I guess my '76 LeMans is semi-famous now. If you google "1976 Pontiac Grand Le Mans" and do an image search, my car comes up three times on the first two rows! Interestingly, none of the pics were taken by me. One of the pics was taken by the guy who sold it to me, and is paired up with his black 1974 Grand Am. He bought the LeMans, really liking the style, but soon after found himself lusting for more power, so he bought the Grand Am and put the LeMans up for sale.
The other two pics were taken at a local car show in Rockville, Maryland, in 2006. Speaking of which, that car show is coming around again. I'm trying to decide on whether I want to put my LeMans in again (it would be its 3rd year) or my New Yorker.
Per a Google search the Rockville Classic and Antique Car Show is scheduled for October 18 this year. Isn't it usually on the second Saturday of October?
i did a quick google and saw something about 54 being built. regarding the $4 mil ferrari, the local paper quoted a ferrari source says it was worth betweem 800k-1 mil.
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I think it's usually on the 3rd Saturday of October. I remember last year it was on the 20th. It sticks in my mind because my buddy with the two Mark V's missed the show last year because that was his 40th birthday. He celebrated by buying himself a used BMW 5-series. I forget if it was an '02 or '03 model. Not really my style, but it is a nice car.
You should have bought that Mirada just to save it from the crusher...how many of those can still be out there?
I wonder how many of those were built in the first place? It had to have been a really rare car...after all, those convertible conversions were expensive. It would have been a neat thing to have, but I'm sure it would have cost a fortune to fix up. And if I just let it sit around, it would've deteriorated anyway, so I guess at least at the junkyard, it served as a donor for other cars.
I wonder how much of a pain it would have been to find a replacement top for that thing? I guess you can have the things custom made?
I really would have liked to have gotten ahold of that midnight blue one I test drove years ago...that thing was sweet! But I think the dealer wanted about $12K for it! And this was back in 1993, when I was fresh out of college and wasn't even working full-time yet! Oh, and this junkyard Mirada was brown. :sick:
That's sound more like it for the Ferrari. Of course, a close examination is necessary. Right now, the Italians are actually faking entire cars, fabricating perfect bodies and stealing trim/engine/and frames from other wrecks or less valuable models. They're even casting new engine blocks and re-stamping them. For a million bucks, you can pay a lot of skilled people to do this stuff.
Not sure they'd fake a 250PF, but the general rule is that if a Ferrari "appears from nowhere", with no registry, history, former owners, provenance, etc. "found in an estate in Paraguay" WATCH OUT.
Did it still have the top assembly? Something like that would be painfully expensive to fabricate properly. But yeah, brown explains it, no wonder it was in the junkyard. What made people want brown cars anyway?
Yeah, that Mirada still had the top assembly, although the top itself had some tears in it. The car itself was very complete, although being back in the yard, I know it had the gas tank cut out and all the fluids drained.
With any luck, the only brown car I will ever own will be if I ever get it in my head to try and make a replica of Buford T. Justice's '77 LeMans!
"i did a quick google and saw something about 54 being built."
Are you refering to the RWD Ciera, that 54 were Cieras were converted to RWD, from FWD? Anything's possible, but that seems highly improbably. On which Google link did you see this?
"i did a quick google and saw something about 54 being built."
Are you referring to the RWD Ciera, that 54 were Cieras were converted to RWD, from FWD? Anything's possible, but that seems highly improbably. On which Google link did you see this?
Hopefully someone saved the top assembly...the high cost of remanufacturing something like that would make it fairly irreplaceable. Some Mopar nut must have found it.
My parents only had one brown car when I was growing up...a S10 Blazer, and the color was representative of the build quality. I have seen highline 70s cars in brown, especially Rolls...who would order a brown Rolls Royce?
I dunno; if one were to hire a bunch of Italians to build a full clone of an old Ferrari from scratch, I'd imagine the total cost would get well into six figures, especially given the current exchange rates. :sick:
i typed in 'oldsmobile cierra convertible'. there were several links to '84-86 models'. isn't '84 when they went to fwd? i think it was determined my father in law has an '83 cutlass wagon because it is rwd.
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I was out running errands with my roommates, and we were stopped at a traffic light. I was sort of zoned out, not really paying attention to anything when my friend in the back seat suddenly said, sort of sarcastically... "Okay, what year is it?". I didn't know what he was talking about, but then noticed a '72 Chevy Caprice hardtop coupe pass by. It was sort of a dark gray, and looked nice except for the fender skirts it was sporting.
I assume the weird grille on the blue 928 is a primitive way to protect against rock chips. IIRC it was a very early production car, and with something like 30K miles on it. It has the op-art interior, which I tried to photograph, but couldn't get a good shot due to the glare.
went to a friend's shoreline cottage. parked on the lawn next door was a 2 seater coupe. very short, front engine, kind of sloped roof back. i think a fiberglass body(not sure), rear lights were round with 3 double spokes and a small center reflector. i'm guessing ford powered. due to the bullitt mustang style rims and a plate surround the had '1965' at the top, and 'carroll shebly sales' at the bottom. i thought maybe tvr or griffith. :confuse:
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the 93 Mustang LX is nice for an original example BUT it's still not worth the money they want, at least to me.
Me either, in 1990 I bought a similar '86 Mustang GT for $10K, half the price of that car which is almost at twice the age. I bought from a new car dealer too.
Lots of nice cars in that bunch, but for some reason, I find myself really liking that '78 Catalina. My taste in color must really be softening, because normally I don't like anything that even remotely resembles brown...but I like that car. And while I love the Pontiac Rally 2 wheels, I think that sucker looks cool with the little dog dish hubcaps.
Grbeck, Lemko, and I actually saw that '85 LeSabre at the GM show in Carlisle in 2007. They have a giveaway car for each event, which you get a few tickets for in your goodie bag when you put a car in the show. I can't remember if walk-in spectators get tickets for it too or not. Normally they'd do the drawing for the car on Sunday, in an attempt to keep people around on an otherwise dead day, but I think this year they moved it up to Saturday evening.
Anyway, in 2007, they tried a new gimmick. If you didn't like the car, you could choose $5,000 in cash instead. For the Ford show, the giveaway car was a 1971 or so Mercury Cougar. Memory's a bit fuzzy now, but I think it was a 351 convertible with a stick. The guy took the $5,000, but it turned out the car was actually worth a lot more.
Well, at the GM show, when the winner came up to collect his prize, the announcer told him to think it through carefully, as the winner at the Ford show shorted himself. I swear it didn't take this guy two seconds to say "I'll take the $5,000!" The crowd that was gathered around pretty much chuckled in agreement.
To be honest, I would've taken the $5K myself, if given the choice. Still, it was a nice car, but I guess since we had my grandmother's '85 LeSabre in the family for 17 years, I get sort of a "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" sort of feeling with these cars. I like those wheels it has on it though. Those were very common on the wagons, and would show up occasionally on the RWD Electra sedan and coupe. When I had my grandmother's LeSabre, I wanted to get a set for it, but never did.
That 76 Olds 98 is nice, too. After dealing with a stepdad who bought nothing but white cars just about all his life, and 16 years of a white Dodge Dart, I'm sort of whited-out, but I think it looks good on that car. Kinda interesting comparing it to the '79 Electra. I can see where it looks like they had to compromise a bit in the back seat when they downsized. The back seat of the '76 looks like it has a much longer bottom cushion, and something about the backrest of the '79 just doesn't look that comfortable...I think it's the way it curves at the outer edges.
The '76 just looks soooo much more comfy to me. Although I bet its bottom cushion is lower to the floor, and the Electra's might actually give better support.
I agree, that is an odd color on that Eldorado Brougham. It's a color that I like, but it just doesn't seem right on that car. Guess I'm just so used to seeing them in black or gray.
The 58 Pontaic caught my eye. The colors are good. The Cadillac 58 Brougham is a great car. I don't recall I've seen one of those with the stainless roof.
I really like that 1979 Buick Park Ave, especially if it has the 403 V-8. I also like the '64 Sport Wagon if he ditched the wheels and put the original wheels back on it with the spinner hubcaps.
Man, that would've been a hard decision for me as my '88 Park Ave is looking pretty ratty these days, but logic would've overcame me and I'd have taken the $5K instead. Now, if the car had been a 1979 Buick Park Avenue in excellent condition with the 403 and the same color/interior/wheels as my old ride........
I really like that Catalina too, especially with the very businesslike dog dish hubcaps.
Plus, you're going to have to pay taxes, whether you take the cash or the car. At least with the cash, you could just pay the taxes from that. With the car, you'd have to come up with the tax money from other sources. And then, if it's a car you didn't really want, have to put up with the hassle of selling it.
Yep, I think that was in 74...maybe MB can claim the first massive scale airbag production, as by 1981 thousands of W126 cars were being fitted with a drivers airbag.
I consider the Rumpler Tropfenwagen to be the first aerodynamic passenger car...and the Tatra 77 just beat the Airflow to that title too, IIRC. Very low production numbers for both, however.
Tough to tell the exact year, and wheels can always be updated - but by the front spoiler I would guess it is a 560SL, so 1986-89. It's wearing Euro-spec lights, but big US-spec bumpers.
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Thanks, Fin.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
The other two pics were taken at a local car show in Rockville, Maryland, in 2006. Speaking of which, that car show is coming around again. I'm trying to decide on whether I want to put my LeMans in again (it would be its 3rd year) or my New Yorker.
regarding the $4 mil ferrari, the local paper quoted a ferrari source says it was worth betweem 800k-1 mil.
I wonder how many of those were built in the first place? It had to have been a really rare car...after all, those convertible conversions were expensive. It would have been a neat thing to have, but I'm sure it would have cost a fortune to fix up. And if I just let it sit around, it would've deteriorated anyway, so I guess at least at the junkyard, it served as a donor for other cars.
I wonder how much of a pain it would have been to find a replacement top for that thing? I guess you can have the things custom made?
I really would have liked to have gotten ahold of that midnight blue one I test drove years ago...that thing was sweet! But I think the dealer wanted about $12K for it! And this was back in 1993, when I was fresh out of college and wasn't even working full-time yet! Oh, and this junkyard Mirada was brown. :sick:
With gasoline prices coming back down, maybe there'll be a decent turnout.
Not sure they'd fake a 250PF, but the general rule is that if a Ferrari "appears from nowhere", with no registry, history, former owners, provenance, etc. "found in an estate in Paraguay" WATCH OUT.
With any luck, the only brown car I will ever own will be if I ever get it in my head to try and make a replica of Buford T. Justice's '77 LeMans!
Are you refering to the RWD Ciera, that 54 were Cieras were converted to RWD, from FWD? Anything's possible, but that seems highly improbably. On which Google link did you see this?
Are you referring to the RWD Ciera, that 54 were Cieras were converted to RWD, from FWD? Anything's possible, but that seems highly improbably. On which Google link did you see this?
My parents only had one brown car when I was growing up...a S10 Blazer, and the color was representative of the build quality. I have seen highline 70s cars in brown, especially Rolls...who would order a brown Rolls Royce?
isn't '84 when they went to fwd? i think it was determined my father in law has an '83 cutlass wagon because it is rwd.
There's something for everyone, from early cars to old time hot rods to wagons and woodies to American and European true classics.
Why did that blue 928 have that mesh grille attached to the front, any idea?
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I remember the story behind the car now, supposedly it is the first automatic 928 (not much to brag about I am sure) sold here.
i think a fiberglass body(not sure), rear lights were round with 3 double spokes and a small center reflector.
i'm guessing ford powered. due to the bullitt mustang style rims and a plate surround the had '1965' at the top, and 'carroll shebly sales' at the bottom.
i thought maybe tvr or griffith. :confuse:
sti
93 lx?
tri 9 ss
ny benz
88 asc mclaren? gotcha!
i guess pa is no better
olds pimpin
the 93 Mustang LX is nice for an original example BUT it's still not worth the money they want, at least to me.
The 87 Caprice station wagon has no collector value either, and the $8k asking price is close to what my parents bought theirs for used in 1991!
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Me either, in 1990 I bought a similar '86 Mustang GT for $10K, half the price of that car which is almost at twice the age. I bought from a new car dealer too.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Creatively designed car for a new world order commute
Ah the 80s
Maybe the best looking model of this make
"Very Rare!" - and very freaky
Uncommon body for this marque
This is back...ditch the wheels!
Lemko dreamboat
"Collectors" car for Andre
Odd color for one of these
Twin to a Matchbox car I once had
Odd Poncho
Last of the whales
Unusual clamshell
And something from the old police car seller...I can hear the CHiPS discofied police chase music now
Grbeck, Lemko, and I actually saw that '85 LeSabre at the GM show in Carlisle in 2007. They have a giveaway car for each event, which you get a few tickets for in your goodie bag when you put a car in the show. I can't remember if walk-in spectators get tickets for it too or not. Normally they'd do the drawing for the car on Sunday, in an attempt to keep people around on an otherwise dead day, but I think this year they moved it up to Saturday evening.
Anyway, in 2007, they tried a new gimmick. If you didn't like the car, you could choose $5,000 in cash instead. For the Ford show, the giveaway car was a 1971 or so Mercury Cougar. Memory's a bit fuzzy now, but I think it was a 351 convertible with a stick. The guy took the $5,000, but it turned out the car was actually worth a lot more.
Well, at the GM show, when the winner came up to collect his prize, the announcer told him to think it through carefully, as the winner at the Ford show shorted himself. I swear it didn't take this guy two seconds to say "I'll take the $5,000!" The crowd that was gathered around pretty much chuckled in agreement.
To be honest, I would've taken the $5K myself, if given the choice. Still, it was a nice car, but I guess since we had my grandmother's '85 LeSabre in the family for 17 years, I get sort of a "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" sort of feeling with these cars. I like those wheels it has on it though. Those were very common on the wagons, and would show up occasionally on the RWD Electra sedan and coupe. When I had my grandmother's LeSabre, I wanted to get a set for it, but never did.
That 76 Olds 98 is nice, too. After dealing with a stepdad who bought nothing but white cars just about all his life, and 16 years of a white Dodge Dart, I'm sort of whited-out, but I think it looks good on that car. Kinda interesting comparing it to the '79 Electra. I can see where it looks like they had to compromise a bit in the back seat when they downsized. The back seat of the '76 looks like it has a much longer bottom cushion, and something about the backrest of the '79 just doesn't look that comfortable...I think it's the way it curves at the outer edges.
The '76 just looks soooo much more comfy to me. Although I bet its bottom cushion is lower to the floor, and the Electra's might actually give better support.
I agree, that is an odd color on that Eldorado Brougham. It's a color that I like, but it just doesn't seem right on that car. Guess I'm just so used to seeing them in black or gray.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I really like that Catalina too, especially with the very businesslike dog dish hubcaps.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Looks like youtube videos can't be directly posted. Lame...
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
I consider the Rumpler Tropfenwagen to be the first aerodynamic passenger car...and the Tatra 77 just beat the Airflow to that title too, IIRC. Very low production numbers for both, however.
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2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
If you need a car with a chainsaw engine
Outclass every SUV poser in your town
Early econocar
Who needs a Prius?
Could be the best one left
You could seal it in a vacuum and it would rust
Just a little over the top
"Sedambulance" isn't a very glamorous name
Milestone
A different kind of Suburban
Oh the humanity
One of the holy grails of fintail-dom
Looks like a nice honest car in a good (my) color
What a shame