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

imidazol97

@fintail

Thanks for posting that. I enjoyed watching. I had seen the Nationals were in Washington. Oldsmobile and Trans AM have their nationals here in Dayton--lucky for me. I can't travel to
see good ones like that. I did miss the Moon car nationals earlier. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Motor_Car).



Is it my laptop or is the red color in the video off. Things I thought were red showed up as coral.

I notice the seats as the camera panned over them. Lots of color in the "good old days."

EDIT: The REO Car Club of America has its nationals here in Dayton (Miamisburg) this weekend.

fintail

imidazol97 said:

@fintail

Thanks for posting that. I enjoyed watching. I had seen the Nationals were in Washington. Oldsmobile and Trans AM have their nationals here in Dayton--lucky for me. I can't travel to
see good ones like that. I did miss the Moon car nationals earlier. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Motor_Car).



Is it my laptop or is the red color in the video off. Things I thought were red showed up as coral.

I notice the seats as the camera panned over them. Lots of color in the "good old days."

EDIT: The REO Car Club of America has its nationals here in Dayton (Miamisburg) this weekend.

The sun is pretty bright - Spokane thing. That might do it. Lots of interesting cars.

Had I been home, I would have attended.

fintail

Spotted today: Mustang II Cobra, Subaru SVX, same Citation I have seen around here for years (parked in the same place), red cigar Bird in the same situation, 50 Chevy hardtop.

Also went to a junkyard, as my mom's Camry somehow lost a hubcap, and the black wheel look is pretty deplorable. Found an identical cap for $10, and for sale out front was an Omnirizon Charger for $1K - looked clean and not rusty, but I suspect it didn't run.

andre1969

that video looks like it was shot in the early morning, which can play hell with lighting/contrast and such. That and evening. So I wonder if there was some kind of contrast correction going on, and perhaps it washed out some of the reds? I didn't notice it too much, until the camera guy walked up to that Reatta.

fintail

Forgot to mention the junkyard had a nice enough looking 84 Olds 88 coupe, fairly rare anymore. I was wearing shorts and clean shoes, so I didn't want to wade back into the bushes to check it out. It didn't look wrecked, paint looked intact, and cars here effectively don't rust. Also in the import section where I was looking for a Camry, spotted 2 90-91 Accord EX sedans - both with leather. IIRC leather was rare on those cars. One was still on its EX wheels, makes me wonder if a timing belt did them in. Maybe not a surprise, turn of the decade Hyunkias appeared to be the newest cars in the yard.

It was kind of fun, as I haven't visited a junkyard in years. I remember going to this same yard when I was a kid - I clearly recall getting a hubcap for the 66 Galaxie there, at the time they pulled all the caps and had an area where you could dig through them. Today the entire setup seems to be a u-pull-it. I also remember pulling a stereo from an 86 Tempo diesel there, when the unit in our Tempo crapped out. It didn't dawn on me that the stereo design itself might not be perfect, and the replaced unit also failed within 6 months (I went aftermarket after that).

fintail

Spotted today while driving the fintail - 63-64 Sedan DeVille, 55 Chevy 2 door post, 60 Dodge sedan (never seen this one around here before, owner waved to me), 2 virtually identical 89-93 Sedan DeVilles - same shade of red, one of them looked mint and obviously cared for, early 80s Cordoba.

Michaell

Uh, really? Who in their right mind would try to tow with a Chevette, Camaro, or Corvette?

xwesx

So, I make no claims about right-mindedness, but my mother towed a small trailer round-trip from Oregon to Alaska back in, perhaps, 1990 or 91, with her 1979 Trans-Am; the trailer was a 1972 C10 pickup bed with a rack on it.

stickguy

When I was young (about 10) my grandparents moved from Vermont to the south. So my parents took some stuff (furniture) from them. We towed a U haul trailer home behind a Volvo 144 (with 5 people in it). No hitch, it somehow hooked to the back bumper (pre-energy absorbing days). Probably not the safest 5 hour drive because the rest of the time we owned that car I remember the bumper sitting tilted down quite a bit.

uplanderguy

That towing poster makes me long for all the choices of models offered by Chevrolet in 1977. Sigh.

Michaell

uplanderguy said:

That towing poster makes me long for all the choices of models offered by Chevrolet in 1977. Sigh.

Back in the day where cars were popular and trucks were used for work-like activities. My dad used his '70 Chevy C-10 to tow his bass boat and to haul lumber and tools to the jobs he worked on his days off from the Fire Department.

roadburner

uplanderguy said:

That towing poster makes me long for all the choices of models offered by Chevrolet in 1977. Sigh.

There were six on that poster that I'd consider owning - that's four more than I like in Chevrolet's current lineup.

fintail

Nowadays people "need" a fullsized pickup to tow what that image shows a Vega can handle.

I am waiting to see a Monte Carlo towing a 57 Corvette. Be sure to order the heavy duty transmission cooler.

fintail

Spotted a Bronco II wiith the fancier factory wheels (I don't think TRX though) like this:

tjc78

@fintail said:
Spotted a Bronco II wiith the fancier factory wheels (I don't think TRX though) like this:

I liked those as a kid. Pretty cool little trucks.

ab348

They were great as long as they didn't roll over. Very tippy little machine.

texases

My wife saw one flip on Old Seward Hwy in Anchorage. It was towing a small trailer, started weaving back and forth, then rolled.

tjc78

@ab348 said:
They were great as long as they didn't roll over. Very tippy little machine.

As was the first gen Explorer (same basic vehicle)

uplanderguy

RE.: Those '77 Chevys--I'd take any of them, other than the LUV, Chevette, or Malibu wagon.

uplanderguy

I probably wouldn't take the Chevelle sedan, either.

fintail

A few spots - later 4 headlight El Camino, HHR panel, Fox Mustang convertible, 86 Park Ave I see now and then street parked (I suspect a kid's car as it had a scooter or pogo stick or something in it), passed by the same pristine burgundy Taurus I see now and then. It's a 90-91, looks better than most did when 5 years old. I need to discreetly peek in and see how many miles are on it.

uplanderguy

I always thought the HHR panel would really take off, but it never did.

andre1969

I know the Firebirds and Trans Ams of that era had a pretty high towing capacity, so I imagine the same would apply to the Camaro

laurasdada

Current silver NSX, obscure but cool.

kyfdx

tjc78

Don’t see one of those every day. Interesting choice of Impala SS wheels.

fintail

On that note, from a local fb page:

texases

I seem to remember a C and D review of that model Roadmaster, with a photo of a 'granny' doing a burnout.

tjc78

@fintail said:
On that note, from a local fb page:

The Olds version was rare when new, haven’t seen one in many years. Badge engineering at its finest. Olds didn’t even have the sedan version. At least Buick did

xwesx

I like that FB Olds! Is that one of those "If you can get it out of here, you can keep it" deals?

uplanderguy

RE.: Those Roadmasters--the vinyl side molding inserts never lasted long on those cars, the entire run of the series. I see on the one above, they are completely removed.

uplanderguy

I'll say right now, I dislike the color Frost Green, as it reminds me of...well, nevermind. But it surely was popular in '69. This car fascinates me, as I love low-mileage originals. The '69 Impala still had a nicely-trimmed interior and good level of standard exterior trim, IMHO:

https://classiccarsconnection.com/dalambai/1k-mile-1969-chevrolet-impala-resurfaces-after-52-years-of-hidden-history/?fbclid=IwAR1-KNeGzdEsoPUzlq6Kj1cdtN8-1mAXdiSrVeUU04SkVIEq0Syo1l2G7Xw

ab348

That’s a lot of green. 😉

andre1969

uplanderguy said:

I'll say right now, I dislike the color Frost Green, as it reminds me of...well, nevermind. But it surely was popular in '69. This car fascinates me, as I love low-mileage originals. The '69 Impala still had a nicely-trimmed interior and good level of standard exterior trim, IMHO:

https://classiccarsconnection.com/dalambai/1k-mile-1969-chevrolet-impala-resurfaces-after-52-years-of-hidden-history/?fbclid=IwAR1-KNeGzdEsoPUzlq6Kj1cdtN8-1mAXdiSrVeUU04SkVIEq0Syo1l2G7Xw

Funny, it was that really pale green that GM offered in '79 that we tended to refer to as "Gonorrhea Green" It was also popular as a two tone, sort of Gonorrhea over Olive...

I'm a real sucker for the right shade of green. For me, that '69 isn't one of my more favorite hues, but I don't mind it. One detail that always bugged me about the '69, is those bulges around the wheel openings. From some angles, when the light/shadows hit them just right, it makes the car look Bondo'ed to me. Nice car, overall though. And yeah, for what wasn't a very expensive car when it was new, it's still nice and presentable, almost too nice for its price class.

tjc78

I don’t mind the green in the outside but I just really dislike green interiors.

I remember when ford brought them back in the mid 90s and wondering what were they thinking. I’m pretty sure we’ve discussed that before.

I saw that Impala on TikTok recently, when it was just discovered.

laurasdada

A yellow Triumph TR7 convertible; actually being driven!

sda

I did like the jade green interior on some of the upper-level Fords and Mercurys in the late 70s. Turquoise interiors weren't bad as they had a blue hue. I generally preferred dark blue, burgundy, red, saddle and white interiors.

andre1969

Yeah, sometimes a green interior can be hard to pull off. I remember those green 90's Ford interiors, and seem to recall that the plastic/vinyl/leather portions of them had sort of a greasy look to them.

And, while I have fond memories of my grandparents' '72 Impala 4-door hardtop, which was Sequoia green with a white top, and green fabric interior (that brocade stuff), in seeing similar '72 GM products in person, as well as pics, the greens they used could have been a bit more tasteful.

With a green exterior, I guess it's safer to just stick with a beige/tan interior. Or, black, if you can take the heat, and are either obsessive enough to keep it clean, or cavalier enough about it that you don't care if it gets dirty.

texases

Green's a funny color. I once read that one shouldn't try to match different shades of green in one's clothing (pants/shirts/shoes, etc.). I guess the same applies to cars!

fintail

Green makes me think of the fuselage Chrysler my grandpa bought to replace his 65. It was that green which probably composed 50% of Chrysler production around 1970. Green with a green vinyl top and green interior, all coordinated. The car was nicknamed "the tank", and apparently was the subject of a little ire as my grandpa impulse bought it. Looking at old pics, I think it was this color and was also a HT like this:

uplanderguy

Here's a '71 Impala in a similar color, sorta, to that '69 I'd posted. Supposedly original paint. I think the '71 big Chevys went upmarket in exterior styling (I always liked the nameplate up on the C-pillar instead of lower on the body--like 'Brougham' nameplates always seemed to be up there, LOL). But the interiors went downmarket, especially the instrument panel.

uplanderguy

Green Newport--where I lived, it felt like half of production was that color too!

ab348

Chrysler must have bought that green metallic paint by the railcar load in the early ‘70s.

My memory is that the GM green metallic paint in the ‘70s was a more vibrant grassy green than the stuff on the ‘69 Impala posted here.

andre1969

I always thought the '71 Impala looked unfinished around the rear, with the taillights above the bumper, and surrounded by body color. Although, that could be influenced by the color of the car, and how how good (or bad) the fit and finish was! I liked it better for '72, with the taillights in the bumper. But then, when they separated them, within the bumper, for '73, I didn't care for them as much. It's funny, how sometimes a little trim detail like that can make or break a car for me.

I'd love having a '72 Impala, and wouldn't mind a '71 in the right color, but then, the '73 just does nothing for me. And, I guess little details like that can make or break a car, for anyone. For instance, I remember Uplanderguy saying he prefers the '78 Malibu, whereas I prefer the '79.

As for those fuselage Mopars, I think around here they were split between that green, and brown. The more tasteful colors (at least, what I think is tasteful) seemed to be few and far between, even though I'm sure they offered them! I think I could be happy with one in this hue...

uplanderguy

Although that Chrysler is darker, I'm reminded of GM's 1971 Sea Aqua (at least that's what it was called on Chevys) on the full-size cars only. It was my favorite color that year.

Where, oh where, has all the side trim gone on that Chrysler?!

fintail

Spotted in a local real estate listing. Car appears to have a late 60s-70s issue plate from this county:



(House listed for almost 14x its 1985 price)

texases

Needs white walls and a hub cap.

stickguy

I need that garage.

uplanderguy

RE.: The '71 Chevy--I always liked the '71 and '72 full wheel covers. On the '71 I liked the wide rocker trim that ran the whole length of the car. That got removed totally on the '72, grrr. I do like the '72 Impala's seat trim and front end styling better than the '71.

The '73, I don't like at all.

sda

On U-tube I watched a short clip of Dan and Audrey of Fantomworks do some paint correction on a 62 Olds Fiesta wagon. While that car is a rarity these days what I found interesting is the wagon had what appeared to be a factory steel sliding sunroof. I had no idea that was available.