Project Cars--You Get to Vote on "Hold 'em or Fold 'em"

qbrozen

Some random picks from CL today.

Not too crazy. I suppose a fair enough starting point.

This seems a little rich, but a cool looking car.

Would definitely stand out in any crowd. I dig it, although a bit bigger than I'd really want, I think.

Wish he had more pics of this. Could be pretty cool.

sda

andre1969 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

That's an interesting thing---what was the longest production car ever? (I have no idea).

Here are some other big 'uns:
1973 Imperial: 235.3", 127" wb (thanks to those protruding rubber blocks they passed off as "5 mph bumpers"
1975 Cadillac Fleetwood: 233.7", 133" wb
1976 Buick Electra: 233.3", 127" wb
1977 Lincoln Continental: 233", 127.2" wb
1976 Olds Ninety-Eight: 232.2", 127" wb
1974 Imperial: 231.1", 124" wb
1978 Chrysler New Yorker: 231.0", 124" wb
1976 Cadillac DeVille: 230.7", 130" wb

So, unless you go into stretched models, such as the Fleetwood 75, I think the 1973 Imperial might be it. I guess it's possible if you go back to the real old days, maybe something like a Duesenberg or similar high end car might have been bigger?

FWIW, the Fleetwood 75 factory limo was 252.2" long on a 151.5" wb.

1973 Imperial: 235.3", 127" wb (thanks to those protruding rubber blocks they passed off as "5 mph bumpers" Chrysler really didn't put forth a very good effort in 73 with required 5 mph bumpers. That requirement ruined the looks of many cars that year. Many bumpers looked tacked on and a complete afterthought. BMW, Triumph, Ford, Pontiac all come to mind with cars that had hideous looking battering rams for bumpers.

This is a 73 Catalina. You could use the bumpers as a chair, truly ugly.

http://www.2040cars.com/_content/cars/images/54/59054/001.jpg

texases

1973 was a transition year for the bumpers I think (2.5 mph?), 1974 they had to meet the 5 mph standard.

andre1969

I honestly never was that much of a fan of the '71-74 Pontiac to begin with, so in my opinion that bumper doesn't make it any uglier than it already is. I thought the style of these cars actually improved for '75-76 when they made them bulkier and a bit more squared-off...especially in the Bonneville/Grand Ville lines.

My attitude has softened on them in more recent years, but I thought Olds and especially Buick had better styling in that timeframe. Although I never cared for the peaked headlights on the Olds models, and the '74 Buick seems a bit garish up front to me.

texases

re: that '65 Mustang - looks in pretty good shape, but 6 cyl + AT = not a lot of fun, and the red/white interior is pretty loud. I'd want a V8+4 speed for that kind of toy.

sda

andre1969 said:

I honestly never was that much of a fan of the '71-74 Pontiac to begin with, so in my opinion that bumper doesn't make it any uglier than it already is. I thought the style of these cars actually improved for '75-76 when they made them bulkier and a bit more squared-off...especially in the Bonneville/Grand Ville lines.

My attitude has softened on them in more recent years, but I thought Olds and especially Buick had better styling in that timeframe. Although I never cared for the peaked headlights on the Olds models, and the '74 Buick seems a bit garish up front to me.

Dad had a 71 Catalina 2dr, and a 73 Catalina 4dr sedan as company cars. When it was dark out I could always tell it was dad coming down the street because the spacing of the headlights was unique. A picture of a 71 coupe, his had the Rallye II (III?) wheels and vinyl top. Certainly a cleaner, more integrated front end compared to the 73.

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/aa/d9/b7/aad9b7c4b33aead90d527d55eb4f58f3.jpg

ab348

sda said:

Dad had a 71 Catalina 2dr, and a 73 Catalina 4dr sedan as company cars. When it was dark out I could always tell it was dad coming down the street because the spacing of the headlights was unique. A picture of a 71 coupe, his had the Rallye II (III?) wheels and vinyl top. Certainly a cleaner, more integrated front end compared to the 73.

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/aa/d9/b7/aad9b7c4b33aead90d527d55eb4f58f3.jpg

I liked the '71 and to a lesser extent the '72 full-size Pontiacs. Less so for subsequent years.

stickguy

the Mustang does look pretty clean. Assuming it really is solid underneath, fine for putting around and looking cool!

wonder how hard it would be to upgrade it to a V8 and 4 speed?

texases

"wonder how hard it would be to upgrade it to a V8 and 4 speed? "

Well, the wheels/axles/suspension are different, so it'd be some work. There are so many V8s out there, it'd much easier, and probably not much more money, just to get one to begin with. Just make sure it's not a half-done conversion!

stickguy

interesting. I would be most interested in a restomod type, upgrading the infrastructure and running gear to safer/more modern stuff. So not sure it matters what it started out as, with the soundness (lack of rust) of the unibody being more important

there must be 1-click kits out there at this point for all the under car stuff you need. front and rear suspension, brakes, mounts, all that good stuff. swap out the engine at the same time.

Though if I really had the money and time (I do have the lack of common sense), I would do the same to a 70 something Volvo. Just, because I want to.

hpmctorque

Restomods are interesting and cool, very enjoyable to look at, listen to and dream about, but not in my driveway.

explorerx4

@texases, How many 65 Galaxies have an airbag?

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
That 68 Catalina looks like some great 'big iron'.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
That 68 Catalina looks like some great 'big iron'.

Funny, but when I looked at the pics I instantly started thinking how big a job it would be to undo everything they did to it.

gsemike

Mr_Shiftright said:

Yeah, I can understand it in a way---it's a variation of a Pro Touring type of build, wherein you want classic car looks but modern brakes, steering and suspension.

Like most custom builds of this type, you add up all your receipts, divide by 2, and that's your asking price.

I like the idea too but I don't know about that price

Mr_Shiftright

It's going to be a tough sell--such a narrow niche of buyers.

lemmer

autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?dealerId=56729756&zip=35242&endYear=2017&location=Birmingham%2BAL&startYear=1981&firstRecord=25&dealerName=Birmingham%2BBroker&searchRadius=100&listingId=422729804&Log=0

I have a friend with an exotic car collection that thinks a Quattroporte like this one (with a regular automatic) can be reliably daily driven. I suspect he is wrong. But I really want him to be right.

lemmer

I haven't posted in a long time. I'm currently driving a 2001 Boxster S and 2011 BMW 128i. But the wife is probably going to take my BMW when my daughter takes her car.

lemmer

I lurk here and other places. I enjoyed Mr Shiftright's comments on Bring a Trailer, but he seems to have taken leave from commenting there.

qbrozen

lemmer said:

autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?dealerId=56729756&zip=35242&endYear=2017&location=Birmingham%2BAL&startYear=1981&firstRecord=25&dealerName=Birmingham%2BBroker&searchRadius=100&listingId=422729804&Log=0

I have a friend with an exotic car collection that thinks a Quattroporte like this one (with a regular automatic) can be reliably daily driven. I suspect he is wrong. But I really want him to be right.

I have heard and read the same thing. The automatic that they started using sometime in the 2007 model year is the ZF 6-speed, which should all but solve the transmission woes the earlier cars had. The '07+ Quattroporte is always on my browsing list, I just have not gotten around the pulling the trigger. Seems to be no shortage of examples with fewer than 40k miles out there.

stickguy

I would be a bit worried about getting parts for that. Definitely need to have another car handy for when it is out of service! but the carfax was surprisingly clean.

Mr_Shiftright

lemmer said:

I lurk here and other places. I enjoyed Mr Shiftright's comments on Bring a Trailer, but he seems to have taken leave from commenting there.

Got bored. I'll go back in while.

All lurkers welcome!

fintail

Speaking of bringatrailer, This unique and likely sole survivor was posted there last month - and my brother really wanted it. Maybe a good thing he doesn't have quite that much laying around, and that no sane entity would finance something like that.

Mr_Shiftright

That's a lot for that little engine to haul !

stickguy

not even the V6? plan ahead if you see a hill or want to merge.

fintail

I think the V6 wasn't until model year 1987 or 88. On that thing, the low mileage may be because you don't rack up miles as fast at low speed.

On the ad I linked, there's a link to a video of it driving, it appears to move along well enough.

stickguy

I assume that the trailer, which is not really all that big, is a real lightweight unit.

Mr_Shiftright

Nonetheless, it's probably not paper mache, and has to be at least a ton I would guess. Notice that she never gets out of 3rd gear.

fintail

I got the fintail back today - verdict: indeterminate

They examined the brakes, drove the car, found no issues and saw nothing alarming, even said it stops fine. The brakes are getting old (last done in 2000/01 I think), and might just be prone to sticking a little due to age and lack of really regular use, same for the parking brake I guess. That might be the next big bill for the car, brakes all around.

Bonus - the bill was a bit under $100, which is nice. They even put some transmission fluid in it (not free of course), kind of cool that they checked the fluids at all. It ran fine on the way home, and sitting in the sun for the afternoon brought out the "old Mercedes smell" inside.

uplanderguy

It's funny you mention the "smell". The old Studebaker parts place in South Bend, which was built in the 1800's and torn down about 15 years ago, always had a certain 'smell'. Last year in my hometown, the Jeep dealer, who was closing, found several NOS Studebaker interior door panels upstairs that he gave to me, still in the Studebaker boxes--he didn't want to throw them out. They were eaches and no sets, and it took me the swap meet at South Bend last weekend to sell three of them, after I had them advertised in the national club magazine. I could smell that same-old smell with them in my car en route to South Bend!

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, cars just don't smell like they used to!

German cars from the 80s had a kind of pungent odor--I think it was from the type of seat-stuffing they used.

British cars always smelled like mildew, for obvious reasons, or in the case of the Jaguar XJ6, gasoline.

texases

The 'Eau de Horse Hair'??

My '96 ES300 started having that 'old car' odor after around 14 years or so. The Dallas heat no doubt contributed.

Mr_Shiftright

Mildew is the worst of all. Unlike "dog" or "my german grandpa's house" odors, mildew can literally attack you.

fintail

I think the old MB seats are padded with a laminated straw or similar, doesn't seem like horsehair to me. I think it adds to the smell, along with the natural finish wood.

texases

While I don't know about MB, I bet it was horsehair at one point. Older BMWs (like the 2002) used it.

From a restoration site:

"You know that vintage German car smell?

It's a very complex, sort of musty but not unpleasant aroma, somewhat organic and entirely automotive. You smell it when you first get into an old VW, Mercedes or BMW, most noticeably on a warm day after the windows have been rolled up for a while.

One of the primary contributors to that distinctive smell, is the horsehair padding that was used in the seat cushions in these old cars. As it turns out, my horsehair had turned to a sort of horse dust."

And horsehair was used for many years. The antique (1911 Regal) my family had growing up had horsehair, I could see it through some rips in the leather.

edit - Fin, you may have a combination horsehair + coconut fiber + latex padding, they did that with the 2002 according to 'Maximillian':
http://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/147927-front-green-seat-foam-material/

fintail

I've seen it before when I pulled out the rear seat, it's definitely a natural fiber of some kind - didn't strike me to be as fine as horsehair, but it's been many years. Or maybe the treated hair makes it look like that. Not a terrible smell. I put lemon oil on the wood once a year, which adds to it, too.

isellhondas

When I was quite young, we would often make the 125 mile drive to Tijuana to get our cars interiors done.

For around 100.00 you could get Tuck and Roll installed including headliner door panels and rear tray.

They would attack your car using three or four guys and two hours later the job would be done!

BUT....you had to watch them or they would use horse manure instead of foam. Surprisingly, it wouldn't
smell bad but later if you got a small rip, this funny "powder" would come out.

Who else remembers Tuck and Roll?

hpmctorque

Is this MB AMG worth restoring?

http://autoweek.com/article/junkyard-treasures/junkyard-treasure-2002-mercedes-benz-clk-55-amg

fintail

A mint low miles one will only hit about 15K on a good day, and you probably can't get there from here. If it has engine or transmission issues, get the gold card ready.

Shame, as that one is a really rare color combination, and it is indeed a real AMG car. Definitely some valuable parts: the wheels, steering wheel (AMG cars had a special hub/airbag cover), gauges, maybe seats, mechanical bits.

Mr_Shiftright

It's where it needs to be.

ab348

It still has the factory original coke spoon!

Mr_Shiftright

The AMG name suffering severe dilution by that time.

fintail

It wasn't an independent tuner then, MB gained effective control in the 90s.

The current trim package AMG (the 43 series cars) cars are probably the greatest dilution the badge has seen, following what BMW has done to M and Audi to S.

hpmctorque

My question of whether that AMG was worth restoring was academic, of course, because it was quickly being picked apart by junk yard vultures, but it's fun to think of what ifs.

hpmctorque

CXLD

hpmctorque

How about this old manual transmission luxo-Beemer; worth restoring before it's vulturized?

ihttp://autoweek.com/article/junkyard-treasures/junkyard-treasure-1984-bmw-733i-5-speed-manual-transmission

fintail

Some good parts I am sure, but that ship has also set sail. Just like that CLK, it might be worth 15K mint? Only if a labor of love.

stickguy

that car has negligible value if in concurs condition, so no, not worth restoring.

hpmctorque

A neighbor of mine bought a new 1985 LeBaron convertible just like the one below, yellow, but with the naturally aspirated 2.2. He drove it for a few years, always with the top down when weather permitted. He loved that car, and frequently had a smile on his face when he drove it. It goes to show how even a mundane K-car can be loved. Sadly, Gene passed before his LeBaron died, and his widow sold it.

Interesting story about this young guy and his turbo K convert! Do you remember these?

http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/dr-iacocca-or-how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-lebaron

berri

Yeah, George's John Voight car in Seinfeld