Mystery car pix

omarman

Wiki photo caption: 1976 AMC Matador Coupe - Brougham edition finished in Dark Cocoa Metallic (paint code: H4) with optional vinyl roof cover. Brougham edition?

tjc78

tmart said:

1960 Chevy Impala Nomad Wagon.

Yep. I like it!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1960-chevrolet-impala-nomad-wagon/

andys120

I took driver ed on a 1960 Biscayne (6-cyl/AT) with no power assists. What an awful car!

texases

Seems like most all of those Matadors had vinyl roofs. I'd much prefer paint.

ab348

Haven't seen too many broughams with plaid cloth upholstery.

berri

There was a period where AMC and Plymouth both seemed to have a plaid thing

Mr_Shiftright

The Brougham included as standard equipment power steering, three-speed automatic transmission with floor-mounted shifter, center console with locking compartment (also shared with the Rebel Machine), individual high-back bucket seats, bright trim for pedals, heater, AM/FM stereo radio with four speakers, tinted windshield, and a remote controlled driver's side remote mirror.

Apparently, nobody noticed.

thebean

I really, really wanted a Matador for my first new car in ‘76. I had a full time job and was ready to ditch the ol’ ‘67 El Camino. There was one in a medium blue at our AM dealer, but my dad (firm GM man at that time), convinced (browbeat) me to get a Monte Carlo in blue. The Monte was cool, but I always had a soft spot in my heart for the Matador.

berri

Should have got the Cutlass...just kidding

bhill2

ab348 said:

I'm not sure the Tarpon roofline worked all that well in truth, but overall the smaller car looked better than the '65/'66 Marlin, which just seemed an unhappy design all around. I actually rather like the '67 model on the Ambassador body better as the roofline was smoothed out and looked more integrated.

I kind of agree with you about the roofline, but I never liked the first generation Barracuda that well either. But the Tarpon was a lot better looking than the Marlin. It stated in the article you linked that Abernathy didn’t do the Tarpon because the smaller chassis did not accommodate their V-8. So they brought out the semi-grotesque Marlin in ‘65, and one year later dropped their new V-8 in the American. Strong work, Roy.

andys120

kyfdx

Toyota Cressida?

fintail

89-90 with that grille

Michaell

kyfdx said:

Toyota Cressida?

That's my guess, too, but the grille and badge seem different...

ab348

Toyota Blandmobile in other markets.

texases

Probably the best Toyota sedan of the era, Supra engine , RWD,  pretty nice. 

andys120

Yup, it's a 1990 Toyota Cressida, the top of the line Toyota before the Avalon (and Lexus). They were quite popular but I haven't seen one in years.

bhill2

We had a '88, same color as the one shown above. Total Tijuana taxi; power everything including both the driver and front passenger seat, adjustable transmission shift pattern, adjustable suspension, and so on. Drove it for 150K miles. Nothing went wrong, and I mean nothing. Finally gave it to my stepson and his wife and two small children. It held up mechanically, but sic transit gloria interior.

andys120

omarman

First gen shark nose M6. Bumper looks 1987ish. Beautiful fast and a sad reminder that the car thing is dead.

andys120

omarman said:

First gen shark nose M6. Bumper looks 1987ish. Beautiful fast and a sad reminder that the car thing is dead.

Yup, a 1987 BMW M6 known in Bimmerspeak as a "Shark" or an E24.

The car thing isn't "dead" but it is past peak. I think there will always be people who want to drive or race cars and motorcycles just as there are people who still like sailing or riding horses.

omarman

The car thing is dead when it's only as relevant to kids today as are sailboats and horseback riding.

Mr_Shiftright

Perhaps one day the car will become again what it was initially in the very early 1900s--the plaything of the well-to-do.

Like one of these cars that I'm working on right now--hardly one person in thousands could own such a car in pre-war Germany.



Since this is pre-war, it can't really be in our "mystery car" quiz, but it is an extremely rare car because of the special coachwork. It's also a factory "hot rod", kind of a pre-war "muscle car" if you will.

1939 BMW 327/328 Pillarless Coupe, 2.0L, triple carburetors.

fintail

Custom/coachbuilt body, right?

As the socio-economic gap is greater now than then, it'd be interesting to see how the original price compared to wages, and what the equivalent would be now, maybe an Alpina 8er or something.

andys120

The 327s and 328s were beautiful cars. I don't think the pictured car is coach built since the ones I've seen look pretty much the same and that includes a couple of EMWs. BMW has built a lot of pillar-less coupes but I didn't know they had before WWII.

Come to think of it, their current folding hardtop convertibles are pillar-less coupes when the metal top is up and in the BMW tradition offer great outward visibility even with tops up.

Mr_Shiftright

fintail said:

Custom/coachbuilt body, right?

As the socio-economic gap is greater now than then, it'd be interesting to see how the original price compared to wages, and what the equivalent would be now, maybe an Alpina 8er or something.

Yes, coachbuilt by Autenreith. Only 2 were made as pillarless coupes. Most were "post" coupes. Not that many 327s were equipped with 328 motors.

This car new cost roughly 8500 DM, which would be, more or less 4 or 5 years salary for a skilled machinist in Germany at that time. Also a new VW was about 900 DM.

So coming up with an exact number would be tough but suffice it to say that this car was out of the reach for all but the very well to do professional. Maybe the price of a nice S class today?

I imagine a new Mercedes 540K was even monstrously more expensive.

fintail

I think the RM was worth around 30-40 cents then. We can be generous and say it was a $3500 car - definitely a luxury good when in the US, a nice V8 Ford was maybe $800. Of course, the socio-economic picture in Germany was far different from the US and far different from the Germany of today, there wasn't as much of a prosperous middle class, and few people had private cars to begin with.

A 540K special roadster cost something like 30000 RM, it was in a different world. I suspect most weren't delivered to what we would call "good" people.

Mr_Shiftright said:

Yes, coachbuilt by Autenreith. Only 2 were made as pillarless coupes. Most were "post" coupes. Not that many 327s were equipped with 328 motors.

This car new cost roughly 8500 DM, which would be, more or less 4 or 5 years salary for a skilled machinist in Germany at that time. Also a new VW was about 900 DM.

So coming up with an exact number would be tough but suffice it to say that this car was out of the reach for all but the very well to do professional. Maybe the price of a nice S class today?

I imagine a new Mercedes 540K was even monstrously more expensive.

andys120

ab348

1965 Chrysler 300. Nice car, my favorite '60s Chrysler. All someone has to do it take it to a body shop to have them remove all the junk someone applied to the exterior and repaint it.

fintail

Must have been a BOGO deal at JC Whitney,

Mr_Shiftright

Geez, where are the Classic Car Police?

texases

Somebody stole the hood scoops off my ‘72 Duster!

andys120

texases said:

Somebody stole the hood scoops off my ‘72 Duster!

I thought those looked familiar. The rims are chromed American Racing TorQ-Thrusts, a better addition than most of the junk that's been tacked on. This one has a 383 under the hood.

Mr_Shiftright

Hood pins? Really?

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

Hood pins? Really?

They came free with purchase of the hood scoop set from Summit.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh, well, in that case, I apologize

andys120

you can see lots of bits of cars in this gas station photo from 1964, let's see how we do with them.>

berri

That's an original Valiant, probably V200 series, I kind of like the different looks personally. I see a white 61 Olds across from it.

Mr_Shiftright

Wow. Don't drink and dress. I think maybe I see a '58 Chevy between Jungle Woman and Don Ho.

fintail

Sliver of a car at far right to the right of the 61 Olds could be a 59 Ford wagon.

lostwrench1

I'll grab the 1956 Mercury wagon and the 1949, 3 porthole, Buick Super.

andys120

Looks like the oldest car (by a lot) is the split window '49-'50 Buick 3-port (=Special?)

lostwrench1

The Buick has to be a '49.
The '50 didn't have round portholes and the '49 had the verticals of the front grille extending to below the headlights.

berri

"Put a tiger in your tank". I guess Esso was the west coast Enco gas stations?

ab348

It was hard to figure out the permutations of the pre-Exxon brands. It was always Esso up here in Canada, but when we went to the US on vacation, the stations were branded "Humble" in the Northeast. On the back of Dad's Esso credit card were the logos of all the brands in the US where it was accepted, and Enco was on there along with several others. I can see why they eventually settled on one brand in the US, but it is interesting that Exxon never appeared in Canada. Now we do have some Mobil branded stations selling the same products though.

lostwrench1

Esso = "S" "O" = Standard Oil.

kyfdx

We had Esso in KY, Sohio in OH

berri

Chicago had Standard Oil stations, but also a few Enco ones for awhile. Amoco these days.

andys120

If you look past the Tiger pic you can see the nose of a black car w a chrome side spear. Looks like a 1964 big Ford which would make it the newest car. The "woody wagon" between the Buick and the Olds is a '55 or '56 Mercury. There's the back window of another FoMoCo ('56-'58) wagon on the extreme right just over the "Esso" pump.

Back then Esso gave motorists a mock tiger tail to hang off your gas intake.

berri

Then in the later 60's the Pontiac GTO used tigers in their ads as I recall, and one of the tire companies had a Tiger Paw line of tires I think.