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

sda

I saw this very clean Prelude a couple days ago.  My '90 Passat and '93 Tracer LTS had those miserable decapitation seat belts.  You learned quickly that they'd snatch whatever you had in hand from you.

fintail

If it was the new 92 Grand Am I can imagine it was seen as a leap forward. The Tempo was mostly the same old 1984 car under a somewhat thin reskin even at the final model year in 1994. An AWD coupe would be seriously rare today.

I've always seen GM and Ford models as not being direct equivalents - in my eyes anyway, a Tempo was above a Cavalier, but below a Corsica. An Escort was below a Cavalier but above a Chevette or Spectrum, while a Nova was maybe slightly above it due to Toyota bits.

Tempo/Topaz was an early-ish launch in the spring or summer of 83, I think - probably seemed quite modern at the time, even with the odd coupe proportions. I guess it replaced the Fairmont, which must have been seen as getting a little old in 83.

stickguy

I loved my 1991 626lx 5 door. Only reason I ended up selling it really was I hated those belts.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

I wonder what the reaction of Ford dealers and sales personnel was when the Tempo was introduced. I always found it an extremely unattractive design and after having driven one for a short distance the performance was atrocious. Yet they still seemed to sell (at least locally) in good numbers. A mystery to me.

For some reason, every young lady under the age of 25 drove a Tempo, recommended to her by her father.

I can think of at least four of them.

uplanderguy

For some reason, to my eyes, Tempo coupes looked pudgy; the sedans didn't. Going from memory, I seem to remember a lot of sheetmetal above the wheel openings....but maybe not.

ADDENDUM: By 'sedans', I mean the second-gen sedans.

omarman

In '84 a friend of mine bought a new EXP turbo after discharge from the army. He said it seemed like a good idea at the time although the real deal in '84 was a CRX.

But when the Ford EXP was originally unleashed in 1982, I couldn't figure out who they were "competing" with.

andre1969

Yeah, the Tempo/Topaz were introduced to replace the Fairmont/Zephyr, which were becoming outdated, and a bit of a slow seller by that time. I think the fact that Ford was trying to pass off the same platform as compact and midsized (Granada/Cougar and then the small LTD/Marquis) probably didn't help, either, as buyers just went with those better-trimmed cars that really weren't that much more in price.

I don't know how well they sold, initially, but in 1985, I do remember the Tempo, along with the Escort, were in the top ten selling car nameplates. Back in the late 90's, when I was still delivering pizzas, I remember this one house in the neighborhood that had THREE of the things in their driveway!

fintail

Yep, they were everywhere for a number of years. Then by the mid 90s, the junkyards started becoming full of them - I remember scrounging for a few bits for the one in my family (lesson: don't buy a stock stereo out of a junkyard car, just buy aftermarket and save time as the junkyard one failed just like the original in about 6 months), and there were plenty to choose from by 1995-96. Now they have really aged off the roads, even the second gen models are getting scarce.

Mr_Shiftright

'65 Impala Super Sport (or so it says), paint all faded and worn, funky interior--but still 'rollin apparently.

ab348

I don't remember a mid-cycle refresh on the Tempo. Perhaps they were so unattractive I mentally dismissed them from my consciousness.

The one thing I do recall clearly was the plastic wheel covers they used (maybe the first to do so?) which warped and fell off from brake heat. A lot came with a stainless trim ring and hubcap though. Those 14" Tempo trim rings were almost free at the junkyard and made a perfect replacement for the ones Olds used in '68 on my Cutlass. They looked virtually identical.

uplanderguy

I think the Topaz four-door (first iteration) didn't have the extra window up in the C-pillar; that looked especially egregious to me, LOL.

ab348

I was bothered by the 1st vs 2nd-gen Tempo comment so I looked it up and was reminded that indeed there was a 2nd-gen version. They changed the dash, the front ends incorporated composite headlights, and the greenhouse was cleaned up to make it look less odd with a black surround on the side windows and B-pillar. The original versions had a window in the C-pillar on the Tempo but no such window on the Topaz. Neither one looked good but the refreshed versions were better. However this is the ne plus ultra of this model:

fintail

Tempo/Topaz received a significant reskin for MY 1988, but it was fairly superficial - you could see the old car in the doors, and the overall proportions. Composite lights and updated tail lights were MY 1986, then updated again for the 88 refresh. The new dashboard was quite different and didn't resemble the original. I believe engines were the same. The reskin was only for sedans. Coupes received much less of an exterior update (but also had the updated dash) , and carried on similar to the 1984 original through the end.

I always saw the Topaz as kind of the formal Tempo variant, but that one above takes the cake - shocked it doesn't have FL plates.

berri

Del Boca Vista special

uplanderguy

"Morty, ya think I never rode in a Cadillac before? I've ridden in PLENTY of Cadillacs"--Jack Klompus

ab348

In other news, slightly more expensive than a Tempo, a 1963 Ferarri 250GTO just became the world's most expensive used car, selling to the owner of WeatherTech floor mats for $70 million.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/06/05/ferrari-250-gto-sells-for-70-million-becomes-worlds-most-expensive-car/?refer=news

Better hope that valuation bubble doesn't burst.

andre1969

I actually thought the '88 refresh improved the Tempo sedan. It looked a bit more like a Taurus in the roofline, but also, because it seemed a bit more angular and wedgy, rather than rounded, it seems a bit GM-ish to me.

I knew someone who had one of those Tempos. As I recall, he replaced an early 70's Comet with it. This was a guy who worked for NASA and actually WAS some kind of rocket scientist. And lived in what was, when he bought the house back in the 70's at least, one of the toniest developments in the immediate area. Had money to burn, but also had minimalistic sensibilities when it came to cars, I guess.

fintail

I can think of better ways to spend 70MM, no matter the cool factor of an original GTO.

I think a preserved Tempo might be just as rare as the Ferrari, too. The 88 refresh was no doubt to link it a little more to the Taurus.

Funny thing, I remember looking at new cars with my dad way back when, maybe around the time of my mom's Tempo, and we looked at a loaded Tempo coupe. My dad commented something about it being a 'baby T-Bird', which seemed funny even then and more today.

Michaell

When I met my wife in 1996, she was driving a 10 year old Tempo she had bought new. Stick shift, alloy wheels, sunroof. Had 95,000 miles on it, and was looking tired, as you would expect from a single mom with two kids.

She sold it to her sister for $400 when we leased the Escort.

Mr_Shiftright

ab348 said:

In other news, slightly more expensive than a Tempo, a 1963 Ferarri 250GTO just the world's most expensive used car, selling to the owner of WeatherTech floor mats for $70 million.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/06/05/ferrari-250-gto-sells-for-70-million-becomes-worlds-most-expensive-car/?refer=news

Better hope that valuation bubble doesn't burst.

Those are pretty special cars. They only made 39 of them, and this one gets extra points for having a successful race history and a totally know provenance. No cloud of uncertainty around this baby. I think it's pretty recession proof but sure, it could scrub a quick 10 -20 million off the price in an economic disaster of some kind.

explorerx4

Not too old, but at the local FCA dealer, a black GTR.

stickguy

at a garage, one of those Alfa weird wedge convertibles. I think it was an Alfa. Seen pictures before, but bugs me I can'r remember exactly what it was. I think older, not a 4C. Help?

stickguy

Found it! A 1995-2006 GTV spider.

benjaminh

I saw something vaguely like this 1958 Lincoln in a video game my kids are playing....

benjaminh

It reminded me a little of the Buldgemobile from Mad magazine by artist Bruce McCall....

andre1969

What's the name of the game? I remember the first video game I ever played that had really realistic depictions of cars was "Silent Hill 2". It was a horror type game, and the cars were just background objects...you couldn't drive them. But, they had some pretty obscure stuff, like a c1975 Pontiac Phoenix, an early 80's Buick Skylark, late 70's LeBaron, 80's Ford van, and a '76-77 Chevelle wagon that, while a bit more awkward than the others, was still identifiable.

omarman

Phoenix was a '77 model replacing the Pontiac Ventura. I think that was the same model year that Pontiac unleashed the 301 V8.

RE: video games with realistic car-like graphics.

In the pre-PONG game world, there were some arcade games with scale model cars and even helicopters which were pretty cool. The helicopter arcade game was huge as the flying helicopter was attached to a pivoting arm and allowed the gamer to "fly" in big circles around the perimeter of a big glass-enclosed case.

And then came the atari home video game panel and nothing looked "realistic" in video games for a long time.

fintail

I saw an "Incredibles 2" themed car commercial (I forget the car) which had a generic 50s looking car in it, somewhat reminded me of a Packardbaker.

I was never much into video games, but the first I recall with identifiable cars was "Out Run" on the Sega Master System. I liked that game a lot, and played it a ton around 1988, but soon lost interest.

benjaminh

The game is called "Fortnite." It's in free beta test mode right now, but according to my 22 and 16 year old kids it is one of the most popular games in the US at the moment. It's a multiplayer game (online), and some kind of apocalypse has hit seemingly in the mid 1980s. My kids didn't have much idea of the timeline, but I could spot a car that looked kinda like a c. 1984 Chrysler Lebaron, a c. sort-of 1974 Mazda station wagon, a 1957 Chevy truck wanna be, etc., along with TVs that looked c. 1970, ruined hotels with swimming pools with deep ends with diving boards (remember those) that the lawyers and lawsuits killed by c. 1990 in the real world. The Lincoln was just glimpsed and it may have been based on something else from the late 1950s, like a DeSoto or something....?

berri

I think I see a bit of 58 Olds and 59 Dodge on the front end of that purple car and some 60 Plymouth on the rear end of light blue one

benjaminh

The text is also funny, esp. if you've ever studied and enjoyed car ads from the 1950s. It's not that far from what Madison Ave mad men wrote back then. Since it's very small text, I'll type a bit of it up....

"Fireblast for '58! Take exclusive new Darestreak styling! Add improved DynaJet Thunderamic 6000 V-8 power! Include AutoFlite Touch-N-Go Shiftmatic, now 4 percent smoother with Triple Turbine Surgemaster Drive! Toss in Gyno-Cloud Full Spring Suspension, now newly refined. Add new PowerDrive Foot Command brakes! New Turbo-Glare Dual Headlights! Pan-O-Wrap Full-Vu Windshield design! Mister, you've just found a whole new way of going—not to mention a whole new way of saying you've arrived!

Fireblast is crafted with WondaWeave, new double-strength material-like substance available in 4569 color combinations!

Milady will adore Fireblast's new space-age type Revolvomatic passenger chair!

Model shown: New Fireblast...Special Deluxe Coupe de Grace 4000 in Thuringian Indigo."

omarman

I think Bruce McCall wrote ad copy for Mercedes Benz. For real.

edit to add: found a video of a working midway whirlybird arcade game!

berri

Your taking me back to discount stores near the popcorn and hotdog counter and carnival arcades years back Omar!

omarman

The first whirlybird arcade game I played was in the front lobby of the old defunct Aero dept store - so close to the popcorn concession to melt any resolve to keep change in your pocket.

berri

My favorite arcade games years back was this game where you sat behind the steering wheel in the drivers seat while watching a street scene film and then had to avoid different accident scenarios that popped up on the screen or lose points. Some of the expressions of pedestrians were particularly funny. But we played the game as low score wins - sick junior high kids! Luckily I matured come high school drivers ed

benjaminh

The Bulgemobile was also, apparently, made in the mid-1930s....

andre1969

omarman said:

Phoenix was a '77 model replacing the Pontiac Ventura. I think that was the same model year that Pontiac unleashed the 301 V8.

RE: video games with realistic car-like graphics.

In the pre-PONG game world, there were some arcade games with scale model cars and even helicopters which were pretty cool. The helicopter arcade game was huge as the flying helicopter was attached to a pivoting arm and allowed the gamer to "fly" in big circles around the perimeter of a big glass-enclosed case.

And then came the atari home video game panel and nothing looked "realistic" in video games for a long time.

D'oh, I knew that about the Ventura...but the brain to keyboard filter wasn't working! Anyway, it looked like a '75-77 Ventura. It had the smaller tallights, whereas I think the Phoenix taillights filled out the area more? It even looks like a color you might have seen around 1977.



It's been ages since I played the game, but as I recall, while you could walk around in front of the car, the "camera" angle didn't adjust when you did, so you couldn't actually see the front of it. But, at certain angles, you could see the creases on the hood that led up to the beak, and the leading edge of the fender had a slight rake to it, wherease the '77-79 Phoenix was more vertical.

As for home video games, I was raised on Intellivision, and its superior graphics did allow for the cars to look better than the Atari VCS/2600. Well, okay, marginally, by today's standards...

Mr_Shiftright

Is this the 2018 Bulgemobile?

Mr_Shiftright

Maybe it's a chopped AMC Eagle with a Lincoln Mark VII grille?

omarman

andre1969 said:

omarman said:

Phoenix was a '77 model replacing the Pontiac Ventura. I think that was the same model year that Pontiac unleashed the 301 V8.

RE: video games with realistic car-like graphics.

In the pre-PONG game world, there were some arcade games with scale model cars and even helicopters which were pretty cool. The helicopter arcade game was huge as the flying helicopter was attached to a pivoting arm and allowed the gamer to "fly" in big circles around the perimeter of a big glass-enclosed case.

And then came the atari home video game panel and nothing looked "realistic" in video games for a long time.

D'oh, I knew that about the Ventura...but the brain to keyboard filter wasn't working! Anyway, it looked like a '75-77 Ventura. It had the smaller tallights, whereas I think the Phoenix taillights filled out the area more? It even looks like a color you might have seen around 1977.



It's been ages since I played the game, but as I recall, while you could walk around in front of the car, the "camera" angle didn't adjust when you did, so you couldn't actually see the front of it. But, at certain angles, you could see the creases on the hood that led up to the beak, and the leading edge of the fender had a slight rake to it, wherease the '77-79 Phoenix was more vertical.

As for home video games, I was raised on Intellivision, and its superior graphics did allow for the cars to look better than the Atari VCS/2600. Well, okay, marginally, by today's standards...

It does look like a Ventura. That's too obscure to be just a random background image in some video game 25 years later! I've never played the game but based on your description of other oddball cars dropped into the scenery I wonder if there's some insider joke about them. Maybe the game developers were planting them as reminders of their beloved (or hated) first car, driver's ed car, something...

explorerx4

Yesterday on the way home from work, drove by a new body shop. Sitting in front was an immaculate Pantera.
Lemon yellow color and chrome wheels didn't do anything for me though.
Today at the same body shop, immaculate 69 Lincoln MKIII, Maroon with a black top, also not my favorite color combo.
Will have to drive by there more often.

benjaminh

2021 Buldgemobile....A future obscure classic?

fintail

The Toyolex grille is an overblown styling trait deserving of a Bulgemobile tribute.

Spotted the 62 Olds 98 6 window I have seen on occasion - a very nice lightish blue metallic car with wide (but not too wide) whites. It was pulling out of a Microsoft building parking garage.

berri

That photoshopped Avalon could be used as a snowplow

andre1969

There's an old joke, that the 1961 Plymouth sparked a whole generation of cheesy Japanese sci-fi monsters. Well, it looks like things have come full-circle, and now those cheesy sci-fi monsters have sparked a whole new generation of styling trends.

roadburner

andre1969 said:

There's an old joke, that the 1961 Plymouth sparked a whole generation of cheesy Japanese sci-fi monsters. Well, it looks like things have come full-circle, and now those cheesy sci-fi monsters have sparked a whole new generation of styling trends.

The Toho alien invasion film The Mysterians was released in 1957, perhaps the Plymouth stylists were inspired by the film's alien robot Moguera:

berri

There's an old joke, that the 1961 Plymouth sparked a whole generation of cheesy Japanese sci-fi monsters. Well, it looks like things have come full-circle, and now those cheesy sci-fi monsters have sparked a whole new generation of styling trends

Being honest about it, seems like there are an awful lot of less than desirable looking cars these days (how is that for a politically corerect "ugly"?). Maybe the best you can do is blah.

Mr_Shiftright

andre1969 said:

There's an old joke, that the 1961 Plymouth sparked a whole generation of cheesy Japanese sci-fi monsters. Well, it looks like things have come full-circle, and now those cheesy sci-fi monsters have sparked a whole new generation of styling trends.

I call it the "Atomic Insect School of Design".

uplanderguy

At a nearby cruise-in last night: A 1966 Plymouth VIP two-door hardtop--silver exterior, maroon knit or nylon interior. Hadn't seen one in decades. Unfortunately, it was riding on white-lettered tires against full wheelcovers.

Also saw a nice '74 Grand Prix SJ. Had the original window sticker. The SJ package included upgraded "BW" tires. This car had white letters too (yuck). Although, the car was not sold new with whitewalls as it would've showed on the window sticker which the owner had displayed. So that Grand Prix was delivered with blackwalls; certainly unusual for the time.

berri

My dad had a step lower 66 Fury. I still remember how it had that whining sound as it accelerated. Good car.