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

sda

The Vega was a nice looking car.

uplanderguy

I'll be honest--when Ford introduced the Pinto wagon, which I'm thinking was mid'72 model year but not sure, it had a fair amount more cargo space than the Vega Kammback, and had quarter windows that swung out. But I loved the styling of the Vega wagon, along with the attributes most of the car mags then liked about the car; flat cornering mostly I think.

Other than a Cosworth, I'd like a '74-76 GT Kammback with the optional side stripes and white-letter tires.

The '76 had the better engine warranty--"More than Toyota, Datsun, and VW combined" per the ads and brochure.

But of course, by then, they had to.

uplanderguy

‘76 Vega engine ad

My favorite Vega ad. I remember it 50 years later.

kyfdx

I bought a new Mustang II in 1977 that came with a one-year warranty.. And, a new '82 Honda that also came with one year.

tjc78

@andre1969
Thought you would find this cool.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjcTMCA9/

fintail

Pinto wagon is neat in its own way but the Kammback looks better esp with small bumpers.

Recent sightings - the Aurora that lives on the same block as a Topaz now has 4 round wheels again. Alliance convertible is under a full cover - top down, but it is covered.

andre1969

tjc78 said:

@andre1969

Thought you would find this cool.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjcTMCA9/

That almost seems cheap for a Grand Ville, at $5,053! Now that I watched it, that TikTok isn't going to install communism on my computer, is it?

I was under the impression that power windows and locks were standard on a Grand Ville, but I don't see them listed under the standard features. Unless the "And many more!" covers it. Or, maybe that was a year or two later. The Grand Ville was priced higher than the Delta 88 and LeSabre convertibles, as it had loftier, almost wanna-be C-body aspirations.

uplanderguy

Neither power windows nor locks were standard on a Grand Ville.

I think they were standard on late sixties Bonneville Broughams—at least windows—but I’d have to look at brochures to verify.

EDIT: I was wrong. Just saw a window sticker for a ‘75 Grand Ville convertible and it showed power windows standard.

tjc78

If Tiktok wants to spy on my phone... let them. They can pay some of the bills I get and answer my work email too!

There is tons of great car content, I know this group doesn't particularly like TT so I rarely post links.

tjc78

uplanderguy said:

Neither power windows nor locks were standard on a Grand Ville.

I think they were standard on late sixties Bonneville Broughams—at least windows—but I’d have to look at brochures to verify.

EDIT: I was wrong. Just saw a window sticker for a ‘75 Grand Ville convertible and it showed power windows standard.

I would have lost that bet... I didn't think much of anything except Lincoln and Caddy had power windows/door locks standard until well into the 80s

kyfdx

We aren't super fond of posting video links, because that means a moderator has to view it.

tjc78

kyfdx said:

We aren't super fond of posting video links, because that means a moderator has to view it.

Seriously?... you have to view every video we post?

Never knew that.

I'll post more now

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

kyfdx said:

We aren't super fond of posting video links, because that means a moderator has to view it.

Seriously?... you have to view every video we post?

Never knew that.

I'll post more now

You can always do whatever you want on your last day.

andre1969

I was too lazy to look it up so I asked AI, so take it with a grain of salt. But, apparently power windows became standard on the New Yorker and Ninety Eight in 1972! 1974 for the Grand Ville, and 1975 for the Electra.

Looks like they were standard on the Marquis Brougham, starting in 1971.

ab348

tjc78 said:

kyfdx said:

We aren't super fond of posting video links, because that means a moderator has to view it.

Seriously?... you have to view every video we post?

Never knew that.

I'll post more now

@kyfdx will soon have an encyclopedic knowledge of teenybopper dance moves.

I avoid anything and everything to do with that site. There is enough mindless rubbish online to waste my time as it is.

ab348

andre1969 said:

I was too lazy to look it up so I asked AI, so take it with a grain of salt. But, apparently power windows became standard on the New Yorker and Ninety Eight in 1972! 1974 for the Grand Ville, and 1975 for the Electra.

Looks like they were standard on the Marquis Brougham, starting in 1971.

I just browsed the brochures site and power windows were not mentioned as standard in the '74 brochure but were for its last year of '75. I guess the intelligence truly is artificial.

One thing that I found interesting - it looked to me that the GV 2-door HT had its own slightly more formal roofline. The brochure images of it aren't great and it seems they either didn't sell many 2-doors or very few have survived, because most of the pics I found are either 4-door models or convertibles. This is the best pic I could find.

uplanderguy

That’s a nice ‘71 coupe. I like the ‘71 and ‘72 Grand Villes best of all the years, and not just because of the bumpers. The ‘73 had some bad woodgrain imho, and a lot of it.

andre1969

I always wondered if the hardtop coupe shared its roof structure with the hardtop sedan, for the '71-74 Grand Ville? I remember in one of the brochures, Pontiac bragging about how the back seat of the coupe had as much legroom as the sedan. I think it was around 39". With the "proper" B-bodies (Catalina, Bonneville, as well the Chevy/Olds/Buick models), the hardtop coupe gave up a few inches...something like 35.6" I believe.

kyfdx

andre1969 said:

I always wondered if the hardtop coupe shared its roof structure with the hardtop sedan, for the '71-74 Grand Ville? I remember in one of the brochures, Pontiac bragging about how the back seat of the coupe had as much legroom as the sedan. I think it was around 39". With the "proper" B-bodies (Catalina, Bonneville, as well the Chevy/Olds/Buick models), the hardtop coupe gave up a few inches...something like 35.6" I believe.

My mother bought a '71 Grand Ville to replace her '67 Bonneville. She hated it. I don't remember exactly why.. But, the next year she bought a Lincoln sedan to replace it.

ab348

kyfdx said:

andre1969 said:

I always wondered if the hardtop coupe shared its roof structure with the hardtop sedan, for the '71-74 Grand Ville? I remember in one of the brochures, Pontiac bragging about how the back seat of the coupe had as much legroom as the sedan. I think it was around 39". With the "proper" B-bodies (Catalina, Bonneville, as well the Chevy/Olds/Buick models), the hardtop coupe gave up a few inches...something like 35.6" I believe.

My mother bought a '71 Grand Ville to replace her '67 Bonneville. She hated it. I don't remember exactly why.. But, the next year she bought a Lincoln sedan to replace it.

I always found the GV to be odd. Looking at the interiors, they didn't seem particularly posh to me, though the optional upgrade version was a bit better and more Buick-like. But the dash and door panels just weren't anything special in my mind. That was an odd time for GM generally with increasing commonality of parts and designs in the quest to reduce the costs of manufacturing. It always irked me that an Electra or a 98 or even a Caddy all used those plastic-bottomed door panels, even if they disguised them with carpet on the bottom.

kyfdx

And, I mis-typed. She bought a Lincoln Coupe.

uplanderguy

I like the '72 Grand Ville Custom interior, although the rear-seat center armrest was only on the sedan.

I don't like the plastic lower door panels either, but I like them better than screw-on armrests.

uplanderguy

Here's the entry-level '72 Cadillac Calais--Caddy didn't use the lower plastic door panels.

andre1969

That '72 Caddy door panel looks like something that is gorgeous, if you handle it with kid gloves and keep it out of hot, sunny weather. But that pull strap is just waiting to get yanked off, and the lower part, with the integrated armrest, is made of this soft-touch stuff with foam backing, that tends to shrink and crack.

I'm also not a fan of the B-bodies (and Colonades) with the 2-piece door panels where the lower part is a plastic slab, and the upper part is vinyl and/or fabric. But yeah, on the plus side, having an integrated armrest, rather than screw/bolt-on, is one advantage.

For some reason though, those two-piece door panels on the '78+ downsized intermediates didn't bother me. Maybe the build quality was a bit less sloppy?

sda

@fintail The period music is great. https://youtu.be/LICZjlpjpZ0?si=HVp3lZM8tOmkAnQ8

fintail

sda said:

@fintail The period music is great.

Ah yes an "Auto Test". Very German, I can't imagine anything so in-depth and technical today.

That's a first series lowline car, I think the diesel was slightly more expensive than the gas. It became the 200D in the later part of 1965.

fintail

ab348 said:

andre1969 said:

I was too lazy to look it up so I asked AI, so take it with a grain of salt. But, apparently power windows became standard on the New Yorker and Ninety Eight in 1972! 1974 for the Grand Ville, and 1975 for the Electra.

Looks like they were standard on the Marquis Brougham, starting in 1971.

I just browsed the brochures site and power windows were not mentioned as standard in the '74 brochure but were for its last year of '75. I guess the intelligence truly is artificial.

One thing that I found interesting - it looked to me that the GV 2-door HT had its own slightly more formal roofline. The brochure images of it aren't great and it seems they either didn't sell many 2-doors or very few have survived, because most of the pics I found are either 4-door models or convertibles. This is the best pic I could find.

Every time I see a big 70s Pontiac I think of this:

sda

@fintail, a better fit, 6 cylinder. https://youtu.be/N5u5c9nD5sg?si=ix2W2F2tM_8eK_4H

fintail

sda said:

@fintail, a better fit, 6 cylinder.

And a somewhat unusual one at that. The 230 is a second series fintail, replacing the 220. It has the short nose/single lights (W110) of a 4 cylinder car with a 6 cylinder engine, these are a less common (but not extremely rare) model. The factory test footage is always fun, they held nothing back in testing those cars, knowing some would end up being used in harsh environments.