I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

stever · August 2016

Sell it and let someone else enjoy it for a while.

stickguy · August 2016

I think that unless you are purely collecting as an investment, cars should be used and enjoyed. If it usually just sits in the garage, and you aren't getting enjoyment out of it (and don't anticipate that changing in the future), might as well take the "godfather" offer and move on.

You just have to be ready to cut the cord, and not be filled with regrets.

You may be relieved to not have it to deal with. or you might regret it, and have a perfect excuse to find a new set of wheels to play with and be excited about!

berri · August 2016

Or move to the west coast and you'll probably see one like it that is being used as a daily driver

roadburner · August 2016

I view my 20 year old 3er the same way I view my farm; it's not for sale- but if someone offers me an obscene amount of money I'd probably take it.

kyfdx · August 2016

What @stickguy said

xwesx · August 2016

roadburner said:
I view my 20 year old 3er the same way I view my farm; it's not for sale- but if someone offers me an obscene amount of money I'd probably take it.

Yeah, exactly. I feel that way about my C20, too. As @ab348 said, when you have a car for a couple decades or more, it becomes part of your life. But, if somebody offered me enough for it, I'd let it go and do so without regret. It is fun to have things that you really enjoy, and bring you memories, etc., but there comes a point at which it is also healthy to say goodbye.

Mr_Shiftright · August 2016

If you aren't using it, and the new owners represent a "good home" for it, you couldn't ask for a better outcome after 23 years of ownership.

uplanderguy · August 2016

Ironically, I owned my white '63 Lark Daytona for 23 years when I was pursued heavily about it, not even having it on the market either. Mine was starting to need some stuff. I still used it pretty often but impending college for daughter #1 was scaring me. I threw out a high price and the guy 'bit'! Good luck. I hope to have another some day although I am realistic that since I am not a mechanic, by that time mechanics who will work on a Studebaker in my area will be gone.

Good luck!

http://www.studebakerskytop.com/billpresslerpics5.jpg

ab348 · August 2016

All good advice. I don't expect to hear from them for a while but if they hit my number then I think I will let it go.

Interestingly, today I went to get a haircut and was telling my barber the story. He said he thinks he knows the other car they were looking at, which they did not like nearly as much as mine, because it is at the house next to his. He was even able to describe them in some detail so it was definitely them. He pointed me at this ad:

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/yarmouth/1970-cutlass-supreme-fully-rebuilt-from-frame-up/1188569663?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

A convertible but lots of bad or missing stuff there needing to be fixed and way overpriced given that. Might make my pristine original that much more appealing.

uplanderguy · August 2016

To my eyes, your '68 is way-preferable to that '70, which is missing so much of its original exterior brightwork it's almost hard to detail it all.

sda · August 2016

uplanderguy said:
To my eyes, your '68 is way-preferable to that '70, which is missing so much of its original exterior brightwork it's almost hard to detail it all.

I agree and also have a fondness for the '68 as my grandmother had special ordered one in '68. I've shared these pictures before, but what the heck. I love the looks of the '68.

The '70 looks like it is cobbled together. Though it is a '70 front bumper, the blacked out grille looks like it came from a '71 Cutlass Supreme. Wonder if it has been bumped upfront and what other surprises are lurking.

ab348 · August 2016

sda said:

The '70 looks like it is cobbled together. Though it is a '70 front bumper, the blacked out grille looks like it came from a '71 Cutlass Supreme. Wonder if it has been bumped upfront and what other surprises are lurking.

Plenty, no doubt. As you noted, it has a '71 front clip (not only are the grilles different in '70 to '71 but so is the hood). The people who looked at it commented when I popped the hood on mine how my rad support and shroud was nicely solid and "didn't move like the other one we looked at". My barber offered that he noticed the front interior door panels were black but the ones in the rear were brown. As was noted, all of the bright trim on the exterior is missing, which is a big mistake often made on a '70 Supreme and just wrecks the looks. And the plethora of white zip ties used under the hood in their for sale ad make me want to run away screaming. I think they may well have spent a lot of money getting it to where it is now but they did a lot of dumb things and are likely way upside-down on it. It may be a $10K car despite being a convertible because of all the obvious needs and questionable work that needs undoing.

roadburner · August 2016

I always liked the looks of the 1970 Cutlass. I'd still like to have a Rallye 350:

Or a Cutlass SX 455:

Oldsmobile always seemed to have the best handling musclecars- their cars were usually fitted with rear anti-roll bars and their spring and damper tuning was more sophisticated than that of the suspensions of their GM stablemates.

berri · August 2016

I like the fastback styling on that coupe. Still looks good today. But somewhere around that time as I recall, the squared off, formal roofline of the Cutlass Supreme seemed to become the most popular one in sales I believe.

fintail · August 2016

When I was a kid, I didn't like the upkick at the C-pillar on those Oldses, but it doesn't look bad to me now. Sda, do you know what ever happened to that 68 after you sold it?

ab348 · August 2016

roadburner said:
I always liked the looks of the 1970 Cutlass. I'd still like to have a Rallye 350:

Or a Cutlass SX 455:

Oldsmobile always seemed to have the best handling musclecars- their cars were usually fitted with rear anti-roll bars and their spring and damper tuning was more sophisticated than that of the suspensions of their GM stablemates.

True, but that is only in the context of the times. Even a perfect one now would likely get out-handled by a Corolla unless you did a lot of aftermarket suspension and steering upgrades.

My best friend has a beautiful '71 SX that he has had since 1986. Another friend had a '70 SX I liked even better - stronger engine, nicer colors inside and out - that he eventually sold. A lot of people these days put OAI hoods on them, but those were pretty rare on a SX when new. They were much more of a sleeper. Same with the trunklid wing spoiler, which I hate on any Cutlass of this vintage.

Olds always sold more fastback bodies than notchbacks in the '70-'72 era. Remember, the fastback was available in the Cutlass, Cutlass S, and 4-4-2 line whereas the notchback was only on the Supreme, a more expensive car. The volume was in the lower-end models.

texases · August 2016

My folks had a '69, which was fun to drive with the 350, compared to my '65 Mustang's 170! I've always liked the looks of the notchback over that model's roof.

sda · August 2016

Sda, do you know what ever happened to that 68 after you sold it?

It was always my grandmother's car. When she came to live with my parents in '86 she no longer drove it much. A fellow that worked with my mom, who was about my age at the time (30) had seen it and really liked it. Though it had been repainted about 5 years before, it still looked sharp, no rust anywhere, ever, and had 46000 mi, ran like new. He bought it and took it to somewhere in NY when he moved back and vowed it would never see snow or salt. This was around 1990-91.

bhill2 · August 2016

ab348 said:
All good advice. I don't expect to hear from them for a while but if they hit my number then I think I will let it go.

Interestingly, today I went to get a haircut and was telling my barber the story. He said he thinks he knows the other car they were looking at, which they did not like nearly as much as mine, because it is at the house next to his. He was even able to describe them in some detail so it was definitely them. He pointed me at this ad:

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/yarmouth/1970-cutlass-supreme-fully-rebuilt-from-frame-up/1188569663?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

A convertible but lots of bad or missing stuff there needing to be fixed and way overpriced given that. Might make my pristine original that much more appealing.

Excuse my chiming in late, but "Front wheel drive"?????

uplanderguy · August 2016

I can remember being a kid and seeing a new '70 or '71 (not sure now) Cutlass SX convertible at our Olds-Buick dealer in town (so small every single new car he had was kept inside at all times, LOL). I had thought the SX was limited to the convertible, but I'm apparently wrong, from the pic above a few posts. Even at that age of 12 or so, I remember thinking, "That sounds like sex", LOL!

ab348 · August 2016

The SX convertible is, not surprisingly, quite rare. The SX model was only made in 1970 and 1971 and was not well-marketed. It was essentially a 4-4-2 engine and chassis under the notchback Supreme hardtop body and trimmed inside like a Supreme as well. But in '70 they started it out with a 2-barrel carb on the 455, which was changed mid-year to the 4-barrel version. The '71 sold less well than the '70 and it was discontinued at the end of the model year.

ab348 · August 2016

bhill2 said:

Excuse my chiming in late, but "Front wheel drive"?????

More of a commentary on the person placing the ad I suspect.

sda · August 2016

For those of you in FL, my grandmother's '68 Cutlass was ordered thru and purchased at Bert Smith Olds, in St Petersburg, FL. She bought her '62 Dynamic 88 and my parents' bought their '63 Dynamic 88 at the same dealership. Last I saw Bert Smith is still in business but selling a different brand.

ab348 · August 2016

sda said:
For those of you in FL, my grandmother's '68 Cutlass was ordered thru and purchased at Bert Smith Olds, in St Petersburg, FL. She bought her '62 Dynamic 88 and my parents' bought their '63 Dynamic 88 at the same dealership. Last I saw Bert Smith is still in business but selling a different brand.

My best friend's '71 SX came from Bert Smith Olds also. He bought it there in 1986 from the estate of his late F-I-L who had a winter place in St. Petersburg. He has the old dealership license plate on the front.

fintail · August 2016

Was the 62 also a 2 door HT? The Starfire that year with its unique side trim always has caught my eye.

I wonder if that 68 is still around, and what it looks like today. Some cars in our histories come and go without notice, but others are worth wondering about. I would still like to know what became of the 60 Ford wagon my dad had in the 90s.

sda said:
For those of you in FL, my grandmother's '68 Cutlass was ordered thru and purchased at Bert Smith Olds, in St Petersburg, FL. She bought her '62 Dynamic 88 and my parents' bought their '63 Dynamic 88 at the same dealership. Last I saw Bert Smith is still in business but selling a different brand.

sda · August 2016

fintail said:
Was the 62 also a 2 door HT? The Starfire that year with its unique side trim always has caught my eye.

I wonder if that 68 is still around, and what it looks like today. Some cars in our histories come and go without notice, but others are worth wondering about. I would still like to know what became of the 60 Ford wagon my dad had in the 90s.

sda said:
For those of you in FL, my grandmother's '68 Cutlass was ordered thru and purchased at Bert Smith Olds, in St Petersburg, FL. She bought her '62 Dynamic 88 and my parents' bought their '63 Dynamic 88 at the same dealership. Last I saw Bert Smith is still in business but selling a different brand.

I've wondered the same. I am also a fan of the Starfire, a neat car. The speedometer on the '62 Olds (and I believe the '59-61 were similar) was unique and fun to watch. It was a ribbon style speedometer, which was horizontal and not vertical, like fintail. As it passed thru 30-35 it would change from green to an orange color. Around 60-65 it would change to an arresting red. It was neat in the way that it changed colors, fluid like. Search U tube for a '59 Olds and there is a neat video.

My grandmother's Dynamic 88 was a 4 door sedan. It was a metallic goldish color that didn't hold up and was dull when she traded it in '68. It did have tinted glass, am radio, PS, PB and factory A/C.

My grandmother was a widow and my great grandmother lived with her for a while. When my grandmother took delivery of her '68 Cutlass, her mom was disgusted. She asked why she didn't get red? How else to attract a man?

fintail · August 2016

I didn't know that about those Olds speedometers, I will take a look for that. Funny about the red car, too - I don't know how many men in 1968 would be attracted by a red Oldsmobile Cutlass

Saw something red and kind of rare on the road this afternoon - a Ferrari Enzo. Courageous.

uplanderguy · August 2016

The Bresnans up the street from us had a '62 Dynamic 88 4-door sedan, light green. I remember the colors changing as the speedometer speed increased. Cool.

andre1969 · August 2016

uplanderguy said:
The Bresnans up the street from us had a '62 Dynamic 88 4-door sedan, light green. I remember the colors changing as the speedometer speed increased. Cool.

The '57-59 DeSotos had one of those drum/ribbon speedometers. I think the '59 would change colors as the speed increased, but on my '57, it was red all the way to 130 mph.

sda · August 2016

This is the video on U-tube that shows how the speedometer works in the Olds. It is brief, around the 2 minute mark. Enjoyable video as a whole.

Watch John Mayer show off his restored 1959 Oldsmobile Dynamic Eighty Eight 'Scenicoupe'.
Read the full story here: www.dailyherald.com/article/20110905/entlife/709059969/

Mr_Shiftright · August 2016

Saw one of these for the first time. It's called an "Earth Roamer" --seems to be Ford diesel powered. Photo is distorted--it's not THAT big. Obviously a Survivalist toy.

xwesx · August 2016

Looks pretty neat, but is just a TinkerToy compared to the German rigs I saw here in Fairbanks this morning! Each of the three were at different shops around town (same area), but I'm certain they were traveling together. Those rigs were downright jaw-dropping (perhaps why I didn't even think to snap photos of them).

ab348 · August 2016

Bah, a mere toy compared to these:

Mr_Shiftright · August 2016

Yeah but those seems to be french poodle show trucks. The Earth Roamer is supposed to be a serious and ultra tough offroad vehicle. Hmmm....we need a Top Gear face-off of Zombie Apocalypse Trucks to get to the bottom of this.

js06gv · August 2016

Pic of the new ride. Guess I'm back to obsessing again over keeping a black car looking clean, especially since it will be parked outside at college and I'll only see it every few months. Every few cars, I'll gravitate back to a black one again. The old one is a nice metallic red so time for a different shade, especially since it's the same model and even though redesigned this year, still looks very similar to the outgoing model. I think it looks really good in black.

kyfdx · August 2016

Nice!

roadburner · August 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:
Yeah but those seems to be french poodle show trucks. The Earth Roamer is supposed to be a serious and ultra tough offroad vehicle. Hmmm....we need a Top Gear face-off of Zombie Apocalypse Trucks to get to the bottom of this.

This beats them all:

PF_Flyer · August 2016

Actually saw this last year, but I'll be seeing it again next week

SOMEONE will figure it out

andre1969 · August 2016

Mr_Shiftright said:
Saw one of these for the first time. It's called an "Earth Roamer" --seems to be Ford diesel powered. Photo is distorted--it's not THAT big. Obviously a Survivalist toy.

I always thought those class-C mini-motorhomes based off of pickup trucks, rather than van cabs, were pretty cool. They were always less common, most likely because a van front clip is shorter than a pickup front clip, plus it's easier to move from the cab to the living quarters in a van. But, I thought the pickups had better proportioning.

Seems like this generation was somewhat common...

stickguy · August 2016

My experience with a car at college, it will be filthy when you see it. And don't obsess about dings and scratches. A PDL guy on retainer is not a bad idea either!

Michaell · August 2016

stickguy said:
My experience with a car at college, it will be filthy when you see it. And don't obsess about dings and scratches. A PDL guy on retainer is not a bad idea either!

That's why our daughter got an ION for college - no door dings with the plastic panels.

ab348 · August 2016

PF_Flyer said:
Actually saw this last year, but I'll be seeing it again next week

SOMEONE will figure it out

No ground clearance on that thing, better not take it off the blacktop!

ab348 · August 2016

Speaking of RVs, an acquaintance was making fun of a local news story here where a couple visiting an area of the province discovered that the two propane refilling stations on their guide were both out of service, causing them untold grief since they were in a RV that was powered by LP gas. He claimed that their vehicle would HAVE to be dual-fuel. I countered that wasn't always the case, and he then went into full Cliff Claven mode about how I was wrong. That LP-only style isn't unheard of, is it?

PF_Flyer · August 2016

ab348 said:

PF_Flyer said:
Actually saw this last year, but I'll be seeing it again next week

SOMEONE will figure it out

No ground clearance on that thing, better not take it off the blacktop!

Oh, this thing definitely is an "off road" beast. heh

Mr_Shiftright · August 2016

I think the idea of the "Earth Roamer" is that it is actually totally practical and civilized. Based on a Ford 550 chassis I think.

stever · August 2016

If I can channel Cliff for a moment, it always strikes me as odd when people buy these rigs to go camping and enjoy the great outdoors, and then sit inside an aluminum box watching TV at a KOA subdivision.

Can't complain too much as it keeps them out of the real woods.

ab348 · August 2016

stever said:
If I can channel Cliff for a moment, it always strikes me as odd when people buy these rigs to go camping and enjoy the great outdoors, and then sit inside an aluminum box watching TV at a KOA subdivision.

Can't complain too much as it keeps them out of the real woods.

Even more odd are those that drop $500K on a diesel pusher rig to then park it in a Walmart lot.

fintail · August 2016

Speaking of pickups converted into small motorhomes, the car ones (usually a Cadillac) are always amusing:

Oh, and an Olds:

And a Buick:

Mercury:

Chrysler too:

And on the RV theme, my brother really wanted this thing, it's memorable

stever · August 2016

Oh lordy, my wife saw the first Caddy one and said "fun!".

I cut her off before she could see the rest of the collection.

berri · August 2016

Now we're starting to get into those "redneck" funnies

JS - what year is the Bonneville in your garage. I remember that green was very popular on them back in the day.

I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

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