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Given to me this morning by a woman at the Greenville, PA Historical Society who knows I like cars. I believe this paper is 1962 as the Chevy cab-and-chassis I believe is new, the way the ad is written, even though it's in the 'used car' section of the paper.
At my old friend's Stude dealership, a '54 DeSoto Hardtop was available for $88! Also, a '48 Pontiac 'Torpedo' was available for $145--described as a 'baby Bonneville', LOL.
On a different note, I got an email from the daughter of my late friend, the Stude dealer. Among other things, she said last time she was in Greenville (she lives in the Pacific NW), in 2023, she went out to their old house and the people who bought it from her parents in the late '70's still live there and showed her, in the loft of the horse barn, the big "CARL E. FILER CO." wooden letters from the front of the dealership building, over the front door. Apparently her parents left them there when they moved to central Ohio. The current resident asked if she wanted them; she said too big to ship. In the spring I might ask the current owner if he'd donate them, and I'd get the local newspaper to run a short article and photo of them with a pic of the original building showing the letters on the building, and if we can get $100 for them, donate it to the Historical Society. Limited appeal thing outside of that general area, but maybe for someone who has a Stude and/or and outbuilding to display them in, could be cool.
That 1 owner 55 Chrysler HT was probably a fine deal too.
The first ad had a pair of ‘60 Ford Ranch wagons, a 4-dr and a 2-dr, which is the one I’d want.
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I wonder if as a 'favor' to Chevy for getting what the dealer wanted, car-wise, they 'had' to take a truck like this.
Town's population in the 1960 census was 8,800-something. It wasn't a suburb of anything; just a small town although there was about ten miles of rural nothing in all directions.
Dart's was a good place to do business. They opened in 1936 and the owners retired in 1991 or 1992. They had two more owners in the next maybe twelve or thirteen years, then closed forever, sadly. My grandparents and my Dad bought a bunch of cars there over the years, and even though I lived in NE OH, I bought my first two new Monte Carlos there. Just liked the people.
Mr. Dart told me years later that after the war, they hired a bunch of guys and most all worked there until retirement age.
I remember one of their ads saying, "If you're happy with us, tell your friends and neighbors. If you're not, tell us. We don't want to hear it from our kids coming home from school!".
Afterward, I traveled two hours south to the Cincinnati area, met up with @kyfdx for lunch, and then began my journey west and north to get home. It was quite a day!
I was raised near Pendleton, OR, after my family left Alaska when I was a toddler, and we had three new car dealers there (Ford, GM, Chrysler), along with a few used car dealers. I lived in the area from 1979 to 1995. Today, there are ZERO dealerships in Pendleton, even though the community has grown a fair bit since then (gone from about 15,000 to 17,500), and the nearest new car dealers are 45 minutes to an hour in any direction. It's strange, to be honest. One of the locations is now part of a hospital complex, while the others are just vacant lots, as is the lot where the old hospital once stood (since demolished).
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edit: Oh, right, because I was coming down I-75 and then cut across I-70 to Indianapolis before joining up to I-74. So, we met somewhere near the interchange of 75 and 70, based on your knowledge of acceptable lunch spots in the area! Further perusing of the map makes me think that maybe it was Bunker's where we met.
Gaiers in FtLoramie is still there, actually 2 stores.
Bunkers in Vandalia is there. I'm amazed this took place in my neck of the woods at the Crossroads of America, née us 25 and route 40, now I70 and I75.
Ft Loramie is home to an annual country music festival.
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Where I bought my C8, is in Beloit, OH, population 892! Although, Alliance (population 21.5K) and Salem (population 11.5K) are each both about 8.5 miles away, and both also have Chevy dealers. The dealer in Beloit is small and has been in the same family since 1928. I really like doing business there.
Recently Rare Classic Cars on youtube had a video on this car, and he said it really looked homely. I guess so. But I think for $2300 or so back in 1961 it was probably the best car you could get in that class. Grandma got the deluxe "770" model back in 1961, and it was equipped with a padded dash, AM radio, the push-button auto already mentioned, as well as bright red seats. It was white, like these ones. In the 1990s it had no rust, but now...sigh.
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I believe that actually makes the block stronger, because it doesn't have those coolant passages cutting through its structure. As a result, it's a good block for building up for more power. But a downside may be that it can be more prone to overheating, so you have to be more vigilant about changing the coolant, and keeping it topped off?
As for the Lancer, I always liked them. The front-end makes me think just a bit of a '60 Pontiac, and less gaudy than the Valiant. I remember digging up an old Consumer Reports test online a couple years ago, and they liked it a lot, except for one thing...the build quality. But, I believe it handled well, was fairly roomy/comfortable for that class of car, and with the optional 225 slant six, a pretty good performer.
The Valiant/Lancer were actually on the shortest wheelbase of the low end Big Three compacts...106.5" vs 108" for the Corvair, and 109.5" for the Falcon. But, I think they were the roomiest inside. And, to my eye at least, they look pretty substantial. Looking at specs online, the 1960 Valiant was 183.7" long, whereas a Falcon was 181." The Corvair was 180". I'm surprised the difference between a Valiant/Lancer and a Falcon is that small.
What he didn't seem to recognize was that in stock form, the 403 was all done at a bit over 4000RPM thanks to the emissions controls, single exhaust and usual low numerically rear gear they came with. It was a torquer, not a revver.
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https://barnfinds.com/41k-mile-1995-oldsmobile-aurora/
Last night their "Polar Express" derailed! No one hurt, but a mess.
https://fox8.com/news/cuyahoga-valley-scenic-railroad-train-derails-with-passengers-on-board/
Thanks for posting that story. We were with the grandkids for the ride. I guess we dodged a bullet!
Here another article about the derailment. 588 passengers, many more than I thought.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/federal-railroad-administration-to-investigate-cvsr-derailment-in-peninsula/ar-AA1wiJEw?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=8d6764a6b8164c1393c31d43894b1c96&ei=11
Now, it's from 6 years ago, and doesn't show up in the latest footage, but I thought it was kinda cool. I can't remember the last time I saw ANY Chevette outside of a car show, so seeing an early model out on the streets like this, was pretty cool, I thought.
I think this Chevette is a '78? IIRC, the 4-door version didn't come out until '78, and they went to rectangular headlights for '79.
Said it was like the tortoise and the hare. They never had to stop for fuel or repairs.
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I remember the five of us (his mom and dad, my friend, myself and his younger sister) taking the car to LA from our home about an hour north to visit his mom's parents. Yes, we were cramped.
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Late 70s when the tired old Volvo needed to be replaced I remember going out with my parents and looking at a chevette, fairmont 2 door (the sporty fastback version for some reason ) and the Omni they ended up buying. Quite the motley collection there.
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I recall riding in the rear seat of a coworker's Vega long, long ago. That was something I want to keep as a one time experience awful. Noisy. Never been in a Chevette.
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The one floating around with a big block Chevy V8 seems like it moves along OK
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I actually remember seeing that Newport back in the fall of 1997, in this same spot. I can narrow it down to that year, because I was driving my own '79 Newport at the time. I didn't have it yet in '96 (brought it home from the junkyard on New Year's Eve 1996) and by the fall of '98 I had my '89 Gran Fury ex copcar. The car stuck in my memory too, because I really liked that dark teal frost metallic.
The car had most likely slipped my mind for awhile, but around 2012-13, I used to bike around DC a lot with one of my friends, and one time we went down that street, and damned if the car wasn't still there! Well, apparently that area was actually a nest of Malaise, because on the intersecting street, there was this:
Looking at more modern street views, that parking spot is long gone, and those cars were probably junked awhile back. And digging up old real estate listings, it sounds like the building was a trap house once upon a time. It was sold for $950K in 2011, and the listing said "Enter at own risk" ! It was described as "two units above and a church below". But apparently, it was fixed up and new life breathed into it. Here's a listing for the top level, which sold in 2022 for $1,125,000... https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/1801-13th-St-NW-20009/unit-3/home/40493997
I'll confess I also used inflation to talk myself into buying my 2023 Charger last year. My rationale was that my old 2000 Intrepid was $22,389 out the door when I bought it in November of 1999. The Charger was around $54K total, in September of 2023. I think the Intrepid's purchase price was up to around $42K, inflation-adjusted, so my rationale was that the Charger was really only cost about $12K more, but overall was one heckuva lot more than $12K more car!
The Intrepid, at that price, was a base model, with no options at all, although I did get them to throw in a 12 disc cd changer. It only had the two airbags up front. Plastic hubcaps. No ABS. Manual adjust for the seats. No remote entry either, although I did get that when I got a Viper alarm installed, not long after someone tried to break into the car. I have a feeling I'll be missing those plastic hubcaps and 16" wheels when it comes time for the Charger's first tire replacement, though!
When I met my wife, she was driving a maroon 4-door '78 Chevette with 4-speed. By 1990 it was tired and I bought her a new Corsica 5-speed. You'd have thought I bought her a Bentley.
https://www.iseecars.com/cars-for-sale?Year_min=1961&Year_max=1961&Make=Ford&Location=54720&_isccid=crt02fnd_r&id=100676077904&utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=criteo&utm_campaign=criteo&criteo_campaign_id=358424&adsetid=399615&adid=1603647&utm_id=399615&cto_pld=M8y8zGAwAAAFFURdtvdD2A#id=100676077904
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Similarly, I think the Valiant might have cut into the big Plymouth's sales. For 1959, Plymouth moved about 458K units, compared to around 447K in 1960. Another problem for Plymouth though, was the new Dodge Dart lineup, which matched Plymouth model for model, at about the same price. It might have siphoned away some big Ford/Chevy sales too, I guess.
Of course, the big Ford's styling might have had something to do with it, as well. While we might think they're cool cars nowadays, at the time the styling was a bit polarizing. Buyers responded well to the '59s, but then following that up with the '60 might have been a bit offputting to some buyers.