Mystery car pix

hudsonthedog

Retractable roofs have my vote along with "self parking car" and "four wheel steering" for the goofiest automotive innovations, or re-innovations, of the last two decade. From 1939 (Peugeot) until recently no automaker tried to do it except Ford in the late 50s, briefly. There was a reason for that.

Are you and I so old that "recently" is a 15 year period? Mitsubishi introduced the Spyder a decade and a half ago, followed by the SLK, the Peugeot CC, etc.

And it's not that "no automaker tried to do it" because there were concepts over the years. It's just that convertibles of all sorts (hardtop or softtop) were on the no-no list for a number of years. It took just over ten years between when Chrysler "reintroduced" the convertible the US market (the world's largest, at the time) and when Mitsubishi "reintroduced" the production hardtop convertible.

kyfdx

Was that for all Oldsmobiles? Or, just the Aurora?

andys120

AFAIK that was the last Oldsmobile logo. Applicable to Aurora, Intrigue, Alero
and Bravada. :confuse:

imidazol97

>AFAIK that was the last Oldsmobile logo. Applicable to Aurora, Intrigue, Alero
and Bravada.

Wasn't the last Cutlass (Malibu clone) in there with that logo, too?

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, I'd say that from 1958 to the 1990s is about a 40 year dry spell. As for the Mitsubishi, now you know why their two-seater ended up over 3800 pounds.

Convertibles weren't a "no-no", they were a "no sell". The retractable hardtop were an attempt to overcome increasing buyer resistance to soft tops, due to a) being spoiled by comforts b) fear of the sun.

jwilliams2

I think the biggest advantages retractable hardtop convertibles offer are security, especially when the car is parked, and quietness on the highway with the top up. It is really like having two cars, a coupe and a convertible.

I've had several softtops which were much too noisy with the top up, both on the highway and in city driving. And I had a softtop vandalized. No problem with a metal roof.

magnette

I think actually that 3800 pounds is a good price....

hudsonthedog

Convertibles weren't a "no-no", they were a "no sell". The retractable hardtop were an attempt to overcome increasing buyer resistance to soft tops, due to a) being spoiled by comforts b) fear of the sun.

It was believed by most manufacturers in the 1970s that the American government would outlaw convertibles, which is the primary reason why American manufacturers stopped making convertibles in 1976.

The complexity of Ford's hardtop convertible probably stopped any development of new hardtop convertibles, just like the variable displacement engines disappeared after the infamous V-8-6-4 until technology caught up to the concept in the 1990s.

lemko

Yeah. That logo was affixed to that joke of a car. My wife had a 1999 Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan. I can now see why some people don't like GM. That car was mediocrity personified and a disgrace to the Olds name. To me, an Oldsmobile is my Dad's 1955 Ninety-Eight Starfire convertible, a 1960s 442, or even my 1979 Ninety-Eight Regency sedan with the 403 V-8. An Olds is NOT an ugly clone of a mediocre Chevy! :lemon:

stephen987

It was believed by most manufacturers in the 1970s that the American government would outlaw convertibles, which is the primary reason why American manufacturers stopped making convertibles in 1976.

. . . and a primary reason for the existence of this ungainly beast.

lemko

The late unlamented Triumph TR-7. A sad end to a once proud marque. I believe it was followed-up with a TR-8. My little brother thought these were the coolest cars at the time and even had an ad for one taped to the wall of our bedroom.

Mr_Shiftright

A popular myth but interestingly, not supported by auto historians. You won't find a whisper of evidence from government agencies or the legislature of the time about a "ban". Automakers stopped making convertibles because nobody bought them anymore. re: SECURITY---yes, I complete forgot about that advantage!

Then, there are automakers who couldn't make up their minds if they were building coupes or convertibles:

ateixeira

Same here, I agree 100% and went through the same thing.

My NA Miata's soft top was vandalized, a new top is a grand or more installed. They only last 10 years - if you're lucky.

The PRHT costs about $1400 more, but like I said, in 10 years a new soft top will cost you about that much. And you'd still have to pay for a manually removeable hard top for the winter, which costs $1800+ IIRC.

In the long term, a PRHT may actually cost you less. Especially with resale factored in.

The Spyder was massively heavy, and the mechanism was very complex. The Miata's PRHT is simple and adds only 70 lbs to the Miata, less than one passenger. You can't feel the difference, even performance mags tested them and the numbers proved it.

I doubt power soft tops are any simple than my PRHT, though a manual soft top on the Miata is elegantly simple.

ateixeira

26" of snow and this is the funniest pic I could take:

From Blizzard of 2010

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like a Dodge Caliber or Pontiac Aztek. If I'm right, let's give nature a hand for vastly improving a situation. :P

fintail

Funny...that car made my 1981 Consumer Guide predict "there may not always be a British auto industry". A prediction that turned out to be correct...as today, there is effectively no British-owned auto industry.

Although I will admit, when I was about 5, I thought the TR7/8 were very cool looking

andys120

hudsonthedog

A popular myth but interestingly, not supported by auto historians. You won't find a whisper of evidence from government agencies or the legislature of the time about a "ban". Automakers stopped making convertibles because nobody bought them anymore.

A "myth" backed up by threatened rollover regulations of the 1970s which would have basically outlawed convertibles. Sales were lower at the time, but still enough to build and sell them.

Mr_Shiftright

This speculation makes no sense to me, since there were no regulations ever presented to congress or issued by DOT, and I hardly think any US automaker would kill a highly profitable product based on a rumor from Washington. But they would kill a money-loser that already had its head on the chopping block.

If you plot convertible production from say 1970 onwards, it's a death spiral downward. There's your answer---follow the money and the graph.

fintail

The year is easy ....a Jeepster in the background, and the woody might be a Chevy? It looks like a 46-48 GM of some kind. Further back by the white house looks like a 40 Ford, and way in the background above the woody's hood ornament looks like a ca. 40 Caddy limo.

stephen987

I know it's an acquired taste, but I always liked the looks of the Triumph Stag.

andys120

The Woody is a '48 Chevrolet Fleetmaster

Mr_Shiftright

I can't find much to like about it, try as I may. It just looks like awkward chaos to me, even in the dim light of sunrise with the sepia setting on the camera and soft music playing in the background. :P

andys120

The Woody's a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster.

andys120

vcheng

The new Audi A1 compact that is also coming to the US.

andys120

Yes!

stephen987

The A1 roofline's very similar to the Fiat 500.

andre1969

stever

Rolls Royce Ghost?

jlbl

oh! White Ghost!

Regards,
Jose

boomchek

Hmmm, one of your GM A body coupes? Hmmm, forgot if you still have any of those or not.

michaellno

Hmmm, one of your GM A body coupes? Hmmm, forgot if you still have any of those or not.

Given the slope of the roof in the rear (that would be on the right side of the picture), I'm guessing that's Andre's Grand Am.

I think everything else he owns is a sedan, except for the Silverado.

Oh, wait, it could be the Catalina, if it isn't stored in the garage.

Hope you can dig out enough to get to the liquor store for more beer!

andre1969

that's my '79 New Yorker! It's just that the way the snow blew around, it really filled in behind the rear window, and obscured that formal roofline.

Here's a pic I took of the Silverado...


And these pics were taken last Saturday/Sunday. So naturally, everything looks worse now, with the 9-10" or more we've gotten since then. And it's blown around so much, I really don't know how much we got. Oh, and I just heard on the news that this is now the snowiest winter in recorded history here. We had been #3 before this storm started, behind 1995-96 (#2) and 1898-1899 (#1).

boomchek

That's crazy how the easy coast is getting pounded with snow and here in Vanocouver we don't have enough for the Olympics that are starting in 2 days. :surprise: They have to truck in snow from mountains a few hundred miles away.

michaellno

That's crazy how the easy coast is getting pounded with snow and here in Vanocouver we don't have enough for the Olympics that are starting in 2 days.

Can you say "El Nino"?

Andre, I would have never guessed that the mystery pic was one of your R-bodies!

I've got similar pictures from a storm we had a number of years ago here in Colorado. The Volvo wagon across the street slowly became buried with the drifts that were created from the wind.

fintail

That's pretty cool.

My last car in snow photo is not nearly so dramatic...one sucker decided to drive in an overpowered low profile tire RWD car...

andre1969

here's the whole photo album from that storm. Mainly a bunch of snow pics, some that didn't turn out well when it started getting dark, but there's a few cars buried here and there...

ateixeira

I was going to say the same thing about the Fiat 500's roof line being similar.

ateixeira

I had 3 guesses:

* two lawn mowers facing away from each other
* the backside of tail-finned Cadillacs from 1955-62 in order sequentially
* Jimmy Hoffa

andys120

vcheng

Maserati Mistral?

andys120

Yup.

vcheng

I wasn't sure. Any idea what year this particular car is?

andys120

It's a '66, body by Frua /3.5 liter DOHC I-6.

Frua tended to designs that looked alike so that by just showing the nose, I was hoping someone mistake it for a Monteverdi or something. :P

Mr_Shiftright

Did Frua ever make a nice-looking car? I think so, but I can't call one up at the moment :P

andys120

I think the Mistral and the Monteverdi 375 were good lookers and so was this little number>

fintail

I'd rather have that nice looking LWB W126 beside it :shades:

british_rover

Noticed on my way into work this morning so got pictures when we left early cause of the storm.

Ugh hang on how do you resize pics on here again? I can edit and shrink them down on my end but trying to open any kind of photo editing software on this computer could take an hour or more just to load.

stever

I stick height=400 width=600" before the right arrow (>) in the link. Usually there's a "> before the .jpg, so the height/width wind up in quotes.

Imidazol97 has the height/width dialed in for an "exact" fit, but I keep forgetting to save his numbers.