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

xwesx

stickguy said:

dimensions are more important than maker on a project like this. Must have lined up just right because on the video they had it on the lift and said no signs of cutting to make it fit. Just I think some extension on the back end. Looked real clean too. They already have it in the sold list, so no idea what they were asking for it. Probably a lot.

That was my conclusion as well. Not surprised it sold already. What did surprise me was an apparent lack of any sort of seatbelt in the car.

omarman

I think the seller must have added/changed a few things along the way. On their web site they mark the truck as sold but still have pics showing seat belts, different wheels, etc. Same vehicle I believe.

stickguy

same truck, but that is not the same seller. might have bounced around a bit. Those wheels though, are nasty.

omarman

Oh that vehicle has sold/auctioned several times over the last 5 years or so.

Looks like it was wearing those wheels when was listed with Mecum in 2019.

fintail

Stopped by Park Place for a few minutes while out in the fintail this morning (before it rained). Kind of small inventory - either they are selling a lot, or not getting a lot. Highlights:

A 48-49 Caddy sedan, dark blue, not on the site yet. Seldom see those out and about, it had a lot of presence.

Nicest early R129 I have seen in a long time - few survivors like this anymore.

This was quite nice, but I suspect not fun to drive, the manual just seems weird to me

ab348

The seat upholstery on that Impala does not look right to me.

uplanderguy

That seat upholstery doesn't look right to me either, although it's been a long time since I've seen a '62 with bucket seats. Those buttons look sort-of correct in my memory.

Chevys with full wheelcovers had black wheels, not body-colored, also. I've seen a pic of '62's in transit and you can see that in the pic. Also, from hanging around at a Chevy dealer through about '80, I remember that.

uplanderguy

RE.: The "Iraqi taxi" Malibu sedans with 3-speeds:

I've commented here before that I have a largely-irrational appreciation for the '78 Malibu Classic coupe, primarily, but also Malibus of that generation through '81 (hated the blunt front end they put on them in '82).

I can remember my hometown dealer having two new '78 Malibu (not Classic) wagons, both that light metallic green with saddle interior, with the V6 and floor-mounted 3-speed. One was $4,787 I remember, which might have included an AM radio and nothing else. The other was $5,600-some and had been ordered by a customer. It had Rally Wheels, AM-FM, and the far-better instrument cluster out of the Monte Carlo, but with all gauges (three-planed panel; gloss black and gold pinstripe trim; round gauges). That was an interesting car for sure, but that 3.3 V6 then had to have been dreadfully underpowered.

I belong to a "G Body" forum and 4-speed versions of those cars from the factory, are coveted. One guy posted pics of a '78 Malibu Classic wagon, maroon, Rally Wheels, with factory 4-speed and 305.

I've posted here before, pics of a 19K-mile '78 Malibu Classic Landau coupe, maroon with white Landau top, Monte Carlo gauge cluster and bucket seats and 4-speed, that was for sale. If I had more disposable income and space, I'd have been sorely-tempted.

IMHO, GM was coming off the huge success of its '77 downsized big cars, and the '78's were even more dramatically downsized I think. Some of the engineering was arrogant (clips to hold the rear wheel cylinders on?), but I thought the packaging, interior space to exterior size, and proportions were dead-on.

I always say they drove and rode like smaller big cars, while Fairmonts drove and felt like big small cars IMHO. I do remember the GM mid-sizes were a good bit more expensive than the Fords.

I'd even consider a Buick or Olds fastback coupe if a 305 or 350 in original shape could be had. I'm not interested in the much-more-numerous formal coupes of the brands.

Weirdo, I know.

ab348

I suspect the seller may take a bath on this, which he bought last May on BaT for $22.5K. I believe we discussed it here at that time. I loved these as a kid:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-mercury-marauder-2/

kyfdx

That is gorgeous

stickguy

Too big for my taste, but nice looking example. But that’s a lot of black inside. Owner must have a lot of $ in it (close to $30k?) By now. All to drive 200 miles. Cars need to be driven.

Here’s one right up TJC’s alley!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1979-lincoln-mk-v-2/

tjc78

Bad exterior color, but nice example of the Mark V.

I was extremely close to buying one of those in the early 2000s. It was a 79 Collector's Series, nice driver condition with 75000 miles. Guy was selling for 3,000 and wouldn't budge. I was stubborn on $2500. Looking back probably a mistake.

Looked just like this one. Was hard loaded too even had rear disk brakes.

stickguy

What a barge.

tjc78

Yeah they are huge and aside from width a new Elantra probably has more interior room.

kyfdx

I never did like the Mark V and VI.

Really liked the III, IV and VII

tjc78

My favorites and the III and V

The IV was too rounded off for me. The VI is ok but only in two door form. That 4 door thing they did in those years was just plain weird to me. It was basically just a shorter wheelbase Town Car at that point.

The VII is a different class to me but a great vehicle. A grown ups Mustang GT essentially when in LSC trim

roadburner

kyfdx said:

I never did like the Mark V and VI.

Really liked the III, IV and VII

Same here, the V and VI struck me as pimpmobiles.

uplanderguy

I like the '69 and '70 Marauder X-100 too. In my memory, the X-100 was flat black on the decklid, unlike the car above. Was not a fan of the flat black. The car really did look quite a bit different than the other big Mercs that year.

I had a scoutmaster with a new '69 Monterey two-door hardtop. I remember liking the instrument panel.

RE.: Marks--the only ones I'd want are a '55-57 or Mark III.

fintail

The Marti report on the Mark V shows some of the least rare features I've seen - even when broken down, still in the thousands. I also noticed it didn't sell until early 1980 - maybe a glut of those things at the end of the run, combined with a gas crunch and sluggish economy.

That "flying buttress" Marauder reminds me of an XL seen in this assortment of commercials - looks like a crazy year, maybe some drugs finally worked their way down to middle aged ad copywriters:

https://youtu.be/FSAPxf6BsEE

uplanderguy

I like the lowered taillights on the '70 big Fords, but man, I just never liked the '70 Torino, then or now--the front wheel openings and the pointed front fenders, both.

Chevy and Ford had done this on their big cars....totally different model names and called "Ford" or "Chevrolet" in ads and brochures, but the Torino line (what I call it, anyway), in '70 had series called Falcon and Fairlane as well as Torino, not with a preceding "Torino" or anything.

ab348

Yeah, the '69 and '70 big Fords were OK - I liked the dashes, and the styling was OK. Arguably it was a better car than a Chevy as the "trifle" commercial claimed, though you had the typical Ford shortcomings too. But the Torino for '70 and '71 was not good - way too big for a mid-size, crummy interiors, poor space utilization and dubious quality. At least I can say I liked the '69 and '70 Mustangs, especially the Mach 1 and Boss shown in the ad.

uplanderguy

Did you like the radio to the left of the driver? I remember my aunt's '69 Country Sedan dash--I also seem to remember the glovebox opening wasn't very tall (in fact, short in height) for all the empty space there.

I do like the wraparound nature of the instruments in front of the driver though.

And, in '71-76, full-size Chevys had the heater and A/C controls to the left of the driver, way down low though.

ab348

I didn't say it was a functional design - just that it appealed to me as a 13 year-old, i.e. it looked cool. :laughing:

tjc78

While at the diner for breakfast spotted a GTO.

Unfortunately it was one of these:

roadburner

tjc78 said:

While at the diner for breakfast spotted a GTO.

Unfortunately it was one of these:

The Holden GTO actually wasn't a bad car under the skin; what killed it for me was that it looked like a weirdly mutated Cobalt.

ab348

Yesterday at the nearby strip mall, a mid-70s Ford dentside Supercab long bed pickup, two-tone blue, looking used but not decrepit. Might have even been original paint. Unusual since most of those were gone from the roads here due to rust by the end of the 1980s. Suspect it was an old person's truck from new and spent most of its life in a garage.

explorerx4

This morning, a bronze BMW Z3.

fintail

Finally a dry Sunday, saw just a couple unusual cars - E30 cabrio driven by a little old man, and a VW Rabbit cabrio.

Visited my old car, here are the other obscure cars sharing the garage.

From L to R - turn of the century Jag in very nice condition, clownshoe BMW, bathtub Packard, 64 Pontiac convertible. The newer cars might be driven now and then, the Packard never seems to move (but did have a flat tire repaired), the Poncho has been dormant for 4 or 5 years I bet:



Impala SS and SLK55 AMG, neither seem to move:



Avanti, moves maybe once a year:



56 Chevy, might move once or twice a year:



My car, 66 Toronado that might move a few times a year, 70s squarebody that is probably driven weekly or a few times a month:



C'mon, exercise your cars, people!

stickguy

driving around today in the cold (but dry) a 4 door Fairmont. beige with center door dark panels (I think "woody") Truly a bizarre thing to see out on the road. Actually looked really clean.

uplanderguy

That's an Avanti II, right?

I certainly admire Nate Altman's determination to bring the Avanti back to production. Can you imagine, shortly after the collapse of Studebaker in the U.S., being the smaller of the two Studebaker dealers in South Bend, trying to get financing to introduce the Avanti as its own make? And Studebaker allowing the rights to be purchased, while they were still building other cars in Ontario?

I've met people who said Altman was the greatest about customer service.

I have a couple friends with II's, but I'm not a fan...I'd much-rather have the original. The II had to lose the original's downhill 'rake' for the taller Chevy engine to fit under the hood, and as a result, the front wheel openings were tightened up, which I don't care for at all. Then, into the '70's, some AMC pieces ended up in the interior (the one-piece buckets come to mind) and to my eyes, interiors weren't AMC's strong point, LOL.

Still, it is utterly amazing how long Avantis were built after Studebaker had shuffled off.

benjaminh

fintail said:

....My car, 66 Toronado that might move a few times a year....

I'd like to see some uncovered pix of your 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. That's probably my favorite car from the 1960s.

tjc78

Pretty sure @fintail doesn't own the Toro his Merc is to the left of it

uplanderguy

fin, I know that we live about as far away as two people can live on the same continent (LOL), but I've never seen old cars kept in a parking garage. Here, people usually have a rental space at an off-site storage place. My cheap nature kept me renting space at a friend's garage or my sister and brother-in-law's garage in the winter, but I got tired of not having access whenever I wanted to, and also once or twice seeing something sitting on the car in storage at those places, grrrr. I have a space I've rented year-round at a storage place; in the summer I usually keep the car in my home garage but there've been times when our daughters are back visiting, I just take it back to storage in order to have additional space in our own driveway and garage.

uplanderguy

RE.: Those first Toronados--for years I didn't like the styling. I thought the car was too large for the styling. But they've grown on me. You've gotta admire the engineering for the time, too.

This is a '67 color I'm almost certain, but across GM's divisions that year was a deep plum color that always struck me as very attractive. I'm sure all the divisions called it something different. But I've seen an early Toro in that color and it's striking.

Funny to me that with all the engineering those Toros, and also the FWD Eldorado had, they still had drum brakes at the start.

stickguy

Years ago I went to a storage unit on LI with my BIL to get some stuff. And heard a nice loud roar nearby. Shortly after a sweet looking blue early C3 Vette pulls out of one of the garage style units. Must have been pricey for one big enough for that.

fintail

Yep, Avanti II, dark red.

You know I am most partial to the early round light Avantis over all others. Quite a design, one of those cases of not being trendy when new, so it never became dated like most others.

uplanderguy said:

That's an Avanti II, right?


Still, it is utterly amazing how long Avantis were built after Studebaker had shuffled off.

fintail

Ha yeah I worded that funny. My car at far left, then the Toro. It appears to be in very nice driver quality condition.

benjaminh said:

I'd like to see some uncovered pix of your 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. That's probably my favorite car from the 1960s.

fintail

I think those storage units are more expensive here. In this area, some buildings have a surplus of parking spots, and rent them out to non-tenants, whereas with people moving a lot here and residential square footage being insanely expensive, there's demand for household goods storage (where someone can spend $200/month to store $150 worth of yard sale rejects). I moved into this garage 7 years ago, before that I rented a spot from a friend who had a house with a spare spot. That was cheaper, but access could be hard - I'd wake them on a Sunday morning to unblock me, and was always concerned with someone accidentally hitting the car. This way costs more, but I have access anytime.

uplanderguy said:

fin, I know that we live about as far away as two people can live on the same continent (LOL), but I've never seen old cars kept in a parking garage. Here, people usually have a rental space at an off-site storage place. My cheap nature kept me renting space at a friend's garage or my sister and brother-in-law's garage in the winter, but I got tired of not having access whenever I wanted to, and also once or twice seeing something sitting on the car in storage at those places, grrrr. I have a space I've rented year-round at a storage place; in the summer I usually keep the car in my home garage but there've been times when our daughters are back visiting, I just take it back to storage in order to have additional space in our own driveway and garage.

uplanderguy

Someone just posted this on Facebook, and I had never seen it...'70 Monte Carlo vs. Grand Prix, for Chevy salesmen.

Amazing that back then they marketed against other GM divisions!

I grew up on Chevys, but there's no way I'd take a '70 Monte Carlo over a '70 Grand Prix, LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEUReYnd_Fw

stickguy

That was funny. I liked him ragging on the reflectors (your bicycle had them!).

There is a 70 Monte not far from me. A bit tired looking. Had new fenders put on a couple of years ago. Still in primer.

texases

I always got a grin checking the oil on those Monte Carlos, with the 3' (it seemed) air duct from the fan to the radiator:

stickguy

Could fit a straight 8 under there.

texases

Or one of those Cadillac V-16s from the other thread...

uplanderguy

That ending song in the vid reminds me of "Up, Up, and Away" by the Fifth Dimension!

uplanderguy

The Grand Prix wheelbase was even two inches longer than the Monte's, and I bet it was all in the hood too!

I can remember the very first Monte Carlo I ever saw. My Dad and I saw it sitting outside our local Chevy dealer's on a Sunday morning. While we were looking at it, somebody came outside from the Service Dept. and climbed in it and drove it inside. On introduction day I saw it in the showroom and it had the full wheelcovers with the ring of body color on them. Light blue with dark vinyl top.

I typically detest fender skirts, but that first gen Monte to me looks like it was styled for them from the start, although they were optional.

Give me a '70 Grand Prix SJ with leather buckets and Pontiac's Rally II Wheels. I like the four-headlight styling and simple rear styling. In '71 they went to single headlights and that chiseled decklid.

ab348

I actually liked the '70 Monte but that film was a real stretch - a classic case of "it's not a bug, it's a feature!". :laughing:

The GP really was priced at a premium, at least here in Canada, which explains why there were a lot more Montes seen around these parts. A '69/'70 GP was a very rare bird here. The comparison of the SS454 with the SJ was interesting. I've sever seen a SS454 Monte in the flesh.

uplanderguy

I've only seen a couple first-gen Monte Carlo SS's, and both were at Hershey; never saw a one at our local dealer and I about lived there via my bike throughout the first half of the '70's.

ab348

uplanderguy said:

I've only seen a couple first-gen Monte Carlo SS's, and both were at Hershey; never saw a one at our local dealer and I about lived there via my bike throughout the first half of the '70's.

One of our local Chevy dealers had at least one, because my friend Steve, as a young man long before I knew him and coming from a well to do family, test drove one here. The story he tells is that he passed on it because it rode too stiffly for his liking. He was driving a C3 Corvette at the time. Ended up buying a Delta 88 Royale the next year. His life has been a series of bad choices. 😳

explorerx4

Didn't the Grand Prix have an SSJ model, too?
Kind of inspiration for the naming of the Bonneville SSE.

omarman

1970 Pontiac Grand Prix Hurst SSJ. Have only seen pictures of it.