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

fintail

Spent the past 8 days in Florida - not many old cars around. Maybe due to the heat, and that cars age harshly there - I saw many 2006-07 era cars already looking pretty tired. I saw a few vintage cars, mainly around Daytona Beach and north. Did see a 67-68 Barracuda convertible in Orlando. Not many old MBs at all - only a W201 in Orlando, nothing older than the late 90s otherwise. In St. Pete I did see a nice W126 and a nice early W124. I also saw a pristine pre-86 Celebrity up around Daytona, too - old man's car no doubt. Oh, and at Epcot there's a ride (I forget the name) where a ~74 Vega is used as a prop. Not much else to mention, virtually nothing older than the mid 70s.

omarman

Sounds like the spaceship earth scene depicting a bearded guy building a computer in his garage with a Vega in the driveway.

berri

When I lived in the Orlando area they used to have some pretty big old car shows like in Kissimmee, don't know if they still happen. The cars down there in the shows were often drivers though rather than trailer queens. The heat and humidity are rough on cars, but the salt up north is worse.

Gotta ask you a question: are you out of your mind - why would you leave Seattle during it's peak weather for the heat and humidity of central Florida this time of year. Do you travel to Ireland to replicate Seattle during the winter as well - just kidding!

uplanderguy

Drove down to Miami University in Oxford, OH for my daughter's sorority's "Dad's Weekend" and saw some interesting stuff over the weekend.

Most unusual IMHO, was seeing a pristine Model T 4-door convertible (for lack of a better description), pull up, then back into a parallel parking space! Young kid driving and the car was full of other young people who proceeded to jump out. My daughter said she'd seen that car around campus before. I was reminded of comic-strip character Archie Andrews' car except this one was black, not red!

The next evening, driving down the main street there, was a light yellow '64 Corvair Monza convertible, top down, wire wheelcovers. Ironically, there's a car just like that in the town where I live now, over four hours away.

On the way home today, on I-71 near downtown Columbus, OH, I passed a very straight looking, new-penny-copper colored 1962-63-64 Chevy II 100 4-door sedan, keeping up with traffic quite well. If it were a Nova I could at least tell if it was a '64 ("Nova" nameplate moved to front fender that year), but with a lowly "100" model, I couldn't tell.

fintail

That was it! It was a later big bumper model, a notchback coupe.

Here's a pic someone else took, apparently more like a 76 or so model.

fintail

I suspect the weather kept many old cars inside, but I didn't even see many 80s era cars, which are seen all day every day in Seattle. And most 90s stuff on the road in FL is a mess. I suspect the wild driving standards there also don't help survival rates.

I went there because of cheap airfare and a persuasive friend. It's 30 degrees cooler in Seattle today than Orlando yesterday, but oddly enough we are having similar afternoon thunderstorm weather.

fintail

Takes some skill to drive a T with precision like that, as the controls are bizarre to someone who is used to a conventional car. That would have been cool to see. Might be a fun runaround in town car though, as Ts can be had fairly cheaply, and are probably inexpensive to run.

berri

You've got some real wealth disparities in Florida, so a lot of cars get run into the ground. Florida seemed really hard on tires, batteries, trim pieces and interiors.

fintail

Ha, my friend has been there many times (WDW maybe 7 times, crazy), he calls it a second world country. That reminds me of something else - broken down cars on the road. I saw quite a few, it's much less common here.

Now that think of it, I do remember seeing an early-mid 80s Caprice that looked brand new. But, it had been donked.

berri

We were down in central Florida during the shoulder season between NASCAR and spring break. Went to Sea World and weren't planning on WDW. Then our flight got cancelled, so we had another day there. It was gorgeous San Diego like weather, so we took on Epcot. Haven't been there in years. It's a nice setting, but hasn't seemed to change very much. I think Disney is cutting a lot of corners. We went to the International Showcase in the morning because most tourists go there in the afternoon. France used to have a nice little French bakery. It's closed now and has been consolidated with cafeteria (or whatever the French call it). Kind of funny, I ordered a "chocolat" croissant, which really wasn't near as good as what you get at Panera for far less money and some kind of iced mocha drink with a la-di-dah name. I catch of glimpse out of it being prepared to see it coming out of a Slurpee machine, and I dropped around 8 bucks on those two items!

Michaell

Having grown up in Southern California, I've been to Disneyland a bunch of times.

Been to Orlando on business once or twice (once to teach Disney employees!) but have not been to any of the theme parks there.

My sister used to work at the Disney studios years ago .. they put her in a program where she got to go behind the scenes of all the Disney divisions for a week, including a short stint as either Chip or Dale at Disneyland one day.

It's getting way expensive!

I remember the days where you had the individual tickets for the rides (E-ticket, anyone?).

My folks have been going since it opened in '55.

fintail

I was in Orlando for a week, but was at the parks for only 2 days - I am not a big theme park person, and road trips are more interesting to me. Epcot does have kind of a 1977 vision of the future feel to it, some things feel really dated. But it was fun, and less juvenile than WDW, which was a menagerie of strollers and the oblivious.

I like the international showcase, as it is as close as I will get to Europe this year and probably next. My friend said the same thing about the French cafeteria, where I had a $4.50 cup of mousse. The pizza at the Italian restaurant was pretty authentic and good, although at $17 for a personal pizza, not a bargain. If anything, Disney does keep things clean. We stayed on-site for 3 nights, sharing a room - then escaped off site where things cost 1/3 as much, and we could have our own rooms.

Relating it to cars, the GM test track ride is a fun piece of product placement - you even exit into kind of a Chevy showroom.

And this morning, I saw an early 60s Microbus with a roof rack, and a MB W126...yep, I'm home.

berri

"I saw an early 60s Microbus with a roof rack,"

Now if you drive a few hours south into Oregon you can probably find a grey haired vintage hippie driving one as well!

fintail

Go 90 minutes north of me to Bellingham or 60 minutes south of me to Olympia, and see that same hippie. There are a lot of older boomers in the PNW who never made it past 1972 or so, and their kids are often likewise. Very...crunchy.

Was just out again, saw a VW Rabbit pickup, a 70s vintage Ford 4x4, and a bone-stock 93-98 Supra.

fintail

This morning, saw the same obviously restored dark green ~69 442 convertible I see now and then, also a late 80s style Prelude Si (white with white wheels, of course), wonder if it was 4WS.

jrosasmc

I didn't spot this car today, but I am going to see it at the Owners' Meet at Volvo headquarters in New Jersey on the weekend of the 28th. Today, Irv Gordon set a record that will in all likelihood never be broken:

http://autos.aol.com/article/man-reaches-three-million-miles-in-1966-volvo/

I've seen the 1800 several times and I can attest that he keeps that car in excellent, flawless condition. I mean, he had to have been doing something right to get it up to 3 million miles! By the way, the engine had its second rebuild four years ago, at 2.69 million. It still has the original rear end, transmission, and Laycock overdrive.

texases

I guess I'm a bit over Irv and his 1800. It's great he's devoted the time an money to keep it in such outstanding condition, but it's a testament to his devotion, not 1800...

Michaell

It's great he's devoted the time an money to keep it in such outstanding condition, but it's a testament to his devotion, not 1800...

It's certainly an outlier. How much of the car is still original?

Kinda like George Washington's axe: "Well, the axe head has been replaced 3 times and the handle 4 times, but it's still original!"

Mr_Shiftright

you can keep any car you can name running for 10 million miles if you want to invest the time and money.

bhill2

It's certainly an outlier. How much of the car is still original?

Kinda like George Washington's axe: "Well, the axe head has been replaced 3 times and the handle 4 times, but it's still original!"

Well, to quote jrosasmc, By the way, the engine had its second rebuild four years ago, at 2.69 million. It still has the original rear end, transmission, and Laycock overdrive. That is, it is not exactly George Washington's axe. The car has, of course, been meticulously maintained, but I am still grudgingly impressed.

kyfdx

At least Irv picked something sort of cool to drive for 3 million miles.. If it had been a '77 Ford Granada, I doubt we'd be talking about it... (or, we would just feel very very sad for him)

lemko

At least he'd have the title of "World's Greatest Masochist!"

texases

" the engine had its second rebuild four years ago, at 2.69 million"

I have to call BS on that one. This would be the ONLY engine on God's green earth that could go ONE MILLION MILES before needing a rebuild.

Mr_Shiftright

I wouldn't want to drive a P1800 3,000 miles let alone 3 million. You sit so low that your nose barely clears the window sill and that era of Volvo is a very noisy car. Also steers like a truck.

uplanderguy

I'm not a big fan of foreign cars (as most who know my handle will attest); that said, those Volvos look sorta nice I think. A banker at my branch drives a nice white one to work every day.

Mr_Shiftright

Those cars drive me nuts...you can't put your elbow out the window. The cockpit is very noisy, so a good dose of Dynamat and a different type of driver's seat would be tops on my list for that car. Also a complete replacement set of instruments hung under the dash, because the factory ones are rather a bad joke--they simply don't read accurately, and often break.

But you know, fix those things and you've really made the car much more drivable. I certainly wouldn't put wide tires on the front---tall and skinny!

uplanderguy

Went to the county seat to do the title transfer of my daughter's "new" Cobalt, and in that town saw a '68 Chevy Fleetside pickup that actually had painted on the driver's door--a bit faded too--"Yenko" and their logo, with a "412" (western PA) phone number on the door as well. I have to believe it's a 'ringer', but it turned my head.

On the way home, a black '49 or '50 Ford convertible drove past me, very nice. I do like those cars. I can see why they sold so well. Studebaker might have beat Ford to flush front fenders, but Ford had flush front and rear fenders. Very elegant in a simple way IMHO.

berri

Personally, I liked the 49-51 Ford's looks best compared to it's competitors. Same for the 52-54. Mid 50's, I thought they were all nice though.

uplanderguy

I'd have to agree. I'd take a '49-51 Ford, for looks--at least in a convertible or club coupe--over anything else out there in the low-priced group. I like the '52-54 Fords less, but I love the '56 (I know it's similar to a '55, but I like the details a lot better, in and out), and I also very much like the '57 and '58 Fords. Not too many folks like the '58's! I don't like the '59's at all, like the '60 Starliner and Sunliner, and very much like the '61 Starliner. I also like the '61-63 Ford 'unibody' pickups for looks, although I guess they didn't hold up that well. They mated the old '57-60 bed which looked nothing at all like the '61-63 cab, to the pickups if somebody didn't want the unibody.

berri

Chevy vs. Ford looks, I guess I go like this: 55 Chevy, 56 Ford, 57 Ford, 58 not a fan of either really. Love/hate toward the 58 Chev, but based on the Impala and wagons, I'll go Chevy. 59 Chevy, 60 - again don't particularly care for either. I never liked the front end of the Chevy that year, but hated the Ford rear end. Maybe graft a Ford front clip onto a Chev! 61 Chevy. Not much into trucks, but for full size cars - 62 Chevy, 63 Ford.

fintail

Saw a W116 300SD and an early W201 190E today, and a Celebrity wagon.

hpmctorque

The '55 and '56 (Forward Look) Plymouths were competitive on styling with Chevys and Fords of those years, in my opinion. The '57 Plymouths were very competitive (on style, not quality) for that period, but they didn't age as well as the '57 Chevys and Fords. Again, my opinion, but YMWV.

berri

We were talking Ford and Chevy, but I agree about the Plymouth looks comments. '55 was a good year for design I think. Although personally, I thought Dodge and DeSoto pulled it off better than the Plymouth. I still think the 57 Plymouth is a gorgeous car. 58 too. As for the 57 Plymouth aging, not quite sure what the comment means. I think it aged well in looks, but mechanically, and tin worm, not so much. The 57 Chevy is a clean looking car, but when it came out, the competition made it look old. They were very stout cars though and I think they gained more as used cars. Many 60's kids picked them up and I think that's what drives their value today.

andre1969

Here's my take on the low-priced cars...

From 1950-54, I think I'd prefer the Chevy by a wide margin in just about every single year. It just looks classy to me. I also like the 1950-52 Plymouth, but didn't like those truncated '53-54 models at all. But, I've never been a fan of Fords from that era, although I do appreciate the modern-ness of the '49-51 style.

For 1955-56, it's a harder choice, but I think I'd go with the Plymouth. The Fords in that era just don't do it for me. And I never cared for a few details in the '55 Chevy, like the too-small Ferrari-esque grille, and there's just something about the turn signals and taillights I don't find that pleasing. I do like the '56 Chevy though.

For '57, I'd take the Plymouth, hands-down. I just don't like that bug-eyed look of the Ford (although it looks less bad in some color schemes) and the Chevy just seems old. One thing I'll give Ford credit for that year though, is making a good looking 2-door sedan in the Fairlane series. It looked more upscale than your typical Plymouth and Chevy 2-door sedans. And the Fairlane 4-door sedan had a nice roofine, as well, nicer I think than the cheaper Custom/Custom 300 and the Chevy/Plymouth 4-door sedans.

For 1958, I actually like them all. I think the Plymouth is an improvement over '57, with the quad headlights and lower grille that matches the upper, although the little round taillights didn't work. I also like the Chevy, which managed to look more expensive and upscale that year. And, I even like the Ford, although I guess me and Uplanderguy are the only two who do!

For 1959, it's a hard call. as they're all a bit vulgar in their own way. Chevy seems the most modern of the three...shave off the excess and it paved the way to the 1960's. The Plymouth was a clumsy facelift. I like it from some angles, but don't care for the frenched fenders over the headlights, or the "toilet seat" spare tire bulge in the trunk. The Ford seemed to be the most upscale looking of the three, with that T-bird inspired look going on, but it looks a bit heavy-handed from some angles.

By 1960, I'd take Chevy in a heartbeat, but profess a sort of liking for the Ford. I think it pulled off that batwing look a bit better than the '59 Chevy did.

For '61, I love the Chevy, respect the Ford, in a conservative sort of way, but hate the Plymouth. The Plymouth was good from an engineering standpoint...good handling, 318 V-8, good transmission, and the quality was even improved by this time, but good lord was it ugly!

hpmctorque

What I mean regarding the '57 Plymouth styling is that Chrysler swung for the fences and scored a home run, in part because craved a major break from the earlier post-war styling, excess, the influence of jet fighter aircraft, and the element of surprise.

Plymouth delivered brilliantly on each of those points in design and engineering that year (all-new styling, new 3-speed Torqueflyte with push button shift mechanism, torsion bars, low center of gravity). As the pendulum of public taste turned more conservative, and remains more conservative today than in 1957, the styling elements and excesses exhibited by the Plymouth models of that year work against it compared with the less radically styled Chevys and Fords.

fintail

Saw 2x W123 today - a 240D loud and slow, and a 300D turbo moving along just fine. What a difference an engine makes. Also saw a pop up lights 86-89 Accord in surprisingly nice condition, driven by a teenager.

Speaking of the popular priced cars discussion, I think I've said a few times that I like the 60 Ford. Maybe because my dad had one when I was a teen and I drove it, but it is a fairly odd design, but somehow isn't unattractive. I prefer it to the 61, which toned it down save for the cool tail lights.

imidazol97

White 1960 Ford. Nicest one I've seen...
I expecially noticed the color of the interiors. Somewhere comments were made about how bland interiors are now. This one is not bland....

Take of the silver wheel well covers and the dagmars on the front bumper and it's a great car. At least they didn't put the continental kit on the rear like most 60's I see have.

fintail

That's really bright. I remember when my dad had his Country Sedan, he knew of someone else in the state who had one, and it was white and blue like that. I remember it had wide whites, which I wanted for our car, but my dad didn't see the value in. My dad's car was red and white inside and out, it looked pretty cool. Wish I had been more sentimental as a teen, and took pics.

I've seen skirts like that on another 60 Ford too, I agree, they should go.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh, that's a "Sunliner" isn't it? You can get a pretty penny for one of those restored.

berri

You raise an interesting point because although most attribute the 59 Ford sales success to the extreme Chevy, I always thought America was getting more conservative after the big 58 recession and therefore went for that more conservative squared off Thunderbird effect. I think GM and Mitchell saw this coming too, but couldn't get the response out until 61.

berri

Although 1960 wasn't my favorite Ford year, I like those pictures. My dad had a similar color combo on a 60 Fairlane sedan. But it had the big, bulbous rear window that only made the rear truncated batwings look worse. I think the more formal rear window on the Galaxie cleaned it up a bit...and convertibles, they almost always look good to me!

stickguy

driving around town. All I knew it was something old. Happened to have my father with me, who new immediately it was a 1940 Chevy. I would have been close on the year, but that is it.

lemko

I was reading an article about the 1949 Ford lineup in the current issue of "Collectible Automobile." It read that the spinner in the grille was added at the last minute and the horizontal taillamps were vertical in the original design. Adding that spinner was a good idea as the Ford would've looked too much like a contemporary Chevrolet from the front. The Ford grille, to me, resembles a WWII fighter aircraft head-on which may have been Ford stylists' intention when they added the spinner.

imidazol97

This is the 2nd 1960 Sunliner I've seen in all my years of car show cruise-ins. The other was in eastern Indiana and had been painted RED and had the continental, skirts, reflector taillights bolted onto the bumper mirroring the real taillights. I don't recall it had the dagmar front bumper rubber blocks.

Looked artificial.

This one is nice, other than the seat colors are slightly different than the paint on the dash. But I believe that mismatch happened with the colors in several cars from the factory; the colors were not quite the same.

uplanderguy

I don't think you have to like Studebakers at all to appreciate that their Corporate office in South Bend has lasted this long and is being renovated--from today's South Bend Tribune (short video):

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/keynews/localeconomy/article_ce5facb8- -2378-11e3-8c86-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=video

The heavy wooden decorations are in the President's office.

I was in this building in around '90, '07, and '12, and it had deteriorated some IMO between '07 and '12, but still pretty stately inside. In '12 I took my hometown Stude-Packard-MB dealer friend, and he remembered being inside it with his Dad many years earlier. I mentioned to our tour guide that my friend here was a member of the dealer organization. The tour guide got a reverential look and said, "Really? God bless you!" LOL

explorerx4

a 56 Chevy 2 door with a classic plate. Graphite silver front/white back.
Had a jacked up rear end with what looked to me like slicks.

magnette

We went away a couple of weeks ago for a few days holiday in Germany - flew down to Munich then picked up a car (sadly it was a Ford C-max as they 'upgraded us' from something more suitable) and then we drove round the Bavarian Alps, various Schlosses a bit of Austria and also the Black Forest. This was a regular holiday not car orientated, but we still managed to find a bubblecar museum in the black forest which was fun - I'll upload a few pictures shortly...

fintail

ugh, I'm jealous

lemko

...circa 2000 dark blue Bentley Arnage going through the security gate at work. Either I've got a coworker who is really livin' large or he's some ordinary dude who foolishly bought a "white elephant" in an attempt to look rich for cheap!

fintail

You can get em for under 40K now, so I would wager the latter - price of a loaded Camry.

Saw a clean unrestored looking 67 Mustang , black with I think a white interior. Also a Fiat Spider moving under its own power.