Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!

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

1104910501052105410551276

Comments

  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 50,382
    edited December 2020
    Well, that didn’t work. Will have to post picture later from my laptop.

    2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.

  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 16,747
    kyfdx said:

    Next church: High School through young adult
    Same church, two views. Not as pretty as the first one.. lol

    Well, even low-scale churches down there tend to out-class what we have in Alaska. Things here are very utilitarian. :D

    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100, 1976 Ford F250
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,669
    edited December 2020
    @kyfdx - Small world! I grew up 2 miles away from it.
  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 50,382
    Church from my home town. Built I think around 1970 so could explain the mid century modern look. I can't find a picture of the front doors but it has a serious Frank Lloyd Wright vibe to it.

    image

    2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.

  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 234,725
    texases said:

    @kyfdx - Small world! I grew up 2 miles away from it.

    I'm only 12 miles away from there, now.. ;)

    Edmunds Price Checker
    Edmunds Lease Calculator
    Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!

    Edmunds Moderator

  • jwm40517jwm40517 Member Posts: 284
    kyfdx, Second Presbyterian on East Main. Our Lions club has met there several times in recent years when our regular spot was unavailable. Nice meeting room and a huge commercial kitchen .
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 19,204
    Our church is doing an expansion. If you go full screen on the video, you can see the animator should have updated to more current vehicles.
    I like how some of the outside walls(locally sourced from the farmers fields) have been brought inside.
    https://youtu.be/-MQ36cIyjq8
    2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,122
    edited December 2020
    kyfdx said:

    ab348 said:

    ^^^ I thought that was an office park/shopping mall.

    It actually used to be an HQ. which was a Home Depot clone (before Home Depot).

    It’s been added on to and expanded in the last 20+ years, though.
    Don't forget BS, Builders Square, owned by Walmart.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 234,725

    Saw a great car a couple weeks ago. It had been out for a road cruise and then showed up at the informal cruise in locals held for a beautiful Saturday.

    kyfdx said:

    ab348 said:

    ^^^ I thought that was an office park/shopping mall.

    It actually used to be an HQ. which was a Home Depot clone (before Home Depot).

    It’s been added on to and expanded in the last 20+ years, though.
    Don't forget BS, Builders Square, owned by Walmart.
    Our church’s location in Florence is in a re-purposed Builders Square.

    Edmunds Price Checker
    Edmunds Lease Calculator
    Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!

    Edmunds Moderator

  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 234,725
    jwm40517 said:

    kyfdx, Second Presbyterian on East Main. Our Lions club has met there several times in recent years when our regular spot was unavailable. Nice meeting room and a huge commercial kitchen .

    Yup.. beautiful building.

    Edmunds Price Checker
    Edmunds Lease Calculator
    Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!

    Edmunds Moderator

  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 17,288
    The church I attended up to 1991- the main sanctuary on the left was built in 1970. I drove my dad's Bronco up the front steps after a heavy snow when the police were at the other end of town. One officer in particular didn't like the kids that hung around town and it drove him nuts that he couldn't prove I did it...



    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive

  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 17,288
    1991-2005:

    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive

  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 17,288
    edited December 2020
    2005-present- we no longer attend this main campus, since we attend the campus that just opened in our home county- services are currently held in a middle school.


    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive

  • omarmanomarman Member Posts: 2,702

    The church I attended up to 1991- the main sanctuary on the left was built in 1970. I drove my dad's Bronco up the front steps after a heavy snow when the police were at the other end of town. One officer in particular didn't like the kids that hung around town and it drove him nuts that he couldn't prove I did it...



    until now. :)
    A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    edited December 2020
    My family were not avid churchgoers - my dad didn't care, and my mom came from a somewhat old school Catholic background, went to Catholic school, but apparently didn't like it, as it was never even discussed for her own children.

    I have a connection to something local, a prior archbishop of Spokane is in my family tree. As this area boomed at the turn of the (20th) century, many churches were built - some not fancy, some maybe a little overdone. The main Catholic church here is this fancy thing:

    image

    And to relate it to cars, that particular archbishop was one who took the vows of poverty seriously, living a minimalist life and as far as I know, never having owned a car.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    That reminds me. We got married in a tiny Catholic church in nearby Peninsula, OH in 1989. We had 77 guests and the church was full. I was raised in a Methodist church (formerly Evangelical United Bretheren before the 1968 merger with Methodist), and my Dad never went. The priest who married us asked if there was a Catholic church in my hometown. I said 'yes, why?'. He wanted my parents to meet with the priest there before we got married. Our town was small enough that even though we weren't Catholic, my family knew who the Catholic priest in town was. My Dad always said he didn't like him--pushy in dealing with him I guess at the post office, and drove a M-B (!) which irked my Dad as to that "vow of poverty" thing. I told our priest that there was no way my Dad would do that. He acquiesced.

    The priest who married us drove a low-line K car, which was subsequently stolen.

    Here's the church we got married in. The name of the church is "Mother of Sorrows" which is not lost on me and I've kidded my wife about it once or twice over the years:


  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    fin, check this pic the Stude Museum posted today--Egbert's Avanti with Halibrands that I posted a 2009 photo or two of on the "Postwar Studebakers" page the other day, but look what's behind it. Apparently an exec was driving it, to have that parking space.

    The Administration Building in South Bend, late summer '63:



    Boy, JFK was still president; Studebaker was still building cars in the U.S., Vietnam hadn't really escalated yet, and the Beatles hadn't hit the U.S. yet. All set to change within a few short months of this photo.

    As Bob Seger said, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then".

  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 19,204
    A couple of days ago I saw the back of a full size woodie Cherokee in garage on the next street that was being started up.
    Yesterday I saw it driving around, beautiful shape, dark blue with a CT 'Save the Sound' plate 'HTTRSS'(Pamlico not Long Island?)
    Today, a Lime Rock Edition M3(hard to miss those!).
    2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    Pretty cool pic, with the Halibrand Avanti and what's behind it, which appears to be the same color as my car. By the placement of a few small details, that fintail could be a pre-63 model (which may explain the whitewall width unfamiliar to me, replacement tires). The waning days of Camelot, perhaps.

    Did the building really have an enormous flag, or was the image retouched, as was commonly added on period postcards?

    fin, check this pic the Stude Museum posted today--Egbert's Avanti with Halibrands that I posted a 2009 photo or two of on the "Postwar Studebakers" page the other day, but look what's behind it. Apparently an exec was driving it, to have that parking space.

    The Administration Building in South Bend, late summer '63:

    Boy, JFK was still president; Studebaker was still building cars in the U.S., Vietnam hadn't really escalated yet, and the Beatles hadn't hit the U.S. yet. All set to change within a few short months of this photo.

    As Bob Seger said, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then".

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,638
    Oh,
    fintail said:

    And to relate it to cars, that particular archbishop was one who took the vows of poverty seriously, living a minimalist life and as far as I know, never having owned a car.

    That got me thinking...can't remember if I mentioned this or not. The reverend who did the services at my grandmother's funeral in 2015 was driving a 2005 or so Nissan Altima, fairly basic model that was missing one of its plastic hubcaps. While not exactly a vow of poverty, it gave me a higher level of respect for him, for being modest and down to earth. I used to go to that church as a kid, but probably quit soon after I graduated high school in 1988. The reverend back then was driving a fairly new RWD Caddy DeVille or Fleetwood/Brougham.

    I don't know what kind of salary the average Methodist reverend pulls down, but this church never had a huge congregation...maybe 100-150 people. I couldn't imagine that these reverends' only job was working for the church. It's not like our congregation was exactly the moneyed sort. I guess it's also possible that they had working spouses as well, bringing in income.

    In college, I went to a church that was next to the University of Maryland, and had a larger congregation. Still, the reverend they had, when I first started going, was a middle-aged guy with a beard, who acted younger than he was. But while some people can't pull that off and just look desperate, this guy was kinda cool. He drove a first-gen Acura Integra...nice, but not fleecing-the-flock nice. He was replaced by a lady reverend, who was then replaced by another. I can't remember what they were driving, but both cars were modest. I think one of them was a Nissan Pulsar, one of those odd versions that had some kind of add-on to the back that made it look like a stubby little wagon.

  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,669

    A couple of days ago I saw the back of a full size woodie Cherokee in garage on the next street that was being started up.
    Yesterday I saw it driving around, beautiful shape, dark blue with a CT 'Save the Sound' plate 'HTTRSS'(Pamlico not Long Island?)
    Today, a Lime Rock Edition M3(hard to miss those!).

    Would that be a Grand Wagoneer? I didn't think they did woody Cherokees.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 19,204
    @texases,
    Yes, Meant Grand Wagoneer.
    2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    There was a woody Cherokee in a way, the XJ-based Wagoneer (not "Grand"), seen as the Tom Hanks/Carrie Fisher family car in The 'Burbs:

    image

    image
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    edited December 2020
    Those modular Pulsars are probably a minor collectible now, if they have the breadvan-style wagon attachment. Seldom-seen even when new.

    I don't recall any church leader cars when I was younger, as I never really knew any church leaders. I recall when I was a kid, there was a Methodist church down the street (a kind of cool looking 50s A-frame style thing that was probably hip and with-it when new), and one of the members there had a then-late model BMW E23 7er - for some reason, it seemed very exotic to me, as I was in a small town and such things were rare. I remember riding my bike over and admiring the car several times.

    andre1969 said:



    In college, I went to a church that was next to the University of Maryland, and had a larger congregation. Still, the reverend they had, when I first started going, was a middle-aged guy with a beard, who acted younger than he was. But while some people can't pull that off and just look desperate, this guy was kinda cool. He drove a first-gen Acura Integra...nice, but not fleecing-the-flock nice. He was replaced by a lady reverend, who was then replaced by another. I can't remember what they were driving, but both cars were modest. I think one of them was a Nissan Pulsar, one of those odd versions that had some kind of add-on to the back that made it look like a stubby little wagon.

  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,669
    Yeah, I had the XJ Cherokee Chief, thought about the Wagoneer version, wasn't worth it to me. But the old big Cherokee was the same vehicle as the Grand Wagoneer, too. Early badge engineering.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    RE.: If the flag in the Studebaker Administration Building was real or not--good question.

    Here's a photo taken of the building on Oct. 8 of this year and the flagpole is visible.

    The Stude Museum has the company negatives from the photographic department. I love color pics of the late fifties/early sixties, as there don't seem to be a whole lot of them. Lots and lots of older B&W factory photos up to the early fifties it seems. I would've been ready to start kindergarten soon when the pic was taken, and I do have a couple foggy memories of that summer.

    Well, can't copy the current-day pic here, but here's a link:

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10218556613243394&set=p.10218556613243394&type=3

    A good friend of mine used to take tours of the Stude plant in South Bend in the early sixties with his older cousin. There used to be a little diner place called "The Toasty Shop" about half-a-block east of the Administration Building. He said he saw Egbert sitting at the counter drinking coffee and reading the paper. He was too shy to approach him, which is hard to believe now, LOL. Hard to imagine a CEO today stopping at a local joint and drinking coffee at the counter. Everything would be catered to his office I'm sure.
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 18,979
    edited December 2020
    fintail said:


    I don't recall any church leader cars when I was younger, as I never really knew any church leaders. I recall when I was a kid, there was a Methodist church down the street (a kind of cool looking 50s A-frame style thing that was probably hip and with-it when new), and one of the members there had a then-late model BMW E23 7er - for some reason, it seemed very exotic to me, as I was in a small town and such things were rare. I remember riding my bike over and admiring the car several times.

    My only memory of church-related cars was from when I was in junior high in 1968-'70. Our school was located next to a Catholic convent (are there any other kinds?) and a chain-link fence separated the schoolyard from the convent's rear parking lot. The nuns acquired a new convent car that year, a '69 Dodge Polara sedan, plain-jane, gold metallic. I presume they used it to fetch supplies and perhaps when they needed to visit the archdiocese.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    I'd say this group has an above-average percentage of guys who grew up going to church, among car guys! LOL
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,122

    RE.: If the flag in the Studebaker Administration Building was real or not--good question.

    Here's a photo taken of the building on Oct. 8 of this year and the flagpole is visible.

    The Stude Museum has the company negatives from the photographic department. I love color pics of the late fifties/early sixties, as there don't seem to be a whole lot of them. Lots and lots of older B&W factory photos up to the early fifties it seems. I would've been ready to start kindergarten soon when the pic was taken, and I do have a couple foggy memories of that summer.

    Well, can't copy the current-day pic here, but here's a link:

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10218556613243394&set=p.10218556613243394&type=3

    A good friend of mine used to take tours of the Stude plant in South Bend in the early sixties with his older cousin. There used to be a little diner place called "The Toasty Shop" about half-a-block east of the Administration Building. He said he saw Egbert sitting at the counter drinking coffee and reading the paper. He was too shy to approach him, which is hard to believe now, LOL. Hard to imagine a CEO today stopping at a local joint and drinking coffee at the counter. Everything would be catered to his office I'm sure.

    Here's the current day STudebaker pic...

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    Thanks!
  • MichaellMichaell Moderator Posts: 239,544

    I'd say this group has an above-average percentage of guys who grew up going to church, among car guys! LOL

    I went to the parochial elementary school across the street from the church.

    The priests shared a couple of cars - I think one of them was a Nova. I used to play golf with a couple of the priests, and one of them also played raquetball.

    (and, before anyone jumps in, I was not subject to nor aware of any abuses, and I was an altar boy)

    Edmunds Price Checker
    Edmunds Lease Calculator
    Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and let us know! Post a pic of your new purchase or lease!


    MODERATOR

    2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4

  • sdasda Member Posts: 6,920
    edited December 2020
    I recall two cars that were driven by our church ministers. In New Orleans, 1973, a white faded 67 Chrysler New Yorker. I had a ride in it a couple of times as the minister's wife would take church class on a field trip. She never used the a/c and the New Yorker always seemed hard to start. The second was when we were in Knoxille, around 1980. The minister drove a decently clean two tone, dark blue bottom, white top, 2 dr Pontiac Star Chief.

    2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    edited December 2020
    Looks like it might have had an enormous flag. Fun. The present-day building looks a little worse for wear, but maybe not beyond redemption - you'd just need $$$$$$ to revive it.

    I suspect the worker to CEO pay ratio was as wildly different when Egbert was around as "leadership" attitudes and entitlements as a whole.

    Another church related car memory - when I was in middle school, we lived a few blocks from a Catholic chuirch and school, which had a large paved lot where I'd ride my bike and practice "moves" (before skate or bike parks were a thing in this region). Someone at the school had a Crown Victoria glasstop, grey and white IIRC. It was frequently parked on the street next to the school, I admired it - that was in maybe 1989.



    Here's a photo taken of the building on Oct. 8 of this year and the flagpole is visible.

    The Stude Museum has the company negatives from the photographic department. I love color pics of the late fifties/early sixties, as there don't seem to be a whole lot of them. Lots and lots of older B&W factory photos up to the early fifties it seems. I would've been ready to start kindergarten soon when the pic was taken, and I do
    have a couple foggy memories of that summer.

    Well, can't copy the current-day pic here, but here's a link:

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10218556613243394&set=p.10218556613243394&type=3

    A good friend of mine used to take tours of the Stude plant in South Bend in the early sixties with his older cousin. There used to be a little diner place called "The Toasty Shop" about half-a-block east of the Administration Building. He said he saw Egbert sitting at the counter drinking coffee and reading the paper. He was too shy to approach him, which is hard to believe now, LOL. Hard to imagine a CEO today stopping at a local joint and drinking coffee at the counter. Everything would be catered to his office I'm sure.

  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 17,288
    edited December 2020

    I'd say this group has an above-average percentage of guys who grew up going to church, among car guys! LOL

    The pastor at my childhood church drove a '60s VW Beetle and a Cordoba in the '70s. My pastor at the second church was a car nut but drove mostly older trucks and sedans.
    The Senior Pastor at my current church has a older Pilot and an F-150. The pastor at the campus where we attend has a newer Frontier and a Wrangler TJ- both manuals. His wife has a minivan, I forget the make/model.

    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive

  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 50,382
    I didn't actually go, but my family belonged and my mother was somewhat active doing stuff. So would be there on occasion, and in HS I got part time work cleaning up, etc.

    I do recall one female minister at that time that had a yellow Camaro(gen 2) 6 cylinder with a manual trans. I did like that. Though I recall it already had rusted out rear fenders. In those days, where they used salt, you would see that on many cars by the time they were 5-6 years old.

    Actually I think she had 2. Maybe an older one that rusted but replaced by a newer one.

    I was mostly impressed she was driving a manual trans.

    2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    The president of Studebaker, Sherwood Egbert, made $125K a year starting when he signed on in 1961, and supposedly he had a five-year contract, although was let go Nov. 25, 1963, three days after JFK was assassinated. People, I've read, thought that pay was outrageous, LOL.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    Went to Greenville, PA to put a wreath on my parents' graves today and saw this Gen 1 Aurora on Main St., in front of something being redone with a new facade, next to Greenville Dry Cleaning. Greenville I kid is always-behind-the-times, so I would see a car like this there today--I bet I haven't seen such a clean one of those in a decade or more where I live. I always liked this style and didn't like the looks of the next-gen Aurora.

    I drove past the old Filer Studebaker-MB garage, which I knew had been bought by the Greenville Water Authority. Was it depressing--all doors and windows boarded over. They are probably storing equipment inside and don't want prying eyes to see.
  • sdasda Member Posts: 6,920
    edited December 2020
    Mom had a 98 Aurora in the champagne color, all options including autobahn except bose. She loved that car and named it 'Champagne Lady'. Very nice interior with generous leather and real wood. Unfortunately it fell to the dreaded blown head gasket issue in 2013 at 105k. It was given to my sister who had a used engine installed and her sons drove it another 3 years. Mom now has a CR-V.

    2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,072
    Today he'd have made 30x more than that, adjusted for inflation, while the actual workers would probably make less with the same adjustment.

    The president of Studebaker, Sherwood Egbert, made $125K a year starting when he signed on in 1961, and supposedly he had a five-year contract, although was let go Nov 25, 1963, three days after JFK was assassinated. People, I've read, thought that pay was outrageous, LOL.

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    Considering Greenville is definitely rust-central, I'm amazed how nice that Aurora looked. Silver is blah IMHO; I remember a nice light green metallic on them paired with a dark green leather inside that was my favorite combo on them.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,638

    Considering Greenville is definitely rust-central, I'm amazed how nice that Aurora looked. Silver is blah IMHO; I remember a nice light green metallic on them paired with a dark green leather inside that was my favorite combo on them.

    Uplander, is this the color you're thinking of?


    In looking around, it looks like the Aurora came in two similar shades back then. I think this one was called "light teal". There was also an "Adriatic blue", which leaned a bit more towards blue than green, depending on your eyesight. And probably the light/shadow you view it in.

    If I was in the market for a '95-99 Aurora and could have my pick of any color, it would be that light teal. It makes me think of GM's Light Jadestone of 1982 vintage.

    I'm pretty sure those colors were offered on other GM cars at that time, at least I can picture a 1995-99 Riviera in a light blue/green. But it seems like it wasn't that common, outside of the Aurora.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    That's the color. I can't recall a GM car other than the Aurora and Riviera that offered that light teal color then. We've talked about this before, but a '99 bright green color (looked like spring grass) was available on the minivans and I know I've at least seen one Park Avenue that color, but it would've looked awful on an Aurora or Riviera. I tried to lobby my wife on that bright green on our '99 Venture (still the most expensive new vehicle I've ever owned), but what she said about that green couldn't be printed here! We got a navy blue that people mistook for black.

    My '81 Monte Carlo was light jade over dark jade two-tone, and I thought it was striking. The upper color did look like that Aurora. My '82 was solid dark jade, not nearly as attractive. The interior color, might've been called Jade also, was nice in cloth. A couple years later, on the Monte Carlo anyway, on two-tones the dark color was on top and the light on bottom (after Jade was no longer offered), and my Dad and I both agreed dark should've been kept as the bottom color.
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 18,979
    It seemed that quite a few 1st-gen Auroras were painted those light metallic shades - champagne, silver, teal, green. Also saw more than a few white ones, not so many dark shades on them.

    My former boss bought a used one but only kept it for a short time. For a large FWD car it had surprisingly little interior room.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    My former boss bought a used one but only kept it for a short time. For a large FWD car it had surprisingly little interior room.

    Sorry, for some reason when I hit 'bold', nothing is happening.

    I remember the mags almost unanimously complaining about that. Curves and swoopy lines cut into room for sure, and I think I remember reading the console was bigger than it needed to be. Ford found that all out with the '83 Thunderbird, as modern as it seemed, was no match for interior space as the boxy GM intermediates were. I do remember thinking the Taurus was roomy though.

    I think I could appreciate a '95-99 Riviera. Weirdo that I am, I'd look for one with cloth seating and bench seating with fold-down armrest. I'd look for one without the supercharger too, although I think at some point in the run that choice went away. I like the car until I get to that tapered tail, ugh.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    RE.: That October 2020 photo of the old Studebaker Administration Building--somehow ironic and also representative of the times, that the little POS car (Daewoo?) is in front of the building now. Faded glory indeed.

    I took three tours of the building, first in 1990 and last in 2018. It was occupied by the South Bend School Corp. (I think), the first couple times. It's been empty for several years and the last tour, it was rough inside--peeling paint, no heat or A/C of course, evidence of homeless in a place, maybe two. Lots of wood and marble still in the executive suite. Sigh.
  • tjc78tjc78 Member Posts: 15,817
    My Uncle bought one of the first Auroras in the that exact same color combo above. Garaged, babied and barely driven it’s entire life.

    When he passed away a few years back it had all of 14K miles sitting on the OEM tires.

    My cousin took it as part of the will and wanted to drive it awhile. It needed so much. Tires, brakes, and every hose was the first job. He serviced the AC and drive it about 10k miles fixing a few more things along the way.

    It eventually had one of the Northstar kisses of death (can’t remember exactly) and he gave it to his friend, a GM master mechanic. He gave the car all its needs and it is his runabout car at his place near Key West FL. I still don’t think it has 30k miles.

    2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve

  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 17,288
    The first Aurora was one of two big FWD cars I really liked- the other being the 1967 Toronado.

    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,026
    edited December 2020
    It took me a long time to like the first Toronados. I always thought the car was too large for the styling. I've come to appreciate the '66-67, but the '68-69 I still don't care for. I like the '67 Eldorado; more conservative styling with about the same engineering as the Toro.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 19,204
    My wife looked at the Aurora and the SHO. Aurora was about 7k more expensive. She ended getting the SHO(her choice).
    2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,638
    One of my coworkers had a first-gen Aurora. I think it was light teal. She let me drive it once. I have to confess, I felt just a bit let down when I actually drove it. I know this might sound contradictory, but I guess I just thought it would feel bigger inside, and handle better than it did. GM did have a bad habit though, with a lot of their FWD cars, of making them handle like much bigger cars. I think it was a side effect of trying to give them that "big car ride".

    It wasn't enough to turn me off to the car, but I guess it still wasn't quite the experience I thought it would be. Handling-wise, about the best way to describe it would be if you took my Grandmom's '85 LeSabre, which we still had at the time I drove this Aurora, and put 70-series tires on it.

    As for first-gen Toronados, I know a lot of people prefer the '66-67 because it's the purest of the design, but I like the '68-69. To me it just seems a bit more filled out and muscular, but still looking upscale. In a way, when the Aurora first came out, I thought of it as a bit of a 4-door Toronado, in spirit and marketing position. A "personal luxury sedan", if you will. Say, an Oldsmobile Seville.
Sign In or Register to comment.