Mystery car pix

andys120

texases said:

1968 Mustang

Aye.

andys120

fintail

A very cool 58 Edsel wagon, I assume a Villager (Edsel equivalent to a Country Sedan).

When I was a kid in maybe the late 80s, there was an unrestored 58 Edsel Bermuda in town, pretty rare car.

berri

Those taillights look like the entrance into a drive in theater. Personally, I appreciate the 58 Edsel as a reflection of the times back then.

imidazol97

fintail said:

A very cool 58 Edsel wagon, I assume a Villager (Edsel equivalent to a Country Sedan).

When I was a kid in maybe the late 80s, there was an unrestored 58 Edsel Bermuda in town, pretty rare car.

I had to look up the Edsel Bermuda..., so here's what I found. Top of the line...

ab348

berri said:

Those taillights look like the entrance into a drive in theater. Personally, I appreciate the 58 Edsel as a reflection of the times back then.

What I find strange about the '58 Edsel wagon is that they seem to have used the rear quarters from a '57 Country Squire and not the '58. But the '58 looks to me like it would have been far easier to adapt to something quite close to the Edsel taillight design.



An altered tailgate pressing and two-piece taillights would really be all you would have needed. Odd.

andys120

fintail said:

A very cool 58 Edsel wagon, I assume a Villager (Edsel equivalent to a Country Sedan).

When I was a kid in maybe the late 80s, there was an unrestored 58 Edsel Bermuda in town, pretty rare car.

On the money!

andys120

tjc78

70 olds Toronado 

ab348

A '70 Toro GT actually, the only year that was available. The 400HP 455 moves them quite well. That car is on BaT right now and it turns out it sold at B-J in 2011 for $6850. It had declined a bit condition-wise since then but is pulling strong money so far.

fintail

It's almost like they had huge budgets for new stampings/pressings, and if they didn't spend it all, they wouldn't get a budget for the next year - so they changed as much as possible.

ab348 said:

An altered tailgate pressing and two-piece taillights would really be all you would have needed. Odd.

berri

I felt after the first few years since the 66 Toronado came out, it started to ugly up. Like Fin noted, change for the sake of change.

bhill2

fintail said:

It's almost like they had huge budgets for new stampings/pressings, and if they didn't spend it all, they wouldn't get a budget for the next year - so they changed as much as possible.

An altered tailgate pressing and two-piece taillights would really be all you would have needed. Odd.

Ford did the same thing on the ‘58 Ranchero; it had the same rear quarters (including taillights) as the ‘57. I never knew why. 

andys120

ab348 said:

A '70 Toro GT actually, the only year that was available. The 400HP 455 moves them quite well. That car is on BaT right now and it turns out it sold at B-J in 2011 for $6850. It had declined a bit condition-wise since then but is pulling strong money so far.

Yup.

kyfdx

BaT seems like the worst place to get a good deal..

andys120

fintail

Bristol 404 (or in that era)

ab348

kyfdx said:

BaT seems like the worst place to get a good deal..

Yeah, I have not seen many bargains there. However it does seem to be the place to find unusually nice examples of interesting vehicles, or ones that are quite hard to find. This seems to be Honda S2000 month there.

stickguy

I would never bud, but I love to browse and read the comments. Learn a lot about some models doing that.

Mr_Shiftright

ab348 said:

kyfdx said:

BaT seems like the worst place to get a good deal..

Yeah, I have not seen many bargains there. However it does seem to be the place to find unusually nice examples of interesting vehicles, or ones that are quite hard to find. This seems to be Honda S2000 month there.

Bidding in an auction has an emotional edge to it, and because of that prices can get out of hand. I get a lot of chances to view cars first in ads and then go to inspect them afterwards for people, and I have to say it is rare that the car meets the expectation of the ad.

BAT is better than eBay though, because at least you can grill (or is that grille?) the seller about the details--so the seller either has to 'fess up or continue to lie artfully.

The expression "god is in the details" is really true with older cars. So many times I see a very beautiful car externally but with a filthy undercarriage, or rotted weatherstripping in the vent windows, or dents and scratches on all the external stainless trim. These are all things that take a lot of time to correct but that most people never notice as you drive by. Many "restorations" are really only 90% done.

kyfdx

The people that put their cars up on BaT definitely do a better job of marketing and detail work than most owners, but you have to take a lot of what they post with a grain of salt. You are buying a used car, and on the whole, I doubt the examples on that site are much better than the average car you find on AutoTrader.

ab348

There are certain regular sellers on BaT that seem quite good and trustworthy. One fellow from up in Oregon sells under the name of Denwerks and he often has the coolest old pickups, etc, and not only gives over 100 pictures in the ad but usually also does a video or two. He also seems very forthcoming in providing answers to questions. I would not hesitate to buy from him but I presume in part because of his good reputation he tends to win rather high prices.

texases

“”Many "restorations" are really only 90% done.”

And that last 10% can take 50% of the time and effort...

kyfdx

I've bought cars that were only 90% done, rolling off the showroom floor.

ab348

kyfdx said:

I've bought cars that were only 90% done, rolling off the showroom floor.

I never knew you owned an Alfa.

kyfdx

I was thinking more about my '77 Mustang Cobra II

stickguy

and 50% of the budget.

texases

If paint and rust is involved, make that 90% of the budget...I saw a 'restored' '65 Mustang that had carpet showing through the floor pans...uh-oh...

Mr_Shiftright

Like that beautiful Split Window Corvette I saw. Up top--fabulous. Engine--neat as a pin. Wheels--flawless. Undercarriage--all marked up and dirty. Go figure. What probably happened is that it's a well-cared-for older restoration and the owner took it to shows until he got tired of that, or it couldn't win in the Fanatics Derby, so then he just drove it around for a few years. No harm done there, but you have to adjust the price accordingly. It's not quite that $120K anymore.

ab348

"Fanatics Derby" is a good way to put it. My buddy is like that. He was describing recently some of what he is doing to pass the winter days. He is taking parts you will never see in the chassis and engine compartment, taking them down to bare metal, giving them a phosphate treatment to prevent further rust, applying high-build primer, filling every pit with spot putty or bondo, sanding and repeating that multiple times until perfect, then finishing them with more primer and the appropriate paint. This is for things like bracketry, the frame, etc.

Mr_Shiftright

Probably doing a better job than the factory did in the first place. There have been stories of pristine original cars losing to over-restored cars in judging. Oh, the irony!

andys120

Quad skirts!!

berri

Hard to nail the year, but an early 50's Nash Bathtub, aka Air Flyte?

Mr_Shiftright

Skirts on front wheels. Really?

lostwrench1

1949 Nash 600.
I had a '51 Statesman. No problem in removing those front wheels. Head gaskets? That was a big problem.

andys120

lostwrench1 said:

1949 Nash 600.
I had a '51 Statesman. No problem in removing those front wheels. Head gaskets? That was a big problem.

Ad identifies it as a 1949 Nash Airflyte. I'll note that it, like Hudson had one piece front glass years prior to it being adopted by the Big Three (1953 MY)

lostwrench1

Yes, the 1949 "600" and "Ambassador" were Airflytes.
This one is easy to distinguish. It has 600 on the front fender.

andys120

lostwrench1 said:

Yes, the 1949 "600" and "Ambassador" were Airflytes.
This one is easy to distinguish. It has 600 on the front fender.

If you say so, all I can see is that there's three pips on the fender behind the front wheel.
Makers of that era were prone to longggg names. I recently posted a Nash Ambassador Custom Country Club Coupe.

andys120

stickguy

68 Shelby GT350

texases

Is that a factory color? I don't remember it.

Mr_Shiftright

The civilized version of the original wild beast.

texases

Maybe it's 'Sunlit Gold' (a Shelby standard color), but it doesn't look quite like this one:

andys120

andys120

No takers for the pretty blue two-seater? Hint: notice the coach builder's emblem on the flank? It was also worn by the it's successor which became the maker's most popular seller in the US market. Model year 1961.

stickguy

looked like a Fiat to me.

ab348

It's a Fiat 1500 Cabrio.

andys120

ab348 said:

It's a Fiat 1500 Cabrio.

Yes! To be exact it's a 1961 Fiat Osca 1500 Cabriolet. The Osca version was pretty rare and featured a twin cam four putting out 90hp.>



The combination of Pinnifarina coachwork and twin-cam power makes the Fiat Osca 1500 a precursor of the later Fiat 124 Spider introduced in 1966 (rated at 89hp in its original 1438cc form). The Osca 1500 exterior styling was identical to the Fiat 1200 Spider and I assume the 1500 shared a lot of the 1200's chassis and running gear>

andys120

stickguy

79 Chebby Impala? Wagon obviously.

Looks like it needs some love.