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

andre1969

tjc78 said:

I've probably said this before but one rental I never really minded was the Olds Alero.

It was such a step up from the Grand Am/Malibu IMO and very un-GM inside. The switch gear was all a little different and Olds had a double-din radio like the imports (most other GMs had that odd 1.5 DIN style, like Chrysler).

Nice cars for the time, IMO.

And, I've probably said this before too, but I had a '99 Alero as a rental in California once. It was a green coupe with the DOHC 4-cyl, and I liked it alot. I took a pic of it out by the "Duel" tunnel (which was also in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and countless other movies and tv shows). That was back when digital cameras were still a plaything for the rich, in my mind at least, so I used a film camera. I'll have to find those pics sometime, and scan them.

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

For driving, I used to prefer the Malibus of the 2004-2007 vintage better. The top model of that era Malibu had perforated suede seat inserts, which I liked on top of the driving dynamics I liked better.

I drove a 2013 Impala once as a rental. The 3.6 (300 hp) and six-speed automatic they must've been testing pre-all-new Impala introduction the next year, made the car a lot nicer to drive. The seats of most of them were pretty flat though.

On the day my Dad got his '03 Regal, the dealer had a few '04 Malibus on the lot (this was a Chevy/Dodge dealership). I remember thinking, at the time, the fit and finish of that '04 made my Dad's Regal, and the remaining '03 Malibus, look like Lucy and Ethel took them apart and put them back together again! Around that time, it seemed like GM did start paying more attention to details like fit and finish, quality of interior materials, etc. I noticed it too, when the new Grand Prix came out, and the LaCrosse replaced the Century/Regal, and then the Lucerne replaced the LeSabre/Park Ave. Even if I didn't like some of the styles as much (for instance, I prefer the '97-03 Grand Prix over the '04+, and the '97-04 Century/Regal over the '05+ LaCrosse) the replacement cars did seem better finished.

My project at work has a government Impala. I forget the year now, but I remember going with our secretary one time to pick it up from the motor pool. She retired at the end of 2012, so it was a '12 at the latest (I know it wasn't a '13). I don't remember much about it, except that the seat was low, and rear visibility was horrible. It had enough legroom for me, but rear seat legroom was almost non-existent, every bit as bad as my Regal.

Old age is starting to get to me now, and I can't remember what it replaced, but I think it was either a Corsica or an Achieva. I do recall our agency getting a batch of 5 '96 Achievas for $65,000. So I guess for $13,000 per car, there wasn't much to complain about. I was in logistics in those days, and privy to some of their costs. But I don't know how much the Corsica cost, or the Impala. On my old project (transferred in 2010) we had a Corsica, but another project got a Fusion, and some of our people were jealous! I don't remember our motor pool having any of the '00-05 Impalas, though. One of the first imported vehicles they got was a second-gen Xterra, of all things. Security used it.

roadburner

At a repair shop not far from me there is a first generation Aurora as well as a 1974 MGB GT. They've both been sitting there for years. Both would be nice if restored, but I doubt restoring either would be a wise move.

texases

roadburner said:

At a repair shop not far from me there is a first generation Aurora as well as a 1974 MGB GT. They've both been sitting there for years. Both would be nice if restored, but I doubt restoring either would be a wise move.

I'd sure rather put some money in the MGB GT, drop the rubber bumpers, etc.

andre1969

Is the MGB GT the long-roof hatchback model? What they tend to call a "shooting brake"? I remember in the 80's, at the shopping mall where I worked, someone dumped one of those over the embankment at the edge of the parking lot. It sat there for a few weeks. I remember a guy coming by with a Toyota Landcruiser, and stripping some parts off of it. And, naturally it got vandalized, and I think someone set fire to it, and after that it got hauled away.

Nowadays, I could definitely see someone restoring something like that over a first-gen Aurora. I think the Aurora is one of those cars where, if you really want one, you find one that's been lovingly maintained by an old lady that just gave up driving, or pops up in an estate sale. But probably NOT something to restore!

stickguy

the B GT was a traditional 3 door hatch. Shaped like a Jag E type coupe. a shooting brake is just a funny name for a station wagon (a 55 Nomad would be a shooting brake).

stickguy

passed a parked (seen it before in the same spot, guess it just lives in the road in front of a house) 1970-72 range Cutlass coupe. Blue with a tan top (vinyl). looks to be in fairly nice shape. That odd, very angular styled design. very coke bottle/fuselage.

texases

stickguy said:

the B GT was a traditional 3 door hatch. Shaped like a Jag E type coupe. a shooting brake is just a funny name for a station wagon (a 55 Nomad would be a shooting brake).

But they are 2 doors, right? I thought they were wagon-type vehicles based on sporty -type cars (at least in the '60s-'90s), not like a Nomad.

stickguy

well, a nomad was a 2 door with a wagoned off back. so style is there. Looks pretty similar to the pinnacle of the genre to me! though yes, it was a sporty coupe with a wagon back (there were actually some concept Camaro/Firebirds like that)

ab348

Nobody posted a pic of the actual car being discussed...

fintail

Another one from the 2012 folder, I think I recall posting this here back in the day. I spotted this clean 90s Park Avenue street parked in Cologne, Germany - not expected:

explorerx4

Maybe it parked there because of all the security cameras.

sda

From what I’ve read those models with the horrible black rubber bumpers had the ride height raised 3” to meet the Fed bumper standards and lost a sway bar which meant for awkward looking and poor handling car.

texases

It's a pretty common change to take them back to chrome bumper specs.

uplanderguy

RE.: Malibu Maxx--whenever I see a Venza I'm reminded of Malibu Maxx.

roadburner

sda said:

From what I’ve read those models with the horrible black rubber bumpers had the ride height raised 3” to meet the Fed bumper standards and lost a sway bar which meant for awkward looking and poor handling car.

The 1973 cars also were raised, and lost one SU carb.

roadburner

texases said:

It's a pretty common change to take them back to chrome bumper specs.

Funny thing, the Brit classic car magazine I subscribe to mentioned that the rubber bumper cars are increasing in popularity- go figure.

uplanderguy

Found this on FB...Cosworth Vega in dark green, very unusual although I can't say the green goes that great with the gold trim. Pretty neat engineering for the time; 2.0 liter EFI with dual overhead-cam. The engine itself was beautiful to look at. Virtually perfect handling and cornering per reviews of the day.

I love original cars like this one, but with under 300 miles, who'd want to drive it with any regularity?

I was very surprised to see on the window sticker photo the owner posted, it was bought five years ago from the original dealer, Dan Kightlinger Chevrolet in Cochranton, PA. That is a small town maybe 25 miles from where I grew up--I want to say it has only like 3,000 people. I don't remember a Chevy dealer there, but then, I remember most towns having a Chevy dealer. I even remember one in small-town Tionesta, PA with gas pumps out front. I remember Chevrolet advertising in 1971 that they had 6,300 U.S. dealers. I always considered that a plus when travelling, or if one dealer pissed you off, there was another in the next town. There are still two within ten miles of me now, although in 2009 the one (one-family owned since 1919) was shut down for three or four months by GM after dealings with the "auto czar", even though he'd sold more new cars than any other dealer in the county. After a letter-writing campaign by customers, he got his franchise back--but not after he'd lost some longtime employees, and some sales, grrrr.

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/95387723_520242538856497_3052072458539499520_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_sid=07e735&_nc_ohc=YNdEpeysF8oAX9Tdvez&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=b1ceb66717aa0c5ecf27525fd1dccff7&oe=5ED47905&dl=1

uplanderguy

RE.: MGB--my brother-in-law had a used one for a short time in the late '70's or early '80's I think. I remember the three little windshield wipers....one of which didn't move I'm thinking.

But I'd take that over the one windshield wiper my coworker's Scirocco had. I liked the wipe pattern, but how could it operate as quickly as two? Probably an unanswerable question.

I've heard that some AMC products had vacuum wipers up until 1970. Man, that's hard-to-believe.

andre1969

I happened to look over at the tv, after something I had playing on the DVR finished, and it want back to regular broadcast, and just happened to catch this, of all things...


It was an episode of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch". I didn't keep it on long though. I went channel surfing and this patriotic movie won out...

fintail

On the old pic/taxi theme, ran across this, Zurich, 2009. I recall posting this back in the day and lemko got a kick out of it - unexpected taxi. I remember when I saw this in person I was with a friend, who thought I was insane when I just had to take the pic:

explorerx4

The person in the brown coat looks like they are trying to decide if it's ok to get close.

explorerx4

Motorweek 1994 Alfa 164 review.
Radio had a touch screen function!
Could be my memory, but I don't remember anything like that back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daU4RiU_FpE

roadburner

explorerx4 said:

Motorweek 1994 Alfa 164 review.
Radio had a touch screen function!
Could be my memory, but I don't remember anything like that back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daU4RiU_FpE

The platform Alfa shared with Lancia and Saab; then-as now-I was not interested in FWD cars larger than a Civic.

uplanderguy

Drove about an hour north and east of me today to visit with social distancing, my friend who bought a '77 Seville from Indiana about a month ago. His parents had had two of this generation Seville. White with white top, no wire wheelcovers (yea!), and beautiful green cloth interior--quite unusual. Sun damage visible at top of rear seat, but he paid a very reasonable price for this car.

I like the size of these cars and I guess the 'character'. Simple styling ages best IMHO. They were designed by Bill Mitchell who grew up in my small hometown.

The car has been painted at some point, as there are no pinstripes on it which came with every car.

imidazol97

The upholstery is not showing green on my monitor. Very little green and mostly a soft gray blue.

uplanderguy

To my eyes it was a light turquoise, but he says they called it 'green'. That doesn't sound nearly dramatic enough for what Cadillac tended to call colors back then, LOL.

fintail

While looking through old pics, this one is relevant, Munich 2015. I remember posting this as well, as the car has incorrect fender badges:

uplanderguy

There's those '63 Stude-style rear doors, LOL! Curved side glass on the Seville though of course.

I have a better photo of the side of my friend's car, but he's in it, and I'll assume he doesn't want his pic on the 'net, LOL.

uplanderguy

That Seville you pictured, fin, is lacking the standard body side molding and "Seville" script on the front fender, as well as the standard pinstriping.

Ironically, my friend's has the "Seville" script but is lacking the "Fuel Injection" small emblem under it, which the pic you provided DOES show!

My friend was hoping to buy one with leather inside (which is the vast majority of them), but I love the cloth interior--different. The seating, with the exception of the top of the back seat, is in excellent condition, too--no stains, splits, shape is as-new, etc.

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

To my eyes it was a light turquoise, but he says they called it 'green'. That doesn't sound nearly dramatic enough for what Cadillac tended to call colors back then, LOL.

Nice car. I'm sure Cadillac did call it something much more erotic, like "Peppermint Rhapsody" or something like that It makes me think a bit of the light jadestone interior of my '82 Cutlass, but a bit lighter. Sometimes those really pale colors show up differently, on different screens, or even in different lighting.

Betty White had a '77 Seville that was a pale green. I believe it's on display at the AACA museum in Hershey. She actually drove her own car in an episode of "Mama's Family", and at various viewings I couldn't tell if the car was white, pale green, or pale blue. Here's a shot from the episode...



To me, it looks like a slightly off-white here at a quick glance. The longer I stare at it, the greener it looks, but I don't know if that's simply because, subconsciously, I know it's green.

uplanderguy

I've seen pics of Betty's old car too. It was what I'd call a pastel light "bathroom" green. I like it with the white top. She kept it many years, even after she'd had a newer-style Seville. She called the car "Parakeet".

In Nov. '76, when my parents got our '77 Impala, I remember a grocery kid (remember when they used to load your groceries in your car? Another thing that we took for granted that's considered anachronism today, sigh) said to me "Looks like a Seville!". The wheel openings are similar, as is the four-door roofline somewhat I think.

uplanderguy

Here's a pic or two of Betty's car and some correspondence from her about it. I like the color:

https://wonderfulworldofblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/antique-autos-part-2-mrs-whites.html

Ford's version, the Versailles, never did a single thing for me. At least Caddy hid the car's heritage much-better.

andre1969

I can just hear Vicki Lawrence in Mama drag right now showing "Ellen, get that car off my LAWN!!!"

And yeah, GM did a great job hiding the Nova heritage, on the Seville. Even the windshield and A-pillar areas were changed, and I've heard that's one of the more expensive areas to change on a car. As for the Versailles, I think it actually does look fairly nice, on its own. But the second you see what it's based on, the illusion of luxury is lost, and it can't be unseen. The Granada/Monarch were pretty sloppy handlers to begin with, so I'd imagine adding all that weight to make the Versailles made them even worse? The Nova, in contrast, was a pretty good handler.

I can really see the Seville influence on the midsized cars, when they started migrating to the more formal roofline for 1980. In profile, I think an '80-84 Cutlass, or '80-81 Century/'82-84 Regal, with their sloping rears, have an especially strong resemblance. But, the B/C bodies definitely seemed to have been influenced by it, with the '77 downsizing.

tjc78

You all know I'm a Lincoln nut, but the Versailles was not a good effort at all!!

The Fox Continental was way better, then IMO they flopped again with the FWD Taurus based model that replaced it.

I actually like the next generation and almost bought a used one once, but they were not known for being very reliable. It was a nice driving car, and powerful for it's time

ab348

Looks like the actual name is "Seamist Green", though I've never seen any sea mist that was green.

andre1969

Here's how that color looks on a '77 DeVille. https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0511-110796/1977-cadillac-coupe-deville/

uplanderguy

PS from an old post--we were talking not terribly long ago about George Costanza driving a Mercury Monarch in the parking garage episode of 'Seinfeld'. Just saw it--it was Kramer's dark brown '85'ish Ford LTD sedan. My memory was wrong.

Side note--tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the Kent State shootings in my town here. Just watched a C-SPAN show about it. I'll have to drive over to campus and look around today. It's a mie and a half or so from my house.

Jane Fonda, Joe Walsh, and David Crosby were originally scheduled to be here for the 50th commemoration. Fonda I could do without, LOL. Wife and I had actually talked about us possibly leaving town during it. Not worried about that now!

uplanderguy

Betty's green Seville--I'd seen talk of it being a 'special order paint code', but I thought I'd seen deVilles that color too.

With the white top Betty's has, I like the combo.

I've mentioned it before, but I could like a '77-79 Fleetwood. When it was current I thought the tapered B-pillar was dumb. I really like it now, LOL.

uplanderguy

Thanks for the color chips. Ah, the days of twenty-one color choices.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

PS from an old post--we were talking not terribly long ago about George Costanza driving a Mercury Monarch in the parking garage episode of 'Seinfeld'. Just saw it--it was Kramer's dark brown '85'ish Ford LTD sedan. My memory was wrong.

You got the episode wrong. You are correct in what you stated re. "The Parking Garage" episode. But the one with Frank Costanza's car getting trashed after George parks it in a handicap spot is called "The Handicap Spot", and it was indeed a Monarch:

imidazol97

Here is a page with the interior colors for 77. Is friend's Seville Light Blue or Dark Sage Green?

https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/colour_swatch_cadillac_1977

texases

"Medium Sage Green" Dover Cloth is listed in the Seville brochure:
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Cadillac/1977_Cadillac/1977_Cadillac_Seville_Brochure/1977 Cadillac Seville-08.html

uplanderguy

"Medium Sage Green" Dover Cloth is listed in the Seville brochure

Thanks. I don't trust aftermarket color chips or websites for colors, outside or in. "Medium Sage Green" it is!

Thanks, too, ab348 for the reminder of George's Monarch in the other episode.

kyfdx

I have no memory of this ZR-5 variant. One like this was parked on my street, recently

fintail

I recall the Mama's Family episode where Betty White takes Mama for a driving lesson in the Seville, and Mama crashes it. They didn't show the car IIRC, and I think I recall in later episodes that Betty's character's cheating husband bought her a new Seville to placate her.

Speaking of the Versailles, the update where they made the roofline more formal might have also been influenced by the Seville, or maybe just to differentiate it from the Granada. Versailles wasn't bad looking on its own, but if you knew what a Granada/Monarch looked like, it seemed pretty funny.

Fun Versailles memory - in 1988, when I was 11, a half-relative, a young woman who was getting out of a bad relationship stayed with my family for a few months, as my dad was a generous person, she needed a place to stay before she started a new job, and we had room. Her uncle had a car dealership a few towns over, and helped her get a car. I remember she loved Lincoln Mark Vs - he didn't have one of those, but he had a Versailles on the lot. It was a 78, loaded, and like a new car to my young eyes anyway - a low mileage estate car I suspect. It was loaded, leather, moonroof, 8-track, etc. He sold/gave her that car, and she loved it. It seemed like an extremely nice car to me, maybe as I liked the moonroof. It was a dark grey or black and kind of medium silver two tone, with a dark grey (IIRC) interior. This young woman was a free spirit kind of metal/rocker type, and wasn't easy on cars. I don't recall what happened to it, but less than a year later she had another car. I went with her to pick up the Versailles, and still remember riding with her that day, moonroof open on a sunny day, rock music of the era on the radio.

Brings back another fun memory, our neighbor then had a couple of young hot rodder sons, one car they built was a Vega with a loud V8. Our houseguest was friendly with them, and in an 80s metal style, had an idea that if they could have the Vega do a burnout on some jeans, it would look cool - tire tread design marks. I remember it actually kind of worked.

uplanderguy

I can't remember an S-10 like that either. I think that style in general looked better than the previous (first) S-10. There was a nice, deep aluminum polished wheel on a lot of them that looked good I think.

I'm not saying this looked good, just saying it was an original styling idea!--when they made a four-door S-10 Blazer (and Jimmy and Bravada), and the side window styling made it look like a two-door.

tjc78

That was the style S10 I had. Good little truck, with a really bad interior. Things we very flimsy and broke easily.

kyfdx

It doesn’t look as good in person...

fintail

My brother has a basic 95 S-10 (4 cyl/5-speed) with around 250K on it now. It has actually been pretty reliable, only needing consumables over the past several years.