Mystery car pix

berri

Actually, from the pictures I don't think the ventipanes look 57-59 either. IIRC they were kind of small sized on that era Chrysler product. But it appears customized, so I suppose it could be all kinds of stuff on a 59 chassis.

Brooks Stevens did a lot of freelance design stuff for Studebaker and Jeep. Maybe Nance sold him that Edsel and Packard concept car beak

Mr_Shiftright

You have to kind of squint at it and take in the overall form.

berri

Oh I believe you Shifty, but I don't think even a pair of VR goggles would make me see it

Mr_Shiftright

I guess it could be my wishful thinking. Here, try this:




There really is a '59 Chrysler under there, I swear!

magnette

I like this theme of cars that changed radically in one model year







This must have looked like Star Trek in 1955....

berri

I can kind of see the side profile and size, but the ventipanes are not from a 59 and the greenhouse is more angular. Those are the things that made me see it kind of like Uplander a s a 62. But size wise it is probably too big for a 62. I actually see a few styling cues for Brooks Stevens proposed 66 or 67 Studebaker new model, but in all fairness the name may be leading me there. I wonder when that custom was put together? I'd guess more mid 60's?

Mr_Shiftright

It was done in 1959---you can see the Packard "Predictor" in there, but that was a Ghia design done a few years earlier. I think all these designers influenced each other. I can see Teague in the Predictor and in Stevens' '59 concept.

Mr_Shiftright

I bet this was a bit of a shock to T-Bird lovers (4th generation to 5th generation---year 1967)

Mr_Shiftright

If you know the driver, you probably will know the car and the story:

stickguy

Sinatra, right?

fintail

Definitely a winner there, one of those designs that was so out there, it didn't really age.

This was a big jump in a year:





This too:

magnette said:

This must have looked like Star Trek in 1955....

fintail

T-Bird has a few good ones over the years.

From the height of malaise:



To a light at the end of the tunnel:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I bet this was a bit of a shock to T-Bird lovers (4th generation to 5th generation---year 1967)

uplanderguy

Ugh, that '80 to '82 'Bird to me looked like it was carved out of a block of wood.

berri

I kinda liked those suicide 4 dr T-Birds. They were a bit carryover from the 1960's era Continental and a bit unique in looks.

I had a few of those early 80's T-Birds as rentals. They were turds in my book. The Aero T-Bird was a nice move in changing looks, but personally I liked the Taurus better. Of course the Aero bird was the lead to getting buyers ready for the radical at the time Taurus bar of soap look.

fintail

Taurus leads to a thought. Taurus filled the spot of the LTD II in the lineup, one year resulted in this change:





IMO the wagon was even more shocking:





I remember when the Taurus was new, the wagon especially was like something out of the future to my young eyes.

berri

Yeh, that prior LTD II looks a little frumpy in comparison today, but it was a fairly solid car. Test driving Taurus against a Malibu was a bit of a contrast back then, and most people came away clearly preferring one or the other.

fintail

I know a lot of those LTD IIs had the 3.8, not sure if the older ones had an appetite for head gaskets.

Back in the day, a uncle had an early 86 Taurus, and an aunt on the other side of the family had an 86 Celebrity. Even when I was young, I could tell these cars were night and day. I remember the Taurus transmission failed while I was riding in it, and IIRC the Celebrity ate brake rotors.

uplanderguy

By the time the Taurus came out, the Malibu was gone, essentially replaced by the Celebrity in the lineup. While it looked like a box in comparison, I'm thinking the Taurus cleaned its clock in sales.

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

Sinatra, right?

Yep, Sinatra. He was pals with Lee Iacocca and actually sang in Chrysler commercials for free apparently in the year 1980. So in return he got the #1 Chrysler Imperial produced in 1981 and had the "Sinatra Edition" named after him. So if you didn't buy one at the dealership Joey the Vest came to the house to smack you around a little, you know what I'm sayin'?

Mr_Shiftright

Here's a year change I'd like to call "From Goofy to Gorgeous". You may not agree of course:

Michaell

fintail said:

I know a lot of those LTD IIs had the 3.8, not sure if the older ones had an appetite for head gaskets.

Back in the day, a uncle had an early 86 Taurus, and an aunt on the other side of the family had an 86 Celebrity. Even when I was young, I could tell these cars were night and day. I remember the Taurus transmission failed while I was riding in it, and IIRC the Celebrity ate brake rotors.

In 1987, a bunch of my family flew to Detroit from CA to attend a wedding. I ended up with a Celebrity, my cousin a Taurus. I felt cheated.

fintail

I remember the Taurus seemed like a very modern car even when it was 10 years old (I think my uncle had it until 97). A Celebrity on the other hand, not as much.

Michaell

fintail said:

I remember the Taurus seemed like a very modern car even when it was 10 years old (I think my uncle had it until 97). A Celebrity on the other hand, not as much.

Exactly.

berri

I always felt that second gen Corvair was a looker, even in 4 dr ht. I thought the original Corvair looked better as a 4dr and the wagon was kind of unique and neat.

berri

Taurus v Celebrity - there were more than a few who liked the softer ride on the GM, but I think many of them ended up with a Ciera. The Celebrity as I recall was a bit chintzy.

fintail

I remember the Celebrity had a kind of goofy dashboard layout and a cheesy gauge font. The Ciera (also one of those in the family) was a bit more refined inside.

Michaell

fintail said:

I remember the Celebrity had a kind of goofy dashboard layout and a cheesy gauge font. The Ciera (also one of those in the family) was a bit more refined inside.

My wife, at one point, had the Ciera as her dream car. Before I met her, of course.

berri

Hey, they were big sellers for awhile!

uplanderguy

My '85 two-door Celebrity Eurosport looked nice at the time, I thought. I had that dark plum color, solid--no silver "truck two-tone" as so many of them seemed to have.

The only thing I liked about the gauges in my car, and I ordered the optional instrumentation--was that they looked like stereo instruments--very thin needles. I mistakenly didn't order a tilt wheel--didn't think I needed one--and the fat steering wheel used on the Eurosport oblitered view of most of the speedometer.

uplanderguy

The pre-Taurus LTD--I know Ford was apeing European cars, but I never could stand the vent-window-next-to-a-vent-window look regarding the rear doors. I hated the interiors too. I know Ford was more mechanically reliable in that period, but I think a GM RWD, like a four-door Cutlass Supreme, say--just seemed so more 'polished' in and out, even though the rear windows didn't go down, LOL.

Mr_Shiftright

Here's a tough one: Not a high production car---around 15-30 of them and it was a credible car on the race track.

andys120

If I had a nickel for every Chevy-powered sports racer that came out between '55 and '64 I'd be rich. It's not a Scarab, Lola or Lotus so I dunno. Nice lookingthough.

uplanderguy

Chaparral is my guess.

andys120

uplanderguy said:

Chaparral is my guess.

That struck me as a great guess but the best pic I could find of a front-engine sorts racer with Meister Brau livery was of a slot car and the nose is bit different>

'62 Scarab Mk.4>

Mr_Shiftright

Nope. Has an odd name. But you're right, there were lots of wannabee Jaguars out there in the 50s and 60s.

iluvmysephia1

The second gen Chevy Corvair actually looks like a American Euro mid-sixties muscle car. Beautiful!

stickguy

I always loved that redesign too.

uplanderguy

x3. If I wasn't more worried about getting someone to work on one than even a Studebaker around here, I'd consider a second-gen Corvair. My wife even brought that up yesterday.

Mr_Shiftright

The mystery car is a Bo-Car.

2nd gen Corvairs can be made into very usable daily drivers with a few modifications. Radial tires, Bilstein shocks, modify the gear shift linkage, quicker steering arms, some camber adjustments, electronic ignition, some new engine gaskets----there you go.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

The mystery car is a Bo-Car.

Now that's obscure. BTW Wikipedia spells it Bocar.

andys120

Mystery Motor>

texases

Pontiac OHC 6?

Mr_Shiftright

yes. One giveaway is the typical GM data plate on the firewall and the Pontiac blue paint !

Mr_Shiftright

andys120 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

The mystery car is a Bo-Car.

Now that's obscure. BTW Wikipedia spells it Bocar.

I always spell it Bo-Car because it is the combination of the builder's two names---Bob Carnes.

But "Bocar" is correct---that's the way it appears in the original ads.

omarman

A/C option probably not too common on this mystery engine:



I've only seen one of these up close and it wasn't running.

andys120

texases said:

Pontiac OHC 6?

Yup, that's the SOHC Pontiac 6 introduced in 1966 for Firebird, LeMans and Tempest models. There were "Sprint" versions with extra power.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, a 4-barrel carb. They were pretty good engines but I do recall some valve issues.

uplanderguy

yes. One giveaway is the typical GM data plate on the firewall and the Pontiac blue paint !

...and the "PMD" on the valve cover!

uplanderguy

Is omarman's pic the Tempest half-an-eight?

uplanderguy

RE.: The OHC 6...I remember those could be told by emblems on the front fenders, and they are different and I like that today. But for volume sales back then--in the age of 25-cent gas, who was looking for a high-performance six-cylinder when the same model car offered several eights?