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

berri · May 2017

UP -good point about Nance and some of the prior Packard show car style points.

sda · May 2017

uplanderguy said:
The Chevy engine with single exhaust is actually a bit of a problem. For it to clear the Studebaker steering, the left Y-pipe is a tangled piece of spaghetti, LOL. I'm buying NOS when I'm out in South Bend. The local exhaust place, when given the option of that or bending their own for that, said they'd prefer the NOS. The rest of the exhaust should be able to be sourced locally; just a longer muffler than usual. I want the tailpipe to have a similar bent to original of course.

Were dual factory exhaust offered? Might make a nice change, enhance performance and retain quiet but muscular exhaust note.

fintail · May 2017

Yep, this is cool:

A guilty pleasure, the 1960 Ford "Town Victoria" 4 door HT with the odd triangle notch in the C-pillar, in Edsel form, never seen one in real life:

And a wagon, same color combo as my dad's 60 Country Sedan, I've never seen one of these in person either:

I think my dad's taste for old Fords stuck with me.

If you were a kid in the 80s, you might know this memorable movie scene with a 59 Edsel:

And an underrated sentimental one with a nice 58 (and a Stude in the background):

fintail · May 2017

Import day on the roads here today:

First, a silver MB W116, didn't catch the badge, likely 1973 as it had small bumpers but US lights, sounded good - definite V8 note, but it had patina and the front bumper was a little mangled. Then a decent red 86-89 Celica GT liftback with fun original decal stripes. After that a clean grey BMW E34 Touring, a very clean 94-95 E320 coupe in the great period color combo of white over light grey, then an immaculate looking grey W140 S320, and finished it off with a spotless grey E39 M5.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

Here's the short video clip of that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N37Uwu8QJWg

fintail · May 2017

Peggy Sue, are you drunk?

Some decent car spotting in that movie, including a lovely Mercury Monterey Sun Valley:

berri · May 2017

Boy there weren't many 60 Edsel's produced, but probably more than 61 Desoto's. Those Mercury Sun Valley's and their Ford equivalent had a relatively short life - they were easy bake ovens

uplanderguy · May 2017

Were dual factory exhaust offered?

No, and although friends say I should go that way, it's really not in keeping with the car I don't think. The car is so incredibly original, warts and all, I'd like to keep it single.

At the local exhaust place, I saw it on a rack for the first time. The thing looks nearly-new underneath.

uplanderguy · May 2017

Boy, I'd gladly take any of those '60 Edsels shown above....or Peggy Sue's dad's '58 hardtop.

fintail · May 2017

I suspect 60 survival rates are very high, but production was so low, they are seldom-seen, especially the higher trim models. I think I have only ever seen one or two lower line cars.

imidazol97 · May 2017

An Edsel convention was held at an area hotel a summer or two ago, and I got several pictures. Don't know if I still have them. IIRC, the 1960 models were better represented than I would have expected, but I believe they are just plain ugle--sort of like the Packardized Studebaker Hawks.

imidazol97 · May 2017

Mr_Shiftright said:

imidazol97 said:

fintail said:
Good luck with that. I think the least desirable year for Edsels, I am sure a basic 4 door post, probably little premium over a normal Ford.
I'd think the '60s would be the least desired for Edsel: they were obviously a Packardized 1960 Ford.

@Mr_Shiftright
Any chance of getting a profile shot of that edsel?
I don't think I'd dare remove the tarp. The house it is parked near looks like the Munsters live there.

I meant a profile shot under the tarp. There might be enough hints about whether it's a sedan or not showing through the tarp's shape.

uplanderguy · May 2017

I believe all '60 Edsels were one series--Ranger.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

I'll try and sneak over there tomorrow and take another picture.

fintail · May 2017

It seems some 60 Edsels look fancier than others, then. Maybe it's single tone paint that does it.

I don't find the front to be offensive at all, no Packardbaker there. The rear, however, was kind of odd, the vertical tail lights are an unusual choice:

uplanderguy · May 2017

The front of a '60 Edsel--at least the grille--reminds me of a '59 Pontiac in a way.

fintail · May 2017

Definitely a 59 Pontiac look for the front, I think more than slightly. Not a bad thing.

ab348 · May 2017

The '60 Edsel front end was a winner, the rear end not so much.

I think those taillights ended up on the Comet at its debut.

fintail · May 2017

Quite similar but weirder, diagonal!

bhill2 · May 2017

ab348 said:
The '60 Edsel front end was a winner, the rear end not so much.

I think those taillights ended up on the Comet at its debut.

Likely. The Comet was originally supposed to be branded as an Edsel until ... well, you know.

uplanderguy · May 2017

Personal call of course, but I'm hard-pressed to think of dumber-looking rear-end styling than those first Comets.

ab348 · May 2017

It's hard to understand how Ford could justify spending whatever it took to make the dies for that rear quarter-panel stamping and then immediately axe the model.

fintail · May 2017

Maybe Ford was so accustomed to losing money on Edsel tooling, that they figured a little more loss was fine. Back in the age of significant yearly updates, I am sure some creative accounting could make it go away.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

The early Comet was all plastiky and cardboard, with rubber mats and an engine right out of the 1930s. These little compacts from Ford especially were built to a price.

It wasn't long before the D3 started tarting them up with all kinds of upgrades and options--that's where the profit was.

ab348 · May 2017

Mr_Shiftright said:
The early Comet was all plastiky and cardboard, with rubber mats and an engine right out of the 1930s. These little compacts from Ford especially were built to a price.

It wasn't long before the D3 started tarting them up with all kinds of upgrades and options--that's where the profit was.

Well, the 6-cylinder engine was new for 1960 so it wasn't exactly out of the '30s, but I agree with the rest of your assessment.

Greg goes down memory lane: I was born in '56 and the first car I have any real memory of was dad's '59 Ford sedan. It was parked in front of our house in 1960 and a car ran into it. I remember hearing the crash and running outside to see the left rear quarter mashed in and another car now occupying that space. I remember being impressed when the tow truck came and found that the two cars were impact-welded together.

It was out of service for a while and dad got a loaner, a new Falcon. I must have heard some of the hoopla about the new compacts because I remember being excited to ride in it. I got in the back seat with mom and dad up front and I remember mom immediately dismissing it by saying "Is this thing ever tinny!". I didn't know the meaning of that but I could guess she didn't like it.

Some time later - I think when dad was looking to trade in the '59, as it never seemed the same to him after the repairs - a '61 Comet, metallic blue green with those diagonal taillights - appeared in our driveway. I think the dealer let him have one for a day or two. I thought it looked cool, as a 5 year-old doesn't have the most discriminating tastes. But mom hated that too. He ended up getting a new '61 Meteor, in white like this one, which they turned out not to like either after a while.

uplanderguy · May 2017

I always liked the '61 Mercury, but wished they'd have built one with a Starliner roofline. I like the pseudo-'60 Lincoln rear end panel.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

By "out of the 1930s" I was trying to imply that it was a gutless wonder of an engine, producing no more horsepower than a 1936 Chevy Six....well ok, 5 more HP.

But it was a lightweight engine for the time, and got very good MPG. The integrated intake manifold and head pretty much doomed it to slow pickup and a bad idle.

fintail · May 2017

Interesting tail light treatment on that 61 Meteor, don't think I've ever seen one of those in person before.

ab348 · May 2017

Yeah, that was the Canadian Meteor. A rebadged/somewhat restyled Ford, not the Mercury sold in the USA. They changed later on so that US and Canada had the same Mercurys in terms of styling, but with differences in model lines, trim, and engines. What you see in that pic is a '61 Ford with an updated grille/headlight assembly and unique tail treatments. 100% Canadian Ford underneath I believe. I actually like the looks of it better than the Ford.

ab348 · May 2017

This popped up in my email today. Neat car but far from perfect and about 100% overpriced. You'd think for that kind of money they would have cleaned up under the hood and gotten rid of a lot of the junk in the cabin.

1972 Ford Country Squire

fintail · May 2017

Whoever designed that Meteor front end liked the 59 Olds, The tail lights are cool, but I don't know about the side detail. Being close to Canadia, I see Canadian models on occasion.

That wagon is a fun survivor, but insanely priced. I like how the ad lists two prices. Not something that should be out of 4 figures, I think.

I like the 1970 models with hidden headlights. A nice one was Teri Garr's car in "Close Encounters"

The "Harry and the Hendersons" car is also a 70 Squire, this one gets treated harshly:

ab348 · May 2017

The '69/'70 big Fords looked better on the outside, but the '71/'72 had a more functional dashboard than the swept-away version on the previous models. That looked cool but was pretty dysfunctional.

fintail · May 2017

I remember when my dad bought the 60 Country Sedan, the rear end was making some noise, and he wanted to replace it. He knew of an abandoned looking 70 or 71 (I forget, it's been ~25 years) Squire parked a few blocks away. He gave the guy $50 for the rear end, u-pull it. My dad did the transplant in a day, and didn't seem to have any trouble, I thought that was pretty cool. I guess the 9" rear end is a common thing to swap. I recall the donor car had the wraparound style dash, so must have been a 70. It was a loaded car, but was beyond redemption.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

ab348 said:
This popped up in my email today. Neat car but far from perfect and about 100% overpriced. You'd think for that kind of money they would have cleaned up under the hood and gotten rid of a lot of the junk in the cabin.

1972 Ford Country Squire

OK--Hagerty rates an "excellent" '72 Country Squire (and this one isn't "excellent") at $10,000, so if we add 10% for the bigger engine and then deduct 20% for absolutely ratty engine bay and who knows what's underneath, I'm thinking Ask $8500, take $7500 and you're done.

He's definitely going to be buying a birthday cake for that car every year.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

More Sonoma old crates I've seen while biking around today:

(side shot of that covered Edsel)

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

Don't blame me:

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

Early one:

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

Just sleeping for now:

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

I think this one runs:

Michaell · May 2017

@Mr_Shiftright - curbside classics!

Michaell · May 2017

Spotted a Passat W8 this morning. Silver, looked to be in good conditions.

ab348 · May 2017

It must be a rude awakening if not an outright shock for the owner of a car like that '72 Ford wagon to discover that it is worth less than half of what he thought (and possibly what friends and acquaintances told him) it was worth.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

He's just exercising his First Amendment Rights under the U.S. Constitution.

It's hard to say if such folks sincerely believe these values (without checking around apparently), or they caught the Barrett-Jackson virus, or maybe they think we're all suckers out here.

You'd think, though, that for premium money he could have spent $1000 in a superior detail and going-over. But what we got was a junkyard engine bay and 6 photos of his cassette tapes.

omarman · May 2017

ab348 said:
It must be a rude awakening if not an outright shock for the owner of a car like that '72 Ford wagon to discover that it is worth less than half of what he thought (and possibly what friends and acquaintances told him) it was worth.

And another surprise for the seller that Ford did not build a 429/365 hp engine for station wagons or anything else in 1972.

kyfdx · May 2017

omarman said:

ab348 said:
It must be a rude awakening if not an outright shock for the owner of a car like that '72 Ford wagon to discover that it is worth less than half of what he thought (and possibly what friends and acquaintances told him) it was worth.
And another surprise for the seller that Ford did not build a 429/365 hp engine for station wagons or anything else in 1972.

Wasn't '72 the first year of the "new" horsepower numbers?

My mother had a 460 Lincoln that was only rated at 230 HP.

fintail · May 2017

The Edsel looks to be a 4 door, nice color though. I am surprised someone hasn't taken that 56 Chevy wagon, fairly rare car nowadays.

I wonder what hp was generated by the 460 in the ~75 T-Bird my mom drove when I was a little kid. Probably not a lot, but no doubt torque for miles.

texases · May 2017

Looks like that guy selling the wagon is wanting $4,000 for all the spares and manuals he's accumulated. Right. And adding an electric fuel pump is a negative, to me - he had a fuel issue he couldn't solve. Then there are those random wires running around the nasty engine bay. Yuk.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2017

kyfdx said:

omarman said:

ab348 said:
It must be a rude awakening if not an outright shock for the owner of a car like that '72 Ford wagon to discover that it is worth less than half of what he thought (and possibly what friends and acquaintances told him) it was worth.
And another surprise for the seller that Ford did not build a 429/365 hp engine for station wagons or anything else in 1972.
Wasn't '72 the first year of the "new" horsepower numbers?

My mother had a 460 Lincoln that was only rated at 230 HP.

I think the 429 in 1972 was rated at 208 HP. The '75 T-Bird 460 was rated at 216 HP. I'd presume the MPG was frightening.

laurasdada · May 2017

IIRC, my father bought a '70 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon. Weekend ski trips to a shared rented house in southern Vermont. It lasted about 6 months, my father said it was the worst piece of junk he had ever purchased. He would not own another domestic for the next 20 years or so.

And, at the local Porsche dealer, a Caddy ELR is now available to purchase! Good looking car, still.

fintail · May 2017

On the road today saw a bustleback Seville and a 79-85 Eldo within a few minutes of each other. The Seville looked really clean, the Eldo was kind of rough.

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

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