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

imidazol97

thebean said:

What the heck is that black thing in the foreground? Looks like some sort of mutant crab.

Hammock.

thebean

imidazol97 said:

thebean said:

What the heck is that black thing in the foreground? Looks like some sort of mutant crab.

Hammock.

Oh, OK. Thanks.

berri

Hammock; so its a camping vehicle

fintail

In traffic today saw an E-Type roadster, maybe a quarter mile ahead of me, but they have a distinct shape. Also saw a Vanagon, W124 making creaking sounds, a R107 SL parked beside a R129 SL in a church parking lot, Tercel 4x4 wagon near a late 80s Subaru AWD coupe I see whenever I take the old car out, and that was about it - a little warm here, which might keep non-AC cars off the road - my car feels like an oven when it is 80F or more.

xwesx

thebean said:

What the heck is that black thing in the foreground? Looks like some sort of mutant crab.

Whatcha think, 60’s GMC or early 70’s?

I cannot quite see the front of the hood clearly, but it almost appears to have the sharp crease that the 67/68 models did not share. Based on that, I'm going to guess 69/70. I believe they changed up the look of the tailgate lettering for the 71/72 years.

PF_Flyer

Afternoon matinee... traffic jam in the opening credits

One easy one and a bunch of partials to work on

thebean

Falling Down?

kyfdx

thebean said:

Falling Down?

I don't know if that's right.... but, good eye!

fintail

Cars look too old for Falling Down.

Car at bottom left appears to be a Jaguar Mark II

stickguy

black Dodge van behind red truck. Which I can't decide if it is an IH or a Dodge.

the white truck at far left, front I think is an International.

tjc78

fintail said:

Cars look too old for Falling Down.

Car at bottom left appears to be a Jaguar Mark II

Agreed... heck there is a first generation Explorer in that scene. It also takes places mostly under an overpass.

roadburner

A 1973 Cutlass Supreme Coupe followed me part of the way to work today. I always liked the 1973 Salon.

fintail

Saw a boat tail Alfa Duetto on the road today.

andre1969

Funny, but it first made me think of "Falling Down", as well, although the cars are definitely too old. However, considering it's southern California, I'm sure a lot of movies have been filmed in that spot, so it has that familiarity about it.

What year was the original "Gone In Sixty Seconds" filmed?

fintail

Falling Down, from 1993, has a number of contemporary and older cars in scenes, as it was in CA where cars age well. I don't think I have seen it since the 90s, but IMCDB always remembers.

A few obscure cars in this shot, including 2 old MBs:



The underpass shot with the Explorer, and something pretty rare in front of it:



The lead character's Chevette:



The original Gone In 60 Seconds is from 1974.

PF_Flyer

Not Falling Down

stickguy

Nice scirocco and CRX. Also a cute B210. And a red midget that must have a really nervous driver the way it’s getting squeezed in there.

tjc78

I like the box Panther in that blue. Not a common color on those.

thebean

Not a classic, but a 2012ish Suzuki Kizashi resides in my neighborhood. “Mature” couple owns it, and they say they like it. I bet it’s a bear to get parts for. They use a local indy shop, and the owners say they will drive it as long as they can and then take it straight to the junkyard (kinda like my wife’s plan for me).

xwesx

thebean said:

Not a classic, but a 2012ish Suzuki Kizashi resides in my neighborhood. “Mature” couple owns it, and they say they like it. I bet it’s a bear to get parts for. They use a local indy shop, and the owners say they will drive it as long as they can and then take it straight to the junkyard (kinda like my wife’s plan for me).

Hah! The problem is, she didn't think it would keep running for so long!

ab348

After raining for all 3 days of the Canada Day weekend the weather finally turned decent yesterday and today was positively nice. All the old cars came out it seems. A couple of unrestored VW Beetles were first to appear in my travels today, followed by a @lemko -type 1990 (composite headlights) square-rigger Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham which I saw twice, so someone is using it as a DD, a '79-early '80s Toronado that was also very nicely preserved, and a late '80s Chevy Suburban in remarkable condition for around here. Haven't seen one of those around in ages. They had such pure, clean styling, looked great. GM needs to go back to something like that.

kyfdx

On my street, this AM, Lexus SC400. Burgundy paint and gold emblems. Looked like it just rolled on the showroom floor in 1993.

Shortly thereafter, on the freeway, a mid-late '60s VW bus with pop up camper roof. Guy driving it looked old enough to be the original owner.

Then, on the way home, an MG Midget in rough condition on a trailer behind a U-Haul.

uplanderguy

late '80s Chevy Suburban

Was that the new style ('88 pickup style)? I think that was the first time the Suburban wasn't redesigned at the same time as the pickups.

I always liked the '88 pickup styling from Chevy--the four small square headlights.

I swear I remember seeing the new '88-model-year pickup in Dec. '86 at our local dealer's.

fintail

I think the heavy squarebody pickups also soldiered on for a year or so after the 1988 update. Same thing happened to heavy Fords with the 1996 light truck redesign, IIRC.

Squarebodies are a cult item now, people appreciate that design.

uplanderguy

The square wheel openings were something that was a 'trademark Chevy' styling thing on pickups, but I never liked that look on the 2014 and later ones.

As usual, I'm out-of-step with what's mainstream, but I think the new Silverados are the best-looking ones in a while, but supposedly they're not selling as well as even Rams.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

late '80s Chevy Suburban

Was that the new style ('88 pickup style)?

Messed up on the year. Early '90s like this one.





Image pulldown non-responsive so I had to copy a quote from another post and patch my link into it.

texases

We had a red ‘95 K1500 Suburban for 13 years, just like that one except black fender flares. Loved the look.

uplanderguy

I worked with a guy for awhile who had a plain-jane '86 (I think) square Suburban. It was a 4-speed manual. He ordered it. He liked to say that his dealer tacked it onto an order for stick-shift Suburbans from the gas company which supposedly meant it would come in quicker, LOL.

He called it "Big Red" and he owned it quite awhile.

andre1969

I liked the '88 Silverado when it first came out. I thought it was the first truly "modern" looking truck of the 80s...basically, it was to pickup trucks what the '86 Taurus was to mainstream sedans. I had always thought the '73-87 GM C/K pickups seemed modern when they came out, and aged very gracefully. When Ford re-did their trucks for '80, in my mind, they finally "caught up" to GM, more or less, but didn't seem any more modern.

FWIW, GM kept that '73-87 style around a few more years, with full-sized Blazers, Suburbans, and the 3/4 ton and up trucks. Those were the ones that got the grille and headlights that tried to mimic the '88 1/2-ton trucks. I think the Blazer, Suburban, and crew cab trucks held on to that old style through 1991, but the heavier-duty regular cab and extended cabs probably transitioned earlier. Now that I think about it, GM never offered an extended cab version of that '73-87 style. Kinda odd, since Ford and Dodge offered it for years.

Now, when they went to the flush headlights, where the headlight was about the same size as the turn signal, I didn't care for it as much. It made me think of Chevy's answer to the Wagon Queen Family Truckster! I thought the '99 redesign was pretty nice though...although they messed it up a bit with the "Angry Appliance" look a few years later...

fintail

Speaking of these GM trucks, I saw a Yukon "GT" on the road a few weeks ago, just like this:



Not sure how much of a grand tourer it is, but it has to be rare. I used to not pay much attention to old trucks, but lately I have been kind of "getting it". Squarebodies are just nice pieces of industrial design, and period Fords and even Dodges aren't far behind. For 2019 models though, I'd probably go Ram/Ford/GM.

This morning while jogging through a commercial area, I saw an 88-89 Accord coupe parked on one side of the street, and a 92-93 Accord coupe on the other side. Both white, both appeared to be in reasonably good condition (but the newer car had a ricer-era bodykit). Not many areas you'll still see these things plying the road daily. Also saw a gold 450SL on the road.

ab348

Spotted one of these today, looked pristine. Would hate to pay the fuel bill.


Flickr Link

ab348

fintail said:

Speaking of these GM trucks, I saw a Yukon "GT" on the road a few weeks ago, just like this:



Not sure how much of a grand tourer it is, but it has to be rare. I used to not pay much attention to old trucks, but lately I have been kind of "getting it". Squarebodies are just nice pieces of industrial design, and period Fords and even Dodges aren't far behind. For 2019 models though, I'd probably go Ram/Ford/GM.

That design looks cleaner and better than anything new being sold. IIRC the pickups of this generation were pretty good but had two main issues: the first few model years the dashboard was GM-'80s at its worst, though there was a change to it made somewhere in the production run that fixed that. The other thing was that the design of the pickup seats proved to be a problem over time as the foam degraded badly, and when it did you were basically sitting on an upholstered metal pan. I don't know if that applied to models like the Yukon though.

I agree with your pecking order for current trucks on offer.

stickguy

walking dog just now through the next neighborhood, I was by the house that has an assortment of crappy old cars in the driveway and out front. His DD was an 80ish Vette. Really rough shape. Anyway, I heard some serious rumbling and rounded the corner to see a GTO Judge convertible. Looked OK, though hood was faded and fit seemed off. I chatted with guy that lives there who confirmed (as expected) the graphics were just added on. But, he claimed it was a legit GTO 455. Red convertible with a 4 speed. Forgot to ask year, but I guess a 70 with plastic nose. I liked it a lot. Smelled good too (all those unburned hydrocarbons!)

fintail

I think that can be said for a lot of 90s designs from many makers. Powertrains could be dull during that era, but in terms of design, it was a clean time. GM still lagged in interiors, but some models had solid styling.

I am sure you have seen this, retro paint packages applied to GM trucks starting a few years ago. For some of them, it kind of works:

ab348 said:

That design looks cleaner and better than anything new being sold. IIRC the pickups of this generation were pretty good but had two main issues: the first few model years the dashboard was GM-'80s at its worst, though there was a change to it made somewhere in the production run that fixed that. The other thing was that the design of the pickup seats proved to be a problem over time as the foam degraded badly, and when it did you were basically sitting on an upholstered metal pan. I don't know if that applied to models like the Yukon though.

I agree with your pecking order for current trucks on offer.

uplanderguy

Off-topic, but anyone know how to edit your profile here? Decided it's time to add our new Equinox to the 'vehicles owned' portion, but I can't figure it out. I can't stand when stuff isn't intuitive.

uplanderguy

Where I lived, those '73 Chevy trucks were real rustbuckets compared to the '67-72 design. I remember the guy who owned the office supply store in town had holes around the door handles repaired by Chevy in '76 and in fact he subsequently bought a new '76 Chevy pickup.

At the time, the interiors were a big luxury upgrade over the earlier pickups. Nice instrument panel.

About the first half of the '73 model year, the trucks had no rain gutters. A lot of folks must've squawked as they started coming in with them and from that point forward.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

Where I lived, those '73 Chevy trucks were real rustbuckets compared to the '67-72 design. I remember the guy who owned the office supply store in town had holes around the door handles repaired by Chevy in '76 and in fact he subsequently bought a new '76 Chevy pickup.

At the time, the interiors were a big luxury upgrade over the earlier pickups. Nice instrument panel.

About the first half of the '73 model year, the trucks had no rain gutters. A lot of folks must've squawked as they started coming in with them and from that point forward.

Trying to eliminate rain gutters seemed to be a popular thing back then. Aside from the pickups, the Mopar fuselage C-bodies that debuted in '69 technically still had rain gutters but they were integrated into the upper trim around the greenhouse so that they had virtually no capacity to catch anything. Of course today I don't think many, if any, vehicles have them.

Editing profiles seems difficult or perhaps broken as well. @Fezo was trying to edit his yesterday and gave up. You are supposed to be able to click on your user name and then use a pulldown in the upper right of the ensuing screen to get at it, but it seems balky.

imidazol97

uplanderguy said:

Off-topic, but anyone know how to edit your profile here? Decided it's time to add our new Equinox to the 'vehicles owned' portion, but I can't figure it out. I can't stand when stuff isn't intuitive.

I tried to do it and IIRC there's a choice missing that said "Profile" in the pull down menus after I clicked on my user name in the upper right corner of any page. I can't find it.

So we need to post that in https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/56332/general/x/forums-feedback-and-suggestions#latest

ab348

Amazing what you can find online. While looking at an old-car group on Facebook I found this picture of me and my Cutlass leaving a car show in 2015. Had no idea it had been taken, or posted.

sda

ab348 said:

Amazing what you can find online. While looking at an old-car group on Facebook I found this picture of me and my Cutlass leaving a car show in 2015. Had no idea it had been taken, or posted.

That is one good looking Cutlass.

berri

Sharp car in a sharp color

andre1969

Good looking car, AB. It's always kinda cool to run across pics of your own car at random on the internet. I can remember back in the day, if you googled "1976 Pontiac LeMans", or "1979 Chrysler 5th Avenue", my cars were among the first that would pop up. I just tried it...the LeMans still shows up pretty early on, but the 5th Ave is way down on the list now.

I guess I was into R-bodies before they were really a "thing". Not that they're really THAT much of a "thing" these days

fintail

Speaking of finding your car online - that's my car, years ago before it got wide whites. The image on right appears to also be my car, color changed.

Google also has some OCR functions in its search, so if you search by plate, you might also find your car, if it was at a show or parked on the street and someone noticed it.

For obscure cars, last night I saw a 78 Nova and a 78 Monza - on a 1978 episode of The Price Is Right. I've been watching/listening to these on Youtube now and then, as had a thing for the show and game shows in general when I was a little kid (I took afternoon preschool so I could see TPiR in the morning, no joke), and the cars are amusing. That Nova and Monza weren't bad at all compared to some of the stuff in later years.

sda

I know the wide whitewalls are period correct yet I like the cleaner look of the narrower whitewalls. Were the narrow whitewall tires Michelin? I always liked the clean look Michelin had. They had their own distinctive look. It was something about how smooth and lack of embellishment the sidewalls had. I convinced dad to replace his BFGoodrich for Michelins on his Eldorado. They looked great, and rode wonderfully, no more vibration at 60+.

imidazol97

I am not going to be able to post pics from my computer because of the problem here but I can post from url's.

Photobucket was where I used to have pics hosted. Does anyone have other free places that will host pictures and are easily usable for uploading and linking?

I have jpg's I want to put up and can't.

berri

Fin, I like the blue better even though the black is kind of classic. Did you have it painted that nice shade of medium blue?

ab348

imidazol97 said:

I am not going to be able to post pics from my computer because of the problem here but I can post from url's.

Photobucket was where I used to have pics hosted. Does anyone have other free places that will host pictures and are easily usable for uploading and linking?

I have jpg's I want to put up and can't.

For the same reason as you I opened an account at Imgbb.com and it seems to work OK. Ridiculous that we’re forced to do that, but whatever.

fintail

MB switched to narrow band whitewalls late, for model year 1965. Wide whites are correct for my car, but narrow band is correct for later fintails.

The old tires were Les Schwab specials (I want to say "Dean Alpha") that cost ~$40 apiece in the late 90s. I ran them until early 2013, when they finally wore enough to justify replacement. The fintail has 13" wheels, which limits tire selection, especially these days.

sda said:

I know the wide whitewalls are period correct yet I like the cleaner look of the narrower whitewalls. Were the narrow whitewall tires Michelin? I always liked the clean look Michelin had. They had their own distinctive look. It was something about how smooth and lack of embellishment the sidewalls had. I convinced dad to replace his BFGoodrich for Michelins on his Eldorado. They looked great, and rode wonderfully, no more vibration at 60+.

fintail

The color of the car is original, paint code DB334 ("hellblau" - "light blue", creative name). I think most cars were black or white, kind of like MBs today.

berri said:

Fin, I like the blue better even though the black is kind of classic. Did you have it painted that nice shade of medium blue?

andre1969

Thanks for posting that link, AB. I've been having issues with Photobucket lately, myself. I just opened a new account. Here's my first test... hopefully this works...

I took this pic a couple weeks ago, at my old place (which I still need to get off my butt and sell), when I swapped my Catalina for the NYer. Just noticed, you can sort of make out my Park Ave at my grandmother's place across the street. Which, we also need to unload. The car and the house.