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

andre1969 · April 2019

It's funny how things can stick in your memory, but I can remember a brown Skylark of that generation that I used to see in the parking lot at work fairly often, back in the late 1990's. It had a light brown/buckskin vinyl interior, and looked pretty comfortable. GM took a lot of flack for these Nova clones, but I'll give this Skylark credit...on the inside, it definitely looked like a step up from a Nova. I think it used the same dash, but the seats and door panels were definitely upgraded.

Mr_Shiftright · April 2019

tjc78 said:
It’s pretty scary how fast some vehicles are today given the size and/or driving dynamics

I took the Enclave from south Jersey to Baltimore by myself last year and found myself traveling in a group of cars at highly illegal speeds and thought that this SUV really doesn’t have the handling to be moving along quite this fast.

No kidding. I never went past 90 in my old Mini because it got so squirrely. The Volvo C30, though, with lowered suspension and meatier tires, seems very stable. Haven't tried for 100 but I don't see a problem here.

Point is, not all that many drivers are trained to be safe above 90 mph, even though their hot little CUVs can certainly do it.

jpp75 · April 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:

No kidding. I never went past 90 in my old Mini because it got so squirrely. The Volvo C30, though, with lowered suspension and meatier tires, seems very stable. Haven't tried for 100 but I don't see a problem here.

Point is, not all that many drivers are trained to be safe above 90 mph, even though their hot little CUVs can certainly do it.

You won't have a problem over 100 on the C30, but you're spot on about most drivers not being trained on how to handle a vehicle at those speeds.

texases · April 2019

Y'all must have a pretty special C30:

xwesx · April 2019

texases said:
Y'all must have a pretty special C30:

LOL I know it's wrong, but that's EXACTLY what popped into my head when jpp75 mentioned 'C30'.

stickguy · April 2019

Same here.

fintail · April 2019

I was thinking the same too, old Chevy pickup.

That's a handsome old squarebody, and probably a rare configuration, I never paid attention when they were new or not anything special, but they seem like a nice design now. I know there's a cult behind them today, too.

stickguy · April 2019

I would love a short cab, short bed, 4WD step side walker evans special. Orange with white stripes.

Yes I have weird taste.

ab348 · April 2019

It's a GMC and not a Chevy, but I always wanted a truck like Rocky's in The Rockford Files.

I'd post a picture but for some reason either this software or my browser won't let me.

Edit: It's my browser, Firefox, acting up again. I'm about ready to ditch it.

stickguy · April 2019

I love it.

fintail · April 2019

I always liked Charlton Heston's custom targa top squarebody Blazer in "Earthquake":

Mr_Shiftright · April 2019

I think Ford used to make a Big Beefy like that called a "Camper Special".

uplanderguy · April 2019

I thought the interiors of those '73-87 C/K pickups were wonderful when the '73's came out (at least the Cheyenne and Cheyenne Super), but I didn't know then they'd use those square wheel openings for about 40 years, LOL!

For largely that reason, I think the current Silverado is the first Chevy truck I've liked the looks of, in a long time. No square wheel openings!

I remember for probably the first six months, every new '73 Chevy pickup I ever saw at our local dealer had no rain gutters. Customers must've complained, as about mid-year, on, they started coming in with rain gutters.

Mr_Shiftright · April 2019

Saw one of these today:

uplanderguy · April 2019

RE.: '75-79 Skylarks--I liked them too. One of that generation I really liked, but rarely saw, was the '75 Nova LN:

http://bestride.com/news/vintage-ads-1975-chevrolet-nova-ln-going-euro-bring-a-parasol

They replaced it with the Concours the next year, and I just didn't like them nearly as well...relied on wide wheel opening trim, wide side moldings, bigger taillights IIRC, blah blah blah.

fintail · April 2019

Yep, my Ford truck loving uncle had a pristine blue and white early 70s "Camper Special" when I was a kid.

Mr_Shiftright said:
I think Ford used to make a Big Beefy like that called a "Camper Special".

uplanderguy · April 2019

RE.: That white '64 Catalina convert pictured last page--I'd love a '64 Catalina 2+2 hardtop, Sunfire Red (salmon) with white painted top and those wheelcovers that resemble chrome-reverse wheels. I like the styling details better than the Grand Prix or Bonneville that year.

ab348 · April 2019

I'm different in that for me the styling of both the '64 full-size Chevy and Pontiac look like a step back from their designs of the previous year.

xwesx · April 2019

I vastly prefer the 69-72 GM body style over the "square body" that ruled for the next fifteen (+) years. I always sort of wanted to buy a 2019 Chevrolet pickup just to have one fifty years newer than my 69, but that means I would actually be required to own one, and I am not really a fan. I would much rather have a Ford or a Dodge, to be honest.

My college roommate's uncle had a 1988 squarebody; not sure if he still owns it, but last time I saw him earlier this decade, he did... and it was pristine, which is a rarity for any pickup around here!

explorerx4 · April 2019

Someone on the next street has one of those late 70's/80's Blazers.
It just sits there under a tree with the back window down.
Would cost a lot of money to get it functional again.

explorerx4 · April 2019

My wife has the Lincoln app on her phone.
One time a tire had a slow leak, so I told her to drop it at the dealer to have them patch it.
She got a low tire pressure alert. Must have been when they were demounting the tire.

uplanderguy · April 2019

When I had four new tires put on my daughter's Cruze a few months back, I got an email from OnStar that she had four tires with zero lbs. tire pressure, LOL.

fintail · April 2019

Saw a light blue and white 59 Galaxie drive by a few minutes ago, I assume it was a sedan but couldn't tell as I only caught the rear end.

bhill2 · April 2019

I really liked the ‘59 Fords when they came out. Of course, it may have been because my eyes had been injured by looking at the ‘58s.

uplanderguy · April 2019

Funny, I much-prefer a '58 Ford to a '59. The '59 looked so square and blunt to me.

fintail · April 2019

Even when I was a kid, I smirked at the fake hood scoop on 58s (living in a drier part of the PNW, there were plenty of 50s cars still around in the 80s). I prefer both 58 and 59 to 57 though, those headlights just rub me the wrong way.

andre1969 · April 2019

My grandparents had a '76 GMC crewcab, but it was a 3/4 ton (C20) rather than a 1-ton (C30). I remember Granddad saying it got about 10 mpg, regardless of driving conditions, or how much it was towing/hauling. It had a 350, which I'm sure was a bit over-matched in something that size.

I remember taking a few camping trips in it. Grandmom and Granddad had a slide-in truck camper. One thing I always remember was that Grandmom would get nervous and panicky when Granddad drove, constantly putting her foot down on the "imaginary brake", carrying on about him going too fast, etc. But, when Grandmom drove, I swear, we'd be the fastest thing on the highway! It's a miracle she never got a speeding ticket.

tjc78 · April 2019

My grandmother had a Duster with some cobbled together 360, 4BBL that my Grandfather put in.

She used to "Fly Low" in that car coming back home from night shift at the hospital. Lot's of stories of getting pulled over.

jpp75 · April 2019

Saw this in traffic last weekend.

Mr_Shiftright · April 2019

Not real. JPS Motorsports replica I believe. Under $40K new. I think they are out of North Hollywood.

stickguy · April 2019

Weather there last week looked a lot nicer!

texases · April 2019

Mr_Shiftright said:
Not real. JPS Motorsports replica I believe. Under $40K new. I think they are out of North Hollywood.

Kind of an odd choice for hubcaps...

Mr_Shiftright · April 2019

Well there are so many replicas of this car being built that they try for some level of distinction in the details I guess.

uplanderguy · April 2019

I didn't have my phone with me, but today when I ran to Cane's for lunch I was behind a '53 Chevy Two-Ten four-door sedan, ubiquitous dark green with white painted top, looked pretty nice (as nice as those cars look, LOL). Bumper guards, and it was a Powerglide as that was written across the decklid. I have not seen the car around here before. It was drizzling out, and going up a hill I could see those vacuum wipers barely moving, LOL.

sda · April 2019

Vacuum wipers are the worst. I remember as a boy mom struggling to see when she would drive her 55 Chevy when it rained. The wipers would really slow down and almost stall. Once she got to cruising speed they would frantically slap back and forth.

fintail · April 2019

My dad's 60 Ford had vacuum wipers, I swear they had a speed adjustment. I remember he liked to put them on a very slow speed, which worked with the light drizzle so common here.

omarman · April 2019

Ugh. Driving uphill in the rain in the family truckster 1950 Chevy :@ . Some later cars including Chevy did have an adjustment for wiper speed.

ab348 · April 2019

Last of the dinosaurs, who knew they were yellow? In OK but not great condition unfortunately.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-cadillac-eldorado-6/

tjc78 · April 2019

I like the convertibles, but can't warm up to the coupes as much. What is really funny is for the sheer size of those cars, look at the rear legroom. My Elantra has more

kyfdx · April 2019

My Aunt had a Sedan DeVille, same year and color, but the interior was plaid cloth (same color).

uplanderguy · April 2019

What is really funny is for the sheer size of those cars, look at the rear legroom.

I know, really inexcusable.

I joined a GM G-Body Facebook forum, simply because those are the last GM cars I liked a lot. As we've discussed the downsizing was even more drastic than the full-sizes the year before IMHO, and some of the 'new technology' about saving weight/cost...didn't work very well. That said, lately I've been thinking a lot about '78 Malibu Classic coupes with F41 and the optional gauge cluster and how I'd like one of those. Seems like most of those Malibus have been turned into street rods.

Anyway, a guy on that forum who is a Chevy dealer service writer in Kentucky has a beautiful (to my eyes) maroon with white top '78 Malibu Classic Landau with 305 and 4-speed! Sadly, no A/C so it has that dopey plastic block filler where the right A/C vent should be. The car is on mags now, but he said he has the original whitewall tires and wire wheelcovers. The interior pics make me believe the mileage--no faded plastic, no cracked dash, no small, wiry trim at bottom of delta steering wheel cushion broken off, etc. I'm smitten with that car as a responsible driver that's also an old car, LOL.

Anyway, I digress, but I bet a '78 Malibu coupe has more rear-seat legroom than those last big Eldorados.

uplanderguy · April 2019

RE.: That Eldo

Eye, ear, and throat doctor in my old hometown had a silver blue '71 Eldo convertible which he later traded on a firethorn '76 Eldo convertible from the local Chevy/Cadillac dealer. About ten years ago I was in town and saw him driving the car with the top down--it looked a little worse for wear, but he kept it!

Fast-forward about five or six years and he had passed away. His daughter, a beautiful girl in school whom I rarely talked to, became a Facebook friend of mine and lives less than ten miles away although we've never run into each other here. After a while I asked her about the last Eldo, if she didn't mind. She said they sold it for very little as it was in the way and sitting on flat tires. She said "If I knew you remembered it and liked it, I'd have given it to you".

I know people can say anything, but I thought that was nice.

Do you remember those last big Eldo coupes that were two-tone beige and dark brown? Not sure if that was some sort of package or not.

ab348 · April 2019

uplanderguy said:

Anyway, a guy on that forum who is a Chevy dealer service writer in Kentucky has a beautiful (to my eyes) maroon with white top '78 Malibu Classic Landau with 305 and 4-speed! Sadly, no A/C so it has that dopey plastic block filler where the right A/C vent should be. The car is on mags now, but he said he has the original whitewall tires and wire wheelcovers. The interior pics make me believe the mileage--no faded plastic, no cracked dash, no small, wiry trim at bottom of delta steering wheel cushion broken off, etc. I'm smitten with that car as a responsible driver that's also an old car, LOL.

That dash block off plate likely uses the same mount as the actual vent louver, so if you found one of those it probably would be a snap-out/snap-in replacement to give the look you prefer.

uplanderguy · April 2019

I bet you are right. Here's an interior shot of the guy's car:

berri · April 2019

I think the 58 Ford was supposed to resemble the new 4 passenger Squarebird. I don't think it worked out real well. OTOH, I think the Formal greenhouse on the 59 Galaxie coupe was somewhat lifted from the Squarebird and that helped it become quite the hit.

berri · April 2019

I was talking to a guy today and somehow the topic of the 58 Chevy/59 Cadillac twin parking lights came up. I recall, but am certainly not sure, that only the outer ones were functional, while he seemed to remember that the outer lights were for the turn signals and the inner ones were the parking lights. Anyone out there recall?

uplanderguy · April 2019

I like the gloss black panels around the gauges and radio, with gold outlining, and also on the console of this car. The '78 was the only year like that.

sda · April 2019

With the 4 speed trans I’d rather a tach in place of the large clock. I do like the clean look of the dash.

stickguy · April 2019

one of the many oddball restomod type cars I would like is an ElCamino, or malibu wagon, from that vintage with a crate 350 and a 5 speed, and tasteful brake and suspension upgrades. That sounds like fun.

explorerx4 · April 2019

305 with a 4 speed was not a great performer in a Camaro, never mind a Monte Carlo.
Of course, was anything a good performer in 1981?
Back in '82 big news was Mustang GT was back, had 157 HP.

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

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