead drove a gorgeous red '68(?) Cougar Eliminator convertible - which I though funny as most of the movie was filmed in the Alps in winter. That must have been fun to horse around on those narrow roads!

What was Bond driving? I know it was an Aston Martin of some sort, but it looked almost Italian - long, pointed nose and such.

Also -- caught the end of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" as well -- what did Brad (the Judge Reinhold character) drive? Big, blue, four door that I think had the letters "_U_CK" on the trunk -- so, some sort of Buick?

andre, help me out here....

kyfdx

Okay.. I looked it up... The movie is called Lock Up. From 1989. It is really bad!!! Anyway, I tried googling the Charger, but I couldn't find anything that looked exactly like this... The front end looked closer to the '66 Charger, but the back end was really flat. I could definitely see an R/T designation on the side of the car, but it had hood scoops and side scoops that I don't see on any of the pictures on google. Anyone have any idea what car this is? Any Sly Stallone fans? LOL.

andre1969

Actually, with that Avalanche/Angry Appliance look that the current Silverado is going for, I think I prefer the look of the GMC Sierra nowadays!

My uncle likes GMC more than Chevy, but his reasoning is even more unsound...he doesn't like the big C-H-E-V-R-O-L-E-T spelled out across the tailgate, whereas G-M-C is much more subdued! He currently owns a '97 Silverado though, so it wasn't enough of a preference to sway his decision.

I know in some years in the 60's, GMC pickups had quad headlights wherease Chevies only had single headlights, and in that era where quads did seem to signify status, maybe it made a difference! And once upon a time, GMC pickups ran Pontiac engines, where Chevies only ran Chevy engines.

In 1953, you could get the 4-speed Hydramatic tranny in GMC trucks, even the medium and heavy-duty models. That must've been really unique back then, when trucks were sold almost entirely as appliances, and status had little to do with it!

andre1969

well my favorite is Death Race 2000, which I think is the first movie he was in! He was pretty much a nobody back then, so he wasn't cast in the leading role. In fact, it was fun to see David Carradine kick the you-know-what out of him!

I've never even heard of "Lock Up", but if I catch it, I'll keep a lookout for that Charger. Seems like Chargers of the '68-70 variety and the '71-74 variety tend to end up in bad movies on a regular basis, anyway! I remember a bad movie called "Wheels of Terror", that ended in a showdown between a beat-up early 70's Charger and a short-bus! Then there was some bad made-for-tv movie, I think it had Ken Wahl or somebody like that in it, where there was a bad guy in a '68-70 Charger causing fatal car crashes. IIRC, this one ended up in a showdown in the junkyard, between the hero's GM 4x4 pickup (the saddle-tank type) and the Charger.

andys120

The female lead in HMSS was none other than the delectable Diana Rigg who can be seen currently on BBC America in her role as Mrs. Emma Peel. She drives a spiffy Lotus Elan S2 that makes that Cougar look like a truck.

If Bond's Aston-Martin DB-5 looks Italian to you it's because like many Astons of the era the body was designed and built by Touring of Milan.

andyman73

Lock-up, IIRC, wasn't the antagonist played by Donald Sutherland? What about the beater driven by Gene Hackman in The French Connection. In the early 90s, I knew a young lady that drove a Checker as a delivery vehicle for her catering business. Saw a hopped up '55 Chevy, Baby Blue and Cream. Very shiny, very loud. Does anyone remember when Officer John Baker drove a Mini, in several episodes of "Chips". What about Bill Murray in that spoof, The Man Who Knew Too Little. How about that Citroen in the Highlander tv series. And the list goes on and on.

Andrew

lemko

...in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is a 1960 Buick LeSabre.

The beater Gene Hackman drove in the "French Connection?" Well, in the famous scene where he's chasing the El train the car is a then-new 1971 Pontiac LeMans. His unmarked detective's car is a 1968 Ford Custom 300. The NYPD police cars were alternately 1968 Plymouth Furies and 1966 Chevrolet Biscaynes.

andre1969

I caught the second "Blade" movie, and Wesley Snipes was driving around in a '68 Charger. I vaguely remember another vampire movie that had some dirtbag lackey driving around in a similar Charger, just all beat-up, chauffering vampires around in the trunk during the day. I think it was Wes Craven's "Vampires" or something like that?

I've heard that Buffy the Vampire slayer has some pretty cool cars in it. One of the characters drives an old French-pastry style Citroen, that looks pretty ragged. And another character has a black 1959 DeSoto 4-door hardtop. I think it's a Fireflite. At least, I caught a quick glimpse of the tailfin in the opening credits once, and I've seen a toy version of the car at Walmart. Also, one of the characters has a '57 Chevy convertible, and I think one of them has a '67 Plymouth GTX 'vert, as well. At least, judging from the toy section at Walmart!

lemko

...did you ever watch a show just because of the cars in it? I remember an old show starring George Peppard called "Banacek." He drove around in a beautiful Darrin-bodied Packard converible.

Crime Story, set in 1963, had a lot of excellent cars. The main character drove around in a black 1957 Chrysler 300-C convertible.

American Grafitti is one of my all time favorite movies. I remember one character driving his best friend's car and backed it into a 1959 Plymouth.

andys120

Naked City was one of the first TV shows to be filmed on location, in the streets of New York. I enjoy watching DVDs of these old shows made from '60-'63 which feature a treasure trove of
cars both foreign and domestic.

The cops mostly drive 50s Ford patrol cars and '71-'63 Pontiacs (?), that era was the golden age of the wide track Pontiac. Interestingly the featured Detectives always seem to drive 4 HTs rather than the b-post sedans you'd expect cops to drive. Stories revolve around characters who drive vehicles ranging from a Rolls Phantom limo to a Frog-eye Sprite and Porsche 356B.

Most of all you want to to just look at the cars in the background.
This era saw the widest variety of cars seen on American city streets in my lifetime. There are plenty of 50s leftovers of all kinds including those big DeSoto cabs as well as various oddball foreign jobs including Volvo 544s, Brit sports cars, Renault 2CVS and what have you.

Even seeing the old GMC buses is a nostalgia trip for us old NYers.

NC was a great show featuring many actors who later became well-known including Robert Duvall, William Shatner, Martin Sheen, Jessica Walter and Walter Matthau.

I'd watch just for the old cars but I'd still watch it without them.

Mr_Shiftright

You guys need one of these books:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/104-5623888-- 7736723

jrosasmc

Whatever happened to your '80 Mercedes and/or '87 BMW? Do you still have those two cars?

andre1969

in the Driver's Ed simulators because, even though I took Driver's Ed in 1986, most of the films they were using were probably made in the 60's or early 70's, at best, so there were all sorts of cool old cars in traffic, parked alongside the road, etc!

andys120

OOOH! OOOH! It's a '64 Dodge Polara, wow and a Studebaker Lark!
There's one of those Batwing Chevies, is that a '59 or [CRASH!]

Good thing it was a sim, Andre, LOL!

lemko

...my old driver's ed textbook because it used models of fintail Mercedes 300s in a sort of a "train set" diarama (sp?) in most of the photo illustrations.

scanty

An Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante. Blue with blue top. Gorgeous.

andys120

Remember the pioneering AWDer, the AMC Eagle, available in wagon and sedan form in the mid-80s? A guy in my town seems to have acquired a wagon but I don't think it's running, it never goes anywhere although it looks reasonably good, far better than the junk van this guy owns, which does run even if the paint's peeling off it.

I'll always believe that ChryCo made a mistake by not converting the Eagle van to AWD only to distinguish them from Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth. An AWD Eagle Vision would've made my shopping list back then.

fintail

I took drivers ed in 1993, and some of our films dated back to around 1970 as well. I found the cars to be very interesting. You see amazing things in old street scenes. It's also cool to go through old family albums and look for shots where a street scene happened to make it in.

"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" is also a great movie for spotting old cars. How about that red on red Dodge or Plymouth (I can't recall) convert that Ethel Merman's son drives, or the Imperial convert driven by her son in law, or the cool Dodge wagon driven by the dentist guy, the 46 Ford convert destroyed by Phil Silvers, the black Mopar cop cars, the finned Mopar taxis, etc etc etc

Thos toy fintails pictured in that book were likely made by Lego, the same company that makes the building toys. They made several varities of HO scale fintails.

andys120

Yep, I saw an Allante yesterday and it was a very nice one, it didn't look anything like a car that was a decade or more old.

If you asked me I'd say The General blew it by contracting to have the bodies built in Italy, why incur that expense for a car that doesn't look the least bit Italian?

IIRC it was Pininfarina that built them yet there's no PF badge, even my little Fiat Spider had that.

jrosasmc

Just saw this one on Ebay: a 1974 Mazda Rotary Pickup truck that was actually running and was actually in excellent condition! Where does one find an old Mazda pickup from the '70s, let alone one that was equipped with a rotary engine?

wimsey1

I gotta get a copy of that. I actually got to eat at the revolving resterant in Switzerland that they filmed as Telly Savales' hideout.
The "Piz Gloria" a top the Schilthorn. The view was, to use a word often wasted on lesser things, stunning. Prices weren't bad either and skiing down was very cool.

michaellno

a beige Checker Marathon .. decent condition

a beat up Karmann Ghia .. left front fender all crumpled and rusty. The rest of the body seemed to be in OK shape.

"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" is one of my all-time favorite movies .. and, yeah, it would seem as if the producers cut a deal with Chrysler to provide vehicles.

Speaking of Bond movies, who here was upset with the decision to put 007 into Beemers?

andys120

I was! Don't get me wrong, I love Bimmers, but Cdr. Bond ought to drive a British car, of course that leaves out Aston-Martins too.
I'll bet not many know that in Ian Fleming's novels 007 drives an old Blower Bentley, similar to Steed's in The Avengers.

michaellno

I knew that! Some pre-WWII model, IIRC.

Well, the newer A/M's I can understand, now that they are owned by Ford.

Seems like Ford has been supplying cars for the Bond movies for many years ... the only major exception (excluding the BMW years, and that was a pure marketing ploy) was The Man With The Golden Gun, where they used AMC vehicles (Hornet and Matador) for the one chase scene.

Well, and the Toyota 2000GT in You Only Live Twice.

ghulet

...funny you should mention the AMC Eagle, there's one for sale at the Citgo station near my home (Addison and Ashland), it's an '80 wagon, automatic, AWD (of course), white with blue plaid cloth interior, kinda beat up with some rust spots and bad paint work, but it apparently runs OK, and only $750 asking price.

On a brighter note, in the past few days I saw a stunning red '61 Impala convertible and an equally cherry-looking metallic rose/pink '62 Cadillac convertible, both just sitting parked on Chicago streets.

bhill2

I always assumed that the scenes with the AMC vehicles (including the Matador that turned into an airplane) were for comic relief. I know I certainly laughed my a-- off!

andre1969

I saw a '68-69 Chevelle hardtop, in need of some serious love and attention, but not so far gone as to be junkyard fodder. It was a burgundy color, and actually somewhat refreshing to see one that was just an old car, and not over-restored.

Also saw a '56 Chevy Bel Air 4-door hardtop. Black with a white roof and white spear. Sharp looking car. The '56 always was my favorite of that body style, and the 4-door hardtop seems to be a really rare style. I'm guessing that, while a 4-door hardtop might be more desireable than a 4-door sedan (at least, to me it is), they were built in fewer numbers, more prone to leaking and rusting, and in the end, still just a 4-door, so they probably didn't have as good of a survival rate as the 2-doors or even the 4-door sedans?

Oh yeah, also spotted an Audi 5000S. Body still looked good, but it was smoking worse than a Mopar minivan with a Mitsubishi 3.0!

Mr_Shiftright

All Audi 5000s should be reported to the police, unless they are turbo quattros with a 5 speed, then they are allowed to live.

scscars

After the storms ended, I saw a '57 Chevy Nomad wagon in a grayish-purple color. Excellent condition.

Lemko: Crime Story was one of my favorite shows because of the great looking 50's and 60's cars. It was worth it just to see Dennis Farina's '57 Chrysler 300. The "outfit" characters also drove some nice wheels as well--Thunderbirds, Cadillacs, and a Buick Riviera come to mind.

As for Bond movies, I was also one who wasn't crazy about Bond driving BMWs. It didn't really match his character. However,in Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, there are brief shots of Bond tooling around in his Aston Martin DB5. "Q" must have had extras built since the original was pretty much wiped out in Goldfinger. Besides BMWs and AMCs, With the exception of Live and Let Die, where Bond was being dogged by bad guys in '73 Chevys (why no 'Vette for OO7?) and Man with the Golden Gun featuring the "Flying Matador," Roger Moore's Bond had a penchant for Lotus Esprits. At least Lotus was British-owned at the time.

lemko

...James Bond drove a 1971 Mustang. He was pursued by bad guys in 1971 Ford Galaxies. One harrowing scene is where 007 is almost cremated alive only to be saved at the last moment.

andys120

Andre, I share your preference for the '56 among the Tri-Chevies. That was the year they got it just right. 1956 in general is my favorite year for 50s US styling when they had fins, flamboyance, chrome and wraparounds but still hadn't reach the awful excesses of the later 50s.

I think a disproportionate number of HT 4-doors might have survived from that era because as Shifty says, it's the special ones that people save.

Having said that I do see a posted '56 Chebbie sedan driven around here regularly and I saw a pillared '54 sedan the other day.

I assume the 5000S you saw was the aero style from the 80s rather than the earlier boxier one from the mid-late 70s. Both were styled with input from Ital Design's Giorgietto Guigiaro.

I saw a second gen Scirocco (80's version) for sale. Red paint badly faded to brick red in this one.

Mr_Shiftright

1st gen Scirocco's are kind of sort of minor collectibles these days.

The 4-door hardtop is a weird duck. I'm not sure people know exactly how to relate to that design. I think, ultimately, it is regarded more as a 4-door but just a notch more desirable. And I agree, people were a little more reluctant to junk them.

Generally the most common model of a car disappears at the fastest rate, as it is more likely to be regarded as expendable.

andys120

My local PBS affiliate is airing Classic American Cars of Cuba at 10pm EDT tonight.

Check your listings for local time/date.

At the time I toured South America in the mid-70s there were a lot of old American cars (and airplanes) everywhere but Cuba, because of the embargo, is still frozen in time. This show should be interesting on several levels.

kyfdx

I was in love with the 1st gen Scirocco when they were new.. I had my eye on a '77 that MSRPed for $5250 w/o air. They wanted full price, and I couldn't swing it... Ended up with a Mustang Cobra II instead for about $4400. Worst car buying decision I ever made, but it was my 1st new car.

jrosasmc

Here's one for you guys...saw a late '70s Dodge Lil Red Express truck that was actually in great working condition. How many of them were made, anyway?

Mr_Shiftright

google says:

Production figures for the L'il Red Express are: 1978 2,188 and for 1979 5,118 for a total of 7,306. Not rare by collector car standards but limited enough to qualify as "obscure" today.

The cars in Cuba are interesting, in that they are heavily modified (most of them) with the weirdest drivetrains, trim pieces and as you might expect, 4X8 slabs of bondo (or worse). People dreaming of bringing them back here to make big bucks are probably going to be disappointed when they realize how much work they will have to do to them. I mean, how much can a '53 Chevy be worth?