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

ab348

fintail said:

Speaking of later SS cars, I remember in the mid-late oughts, there was a big dump of Impala SS in rental fleets, I assume because they were slow sellers. I imagine they had nice torque steer and front end plow. Even those ~2007 Impala SS are uncommon now, as I think they attract less than meticulous owners.

They only had torque steer until the transmission grenaded, which usually occurred in short order if you drove it enthusiastically enough.

kyfdx

Bronco II. In typical MidWest condition..

kyfdx

Two really obscure cars, today.

1) Nissan Murano CrossCab

2) Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Between the two, I'd pick #2.

laurasdada

While I saw no Wienerbobile, I did see an Evoque Convertible; Murano CrossCab with a British accent and more stylish suit.

uplanderguy

From a Facebook page....I got a chuckle out of it. Actually looks in pretty darn nice shape.

fintail

Auntie's Olds looks like a pic from a specialty dealer site. Nice tires.

Saw a few oddities on the road today. Red E30 M3, 2x E36 M3 - a blue coupe and yellow (!) sedan, Beetle custom 80s Cal look, ~70 Impala coupe, 80s 911 with whale tail.

In the garage where the fintail slumbers, I notice the bathtub Packard with a flat tire had that issue repaired. I suspect none of the other cars sleeping there have moved since I visited last.

tjc78

83ish Baby LTD woody wagon. Lowered and sounded mean. Must be some sort of sleeper.

stickguy

Kinda a mustang underneath, so easy enough to juice up the small block V8!

tjc78

Yep it’s a Fox so anything available for Mustang pretty much bolts up from what I understand

ab348

For years there has been a Fairmont 2-door sedan here modified like that. The only real external clues are the Mustang alloy wheels and the 2 large polished stainless straight pipes poking out at the rear. Of course for what it cost to do that, you probably could have done the same to an actual Mustang.

omarman

My sister bought an LX in the 80s. I only drove it once but it was reasonably quick with better handling/braking than I expected.

stickguy

I always thought a hot rod Fairmont was a cool idea, though I also want a sleeper brick Volvo. I have odd taste.

actually, a Fairmont wagon would be great. I think C&D did one for their boss wagon series, but it did not include actual power IIRC. more like handling and interior.

get a 302 and a 5 speed stick in there (I know you could do it in some 2 doors), upgrade suspension and brakes, a set of period Recaros, and off you go!

EDIT: OK, I mixed up projects. they never did a fairmont wagon, but they did do a sedan at one point I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1tCgpfdA9M

texases

Wow-plural apostrophe disease goes way back!

fintail

The one to make a sleeper out of would be a Fox bustleback Continental. My aunt had one when I was a kid, and coincidentally enough, her prior was a Fox Mustang with T-Tops (which I thought was a much hotter car).

tjc78

It has been done. The 5.0 is easily converted to HO spec from the Stang or Mark VII.

In one of the other forums I frequent a poster there has a Conti Diesel. He keeps it driver worthy and decent looking.

fintail

I've never seen a Fox Continental (sedan) diesel, has to be incredibly rare. There was a Mark VII diesel for sale locally, it sat for some time on CL, maybe scared people away. IIRC that was a BMW-sourced engine.

tjc78

If you are bored..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si8__tWxJTo&feature=youtu.be

tjc78

He cleaned a lot of it up and replaced some trim. It looks a little better now.

stickguy

I wouldn’t be running that baby with the garage door closed! Pretty ratty car.

fintail

Wow, that might be a sole survivor. Also makes me thankful I live in a gentle climate, takes a long time for paint to fail like that here.

xwesx

Sounds wonderful; that's quite a project he picked up!

fintail

Saw 2x Cadillac XLR out in the rain today, one was even a V. I'll never forget Jeremy Clarkson mocking the cheap sounding switchgear in one. Still kind of a striking looking car, maybe a deal for a (very) minor collectible as they haven't exactly appreciated, and given the market's embrace of the Allante, might never do so. Even though the MB SL turned into a fatherly or grandfatherly boulevardier decades ago, nobody has successfully competed with it.

tjc78

The owner of our town Italian Bakery had one of those for a long time. I recently noticed it was replaced with a newer Vette.

ab348

I always liked the styling of the XLR. Unfortunately it was saddled with the Northstar engine. You have to take any comments by Clarkson, especially in that era, with several large grains of salt if he was talking about American cars. He was someone who thought that Jags were the pinnacle of engineering after all.

fintail

He probably had some point with period GM switchgear though, that was a time when they mostly still didn't get the idea that hard hollow plastics and Aveo (or Cavalier at best) parts bin material doesn't belong in a premium product.

uplanderguy

I toured Bowling Green when they were building XLR's (on their own line). What a great tour. My coworker and I played hooky for an afternoon from our job in Nashville. We drove up for the last tour of the day. Tour guide asked who wanted to be the first to start a new XLR and a youngish girl said she did. She started it; everybody applauded; tour guide said "you can come out now" and there was no interior door hardware yet so he had to let her out....cute little joke.

They had a mural in their museum across the street about Bill Mitchell and it mentioned his growing up in my little hometown of Greenville, PA, which I enjoyed.

ab348

This needs to be used in a movie about Cold War-era spies in Europe.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1959-mercedes-benz-190-db-binz-kombi/

stickguy

must have a ton of money in that restoration. Will be interested to see how high it goes. Nice looking job.''

imidazol97

I'm in awe of that vehicle until the red hubcaps. LOL.
I can safely say I never, never saw one of those in the Indiana/Ohio region 1959 and after.

stickguy

quick trip down the old rabbit hole. This one, basically defines 1973 in one picture. Not really a fan of the genre, but for some reason, this one looks good.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-ford-gran-torino-2/

completely impractical for anything but a decoration, but way cool. I really like that it retains Volvo power, even if the engine is the only actual Volvo part in it (not sure what the body is, a fiberglass shell or real panels). Looking again, I guess that started as a real body.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1965-volvo-volvo-1800-tube-frame-race-car/

and I always did like these. Not quite sure why. I suspect that driving one could cure me of that quick. and in the mid-80s, you could still get an interior in a real color!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-ford-bronco-ii-3/

tjc78

That Bronco II must have had every option box checked.

imidazol97

stickguy said:

quick trip down the old rabbit hole. This one, basically defines 1973 in one picture. Not really a fan of the genre, but for some reason, this one looks good.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-ford-gran-torino-2/

I had one exactly like that. Brougham with wheel covers. All vinyl seats, however, in mine. 351 Windsor (dog) engine, with the early failure nylon timing gear (70,000 mi).

ab348

imidazol97 said:

I'm in awe of that vehicle until the red hubcaps. LOL.
I can safely say I never, never saw one of those in the Indiana/Ohio region 1959 and after.

Yes, the red hubcaps turned me off as well.

It is a jaw-dropping restoration but looking at the pics, there appears to be some work either done poorly or missed outright on the dash.

I can only imagine how slow it is.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

imidazol97 said:

I'm in awe of that vehicle until the red hubcaps. LOL.
I can safely say I never, never saw one of those in the Indiana/Ohio region 1959 and after.

Yes, the red hubcaps turned me off as well.

It is a jaw-dropping restoration but looking at the pics, there appears to be some work either done poorly or missed outright on the dash.

I can only imagine how slow it is.

In the description of the rebuild those were described as "inserts." So I suppose on some cars they could be replaced with other inserts if the owner wanted that. Very pious looking car, however.

fintail

Binz wagon is extraordinarily rare, probably no more than a few in the country and not many more in the world.

As luck would have it, there's a local one, and it visits the annual MBCA gathering now and then. No surprise, people love it:

fintail

For the BaT cars, I like the Bronco II, cool wheels and nice colors, not many decent survivors.

A few that caught my eye - reminds me, haven't checked CL in a little while, will get to that.

Lexus of a different sort

Originality = $$$

Nice later run lower line fintail

Big bruiser with endless presence

1973 in MB land

Modern classic, flipper who knows what he is doing

tjc78

That wagon is really nice. Typical 90s color scheme. My Mom's 96 Thunderbird was the same color combo. Ford called it Pacific Green.

fintail

Nostalgia is kind of crazy, as I have developed something of a soft spot for some 90s cars and colors. I generally like blues and teals, and that was maybe the last time they were offered in volume.

laurasdada

White Lincoln LS. While I know it's a good driver, just so dull-looking. The box it came in.

stickguy

a Volvo V40 driving around. The 1.9t Mitsu clone.

kyfdx

Porsche

stickguy

was nice here today (mid 40s and clear) and someone had a gorgeous black with red highlights later C2 vette coupe out driving around.

fintail

Saw a first gen dual badged "Datsun by Nissan" Maxima on the interstate today. Sadly, it had a bit of age showing, including a fender that didn't appear to be securely attached. Also saw a Pacer wagon at the auction.

texases

Saw what I think was a ‘70 or so Ford Courier. Haven’t seen one in decades.

fintail

That reminds me, also saw a later run Courier-based Mazda pickup on the road, fair condition.

explorerx4

Saw a late 80's/early 90's GMC Yukon(Suburban clone) with the barn doors.
Dark green upper and lower, silver sides.
It was immaculate. Plate was US 7, so I'm thinking retired Navy,
On a ship they take good care of their stuff.

kyfdx

Different

stickguy

Looks stable

thebean

At the gym today, a last gen Eclipse painted flat black (couldn’t tell if rattle can or not) with a fartcan muffler. Started right up when the guy came our and drove away.

kyfdx

Haven’t seen one of these in a while