Had the old dear out on a bright sunny early fall day, just a hint of crispness in the morning air. The car continued to be fine, starting on the first turn after being idle for 3 weeks, and running just fine. I seem to be driving it just enough to keep it in reasonable health. Not looking bad today, either:
Still looking great, Fintail! I did some cleaning in the garage over the weekend, and had to move four cars out of the way. The Catalina and 5th Ave started up fine...for older carbureted cars, that is. The LeMans, unfortunately, was so dead it wouldn't even jump start. So after I got the Silverado moved out of the way I pulled its battery out and put it in the LeMans and it fired right up.
Little by little, I've been trying to get the garage cleaned out to the point there will be room to squeeze the DeSoto in when it finally comes home, at some point in the undetermined future.
Thanks. I think FI might be another factor in the car's longevity. It's a pretty solid system that makes it easy to live with.
I am a little envious of you having the DeSoto refreshed- maybe not in the pocketbook part, but I often think of doing something like that to my car. The cost vs benefit would be prohibitive though.
I just googled the two Wheeler Dealer cars...the DeSoto looks tolerable. It wouldn't be my first choice in a color for that car though. I think the period greens and blues they used on these cars looked really nice...a lot of those colors I tend to associate with the Caribbean Sea and a bright, carefree sunny day.
I like the color on the DeSoto. I can see it being a bit overwhelming on some cars, but it works really well with all the chrome on that beast! Agreed about the green on the Cadillac; WTH?!
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FWIW, here's that DeSoto...or at least, what comes up when you Google it:
One thing I'll say for it, at least it is a Mopar-ish type of color. I've seen late 60's Mopars in a similar shade, and remember something close being on the Neons for awhile. And when I bought my 2012 Ram, I remember they had a decked-out Ram R/T or something along those lines on the showroom floor, in a bronze-ish color.
As much as I love green, I think the '62 Caddy would have looked better in this Bronze color.
My parents had friends that owned a 52 DeSoto that got it's entire grill stolen one night right out of theri driveway! I guess '52 De Soto grills were popular with the custom car guys.
They never replaced that grill so the car looked like it had been "mouthed".
I'm not sure how the '52 DeSoto grille was designed, but I know on the '53, all of the grille "teeth" are separate pieces. If the '51-52 was similar, I'd imagine stealing one might take awhile! I think the '54 grille, as well as the '55, is one piece.
My widowed aunt had a maroon, 4-door version of that DeSoto. My grandfather bought it for her from his elderly neighbor. I was born in '58 and pretty clearly remember it, which tells you how old it would've been at the time!
She later had a cocoa-brown with white top and 'cove' '58 Ford Fairlane two-door sedan I really liked, and after that had a powder blue '63 Mercury Meteor. She was my favorite aunt and lived in the same town we did.
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I remember my dad having a 51 or 52 maroon Dodge Coronet when I was a kid. Down the road he replaced it with a 54 Desoto Firedome. The Desoto was a looker for a 54, but the Dodge was much more reliable.
The Pacer turned out to be a disaster. No surprise they couldn't sell it. Ranks up there with the Caddy - it would have cost the same to make it stock.
Most of those kind of shows lose their way after a few seasons. Mike and Edd lasted longer than normal, but they seem to be totally off the rails lately.
The MGA turned out nicely too. They are hit and miss - which has been the case for some time. I think Wheeler Dealers still has life left in it. I'd like to see them back in the UK though,
Here's something never shown here before, the fintail in motion (filmed from the dashcam in my modern car, as I was moving it out of the garage this morning).
I've thought of maybe putting a cam in the fintail too, as it has a nice view of the road.
Today I went to the sketchy local auto auction. They had a full lot this morning - heaps of every description. Half a dozen worn out old A4s, a Cimarron, several old MBs, Toyotas with 300K on them, nice late run MGB, etc. I went to check out a late run 1995 E320 cabrio that looked like the worst I had ever seen - and my expectations were met. Possible flood car - full of mold, rotten interior, way beyond redemption. The saddest C124 I have seen.
But crowded into a forlorn corner of the lot, I saw this - it wasn't on the website. A 200D, 4-speed, from the final run of US market fintails (production ending Jan 1968, side markers and all - when this design was hilariously outdated). This car was intriguing - 28K on the (5 digit) odo, but cosmetically, I could believe it. The car had sat in a garage for eons, and the engine was stuck - but in a stout old 4cyl diesel, maybe easier to remedy than some. Paint was excellent, no apparent body damage immaculate interior, virtually no rust, Becker Europa radio, broken ignition tumbler, amazing condition insulation on the firewall, original spare tire hangtag in the trunk etc. In the trunk was a portion of an old newspaper from a semi rural coastal area, so likely a local car. I had to make myself leave - although I have no place to put it, this could have been a good flip if it sold cheap enough, prime candidate to send back to Germany. I kind of wanted it:
I found something interesting on Craigslist. Junker Austin Countryman for $1500. Same car my parents used to own back in Poland when I was born to when I was a few years old. It was our first "family" car.
I didn't think many of them survived in Europe, let alone here in North America. My earliest memories of it were of dad always fixing something in it. This one here is for sale locally but it looks rough, probably beyond restoration. Probably not even worth restoring. I'm not sure if it would even bring fond memories to them, as some cars that I owned in the past I wouldn't want care to own again as they were junk. Here's a picture of my mom in front of it pregnant with me.
Lol, our next car was a Syrena actually. It needed a full overhaul and engine rebuild at about 50,000km. My dad was working in Sweden back then and brought the Austin over. In communist era Poland during the late 70s and early 80s import cars were super rare and hard to come. I guess my parents wanted something different.
Here's a bit of visual history of the the most common cars on the road in Poland during the early 80s, pretty much your only automotive choices unless you were to import something yourself. These were all eastern bloc communist cars.
Syrena. The most basic transportation you could buy at the time:
Fiat 126p. One of the most common and inexpensive cars in Poland and more modern than a Syrena:
It was funny to see these two cylinder micro cars towing camping trailers too, it was a common sight in summer:
Fiat 124/125(?). The common car, akin to our modern day Camry or Accord here in North America:
Polonez. The "upscale" and pricier option in Poland than Fiats. If you had a new Polonez you did well.
Trabants were common too as they weren't too expensive.
Ladas, although Soviet made were considered upscale and better than Fiats. If you had a Lada you did well too although they were almost identical to Fiat 125.
Soviet Zaporozets were not too common but not rare either.
Volgas were commonly used as taxis. Not many were seen as private cars.
Few Dacias were seen too. Romanian car based on an old Renault design.
Few Wartburgs roamed around too. Eastern German cars. Our neigbour had one and it looked very modern for the early 80s.
If you had a bit more money and didn't want a Soviet built car (due to anti Soviet/communist sentiment at the time), you'd get a Skoda from then Czekosolvakia. they were considered better quality and better built.
And if you had money and wanted something sporty, you'd get a Skoda Rapid (coupe).
And that's it. That's unless you were "allowed" to leave the country by obtaining the proper papers, and had the money, then you could import something from Western Europe.
Interesting posts, @boomchek . Our family bought an Austin 1100 new, in '68 or '69 as a second car, a beige 4-door with a red interior, looked nice and had a surprising amount of room. Had the 4 speed autobox and could barely get out of its own way though. Rode nice for a small car. We didn't keep it long as it never got much use. No huge issues with it that I recall.
Funny to read that the Lada version of the Fiat 124 sedan was considered the better car. My brother bought one when they were all the rage here in the 1980s, and what an awful car it was. Can't imagine the Fiat being worse.
Cool stuff, boomchek. I like those Skodas. and some of the others have some charm too - albeit of the type where you wouldn't want to be forced to live with one.
An engine swap could work in that W110 fintail. I think the transmission is pretty common, and the engine bay will fit a period I6 easily. It was worth saving, I am curious as to what it brought and where it will go. Way too nice to part out, you just don't find them that nice very often.
Those were interesting times growing up as a kid. We always got excited to see a foreign car on the roads at the time. Before we ran off to Italy when I was 8 I could count on one hand how many "exotics" I spotted in real life (mainly Porsches) on the roads in Poland.
The Volga was one of the larger eastern bloc cars on the road at the time.
The Ladas were sold here too in Canada, and so were newer Skodas from the late 80s but you almost never see any nowadays. Funny too how Skodas, Zaporozets, the little Fiats were all rear engined. Maybe it was cost effective at the time?
The early Syrenas had a 2 stroke 2 cylinder engines, later ones had a two stroke 3 cylinders, all front mounted. The engines were apparently same as ones (or same design) as used for pumping water in fire trucks, or so I was told. Here's a picture of a Syrena engine bay. Most of these communist era relics are now becoming collectible in Eastern Europe and people restore them or modify them.
When I have time I'll try to catch that episode. Our cable provider has a bunch of free on demand shows, and we have a couple of seasons of wheelers dealers on there too. I watched a few episodes and I noticed that they go through quite a bit of work reconditioning the cars, for not so much profit. Personally I wouldn't bother, but I guess for TV, they're just doing it for the fun of it.
And folks wonder why they can't make money buying/fixing/flipping old cars. Only works if you're making the actual money from the TV show! Seems like about 20% is typical for W-D, so, yeah, $5/hour for Edd.
It can be fun and profitable if you do a lot of the easy labor yourself. I did it to few cars I owned, doing the touch ups, detailing, polishing headlights, simple things myself.
Otherwise the simple stuff can easily add up if you pay someone else to do it. Or if you have to start throwing expensive new parts at it. But I enjoyed it because I got to own and drive different cars, and in the end of I made a few bucks it was a bonus. If not, at least I had free or inexpensive transportation if I sold it for same or even a bit less than what I put into it.
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(Actually this is more of a project car killer)
Little by little, I've been trying to get the garage cleaned out to the point there will be room to squeeze the DeSoto in when it finally comes home, at some point in the undetermined future.
I am a little envious of you having the DeSoto refreshed- maybe not in the pocketbook part, but I often think of doing something like that to my car. The cost vs benefit would be prohibitive though.
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Saw an 89ish Trans Am GTA in charcoal grey the yesterday. Looked pretty decent, but certainly not showroom.
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The '62 Caddy, on the other hand, is a tragedy.
One thing I'll say for it, at least it is a Mopar-ish type of color. I've seen late 60's Mopars in a similar shade, and remember something close being on the Neons for awhile. And when I bought my 2012 Ram, I remember they had a decked-out Ram R/T or something along those lines on the showroom floor, in a bronze-ish color.
As much as I love green, I think the '62 Caddy would have looked better in this Bronze color.
They never replaced that grill so the car looked like it had been "mouthed".
She later had a cocoa-brown with white top and 'cove' '58 Ford Fairlane two-door sedan I really liked, and after that had a powder blue '63 Mercury Meteor. She was my favorite aunt and lived in the same town we did.
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so far they lowered it, and apparently are going to wrap it.
somehow, I am not expecting to like this at the end!
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I guess there is a limit to how many rough drivers they can fix up and have it interesting...
wonder if doing this in the USA makes a difference? They were getting most of the cars here anyway, so at least saving shipping costs!
The VW thing worked out fine though.
Still have a few taped to watch. A GTO and some old PU.
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The Toronado was gone this morning, hopefully out for a drive.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I always found Edd's role in the original shows far more interesting than Mike's, who just seemed to be mostly annoying.
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Today I went to the sketchy local auto auction. They had a full lot this morning - heaps of every description. Half a dozen worn out old A4s, a Cimarron, several old MBs, Toyotas with 300K on them, nice late run MGB, etc. I went to check out a late run 1995 E320 cabrio that looked like the worst I had ever seen - and my expectations were met. Possible flood car - full of mold, rotten interior, way beyond redemption. The saddest C124 I have seen.
But crowded into a forlorn corner of the lot, I saw this - it wasn't on the website. A 200D, 4-speed, from the final run of US market fintails (production ending Jan 1968, side markers and all - when this design was hilariously outdated). This car was intriguing - 28K on the (5 digit) odo, but cosmetically, I could believe it. The car had sat in a garage for eons, and the engine was stuck - but in a stout old 4cyl diesel, maybe easier to remedy than some. Paint was excellent, no apparent body damage immaculate interior, virtually no rust, Becker Europa radio, broken ignition tumbler, amazing condition insulation on the firewall, original spare tire hangtag in the trunk etc. In the trunk was a portion of an old newspaper from a semi rural coastal area, so likely a local car. I had to make myself leave - although I have no place to put it, this could have been a good flip if it sold cheap enough, prime candidate to send back to Germany. I kind of wanted it:
Definitely don't fold this project car.
I didn't think many of them survived in Europe, let alone here in North America. My earliest memories of it were of dad always fixing something in it. This one here is for sale locally but it looks rough, probably beyond restoration. Probably not even worth restoring. I'm not sure if it would even bring fond memories to them, as some cars that I owned in the past I wouldn't want care to own again as they were junk. Here's a picture of my mom in front of it pregnant with me.
Below are the photos of one for sale locally. Here's the link: Craigslist Austin for sale
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Here's a bit of visual history of the the most common cars on the road in Poland during the early 80s, pretty much your only automotive choices unless you were to import something yourself. These were all eastern bloc communist cars.
Syrena. The most basic transportation you could buy at the time:
Fiat 126p. One of the most common and inexpensive cars in Poland and more modern than a Syrena:
It was funny to see these two cylinder micro cars towing camping trailers too, it was a common sight in summer:
Fiat 124/125(?). The common car, akin to our modern day Camry or Accord here in North America:
Polonez. The "upscale" and pricier option in Poland than Fiats. If you had a new Polonez you did well.
Trabants were common too as they weren't too expensive.
Ladas, although Soviet made were considered upscale and better than Fiats. If you had a Lada you did well too although they were almost identical to Fiat 125.
Soviet Zaporozets were not too common but not rare either.
Volgas were commonly used as taxis. Not many were seen as private cars.
Few Dacias were seen too. Romanian car based on an old Renault design.
Few Wartburgs roamed around too. Eastern German cars. Our neigbour had one and it looked very modern for the early 80s.
If you had a bit more money and didn't want a Soviet built car (due to anti Soviet/communist sentiment at the time), you'd get a Skoda from then Czekosolvakia. they were considered better quality and better built.
And if you had money and wanted something sporty, you'd get a Skoda Rapid (coupe).
And that's it. That's unless you were "allowed" to leave the country by obtaining the proper papers, and had the money, then you could import something from Western Europe.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Funny to read that the Lada version of the Fiat 124 sedan was considered the better car. My brother bought one when they were all the rage here in the 1980s, and what an awful car it was. Can't imagine the Fiat being worse.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
An engine swap could work in that W110 fintail. I think the transmission is pretty common, and the engine bay will fit a period I6 easily. It was worth saving, I am curious as to what it brought and where it will go. Way too nice to part out, you just don't find them that nice very often.
The Volga was one of the larger eastern bloc cars on the road at the time.
The Ladas were sold here too in Canada, and so were newer Skodas from the late 80s but you almost never see any nowadays. Funny too how Skodas, Zaporozets, the little Fiats were all rear engined. Maybe it was cost effective at the time?
The early Syrenas had a 2 stroke 2 cylinder engines, later ones had a two stroke 3 cylinders, all front mounted. The engines were apparently same as ones (or same design) as used for pumping water in fire trucks, or so I was told. Here's a picture of a Syrena engine bay. Most of these communist era relics are now becoming collectible in Eastern Europe and people restore them or modify them.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Otherwise the simple stuff can easily add up if you pay someone else to do it. Or if you have to start throwing expensive new parts at it. But I enjoyed it because I got to own and drive different cars, and in the end of I made a few bucks it was a bonus. If not, at least I had free or inexpensive transportation if I sold it for same or even a bit less than what I put into it.
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http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/5236471511.html
I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
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