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

andre1969

One thing I thought I'd mention, about those EPA estimates I posted, those are the old, raw, laboratory numbers, so they're not directly comparable to the EPA numbers you see on cars today. IIRC, they started adjusting the numbers downward in 1985 to make them better reflect real world driving conditions. And then, around 2007 or so, they revised them down again.

Just to show how optimistic those old numbers are...my old 2000 Intrepid was rated at 20/29. When the new standards came out, it was downgraded to 18/27. But I downloaded the raw laboratory numbers one time (an excel file from the EPA's website), and they showed something like 24/37!

benjaminh

Not sure this is considered a classic, but this guy has gotten over 800,000 miles on his original engine in his 2003 Accord V-6 coupe with the manual transmission. He only changes his oil every 15,000 miles, using Mobil 1. Works as a courier, which is why the miles are so high. Although the engine is original, almost everything else mechanical has been replaced in the car, including the transmission and clutch at 300k.



Here's a test Mobil did of doing 15k intervals with oil changes, taking a car from 117k to 237k, and it seemed to work out okay.

https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/about-us/mobil-1/mobil-1-performance-motor-oil/honda-accord-motor-oil-results

andre1969

Wow, 800K is really impressive. I have a cousin who worked as a courier for awhile. He used a 2000 or so Ford Ranger, and I know he racked up the miles on it, but I forget what its final tally was. All I know is that it seemed like a lot of driving and wear and tear, but for not a lot of money. And I'm sure using a Ranger killed him when it came to pay the fuel bill!

ab348

On the Colonnade LeMans subject, here is one that sold for what seems like a fair price given its condition and equipment. There are pics of the trunk here which illustrate the size. I remember trying to put a moving box in mine and not being able to close the lid.

https://www.justmusclecars.com/1976-vehicle-pontiac-lemans-c-133.htm

Also, something I've never seen before. I know GM referred to the term "colonnade" when the '73 A-bodies came out, but never realized they also used the term for the '74 intro of the big cars:

uplanderguy

I wonder if those wheels were indeed available on that car, although they look great, especially with the color of the car.

Boy, the Grand LeMans/Grand Prix instrument panel is sure more impressive than the base LeMans dash.

I always liked the exterior of the '73, '74, and '76 Monte Carlo, and the '76 Malibu Classic, but the instrument panel is downright embarrassing compared to the Grand Prix.

RE.: 800K miles....I'm looking at an HEIC image (which I can't post here for some reason) of a Gen 1 Cruze odometer with 754653 miles. I think it was original engine, but not original trans, but I'm just not sure. It's from Jan. 2021. I sent it to my daughter saying that I expected her to get that kind of mileage out of hers!

andre1969

Wow, shows how bad my memory is! Admittedly, it's been awhile since I've opened the trunk of my '76, but for some reason I'm remembering the spare tire being off-set more, toward the driver's side. At least, whenever I'd take it to a car show, I'd always have to position the beer cooler to the right of the spare, at a bit of an angle, and tilt it just a bit, with a towel over it, and the trunk would just close down on it, without scuffing the cooler or the bottom of the trunk lid.

For some reason, I'm thinking those snowflake wheels didn't come out until 1977, but could be wrong. I think '77 was also the year you could get the Rally 2 wheels in body-color, rather than just the typical blackout.

I've always liked the style of the dash of the more basic LeMans. It just has a slim, sleek look to it that I like. Unfortunately though, it seems like they're more prone to cracking than the Grand Prix dash. Maybe it's because there's more horizontal surface exposed to the Sun, compared to the Grand Prix style? Also, that plastic surround that houses the gauges, left duct, and the HVAC controls, looks a bit cheap and unfinished.

I didn't realize that GM used the term "Colonade" with any of their big cars, either. I've always said that the '74-76 B-O-P hardtop coupes seemed like a combination of "Colonade" and "true hardtop", but that's the extent of the association I ever put between that word and the big cars.

uplanderguy

That's an interesting video ab348, thanks for posting. I about lived at a Chevy dealership then and I never heard it mentioned in the '74 full-size advertising nor saw it on window stickers, unlike the '73 Chevelles, which I distinctly remember the window stickers saying "Chevelle Colonnade Hardtop Coupe" or "Chevelle Colonnade Hardtop Sedan", with a section below that said "Deluxe L6", "Deluxe V8", "Malibu L6", "Malibu V8", or "Laguna V8". The brochures used "Colonnade" under photos as well.

I don't nearly mind those three-window '74 Pontiac, Olds, and Buick two-door rooflines with all four windows down. It's with the windows up and the separation between front and rear windows that I get that three-window look which bothers me a little. But it did give the customer a roll-down rear window, a plus over the pillared Chevy and Grand Ville, Ninety Eight, and Electra coupes for '75 and '76.

andre1969

I always thought it was a bit interesting that, if you were still a fresh air fanatic and wanted a big coupe in '75, you had to go with the cheapest GM had to offer, the Impala Sport Coupe, if you wanted to maximize your roll-down window area. The Custom Coupe and Caprice coupe were stationary-window by that time. While the Catalina/Delta 88/LeSabre were still hardtop coupes, their roll-down windows were notably smaller than the Impala. And of course, the Bonneville/Grand Ville, Ninety-Eight, Electra, and Cadillacs were all stationary.

In some respects, that annoys me in the sense that you're paying more to get less function, but to be fair hardtop coupes were beginning to fall from favor, and the personal luxury look was all the rage. And the more likely a car was to have air conditioning, the less need there was for a roll-down rear window. And buyers who needed regular use of the back seat were opting more and more for 4-doors. So, a roll-down window in a coupe just became less of a necessity.

ab348

Talking about A/C in cars, and the standard LeMans dash: my '77 LeMans did not have A/C, as was typical back then for cars here. On such cars, the air vent on the far left of the dash was replaced with an on/off lever that controlled fresh air coming in through the center vents on the dash. I believe the A/C vent on the far right was a dummy, but don't hold me to that.

sda

Where I tend to gravitate and prefer Olds over Pontiac, I do like the dashboard in either the LeMans or Grand Prix over the similar year Cutlass (73-77). The Olds dash isn't very attractive and looks cheap in comparison. I especially like the GP dash with full gages that include a tach.

andre1969

I don't mind the '77 update of the Cutlass dash, but I didn't care for the round vents on the earlier version, or the way the dash surround has those peaks, at the midpoint of the gauges and those round vents. When they smoothed it out for '77, and gave it more "normal" horizontal vents for '77, I thought that was nice.

Something about the round gauges and vents, and the peaks, made me think of a throwback to the '60s, and just seemed a bit out of place on this car.

I think the Buick Century/Regal had a nice dash design, too, but overall, I think the Grand Prix dash was the best. And the Chevelle/Monte Carlo was my least favorite. I just don't care for the area around the gauge cluster, but also, with the way it seems so upright and bulky on the passenger side, with that little glovebox opening at the bottom. I just hate wasted space like that.

Still, you gotta give GM credit for basically having five different dash designs for their intermediates. In contrast, Ford was only using one, as did Mopar. They might have changed some materials and details here and there, but it was still just one dash.

uplanderguy

Something that always made me scratch my head about the Cutlass dash, at least the earliest years of the '73-77 iteration, was the clock down at the bottom of the panel on the driver's side. What's up with that?! LOL

Dumb instrument location always irritates me. Chevy was the king of that with its console-mounted gauges on '66 Caprices and various Camaros and Novas. And I'm going to speak sacrilege and include the hood-mounted tach on Pontiacs. Puts a lump there and puts the instrument actually outside the car!

uplanderguy

andre, you mentioned the '75 Impala Sport Coupe. I always thought that was a simple, conservative, elegant design. For some reason, I wanted a beige one with dark vinyl top. 50/50 seats in the brown herringbone, and the instrumentation that gave you a coolant temp gauge and 'Econominder' gauge, which moved the speedometer numbers closer together (too far apart when the panel meant for 120 went down to 100!).

I'm not sure I ever saw a '75 or '76 Impala more than five years old that had all its body side moldings though. In the '75 brochure they make a big deal of it being glued on instead of holes being drilled in the body. For some reason, Caprices had a wide molding which didn't seem to fail, but Impalas, did.

uplanderguy

The '73-77 Century/Regal dash was pleasant, but I hated how they tacked the "FASTEN SEAT BELTS" light on top of the center of the panel.

sda

I agree the placement of the clock on the lower left dash was not ideal in the 73-76 Cutass. It is odd that Olds changed and refined the dash for 77, strangely for only one year as the downsized 78s were to be introduced. I agree the 77 dash looks much better yet it had a propensity to crack as it aged while the 73-76 didn't though some curling of the dash around the speakers sometimes happened.

roadburner

Saw a 1970 GTO in Orbit Orange.

texases

Saw a very clean 1980-ish El Camino while driving around here in Bakersfield. Great climate for cars as long as you can keep them out of the sun!

fintail

Oddity at work today- Cobalt SS sedan. It has to be the same person with the Crossfire cabrio and the 90s custom Stratus.

imidazol97

1970/1971 Karmann Ghia. It had the wrap around turn signals and it had the bar above the bumper.

It had out-of-state plates and appeared to have gotten gas and been going back to the interstate ramp. Plate reminded me of a northern plate like Montana. White background, larger numbers than typical in this part of the country.

uplanderguy

Boy, that car looks good in black. I only ever seem to have seen them in orange, yellow, green, or bright blue.

My wife loves them and wanted one for her 50th birthday--which was six years ago, LOL.

I may have had an easier time finding someone locally to work on them than a Studebaker, although first thing after I say 'Studebaker' when I go into a shop is, "It has a 283 Chevy".

Funny, the only issues I've had with the car since I bought it 4 1/2 years ago are related to the Chevy engine, LOL.

I went out to the space for the first time in a month this afternoon to take it to the next-to-last local cruise here, and there was coolant all over the floor. Doesn't appear to be from a hose or the water pump; my buddy said could be a freeze plug (although it's only a 27K mile car; I know--anything can happen in 55 years). He'll do a pressure test in a few days and I'll have it worked on after that.

ab348

My Olds had a freeze plug let go a few years ago and it certainly wasn't related to mileage. Fortunately it was in a spot where the shop could replace it fairly easily.

fintail

Interesting spot in a local real estate listing, almost gives it a vintage look:



Looking at streetview from 10 years ago, the 66 Ford was in the spot then, too.

Neat house, not the best location but not terrible, this is what ~500K will get you here (unless there's a bidding war, a house I looked at last month brought 20% over list).

stickguy

I love that house.

texases

Isn’t that called a “craftsman style” house?

fintail

Yes, a craftsman, kind of a "big bungalow" style, built in 1903. This area boomed in the first two decades of the 20th century, and there's a lot of relatively intact housing stock from that period.

andre1969

I was going through a stash of old Life magazines that a friend of mine rescued from a school library years ago. They were just going to throw them out, so he took them, but at some point I guess he wanted to downsize, so he gave them to me, back around the mid 1990s.

I came across this particular Mercury ad, which I thought was interesting. It was a two page spread, across the top of two adjoining pages, but I cut it in half here, so it's easier to read....



Just out of curiosity, I ran that $2724 number they quote for the '59 Galaxie through an inflation calculator, and in 1971 dollars that would've come out to around $3791. So they actually did a pretty good job at holding the line on inflation. Maybe it's not a fair comparison, as the '59 was a full-sized car, and the Montego was a midsize. But, it never really sunk in with me before, just how close the two really were in size. I knew the wheelbases were 118" for the '59 Ford and 117" for the '71 Montego, but I didn't realize the Montego was actually longer. Although I guess that technically, just like in horse racing, it "won by a nose"

Any of those old cars would be considered death traps by modern standards, but, for the context of the time period, I think it's an interesting study on just how much cars improved, during that timeframe.

It's interesting too, how they took a jab at GM's intermediate coupes, mentioning the Merc's larger size, roomier trunk, etc. In all fairness, they probably could have taken a stab at Mopar that year as well, since the Dodge and Plymouth intermediates followed GM's lead with the "split wheelbase", with 117.5" for sedans/wagons and 115" for coupes. But then, the advantage they're bragging about went away for '72, when Ford/Mercury redesigned their midsizes and went with the "split wheelbase" themselves (118"/114")

kyfdx

It's a weird advertising plan, though. Comparing how cheap you can buy a car, compared to the same make/model from 12 years ago. Especially, since there were so few 12 year old cars on the road in 1971.

ab348

I'm surprised they used a Ford product as a comparator instead of GM or Chrysler.

fintail

"never needs waxing" , yeah good luck with having that paint hold up in anything other than being garaged 24/7 if one didn't apply some kind of preservation to it. I think these had around the same 12 year life expectancy of a 1959 car. Would be interesting to do a 2009 vs 2021 comparison. Infotainment has moved by leaps and bounds, along with more efficient engines.

andre1969

Didn't the government require some kind of emissions/safety advances for 1971, that caused a big jump in car prices? Maybe that's why they were trying to play up the angle of "you only think it's expensive but it's actually cheaper than the same car you might have bought 12 years ago"?

I just looked in my auto encyclopedia, and here's a few prices of the base Montego hardtop...
1968: $2552 (this year the Montego pretty much took over for the Comet, but they kept a Comet coupe around, priced at $2477)
1969: $2605 (Comet hardtop coupe for $2532)
1970: $2645 (Comet finally dropped, although it would come back for '71 based on the Maverick)
1971: $2893
1972: $2848 (oddly a bit cheaper, considering it was an all-new)

For comparison, here's some Pontiac numbers in the same years...
1968: $2461 (Tempest Sport Coupe)
1969: $2510
1970: $2623
1971: $2747 (T-37 coupe)
1972: $2722 (base LeMans coupe...Pontiac was doing the name shuffle a bit in this timeframe)

Interesting that, in 1972, the Pontiac's price dropped just a bit, as well.

Now that I notice it, a lot of cars dropped slightly for '72. The Impala 4-door hardtop went from a base of $3813 in '71, to $3771 for '72. It's not often that you see car prices go DOWN from the year before, especially in the 70's! I wonder what gives?

Also, I did notice that the prices in my Consumer Guide auto encyclopedia are a bit different from that Mercury ad. The Life magazine I got that ad from was from May 28, 1971. I wonder, if prices started higher at the beginning of the model year, and that's what Consumer Guide listed, but in real life, the manufacturers started dropping prices a bit, as the model year wore on?

andre1969

fintail said:

"never needs waxing" , yeah good luck with having that paint hold up in anything other than being garaged 24/7 if one didn't apply some kind of preservation to it. I think these had around the same 12 year life expectancy of a 1959 car. Would be interesting to do a 2009 vs 2021 comparison. Infotainment has moved by leaps and bounds, along with more efficient engines.

My housemate has a 2021 (I think) Altima as a loaner car, while his 2017 Murano is in the shop, and he says that even between the two, the Altima has a lot of Buck Rogers crap on it (not his exact words) that takes getting used to. One thing that was a bit interesting, we went to the movies the other night, and as he was backing into a spot in the garage, the car suddenly jerked to a halt, like we had hit something. It had a backup camera, and the only thing we could see back there was an orange road cone. But anyway, he pulled forward, backed up again slowly, and suddenly the car screeched to a halt again, like he hit something. So, he pulled forward again.

This time, I got out of the car and looked around in back, and there was nothing there. No low concrete barrier or anything like that, just the road cone. So, in what could have turned out to be a "Hold My Beer an' Watch THIS!" moment, I stood back there, slightly closer to the car than the cone, and told him to come back slowly at me. But, as soon as the car got somewhat close to me, it suddenly screeched to a halt again, almost as if it hit something.

Oh, on the subject of his Murano, and newer cars in general, I really wonder how modern cars are going to hold up, long term, thanks to their complexity. He took his Murano into the dealership on Monday, because the heater core needs to be replaced. In theory it's supposed to be ready today. They said the reason it takes so long is that it's because it's in the dashboard. Well, the heater core of a '79 Fairmont is in the dash as well...and I remember my mechanic telling me, way back in 1989, that Ford's Fox-bodied cars were about the worst he knew of, when it came to heater core replacement, that "the book" called for something like 8 or 9 hours. Dashboards are probably a lot more complex these days, with airbags in them, all sorts of electronics packed in there, etc. So Lord only knows how much this heater core replacement would be, if he hadn't gotten an extended warranty!

FWIW, back in '89, I got on the subject of heater core pricing, because my '80 Malibu coupe needed a new one. It was about $225 installed, and somehow we got on the subject of how that compared to other cars. Just accounting for inflation, that $225 would be around $496 today, but I have a feeling labor rates have gone up faster than that. I'd imagine the heater core replacement on this Murano could very well be a couple thousand $?

Another problem with modern cars, is that as they age, OEM parts get harder to find, and the only choice is iffy aftermarket parts. So you end up paying high labor rates to replace a part that might not last as long as the original part. My '03 Regal has gone through three MAF sensors: 1) 9/2017 @ 68,180 miles, 2) 6/2018 @ 75,750 miles (it was covered under a warranty but the mechanic had to fight with the manufacturer), 3) 10/7/2020 @ 99,030 miles.

fintail

My wagon does the same, if you get too close, it'll stomp on the brakes for you. My past couple MBs have had a similar feature when driving at speed, which can be annoying if you don't keep a huge distance when a turtle in front of you slows to a crawl during a turn (fearing they'll roll their CRV if they go around a corner at more than 3 mph, an epidemic around here).

With the cost of parts and labor, it won't take much to total out these cars even if they survive. Something like my car, with its "autonomous" hardware and scores of sensors, LED light assemblies that are probably 2-3K apiece, and the cost of labor, I bet a 20 mph front end shunt could put it on the edge even without airbag deployment.

A heater core replacement on a 2017 car is worrisome, shouldn't be a thing these days.

andre1969 said:

fintail said:

"never needs waxing" , yeah good luck with having that paint hold up in anything other than being garaged 24/7 if one didn't apply some kind of preservation to it. I think these had around the same 12 year life expectancy of a 1959 car. Would be interesting to do a 2009 vs 2021 comparison. Infotainment has moved by leaps and bounds, along with more efficient engines.

My housemate has a 2021 (I think) Altima as a loaner car, while his 2017 Murano is in the shop, and he says that even between the two, the Altima has a lot of Buck Rogers crap on it (not his exact words) that takes getting used to. One thing that was a bit interesting, we went to the movies the other night, and as he was backing into a spot in the garage, the car suddenly jerked to a halt, like we had hit something. It had a backup camera, and the only thing we could see back there was an orange road cone. But anyway, he pulled forward, backed up again slowly, and suddenly the car screeched to a halt again, like he hit something. So, he pulled forward again.

This time, I got out of the car and looked around in back, and there was nothing there. No low concrete barrier or anything like that, just the road cone. So, in what could have turned out to be a "Hold My Beer an' Watch THIS!" moment, I stood back there, slightly closer to the car than the cone, and told him to come back slowly at me. But, as soon as the car got somewhat close to me, it suddenly screeched to a halt again, almost as if it hit something.

Oh, on the subject of his Murano, and newer cars in general, I really wonder how modern cars are going to hold up, long term, thanks to their complexity. He took his Murano into the dealership on Monday, because the heater core needs to be replaced. In theory it's supposed to be ready today. They said the reason it takes so long is that it's because it's in the dashboard. Well, the heater core of a '79 Fairmont is in the dash as well...and I remember my mechanic telling me, way back in 1989, that Ford's Fox-bodied cars were about the worst he knew of, when it came to heater core replacement, that "the book" called for something like 8 or 9 hours. Dashboards are probably a lot more complex these days, with airbags in them, all sorts of electronics packed in there, etc. So Lord only knows how much this heater core replacement would be, if he hadn't gotten an extended warranty!

FWIW, back in '89, I got on the subject of heater core pricing, because my '80 Malibu coupe needed a new one. It was about $225 installed, and somehow we got on the subject of how that compared to other cars. Just accounting for inflation, that $225 would be around $496 today, but I have a feeling labor rates have gone up faster than that. I'd imagine the heater core replacement on this Murano could very well be a couple thousand $?

Another problem with modern cars, is that as they age, OEM parts get harder to find, and the only choice is iffy aftermarket parts. So you end up paying high labor rates to replace a part that might not last as long as the original part. My '03 Regal has gone through three MAF sensors: 1) 9/2017 @ 68,180 miles, 2) 6/2018 @ 75,750 miles (it was covered under a warranty but the mechanic had to fight with the manufacturer), 3) 10/7/2020 @ 99,030 miles.

stickguy

out on a short drive today, passed (all driving) a 1967 Charger (dark red, looked great), and a modded gen 1 Bronco (top off). Parked, a purple 1968ish Olds 442 (with a wing) and a 1960s bug with some odd paint touches.

fintail

New upload from Adam, had seen hints of this thing, it didn't disappoint:

explorerx4

I watched that video. Like the blue interior. 1 of 5 in that combo, pretty crazy.

tjc78

@stickguy said:
out on a short drive today, passed (all driving) a 1967 Charger (dark red, looked great), and a modded gen 1 Bronco (top off). Parked, a purple 1968ish Olds 442 (with a wing) and a 1960s bug with some odd paint touches.

If it was around our area good chance that Charger was my cousin. Can’t be too many red 67 Chargers in the Camden/Gloucester county area.

tjc78

I have to carve out some time to watch Adam. Been catching up with Hoovie and Vice Grip Garage (Derek)

mrwhipple311

tjc78 said:

I have to carve out some time to watch Adam. Been catching up with Hoovie and Vice Grip Garage (Derek)

I think Adam has replaced Hoovie for me.
Tyler has been kinda unwatchable lately; anyone else getting the same vibe. I think it started when he did the video on asking people to fund his purchase of a full set of 2001 BMWs (or something of the sort).

Has anyone ever gotten a read on how many cars Adam has? There was a video the other day in a warehouse full of cars (I think it was the Marquis comparison). Wonder if all of the cars in there are his; more just keep showing up

ab348

mrwhipple311 said:

Has anyone ever gotten a read on how many cars Adam has? There was a video the other day in a warehouse full of cars (I think it was the Marquis comparison). Wonder if all of the cars in there are his; more just keep showing up

He was asked that question in the comments (it is amazing how many dumb/overly intrusive/personal questions people ask there; fortunately he is smart enough to not answer those) and the answer he gave is that it is a facility where he rents space and those other cars are not all his.

explorerx4

HA! I figured he owned the warehouse and rented space out to others.

ab348

andre1969 said:

Didn't the government require some kind of emissions/safety advances for 1971, that caused a big jump in car prices? Maybe that's why they were trying to play up the angle of "you only think it's expensive but it's actually cheaper than the same car you might have bought 12 years ago"?

I just looked in my auto encyclopedia, and here's a few prices of the base Montego hardtop...
1968: $2552 (this year the Montego pretty much took over for the Comet, but they kept a Comet coupe around, priced at $2477)
1969: $2605 (Comet hardtop coupe for $2532)
1970: $2645 (Comet finally dropped, although it would come back for '71 based on the Maverick)
1971: $2893
1972: $2848 (oddly a bit cheaper, considering it was an all-new)

For comparison, here's some Pontiac numbers in the same years...
1968: $2461 (Tempest Sport Coupe)
1969: $2510
1970: $2623
1971: $2747 (T-37 coupe)
1972: $2722 (base LeMans coupe...Pontiac was doing the name shuffle a bit in this timeframe)

Interesting that, in 1972, the Pontiac's price dropped just a bit, as well.

Now that I notice it, a lot of cars dropped slightly for '72. The Impala 4-door hardtop went from a base of $3813 in '71, to $3771 for '72. It's not often that you see car prices go DOWN from the year before, especially in the 70's! I wonder what gives?

Interesting points. It certainly wasn't because inflation had been beaten, not during those years of the Vietnam war and The Great Society. Here's a chart of USA inflation rates. The column on the right is how much it changed compared to the previous year's rate:

stickguy

tjc78 said:

@stickguy said:

out on a short drive today, passed (all driving) a 1967 Charger (dark red, looked great), and a modded gen 1 Bronco (top off). Parked, a purple 1968ish Olds 442 (with a wing) and a 1960s bug with some odd paint touches.

If it was around our area good chance that Charger was my cousin. Can’t be too many red 67 Chargers in the Camden/Gloucester county area.

I ballparked 67 since only got a quick look. Flat rear window, and before the Dukes restyle. I think it was right off 42 in WT area (I was on my way to Pitman). Dark burgundy red I think.

fintail

Amusing, as if one does a little digging, they can find out all a reasonable person would want to know about him (and IMO, someone who shows they own so many pristine unusual cars is opening themselves up to questions, probably a reason some of the old time big money hoarders remained relatively invisible).

I've moved on from Hoovie a bit lately too, he seems to be veering into the clueless trust fund kid angle a bit again.

I wish every company had a Marti report-style service. If that Galaxie hardtop is a 1 of 5 color combo, I bet it is a 1 of 1 with that option combo of no radio but climate control. I don't think I've ever seen a Galaxie hardtop of that era in person before.

ab348 said:

mrwhipple311 said:

Has anyone ever gotten a read on how many cars Adam has? There was a video the other day in a warehouse full of cars (I think it was the Marquis comparison). Wonder if all of the cars in there are his; more just keep showing up

He was asked that question in the comments (it is amazing how many dumb/overly intrusive/personal questions people ask there; fortunately he is smart enough to not answer those) and the answer he gave is that it is a facility where he rents space and those other cars are not all his.

tjc78

@stickguy said:
I ballparked 67 since only got a quick look. Flat rear window, and before the Dukes restyle. I think it was right off 42 in WT area (I was on my way to Pitman). Dark burgundy red I think.

That’s around where he lives. Small world.

benjaminh

Seen on a bike ride today in New Albany, Indiana.

uplanderguy

To this day I can’t tell a ‘66 Charger from a ‘67.

Black with blue interior—my friend with the silver ‘64 Hawk has the only black with blue interior ‘64 Studebaker convertible out of the 484 built in the U.S. The club magazine listed all the cars and specs and I figured it out for him. He was tickled. In Studebaker land in the sixties, black interior was usually paired with red interior.

roadburner

An old friend drove his '31 Ford to church today. I shot a picture if anyone is interested.

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

To this day I can’t tell a ‘66 Charger from a ‘67.

I was thinking that they changed the grille texture slightly for '67, but I looked at some pics on line, and damn if I could spot a difference. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and according to them, the main changes for '67 were the turn signal indicators mounted on top of the fender blades, and the option of a vinyl roof. Inside, they eliminated the full-length center console, and replaced it with a more normal one.

andre1969

That '53 Buick is a cool find. Wonder if it's street-worthy, or at least able to move under its own power? It's rough looking, but at least it's not sinking into the ground. Although, it looks like it's on some pretty sturdy ground...mix of rocks and dirt, maybe an old driveway that's grown over?

It's definitely at the point that it would cost more to restore than it it would be worth, so that would definitely have to be a labor of love. I wonder though, if it's still salvageable to the point it could maybe just be a rat-rod or something?

andre1969

roadburner said:

An old friend drove his '31 Ford to church today. I shot a picture if anyone is interested.

Definitely, yes! My Granddad had an old Ford from that era, a '32 I believe. 2-door sedan. I remember him mentioning that he flipped it, but was able to get it upright again, and keep on driving it. Just to show how far my family hasn't migrated, over the decades, I can still remember him showing me, roughly, where he had flipped it!