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Have You Ever Heard of a _________?!!
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well, you could be right....I never thought anyone would ever buy a Cadillac again, but slowly they're coming back from the grave.
I think it depends on how much money the parent company is willing to sink into re-imaging a product. Ford has lots of cash right now, so maybe bringing Jaguar back to respectibility is not such a burden for them...but Jag is still not out of the woods...you can still see people's skepticism in the posts at Edmunds. This re-imaging thing is a LONG HAUL, don't you agree?
I almost bought a GTI 5 yrs ago but was haunted by memories of an old Dasher/Passat with whom I had an unhappy relationship many years earlier.
In turn, when I accepted the Dasher (for free, but still a rip-off), I was remembering a fun, silly, slow but friendly 6-volt Beetle I had had 10 yrs earlier. Had a lot of quirks, but never left me stranded on the side of the road, like the Dasher.
Consequently, my impression of VW is confused. I don't know who I'm dealing with and I don't know what they're trying to be.
Doesn't inspire confidence.
RR didn't start out building luxury cars in the teens; just excellent cars. Maybe that would be the niche to re-enter. Abandon the super-luxo market.
On the other hand, maybe it's time to retire the name altogether for cars, and just concentrate on jet engines. 30 yrs from now some enthusiast/investor could buy the rights to the name and attempt to breathe life into it once more, as they have with so many other marques.
(a) The Electric leopard: this was a Renault "Le Car" (R-5), with the engine torn out and replaced with an electric motor. The conversion was done by a small firm in Marlboro, MA, fron around 1978-83. Since batteries took up most of the trunk, they did not set any sales records.
(b) A small firm in Wilmington, MA (SOLECTRIA) was converting GEO METROs to electric drive in the late 1980's. Don't know if they are still in business.
Any other electric cars out there?
Still, electric cars seem to stay pretty firmly glued to the showroom floor. They're going to have
to get better to compete with gas cars, which perform so much better, and, as of the year 2000, are running pretty darn clean. It's hard to justify buying an electric car other than to say that you are encouraging the industry that produces them. I personally can't afford to subsidize GM or Honda, but maybe others can, and that's okay in my book.
I drove an electric for 3 days and rather liked it (nicely converted Ford Escort) but always had the "running out of juice" anxiety and felt limited in where I dared to go.
Does anyone know how many of these (converted by Hess&Eisenhardt and ASC as the much more produced Eldorados and Riverias of the the same years)were produced per model year. Hard to find in the old price guides and were definately more rare than the Cads and Buicks. Thanks
As for value, the usual rule of thumb is that a chopped car is worth the same as a well-kept example of the coupe that it was chopped from. Not being "real" cars, they have a big problem in being "collectible". Nonetheless, being open cars, they have the appeal of convertibles and are also vehicles you can drive everyday, so there is some interest among people in owning them. They are more of a fun investment than they will ever be as a financial one. Rarity in this case doesn't count for much, but again, value is based on supply and demand, and if a person wants one badly enough, they'll pay a decent price for a chopped car.
I respectfully beg to differ concerning your description "not real cars" of these 1982-1985 "real" GM products. Anyone could and did walk into any of the appropriate"real" GM dealerships and either order or buy off the showroom floor a "real" convertible.
I'm guessing because of all the hoopla surrounding the so called "last" convertible GM produced(the 1976 Eldorado convertible)and the unfortunate people who thought it would be wise to "speculate" on auto "futures" were like most "burned".
Though GM in it's rather woeful state had no "legal" assembly line to produce these cars.the aforementioned companies produced these as "regular" GM models along with numerous "T-tops and sunroofs throughout the entire GM lineup during those years.
If you check you will see the Eldorados and Riviera convertibles from 1982-1985 listed in the well known and respected guides such as "Standard Guide to Cars & Prices" from Krause Publications and are listed with hundreds of other collelctor cars.
Production figures are available for the Eldo's and Riv's but not the Toro's. These of course were based on the same frames and related chassis works with the unfortunate exception of the rather "dog like" 4400 engine in the Caddy.
Once again, does anyone know how many
1982-1985 Olds Toronado convertibles were produced?
Thank you.
I guess I'm one of those people who consider these to be...well..Micky Mouse in nature when compared to a car that went down the assembly line as a real convertable.
Still, they probably do have a following.
Assuming I can get past the bizarre styling, is this an otherwise wonderful machine? Will it remain so for many years with no more maintenance than the average well-maintained car?
In short, the Alfa 4-doors from the late 80s and early 90s are fun cars but require lots of attention. Like Saab, Volvo and Jaguar, Alfa in the past few years is putting out a much better product in the 4-door line. Alfa coupes and roadsters have always been pretty fine.
Here's a really weird one:
What do you think of the Bertone-bodied mid-70's Ferrari 308 GT4? Since nobody wants them, they're $5K less than the Pininfarina-bodied GTB, which is the world's next-cheapest (almost) Ferrari, which is to say, mid-20's.
Now obviously rust is a big factor. What about maintenance? I heard that the GTB/GTS has to have its engine removed for periodic maintenance cuz something (not th oil filter, I hope, but who knows) is not accessible. I wonder if the Bertone body is any less restrictive to the mechanic. It certainly looks as though outward vision ought to be a lot better than in most mid-engines.
Next: Maserati Khamsins in the $25K range.
How about the Maserati Indy? Nice car but if you need a clutch you have to remove the engine AND...AND....cut the frame (no kidding).
I knew a guy who had sold an Islero, then I was over once and the phone rang he says "Aw Jeez, I hope it's not this guy again."
The buyer was not happy with the car. Turns out he hit the accelerator (gently, he said) and the poor driveshaft, caught between that powerful engine and those grippy (for the day) tires, just twisted and broke off.
On the other hand, there was a great story in 'Car' a few years ago about a middle-aged English mechanic who bought a 330 GTC back when they were going for around $15 - 20K US. Needed work, but he loved it and was pleased with how robust some (at least *some*) of the parts were. One of his secrets was finding good substitutes for very minor components like electrical switches - not that he was makin it a hatchet job, but just buying an identical part from a cheaper supplier.
There was a 365 GT - the pre-Daytona car that looked a lot like a 250 / 275 GTB. The GTB4 was of course the Daytona; not for your budget-conscious Ferrari buyer.
There was a GTC, a stylistic departure for Pininfarina; probably not much appreciated. I guess I could learn to like it for $20K, but I doubt if that's the one you're referring to.
I KNOW you don't mean the GT4 BB. That, I would sell the house for and sleep with it in a rented storage space. Let the neighbors talk, and the family disown me. My Boxer and I don't NEED anybody else.
For a long time the 4-headlight 330 GT was the cheapo. I guess it's finally been accepted by the scognoscenti, or the cognoscenterebbero, or whatever it is. Quelli con piu` soldi che sapenza.
Anyway, sure. $20K,... I'll take it. Throw in a key fob?
The fact that no one has mentioned the King Midget is a testimonial to its insignificance, so I'm posting this inquiry as a trivia item rather than a serious inquiry.
You probaby never saw one because they only made 5,000 total, and with 12 HP one might not expect to see it on the freeway.
It was Jeep-like in many ways, but I think the Jeep was much more of a "real" car that could take to the highway and actually carry things. The Kigng Midget was closer to a toy car or lower-powered kit car. Gazing down upon one, the word "death-trap" comes to mind.
Since posting my message, I did some research. I'm amazed at how many low volume post WWII American cars were introduced, if one counts prototypes, such as the Tucker, that never made it to production. There were probably dozens besides the Kaiser-Frazer and the Crosley. Among those that got beyond the idea and prototype stages was the King Midget. The company was headquartered in Athens, Ohio, and the prices of the King Midget ranged from $290, unassembled, in 1946 to $1,095, fully assembled, in 1969. The most recent models even tried to mimic the styling trends of the times, since they were a foot longer than the earlier ones, and had modest tail fins. Further, after the first two years of production, they substituted a very basic one and two speed automatic transmission for the original three speed manual. The single cylinder "Wisconsin" engine was air cooled.
1. Grout
2. KisselKar
3. [non-permissible content removed]
4. Rickenbacker
5. 65 Mustang 4 spd with factory bench seat
The others are rather obscure, although the Kissel Kar is interesting in that in 1919 the term "Kar" was dropped, because it sounded too "German" (this was right after WW I, which as you might recall was quite unpleasant.). The Kissel died in 1931, also an interesting date in that many, many beautiful and not-so-wonderful US cars died during the great economic Depression of that time. Cadillac came within a hair's breath of extinction that same year (right down to a vote at a GM board meeting!) Why Cadillac didn't go under is also a fascinating story, if anyone's interested.
I'm not sure why a 1965 Mustang with a bench seat and a 4-speed is particularly interesting, other than it being a classic case of people getting very excited about rare options that are basically meaningless if you think about it. American cars of that time came with so many options that it was quite possible to order a car that was unlike any other ever built. The problem with that is that if everything is unique, than nothing is, because everybody has something unique. In terms of real monetary value or desirability, a rare option has to be a significant one, like special engine or body design. This is a constant struggle for appraisers to explain to enthusiastic collectors who own the only known '67 Dodge 4-door 6 cylinder automatic Coronet with pink sun visors and want $75,000 for it.
Kissel's were made in Wisconsin into the 1920s.
The Rickenbacker was named after race car driver and World War I ace of aces, Eddie Rickenbacker. It was one of the first cars to come out with 4 wheel brakes. The other auto makers, especially GM claimed that 4 wheel brakes were unsafe, helping to drive them out of business.
Rickenbacker didn't qualify as having been mass produced?
Rickenbacker would qualify as "mass-produced", since over 30,000 were made.
Maybe it means something different in Japanese.
http://lineup.mazda.co.jp/RV/LAPUTA/index.html
Must not have read Gulliver's Travels.
I think he must be pleased with himself, causing such mirth 3 centuries later. Somebody should name a car after *him*. Suzuki, maybe.
Actually, that's one of the few as yet unmined lists of possible car names - long-dead, highly regarded writers with no surviving descendants who own rights to the name.
I'll bet they don't sell a lot of *those* in Italy.
Then again, maybe I'm out of touch with modern tastes. Maybe the public would flock to products bearing slang names for reproductive equipment. Somehow it seems almost plausible.
So they brought it over, but just to ensure failure, just in case somebody might actually walk into the showroom, they gave it a name that most Yanks feel awkward trying to pronounce. In Germany they were called the Sierra.
I suspect that they were decent cars for their day and their price range. I don't know. Might make a good bargain-basement used sedan to buy now.
I'll be interested in Shifty's thoughts.
Merkur as a little cult following, and can give decent though not exceptional performance, but I never found anything extra special about them, and apparently neither did the buying public. Those few people I know who have owned them had quite a lot of trouble with them. But I suppose, since they are cheap, it wouldn't be a bad ride if you could find a clean turbo XR4Ti and pay no more than $2,000 for it and keep your fingers crossed. That way you could bail if the car starts to torment you.
At the time I think they stickered for around 18,000 but with the incentives you could buy one for 13,000.
They also had a big factory incentive to the salesperson who could actually sell one. I managed to sell three of them one month and was the top Merkur salesman in the district, and pocketed about 4000 in incentives.
It was also ugly, with a blown Pinto engine, but when when the turbo spooled up it would go like stink.