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

ab348

Man look at the rear end of that Star Chief, so long. The trunk must have been gigantic. I thought the '62 Pontiacs had the greatest looking upholstery with all sorts of different tones and inserts.

uplanderguy

I like the Bonneville that year, but on the other hand, prefer the shorter wheelbase. For some reason, on a four-door Star Chief pillared sedan, that rear overhang just slaps me in the face.

I rode in a beige '72 Buick LeSabre Custom convertible, a friend's car, the other night, on a very nice top-down type of evening. A pic of it is in the latest Hemmings Classic Car, where he's a columnist. I was positively reminded of how wide the back seat was for a convertible, which was a bragging point when the full-size cars were introduced in '71. This Buick has the chrome Buick road wheels and cornering lights. There was the Centurion convertible available in the lineup too that year. Same with Pontiac--they offered a Catalina and Grand Ville convertible that year. I'm sure someone will answer, but did Olds build a regular Delta 88 convert in '71-72 as well as the Royale? I'm thinking not.

ab348

Only a Royale convertible in those years.

explorerx4

Kind of cleaned up the Mustang and took it out for an hour or so ride, just took some roads I haven't been on before.
No barn finds, but saw I copper colored Roadrunner, type with headlights is the bumper surround.
A really nice woody type wagon with metallic gray paint, thinking Chrysler family.
Metallic Blue 65 Galaxie convertible.
Really good afternoon for taking a ride with no particular place to go.

Another thing, the drivers' seat has been feeling really flat.
For some reason I put my hand down to the left and found the lumber support switch.
Had completely forgotten about it.
Rocker'ed to inflate and the back of the seat pushed out, much better.
Still works after 27 years!

kyfdx

'62 Star Chief... that's the first car I remember in my family.

texases

Two oddballs - a 2000-ish Alfa GTV. Never imported here, right?

The other was good for a laugh - a Rolls Silver Shadow, out for a drive in the 100F heat, with the windows down. No a/c I'd bet. What luxury!

benjaminh

1963....Up to 370 hp.

Mr_Shiftright

Man, everybody is smoking in those brochures, even in a swimming pool.

benjaminh

Mr_Shiftright said:

Man, everybody is smoking in those brochures, even in a swimming pool.

Yeah. And just around the corner....

"On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, released the first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health."

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/history/index.htm

berri

Up, I always liked the early 70's full size and intermediate GM cars. Thought they beat what Ford and GM were offering easily. As for Pontiac, I didn't particularly care for the squaring off a bit on the 62's, but liked the 63. I always looked at Pontiac when I was purchasing a car back in the 70's and 80's, but never got a decent deal on one, so owned several Olds and a Monte Carlo instead.

Mr_Shiftright

benjaminh said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Man, everybody is smoking in those brochures, even in a swimming pool.

Yeah. And just around the corner....

"On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, released the first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health."

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/history/index.htm

Fortunately I quit when I was 13.

explorerx4

I hated being the one who had to sit on that 63 Gran Prix metal center console when there were 6 of us in the car.

andre1969

Mr_Shiftright said:

benjaminh said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Man, everybody is smoking in those brochures, even in a swimming pool.

Yeah. And just around the corner....

"On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, released the first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health."

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/history/index.htm

Fortunately I quit when I was 13.

What was it that got issued around 1958 or 1959, then? My paternal grandparents, who never smoked during my life, used to talk about a "surgeon general's warning" that came out then, and that was what made both of them decide to give up smoking. They kicked the habit in 3 days. It might have been some other type of warning that got issued though, and in later years, they simply referred to it as "the Surgeon General's Warning." Or perhaps it was just some news story?

benjaminh

From the "Cruisin' the Heartland" meet-up. But I didn't catch the exact year of this mid-60s Pontiac....

andre1969

benjaminh said:

From the "Cruisin' the Heartland" meet-up. But I didn't catch the exact year of this mid-60s Pontiac....

I think that's a '67 Tempest or LeMans. The '66 was very close, but I want to say the grille insert were horizontally themed.

texases

Those headlight reflectors seem a bit out of date by '67. Not sure why folks like 'em.

ab348

texases said:

Those headlight reflectors seem a bit out of date by '67. Not sure why folks like 'em.

Owner seems to have a fetish for shiny things. The catalog air cleaner and rad tank didn't look like that from the factory. Guess we should consider ourselves lucky he didn't install dual spotlights.

fintail

Just a year or three too new for a continental kit.

explorerx4

Just watched a 60's spy movie, one of my favorite genre's, The Quiller Memorandum.
Took place in Berlin, so lots of 50's and 60's euro vehicles.
Highlight, around 52/53 minutes a Fintail FTW!

uplanderguy

We went to Springfield, IL to see the Lincoln sites a few days ago, and stopped in Indianapolis on the way back to see the Benjamin Harrison home. Wife spotted a roadside sign for "The Chevrolet Hall of Fame Museum" in Decatur, IL. I do think I remember recently reading that a Corvair collection was recently moved there. We swung in as they were closing but the guy let us in anyway.

I like Corvairs a lot; particularly the second-gen. They had both the last '69 Corvair convertible (no. 521 of 521) and the last Corvair sold to the public, no. 5999--a blue '69 Monza hardtop with the four-carb engine. I would love to have either one. Lots of dealership memorabilia on the walls. Also, more Corvettes than anything else there, but those don't wow me so much since there are classic Corvettes everyplace, LOL.

uplanderguy

benjaminh

1964 GTO....

benjaminh

1964....

benjaminh

A few pages from 1965's colors and options for Pontiac....

benjaminh

1965....

benjaminh

It's a little bit sad to think about what happened to all of these original paintings. Probably they were put into a dumpster at some point. But is it possible GM still owns them? Or donated them? Or maybe it was part of the estate for the artist? Most likely we'll never know. At least these brochures survive....

uplanderguy

I can't recall the artists' names, but it was two guys. One was "Van" something. As of a decade or so ago, I think the one was still alive.

I now think one was Art. One was known as "Fitz". That's all I remember without Google, LOL.

uplanderguy

BTW, the '64 GTO is my favorite GTO and probably the least-seen today.

The '65 Bonneville and Grand Prix instrument panel were the best ever installed in a domestic car IMHO. I like the fastback roof and simpler taillights of the Bonneville over the Grand Prix, although I don't care for the Bonne's longer wheelbase. But I like how the Bonne hardtop could be had with buckets and console--rarely seen though. Prior to that, I think buckets and console could only be had in the Bonneville line, in the convertible.

I didn't like how lesser big '65 Pontiac models had black vinyl all across the instrument panel, regardless of interior color though.

fintail

Never seen that one, had to look it up - looks like some good car spotting. I will guess the fintail was driven by a bad guy

explorerx4 said:

Just watched a 60's spy movie, one of my favorite genre's, The Quiller Memorandum.
Took place in Berlin, so lots of 50's and 60's euro vehicles.
Highlight, around 52/53 minutes a Fintail FTW!

berri

I kind of lust for those color options on a car. So tired of black, grey, silver. white and red.

uplanderguy

I'm so sick of the usual colors too. There's a bright green metallic I've seen on just a few new Equinoxes that's appealing to me. But...I bet I haven't seen more than a couple of them, and those were only at the dealership.

I was always a sucker for those dark turquoise colors that everybody had in the sixties. I was very happy when the '81 GM's came out, that there was Dark Jade and Light Jade metallics, with similar-light-colored interiors. It had been probably a decade or more since Chevy had a color like that. I had my dealer find a two-tone Jade new '81 Monte Carlo. Dearly loved that car.

fintail

I am happy with the color on my modern car:



The darkness of the shade can be a pain to keep clean, but it looks good when shined up. As the "diamond silver" I want is also a rarity, maybe I lucked out.

In general, premium brands have a lot more color variety than mass market sellers, but you pay for it, most colors are extra cost. I think most people just don't care, silver/grey/beige are all seen as safe, and white can even be trendy in a weird way.

benjaminh

1966....

benjaminh

That was the glamorous way to sell a Pontiac. But Pontiac also sent out a mailer showing that a Pontiac could be had for about the same price as a comparable Ford....

texases

Would someone explain the difference between the Bonneville, Grand Prix, and Catalina for '66? Seems like a lot of overlap.

uplanderguy

In '66 and '67, Pontiac offered an amazing array of models and bodystyles in the full-size lines. The Ventura option on the Catalina was the Executive interior--the only difference between the two, generally, was that the Executive was on the longer wheelbase.

In '66 they added a two-door Star Chief Executive, and also a Bonneville Brougham two-door hardtop and convertible. Of course in '67 they added a Grand Prix convertible but took the Brougham convertible away for that year only.

fintail

I remember when I was a little kid, the teenage son of a neighbor on my street had a ~66 Pontiac 4 door, I think a HT. What caught my eye about this car is that it was kind of a lowrider, and had a small chain link steering wheel - even as a kid, this seemed like a weird and uncomfortable thing.

uplanderguy

Would someone explain the difference between the Bonneville, Grand Prix, and Catalina for '66? Seems like a lot of overlap.

The Catalina and Grand Prix were on the shorter of the two full-size Pontiac wheelbases. The Star Chief/Executive and Bonneville were on a three-inch-longer wheelbase.

Catalina was the entry-level car. It had hardtops and a convertible like a Chevy Impala, but through '68 also had a two-door sedan like Chevy's Biscayne and Bel Air. Trim-wise, it was better than Impala in some ways, but seat trim always struck me as more Bel Air-like.

Grand Prix was a luxury/sport model, almost always (but not always) with bucket seats and console; custom grillework and taillights, on the shorter wheelbase.

Star Chief/Executive had the interior trim of the Ventura Custom option on the Catalina, but on the longer wheelbase--same wheelbase as Bonneville.

Bonneville was their luxury leader, on the longer wheelbase. There was also a Brougham option on the Bonneville.

I find the Ventura and Executive models interesting because they seemed to be the poorest-sellers in the lineup.

I almost forgot the 2+2 model option, on the Catalina--a sort-of budget Grand Prix. It may have been its own model in '66.

texases

Thanks! Sure shows where the market $$ were: full sized sedans/coupes/convertibles.

sda

I followed this car for a bit in bumper to bumper traffic. Couldn't get a better pic, but looked clean and well kept.  

omarman

Shelby Lancer?

sda

omarman said:

Shelby Lancer?

you got it!

uplanderguy

The vent-window-against-a-vent window look always reminded me of Ford.

My best man was a zone service rep for Chrysler at the time and I can remember his black Lancer GTS (?) company car with the 'swiss cheese' aluminum wheels. It was a nice car, with black leather inside.

explorerx4

I wonder how many people bought the tonneau cover for the convertible shown in the '65 brochure?

explorerx4

@fintail,
If you watch that movie, I'm sure you'll have mixed emotions at that point.

berri

Is that one of those Chrysler GTS special edition cars? I know Chrysler had a deal with Shelby for awhile. May be wrong on the model, but don't think it is a Mustang.

benjaminh

ab348

We had a '67 Pontiac Parisiennne 4-door hardtop, white with a red interior. That was the Canadian version so it was a Chevy narrow-track chassis and was equipped with a 283-2bbl and Powerglide. However, despite that it was a good car and the one I remember most from my childhood. I always liked the styling of the '67 though I know not everyone did.

kyfdx

We had a '67 Bonneville Coupe.. White on white.

It looked like a spaceship, compared to most full-size cars in 1967.
My aunt bought a 4-door sedan Bonneville at the same time.

benjaminh

1968...."