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Comments
Anybody recall the Chevrolet Spectrum? I would refer to this "car" as the Rectum!
Bill
Bill
I have to admit, a rare AMC product that I DO like is those '74-78 two-door Matadors, as long as they had the large quarter windows and not the stupid opera-windows. I always liked luxurious cars with fastback rooflines, like '65 Bonnevilles, '67 Wildcats, '71 and '72 Buick Centurions, etc....sometime in the '70's Ford and GM decided luxury meant formal rooflines, which I don't like nearly as well. You could get those Matador coupes with pretty nice interior trim. I'll admit I didn't like how you could stick your hands down between the bumpers and the body of the car....no bumper fillers!
Bill
The front end doesn't look too bad, considering some of the monstrosities floating around at the time. The reverse-angle C-pillar ruins the greenhouse, though.
1974 Matador coupe
Nope, you're on your own for that one. I'll take a 240Z over that beast any day.
The 1961 Rambler American could've been more appropriately called the Rambler Soviet:
Bill
Bill
Bill
I remember seeing ads of a new '80 Citation Club Coupe, the bodystyle you almost never saw, in X-11 trim, silver with red striping. It was sharp then, and its styling would still hold up today. And it had a roomy interior (even back seat) for its exterior styling.
Bill
Her's a picture of your X-11, Uplander. I agree it's a clean design. I have to say, though, that I was "in hate" with
allalmost all the American Cars of that era.My first company car was a K car.... I tore a couple of shirts on the unfinished edge of the door frame before I beat it flat with a hammer. It would stall at lights if the AC was on... even after I made them replace the compressor.
Then I had a beige Citation.... not really a bad car solid and reliable but talk about Soviet-style practicality.... And I hated the Jimmy Carter's Democratic Big-Brother- knows-what's-good-for-you mandated 85 MPH max speedometer. I once had to fly to the airport to pick up an unexpected VIP visitor....and for some reason it bothered me not to know exactly how much the speeding ticket was going to cost.
It's interesting that your Citation was reliable. Ours had some solid attributes (roomy, with good handling and performance for its day, for example), but reliability wasn't one of them. How many miles did your Citation have when you got rid of it?
I gave serious consideration to buying a new '85 Citation II X11 but ordered a Celebrity Eurosport two-door with the MPI V6 instead. I knew they were going to be discontinued and would take a hit on resale value. The X11 was essentially the same car mechanically but was cheaper to buy and could be had with a stick shift, unlike the V6 Celebrity. Sort-of wish I had bought one. The '85 Citation II had a one-year only dash design that was an improvement on the '80-'84, IMHO.
Bill
Ahhhh.... I didn't OWN it.... it was a company car... so I didn't even do the maintenance. I had it for a year... maybe 5 or 6 k miles only since I only used it at my office. I guess reliable is a relative term.. I never had anything give me a problem while I was drving it... not true in the !@#%!% K-car.
That was a noisy, rough, slapped together POS. It was dying lemon yellow too.
The Citation was a lot better ride in comparison.
I like the front end of the '72 Chevrolet for the same reason you like the '71, but I like the '71's wide rocker moldings versus no rocker moldings on '72 Impalas.
A friend when I was a teen, had both '70 and '71 Impalas in their driveway. Although the '71 looked more Cadillac-like, I do remember him saying that the '70 was so much more solid. I know the '70's interiors were way nicer; no flat black plastic, black steering wheels, and hard plastic lower interior door panels like the '71.
Bill
As long as we're talking about Detroit disasters, we shouldn't forget the Ford twins, Tempo and Topaz. These were introduced in the '84 model year, so ford had some time to do a better job than GM and Chrysler, but I'm not sure where these ranked compared with their GM and Chrysler counterparts. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
An aging accountant I knew owned a Tempo. It wasn't a bad car to drive, although it was truely an accountant's car. Boring and bland and plain to look at. It was a good thing that she bought the extended warranty.... I think that Ford ultimately lost money on that whole deal by the time they finished repairing everything that broke. I don't recall the details of the problems, but there were plenty of them, I believe.
By that time I was on my second Acura Integra... which seemed light-years better than any of the American competition.
Our family friend, whose previous car was - you guessed it - a Slant Six equipped Dart, managed to get 100,000 miles from his first K-car, then the tranny went. The '85 and '88 each went >150,000 miles, so they must have been decent for cheap wheels.
Of course, no K-car could even come close to the Integra, in terms of quality, engineering, reliability, durability, ride and handling, and so on. One redeeming attribute of the K-car was price. Our friend paid less than $10,000 for his '88, and less for the earlier ones.
The '72 Impala is my favorite, of the '71-76 generation. I may just be biased, because my grandparents had a forest green hardtop sedan when I was a kid, that I absolutely loved, but overall I think it's just a clean, smooth, nicely styled car. I like the front-end with the low grille, that gives it a sporty look for such a big car. The '71 was good looking too, but I just like the '72 grille better.
IIRC, for 1974, they changed the roofline of the Impala hardtop coupe. It still had a formal C-pillar, but just seemed a bit awkward. Plus, the rear window was no longer concave. The Caprice coupe that year went to stationary rear windows that were a bit narrow, and gave the car a mis-matched beltline. I can't remember if the Impala also got that style in '74, but for '75-76 I think the hardtop coupe was retired entirely from the Impala/Caprice line.
As for build quality, the '65-70 models were definitely more substantial than the '71-76! I agree about the interiors, too. I really didn't like it when they went to the door panels where the lower parts were plastic. It wasn't too bad in the more upscale models, where they'd glue carpeting on there (it wouldn't always stay glued on, though)
As for fuel economy, I think my stepdad could get around 20 mpg around town in that Tempo, but on the highway it would only do around 25-27 or so. It would take an act of God to have gotten 30 mpg out of that car! Now part of the problem was that it only had a 3-speed automatic, rather than a 4-speed. And the 4-cyl they used was basically an old Falcon inline-6 with two cylinders removed, so it was probably heavy and inefficient compared to more modern 4-cyls. And I think it had a 2-bbl carb, instead of fuel injection. I'm sure the later Tempos were better once they got fuel injected. And I'd imagine that eventually, a 4-speed automatic found its way onto the option list.
I think the Tempo and especially the Topaz sedans looked kind of attractive around 1988, when they got a refreshening. The coupes never looked good, IMO though.
In '74, the Sport Coupe got a squared-off quarter window and a flat rear window. We had one. My Dad wanted four windows that rolled down, and the Custom Coupe (and Caprice Coupe) had that roofline with the enormous, thick B pillar and quarter windows that did not roll down. They still had the concave rear window however.
The '75 was the last year for the Impala Sport Coupe. I've often thought it would have been nice to have ordered one of these fully-loaded, with the brown herringbone 50/50 seats, power windows and the like. I prefer the '74 and '75 Sport Coupe roofline to the '71-'73.
I also did not like at all, the '74-76 LeSabre, Catalina, and Delta 88 two-door rooflines....a door window, a small roll-down quarter window, and a goofy third window near the rear window!
Bill
The Tempo/Topaz stayed with the 3-speed automatic as the only automatic until they were retired.
Circling back to our family friend's '85 and '88 K-cars, I now recall that one of them blew a head gasket at ~145,000. He repaired it himself, for not much money but a lot of labor, and drove it at least another 10,000 miles. Then he sold it for a few hundred dollars. The A/C went out on the other one at around 150,000, but the drivetrain lasted until ~170,000, at which point he sold the car, for next to nothing.
These K-cars delivered low cost-per-mile transportation, but our friend is very handy with a wrench.
considering offers? really?
you have to pay for all those sweet nothings
nice pic if you are trying to sell a car
great picture
palfingers are really big bucks
just totally wrong
mechanic: yup, it's been wrecked, here is my bill for $150.
only has 3 sides, other than that, not bad
this marketing used to work
Only smells like antifreeze? Oh, OK then. That's worth $1000 bucks. After looking at that picture who ever would think you'd want to use the heater anyway?
I want that MGB, bad, and I'm not even really an MG fan.
Mustang - I wouldn't be in any Rousch to buy it. I bet I'd be able to get one at the dealer without 30 miles on it for less money
95 Taurus Wagon --let's see---smells of antifreeze when you turn the heater on, but not when the heater is off. Could it be the heater core? Gee, I just don't know.
72 MGB/GT -- well... it bid to $6600 and he turned that down. It's a coupe, so you can't expect convertible money. He certainly did a good eBay ad. I'd guess that with thicker sway bars, poly bushings all round, and modified suspension, AND this being a hard-riding car to begin with, that driving this baby on the streets of a city is going to be a pretty brutal affair indeed.
Avanti -- the car that would not die. Please go away.
2001 Honda -- Blue Book asking price is $7900 and he wants 6400 for a salvaged car. Oh my, someone needs a cruel and sobering reality check.
2008 Brand New Roush -- so who cares? Are you thinkin' it's hard to find one?
I have this guy in Nigeria that wants to pay big money for my car...just kidding. In all seriousness, if I wanted to get a car from Birmingham, AL to the Netherlands what is the best way to do it? It looks like the car would ship from Jacksonville, FL. Can the seller arrange to have it picked up here in Birmingham and shipped out of Jacksonville? Do I have to do a lot of paperwork or is that the seller's problem? Any other issues I am missing?
All you have to do is help the trucker load the car onto the flatbed at your house and hand over the paper work. The shipping company handles everything. How you get paid is your business.
See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
This is sad, I know the nuances of Tempos. I remember our car was made in the last days of 85 model year production, and it actually had a 1986 style steering wheel and the 3rd high mount brake light, but the front clip was 1985 (it changed in 86). Quality.
I remember the highest indicated speed for the car was 80mph, so I really felt like I was living on the edge when I would drive with it pegged, which was probably too often.
Don't make me change the subject to the '78 Mazda GLC Sport I learned to drive on. At least it had racing stripes all over it.
Funny, but looking at the pic above, I don't think the car looks near as vulgar as I remember. I can see a family resemblance to the T-bird, and even the Mark VII!
Andre, put the eggnog down, and you might want to have someone else drive you home! :P
Definitely the same styling team from the Bird and Mark VII
I think the line was L, GL, GLX in the early years, then went to L, GL, LX. Taurus was the same.
Especially because most T/Ts were 4drs:
I owned a 1977 and yes it was a great little car, IMHO.
-- Boz
I can see where you see the resemblance Andre between the mark and the Tempo. Probably the rear window and C pillar shape are very similar.
Our white Tempo I think was base with automatic, and had no a/c, no power options either. I remember it had a centre console with warning lights for burnt out bulbs and what not.
I always thought the Marks were the pinnacle of American luxury coupes when I was young, until I discovered Benzes and BMWs.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
I don't remember the trim level, but it had alloy wheels, A/C and (I think) PW and PM. Was gold with a 5-speed stick (her choice!) and had about 95K on it when we met. It ran OK, but not long after we met (but before we got married) she got a new job that had a bit of a commute attached to it; she leased a '97 Escort LX (also a stick shift! What a gal!). The Tempo got sold to her sister for $300-400, as the dealer wouldn't take it in trade.
There's a guy here at work who had two Mark VII's, a 1987 and a 1992. He bought each one when they were a couple years old, so he got a pretty good deal. Ran each one up to close to 200,000 miles. Alas, he then bought a 2000 Lincoln LS, which was a total piece of crap, and burned him so bad that now he buys Acura TL's, and only keeps them to about 50,000 miles, because he just doesn't trust a high-mileage car.
I remember when our old heap was about 10 years old, the factory tape deck died,so I went to the junkyard for a $10 replacement...I found one in an 86 Tempo diesel sedan with a 5-speed. That car was actually in very good condition and I couldn't see why it was there...now there's an oddity.