Mystery car pix

Mr_Shiftright

Think so. Man, I would love one of those. 235 cid, 3 on the tree, no power nothin'.

berri

Lemko would love that Caddy!

bhill2

It's got to be an early '50s Chevy wagon. It's possible that it's a Pontiac, but I don't think so. I can't make out the name on the back either.

berri

Fin, that wagon ain't eye candy

Mr_Shiftright

I think I can read "Chevrolet" on the tailgate.

andys120

fintail

Looks like a Mazda RX-3, I have a vintage toy one:

stickguy

Saw that on BaT. Back in the 1980 range I almost bought the piston engine version of one. Should have pulled the trigger on that. Oh well.

andys120

Yup, it's a 1972 Mazda RX-3

Mr_Shiftright

They also made a wagon version of the RX-3 which was, for the time, a very nice car---quite deluxe.

fintail

The RX wagons are cool and must be insanely rare these days. I love the badging:

Mr_Shiftright

I haven't seen one in years. Unlike the RX-8, the early rotaries are sturdier (relatively speaking). People still race 'em.

omarman

I've probably posted this before but my sister got a new 1974 Mazda RX-3 wagon and didn't like it much. Poor mpg with the auto trans and persistent backfiring but it was quick and eager to rev. I still have a pic somewhere of my collie and her elkhound occupying the front seats when were loading them up for a pizza run to Grilli's. One year later a friend of mine who joined the army got a new '75 Mazda RX-3 coupe and it was in pretty bad shape after 3 years. (The car not the army.) By '78 the driver's side rear quarter panel was rusted and the 5-speed needed rebuilt. Still a 5-speed seemed pretty exotic back then. And his car had a tach buzzer alarm which was supposed to warn drivers to avoid over-revving the rotary engine. I don't know if my sister's '74 wagon didn't have that feature of if she just didn't buzz the engine up the way my friend did. My sister traded her Mazda for a used car and then in 1979 got a new downsized Malibu wagon which she really liked better than the RX-3. Must be pretty hard to find a running or racing Mazda RX-3 wagon from the 70's now.

stickguy

Even rarer is probably the rotary pickup

fintail

In "Poltergeist" there's a yellow REPU parked in front of the house during the end/implosion scene. Not listed on imcdb, but it is hard to miss in the movie, with the "Rotary Power" tailgate.

andys120

kyfdx

Jeep Honcho?

Early '70s?

texases

AKA Jeep J-10?

kyfdx

texases said:

AKA Jeep J-10?

Yeah... I'm not sure when they started using the Honcho name.

andys120

Youse have the right idea but it's a 1968/69 Jeep J3000 Gladiator with a Buick 225 CID V/8. The J10 Honcho of a decade later was similar.

It's a mystery to me why in an era when everyone and their shirttail cousin is buying pickups it's taken Jeep so long to bring out another one (2019 Jeep Gladiator).

ab348

Yeah, I always found it odd that the Jeep pickups of the past never seemed to be very successful.

fintail

The Gladiator is a very nice looking design, and a great name. Indeed, astounding why any Jeep pickup revival took so long.

Mr_Shiftright

Maybe they were trying to protect their Wrangler market?

texases

I remember a comparison review of the J10 and the Ford and Chevy 4WD pickups at the end of its run. The J10 still came out on top. 

omarman

andys120 said:

Youse have the right idea but it's a 1968/69 Jeep J3000 Gladiator with a Buick 225 CID V/8. .

Buick 225 CID V8? Sounds Electra-fying!

From the Jeep.com history site: "In 1968, the J-3000 Truck (126-inch) featured stout Dana 44 front and Dana 53 axles with 4.27:1 standard gear and 350 cubic inch “Dauntless” V8 (Buick) engine and Four-speed transmission."

In 1965 the AMC 327 "Vigilante V8" was optional in the J-series trucks. Jeep switched to the Buick engines after AMC stopped producing the 327. And after AMC bought Kaiser Jeep they went back to AMC engines.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

Maybe they were trying to protect their Wrangler market?

Wouldn't make sense, their Wrangler market is solid but the market for Pickups has grown by leaps and bounds in the 30 or so years Jeep was out of it.

Thing I can't figure out about the Wrangler market...why don't the Asian makers try to steal a piece of it? The original Land Cruiser and Patrol did OK but there were no follow ups. Even the Euros could have had a shot at it>.



The Wrangler suffers from poor build quality but they sell every one they can make. I don't get it.

Mr_Shiftright

Well obviously the price point on the Wrangler is attractive enough to cancel out the slap-dash assembly. They seem rugged enough to do what they were built to do. So maybe there's really not that much profit per unit in such a vehicle.

berri

I always kind of liked the look of the various Willy's and Jeep pickups. I think what may have helped hold then back was a lack of big, powerful engines, as well as perhaps limited factory facilities.

Mr_Shiftright

Putting a GM V-6 into Willys wagons was a popular conversion back in the day.

andys120

kyfdx

andys120 said:

One of the AMC Eagle cars.... based on the Spirit, I think.

andys120

kyfdx said:

andys120 said:

One of the AMC Eagle cars.... based on the Spirit, I think.

That's right, MY 1983.

andys120

tmart

The special edition Continental with suicide doors. All sold out.

Michaell

andys120 said:

kyfdx said:

andys120 said:

One of the AMC Eagle cars.... based on the Spirit, I think.

That's right, MY 1983.

SX4?

berri

I actually saw some kind of big Rolls Royce with a 6 window greenhouse and suicide doors. No idea what model or year, but it was quite the large barge. After all that ostentatious front and side styling, the rear end was one of the plainest, chintziest things I've seen.

lostwrench1

tmart said:

The special edition Continental with suicide doors. All sold out.

Those rear doors make great air brakes after turning onto an exit ramp.

tmart

lostwrench1 said:

tmart said:

The special edition Continental with suicide doors. All sold out.

Those rear doors make great air brakes after turning onto an exit ramp.

Now that would be fun!

andys120

tmart said:

The special edition Continental with suicide doors. All sold out.

I'm not sure it's a special edition. I believe that's standard on 2019 Contis.

tmart

Only 80 were made to celebrate its 80th anniversary. To me, that makes it a special edition, or limited production run.

andys120

tmart said:

Only 80 were made to celebrate its 80th anniversary. To me, that makes it a special edition, or limited production run.

I did some poking around and Lincoln's Website is calling it an anniversary special which they're calling a Black Label Coach Edition.

https://www.lincoln.com/luxury-cars/continental/coach-edition/

bhill2

andys120 said:

tmart said:

Only 80 were made to celebrate its 80th anniversary. To me, that makes it a special edition, or limited production run.

I did some poking around and Lincoln's Website is calling it an anniversary special which they're calling a Black Label Coach Edition.

https://www.lincoln.com/luxury-cars/continental/coach-edition/

Since the original 80 sold out in about three seconds, you've got to know it will be offered again in 2019.

tmart

Believe these were 2019 models.

bhill2

Good point. I should have said 'additional ones will be offered during the 2019 run'.

andys120

berri

48 (as plate notes) Buick. I'm thinking that was the last of the one sided hood release?

tmart

Based on the license plate, I’d say it’s a little ole 48 Buick convertible, probably a Roadmaster.

andys120

Doh! I didn't notice the plate!! It's definitely a '48 and a Roadmaster (no portholes in 1948?)

lostwrench1

No "Portholes" - 1946, 47, 48. An interesting disappearance of them in the 1950s. 1958 and 1959.

andys120