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

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Worst car to have that lime green color (IMHO): '76 Impala or Caprice Landau coupe. Not a good-looking car to begin with; enormous; then paint it that screaming color; and the wheelcovers are that color!

Back in the late-70s our next door neighbors had the Impala version of that coupe in those colors.




I think I mentioned previously how I fell in love with a new '76 Firebird Esprit in Lime Green metallic with a white interior, over the top stripe, and Rally wheels at a Pontiac dealer in '76. Too bad I was in university and had no money.

Michaell

Sorry to take this thread away from the domestics, but I spotted something yesterday that is quite unique.

With the 25 year import rule in effect, folks are starting to bring in more JDM models. Here in Denver, I've spotted several RHD GT-R's from the early 90's; while I wouldn't say they are ubiquitous, I think too many folks are stuck on the "Fast & Furious" cars.

Last night, the wife was craving Arby's. As I pulled into the parking lot, I spotted a red Japanese coupe that was pretty popular, back in the day. When I pulled up behind it in the drive thru, the badging told me it was something special. When I pulled around it to leave (they had to wait for their order), I noticed it was RHD.

Toyota Celica GT-Four.

(I've got a picture from my phone, but I can't seem to get it posted)

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

I honestly quit paying attention to the Colonnades for '77, as at the time I couldn't figure why someone would want one of those over the new 'big' cars. I get it now, but then I was smitten with the big cars.

My guess would be that someone a bit more price-conscious would go for a Malibu sedan or wagon in '77 over an Impala/Caprice. Meanwhile, in coupes, buyers might have actually preferred the Malibu, which had more of that personal luxury coupe look that was so in vogue at the time. An Impala/Caprice coupe is a lot more practical, and great looking in their own way, but just don't have that personal luxury look.

You could get a 1977 Malibu Classic coupe with a 305, starting at $4245. And, if I'm reading the sales brochure right, the 305 had an automatic, standard. Oddly, the 250-6 isn't that much cheaper, at $4125, yet it came with a manual shift standard. That $120 difference seems pretty small to me.

Anyway, an Impala coupe started at $4996 for a 305, while the Caprice coupe started at $5307. So, even though the Impala/Caprice were paving the way to the future, the existing midsized cars still had a lot going for them, once you factored in the price.

Now if I was buying a new Chevy that year, and price wasn't the determining factor, I think I'd be tempted by an Impala. Even though the Caprice is furnished more nicely, I just prefer some details of the Impala, like the grille and such.

Where I'd really have trouble making the choice, would be if I was shopping at Pontiac. It would really be a hard call between the LeMans and the full-sized cars. Although even here, if I was going full-sized, I think I'd still take a fully-loaded Catalina over a Bonneville...I just like the grille and taillight treatment better. And, even though the LeMans is more outdated, I really love the style of them, and that might be just enough to sway me in that direction. With Chevy, even though I find the '77 Malibu attractive, it just doesn't grab me in the same way.

With Buick, I'd go with the LeSabre, over a Century or Regal. With Olds, if I wanted a sedan or wagon, I'd go with the Delta. But if I wanted a coupe, I could see myself going for a Cutlass Supreme. Although if finances really weren't a big deal, I could see myself splurging on an Electra or Ninety-Eight.

andre1969

Michaell said:

Sorry to take this thread away from the domestics, but I spotted something yesterday that is quite unique.

With the 25 year import rule in effect, folks are starting to bring in more JDM models. Here in Denver, I've spotted several RHD GT-R's from the early 90's; while I wouldn't say they are ubiquitous, I think too many folks are stuck on the "Fast & Furious" cars.

Last night, the wife was craving Arby's. As I pulled into the parking lot, I spotted a red Japanese coupe that was pretty popular, back in the day. When I pulled up behind it in the drive thru, the badging told me it was something special. When I pulled around it to leave (they had to wait for their order), I noticed it was RHD.

Toyota Celica GT-Four.

(I've got a picture from my phone, but I can't seem to get it posted)

Hell, no worries there, variety is the spice of life! Around these parts, I really don't see that many older Japanese cars...gray market or not.

Oh, and thanks...now I'm craving Arbys!

uplanderguy

I grew up Chevy as you all know, and I think there are times to my eyes that Chevys had the nicest styling of the divisions even though they were the most plentiful (although there's hardly a thing as a rare GM back then)--but I cannot justify the looks of that Caprice Landau, LOL!

uplanderguy

andre, I always liked the simple grille of the '77 Impala myself:

https://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/chevy/77ch/bilder/9.jpg

andre1969

Somehow, that '76 Impala/Caprice landau looks better in that limefire metallic than I thought it would. Also, interestingly, I googled various car/color combinations for '76, and I've seen Chevies in that color, a Bonneville coupe, a LeSabre, and even an Electra. But not one Delta 88 or Ninety-Eight.

If I google "1976 Delta 88 Lime", I see a picture of a '75, that's in a green that's a sort of washed out grayish-green, and I don't think is metallic. And a pic of a '72 in a limey color, with a white top, that doesn't look half bad. Probably a slightly different hue, though. But then everything else that shows up is either a Delta 88 in a different color, a lime Monte Carlo, a lime Impala, etc. Oddly, googling "1976 Delta 88 Green" doesn't show any green '76es, either...not lime nor the dark green. Ditto the Ninety-Eight.

I'm sure they're out there, but apparently green wasn't a popular color on a full-sized Olds in '76. Looking in the brochure though, in the page at the back where they show the big grid of all the models, they do show a Toronado and a Delta 88 Royale hardtop sedan in lime. The Toro has a landau roof and the Delta has a full white roof.

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Oldsmobile/1976_Oldsmobile/1976_Oldsmobile Full_Size_Brochure/1976 Oldsmobile Full Size-22-23.html

fintail

Speaking of colors, a friend was cleaning out some excess papers the other day, and for some reason thought I'd want this - 1975 MB factory color chart:

fintail

Quite a bit of JDM stuff showing up around here these days. As this is an area where quirky cars have long been popular, and a hipster element has also been around awhile, I see a bit of the funky stuff - sub-1 liter cars, little vans, etc. I know there are at least a few Toyota Sera in the era, maybe a Honda Beat, etc.

Vancouver, with Canada's more reasonable import laws, has tons of that stuff everywhere.

Michaell said:

Sorry to take this thread away from the domestics, but I spotted something yesterday that is quite unique.

With the 25 year import rule in effect, folks are starting to bring in more JDM models. Here in Denver, I've spotted several RHD GT-R's from the early 90's; while I wouldn't say they are ubiquitous, I think too many folks are stuck on the "Fast & Furious" cars.

Last night, the wife was craving Arby's. As I pulled into the parking lot, I spotted a red Japanese coupe that was pretty popular, back in the day. When I pulled up behind it in the drive thru, the badging told me it was something special. When I pulled around it to leave (they had to wait for their order), I noticed it was RHD.

Toyota Celica GT-Four.

(I've got a picture from my phone, but I can't seem to get it posted)

uplanderguy

Were the metallic MB colors optional at extra cost?

I don't recall optional colors on Chevys, anyway, until the 2000's and that irked me, LOL. I think I only ever had one Chevy with optional paint, and it was the black metallic on the wife's '11 Malibu because she wanted it.

Cadillac's "Firemist" colors in the '70's were optional at extra cost.

Michaell

fintail said:

Quite a bit of JDM stuff showing up around here these days. As this is an area where quirky cars have long been popular, and a hipster element has also been around awhile, I see a bit of the funky stuff - sub-1 liter cars, little vans, etc. I know there are at least a few Toyota Sera in the era, maybe a Honda Beat, etc.

Vancouver, with Canada's more reasonable import laws, has tons of that stuff everywhere.

Michaell said:

Sorry to take this thread away from the domestics, but I spotted something yesterday that is quite unique.

With the 25 year import rule in effect, folks are starting to bring in more JDM models. Here in Denver, I've spotted several RHD GT-R's from the early 90's; while I wouldn't say they are ubiquitous, I think too many folks are stuck on the "Fast & Furious" cars.

Last night, the wife was craving Arby's. As I pulled into the parking lot, I spotted a red Japanese coupe that was pretty popular, back in the day. When I pulled up behind it in the drive thru, the badging told me it was something special. When I pulled around it to leave (they had to wait for their order), I noticed it was RHD.

Toyota Celica GT-Four.

(I've got a picture from my phone, but I can't seem to get it posted)

As I've been WFH for over a decade, I don't get out very much. Haven't seen a lot of RHD JDM stuff other than the GT-R's. Perhaps being 1000 miles inland makes it more of a challenge to get that kind of vehicle here.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

I don't recall optional colors on Chevys, anyway, until the 2000's and that irked me, LOL. I think I only ever had one Chevy with optional paint, and it was the black metallic on the wife's '11 Malibu because she wanted it.

I was out in the ATS earlier and saw a current-gen Malibu in a very pretty dark blue metallic. I checked the website after I got home and they only show one blue, Northsky Blue Metallic. The rendering on the page didn't look much like what I saw, which was more vibrant that what shows on the screen.

uplanderguy

I like the lines and proportions of the current Malibu, although I've never ridden in one nor driven one. I'll have to check out that color.

stickguy

Sometimes colors change year to year so need to check every MY.

kyfdx

uplanderguy said:

Worst car to have that lime green color (IMHO): '76 Impala or Caprice Landau coupe. Not a good-looking car to begin with; enormous; then paint it that screaming color; and the wheelcovers are that color!

That's true. I can specifically remember that. Didn't translate.

uplanderguy

Now that the Impala's gone, I wish they'd put a chrome spear down the side on the Premier model of Malibu. It is very plain down the side, but at least it has the "MALIBU" lettering.

andre1969

I just tried to build a 2020 Malibu on the Chevy website, and they didn't even give me the option for blue! Wonder if they dropped it at some point during the model year? The only colors they offered were Cajun Red, Silver Ice, Summit White, Mosaic Black, Shadow Gray (which looks like it has a hint of blue in the CGI rendering on my monitor) and Black Cherry. So, now we are six.

But, I went on Cars.com and did a search, and it pulled up four dark blue 2020 Malibu LTs within 20 miles of my zipcode. One was 17 miles and the other 3 were 19.

The pickings in general were pretty slim...4 blue, 6 black, 6 gray, 4 red (most likely a mix of Cajun and Black Cherry), 5 silver, 2 white, all within a 20 mile radius, for a grand total of 27. I wonder if they're just in short supply because of the lockdown, or if that's a true reflection on them just not being popular any more? In comparison there's 108 Camrys, 152 Accords, 72 Altimas and, day-um, 287 Sonatas! Oh, and 23 Chargers and 5 300s. And there's still 15 Impalas showing up. None in blue, I might add.

I guess it won't be long before the domestic sedan is completely extinct! At least, in the more mainstream lineups. I could see Cadillac holding onto one or two of them for a bit longer. Not sure about Lincoln, though. And I'm sure the Charger/300 won't be around forever.

stickguy

Trim level specific maybe?

andre1969

stickguy said:

Trim level specific maybe?

Good catch! Yep, looks like was it. I was just going by what they showed on the front page. But once I started building one and I picked a nicer trim level, it added the colors of "Northsky Blue" and "Stone Gray". The "Stone Gray" makes me think of a light brown/driftwood/sandstone/etc, similar to my old '00 Park Ave or '88 LeBaron.

ab348

On my screen Northsky blue looks like it has a hint of teal to it which wasn't the case with the one I saw. I did check earlier model years and it could be an '18 which had a color called Blue Velvet. The screen image of it looked more like the one I saw. Malibus are rare in these parts anyway, and blue ones even more rare, so this was the first time I saw that shade in the flesh. Black, white silver and gray are all dealers here will order, and they order virtually no Malibus for stock.

fintail

I suspect so, yes. It's the same today for anything E-class and below - metallics are an extra cost option. Plain black and white are the only "free" colors.

uplanderguy said:

Were the metallic MB colors optional at extra cost?

I don't recall optional colors on Chevys, anyway, until the 2000's and that irked me, LOL. I think I only ever had one Chevy with optional paint, and it was the black metallic on the wife's '11 Malibu because she wanted it.

Cadillac's "Firemist" colors in the '70's were optional at extra cost.

fintail

I think the popularity of JDM imports has increased dramatically in the past few years, due to the cars being more interesting. A decade ago, a mid 80s car was eligible, not a lot of excitement there, but now a lot of the funny bubble era JDM stuff can finally come over.

Speaking of Japanese cars, was just out and saw a Mk IV Supra, red with a terrible looking gold (dealer applied, I presume) pinstripe and no spoiler, and a pre-facelift 90s NSX was pulling out of the garage in my building, someone just got a toy - never seen it before.

Michaell said:

As I've been WFH for over a decade, I don't get out very much. Haven't seen a lot of RHD JDM stuff other than the GT-R's. Perhaps being 1000 miles inland makes it more of a challenge to get that kind of vehicle here.

roadburner

I love that Cutlass; both it and the Regal were the prettiest GM intermediates of that era. I can't abide the white interior, unfortunately.

Michaell

roadburner said:

I love that Cutlass; both it and the Regal were the prettiest GM intermediates of that era. I can't abide the white interior, unfortunately.

Wouldn't have it matched the prospective owners shoes and belt?

ab348

White interiors are *outstanding*, especially as GM did them in that era by color-keying the dash, steering wheel and carpets to the paint color.

roadburner

Michaell said:

roadburner said:

I love that Cutlass; both it and the Regal were the prettiest GM intermediates of that era. I can't abide the white interior, unfortunately.

Wouldn't have it matched the prospective owners shoes and belt?

Now that you mention it...

uplanderguy

Where I grew up, that was the stereotype of Cadillac owners with either white interiors, or plaid cloth interiors. People who had Cutlass Supremes were often the young married professional types when I think back of who I knew who had them new.

sda

andre1969 said:

sda said:

That forest green is a little lighter that the color we had on mom’s 76 Cutlass Supreme wagon. It had a light tan with darker contrasting medium brown dash and carpet. I thought it looked sharp, just like this Cadillac.

I found this '76 Cutlass coupe for sale, in dark green...good LORD that's a gorgeous color!
https://buy.motorious.com/vehicles/111614/1976-oldsmobile-cutlass-supreme

If I could find a nice condition '76-77 LeMans in that color, I think I'd be tempted to swap mine out!

Yep, that’s it. I thought it was called forest green, but just looked it up, Dark Green Metallic. Depending on the light it would show a lot of metallic, looked really rich and just glistened. Sometimes it almost looked black.

imidazol97

The locals organized a cruise in honor of Gale Halderman (Mustang designer). An extroverted chap catches things on a GoPro from a motorized cart he rides. He has a collection of classic vehicles on the move in these videos.

Parade starts about 13 minutes in the first unless you want to see lots of chatter as he videos the parked cars.
Some people got confused on the route from a local high school to a small town then to the Halerman farm or something like that.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er44QE1osTE

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

imidazol97

ab348 said:

uplanderguy said:

Worst car to have that lime green color (IMHO): '76 Impala or Caprice Landau coupe. Not a good-looking car to begin with; enormous; then paint it that screaming color; and the wheelcovers are that color!

Back in the late-70s our next door neighbors had the Impala version of that coupe in those colors.




I think I mentioned previously how I fell in love with a new '76 Firebird Esprit in Lime Green metallic with a white interior, over the top stripe, and Rally wheels at a Pontiac dealer in '76. Too bad I was in university and had no money.

I remember the color keyed wheel covers. But this would be nicer with some kind of regular wheel cover without the color.

uplanderguy

I believe you could optionally get the wire wheelcovers, even on the Landau models of Impala and Caprice. I wouldn't normally say that'd be an improvement--but it would compared to lime green wheelcovers IMHO!

I was never a fan of the clipped front corners of '75 and '76 Caprices, and '76 Impalas (and '73 big Buicks, for that matter). It took visual length away in the age of long hood/short deck IMHO.

uplanderguy

Saw this for sale. OK, it's a big-bumper car, but I like the subdued color (no '70's disco greens!), and the GS option was primarily good mechanical stuff as I remember. I think the canopy vinyl roof option (whatever Buick called it) would have added some looks, but now, in an old car, I prefer no vinyl roof usually--no surprises lurking underneath.

The pics low in the link, showing the rear seat legroom--ridiculous in a car that size!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1973-Buick-Riviera-1973-Buick-Riviera-GS-Stage-1-455-Survivor-NO-RESERVE-/114255555336?fbclid=IwAR0RzPZXz4c3H0EexgMHwJQQv0nmqtd5OLFeuq7UVfwk5cSborji2QhoSyE

tjc78

ab348 said:

White interiors are *outstanding*, especially as GM did them in that era by color-keying the dash, steering wheel and carpets to the paint color.

Love white interior!

Lincoln did the white with the color keyed carpet, dash and wheel in the 80s

My current car is nearly white leather with black carpets and a black and white steering wheel. Tough to keep sometimes but I don’t regret it

ab348

The wife of my buddy who moved upcountry had one of those when I first met them in the mid-90s. Hers was also a '73 GS, burgundy metallic over dark red inside. I don't understand ordering a black interior with brown paint outside in that era, but whatever. I think hers did have the partial vinyl roof but I'm not sure. She sold it not long after I first met them. The buyer had a couple of '71/'72 Rivs already so that made 3 of them. Funnily enough, they hung around the old-car scene for a year or two after that with all 3 of them, then disappeared.

uplanderguy

Chevy called the color of that Riv, "Taupe Metallic" in '73; I remember it well. One-year-only color, at least at Chevy.

roadburner

This is about the maximum amount of white upholstery I can tolerate:

fintail

I've seen white or close to white interiors in some upmarket new cars. There's a 6er GC in my area with a white interior, I spot it now and then. MB offers a "porcelain" color which is also really close:



As I don't have devilspawn and I am fairly clean, I could deal with it. I'd rather have blue though.

For odd cars, saw a VW Thing out in the warm humidity yesterday.

benjaminh

I like this generation of Thunderbird, but I haven't seen one in a while....

Wheelbase 113 in
Length 205 in
Width 75.9 in

uplanderguy

'62. That's my favorite of those three years. The '63 I think they went to further extent to make it look like a bird with its wings tucked under in the doors.

For a pretty large car, that was a fairly short wheelbase IMHO.

sda

This picture has faded and doesn't do the Dark Green Metallic justice. This was our 76 Cutlass Supreme wagon. It had the third rear facing seat. I thought the front end was handsome.

sda

This was a fun car that I bought for $200, spent less than $75, and sold for $500 in 82
. It was a 65 Cutlass, 330 4bbl, buckets, factory console tach.

sda

This was the last car dad bought for himself before his eyesight became so poor he couldn't drive any longer. It was a good comfortable boring car. I did like the garnet red color.

Michaell

sda said:

This was the last car dad bought for himself before his eyesight became so poor he couldn't drive any longer. It was a good comfortable boring car. I did like the garnet red color.

When my wife was younger and her kids were very young, the Cutlass Ciera was her "dream" car.

She ended up getting a Tempo.

stickguy

I saw the engine and tach picture before getting to the shot of the 2 door '65, and thought it was really weird that a Cutlass wagon had "ultra high compression" and a tach!

ab348

Olds sold a ton of those '76 and '77 Cutlasses. Cutlass was the #1 seller in the US in '76, and Olds sold over 1 million units annually overall in '77 through '79. Hard to believe.

uplanderguy

When I look back at that T-Bird pic, it's a '61, not a '62. They are very close though.

uplanderguy

The '73 Riviera GS sold for $23,410, which seems healthy to me.

andre1969

For some reason, the hubcaps Olds used on those later Cutlass Cieras always caught my eye. While it's obvious they weren't alloy road wheels or anything that exotic, I thought they were still attractive, and looked like a fairly quality piece in an era where it seemed like most auto makers were making plastic wheelcovers look extra cheap on purpose, almost as if to force you into getting the alloys.

tjc78

sda said:

This was the last car dad bought for himself before his eyesight became so poor he couldn't drive any longer. It was a good comfortable boring car. I did like the garnet red color.

Whenever I see one of those I think of the movie Fargo

fintail

Ha, same here.

I liked those hubcaps too. I remember around the time I was in high school, someone in town had a new Ciera wagon, one of the last of its type, in what seemed like a fairly bright for the time gold with those hubcaps. I kind of secretly thought it was a nice looking car. I also liked Saturn wagons then, so there's that.

Speaking of base model hubcaps, sometimes they look good. My uncle had an early 86 Taurus L which had hubcaps - I always thought these looked futuristic and suited the car:



Base Euro first series (production starting late 1979) W126 had a similar hubcap, also found in modified form on later cars, I think these also have a modern look to suit the car: