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

andre1969

I hated the '64 Ford with a passion, but today I kinda like them. When I was a kid, my Dad would go out partying with his friends on the weekend, and take Mom's good car, and leave her at home with whatever clunker of the week he had at the time, which more often than not, wasn't running! And even if it was running, Dad always bought stick shifts, which Mom can't drive.

Well, my Granddad (Mom's side) got sick of it, so he got us a mechanically-sound but not too pretty 1964 Ford Galaxie 4-door sedan, kind of a light bluish-green, in the hopes that Dad would use it instead of taking Mom's car out and ragging it.

Didn't work. Dad still took the "good" car. First, a '68 Impala 4-door hardtop, and later a brand-new '75 LeMans sport coupe. So Mom got stuck with the '64 Ford, and that's what she'd usually drive me around in, whenever Dad wasn't around.

At the time I think I hated it because it was old and ratty, and by the mid-70's it was a very out-of-touch color. Although in retrospect, it was much more tasteful than what the automakers ended up shoving down our throats in the 70's!

Today I think that generation of Ford is really cool, especially the '63 convertibles and hardtop coupes with the faster roofline.

andre1969

your chariot awaits you! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1- &item=2486939468

Actually, I have a twisted fetish for the '76 and '77 LeMans, and would be tempted to bid on this if it didn't have that dreaded Pontiac 301 V-8!

lemko

Believe it or not, I had a strong dislike for the current Chevrolet Impala. I guess to me an Impala is something more like the classic 1961-70 models or the hot 1994-96 Impala SS. I saw it as a Lumina masquerading as an Impala with the wrong number of lights. However, my girlfriend fell in love with it at the Philly Auto Show. She practically pulled my arm out of its socket as she ran toward it at the Chevrolet exhibit and exclaimed, "What kind of car is that? It's beautiful!" Before long, we were at a dealership and took one out for a test drive. It turned out to be pretty decent car. If you look at it as a competitor against mediocrities like the Taurus or dull appliances like the Camry and Accord, it looks great. Maybe they shouldn't have called it an Impala. Bel Air or Biscayne would've been more acceptable and would've diminished my initial hatred of the car.

lemko

Isn't that the same kind of car Sheriff Buford T. Justice drove in "Smokey and the Bandit?" There's a guy at work always bragging about his 1975 Pontiac LeMans Sport. The very image of it makes me retch. The Colonnade cars were an awful follow-up to the drop-dead gorgeous A-bodies of 1968-72. They were like seeing a mediocre comedian appearing after the the Beatles on the "Ed Sullivan Show."

andre1969

Buford T's car in "Smokey and the Bandit" was a 1977 LeMans Enforcer, as were most of the police cars in that movie, although they also used a few mid-70's Mopar intermediates, and even a 1974 or so Delta 88 4-door hardtop police car!

lemko

...are uncommon but not rare. The city of Hazleton in NE Pennsylvania used Delta 88 police cruisers in the 1970s and 80s. Pittsburgh used them in the early '90s. The NYPD used Pontiac police cars in 1962.

andys120

these are not sighted very often but today I saw:

- an Infiniti J30 that looked brand new with glossy paint and perfect body work. I never liked them and I was more impressed by the condition of this car than the car itself. It wore temp plates and a used car dealer's sticker so it was likely just acquired by it's second owner.

-first gen Scirocco (Giugiaro body style) in rather sorry shape with oversized wheels that gave it a jacked-up, low-rent bling-bling look, a sorry end for one of the more stylish cars of the 70s.
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Believe it or not I didn't like the Porsche 356 when I first encountered it. I thought it kind of frumpy compared to the dashing British and Italian sports cars you could buy instead.

Now I'd kill to have one, of course I'd have to.

ghulet

My dad had an '81 'S' he bought brand new, nice car at the time, though riding in the back seat on many vacations was not fun. I liked that both driver and passenger seats were height-adjustable. I started to learn stick on that car til my dad freaked out on me; after that, I finished learning on an '85 Civic, which was much easier to shift. I think he put over 200k on that car before he gave it to his sister in law.

andyman73

Perhaps they were the E-types. They didn't look like the example provided by andys120.

fintail

Speaking of Sciroccos, I saw a nice one today. I had the 126 in for a regular service, and in the parking lot of the shop was this 1980 Scirocco. 31K miles, and it looked it. Interior was spotless. Excuse the pics, as they were taken with a phone:

andyman73

not bad for phone pics. Hmmm, would that qualify for a "creampuff" with the low miles?

andys120

color and nice stock wheels say that's a v.1.0. Remarkable.

andys120

Driving down I-91 near Hartford recently I saw what at a quick glance appeared to be the ultra rare jewel in the Ferrari crown, the race-winning 250GTO of which there were only 39 made.

I knew it was unlikely I was looking at the real thing, that it had to be a replicar. To be fair it had the voluptuous curves right but it lacked the polished aluminum Borrani wires and it was simply too small, about 7/8ths the size of a real SWB Ferrari 250.

Shuffling thru my mental library for what they might've built such a replica on I remembered one being built on a Datsun 280Z chassis. It was about the right size.

Obscure enough?

I also saw a cream colored '65/'66 Mustang coupe
on the same trip. It wore the optional chromed steel Magstar wheels and appeared to be in good daily driver shape.

kyfdx

Man... I loved those cars back then.. I regret that I never bought one.

kyfdx

'86 911 Targa.. 60K miles.. at a new car dealer asking $20K all summer.. now, he's moved it to his used lot. Now asking $17K. Guards Red with black leather.. No spoiler.. Exterior/interior look good.. Might go drive it today.. Assuming they can't come up with any service records, what price range sounds reasonable? I guess I shouldn't even make an offer, without a Porsche mechanic inspection.

regards,
kyfdx

Mr_Shiftright

Price is okay, but yeah, you have to have it thoroughly checked out stem to stern. Check for rust, collision damage and make sure the correct engine is in there.

These are great cars but any major component failure like bad engine or transmission will hurt, badly.

If you test drive it, notice any synchro problems or hesitation or stumbling. Car should run up to the redline easily.

Also check for a wet floor or water damage, as targas like to leak.

fintail

I'd say that Scirocco is a real "cream puff". I saw the owner too...an old German guy, maybe 75-80. I don't know what he had done to it, but it cost twice as much as an oil change and replacement of the thermostat housing on my 126. He looked like the type who would never sell. I bet it's his baby...and I applaud the way he's cared for it.

There were Ferrari GTO fakes on Z cars, yes. I think they also made Daytona convert fakes based on Corvettes (?)

I saw a big c.1966 Olds wagon this morning...not many of those left. And a c.88 Mitsu Galant (I think also called Sigma) of that odd angular bodystyle that looked very JDM

scscars

Fintail: You are right about the Ferrari Daytona copies made on Corvette platforms. I've seen a couple of them over the years at car shows. The bodies are close to the original, but the interiors don't come close. I've even seen one with the dash and gauges from a '76 Vette. In fact, a Vette-based Daytona copy was Don Johnson's car on Miami Vice from '84 to '86. In '87 Ferrari donated a white Testarossa to the program.

Spots of the week: a '62 Dodge Dart coupe, medium brown and well cared for, a '64 Olds Dynamic 88 convertible, in need of some additional attention, but running, a '69 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham 4-door, black with a black vinyl top, wide whitewall tires and chrome wire wheels, and in excellent shape, and a '69 Olds Delta 88 convertible, blue with a white ragtop. Looks like it runs OK. Body was in good shape.

I also saw something that is growing more obscure every day, though its no collector car -- an '87 or '88 Plymouth Reliant wagon. Compared to the other cars that surrounded it in the traffic jam that I was in, the K-car looked truly out of place and out of time. There was a time not all that long ago when Reliants were one of the better looking small cars on the road compared to the Escorts, Cavaliers, Fairmonts, etc. that it competed with.

andyman73

I don't know much about these, however, I just saw, for sale, a Caprice Aerocoupe. Had that wrap-around rear window. Just like the Monte SSs of the 80s, with their Aerocoupe version. Was silver or gray, no rust, body straight as a nail. Had matching painted steel wheels. Actually looked quite nice. Tempted to check out price. Maybe dress it up as a period NASCAR look a like.

fintail

I don't think that Caprice coupe was actually called an "aerocoupe", I think that name was reserved for Montes and the Grand Prix with the same style. The Caprice version dates from the late 70s I believe. I have always called those Caprices "bubble windows". I don't know what they are really called One of my earliest car memories deals with one of those...when I was about 4, the cranky old man a couple houses down had one. I still associate those cars with people like that. Now that I think about it, he was probably cranky because I liked to harrass his yappy dogs, but oh well.

I thought I remembered that about the Miami Vice car, but I wasn't sure.

Today I saw an immaculate 61 Olds 4 door post, in white with a silver middle part, much like this:



I had the fintail out, and was lurking around the garage complex where I store it. I happened upon this:



My phone camera was blurry today

andyman73

Nothing wrong with a little harmless yappy dog harassment. Speaking of bubbles, my grandparents had a bubbletop 409, Impala SS, that they sold to their newspaper boy for a dollar!!! Pretended he was one of their nephews. Lucky fellow.

I wonder what the official name is for that Caprice?

tarik

It seems that the Caprice's two-door versions from '77 to '79 all had the wrap-around glass in the back, and they were simply called Sport Coupe. The flat glass was introduced for the '80 model, for more info click here.

kyfdx

I stopped to look closer at the '86 911.. Had the original owner's manual and maintenance book.. It looks like the 64K was actual miles, but the book wasn't faithfully filled out.. But, with the entries that were in there, it seemed accurate.

Good: Original paint.. a couple of door dings and some rock chipping up front. Red interior with black carpets.. no rips or tears and relatively good condition.. very nice black leather dash, showing car was definitely garaged. Engine compartment looked good with all the correct plates and stickers.. Brand new oil filter, but belts didn't look fresh. Original Blaupunkt stereo (Monterey model). No evidence of Targa leakage. Nice Potenza RE750s.

Possibly bad: Headliner on the targa was pretty pitiful.. The seals looked intact, but original and pretty worn. Exterior covering of Targa was okay.

I didn't get to drive it, they had it pulled into their showroom, and I decided after looking at it for awhile that I didn't want to put them through the trouble.

It just seems so iffy buying an 18 year old car like that from a dealer... I'd just have no way of knowing what was done to it. The last one I bought, I got from a guy that had owned it for five years and since it had 5K miles. He had every receipt for everything he'd done to the car. As popular as those 911s are, I can't imagine taking the $5K hit to trade it at a VW dealer, when nice ones are in such demand. It makes me wonder about that one. It brought back good memories, though.

regards,
kyfdx

blh7068

"At least it has the Olds 350, and not a 307 like most of them had. Did the Electra/98 offer the Buick 252 V-6 in 1980? I know it was standard in 1981."

 

Yes the 252 v-6 was available...though that 267 v-8 wasnt available until 81. I guess that took the place of the gasoline 350...and left the diesel as the only 350 available?

kyfdx

A mid '60s Plymouth Sport Fury in a kind of coppery brown color.. Looked unrestored, but very nice.. Not sure of the year, but guessing '65.

andyman73

Sport coupe, well, now I know. I clicked here, but came up empty. Now that I think of it, one of the Marines in my barracks had one. It was painted fire engine red, dual exhuast, a real nice runner, had a built 350.

fintail

I'll take a bubbletop Impala over a bubble window Caprice

Ebay time:

Bizarre, get a load of those seats

Even in England this price would be a stretch. Come on now

My dad would love this. Nice bamboo trim

Another one for dad. He's always talked about how he likes '40 LaSalle coupes. Beautiful example

Elegant

Interesting design

Funny little thing

Ouch

Back to England with you!

I like this...kind of a sinister looking car, but it has the fun rumble seat. Odd combo. I think Packard was the equivalent of MB (for North America) back in the day

Lovely car, but you'll have problems getting that from the most insane collector back home, not to mention in NA

Nice higher priced fintail in sore need of a new front bumper

Mr_Shiftright

Too bad that Simca Plein was so trashed. It's not too far from me. But geez, a basket case Simca with parts in boxes and frozen brakes and a Nissan engine---I mean, what's the point?

Love those seats in the BAG-heera.

The Citroen looks beautiful. Good color for selling, too. I can see it bringing the price that it is getting. So few of them are in top shape anymore, so it's rare to see one that nice. Still, at over 15K, you are buried for life in the car unless you find the other two drunk Citroen nuts who bid on it THIS time. The Chapron drop-top is the one to have and/or invest in. You can get $35K and up for a nice one of those. (It's not easy to chop a 4-door and make it a two-door after all).

Where are they finding these English mutts? I agree, back to the UK with you! Begone homely little beasts!

The fintail looks nice, being an SE and all is good. Wonder what happpened to the front bumperettes? You can probably still order them from Benz I bet!

'87 Rolls--you really need to be careful about running into things with one of these. I'd be too embarrassed to even list it on Ebay.

'30 Packard -- not the handsomest of Packards. In 1930 they were still on their 1920's body style hangover--very boxy and rather drab. The early 30s is when Packard hits their glory days, and that period is where the big Packard money is. Also, on this particular car, I got a feeling that the restoration isn't that good. He should have shown the engine and taken better photos. He's in good "Packard territory" though, the Midwest, so he might do okay.

kyfdx

Really nice restored Rivera with what looked like a brand new paint job.. pretty sure it was a '65.

Also, an old DeSoto.. I think around a '54 or '55... in inoperable condition at a car repair shop.

fintail

Are late DSs really brining that much here? They must be catching on. I might be weird in this, but if I was to get one, I'd want a really early one, say pre 60. I think I recall reading some early ones had translucent roof panels too. Those things must have been like spaceships in 1955.

That fintail seems expensive. I think I see rust beginning on the bottom of the passenger side rear door...it seems almost every part of the fintail body attracts rust. 6 grand...mine is an SE too, I'd be happy if it was worth that.

That Rolls is insane. Parts car. Who would attempt to fix a 17 year old Rolls with a salvage title? It's worthless as a whole.

I saw a couple of oddballs today....a Volare Roadrunner that looked decent but sounded awful, and a strange X-car Olds Omega convertible. I was thinking someone just chopped a normal coupe....but it was in real good shape, and the top looked professionally done, nice assembly etc. Weird...never seen one before.

andre1969

I was going through some old pics on the computer, and stumbled across this...


Saw it for sale back in November '02 at the mall. It was only $1300, and the only thing I could spot wrong with it was the plastic rear fender extensions were broken. Dang, I wish I had bought this one. But, I guess if I bought every thing that caught my eye, I'd have a junkyard by now!

fintail

Now there's a land yacht. I used to hate cars like that when I was younger, but I don't mind them now.

When I was in high school, a local GM dealer sho tended to get estate cars had a c.73 Pontiac 4 door hardtop, which was pretty sharp. It was a light mint green, and it was the type before that Buick, which didn't have the little opera windows behind the back doors. They wanted something like $1450 for it, which even then seemed like a deal. About 1995 or so, a crazy old woman friend of my mom's sold her original owner 76 Olds tank of a coupe...it was a light yellow, a huge thing which wasn't in bad shape, but needed a good detail, as I think it had never been waxed. I think it had 60K on it. She got like $900 for it. She replaced it with, get this, a 30K mile AMC Hornet Sportabout that her weirdo son bought for her.

alfox

a '59 (I think it was - wasn't mine) LeSabre. Put more miles on that car with the speedo burried than anything I've driven since. Seemed to have no top-end, although it took time to get there, LOL. It was very comfortable at 130+, and stable as long as you didn't try to change whatever it was doing at the moment.

Amazing I survived my yute.

Mr_Shiftright

Brake it or gas it all in a very straight line, that's the golden rule with those big barges. If you do anything sudden with the car out of balance at high speed, you are a statistic.

Speaking of the polar opposite but not really, my "new"/old Porsche 928 has been fun to learn about. The big V-8 and hefty feel make me wonder if I'm driving a German Corvette. The exhaust note is very rude, like a pushrod V-8, but it winds up a lot more, so on the high end it sounds more like a Trans Am car. This is an early 928, with "only" 220 HP, and given its porkiness I bet it's no more than a slightly sub 7 second car. But it is very stable and long-legged, and I expect could very well do the estimated top end (no, I'm NOT going to try anywhere in California).

Upside is great build quality throughout, downside is complexity. Most parts prices are surprisingly "okay", but a few components are...well, I hope I never have to buy that $1,300 radiator.

So all in all, a unique experience...it feels both American and foreign, like one of those Italian hybrids I guess.

We are in "shakedown" phase, so it's drive, fix, drive, fix, track down every little thing. I like a car that is 100% working and 100% safe to drive, and that takes time and clever use of limited funds. In two weeks, I've already addressed 16 problems, some very minor, a couple cosmetic.

 Biggest current problem to deal with is a periodic and random knocking sound on the left side of the engine, like someone knocking the block with a hammer every once in a while, but this goes away immediately and completely when the car warms up, and is not related to revs or torque in any way. Pressing a screwdriver to the block gives no vibration in the hand anywhere, but pressing it to the AC compressor or idler pulley definitely does.

I have heard that air in the AC lines can cause this. Odd thing is the sound is present with the AC off. The knock is quite heavy and sharp, not a tinkle-tinkle by any means. New AC compressor would be a nasty hit to the budget. Might have to drive it until something breaks (gulp!).

lemko

...nice looking 1984 300D in that blue peculiar to Mercedes of the time. It's been for sale forever.

Mr_Shiftright

Probably asking too much. You could spend $10,000 fixing up a 300D beater. "If grandpa didn't own it, don't you buy it" is my current 300D advice.

I saw a Facel Vega coupe on the road! Very strange. Kind of ugly, actually, done in primer--maybe in the process of restoration. Had a healthy V-8 beat, though. American engine stressing out French bodywork....hmmmm.....

andys120

those Ghia bodied Exner designs like the Dual Ghia. Did Ghia do the bodies?

Mr_Shiftright

No I don't believe Facel had anything to do with either Ghia or Exner. But of course one cannot help but noticing competitors' work.

The French FV cars are considerably handsomer to me than anything Ghia did (as least the ones I can recall) and Exner, well...enough said about him...they don't call him Virgil Excess for nuthin'.

jrosasmc

'88 Range Rover- Looked like a tired driver because the body appeared to be shot and I was following it at a really slow speed on a back road. It also had a for sale sign on it asking $4000 for it. I hope nobody takes the bait on that beater.

'81 Alfa Romeo GTV6- This one was sitting in the middle of the field, not running, not doing anything. I practically turned my back on that car.

'71 BMW 2002- The nicest car I saw yesterday morning...this particular one had to be fully restored, as everything was perfect and looked new. The only difference was the '80s-vintage 5-Series rims on this '02, but that still didn't detract from the looks. A great-driving car from what I've heard, but I can't imagine the costs of trying to restore one.

'85 Mazda RX-7- A lovingly preserved example of the last year of these 1st-generation cars. Fully loaded, with sunroof, 5-speed, in great condition. With only 70k miles, the original owner was trying to let the car go for $3400. It seems to be a steal, but that's not for me.

If I were to pick any of these I'd try to go for the BMW.

kyfdx

On the way home yesterday, and back to work today..

1) rubber bumper MGB
2) Delorean.. actually being driven.
3) Mercedes S600.. the giant 2-door.. talk about excess.
4) Suzuki X90
5) A car trailer with a '50s International pickup and a '70 Lemans with vinyl roof.. both looked rough.

alfox

Saw a G class 5.0 again today. I see one or more every week, and they are different cars. MB let a bunch go at a discount lately?

jlawrence01

Two weekends ago, I was up in Ottawa, ON, where I was expecting to see something unusual. No such luck. Average age of vehicles was 3-4 years older than those in the midwest. Also, the larger SUVs were nearly non-existent except for the Trailblazer that I rented from Avis for $16 a day.

This past weekend, I saw an old Peugeot station wagon at the local minor league baseball field. It was in pretty good shape although it was 20+ years old. Hoped that I would meet the owner. Parts have got to be getting rare as I am sure that Chrysler dealers have unloaded their stock years ago.

andys120

Virgil Excess, LOL! I don't know if that's entirely fair, Shifty. By the time fifties styling had reached it's nadir of wretched excess in '58-'59 Exner's "Forward Look" cars were restrained compared to the wacky stuff that was coming out of Ford and GM.

Would you rather look at a '58 Ford or a '58 DeSoto? A '59 Chevy or a '59 Plymouth?

You get my drift.

Mr_Shiftright

I'd rather not look at any of those cars for too long actually. I find them historically very interesting but not attractive as cars.

Well of course all comparisons are "relative". Nobody is TOTALLY bad at what they do, and even if they were, one could logically argue that it takes just as much genius and talent to get something ALL wrong as ALL right.

I'm still willing to make the "Virgil Exner" Challenge: show me any Exner designed car that doesn't look WAY out of date today. In other words, it might be "period interesting" or even "period attractive" (since really, opinions on beauty are subjective) but only the very best designs have a contemporary feel to them---which is why we have the expression "timeless design".

Whenever you have multiple generations agreeing that a design is "timeless", it's probably pretty damn good.

SIGHTINGS: Has anyone ever seen a Dodge Aspen R/T with louvers over the rear quarter windows? I never knew there was such a car until I saw a recent photo in Hemmings Muscle Machines.

lemko

...but I think the 1957-58 Chrysler 300-C was one of the most attractive cars ever! When Exner was good, he was extremely good!

stickguy

I remember the R/T. Sister car to that hot rod the Volare road runner (which still had the beep beep horn I believe, if not the performance of the original).

Actually, the Aspen/Volare were really true to the muscle car concept, in a mid-70's kind of way. The lighter/smaller platform, with the engine from a bigger car. Of course the 318 was pretty week (can't recall if these got the 360 or not - call for Mr. Andre!), but still a lot of motor for the day compared to the slant 6.

So spiritually, it was a Road Runner.

Excuse me now while I get another drink.

turboshadow

It looked pretty good, but it was a one off show car. The Diablo?Dart looked pretty good, too.

And the Falcon show car. Now THAT was a timeless design. IIRC, they built six of them. Now that I think about it, the front end on the Falcon looked a lot like the new 300C.

Turboshadow

Mr_Shiftright

I never met an Exner car I liked very much. Too much of everything. Someone should have stood over him with a baseball bat and said THAT'S ENOUGH VIRGIL--THAT'S GOOD! STOPPPPPPP!!!!

Look at this car...it has attractive elements but nothing matches anything else.



 It's like 4 different cars welded together. The fin is going up, the rear quarter trim chrome is going down; the wheel wells don't match at all, the headlight hoods look like sun visors, and the car is very nose heavy. Nice roofline, though.

People like these cars not because they are timeless but because they are outrageous--which is fair enough, since "over the top" is as much a magnet for a collector as having that subtle Mona Lisa smile. Hey, it's the Jetsons!

andys120

characterize an Exner design as timeless or harmonious but again, relative to their contemporaries, they're pretty good, the 300-C being a good example, the 300-B was even better.

The only American Fifties car that doesn't look really dated to me today is the sublime '56 Continental Mk. II.

http://www.kars.com/categories/lincoln/1994.html

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Seen today- A Triumph Spitfire from the early 60s in that not-quite-BRG Triumph used (Ivy Green?) paint was faded but apparently original
Disk wheels with good chrome on the hub caps, interior carpeting shot but otherwise reasonable interior.

It even had an old style chrome letter dealer plaque from a Boston area dealer.
 
A Saab 95 or 96 in dove grey looking pretty decent. I didn't see the V-4 emblem on back so maybe it was the two-stroke/3 cyl.

kyfdx

In perfect shape.. two-tone.. turquoise/white. I see about once per week near where I work.. It looks like an easy $60K car.