Wouldn't Be Caught Dead Driving One

jlawrence01

The V-6 had better pickup than the 4 cylinder models. ... after the transmission problems were resolved.

Of course, you are talking to a person who generally PREFERS underpowered cars. Fewer meeting with da judge that way.

snakeweasel

Oh come on, spinners only look nice on a car thats being crushed into a cube (taking those spinners with it).

snakeweasel

I don't know about that, you can still speed in an underpowered car. It might take you longer to get there but 45 in a 30 is still 45 in a 30 regardless of the power of your car.

rockylee

Oh lighten up. Your just mad because you haven't baughten any for your CTS-V yet ! :P

Rocky

andre1969

sometimes I think the best look for a car is just a set of copcar rims with little dog-dish hubcaps. Sometimes less is more.

rockylee

Rims are important to me. I prefer chrome much more than anything. However some Satin finishes are acceptable.

Rocky

snakeweasel

If the caddy had spinners on it I would crush it into a cube to get rid of them.

john_324

Right on. I'd love it if we went back to those, or how about styled-steel wheels? I always liked the GM steel mag wheels that came on my first car, an '85 Chevy Celebrity wagon.

Alloys look good, but are a pain in the *** if you scratch them.

rockylee

It's hard for me to understand how Rim A with chrome, doesn't look better than Rim B without.

BTW-John, steel isn't chrome. :P

Rocky

booyahcramer

Most of the people I see around here driving Buicks could pass for dead.

andre1969

has those wide 15x8 Rally wheels that were popular in the 70's and 80's. I really can't find a good pic online, but this should give you some idea. The actual steel rim is just painted light gray/silver, but the lugs, center cap, and chrome rim really set it off well. Also, I like the deep design of these, where the tire really sticks out. I don't really care for most modern FWD style alloys, where the edge of the rim is out closer to the side of the tire. These older styles just look meatier to me.

My '82 Cutlass had the Olds Rally wheel, in this style, except that mine were color-keyed to the car, which was that light silvery greenish blue they called "jadestone". Real sharp looking, IMO.

lemko

...had some really nice 15" chrome rims back in the day. My 1979 Buick Park Avenue had them. Heck, the 14" chrome rims on the A-bodies were also nice. I think Buick made wheelcovers that somewhat resembled the 15" chrome wheel. They look weird!!!

lemko

...those strange Pontiac "honeycomb" wheels?

rockylee

Boy those rims are yuk yuk yucky.

BTW- My first vehicle was a 1986 Chevy P-U 1/2 tom. You know the ones with the dual gas tanks that exploded. Yeah. I asked my grandparents to get me a safer car because I was scared to drive it. So I got a 92' Bonneville SSEi.

BTW- what kind of car is in the last link ? My Great Aunt had one for years when I was a kid. I remember the car but not the name ?

Rocky

rockylee

I wish I could see them lemko.

Rocky

rockylee

lemko what kind of car is that ?

Rocky

lemko

If you go on Carspace, you can see them on the 1979 Park Ave.

Pic of "honeycomb" wheels:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pontiacpower.net/pictures/76ta- 14f.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pontiacpower.net/spotse76.html&h=480&w=640&sz=58&tb- nid=5s4NZt18IwgW3M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=135&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPontiac%2- Bhoneycomb%2Bwheels%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

rockylee

Those rims are actually nice lemko on the 79'

Rocky

rockylee

Out of all those cars which ones do you own today ?

Rocky

andre1969

that second car I posted was an Olds Cutlass Supreme. An '84 I think.

As for the Buick mag-style Rally wheel, I believe this '75 LeSabre is sporting the ones that Lemko is referring to.

Here's a pic of the Pontiac Honeycomb. They were common on "Smokey and the Bandit" era Trans Ams, as well as the downsized late 70's LeMans and Grand Prix models.

Then there was the Pontiac Snowflake, which was also common on those same cars.

Full-sized Pontiacs and the pre-downsized LeMans/Grand Prix often used Pontiac Rally 2 rims. These were also common on Firebirds and Trans Ams, until those snowflakes and honeycombs became more popular. I think Pontiac may have offered the Rally 2 right on up through the 1989 Safari wagon. I know you could get them on the '86 Parisienne.

**edit -- Lemko, ya beat me to it! :P **

rockylee

Yeah I like Lemko's the best. HOWEVER the gold honeycombs are pretty nice on the TA. I can't figure out how to post photo's like that. BTW-andre what do you own as far as rides ?

Rocky

rockylee

nahhh you had a good photo of lemko's 79' rim it was clear.

Rocky

lemko

...of the '79 Park Ave, but it was taken from across the street kind of far away, but those are the same kind of rims on that LeSabre convertible. Of all the cars pictured on Carspace, only the 1989 Cadillac Brougham and the Impala are still with us. The Park Ave was destroyed in an accident, I gave the 1968 Buick to my brother and he junked it in 1992 when my Dad gave him his old car, and I sold the 1975 Cadillac to a friend of my Dad's. I have pics of the other cars, but they're still on rolls of film in my dresser. I believe I still have Macungie 2004 still in the camera.

andre1969

right now I have a...

2000 Intrepid
1985 Silverado. This is an old pic of Granddad, when he bought it new and tested it to see if it could support his old camper.
1976 Grand LeMans
1979 New Yorker 5th Ave. I have better pics of it, but don't have them posted. This is a pic the seller had posted on eBay back in 2001.
1967 Catalina convertible
1968 Dart 270. This one's got around 338,000 miles on it, won't start, and is probably ready to be parted out or just hauled off, but I can't bring myself to do it. I've had it since 1992, logged 85,000 miles on it, and it's just too much a part of the family.
1957 DeSoto Firedome. I bought this thing back in 1990 when I was in college and had no job, but somehow seemed to have more free cash.

rockylee

I sure wouldn't want to get hit my that tank :surprise: the 68' !!!!! How many miles are on the 89' ? You've taken good care of that car.

Rocky

andre1969

I don't know what happened to my 2004 Macungie pics, but here's a link to the pics I took in 2005.

rockylee

Dang you got enough cars. :surprise:

Rocky

P.S. restore the dart when you get a chance.

Rocky

lemko

...have both seen the '89. That car actually has 156K+ on it!

rockylee

nice pics. I found some "old" cars I liked. The very first one is the best for obvious reasons.

Rocky

rockylee

Yup it looks very nice for having 156K on it. The engine blew me away at how new it looks. So they both got to see it it person ?...Thats neat ya'll met at a car show.

Rocky

andre1969

when I saw Lemko's '89 it made me ashamed of how I keep up my cars! I don't think my Intrepid looked that nice and clean the day I took delivery from the showroom!

I had this 1985 LeSabre, which my Grandma bought new, and gave to me when she gave up driving. We ended up retiring it around the 157,000 mile mark, close to the same mileage that Lemko has on his '89 Brougham. We were debating keeping it or not, and were going to make the final decision the next time it had to go through the emissions test. But before that, the brakes failed and that was the last straw. Plus, my Mom started talking letting me have Granddad's old Silverado, which Grandmom gave her a few years after Granddad passed away. And it made more sense to haul plywood in the bed of the Silverado, than on the roof of the LeSabre! :P

Personally, I was kinda hoping the 307 on the LeSabre would fail so I could find an excuse to drop in an Olds 350 or 403. But alas, that 307 probably would have ended up being the LAST thing to fail on that car!

rockylee

I do like your 76' LeMans. Not bad rims either. What size engine is that ?

Rocky

andre1969

Thanks Rocky. It just has a Pontiac 350-2bbl, which in stock form only had 155 hp. Pretty torquey though, although I forget the specs...maybe 280 ft-lb?

It's had some head work done to it though, and I think a better cam put in, and dual exhaust, so it's a bit stronger. Unfortunately it still has a tall (most likely a 2.56:1) rear end in it, so when I stomp on it, it just feels like the rear is holding the engine back, and not allowing it to really hit its peak power.

The guy I bought it from really liked it, but just wanted something more powerful. So he replaced it with this 1974 Grand Am. Hmm, I just noticed it has the honeycomb wheels on it too. So maybe these were a bit more common on the pre-downsized LeMans and Grand Prix models than I thought.

fintail

I suspect in 10 years or so those huge wheels will look as silly as those tiny too-wide wheels look now. Bling changes.

rockylee

I'll pass on the 74' Grand-Am. I had a 2001 Grand-Am 75th Ann. pontiac edition and it looked better.

Rocky

rockylee

Perhaps. But I do like 18+ inch rims. If it fills out the wheel wells nicely and doesn't look like something from south of the border.

Rocky

jimmy81

Thought this was the "wouldn't be caught dead driving one" discussion. Seems like a little clique thing going on about meaningless drivel.....

ontop

Amen bro!

Thought this discussion was here to bash Kias and Dodges.

fintail

Hey, anyone is free to post what they please about aspects of automobiledom they find of less than acceptable taste. If you don't like the current topic...change it.

andre1969

is to start reading a new thread from the beginning. That way at least you'll get some understanding as to how they evolve over time.

And just pass over what you don't want to read. It's not like anybody's pointing a gun to your head and forcing to read every single post!

analyzerlx

than a lot of American-made cars I've owned. They were fairly crappy anyways. '82 Chevy Citation, '98 Olds Achieva and '03 Chevy Cavalier. My family has owned American cars for years, GM products mostly, but they are still crappy compared to what Asia produces today. I don't mind American cars if I am the only one that drives it and can make sure I baby it, to ensure that the engine and tranny doesn't go out the first 36,000 miles. I have a '04 Kia Optima and I seriously had doubts about build quality, but trust me- it has been more reliable than any other car I have had so far. I have recently bought an '06 Toyota Sienna and feel confident about that minivan, too! There aren't too many "American" cars that are actually built in the USA out of strictly U.S. parts! Long live competitive car companies and the drive to build more efficient, durable cars.Don't rag on certain marques, because they all have issues at one time or another. If you take care of your car, it ought to take care of you. BTW, I took care of all my "American" cars and they all survived years of many miles, except the '02 Citation- she was too far gone, even for me... :lemon:

john_324

"Seems like a little clique thing going on about meaningless drivel....."

That's what makes it fun. I mean I'm sure there are some very significant and informative discussions on which color of beige minivans look best in and how many cupholders are optimal in one's Camry, but those can't match the coolness of arguing over bling-bling wheels on old sedans or Andre's large and questionable collection of cars...

andre1969

and I've probably said this before, but I don't think there's really any name brand that I could say I wouldn't be caught dead driving in. I mean, I don't like really little cars...I had to drive my uncle's '03 Corolla once, and just felt naked and vulnerable in it...and cramped. But I could drive it if I had to. In fact, at one point I asked him if he'd give me first dibs at it instead of trading it in when he got to the point he wanted a new car.

I've since re-thought that though, because servicing isn't exactly cheap on it, and some replacement parts like catalytic converters, which he currently needs, are downright scary in price...unless you can find an aftermarket part which is the route he might go.

Now I probably wouldn't be caught dead in a New Beetle or VW Cabrio/Cabriolet. Or anything with too much of a ribs & wings package on it. But I've probably said that before too. Which brings up another point...if you stay solely on topic in these conversations, eventually everything that needs to be said IS said, and ultimately gets repeated. And then there's just nothing more to say and the conversations dry up.

I've heard an old addage that in internet forums, eventually talk of [non-permissible content removed] comes up. And that's the point that you know a topic has finally run it's course! :P

snakeweasel

Who would you not be caught dead in a car with?

For me I would include,

Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, any reality show contestant, Roseanne Barr and Gilbert Godfrey for starters.

andre1969

long enough with Paris Hilton so I could collect spousal support. :shades:

farout

The Pontiac Aztec and the New Dodge Dakota, are flat ugly!
The back end of the Aztec is something that might have been a station wagon, and the Dakota's front end and the misshapen ed grill is pure mis matched

w9cw

Hey Rocky,

Given all of your numerous postings on several forums, when do you find time to work?? I'm envious . . .

tomstar

I loved my Tempo. I have had '51 Olds 98, '54 Buick Century stick, Corvair, two Ramblers, two Renaults, 10 and 16, '56 Chevy, '70 Ford Galaxy 500 (nice car), Pontiac Phoenix, Olds Cutlass, Honda Civic, Toyota wagon, Volks '56 Beetle, Ford '97 Windstar, and now a Ford Freestyle '06.

I liked all of them except the Beetle and Toyota wagon.

The Tempo and Windstar are winners on a par with each other as for dependability and length of ownership.

I bought the Tempo '84 in '84 new. I say new but it was really used. Someone had won it in a supermarket contest and did not want that model. So, it was at the dealership. It was an L model, no AC and four speed stick shift.

I bought it, being a straight transportation addict. it was four doors, four wheels, and stick shift. I had an AC installed under the dash type.

I drove that car 16 years with no major problem. It did not have a computer and was not fuel injected. It had a throttle-body carb.

I got 33 mpg to and from work (28 miles one way) of course town mpg was not as great. It rode like a larger car. When my grandson was 18 I gave it to him and he drove it into the wreckingyard before six months were up. Oh well.

That car fit me and I wish I had a new one of the same. To hell with all the gizmos. The Windstar I still have 126K with no major prob.

That's my story.

rockylee

I generally work 4 day and of 4 days. However those 4 days of work include 13-14 hours a day. My wife says it would be best to all us get Nextels and Walkie Talkie each other so she could use the computer. I do admit I probably spend a bit to much time on Edmunds and need to cut back. Usually if I'm watching TV, during commercials I will come over here and see what ya'll posted. On my days of work I only post when I get off of work and that's not every day. So then I got to spend hours to catch up and see who took some "shots" at my posts while I was gone.

Rocky

rockylee

Ya'll are liars saying you wouldn't want to be caught dead with Paris Hilton or Britney Spears. I for one would love to be caught dead with Paris. However my first choice would be Britney Daniel :shades:

Rocky