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

uplanderguy

My wife's grandparents had a '75 Caprice convertible with that white vinyl interior. My wife remembers thinking it looked like a band aid, with the perforations.

One thing I always thought was weird about the '75 Impala Custom Coupe, was that it had two Impala nameplates on the side--one on the front fenders, and one on the B-pillar. Odd. The fender one was gone for '76.

PF_Flyer

Going through some albums. Figure these could let you flex your ID skills

From Hollywood, CA circa 1943-44



And from Oct '42

texases

Heck of a hood ornament!

uplanderguy

This morning, saw for the second time in a few days, a faded tomato-red '63 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 2-door fastback with dog dish caps and blackwalls. He was going through the gears and it sounded like it had non-stock exhaust. The '63's are a full-size Ford I always liked, but where I was from, it seemed like 80% of them were tomato red with the same color interior, LOL.

fintail

In front of "Cross Roads" is a 35 Ford sedan with accessory skirts and foglight, the skirts are something seldom seen that early. In front of it is a neat Mopar 3 window coupe, most likely a Dodge I suppose, maybe a DeSoto or Chrysler (I don't think Plymouth had one then). The cars nearer to the camera are more difficult. I suspect the rear of the car at bottom right is a ~36 GM middle sedan, maybe a Buick. Lower left looks like a 41 Ford.

Oct 42 car looks like a 36 Dodge wearing some kind of grille screen.

PF_Flyer said:

Going through some albums. Figure these could let you flex your ID skills

From Hollywood, CA circa 1943-44
And from Oct '42

fintail

My dad's 60 was red and white on red and white. I remember the red would oxidize pretty quickly, and liked to be waxed as often as you had the time. But when it was clean, it was an eye catcher, like this:

uplanderguy said:

This morning, saw for the second time in a few days, a faded tomato-red '63 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 2-door fastback with dog dish caps and blackwalls. He was going through the gears and it sounded like it had non-stock exhaust. The '63's are a full-size Ford I always liked, but where I was from, it seemed like 80% of them were tomato red with the same color interior, LOL.

jwm40517

A '63 1/2 Ford was my first car, white with red interior, 390 4 speed.

berri

63 Ford's were popular in the Chicago area, but I don't remember all those many red ones. More white, kind of a brown or bronze and beige. Of course the western suburbs were kind of conservative, so maybe that is why.

iluvmysephia1

Yesterday I saw a 1972-ish dark purple MG Midget navigating a local parking lot here in 'gordo. Top down, too. Looked good.

roadburner

I'd like to build a replica of one of the 1963 Galaxies that raced in the British Touring Car Championship in the '60s.

uplanderguy

Saw this a few mins. ago at a local cruise-in. Seems we were just talking about these on the Studebaker forum. This is not a Sports Coupe but just the Fairlane 500 two-door hardtop; '63. I like the subdued (i.e., non-red) color.

ab348

berri said:

63 Ford's were popular in the Chicago area, but I don't remember all those many red ones. More white, kind of a brown or bronze and beige. Of course the western suburbs were kind of conservative, so maybe that is why.

Yeah, in my mind's eye when I think of those cars they are either white or that light non-metallic powder blue Ford used on everything back then.

berri

Up, that color on the 63 Fairlane - similar or the same as what I saw on many of the Customs and Galaxies. In fact, the 63 Fairlane was kind of a Mini-Me to the big 63.

ab - why can't we get some nice blues that aren't dark ink or silver blue on cars today? You've almost got to go upscale German to obtain that anymore. :@

ab348

When I got my ATS the dealer had one next to it on the lot called "Silver Moonlight" that was a very pretty metallic blue. It really needed a pale interior rather than the black one it had but I thought it was very attractive regardless. Sales guy said the color was a tough sell though.

uplanderguy

ab348, how true--many of these Fairlanes were indeed white or powder blue, where I was from, too!

Our '62 Fairlane four-door was white with red interior.

andre1969

For some reason, I tend to think of that light champagne/gold-ish color as being somewhat common on early 60's Fairlanes and full-sized Fords. Could just be that I've seen a couple at car shows, and it sticks in my mind. I always thought the Fairlane did a good job at looking like a little brother to the bigger cars. Maybe not quite as much for '62, but for 63-64 I thought they really nailed it.

The '65 always seemed odd to me, though, more like a Mopar designed by a former Ford stylist. I thought it was odd, too, that while the full sized cars went with stacked headlights that year, the Fairlane didn't. You could argue, I guess, that the tooling would have been expensive for a design that was in its last year...yet Mercury did it with the '65 Comet.

The '65 Comet always seemed like a bit of an oddity to me, as well. I think it's really attractive looking, but somehow it makes me think more of a combination of Pontiac and Plymouth, rather than a Ford product.

As for the '63 Ford, I always thought it was a beautiful style. I tend to prefer Mopar and GM products to Fords, but if I was buying a new car in '63, shopping in that price class, and going only on style, I think a '63 Galaxie would be awfully tempting! That year's Chevy just doesn't do it for me, although in '62 or '61 I'd go Chevy. And the shrunken Dodges and Plymouths are just too "weird" for my tastes...although for some reason I do find the '62 Dodges oddly appealing.

uplanderguy

I used to like the '65 Fairlane, which seems to me to be a one-year design, but to me they haven't aged very well. Oddly-proportioned to my eyes.

fintail

Speaking of 65 Fords, I have long liked the 66 more, some of the hard edges were softened just a little. Neither are bad looking cars though, as cars with stacked round lights tend to have an appeal.

Thinking of the Falcon Sprint I looked over when I was younger, the same town where it was located had a couple of 63 Galaxie 500 XL convertibles that I knew about, both slumbering under cover, the owner claiming they'll get to it "someday". One was black, the other maroon. I really liked the look of those cars then, and I think they still look good, less heavy looking than a 64. The maroon one was a few blocks from my house, and I'd see it there often, rear end just a little too long for its carport, so the rear bumper picked up some surface patina, which bugged me a little. Sometime maybe around the turn of the century, it was gone, although I think I saw it around town a few years later, now wearing a black top rather than the better looking white top. I went to a yard sale at the black car's house a couple years ago, and it was still there, under a tarp in the garage. The now much older seeming owner had the same story - "someday".

berri

The one area I liked the 64 better was the greenhouse on the 4dr HT, particularly the C pillar treatment. Otherwise I thought the 63 was cleaner styled.

fintail

Yeah, the 64 4 door HT fastback style is an interesting style. A used car lot in the same town with the other cars had one back in the mid 90s, I think it was white on blue. It seemed like a very nice car to me, and they wanted maybe 4K for it. The PNW was a good place to be into old cars back in the 80s and 90s, they were still everywhere. I knew several guys in school who had 60s cars - this was in the 90s.

andre1969

I wonder if Ford lowered the roofline in general on the '64 cars. For '63, it looks to me like the 4-door sedan, 4-door hardtop, and the more formal 2-door hardtop all had a taller windshield, roof, and possibly shared as much of the same components as possible. But then, the convertible an the more fastback 2-door hardtop seemed more low-slung, overall.

I wonder if, for 1964, Ford simply used the more low-slung cowl/windshield for all of the body styles, and that made the 2-door sedan and the 4-door models look lower? Or, was it just an optical illusion?

uplanderguy

I like the full-size '65 Ford, although I've heard that some magazine at the time said it's "...the box the '65 Chevy came in". I'm not sure what they did to the '66, but it looks chubbier to me. I can see the '65 styling in there, but you can see the added width, in the width of the taillights!

The 7-Liter (Litre?) '66 Ford is an interesting car IMHO.

xwesx

ab348 said:

When I got my ATS the dealer had one next to it on the lot called "Silver Moonlight" that was a very pretty metallic blue. It really needed a pale interior rather than the black one it had but I thought it was very attractive regardless. Sales guy said the color was a tough sell though.

Well, even if the interior color is not one's preference, if you can get ahold of it for the right price, replacing the upholstery, anyway, is only about $2500-3000, so maybe worth it for a higher level of satisfaction!

fintail

I always somewhat liked the concave rear window on the 66 Galaxie 2 door HTs, maybe biased a little as my dad had one, and it was the first car I regularly drove. A dark blue on blue 390 car, it was the most cold blooded car I have experienced, and I think might have had carb issues my dad couldn't fix. The 60 and the Fairlane had no such issues - stumbled and stalled when cold, ran rich when cold, etc. I think via some styling cues, it looks wider than a 65. 65 always sticks in my mind for having these odd 4 spoke hubcaps which I don't think existed in a similar style anywhere.

ab348

The '66 Ford 2-door hardtop is just a great-looking car. One of the few Fords that I really like, especially with a big V-8. I am in the camp that thinks the '66 styling fixed all the mistakes Ford made with the '65, which I do not like.

ab348

xwesx said:

ab348 said:

When I got my ATS the dealer had one next to it on the lot called "Silver Moonlight" that was a very pretty metallic blue. It really needed a pale interior rather than the black one it had but I thought it was very attractive regardless. Sales guy said the color was a tough sell though.

Well, even if the interior color is not one's preference, if you can get ahold of it for the right price, replacing the upholstery, anyway, is only about $2500-3000, so maybe worth it for a higher level of satisfaction!

Here is the pic that I couldn't find to include in my original post:

xwesx

Pleasant! Blue enough to not be mistaken for silver, yet still not a polarizing color (like darker blues/greens/reds of the 90s seem to be these days). I would say that the red Caddy next to it would fall into the "polarizing" category, though I find it beautiful!

fintail

Somewhat reminds me of MB "Diamond Silver", a relatively seldom-seen color:

kyfdx

Those blues look good on sedans. Not so much on SUVs.

My wife’s previous BMW X3 was Bluewater metallic. Didn’t look good on her car, but decent enough on the 3-series

ab348

xwesx said:

I would say that the red Caddy next to it would fall into the "polarizing" category, though I find it beautiful!

That's my car.

berri

I think the 65 and 66 Ford are pretty similar, but I prefer the taillights and parking lights on the 66. It is close, but the real tie breaker is the 66 2dr HT. I really like that greenhouse and C pillar. On an Impala I'm all 65 though.

berri

Fin, I still prefer the blue on your fintail. But the new MB and Caddy are decent looking blues compared to most of what is out there right now. Of course, that's just my take on it all.

imidazol97

Was beside beautiful ATS in that crimson pearl metallic color today in traffic.

xwesx

ab348 said:

That's my car.

Yes! I passed the test! Hahahahaha

fintail

The difference with colors like that is that it is non-metallic. I think unusual non-metallic colors kind of faded away around 30 years ago.

MB had a virtually identical color, 934 (my code is 334) "China Blue" in production until ~1982:

berri said:

Fin, I still prefer the blue on your fintail. But the new MB and Caddy are decent looking blues compared to most of what is out there right now. Of course, that's just my take on it all.

stickguy

to me that is one of the classic MB colors.

benjaminh

Like a few of you, I imagine, I like looking at car brochures from decades gone by. Since I once owned an Oldsmobile that my family enjoyed, I decided to look up how Oldsmobiles were sold through their brochures, starting in 1930. I'm going to give, which I hope is ok, just a few pages out of each of the yearly brochures from this decade and then stop. Each brochure was c. 15 to c. 30 pages long. As the Great Depression dawned, but before it had really kicked in, the cover of the brochure for 1930 showed people with their new Oldsmobiles at a then almost futuristic airport. At the end of the brochure, they invited people to tour the Oldsmobile factory....

benjaminh

A few pages from the Oldsmobile brochure for 1931....

benjaminh

The 1932 Oldsmobile literature gets somewhat technical in places. My guess is that maybe in the depths of the Depression they were going out of their way to show that a car was a serious piece of engineering, and not a frivolous purchase....?

benjaminh

In January of 1933 Herbert Hoover was still president and the banking crisis was reaching its depths. In this environment, as this brochure for the 1933 Oldsmobiles was printed and distributed, this was a fantasy vision of customers at a glamorous showroom display. This disconnect from reality seems extreme, but what choice did the artists and ad writers of that moment have but to put the best face on a grim situation, selling both glamor and technology.

benjaminh

The 1934 Oldsmobiles feature "knee action" suspension, which I think is ad talk of the day for independent? It also included a tribute to GM's research power. Interesting too, as you see the models change year by year, that GM hasn't forgotten the power of planned obsolescence even when resources must have been short. People who could afford to buy a car in 1934, and hadn't bought one since 1930, could see that the style of an Oldsmobile or other GM car had significantly changed in that time. But the technical improvements were at least as significant, and were given a lot of attention in the brochures. " Planned obsolescence" didn't mean, of course, that they were designed to wear out, only that the styling would make people with older cars feel out of date. Although way back then cars just didn't last as long. An Oldsmobile was a well-engineered and well-built medium-priced car for the time, but probably a c.8 year old Olds or other car was near the end of its life back then—unless it was garaged and meticulously maintained.

benjaminh

Oldsmobile was bold enough to show a woman driving a Darth Vader black Oldsmobile on the cover of its brochure for its 1935 models. Inside a detailed analysis of "knee action" suspension was given, as well as an explanation of a stabilizer bar. The 6 cylinder 1935 Oldsmobile could go from 10 to 60 miles an hour in 23 seconds, and apparently that was a good thing. Top speed was over 80 mph. It got c. 18 miles per gallon on the highway.

benjaminh

A woman who owns a 1936 Oldsmobile 8-cylinder out buying apples. Seems clear that Olds and GM were targeting the women who drove, owned, and bought cars. Inside the c.30 page brochure there's a feature on the all-steel body of the car, which contrasts with just a few years before when a substantial amount of wood was still used in car body construction. The interiors are deluxe for the day and have couch-like bench seats, and the dashboard features an "aviation-type speedometer." For somewhat more than a Ford or Chevy, and probably less than half of the cost of a Cadillac, the Oldsmobile 8 represented a solid value for the time for people who wanted some luxury and power, but didn't want to pay a huge premium. Olds had success with this formula for c. 70 years.

benjaminh

1937....

benjaminh

In 1938 the big news was the semi-automatic transmission—although the styling was certainly strange and interesting too. Was Oldsmobile the pioneering division for the semi-automatic trans technology? I think so. The fully automatic "hydramatic" wouldn't be introduced until 1940....

benjaminh

A 1939 Oldsmobile could be equipped with a push-button radio, electric clock, front defroster, etc....And with this my little project of showing a few samples from the Oldsmobile brochures from the 1930s is done. Please forgive the interruption. And please resume your regularly scheduled programming.

berri

Olds had a reputation for innovation post WWII as well. Hated to see the brand die like it did personally.

imidazol97

@benjaminh
For the brochures.

ab348

Enjoyed those, @benjaminh !

fintail

When I see a 37 Olds, I think of this classic:

https://youtu.be/HnQJcw633qk?t=30s

Nice cars, and the Buicks of the era were a nice premium product too.