Mystery car pix

stickguy

to the left of the beetle (2 over from the dark Chevy wagon) looks to me like a type 3 squareback nose.

andys120

Between the white VW in the foreground and Buick wagon is a 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix from the second (and IMO best) year of that model.

I note that one Beetle has a cloth sunroof, The closest to front VW has the metal s/r as did my 1965 model, anyone know when they switched. The LI dealer we bought it from had a similar Showroom. Apparently Volkswagen was a pioneer in standardizing dealer architecture.

omarman

Just beyond the M flag a dark '66 Chevy Impala wagon. We had a '66 Malibu wagon that my mom drove without any issue for almost 7 years. After the odometer rolled over 100K miles it was still running great but mom and dad were ready to give up the station wagon fleet they had been running through the 60s. I recall when they had 2 new station wagons at the same time with one being dad's company car.

Now it's an SUV/Crossover world where everything looks like everything else and is painted the same color.

stickguy

they all look different to me. Would pretty much be the same (even more similar) if you did the same thing with sedans now.

omarman

I forgot to add the link to a pic with all the maker names filled in:
How many did you get right?

stickguy

all of them, of course.

fintail

Look at all those amorphous semi-blobs, only differentiated by the degree of leering pseudo-aggressive frontal treatment. I suspect all of us enthusiasts can differentiate them, but the normals maybe not.

imidazol97

@omanman
Thanks for posting that. Interesting.

tjc78

Cool pic. Full disclosure... doing it quickly I thought the Lincoln was a Ford Edge and couldn’t ID the Mitsu. Rest were pretty easy, especially considering I own one of them.

omarman

Was out today and came back cold tired and plopped in front of Ellen's Future Ready network. Flipped back and forth between an old De Niro movie and a strange episode of Columbo which I vaguely remembered but couldn't remember the ending.

The movie car was gorgeous in its own standard of the world way.

And the Columbo bad guy car had license plates and was driven on the street. Back then.

fintail

Mmm Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, a bit ritzier than his beloved Peugeot 403. Appears to be on Campagnolo or Cromodora wheels.

omarman

Looks like Columbo's car was used in an episode of Adam 12.

Assuming that's not Mrs. Columbo.

andys120

https://img.hmn.com/stories/2020/01/13154756/CC185-COL-LIT-01.jpg

andys120

Edmund's tech pls note: still unable to d/l pix via Firefox or Safari.

Lostwrench3

1961 Buick Invicta.

andys120

Not sure if it's an Invicta but definitely a low end three port '61 Buick. Did they have the LeSabre that year?

I've always liked the modified wraparounds on the '61-2 full size GMs.

ab348

I always liked the look of the '61 Buick. The torpedo-like front fender shape makes me wonder if they did concepts with a similar profile to the grill area.

kyfdx

Same year

Lostwrench3

andys120 said:

Not sure if it's an Invicta but definitely a low end three port '61 Buick. Did they have the LeSabre that year?

I've always liked the modified wraparounds on the '61-2 full size GMs.

Yes, there was a '61 LeSabre which also had only 3 portholes but it had LeSabre in script on the side front rather than the rectangle seen.

Lostwrench3

kyfdx said:

Same year

That's an easy one! Make on the grille and model on the door.

kyfdx

yup... also on that sign on the hood...

andys120

A bubbletop Ventura, slotted (IIRC) below the Catalina. Every so often Pontiac Div would recycle the Ventura name and past it on different sized cars. They won't be doing that any more will they.

I think the Invicta was slotted above the Lesabre. Am I right?

texases

And according to the sign, this is a Ventura "Super Duty". Is that the 'Swiss Cheese' one?

andys120

texases said:

And according to the sign, this is a Ventura "Super Duty". Is that the 'Swiss Cheese' one?

Let me guess, "Swiss Cheese"=frame lightened by drilling holes in it? Seems unlikely given the lack of an engine badge. That sort of thing was usually done to big motor cars with coupe bodywork cuz they were lighter to begin with.

texases

Yep, it didn't really look the part, but the 'Super Duty' label, along with the dog dish hub caps, had me wondering...
Here's more info on them, turns out they were '63 models:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/secrets-of-the-1963-swiss-cheese-pontiacs/

texases

Pretty obvious where the name came from:

fintail

Speaking of Ventura, when I was a kid, my uncle had a late run Ventura sedan, I think a 75 or maybe a 76. I never see those anymore. It was bronze on bronze and fairly well equipped I think - I recall it had Pontiac style mag wheels, high back bucket seats, and what he called a "small V8". I recall I found the car a little off-putting - the front end seemed to sit too high in my eyes, and the seats were weird to me. He was never the most meticulous with cars, I forget what happened to it, but I think it may have been wrecked. I remember he replaced it with a yellow on beige Chrysler E-Class (the LWB semi-fancy K-car derivative), which he had until he got an early Taurus.

stickguy

I still want one of the Ventura GTOs. Red or dark blue, 4 speed, front disks, shaker with the 350. I just love those. a Nova SS would be OK also.

andys120

Interesting. I do remember the fierce drag racing battles of that era and Pontiac's prominence and I was especially pleased when my Pop bought a '64 Catalina (389) as a family car. The article notes that the Swiss Cheese cars were useless on actual roads. I think they'd last maybe a week on NYC area roads.

It's curious that apparently there were no (lighter) pillared coupe variants to base the dragsters on. That faux-convertible roof was mostly gone by '63 (but very popular '61-'62). The smaller LeMans and GTO coupes were available as pillared hardtops in 1964 but few were sold and I doubt any were available after '65 or so.

Now can anyone tell me if the Ventura was cheaper or more expensive than the Catalina?

sda

The 61Ventura was one step up from the Catalina. Old Car Brochure site has the 61 Pontiac line brochure.

fintail

I remember the Ventura in "The Seven Ups" with a memorable chase scene, but apparently not a GTO.

andys120

Thanks to Edmund's Tech, I was able to d/l this using Firefox.

tjc78

fintail said:

Speaking of Ventura, when I was a kid, my uncle had a late run Ventura sedan, I think a 75 or maybe a 76. I never see those anymore. It was bronze on bronze and fairly well equipped I think - I recall it had Pontiac style mag wheels, high back bucket seats, and what he called a "small V8". I recall I found the car a little off-putting - the front end seemed to sit too high in my eyes, and the seats were weird to me. He was never the most meticulous with cars, I forget what happened to it, but I think it may have been wrecked. I remember he replaced it with a yellow on beige Chrysler E-Class (the LWB semi-fancy K-car derivative), which he had until he got an early Taurus.

My stepdad had one of those E-Class cars. I remember driving it on a permit and having the brakes fail.

ab348

andys120 said:

Thanks to Edmund's Tech, I was able to d/l this using Firefox.

What was their advice? I am still flummoxed on 3 machines here.

andys120

ab348 said:

andys120 said:

Thanks to Edmund's Tech, I was able to d/l this using Firefox.

What was their advice? I am still flummoxed on 3 machines here.

Sorry AB, they fixed it for me but didn't give any advice.

andys120

Michaell

andys120 said:

Thanks to Edmund's Tech, I was able to d/l this using Firefox.

Renault 4?

fintail

Renault Dauphine, which for a brief sliver of time outsold the Beetle.

Blue GT car is a Ferrari 500 Superfast.

andys120

fintail said:

Renault Dauphine, which for a brief sliver of time outsold the Beetle.

Blue GT car is a Ferrari 500 Superfast.

Yup, the Renault with four its four doors outsold the Beetle for a few years in the late 50s but people found out quickly it has poorly built and much more maintenance intensive than the sturdy German car. The pic was taken about that time, the four door wagon is a '59 Buick.
The VWs both with the bigger back glass are post 1958.

On the other end of the scale we have the rare top of the line 1964 Ferrari 500 Superfast in blue which replaced the similar looking 400 Super America.

andys120

Lots of people like these, so many that a new version is being introduced. Personally I don't get it.

ab348

Better known as the vehicle habitually used by Inspector Lewis Erskine on the original series of The F.B.I. whenever pursuing perps in the desert or wilderness.

texases

I just saw a rerun of an old (Edd) Wheeler Dealer where they restored an old Bronco. LOTS of work, whole extra body required because of rust, $25k out of pocket plus 278 hours of work, I thought they'd have trouble getting their money back, but they sold it for $40k. Almost covered the labor!

ab348

That was one of the bad last Edd episodes where the show had lost its way. I don't care for the new one much either, nothing to do with neither Edd nor Ant, but the series just is too slick now for my tastes.

Although it is also somewhat slick, the British series Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars is a show I now enjoy much more.

stickguy

I watched about 4 episodes of salvage hunters a few days ago. was not too bad.

texases

Those two shows are what I watch on MT, now that Fantomworks is gone.

ab348

texases said:

Those two shows are what I watch on MT, now that Fantomworks is gone.

I'm a subscriber but I dunno for how much longer. So much of what they offer is just of little interest to me. All the Roadkill and off-road stuff just does not grab me at all. Clearly I am not their demographic. I do enjoy the British Fifth Gear series but I have always been smitten by Vicki Butler-Henderson (did you know she is married to Phil Churchward, director of the classic Top Gear who moved on with Clarkson & co. to The Grand Tour?). I find most of the car-build shows on MT pretty execrable.

fintail

I think I lost the channels that carry most of that stuff with my recent cable cutback, and I am not mourning it. So much of that seems the same with minor variations, or is more hype than substance. I used to watch TG and Wheeler Dealers with some loyalty, but they both eventually kind of lost their way, and eventually became a little unwatchable. The car content I watch now is on Youtube, either reviewing odd old cars, or regular people buying beaters at auctions and trying to eke out a little profit by doing easy repairs to neglected old machines and keeping them on the road for a little while longer. A little more "real", I guess - not into selling hypercars to 1%ers or billet-everything stereotype rods/customs selling to the monied jorts and wingadinga demographic. There's something interesting seeing a non-rich kid buy an old Saturn or similar at an auction for $500, address the minor issue that brought it there (usually a sensor or small engine management issue), and flip it for $1000 24 hours later. The auctions themselves can be interesting to watch. There are also YTers who buy at auction and lose their shirts, making up for it with revenues from their videos, who can be amusing.

I also like the "HubNut" channel and the presenter's love of unloved cars and weird minutiae. Other YT channels/personalities I've grown to not mind are CarThrottle and Hoovie's Garage. The junkyard-themed channel of JaySmart is also watchable.

tjc78

Hoovie is pretty good. I've wasted a little time on his channel.

stickguy

I wasted about an hour last week when I should have been doing something productive work wise watching some dude trying to resurrect a non-running range rover he got at auction for real cheap. Was actually pretty interesting.

Michaell

stickguy said:

I wasted about an hour last week when I should have been doing something productive work wise watching some dude trying to resurrect a non-running range rover he got at auction for real cheap. Was actually pretty interesting.

The challenges of working from home.