Mystery car pix

Lostwrench3

Ah, the gasoline "shortage" days. Let's see, my licence plate has an even number so I can buy gasoline tomorrow. Gas station closes at noon so get in the gas line at 06:30, get gas by 07:30, be at work at 08:00.

fintail

Car with its hood up at the garage, maybe a Coupe DeVille ~69-70.

Fun stick-on rear window heating element on the Nova sedan at left beside the Dart/Valiant in line at left.

imidazol97

fintail said:

Car with its hood up at the garage, maybe a Coupe DeVille ~69-70.

Fun stick-on rear window heating element on the Nova sedan at left beside the Dart/Valiant in line at left.

Good catch. I had forgotten those existed.

sda

omarman said:

White '65 Impala sport coupe behind a '70 Impala custom coupe. Looks like a green '71ish Dodge Dart sedan on left of that.

Not a clean car in sight. Remember the speed limit was initially reduced to 50 mph to save gas, and reluctantly increased to 55. Fun times.

ab348

fintail said:

Fun stick-on rear window heating element on the Nova sedan at left beside the Dart/Valiant in line at left.

Would the modern-day equivalent be an aftermarket backup camera? I should ask @driver100 .

stickguy

Green AMC on the right of the white impala

omarman

sda said:

omarman said:

White '65 Impala sport coupe behind a '70 Impala custom coupe. Looks like a green '71ish Dodge Dart sedan on left of that.

Not a clean car in sight. Remember the speed limit was initially reduced to 50 mph to save gas, and reluctantly increased to 55. Fun times.

I remember getting my first speeding violation for doing 71 mph in a (newly designated) 55 mph zone which was previously posted at 70 mph. I had to appear in court, pay a fine and court costs. $10 fine for speeding and $15 court costs. No points on my license. Still 25 bucks was a lot to pay for a front seat look at the big clunky Vascar box.

kyfdx

Vascar.. that brings back memories..

Lostwrench3

kyfdx said:

Vascar.. that brings back memories..

I'll see your Vascar and raise you a Lidar.

andys120

Putting a tiger in their tank>

Lostwrench3

Check out that 1958 Olds.

andys120

Lostwrench3 said:

Check out that 1958 Olds.

Yup, I noticed that... the 1958 Olds and Buick had the most chrome of any cars ever sold.

Lostwrench3

Anyone old enough to remember the tiger tail giveaway when one purchased Esso Extra? One tied it below one's gas cap showing "You had a tiger in your tank".

sda

Wow, 5 plus dog to travel in the Mustang! Couldn’t been much fun.

andys120

sda said:

Wow, 5 plus dog to travel in the Mustang! Couldn’t been much fun.

IIRC lots of people considered a smallish-two-door suitable for family travel at that time.

Lostwrench3 said:

Anyone old enough to remember the tiger tail giveaway when one purchased Esso Extra? One tied it below one's gas cap showing "You had a tiger in your tank".

Yup, that's why I mentioned it in the caption. The ultimate would be to have an Esso tiger in your tank and Uniroyal Tiger Paws tires.

I wonder why they changed from Esso (for Standard Oil) to Exxon. Apparently the Esso name is still used in Canada.

omarman

Drew Carey looks a lot like his dad in that pic.

ab348

andys120 said:

Anyone old enough to remember the tiger tail giveaway when one purchased Esso Extra? One tied it below one's gas cap showing "You had a tiger in your tank".

Yup, that's why I mentioned it in the caption. The ultimate would be to have an Esso tiger in your tank and Uniroyal Tiger Paws tires.

I wonder why they changed from Esso (for Standard Oil) to Exxon. Apparently the Esso name is still used in Canada.



I remember the tiger tails up here. They were a hot item to get around '65 or '66 IIRC.

As for the name change, they were Esso nationwide up here as the Canadian market was served by a Standard Oil subsidiary, Imperial Oil. But I understand in the US they had a few different brand names depending on the part of the country. Esso, Enco, plus others I don't recall. The Exxon brand was created to unify the branding across the USA.

I remember dad had an Esso credit card and on the back were all the logos of stations in the US where it was accepted. It was a great many different brands.

Ironically, over the last year or two they have rolled out the Mobil brand here for the first time as an exclusive brand used by the gas bars of the Loblaw grocery chain.

imidazol97

Lostwrench3 said:

Anyone old enough to remember the tiger tail giveaway when one purchased Esso Extra? One tied it below one's gas cap showing "You had a tiger in your tank".

Yup. Got those filling up at a station in Oxford in grad school.

tmart

Yes, the reason was to do away with the three brand names and have just one in the US. This was done in 1972 when Jersey Standard became Exxon Corporation.

omarman

The entire history of the Esso evolution into Exxon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gln8lzk1wWY
In less than 13 seconds.

andys120

tmart said:

Yes, the reason was to do away with the three brand names and have just one in the US. This was done in 1972 when Jersey Standard became Exxon Corporation.

Yes, it's all Exxon now but not just plain Exxon but rather Exxon/Mobil

Wonder why two names?

stickguy

merger of equals, and 2 well known premium brand names.

ab348

andys120 said:

tmart said:

Yes, the reason was to do away with the three brand names and have just one in the US. This was done in 1972 when Jersey Standard became Exxon Corporation.

Yes, it's all Exxon now but not just plain Exxon but rather Exxon/Mobil

Wonder why two names?

In 1999 Exxon and Mobil, previously separate companies, merged to form the new ExxonMobil organization. Interesting in that originally they were all part of Rockefeller's original Standard Oil Trust before being forced to be split into Jersey Standard (Standard Oil of New Jersey, Esso/Enco/Humble at retail) and Standard Oil of New York, or Socony, which later was renamed Mobil.

andys120

stickguy

late 50's Jeepster?

andys120

stickguy said:

late 50's Jeepster?

It's a Willys Overland Jeepster but you're off by a decade, this one is MY 1949.

andys120

stickguy

Ford Probe?

fintail

89-92

kyfdx

Pretty nice car for the time period

fintail

When I was a student, I recall a quirky older woman professor (probably 65 years old then) had one, a red turbo GT just like that. This was in the mid 90s, and the car was somewhat obscure even then.

tjc78

Guess that thought of it replacing the Mustang was a bit off.

stickguy

should be a nice car, since it was a Mazda 626 underneath.

andys120

FoMoCo marketers were thinking of the Mazda-based Probe to fill in the gap for the Mustang which they thought would soon be discontinued. Why they thought a FWD V6 could substitute for a RWD V8 has never been understood and Fox-body Mustang sales went up in the 80s since V8 'Stangs were light and fast and the suits figured they should keep offering it.

"Probe" may have been the worst model name in history.

ab348

The late '80s/early '90s were another dark era in a continuing series of same from Ford.

andys120

ab348 said:

The late '80s/early '90s were another dark era in a continuing series of same from Ford.

I had two different Fords from that era, both bought used:

-1986 Mustang GT 5.0/5 spd convertible. It was really fast, handled well as long as you didn't overdo power "oversteer". I think it was one of the performance bargains of the era although the interior was pretty tacky (too much cheap plastic) and overall quality control was so-so.

-1992 Taurus SHO/ 5 SPD. A great engine in search of a good car, like all Taurusi the bulid quality was abysmal and I had nearly as many electrical problems as with my '66 Triumph.
A real blast to drive when things were working right and as good in snow as a SAAB but....

kyfdx

Also from that era, my aunt had a Mark VII LSC that was very nice (I guess that would be mid-80s)

I think the twin cars that Ford did with Mazda were a highlight, as well.

fintail

My family had a few Fords of that general era - 85 F150, 85 Tempo, 93 Taurus, and my uncle had an 86 and 91 Taurus. I don't recall build quality being an issue, probably as good as any mass market car (especially domestic) of the era, and the Tempo stayed in the family until 190K (!) miles. However, one Taurus (3.0) lost a transmission at 100K, another (3.8) a head gasket at 80K. The cars seemed much more modern than many of the era (especially domestics) which must have helped them sell in the huge numbers they enjoyed during that era.

Michaell

My wife bought a new '86 Tempo. Can't remember the trim level, though it did have alloy wheels. 5 speed stick, pretty well loaded for the time.

It lasted over 10 years and close to 100K before we replaced it with a '97 Escort.

fintail

Tempos seem to be what I call a "hit and miss" car - some people had endless troubles and the cars were done at 100K, others seemed indestructible. Ours was the latter. Sold off in 1999 to a mechanic who was going to rebuild the front end and give it to their kid. I saw it in town about 5 years later, still looked OK.

Taurus on the other hand, I think everyone with a first or second gen 3.0 or 3.8 car had either a transmission or head gasket problem.

andys120

fintail said:

Tempos seem to be what I call a "hit and miss" car - some people had endless troubles and the cars were done at 100K, others seemed indestructible. Ours was the latter. Sold off in 1999 to a mechanic who was going to rebuild the front end and give it to their kid. I saw it in town about 5 years later, still looked OK.

Taurus on the other hand, I think everyone with a first or second gen 3.0 or 3.8 car had either a transmission or head gasket problem.

MY SHO never had transmission or engine problems but I did have to replace the clutch.

The Tremec 5 speed in the Mustang GT was fine but after replacing two clutches in less than
80K miles, I installed a Ford Motorsport unit which solved the problem.

ab348

My brother had a Topaz. Had some issues but nothing major. But it was just such an awful car to drive that I dunno how anyone could have called it a good.

fintail

Jackie Stewart seemed to have liked the Tempo (he must have needed to pay a debt or lost a bet, look at that awesome 80s FWD handling):

https://youtu.be/u4Ws_Bp7WYA

Then again, compared to peak malaise just a few years earlier, maybe this wasn't so bad.

ab348

That's right up there with the "grounded to the ground" spots for the sporty Camry. Though the Camry's engine was far less wheezy than the lump in the Tempo.

fintail

I'm pretty certain the fintail could dust the Tempo in a 0-60 run. Probably better overall than the Fairmont it replaced though, which seemed to me like a 60s car in a 70s body still sold in the 80s.

Those TRX wheels on the commercial car are a guilty pleasure, never saw them in real life.

andys120

texases

1961 Dodge (Dart?), one of the most unpleasant-looking Mopars, IMHO...

fintail

Looks like a 56 Olds with a VW microbus and 57 Chevy behind it at far right

andys120

texases said:

1961 Dodge (Dart?), one of the most unpleasant-looking Mopars, IMHO...

I agree, it's really ugly but it's a '61 Seneca, not a Dart.

Lostwrench3

While all 1961 Dodge Darts were not Senecas, all 1961 Dodge Senecas were Dodge Darts.
It was based on the 1961 Dodge Dart trim levels, the Seneca, Pioneer, and the Phoenix.