Mystery car pix

Mr_Shiftright

I hope they find the vandal who chainsawed the pieces out of that car! :mad:

lostwrench1

I agree its being a 1969 Tempest. The nose and the rectangular side mirrors are the key clues.

andys120

It's a '68 IIRC.

Mr_Shiftright

HINT: 1980s

HINT #2: Often described as "The car for people who hate cars"

andys120

HINT #2: Often described as "The car for people who hate cars"

Gotta be a Volvo 240DL

Mr_Shiftright

gold star! Can you guess the year---actually I'm not sure.

No, I didn't set fire to it myself.

imidazol97

Do they all smoke like that! :P

berri

That 60 Merc had a somewhat weird shallow dashboard as well.

Mr_Shiftright

yes the dealer said it was normal and I shouldn't worry. They all do that.

boomchek

I'll say 1988 or so.

andys120

stephen987

It's a Dodge Monaco wagon, don't recall if they had a separate name for the wagon version. I'll say 1972ish.

andre1969

I think it's kinda cool that they went to the effort to make the wagon a hardtop, though. But yeah, still kind of an ugly looking thing, overall. Mercury must have wasted a lot of money on that design. I've heard that the 1959 was all-new, although to me it just looks like they took a '57-58 Mercury, stretched the wheelbase a bit, and gave it a facelift. Anyway, the '59 was a poor seller...not exactly the right time to start making your cars even bigger than before! I think the '60 sold even worse, although overall sales were probably up thanks to the Comet. And the for 1961 they scrapped that Mercury-only body, and the new Mercury was just a dressed-up Ford. Probably a much better balanced, better-handling car, but suddenly there was little reason to pick a Mercury over a Ford.

andre1969

I think Grbeck, Lemko, and I actually saw that very car at Hershey a couple weeks ago! And that does look like Hershey's Giant Center Arena in the background. That woodgrain applique on it was really, for lack of a better term, groovy!

**Edit: Yup, it was at Hershey. Here's a view of the car from the rear.


It had been for sale, but by the time we saw it, I think it had been sold.

lemko

Those big rubber mallets on the bumper make me think it's a 1973 model.

Mr_Shiftright

Wagons this old, in any kind of good condition, are getting rare, because wagons were beat to death in their day. A niche market, but perhaps up and coming? Good "let's look cool" surfer cars at any rate.

stickguy

I don't think those are 5mph battering rams. Look like steps for reaching the roof rack.

texases

The front shot shows rubber pads - the fact that the bumper itself isn't huge makes me also guess '73, the trasition year before the full 5mph standard went into effect.

andys120

Yup, that's a 1973 Dodge Monaco wagon/400cid as seen @ Hershey.

lemko

Shoot, I imagine a Ford wagon of this vintage is a rare creature. My Dad had a 1972 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon that rusted with such a vengeance, a Vega, by comparison, would've appeared to have been stamped from the finest, most corrosion-resistant stainless steel alloy on earth. By the time he got rid of it, it looked as if mice ran through the body. It had a princely trade-in value of $150 in 1981.

stephen987

You mean like this one, alleged to have been photographed in 1999 in Newburyport, Massachusetts?

I really liked the styling of the early '70s full-size Fords at the time. Of course, I was in second grade in 1972. . .

ateixeira

Easy, that's the Toyota Lexus Toyota Lexus ... LF-A.

Mr_Shiftright

Many a baby boomer could tell you station wagon stories about when they were growing up in the 'burbs. I grew up in NYC, so all our vehicles looked like cop cars.

lemko

Yeah! That's the one. Dad's car was a dark green metallic and it had two big bumper guards near the central grille. That styling was leftover from Bunkie Knudsen's short reign at Ford when he tried to make everything look like a Pontiac.

stephen987

See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com">

ateixeira

Buick Electra, I'll guess about 1977 or so.

My dad had a coupe that looked just like that.

lemko

OMG! That looks like my Uncle Daniel's car from back in the day! Same color! That's a 1973 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. I owned a 1975 model myself.

See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com

andys120

Easy, that's the... Lexus ... LF-A.
'Bout time somebiody chimed in w that!

ateixeira

Did those share a platform with the Buick Electra? I should have noticed the Cadillac badge near the front.

My dad's looked like this IIRC, I was less than 10 years old at the time so I just remember a lime green coupe with a white vinyl top, no B-pillar:

andre1969

Yeah, the Electra, DeVille, and Ninety-Eight were all on GM's C-body (although I've heard the Caddy referred to as a "D" body from time to time). The B-body (Chevy/Pontiac, LeSabre, and Delta 88) were essentially the same thing, too, just a few inches less wheelbase, and less room in the back seat.

The last year for a pillarless Electra coupe was 1974. They came standard that way, but if you paid extra, you got a landau top with stationary rear windows. I always thought it was annoying that you paid more money to have the windows NOT go down, but I guess with a/c, nobody cared anymore. Plus, that isolated personal luxury coupe look was all the rage, so they capitalized on that. For 1975-76, the Electra coupes all had stationary windows and a B-pillar.

Those old hardtops are cool cars...just as long as you don't roll one over! :surprise:

stephen987

Quite correct--it's a '73 Sedan DeVille. Ours was the same dark green over light green, with a dark green brocaded cloth upholstery.

ateixeira

So my dad's must've been 72-74, around there. I recall sitting in the back seat and the window definitely went down.

I e-mailed him to ask.

andre1969

this monster has caught my attention...

Any guesses as to what it is? Lemko, I know this would be too easy for you! It's actually for sale, but they want $6800 and I think it only has a 350. always liked the oddball hardtop roofline on these.

Mr_Shiftright

stephen987

I think that's a '74 LeSabre Custom coupe.

ghulet

wow, that's a rare bird, indeed....an airport limo based on the FWD (this one's a '68) Olds Toronado. I think some of these chassis were also used for motor homes, IIRC. Since we're on the subject, this is an interesting site (discovered after seeing an 8-door '68 Pontiac sedan airport limo in a chase scene, of all things, on 'Hawaii Five-O' (one of the best shows, along with 'Jeannie', 'Bewitched' and 'Beverly Hillbillies') for car-spotting. Being an unemployed geek is bad. Anyway:

http://my.net-link.net/~dcline/limoair1.htm

andre1969

Very, very close! It's a '75.

wgrafer

" And the for 1961 they scrapped that Mercury-only body, and the new Mercury was just a dressed-up Ford"

It sure was! I remember taking a tour through the Mahwah NJ Ford Assembly plant in 1962. As I recall, about every 6th or 7th car on the line was a Mercury!

andys120

ateixeira

Renault maybe?

lemko

Renault Gordini? I used to have an orange Matchbox car like that when I was a kid.

andys120

Yup, it's a 1978 Renault 17 Gordini Convertible Coupe.

andys120

ateixeira

Datsun 210 wagon?

1980 or so for the model year.

I had a coupe that sort of looked like that.

ghulet

.....it was her first car in high school (2-door sedan, baby blue, matching interior, 5-speed, rusty) but got her from Chicago to Florida when she ran away from home (with no oil changes, or anything resembling maintenance). It wasn't much fun to drive (spongy suspension, kinda wheezy engine) but got the job done, I guess.

ateixeira

You just described my car to a T, even the color and rust. Wonder if we owned the same car?

I sold it to a guy who replaced the clutch soon after. The exhaust was also leaking so I think he fixed that, too.

Funny thing was it was Rear wheel drive!

Not fun like a 510 was, though.

andys120

Yup, as you probably know the 210 was known in many markets as the Datsun/Nissan Cherry.

ghulet

I think her stepdad bought it for her (my friend) in 1987 or '88 (if '88 it was early, because she ended up buying a brand-new base Civic hatch that year). Chicago suburbs....?

andys120

stephen987

67 Camaro RS/SS. Beautiful.