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

uplanderguy

The cloth on the dash of my Cruze is a burlap-y type cloth, so it contrasts well with the vinyl above it.

andre1969

Believe it or not, there was one period when people were paying close to sticker for a Caprice...during the deepest darkest depths of the 1979-83 turmoil! Either C&D or MT tested an '82 with the 305. They remarked that the Celebrity, which was supposed to be sort of a family car of the future (hyperbole I believe Mopar actually tried with the '76 Aspen/Volare), the public just wasn't falling for it, and they were having to sell them at a deep discount. But by and large, people were still wanting their Caprices. Sales actually were well down on them during that timeframe compared to their heyday, but I wonder if what was happening, was that GM cut production in anticipation of them not selling that well during a fuel crunch/recession, and also pressure from CAFE, but they cut production much further than the existing demand?

I really haven't paid much attention to the current Cruze, but I did kind of like the first-gen. I never drove one, but I rode in a few. It had a bit of a big-car feel to it, I thought. That might not be a good selling point for a small car, as people tend to prioritize the nimbleness and such, and GM seemed to have a habit of making cars drive and handle with a feel that was "bigger" than they really were. But, it had its advantages, for the right type of buyer.

On the classic car front, I wonder how this virus lockdown is going to affect car show season this year? The Spring show in Carlisle is only like 4 1/2 weeks away now, and I'm sure we won't be over it by then. I could see that one, at least, being canceled. And I've held off on registering for the GM and Mopar shows, just in case.

Also, I had been putting off buying a car, hoping I could limp my '03 Regal on a bit longer, as I was planning on retiring within the next few years, and then once I retired, get something I really want, like a Hemi Charger. But, my retirement portfolio has taken a bit of a whack, so I might have to push that out, just a little bit. So, once things let up a bit, I might be tempted to look into getting something fairly basic and inexpensive to sacrifice, for the final few years+ of commuting. But then, who knows...the Regal hasn't had anything expensive break, recently.

tjc78

@andre1969
Funny you mention about the Park Avenue being rebadged as a Caprice. That is exactly something GM would have done back in the day.

I always loved the late run Park Avenues. Such comfy cruisers and with the supercharger decent performers.

uplanderguy

I liked those last Park Avenues in that spring-grass-green color. Different and not-often-seen.

Retirement portfolio taking a whack--I hear you! My plan is to retire on June 14, 2021! I think I won't take anything other than S.S. starting then and glom off my wife for about the last five years she's working!

RE.: First-style Cruze--I own a '15 LS, non-turbo, which my younger daughter drives out in CA. I wanted no turbo as I'd heard there had been turbo issues with that first gen. Her car has 53K miles now. I drove it when we were out there at Christmastime. Still quiet. Her boyfriend has a 2010 Civic and he comments (highly) on her Cruze's pickup. I am dead-serious. His has no working A/C--mileage in the 70's. We bought the '15 Cruze at 18K miles and other than tires haven't done anything to it (oil changes of course).

The interior of the next-gen far-outshines it though IMHO. Hers is tight in the back seat--mine could be called almost full-size in the back. I do think hers is a bit quieter. And she hates the start-stop feature in mine.

stickguy

Fin, I had a 1995 mystique 5speed V6. Bought it in 1998. Actually nice driving car. I think it was an LS, whatever the top model was. Nice leather seats, power everything, moonroof, ABS. Much nicer than later seriously decontented contours. The 98-00 (somewhere in there) 4 cyl AT contour I picked up in 2007 for my son was crap in comparison.

ab348

My only direct experience with a Contour was a rental I got for a 300-mile road trip. After reading a few rave reviews in the magazines I was disappointed in it - it was OK certainly, but not nearly as great a leap forward as the auto writers suggested. And the rental model interior was dismal.

A lady who worked for me had one too, and it left her stranded on the highway one morning when the engine failed after 3 or 4 years. She never bothered fixing it and replaced the car instead.

fintail

I think the content declined fast after the facelift, and they became rental grade. I remember the V6 Mystique I rode in seemed nice too, and I suspect it suffered from catastrophic depreciation - seemed like a very nice car for a student at the time.

I recall my sister got $500 trade in for hers in 2004 - and I told her to take it and be happy. She got it in 1999 from the local Ford dealer as a lease return IIRC - my dad helped her get it when her Dodge Rampage was just too quirky for her (she had no problem selling it, someone wanted it bad). She was also eyeing a 94-95 Celica, but my dad thought the insurance would be too much for a young driver. The reliability and resale probably would have more than compensated for the insurance.

stickguy said:

Fin, I had a 1995 mystique 5speed V6. Bought it in 1998. Actually nice driving car. I think it was an LS, whatever the top model was. Nice leather seats, power everything, moonroof, ABS. Much nicer than later seriously decontented contours. The 98-00 (somewhere in there) 4 cyl AT contour I picked up in 2007 for my son was crap in comparison.

roadburner

I was hoping that an AWD Contour SVT would make it across the pond, but it never did.

sda

I liked the Mystique LS V6 best, very similarly equipped as Stickguys in dark blue or burgundy. I was surprised by how little rear legroom it had. Almost bought a Contour SVT. With the finance rep things fell apart when certain items I hadn’t agreed to were included and he would back them out. I never went back and haven’t had a Ford product since.

uplanderguy

andre, speaking of car shows shutting down, the Michiana chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club has cancelled its annual May meet in South Bend which is always the first weekend of May. I missed it last year for my daughter's wedding, but I bet I hadn't missed it in ten years before. I totally understand but am disappointed anyway.

My great-niece is getting married May 30, which seems to be about on the cusp of the estimates of how long this 'social distancing' should last.

uplanderguy

I used to get a lot of Alero’s as rentals. They felt so much more refined than the Malibu despite being basically the same car.

The Malibu itself was sold as an Olds--Cutlass. Back when they had different lines of cars with "Cutlass" in the name.

uplanderguy

My wife's friend's Contour was given to her by her mother. I never rode nor drove in it. It was a light pewter color with matching leather interior as I recall so it would've been a higher-zoot model.

She currently is still driving the 2007 Chevy TrailBlazer she bought new. Her young-adult daughter drives about a 2010 or 2011 Jetta that was bought when it was about five years old I'd say.

She was excited about the Blazer name coming back, but is as underwhelmed as I am by it.

uplanderguy

Scrabble last night: My wife won 229-205, our first game in years. She always did beat me. At the end, I had one more number in my column than she did, so either I neglected to record the points for one of her words, or put it under my column, LOL.

Hard to beat someone who used the word "nougaty".

That didn't look right to me, but I checked this morning and it should be "nougatey".

Recount!

We did both use all our letters.

uplanderguy

Facebook says today that this is my most commented-on photo from 2015:


There's a '66 Polara under there somewhere!

Looks like the car Homer Simpson designed.

tjc78

Pretty sure they are second generation Altima taillights.

uplanderguy

I think so too.

You heard it here...when that Altima came out in about 2002 or so, I thought that was a head-turning sedan, in size, profile, and really, they invented that chromed-inside-the-lens taillight look that was copied by buffs later.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, the '00 Monte Carlo had something like that, not just chromed inside.

I also liked the '80's or '90's Nissan Maxima that was smooth down the sides and had a wall-to-wall taillight in back.

I think it was the one fellow who used to post here who had the Cadillac, who said Asian cars had an 'insectoid' look in general. While the domestics have moved that way, I know exactly what he is talking about.

imidazol97

Nice shopping trip at 7:25 to Kroger. Got things I wanted including the promo special that was buy 5 and get $5 off. Stocked. No wipes for carts. Are using spray bottles of sanitizing liquid where you're touching the bottle and trigger that everyone else touched. The lady after me getting a cart asked if you're supposed to spray the liquid on the handle and I told her "yes." And I reminded her not to use the paper towel provided to wipe off the liquid: let it dry on the handle to completely disinfect.

I saw folks with 1 package of TP in their carts. Frozen foods seemed low. Maybe they're stocked during day rather than from the overnight truck. Fresh produce was there but our favorite tomatos, Cherubs, weren't there. No youngins coughing on the produce. No folks shoving or taking things out of carts at this store. Lots of the oldsters were confused in behavior like the early symptoms of dementia we see, but I suspect it's just concern over the panic.

Lots of oldsters with masks on. I haven't worn mine yet because I social distance as much as possible. I wanted Lay's potato chips, and the Frito Lay guy had a large cart with boxes so I figured the regular chips would be put out soon. Then I watched him sneeze into the elbow and all over the boxes he would handle. So I left. Airborn droplets or virus on cardboard and then his hands as he put out bags--not for me.

Got chips with my coffee at UDF up the street.

uplanderguy

A long read, but interesting if you have any interest in the Corvair.

Posted Sunday in Hemmings; the defense of the Corvair by Frank Winchell of GM, in his own words, from the 1979 Corvair Society national meet:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2020/03/22/how-frank-winchell-defended-the-chevrolet-corvair-in-his-own-words/?refer=news&utm_source=edaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-03-23

He's a witty speaker, whether you agree with him or not.

"Please don't tell Aunt Edith I'm a VP at GM...I told her I was a banjo player at a bawdy house", LOL indeed.

uplanderguy

Got chips with my coffee at UDF up the street.

Haven't heard 'UDF' since my girls lived in Oxford!

I think the key to finding TP and sanitizer is get there at opening time.

Luckily for us, my wife bought a big thing of Costco TP a week or so before this all happened, so we're in good shape.

Hard to believe I'm talking about TP in an edmunds forum.

andre1969

I had a little scare this morning. Went to the local Aldi to get a few odds and ends, and then I was going to hit the discount liquor store next door. Did Aldi first, since I figured they'd run out of groceries first. Well, I come out, hop in the Regal, turn the key, and no start. All the lights came on, and the chiming sounded normal, but it just would not start. Normally I have a portable jump starter/air compressor in the trunk, but I had taken it out the other day and forgotten to put it back in. And I figured with all the social distancing going on, I wasn't even going to try and ask for a jump start. So, I called AAA. And, wouldn't you know it, after I placed the service call, I popped the hood, got out, and checked the battery. The connections seemed tight, but I twisted on them a bit, anyway.

Hopped back in the car, and the sumbitch fired right up! So, I canceled the AAA call, and drove right home. I didn't want to chance going in the liquor store and having it happen again! Now, I guess if I was smart, I would have gone in the liquor store, loaded up, then tried the battery cable...

Anyway, I wonder if this is the car's way of getting back at me, for talking about getting an Impala last night? It might be a GM product, but maybe it has some recycled '58 Plymouth in its DNA!

uplanderguy

Glad you got home but sorry you missed out on the liquor store run!

stickguy

Can always go back

kyfdx

I would have hit the liquor store, and kept AAA on speed dial.

texases

I got a laugh when I read the list of 'critical businesses' allowed open in Dallas - liquor stores were right there. These are times to drive one to drink...

andre1969

Eh, if nothing else, a beer run tomorrow will give me something to do, to break up the monotony. I'll just make sure to do it in the Ram. And with the jump starter, just out of paranoia...

Oh, speaking of paranoia (and tp), my house mate last week said that my paranoia is starting to rub off on him. We normally buy stuff in bulk, and paper towels and toilet paper usually just get left out in the sunroom off to the side of the house. A room, with lots of windows where you can easily see what's inside. And, the room that has the back door to the house, where a lot of deliveries by Amazon, Fed Ex, etc get left. Anyway, my house mate said that, with as many deliveries as we get these days, and with the shortage of toilet paper, that could be a temptation for someone to break in. Now under normal circumstances, I wouldn't think the Amazon driver, Fed Ex driver, etc would do something like that...but these aren't normal circumstances any more!

On a brighter note, I got an email from Carlisle Productions last night. Looks like they're moving the Spring swap meet from the end of April to the end of May. Hopefully, things are back to normal by the end of May...

fintail

That was lemko, and he was right. Asian brand design has really taken on a weird anthropomorphism that didn't exist in the past. Now it's all either derpy anime faces or toasters with aggressive leering faces.

The Maxima you refer is the 89-94 style, the peak of that nameplate.

Altimas, especially as they age, seem to attract the worst drivers.

uplanderguy said:

I think so too.

You heard it here...when that Altima came out in about 2002 or so, I thought that was a head-turning sedan, in size, profile, and really, they invented that chromed-inside-the-lens taillight look that was copied by buffs later.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, the '00 Monte Carlo had something like that, not just chromed inside.

I also liked the '80's or '90's Nissan Maxima that was smooth down the sides and had a wall-to-wall taillight in back.

I think it was the one fellow who used to post here who had the Cadillac, who said Asian cars had an 'insectoid' look in general. While the domestics have moved that way, I know exactly what he is talking about.

uplanderguy

Thanks. I had what I thought was a clear pic in my mind of one where I used to work back then--first car in the pearlescent white I can remember. For some reason I thought it had no molding down the side, but it looks like they all did, when I googled it. I remember it saying "MAXIMA" on the center of the rear end

Smooth, simple looks always age the best IMHO.

I'll concede, my Cruze looks busy in the back, and the C8 Corvette does too. But I'm still sort-of excited about the C8. I guess they are arriving at dealerships now.

fintail

Maybe it just shows my age, but I think a lot of roughly 1990-95 design is quite nice and has aged well. Large glass area, smooth uncluttered sides, proportional lighting sizes, a lot of it is timeless. The past decade is all about bric a brac to make appliances look exciting, or butch faux outdoorsy cosplay.

C8 is maybe the most significant GM car of my lifetime, and assuming it holds up, a legitimate bargain.

uplanderguy

There'll be some teething issues, like any all-new car, I guarantee it. What's sad, some press will be looking for it to fail I bet, although it sure has gotten positive press so far. Even I think the 'COTY' thing seemed premature though.

texases

I agree about the early '90s designs. Some followed the 'membrane' school of design, where the shape was similar to that formed by a simple membrane. Our '95 Suburban had that smooth shape. It was red like this with the black wheel arches, but no running boards:

uplanderguy

When that basic style Chevy pickup came out as an '88 model, I liked it a lot. A fellow up the street from me had an immaculate two-tone brown upper-trim-level one well into the late '90's and it looked like new. I liked the four small square headlights.

I swear that I saw my first new '88 pickup at a dealer's in Dec. '86! That's long-been my memory of it, anyways.

andre1969

When the '02 Altima came out, I liked it enough that I briefly considered buying one! One thing I liked about it was the tail lights. At night, they made me think of a mid-late 50's Dodge, with one round light above the other...even though they were set in a composite cluster.

However, at the time my '00 Intrepid already had about 56,000 miles on it, and they depreciated like crazy, even without taking the mileage into account. They offered me $6500 in trade, and I still owed about $11,300 on it. The Altima I looked at, an attractive light green one, MSRP'ed in the lower $20's, but by the time they rolled my negative equity into it and taxes and such, it would've been around $28,000. I remember I was looking at around a $475-480/mo payment, a bit above the $347.66 I was paying for the Intrepid. So, I let common sense prevail.

In retrospect, I've heard that generation of Altima really wasn't that durable. I think there was something in the valvetrain of the 2.5 that was pressed on, and tended to fall off and ruin the engine? I don't really see them around anymore, either, where in contrast I'll still see Accords and Camrys of that generation. Now I know there was some overlap in model years of the designs, and the Accord/Camry sold in higher volume, so maybe it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.

andre1969

As for car styling in general, I remember Consumer Guide, in their auto encyclopedia, saying that the 1961 Plymouth went on to inspire a whole generation of low-budget Japanese movie monsters. In some respects, I think it was reincarnated again about 5 or 6 years ago, to inspire a whole new generation of tack-on styling cues to modern appliance-vehicles!

uplanderguy

I really don't see too many of those Altimas anymore, either.

I see a fair amount of Accords, but I bet I see more of those on the street with broken ball joints than any other single car. Not a lot, but when I see a car with a broken ball joint and the wheel sheared off, it's invariably an Accord.

I think the car I see the most lately on a hook, is the current (I think) Focus. To be fair, I think this iteration goes back several years.

fintail

Something I remember about the 88+ GM trucks is weird gauges on the early ones. Maybe not the best idea, and I am speaking as someone who has cars with unusual gauges (fintail's vertical speedometer, LED screen in the modern car). But the design itself, nice and smooth. That era almost had kind of a design renaissance, a lack of clutter on most cars. It lasted until after Y2K perhaps, but then things slowly started getting goofy.

IIRC those Altimas do have some kind of Achilles heel with the engine. A young relative had one of that style several years ago, engine crapped out, so she replaced it with an HHR of all things, which is still going strong (although she is irritated by it, monumental A-pillar blind spots). Just as V6 Accords of that era are known to have transmissions made of glass.

I don't know if any media is rooting for the C8 to fail, but maybe some journos are still leery based on past experience. A mid engined sportscar with that power for that price is hard to root against, and it is nice to see GM branching out past the demographic it has catered to with the Corvette for the past 45 years.

tjc78

I didn't know those Altimas had issues. We ran those as company cars from 03-07 and had several with 200K+, one had 300K. By then they all had check engine lights due to failed catalytic converters which essentially totaled them out. They were all replaced with 07 Camrys.

As for Maximas my favorite was the 2000-2003. The 2002+ has the 3.5. They were good driving cars IMO except for the torque steer. I also liked the Infiniti I30/35 clone and was close to getting one but decided on a 2003 Avalon instead.

roadburner

Wasn't Lemko the guy who said driving his late '90s Impala was more fun than conjugal relations with his girlfriend?

texases

tjc78 said:

I didn't know those Altimas had issues. We ran those as company cars from 03-07 and had several with 200K+, one had 300K. By then they all had check engine lights due to failed catalytic converters which essentially totaled them out. They were all replaced with 07 Camrys.

I think one issue was the cat, breaking down and being recycled into the intake, resulting in cylinder damage. Another possible issue was the CVT.

andre1969

roadburner said:

Wasn't Lemko the guy who said driving his late '90s Impala was more fun than conjugal relations with his girlfriend?

LOL...yeah, that was the gist of it. I think what he actually said was that his girlfriend's Impala was better than sex, and then some of us started ribbing him over it, saying there was different types of sex, including prison sex

tjc78

I've been around awhile and don't remember that. LMAO!!!

andre1969

It had to have been back in the early 2000's when he said that. At least, I remember meeting him over the summer of '04, at a classic car show in Macungie PA, and I know it was before that. I remember he also said that styling a small car was like trying to tailor a dwarf, but I think he was repeating something GM stylist Bill Mitchell once said.

uplanderguy

Bill Mitchell did indeed say that.

imidazol97

Is @lemko still posting in the for
ums?

uplanderguy

I haven't seen him post in a long time.

roadburner

I'm guessing he ran off with his girlfriend's Impala.

ab348

andre1969 said:

When the '02 Altima came out, I liked it enough that I briefly considered buying one! One thing I liked about it was the tail lights. At night, they made me think of a mid-late 50's Dodge, with one round light above the other...even though they were set in a composite cluster.

I hated it because of those “Altezza” taillights. They were all the rage among the tuner types for a few years prior and so I was biased against it from the start. It seemed odd to use such a design detail on a family sedan.

fintail

Pretending to be sporty and dynamic and young and exciting and cool when it, well, might not actually be that.

So much car design and marketing of the past decade can be described in that way. If anything, the Altima might have been a pioneer, as Camcords were still plainly styled cars then.

uplanderguy

I don't remember seeing those lights on a car before the Altima, and the Monte Carlo just before it (although less dramatic--no chroming). Seems I saw tuners afterwards with aftermarket lights of that type. Although, NE OH isn't exactly tuner-central.

fintail

Those lights are called "Altezza" as they debuted for a production car on the Toyota Altezza in 1998. This car later came here as the first Lexus IS:



I am pretty sure they existed in aftermarket form before that, but that name stuck. My area was import tuner central back then.

ab348

Was just out to pick up some groceries and saw this just a block away. It was near my mailbox so I got some pics when I got my mail. Rare to see a 1st-gen Dodge minivan around here these days and especially one like this, a short wheelbase Sport model. Looking at it now, I have to wonder if something similar wouldn't compete well with things like the Soul or other "box" compacts/CUVs.