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

tjc78

Well that was easy via Google.

http://www.cadillacallanteclub.com

Mr_Shiftright

Subaru 360........and For Sale. Whaddya think?

stickguy

I think I have driven past that spot at some point. don't remember the cars though. Was real close last weekend. We went down and visited Pitman.

tjc78

Right near the Rowan campus (not the main one on 322). I drive by it a few times a month, can't believe I never noticed it before..

Behind the white one is where all the others are

roadburner

I had an engineer friend who used to work at GM. He said that the Allante body structure was incredibly flimsy and needed quite a bit of remedial work to get it to pass the barrier crash standards.

uplanderguy

I did like the looks of them--subdued. Everyone always said the '93 was the one to get.

fintail

I kind of like the exterior looks of the Allante too. Interior/dash is a hot mess, though. The Kelly Bundy association also doesn't hurt.

Mr_Shiftright

uplanderguy said:

I did like the looks of them--subdued. Everyone always said the '93 was the one to get.

Well I USED to say that, until all the problems with the Northstar engine started to emerge.

The Allante wanted to be the Mercedes 560SL. It's not.

uplanderguy

It seems like the older ones I saw were always that tomato red. I like the dark green, and also the pearlescent white. Seems like the green ones were later, but that's going from memory only.

uplanderguy

Speaking of the Allante, for some reason I'm reminded of the Reatta. There's a car I never got. Yes, it had a Riviera interior, but outside to me, it looked like a compact car...nothing elegant or sporty. Priced high. MHO only of course.

I swear they only made two colors that got shipped to where I lived--red with saddle interior, and that medium-blue, ick.

uplanderguy

IIRC, the 1965 Dodge 880 actually outsold the new "big" Polara, but then for 1966 they went with a Polara/Monaco hierarchy.

andre, in '65, weren't the Custom 880 and Polara just two different trim levels of the same car? The Monaco was their "Grand Prix" kind of car I think that year--just a hardtop coupe with buckets and console.

ab348

I think the '65 880 sedan was different from all the other Dodge sedans with a 6-window greenhouse.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

It seems like the older ones I saw were always that tomato red. I like the dark green, and also the pearlescent white. Seems like the green ones were later, but that's going from memory only.

"Polo Green" I believe, a nice '90s color. I bet it would get about 3 orders if offered today though.

I never liked the Reatta hardtop. The styling seemed awkward, especially how the roof/C-pillar mated with the lower body. When they came out with the convertible Reatta a while later I liked that much more and IMO that was the only version they ever should have made. But overall I agree the car didn't make much sense for Buick.

ab348

roadburner said:

I had an engineer friend who used to work at GM. He said that the Allante body structure was incredibly flimsy and needed quite a bit of remedial work to get it to pass the barrier crash standards.

Even with the high list price I figure GM must have lost a bundle on the Allante. That air freight between Italy and the USA for the body building didn't come cheap and the production volumes were pretty low to amortize the development costs. Then add on all of the warranty claims and running fixes for the thing and it must have been a nightmare. A combination of Italian quality and '80s GM engineering did not inspire confidence. I did like the styling though.

texases

Here they all are:

uplanderguy

Thanks. This looks a little like the Custom 880 was above the Polara this year; I guess I didn't think that.

Love the "Limited edition" description of the Monaco...apparently limited to how many people bought them, LOL!

fintail

Never seen a 6 window 880 before, but I have seen Chryslers in that style.

berri

Those short lived 6 window 65/66 Chrysler and Dodge were unique and not seen all that often. A bit earlier in the 60's GM used six window sedans for upper level model lines. Never could make my mind up about those Mopars. They were kind of odd on one hand, but they also were hard to find and stuck out. I think perhaps Chrysler wasn't sure about them either since they offered the same models as 4 or 6 window versions.

fintail

The GM 6 windows are a little odd too.

The Chrysler talk makes me think of my grandpa and his 65 Newport. He appreciated value, and I suspect he was waiting for a value-oriented car like that to come along - the equipment and relative prestige of a Chrysler at a mainstream model price. It was replaced by a fuselage Newport, so I think he had a good experience.

Today's sighting: 84-88 Toyota 4x4 single cab longbed pickup, in excellent looking condition. Had a V6 badge, so I think 1988.

berri

Second half of the Sixties and early 70's were interesting car pricing. Chrysler Newport's and special edition Olds or Mercury were often not much different on the sticker than a Caprice or LTD. Of course the latter were usually more duded up at that window sticker, while the former often offered an upscale drive train and suspension.

kyfdx

Today, '69 Sedan De Ville in a nice seafoam green with black vinyl roof. Looked like a full restoration to stock.

omarman

So it's 1988 and you're car shopping (30 years ago) for a car that you just might keep driving until the jetson age of cars that run on water in 2018.

I seriously thought that a Marysville Honda was the next new car that I would buy back then but I was not living any where close to a Honda dealer. Still the Accord was, to me, a real looker and I was sure I could live with it for a long time.

There were 2 Ford dealers close to me and I wound up buying a new '89 Probe which I really liked and kept for almost 20 years until a storm wiped out some buildings, trees, and my car.

Money always matters...But let's rule out weather and the nagging logistics of dealer service and just go with your gut. What obscure classic car might you still be driving from the wayback machine of 1988?

For me it would/should have been the 1988 Honda Accord LX.
(apparently these 80's cars from the "10 Best" lists still get tagged and driven in the PNW.)

fintail

1988 car? Money no object? Maybe a 560SEC - timeless style, enormous build quality, and enough power. Money an object? That was still a Toyota golden age, maybe a 4Runner or Supra or Cressida. Those Accords are good too, the coupe is attractive in its way. Maybe a Legend, too.

And yes, still numerous pop up lights Accords as well as early Camry on the road here.

fintail

LTD name always amused me, maybe just a little pretentious. Implies "limited", but like uplanderguy's joke, limited to the amount of orders received. I think there was as much badge consciousness then as now, but then, a Chrysler or Olds or Buick still meant something to people, especially those who came of age in the 30s and 40s.

berri said:

Second half of the Sixties and early 70's were interesting car pricing. Chrysler Newport's and special edition Olds or Mercury were often not much different on the sticker than a Caprice or LTD. Of course the latter were usually more duded up at that window sticker, while the former often offered an upscale drive train and suspension.

stickguy

Volvo 850.

oops. just checked. not that old.

A BMW maybe. Or a Civic Si

ab348

Around here in the late '80s the Japanese makes had earned their reputation for reliability and build quality but had not solved their propensity to rust. I was going to keep my MR2 but at year 3 I suffered a small dent in the fascia under the front bumper and took it to the body shop for repair. They called after a day or so to tell me that one of the support brackets was rusted out and needed to be replaced. Then not long after I saw body rust behind one of the doors starting to bubble up. I sold it not long after, so unless it was not driven in the winter a Japanese car of that era is out. I was pretty happy with my '90 GTI and assume an '88 would not be too different so maybe one of those?

tjc78

1988?
I’d take a Town Car, Ford or Chevy truck, or a Mustang.
Maybe a Cadillac Brougham.

sda

I liked the uniqueness of the Olds Touring Sedan or Cadillac STS, which I couldn't afford. I also liked the Olds Cutlass International Series. The pseudo European influence appealed to me yet they were domestic GM. Dad was a great influence on me as GM cars were his preference. Now, I'm not necessarily married to any brand, though we've owned a series of Hondas in the past 10 years.

tjc78

You reminded me that I wouldn’t mind a LeSabre T-type from 88.  

fintail

A Mustang GT convertible would be a good choice, always cool:

explorerx4

In '88 GM still had the G bodies. I would go for this:

kyfdx

@omarman The Probe was a nice car... the Mazda genes helped a lot.

I liked the Accords in '88, but I was still driving my '82 Accord, then.

In 1990, I was shopping for an '88 or '89 Acura Legend Coupe... so, I'll pick that for my '88 car.
Never could find one that I could get down to my budget, so bought an '84 911 Targa, instead.

kyfdx

This is what I was driving in 1988!

berri

When it was rockin' hope no one was knockin'

fintail

In 1988 my interest was moving from these:



To these:



As I was 11

I kind of want a vintage BMX again (one identical to that photo, that was the dream bike), although I'd never ride it, they are just cool, and now quite collectible.

kyfdx

I used to pay $0.75 for a beer in 1988. How about you?

Had one last night that was $7.00.

Makes car inflation seem tame..

fintail

In 1988, houses in this area that were 100K can easily be 1MM now.

Cars aren't so bad. Let's take that 560SEC - maybe 75K then. A nicely loaded S560 coupe today is maybe 150K. Of course, one can argue the new ones aren't as special.

kyfdx

'88 BMW 325iS = $28K
'18 BMW 440i = $60K

I should be paying $1.50 for beers!!

stickguy

you can. it just won't be very good.

stickguy

driving around, a 1950ish Stude 2 door. That must have been futuristic back in the day.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

you can. it just won't be very good.

Agreed.. I guess that's why I'm dropping $5-$7 per pint ..

stickguy

Friday special at the pub we like to go to was $3.50 for Guinness. And $4.00 for Allegash white which my wife likes. And they always have Victory lager for $4 I think.

the rest of the craft stuff tended to be at least $6/pint.

uplanderguy

If I had Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine and could go back to 1988 to buy a new car to keep for a long time, I'd probably pick an '88 Monte Carlo LS (not SS), 305, checkerboard aluminum wheels, F41.

tjc78

fintail said:

In 1988 my interest was moving from these: To these: As I was 11 I kind of want a vintage BMX again (one identical to that photo, that was the dream bike), although I'd never ride it, they are just cool, and now quite collectible.

Yeah Mongoose was king then! 

bhill2

Back a couple of dozen posts ago Fin mentioned the Cressida. My wife and I had an '88 Cressida we bought off the lot. Real Tijuana Taxi. Everything was power or was adjustable (the transmission, the suspension). Reliability of a tree stump. We drove it for 150K miles and absolutely nothing went wrong with it. We finally gave it to her son, who had three kids of various ages. Last time we saw it the interior was trashed, but it still ran like a watch. Not a real exciting car, but it was pretty comfortable and with basically the Supra engine it wasn't a slug either. And oh man was it loyal.

roadburner

No question- my 1988 M6:

omarman

Ah the shark nose 6 series would have been way out of my reach but still...

berri

IIRC the Toyota Cressida was RWD and competed with the RWD Datsun Maxima of that era?

BMW 6 series is kind of complicated I think. Kind of like a Bavarian French or Italian equivalent - just kidding (sort of) !

fintail

The Cressidas were indeed RWD, and were nice cars. I like the pre-89 cars most, as the 85-88 generation is kind of an unusual but not unpleasant JDM/American styling blend. I think the I6 may have occasional head gasket issues, but are Toyota solid, at least in mild climates. I also like the somewhat baroque round light first gen Cressida, and the middle style aren't bad either. The ancestor of Lexus.

Maxima was Nissan from 1983 or 84 forward, and 88 was the last model year of the angular 80s style, 1989 was the more rounded "4DSC" style.

fintail

Indeed. Bike brands were a big thing in the 80s, I don't think it is such a big deal now.

I never had one with mag wheels, but I was happy to have a BMX, until I decided I wanted something taller and with gears. My brother had a bike (GT I think) with mags, stolen and recovered, as I wrote his name on a hidden part of the frame. He also had a Redline that was stolen and never recovered.

tjc78 said:

Yeah Mongoose was king then!