I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today!

kyfdx

We had the Acura version in 1994. Vigor. It was the JDM Accord, but quite a bit different. Longitudinal 5-cylinder engine.

We also had the next gen Accord ('97) and two of the next gen after that ('99 and an '01)

texases

The 1990 Lumina wasn't much bigger inside than the 1993 Accord, even though it was a foot longer:
Lumina-

Accord-

uplanderguy

Over 2 1/2 inches more legroom in back, significant. Shoulder room also significantly more.

With bench, of course, the Lumina was marketed as a six-passenger.

uplanderguy

Saw this today. Someone trying to turn their late-model into a ‘70’s Cheyenne Super Big 10.

stickguy

Nice color combo

andre1969

I had forgotten that the '90-93 Accord was so close in wheelbase to the Lumina. It's interesting how low slung those cars still were, too. For comparison, I think my '80 Malibu coupe was around 54.2 inches high, and I wanna say my '76 LeMans coupe is 52.9.

andre1969

One thing that's interesting, is that the Accord of that era seems to be using that space efficiency trick that domestics started catching on to with downsizing, where they push the back seat further between the wheel openings, giving the backrest more of a curve, whereas it doesn't seem so pronounced on the Lumina.

Here's an Accord:

And for comparison, a Lumina: To me at least, the Lumina's back seat doesn't look like it has nearly as much curvature at the sides.

So considering the Accord pushed the rear seat further back, but the Lumina appears not to have, I'm surprised the Lumina still has that much more published legroom. But, legroom is some kind of combination of how high up the seat is, plus how far it is from the back of the front seat. So a higher seat will give you a larger legroom measurement. But if your knees are already hitting the seatback, making the seat taller isn't going to fix that issue.

Also, up front, it looks like the Accord doesn't have that wheel well intrusion that the Lumina does...

They measure front legroom in relation to the gas pedal, but there's usually at least a several inches between the gas pedal and the firewall. Or the sloping part of the floor. On a car that doesn't have wheel well intrusion in front, the footwells will usually be pretty wide and deep, so you can stretch your left foot out. And the front seat passenger has more room to stretch, as well.

So it seems to me that, despite the similar wheelbases, the Accord sacrificed the back seat, to give more room to the front, even if it's in areas that don't show up in published specs.

uplanderguy

Looks like the floor is flatter in the back of the Lumina.

roadburner

fintail said:

uplanderguy said:

Back to early Taurus...I remember when I first rented one. The styling did nothing for me, and I think it was probably the first larger domestic to go with lack of brightwork inside (sigh). That said, I remember being impressed with the rear-seat room, and that it had a rear-seat center armrest, one of the things back-in-my-youth that meant 'luxurious'.

When I was a kid, I was really into Euro cars, and most new American cars seemed boring and old to me (but I liked the bustleback Seville even then). My uncle's car had these wheelcovers - I don't know about the blackout slatted grille in this pic, maybe a prepro thing:



I think those wheelcovers were maybe an 86 only thing. Here's a W126 with similar, MB started using a similar wheelcover around 1980 and it lasted into the 90s as a base wheel trim item (never offered in the USDM):

I put the BMW equivalents on my Bavaria:

kyfdx

No picture, but I had those BMW wheel covers on my '67 2000CS. I think mine came off of an '83-'84 318i.

Bought my car from a guy that worked at the dealer, which is how he came by the covers.

fintail

roadburner said:

fintail said:

uplanderguy said:

Back to early Taurus...I remember when I first rented one. The styling did nothing for me, and I think it was probably the first larger domestic to go with lack of brightwork inside (sigh). That said, I remember being impressed with the rear-seat room, and that it had a rear-seat center armrest, one of the things back-in-my-youth that meant 'luxurious'.

When I was a kid, I was really into Euro cars, and most new American cars seemed boring and old to me (but I liked the bustleback Seville even then). My uncle's car had these wheelcovers - I don't know about the blackout slatted grille in this pic, maybe a prepro thing:



I think those wheelcovers were maybe an 86 only thing. Here's a W126 with similar, MB started using a similar wheelcover around 1980 and it lasted into the 90s as a base wheel trim item (never offered in the USDM):

I put the BMW equivalents on my Bavaria:

Cool pic - fun background to examine. I see an E30 M3, Festiva, and Tempo! I've seen those on ROW E28 and E30 as well - unsurprisingly hard to find images as where MBs often remain stock, BMWs do not:



And then there was the E32 with a wheel option that resembled a disc wheelcover (I think this was a V12 item):

fintail

Thinking of wheelcovers that look like wheels, MB used these "gullideckel" style wheels on several models from roughly 1983-1993. When I had my W126, I think someone asked me if they were hubcaps or wheels. (car pictured was mine, bought nearly 25 years ago - time flies):

ab348

Fin, how did you like driving that bank vault? Never realized you owned one of those. Handsome car.

fintail

ab348 said:

Fin, how did you like driving that bank vault? Never realized you owned one of those. Handsome car.

As you mention, it was like a bank vault. Immense build and material quality. Mine was the less extravagant I6 model, but still had the quality of a higher variant. The smaller engine made it just a little leisurely, but nothing too bad, and maintenance was less - not to mention I6 smoothness, with the double firewall on these cars, on a smooth road it was virtually silent. It was a very mellow calming car to drive. I had the car for a few years - my first "modern" car after college, didn't have too many quirks in the time I had it - I was the second owner, first owner miled it up a little and I kept that going. I think it had 180K on it when I sold it to the uncle of a sales manager at the local MB dealer. At the time it probably could have passed for a 50K mile car at most.

uplanderguy

Fin, your ‘Benz reminds me of the one the founder and CEO of the first post-college job I had for 15 years, Mr. Dworkin, had. Always parked in the first space outside the doors. He wore mirrored glasses even inside. I was intimidated riding in the elevator with him. 😀

uplanderguy

At my donut joint this morning, they had on their TV, an old "Price Is Right" episode. I'd guess early '80's by the looks of hair and clothing. One woman had the headband like Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' era, so probably '81 or '82. Waited 'til the showcase to see a car, and it was that first-gen '79 or later Mustang. I like those cars in two-door sedan form, and it was one of them. Two of the contestants on the show were named 'Dudley' and 'Imogene', and one was called Sheila, like my wife, but also like my wife, someone spelled her name 'Shelia'--constant error in my wife's life, LOL.

On Chevys, and most GM's, I could identify any '70's model year by look. In the '80's sometimes I had to tell by color, which got harder to keep straight. I do miss being able to identify year by look.

That repeat made me realize how much more fun that show was then, than now. Lots of noise and excitement. I have tried twice to watch Drew Carey's nighttime Price Is Right and it's just....flat. Hardly any people there, Drew is meh, and I turned the channel out of pity probably ten minutes in.

Unrelated...I look at and post on a good number of Facebook old car sites. Boy, the stupidity is rampant there--laughable 'facts' posted with absolute certainty by posters. Still, interesting stuff there. I can't help but notice, pretty regularly, I'll comment on a feature of the car posted, and one of the 'likes' I get will be a pic of some hot chick, like she'd be watching that page.

fintail

uplanderguy said:

At my donut joint this morning, they had on their TV, an old "Price Is Right" episode. I'd guess early '80's by the looks of hair and clothing. One woman had the headband like Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' era, so probably '81 or '82. Waited 'til the showcase to see a car, and it was that first-gen '79 or later Mustang. I like those cars in two-door sedan form, and it was one of them. Two of the contestants on the show were named 'Dudley' and 'Imogene', and one was called Sheila, like my wife, but also like my wife, someone spelled her name 'Shelia'--constant error in my wife's life, LOL.

On Chevys, and most GM's, I could identify any '70's model year by look. In the '80's sometimes I had to tell by color, which got harder to keep straight. I do miss being able to identify year by look.

That repeat made me realize how much more fun that show was then, than now. Lots of noise and excitement. I have tried twice to watch Drew Carey's nighttime Price Is Right and it's just....flat. Hardly any people there, Drew is meh, and I turned the channel out of pity probably ten minutes in.

Unrelated...I look at and post on a good number of Facebook old car sites. Boy, the stupidity is rampant there--laughable 'facts' posted with absolute certainty by posters. Still, interesting stuff there. I can't help but notice, pretty regularly, I'll comment on a feature of the car posted, and one of the 'likes' I get will be a pic of some hot chick, like she'd be watching that page.

No specific offense to Carey - his 90s sitcom was funny, but TPiR with him or Barker is no contest. Fortunately YouTube is a goldmine of 70s-90s material, and there is even a social media channel for the cars of old TPiR. There was just something about the production and atmosphere of the old shows. I think they often had better cars then too - although they did have the "game show spec" models that are expected at the venue, they had more unusual cars too, where nowadays it is nearly all material that seems to be off a discount rental fleet. I was really into TPiR when I was a little kid, too - I guess that was about the heyday.

fintail

uplanderguy said:

Fin, your ‘Benz reminds me of the one the founder and CEO of the first post-college job I had for 15 years, Mr. Dworkin, had. Always parked in the first space outside the doors. He wore mirrored glasses even inside. I was intimidated riding in the elevator with him. 😀

Those cars had that kind of image during the era.

If I ever got another one, I might get a personalized plate

uplanderguy

My memory of the 'Benz also reminded me of an elderly fellow--and I mean elderly--on the executive team there at the time I started. He had started another drug chain which carried his name, which the company I worked for bought and absorbed. He was brought on to our company as an exec. He was a kind man in the elevator, always speaking and telling the young women how nice they looked, LOL. Genuine though. He was stooped over and could barely walk. I remember him having two Cadillac company cars....a '77-79 Coupe deVille, followed by an Eldorado (the '79-85 style). Both were black with silver vinyl tops. I think he repeated colors partly so he could find his car in a lot by memory.

The execs frequently lunched at a place a few miles down the road called "Yours Truly", a good, small regional chain here. The execs would take turns driving to lunch. When this fellow, whose first name was Henry, would say "I'll drive", the others would frighteningly say, "No, I'll drive" as the old guy's driving was supposedly, positively scary. Funny memory for me. Both him, and Mr. Dworkin, are long-gone.

I know the conventional wisdom is that continuing to work is healthy, but to me it's a little sad when someone I think doesn't know how to retire, or what to do when they do retire. He struck me that way. It sort-of seemed to me that he was kept on in management as a courtesy.

Michaell

The owner of the first company I worked for after college owned a 60's or 70's Pagoda model MB - I don't recall the engine he had.

He traded it in for a 560 SEL - champagne colored. Personalized plates of "THBEAZT"

uplanderguy

RE.: Drew Carey--he attended Kent State, in the town where I live now. Maybe twenty years ago, when Kent's basketball team was in the championships, Cleveland TV showed him at Ray's, a college bar tradition here since the '30's. He was watching a game. In fact, ten of us ate there last night. Anyway, he was lit on TV at the time and said, "If anybody here tells you they went to class with me, they're lying. I never went to class!". LOL

fintail

Michaell said:

The owner of the first company I worked for after college owned a 60's or 70's Pagoda model MB - I don't recall the engine he had.

He traded it in for a 560 SEL - champagne colored. Personalized plates of "THBEAZT"

In my prior job for a large firm , the CEO at the time, a somewhat flamboyant trying to be edgy guy who raked in a cool 9 figures in his 8 years with the company, had a generic Ferrari and a Bentley Continental - pretty mundane stuff to me. Only he and a few other C-suiters had reserved spots, most of the rest of the top brass drove things like MDX and similar - either stealth wealth or maybe just not into cars.

Speaking of Pagoda, this remastered 1976 home movie came into my Youtube feed not long ago - fun traffic scenes, and the car makes sounds very similar to the fintail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMfKxuPVUY

Car appears to be a 250SL, around 1967 probably. Those cars had wacky resale value - due to inflation and the price of a new SL, a 10 year old Pagoda could easily bring its original MSRP.

Was out on the road in the fintail earlier, only oldie I spotted was a very clean mid 70s Toyota pickup. Old car driving season is just around the corner.

fintail

uplanderguy said:

My memory of the 'Benz also reminded me of an elderly fellow--and I mean elderly--on the executive team there at the time I started. He had started another drug chain which carried his name, which the company I worked for bought and absorbed. He was brought on to our company as an exec. He was a kind man in the elevator, always speaking and telling the young women how nice they looked, LOL. Genuine though. He was stooped over and could barely walk. I remember him having two Cadillac company cars....a '77-79 Coupe deVille, followed by an Eldorado (the '79-85 style). Both were black with silver vinyl tops. I think he repeated colors partly so he could find his car in a lot by memory.

The execs frequently lunched at a place a few miles down the road called "Yours Truly", a good, small regional chain here. The execs would take turns driving to lunch. When this fellow, whose first name was Henry, would say "I'll drive", the others would frighteningly say, "No, I'll drive" as the old guy's driving was supposedly, positively scary. Funny memory for me. Both him, and Mr. Dworkin, are long-gone.

I know the conventional wisdom is that continuing to work is healthy, but to me it's a little sad when someone I think doesn't know how to retire, or what to do when they do retire. He struck me that way. It sort-of seemed to me that he was kept on in management as a courtesy.

I've seen people like that. My grandpa needed something to do, and had some kind of at least part time job until he was maybe 75. He didn't age well after that, and I think it wasn't a coincidence. He didn't "need" the money - he had a federal pension and used his retirement jobs for going to the horse races and sports tickets, he needed something to keep him moving and thinking.

One of my first managers in my post-college job was a motherly woman maybe in her 60s who also didn't "need" to work, but couldn't stand being idle. She has to be well into her 80s now, and I think I heard she worked into her 70s. My mom retired at 70 - she was afraid to leave her employer provided healthcare plan for medicare, but has found that medicare isn't a problem, and I think maybe wishes she retired a couple years earlier.

kyfdx

Well.. that went South, fast. This is why we can't have nice things.

fintail

Guess I miss all the fun.

Saw an OG Geo Metro out delivering pizza today.

ab348

I must have missed something.

andre1969

Once a common sight, but pretty obscure nowadays, I spotted this '99-04 era Mustang GT the other day, in a parking lot at a local trail that was once a railroad right-of-way.

uplanderguy

Broke the C8 out today after about a four-month hibernation. 68 degrees and sunny, finally. I also put 68 miles on it today. 4136 miles. Checked the oil down at the church lot down the road afterwards. I have no level spots in the driveway. Felt good to be out.

I hate C8's in screaming colors, with black wheels, and with big spoilers. I think the styling is loud so doesn't need that stuff. You might remember, I originally wanted 'Caffeine', which was dark brown metallic, with saddle interior, but it sold so poorly it didn't last through the '23 model year, LOL.

uplanderguy

Friend saw this near his home a few days ago on a Model T. Neat.

explorerx4

Teddy?

uplanderguy

Guessing FDR.

andre1969

68 degrees here today, too. I need to start getting the cars out of hibernation.

explorerx4

Found another Packard Museum video. Much better than the one I posted a few weeks ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3i_MmW_ObY

uplanderguy

That’s the museum in Warren, OH, which I’ve been in many times. I was within three miles of there yesterday. It’s a very nice museum.

fintail

Out on the road and on foot today saw a 63-64 Chrysler sedan, a parked big fuselage Plymouth coupe, and some things I haven't seen since fall as jogging has resumed - super clean 90-91 Taurus, Shelby Dodge Shadow, late run Olds G-body sedan, late 80s Civic wagon and same era Corolla All-Trac at the same house, a couple of late 80s style Subarus.

roadburner

Today I saw a Rover P6. Same color as this British model:

andre1969

Interesting color on that Rover. It's a shade of green that I don't think would look good on most domestics, at least the bigger ones I tend to go for. But on that car, I think it looks pretty sharp.

Michaell

Not really obscure, but another pic from my cousins FB page:

explorerx4

Some nice Fuchs wheels on that blue Porsche.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

Some nice Fuchs wheels on that blue Porsche.

He said it took him five years to restore it.

fintail

roadburner said:

Today I saw a Rover P6. Same color as this British model:

Those were sold in the USDM for a moment around 1970, they exist in LHD. I have to imagine parts became tough.

fintail

Another gem spotted in a real estate listing:

stickguy

That was my dream car when I got out of college. My bank account sadly did not dream as well.

kyfdx

Nice! I was too poor for a Celica, and ended up with an Accord.

stickguy

I was too poor for the accord and ended up with a Colt.

andre1969

On a grocery run this morning, I spotted this Olds F-85 about a mile from my house...
I think it's a '61. Didn't the grille on the '62 protrude a bit more?

It's funny how when you look at pictures of these cars, by themselves, they look fairly substantial. But with that Malibu in the background, I think it makes the car look almost petite!

explorerx4

05 Buick Park Avenue Ultra Special Edition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08cZZwXu8sU

uplanderguy

Studebaker National Museum archives building tour Thursday afternoon. Tons of engineering drawings including Packard back to 1917. Studebaker documents back to the 1860’s. Factory films too. I chuckled when I saw a reel labeled “Mr. Ed commercials”.

Took photos of cars I love while there too, but will post over on the 'Postwar Studebakers' page.

uplanderguy

A friend and I left my house at 6:15 Thursday am and were back here at 6:00 pm Friday, and we squeezed a lot into that winter-doldrums short trip. My wife was like "Have at it!", LOL.

After South Bend, we drove down and east to Fairmount, James Dean's hometown, and visited for the first time the new James Dean Museum. I got interested in him when my daughter and I drove by his crash site in Cholame, CA in 2019. It's marked there. I got a book for Christmas about his Porsche and the accident and aftermath, great reading. His hometown is absolutely stuck in time, and tiny. His cousin Marcus, now 82, still lives in the same house he and James were raised in. I was told he had stopped in the museum that morning and I was sad to miss him. He has some videos online of him being interviewed, and he's just a slow-talking, friendly country gentleman. If you go to the James Dean Museum you'll meet docent Dorothy, who's probably 30 but a walking encyclopedia on all things Dean. We turned around in the driveway of Dean's former home (his cousin is OK with that per the museum), went past the old Indian motorcycle dealer he hung out at--was having a classic car club meeting there when we drove by--saw his humble grave. We also saw this car parked on a side street. A '55 Hudson. I'll be upfront and just say I really don't like these cars, but it was neat to see anyway.

uplanderguy

The car Dean drove to his prom, and the mural from "Giant" on the side of the museum, downtown Fairmount, IN