About dropped my coffee cup coming out of a gas station convenience store and spied a Maserati 2000 spyder (circa....um....late 1950s???). GEEZ, you never know what's crawling around out there. Looks like a big fat Alfa of the period. Probably couldn't run two weeks without breaking down, but this one looked like it was impeccably restored. I don't know much about this car or its value or who the coachbuilder was.
One nice thing about 240D's is that they are never going too fast for you to get a good look. I did rather like that series though, I almost bought a really nice used 300D back in about 1978. I've always kind of regretted not doing so; especially since I bought a new Scirocco instead (I know, apples and oranges, but I was young and not certain what I wanted).
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
An explanation of some of the pics that didn't come out too well... The 4th and 5th pics I tried to take during a burnout contest. They didn't come out too well though. You really had to be there. It was wild how much smoke they put into the air!
The 6th pic was of a 1977 Nova Concours, but I was too far away to get a good shot, plus some girls with their high-beams on got in the way. :shades:
...but nice. Spotted a nice blue 1988 Cadillac Brougham d'Elegance on the way to work. Also spotted a black 1979 Cadillac Seville that, unfortunately, was sporting bling-bling rims.
I saw a nice example of the car that started the sports car craze in America. It was RHD, a pretty shade of dark red and looked just terrific on a sunny day with the top down.
Yeah the real trophy edition discos and freelanders and Defenders that they sold after the competition are very cool. They have a lot of history behind them and I thought some came into the states but I guess not. One of the guys at my range rover forum has a Camel Trophy Freelander and Discovery.
'58 So-Called Packard -- I can't believe anyone would pay $21,000 for an hideous Studebaker with a fiberglas hood. I wonder what it feels like to be laughed at constantly at car shows.
'53 Benz Diesel---pretty rare old bird. Probably 0-60 in 40-45 seconds I would estimate. Amazing thing is that you can probably still get a few parts for it from Mercedes.
That Buick Electra is very nice, but if you want a car to triple in value, you've got to get a muscle car. The Riv on thr other hand could be a very nice driver at that price.
I love that 57 Desoto, and the Chryslers of that design. Great, extravegant sweeps in the design for the beginning of the flambouyant tailfin era: Chrysler.
I'm a big fan of the '56 MoPars which had less extravagant fins and an understated European elegance. The New Yorker 4-Door was nice and the Imperial Coupe is to die for, especially in those colors with the wires.
that '72 Grand Ville, although I think it shows how Pontiac was starting to get a bit desperate, and trying to be all things to all people by that time. This thing was trying to go for the Electra/Ninety Eight clientele, but I just don't think it comes off as stylish or upscale. It just doesn't have the cachet of an upper level Buick or Olds.
Also kinda makes you wonder what the point of the car was, as some years the Bonneville was on the same wheelbase. :confuse:
That '57 Firesweep looks like a really nicely preserved example, although I think it's one of the lesser attractive of that year's Mopars. The single headlights with the chrome "eyebrows" over them make me think of an owl. And the DeSoto grille didn't fit as snugly on the Dodge front-end clip, so it jutted out more. While the Firesweep was on a 122 inch wheelbase, compared to 126 for the "real" DeSotos, because of the ill-fitting grille the car itself was only two inches shorter.
In 1958 these things had quad headlight standard, and I thought that improved the looks considerably. And the '57 Dodges had a single headlight with a turn signal styled to look like a headlight, giving it a faux quad look. Too bad they didn't try that with the '57 Firesweep.
Still, I wouldn't kick it out of my garage. :shades:
My old MB specialist had/has an old diesel like that. He never really drove it much though, probably not the best car for modern roads. He also has a 220 of that same old style. He never really would drive anything older or slower than his 220SE pontons.
I just got a new door mirror (well, flat metal part and glass) from the same MB guy...when it arrived I was surprised to find it being an actual MB part, in a newer style box. They stock fintail parts, crazy.
I ordered a part for a '52 220B Cabriolet about five years ago and got it as a genuine MB part. Whether it was lying around in Stuttgart all these years or they just made one, I don't know.
Well, there's one less mirror out there...while getting ready to install it, I dropped a screwdriver, which bounced, hit the mirror, and broke it! Uugh, there goes $30. I tried to install the other mirror in the new frame, as it was not damaged, and it is actually about 1cm longer than the replacement part, so it won't fit. Weird.
Back in 1997 the fintail cracked a metal FI line (or I probably did it when I removed the FI unit when having rings and a valve job done), and as I was new in town for school and they had a MB dealer, I just took it there to be fixed. They ordered a NOS line, amazing they'd stock something for an engine that went out of production in 1965.
I've been told MB actually has NOS sheetmetal and bumpers for W111 cars...but it is horrendously expensive, a bumper setup costing a few grand.
On that tangent...my first car was a 66 Galaxie...it had a horn ring which was easily broken off, not even while honking, just while bumping it at the right angle. When it broke, I went to the local Ford dealer to buy the plastic ring that holds it on, and they had one. I was amazed, although I am sure the same part was used for many years.
I stopped by my local MB specialist to arrange for some fintail work, and I saw a couple oddballs. The owner said he had something for me...took me to a dark garage, and there sat a pristine W111220SE cabrio, in a very pleasing blue-green with white top and kind of a creme interior. It was really immaculate, lovely wood. And sitting beside it was a 75 Caprice convertible with 900 miles on it, still wearing the window sticker.
And siting outside was an oddball too...a late (1980) W116 300SD with 400K on it...it received a factory rebuilt engine 50K ago...apparently it is an original owner car with a lot of sentimental value attached to it, so they've replaced everything as it wore out, and the car looks pretty much as new. Labor of love.
I'd say that 220SE is worth what, maybe 35-40K-ish? It had impressive paint, and the rest of it was great as well, it had no needs. I wouldn't mind having one...maybe I should just save up.
I envy your garage and property, Andre...I wish I had something like that. Then again, with the junk I would accumulate (I wonder how many ratty fintails I could buy for a grand), maybe it's a good thing I don't have that room.
Are prices on those Cabrios still trending upwards, Shifty? I know the low grille models bring huge money. I can't justify it though...on a normal 220SE, I get a similar driving experience in a fintail. And it's amazing the attention the car attracts on a sunny day...I feel like I am in some kind of exotic. Kids point, people give you thumbs up and smile, random people talk to you...it's amusing.
Why is the plastic on your garage floor? To keep the cars clean?
Actually, that plastic's down there to keep the floor clean. Keep in mind, those are GM cars, so naturally they're going to leak! :P
The concrete was just poured in late March/early April, so it's pretty "virgin". I bought some garage floor paint to put down, the epoxy stuff that you can sprinkle the pretty paint chips in. Only thing is, that floor has to be spotless. No oil slicks, antifreeze, etc. The concrete also had to cure for at least a month.
Well, it's been much more than a month now, but I've just had too much other stuff going on. And this paint is pretty finicky, too. You have to put it down at just the right temperature, and all that other fun stuff. So I've just been procrastinating.
I'm thinking I should install an attic fan in the garage, too. It has a ridge vent that runs the whole length of the roof, but it still gets pretty hot in there. Hopefully I don't get too carried away and end up making it climate controlled!
I envy your garage and property, Andre...I wish I had something like that. Then again, with the junk I would accumulate
Thanks, Fintail. Yeah, having a large lot can be both a blessing and a curse. For instance, one reason I've let that danged Dart sit around for so long without doing anything to it either way is simply because it's just kind of out of sight, out of mind. It's down by my old tin shed and doesn't get in the way. I just make sure I keep the weeds from growing up too bad around it, and I at least parked it far enough from the shed that I can squeeze the tractor between the two when I cut the grass!
But still, if I didn't have this much space, it probably would've forced me to either get the car fixed up, or get rid of it, ages ago!
I'm also going to do my best to keep the garage from filling up with too much junk. It can be tempting sometimes, instead of getting rid of something, to just pack it away and forget about it.
Another thing I need to worry about is the county. While I'd love to have a junkyard full of cars, I'm sure that the zoning people would put their foot down at some point. I just wish my land wasn't so open to the road! One of my neighbors on the other side of the street, who has about 5 1/2 acres, but it's kind of a flag lot, set far back from the road, had about 20+ cars at one time! The trick was that he had a lot of woods up toward the road and around the edges of his property, so most of his junk was well-hidden.
In my case, most of the "good" land is in front, towards the road. It gets low and swampy further back, plus there's a creek that cuts across it, and the majority of my yard is wooded. I do have a strip in the back, that's maybe 60-80 (it varies) by about 300 feet that's all grass, and nice, high, dry ground. But I have to drive on my neighbor's driveway to get back there. And anything I put back there would be in plain view of them.
I've been planting trees and bushes out towards the road though, in the hopes of letting it grow up out there, and giving me a bit more privacy. Not that I want to start doing illegal things or actually open a junkyard, but I can be kind of a hermit sometimes.
I just know I'd have 10+ old heaps if I had land enough to keep them, and a way to hide them from the road. Not counting the cars in the garage, and the boxes of parts that I'd never get around to using.
Re Freakshow. The Morris van was most familiar here as a post office van, back in the 50's, and I had one as a kid - the Dinky toy version, of course...
I liked the Panhard Dyna, too, although it would be a fairly rare car in UK...
Let me know how that epoxy works out if you ever do it. Now that I have a real two car garage I want to either epoxy the floor or use that plastic interlocking floor covering sometime in the future.
I am not sure which one I want to do yet though.
There is an empy lot kind of diagonal to my house that would be great to build an extra garage on. Sometime in the future I might try to buy it so I can put a larger more complete work shop and storage garage there.
Comments
A black 1963 Plymouth Belvedere four-door sedan with red interior.
A light yellow 1969 Plymouth Road Runner hardtop with 383 V-8.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
An explanation of some of the pics that didn't come out too well...
The 4th and 5th pics I tried to take during a burnout contest. They didn't come out too well though. You really had to be there. It was wild how much smoke they put into the air!
The 6th pic was of a 1977 Nova Concours, but I was too far away to get a good shot, plus some girls with their high-beams on got in the way. :shades:
I saw something odd yesterday...an 80s Lincoln hearse. I don't think I've ever seen a hearse based on the angular old Town Car platform.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
but I wonder if my old Land Rover perspective says what modifications were done.
Let me look.
I thought they were but I guess I was mistaken.
http://www.difflock.com/diffmag/issue4/trek_camel.shtml
Looks like only TREK Discos came to the US so either the Camel Trophy Disco I saw was a clone, very possible, or it was imported gray market style.
But one of the originals would be interesting.
on a sunny day with the top down.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
This afternoon I saw an old style London Cab on the back of a flatbed tow truck.
A car with a tongue. I have to believe this would be worth more at home
Maybe the Town Car would do better if it came like this from the factory
Elegant old brick...you can tell when old cars were restored by the colors they are painted
Freakshow
They all end up on ebay
OK, I like this a lot...I don't know why. I have a Matchbox version, maybe that's it
If you must have a fake woody, might as well get the most brash one you can find
Nice original DeSoto
The seller of this is on something
Someone with more reasonable expectations
Resto-rod potential
Nice color combo on this battleship
The last Airflow, see how they tried to normalize it
This looks lovely
This is a classy old thing
Before the gussied up K-Car, we had the gussied up Volare
Probably makes a diesel fintail look like a Ferrari
This is a good looking slug...nice clock location
Seldom-seen "Sport Sedan"
Andre-mobile (probably with a wacky reserve)
I didn't know there was such a market for Christine clones
'53 Benz Diesel---pretty rare old bird. Probably 0-60 in 40-45 seconds I would estimate. Amazing thing is that you can probably still get a few parts for it from Mercedes.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Two-door Imperials had to be fairly unusual.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
A BMW with tail fins.
I don't mind a small fin-like evolutionary mutation now and then.
Also kinda makes you wonder what the point of the car was, as some years the Bonneville was on the same wheelbase. :confuse:
That '57 Firesweep looks like a really nicely preserved example, although I think it's one of the lesser attractive of that year's Mopars. The single headlights with the chrome "eyebrows" over them make me think of an owl. And the DeSoto grille didn't fit as snugly on the Dodge front-end clip, so it jutted out more. While the Firesweep was on a 122 inch wheelbase, compared to 126 for the "real" DeSotos, because of the ill-fitting grille the car itself was only two inches shorter.
In 1958 these things had quad headlight standard, and I thought that improved the looks considerably. And the '57 Dodges had a single headlight with a turn signal styled to look like a headlight, giving it a faux quad look. Too bad they didn't try that with the '57 Firesweep.
Still, I wouldn't kick it out of my garage. :shades:
I just got a new door mirror (well, flat metal part and glass) from the same MB guy...when it arrived I was surprised to find it being an actual MB part, in a newer style box. They stock fintail parts, crazy.
Back in 1997 the fintail cracked a metal FI line (or I probably did it when I removed the FI unit when having rings and a valve job done), and as I was new in town for school and they had a MB dealer, I just took it there to be fixed. They ordered a NOS line, amazing they'd stock something for an engine that went out of production in 1965.
I've been told MB actually has NOS sheetmetal and bumpers for W111 cars...but it is horrendously expensive, a bumper setup costing a few grand.
On that tangent...my first car was a 66 Galaxie...it had a horn ring which was easily broken off, not even while honking, just while bumping it at the right angle. When it broke, I went to the local Ford dealer to buy the plastic ring that holds it on, and they had one. I was amazed, although I am sure the same part was used for many years.
And siting outside was an oddball too...a late (1980) W116 300SD with 400K on it...it received a factory rebuilt engine 50K ago...apparently it is an original owner car with a lot of sentimental value attached to it, so they've replaced everything as it wore out, and the car looks pretty much as new. Labor of love.
datsa my baby!
I also found this relic tucked back in the corner of my garage, and this old beast parked beside it.
And back in the yard, near the woods, I found a species that would appear to be indigenous to Appalachia :shades:
Are prices on those Cabrios still trending upwards, Shifty? I know the low grille models bring huge money. I can't justify it though...on a normal 220SE, I get a similar driving experience in a fintail. And it's amazing the attention the car attracts on a sunny day...I feel like I am in some kind of exotic. Kids point, people give you thumbs up and smile, random people talk to you...it's amusing.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Actually, that plastic's down there to keep the floor clean. Keep in mind, those are GM cars, so naturally they're going to leak! :P
The concrete was just poured in late March/early April, so it's pretty "virgin". I bought some garage floor paint to put down, the epoxy stuff that you can sprinkle the pretty paint chips in. Only thing is, that floor has to be spotless. No oil slicks, antifreeze, etc. The concrete also had to cure for at least a month.
Well, it's been much more than a month now, but I've just had too much other stuff going on. And this paint is pretty finicky, too. You have to put it down at just the right temperature, and all that other fun stuff. So I've just been procrastinating.
I'm thinking I should install an attic fan in the garage, too. It has a ridge vent that runs the whole length of the roof, but it still gets pretty hot in there. Hopefully I don't get too carried away and end up making it climate controlled!
Thanks, Fintail. Yeah, having a large lot can be both a blessing and a curse. For instance, one reason I've let that danged Dart sit around for so long without doing anything to it either way is simply because it's just kind of out of sight, out of mind. It's down by my old tin shed and doesn't get in the way. I just make sure I keep the weeds from growing up too bad around it, and I at least parked it far enough from the shed that I can squeeze the tractor between the two when I cut the grass!
But still, if I didn't have this much space, it probably would've forced me to either get the car fixed up, or get rid of it, ages ago!
I'm also going to do my best to keep the garage from filling up with too much junk. It can be tempting sometimes, instead of getting rid of something, to just pack it away and forget about it.
Another thing I need to worry about is the county. While I'd love to have a junkyard full of cars, I'm sure that the zoning people would put their foot down at some point. I just wish my land wasn't so open to the road! One of my neighbors on the other side of the street, who has about 5 1/2 acres, but it's kind of a flag lot, set far back from the road, had about 20+ cars at one time! The trick was that he had a lot of woods up toward the road and around the edges of his property, so most of his junk was well-hidden.
In my case, most of the "good" land is in front, towards the road. It gets low and swampy further back, plus there's a creek that cuts across it, and the majority of my yard is wooded. I do have a strip in the back, that's maybe 60-80 (it varies) by about 300 feet that's all grass, and nice, high, dry ground. But I have to drive on my neighbor's driveway to get back there. And anything I put back there would be in plain view of them.
I've been planting trees and bushes out towards the road though, in the hopes of letting it grow up out there, and giving me a bit more privacy. Not that I want to start doing illegal things or actually open a junkyard, but I can be kind of a hermit sometimes.
I liked the Panhard Dyna, too, although it would be a fairly rare car in UK...
pan--ARE
For Peugeot it is:
puh--ZHOE
For Renault is:
ren-NO
and for Studebaker is:
stew dee bay KAR
(just kidding on that last one)
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I am not sure which one I want to do yet though.
There is an empy lot kind of diagonal to my house that would be great to build an extra garage on. Sometime in the future I might try to buy it so I can put a larger more complete work shop and storage garage there.
I've got two GMs and my garage has carpet. No problem.
Nice garage. Wallboard and insulate the walls. Put up a ceiling. Install a wall air conditioner and a heater for winter. You're all set.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,