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I don't love the look of the Allante, and really don't care for the XLR at all, other than it is distinctive from other cars. But I think the Allante styling has aged well because it is simple. Nothing Lexus was making at the time does a single thing for me.
Styling is good. The issues with the one in the video really weren’t north star stuff like head bolts. It was electronics, gadgets, and ancillary systems so some allante specific and some just old car that has been screwed with items.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Cadillac has been swinging for the technology fences the last few decades…and striking out.
This one sold for $15K on BaT last summer. I loathe the color, but nice car. (First new '71 full-size Chevy I saw behind our hometown dealer was an extremely-similar color, and I didn't like it then either LOL.)
One thing about these cars that I just can't get past, is that tapered rear-end. I've often wondered if just having a smallish section of taillight in the rear on each end, that wrapped around the side of the car, would've helped, but then that would've cluttered the side styling.
No Northstar or 'Shortstar' to deal with on these cars.
I did think the original Intrepid looked sporty for a sedan, and was roomy inside. Original styling, which gets points from me. I also liked that dark green that a lot of them seemed to be.
But what's worse, IMHO, is the site "Classic Cars" which will have a narrative about a particular car, then show an AI-generated image that's bogus, without any comment about it. Here's one from today from that site, talking about the '76 Monte Carlo:
The overall proportions make me think of a '92 or so Cadillac Seville, with Buick styling reminiscent of a '91-96 Park Ave, just turned into a coupe.
But then, I asked it to draw a 1957 DeSoto Firedome, and it gave me something that looks kind of like what a '57 Buick might have looked like, if it had been done by Virgil Exner, and allowed to have quad headlights:
Got a rear view?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
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2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Weird that there was no '94 Riviera IIRC.
It dropped to around 17K for '96, rose slightly to around 18K for '97. For both 1998 and 1999, my old car book lists the same figure: 10,613. So that's either a typo, or an odd coincidence.
Thinking back on the one I sat in that summer, I do remember not liking the interior at all. It just seemed too stark, almost like it had an unfinished look about it.
But I've always hated flat-black-plastic shift lever and turn signal lever, which everybody was doing by then so it became default. I think if those levers, if not the ends, at least, were plastichrome, and the door straps had plastichrome at the ends, and the A/C vents were plastichromed, I'd have liked the overall look more. I like the looks of the seats, and that it was a large coupe, which was slipping away about then.
Buick's introduction info on that Riv said that it was the most-rigid body construction of any Buick up to that time. I just saw that online yesterday, but of course now I can't find it.
There's a humorous review from the time, in the Deseret News, where the tester humorously remarked on visual remarks he got from other drivers while he was driving it, LOL.
His car stickered at the bottom at $31,433, which included the supercharged engine and leather inside.
https://www.deseret.com/1994/11/25/19144480/95-riviera-bringing-some-mixed-reviews/
I'd be surprised if I'd seen ten of these in my 66.5 years.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-capsule/cc-history-1961-1963-cadillac-town-sedan-and-park-avenue-cadillacs-bob-tailed-nags/
I guess it’s all relative but it amuses me calling those short anything!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
It's probably one of those things where, if you saw the two side-by-side, the short model would look awkward. But on its own, it doesn't seem so weird. I've seen a '62 show up at the Fall Hershey show a few times, and from what I remember, it only looked awkward from certain angles.
In a similar vein, I think a '67 Bonneville is about 7-8" longer than my Catalina. In this case though, 3" of it is a wheelbase stretch, with the extra 4-5" being tacked on in back of the rear axle. My Catalina feels "normal" for the most part, but there's been a few times that I'd be parked next to a '67 Bonneville at the GM show, and I swear it makes my car look downright stubby!
Had his Dad not already bought a '60, I could see them potentially being interested in one of these short-decks for her, although my friend said they had already had their garage extended to get the '60 in there. (Their next new Caddy was a '65.)
Surprisingly, to me anyway, his Mom lobbied his Dad to buy a full-size '76 Cadillac, knowing they were shrinking, but the Dad (born 1914) bought a new Seville saying to his wife, "Steph, this is the wave of the future". He also bought a new '78 Seville.
My old house had a garage behind it that was originally about 10x16 feet, but at some point, a ~4-foot extension was added on to the end. It had shelving above, but below that was enough room to squeeze the hood, or rear deck, of a car. I don't know how old the garage was, but it had some old license plates nailed up on the wall that dated back to the late 20s.
My homeowner's insurance company made me tear it down in 2017. It probably hadn't had a car in it since the 40's, maybe the early 50's at best. The roof was starting to sag a bit on one side, and I had simply used some lumber poles to shore it up. Realistically, it probably would have stood for years, judging from how much effort it took to tear it down. But, it was becoming an eyesore, and I imagine the insurance company was more worried about some stray kid snagging himself on a loose nail or something.
I'm whining about snow here, but realize it could be much worse.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The Will Rogers homestead has burned to the ground, as well.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
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Devastating; hard to imagine losing everything (but hopefully/thankfully keeping your health and of those around you).
I'm 3000 mile away but of course have offered safe haven to him and his family should it become a possibility.
Yes, New England/Northeast gets cold and snow. But that's expected and generally not disastrous. I'll take it.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
That is shocking to see an area like that go. A lot of famous people must have lost everything. Including a whole bunch of classic cars
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I saw an image somewhere yesterday of someone fleeing in a 1994-95 E320 cabrio, top down, with a large painting in the back.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
andre, someone posted in the Comments section of that particular 'Curbside Classics' article, that they should've offered that feature on coupes as well. I agree, that would be more interesting.
RE.: Catalinas vs. longer-wheelbase Pontiacs--by '65 and later, I didn't mind the looks of the longer wheelbase Pontiacs like I did before that. I actually prefer the shorter-wheelbase ones pre-'65.
Pontiac was terrific, maybe the best of all the divisions, for giving model choice and option choice, in the full-size cars in the '60's, and in the mid-size cars in the '70's. I'm still surprised--well, not really--that the interior of an Executive and Ventura option on the Catalina are IDENTICAL. Exterior trim is 99% the same too. Same with Catalina Brougham and Bonneville in '71 and '72. The only real difference is the length of wheelbase.
A few years later, there was a vivid light turquoise metallic offered on these cars, but sure never saw many. Heck, never saw many of these coupes, period.
Aluminum wheels, and crank windows. Doesn't bother me a bit.
Love the interior. They should bring those back.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
It was a sharp looking car, though. I thought the '86 LeSabre coupe looked especially nice with the regular quad headlights. It had a more raked-back front-end, so the headlights seemed like they were more recessed, giving it a more aggressive look.
And yeah, as far as I know, nobody else ever offered a large-ish FWD coupe. Chrysler really didn't get into this type of car until the 1993 LH cars, and they were all sedan-only. And as far as Ford goes, I think their only real venture into this type of car was that upright 500/Taurus they offered for a few years, the one that looked a bit like a big VW Passat. Although, I'd imagine the 1995+ Continental sedans were pretty roomy inside as well; might qualify as full-sized. But as far as coupes go, Ford just had the T-bird/Cougar and Mark VIII, which were kind of roomy as I recall, but still RWD.
I'm surprised they kept those FWD coupes around as long as they did. By 1991, they only sold 234 of the base Royale, and 458 of the Royale Brougham. The Ninety Eight coupe was actually dropped after '87, with only 4207 built. But I guess, since they already had the tooling, maybe it didn't cost that much to keep building them, even with such a small volume?
One little detail I don't like, about the interior, is how there's no place to grab on the armrest to pull the door closed, so you have to use that strap. I'd just worry about the strap pulling loose...but maybe that's because I'm used to the Mopar R-body! Perhaps GM did them a bit sturdier, although I do remember they pulled loose in my Granddad's old '85 C10 Silverado.
I like the first taillights on the Buick--surrounded with bright trim. The later ones had somewhat goofy taillights I think.
You'd like to think that by now, early cars with transaxle problems would be sorted out, but who knows.
Those super-low '91 Eighty-Eight coupe production numbers--my guess is that they were built-out at the front end of the model year and discontinued. I only say that because not long ago, after we discussed here how few '96 Caprice Classic wagons were built, on a FB page I participated in a chat about that and one guy said he went in early calendar '96 to order a Caprice wagon and dealer told him they were done building them already--they were all built at the front end of the model year. Those super-low numbers make me think that sounds plausible.
Not using door straps to close doors--I avoided that in my '81 and '82 Monte Carlos for the same reason you mention, LOL.
RE.: Those last T-Birds and Cougars--I remember they were large and had roomy rear seat, but I'm pretty sure no T-Bird built after the '82 model year had anything but bucket seats and a large console, even if they had column shift.
Yes, I believe all 83+ Birds had a bucket and console, I think there was a sporty pretense with the aero design even if many or most were pretty run of the mill 3.8 cars.
Even with more mainstream cars, like the '81-82 Granada/Cougar, I think that setup was popular. And IIRC, once the '83-86 LTD/Marquis came out, you couldn't get a full bench up front at all. I think they all had that setup with the little storage area in the middle.
I do remember my grandparents' '81 Granada 2-door having a full bench up front, because I can remember by that time, us grandkids were getting big enough that if there were too many of us in the car, Grandmom would ride in the middle up front instead one of the grandkids.
Who knows why, but I like the Ninety-Eight sedan better than the Buick and Caddy versions, but in the LeSabre/Eighty-Eight coupes, I like the LeSabre better.
I detest the Electra coupes of that era, and I think the Ninety-Eight is only marginally better as I'm about certain those came with the vinyl top.
I knew a guy at work who had a Park Avenue "coupe", '86 I think, and I use the word "coupe" lightly. Probably added to headroom, but most people then were OK I think with giving up some practicality for the styling, and that Park Avenue entirely missed the boat on that IMHO.