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I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)
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Did the LS come with that nicer interior standard, or did you still have to pay extra for it? I'm looking at my old car book, and it looks like an '86 Monte Carlo with the 305 started at $10,631 for the sport coupe, and $10,841 for the LS with the 305. So if the LS had that interior standard, that seems like a serious bargain to me.
My old car book doesn't break out V6/V8 cost for the T-bird that year. But, a V-6 Monte sport coupe started at $10,241, and $10,421 for the LS (Unless Consumer Guide got dyslexic with those numbers!) The '86 T-bird started at $11,020 for a V6 coupe. The more luxurious trim level, Elan, started at $12,554, again with a V6.
The Cougar started at $11,421 for the GS coupe, $12,767 for the LS coupe. The XR-7 was $14,377, but came with a turbo 4 standard.
But now if we're going with sportier models, the Monte had the SS, starting at only $12,466, and the Aerocoupe starting at $14,191. So the T-bird/Cougar definitely started at higher price points than the Monte Carlo.
I'm pretty sure you couldn't get digital ATC, digi dash, tripminder, dual power seats, and air ride on the Monte.
Those T-birds could be loaded up to near Lincoln levels at the time.
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Almost every one of those LS's with checkerboards I've ever seen is that gray color. There was one at the G-Body National in Cleveland last summer, offered for sale by a dealer in Canton. I can't recall the asking price. I think it had 58K miles. He told me he'd had several calls about it from southern CA but admitted he would kinda hate seeing it get 'molested', LOL.
I actually put a deposit on an '85 SS once, before I changed my mind and ordered my Celebrity at a different dealer. I fought a bit but got my deposit back.
Someone posted on the G-Body forum not a month ago, that Mexican SS's had those wheels and Grand Prix instrument panel. I was incredulous. I'm glad you'd heard it elsewhere as well!
Mexican market weirdness can be like Canadian market weirdness. Topaz body with a Tempo front end? And even on TRX wheels:
Oh, one detail that just popped into my mind, about the '82 Malibu Classic wagon my grandparents had...I remember the woodgrain on the dash, between the HVAC ducts on the passenger side, had sort of a disturbing pattern. I recall that if you looked close enough, there was what appeared to be the faces of some kind of pig-monster looking things in the pattern! Kind of stirs up memories of that "Eye of the Beholder" episode of the Twilight Zone, of the alternate reality where Ellie May Clampett was considered horribly ugly, and these pig-monster people were considered the epitome of beauty!
Speaking of '82 Malibus, that was the year they called them all "Malibu Classic", and they did seem to upgrade the standard interior, over what the base Malibu had been. If you wanted something a bit ritzier, they offered a "Custom" trim option. I don't think I've ever seen one in person, but it looks pretty nice...
Here's the standard interior.
For some reason, while I didn't like the interior of that Monte Carlo, earlier, the blue of the Malibu here doesn't bother me. Perhaps it's a trick of the light, or they did some kind of color correction in the print, but it seems like the dash, seat fabric, and vinyl on the door panels all blend together more closely, than on that Monte. Plus, I think there's just something about that ribbed pattern on the Monte's door panel that I don't find that tasteful, whereas the Malibu's is simpler.
My '81 had no A/C. I found out one time that the big, long fake woodgrain trim panel just snapped in. I used to like to goof on people by saying "Hold this" while I was driving and handing it to the passenger.
I way-preferred the shiny black panel used on the '81 Malibu Classic only.
The standard Malibu Classic interior is the same seat trim as the Monte Carlo, but the door panels were different.
And I'm still convinced, to this day, that GM was planning on trying to pass off what ultimately became the Malibu as a second-wave of downsizing for the Caprice, similar to what Pontiac did with the Bonneville G. But then, for whatever reason, cooler heads prevailed? I wonder if, maybe they were expecting 1981 sales to tank, but when they didn't tank as badly as expected, Chevrolet was able to give the Caprice/Impala a reprieve, while Pontiac, for whatever reason, stayed committed to the Bonneville G?
It must have been frustrating for Pontiac, though, as the '81 LeMans didn't really drop that much compared to '80, and I believe the Catalina/Bonneville sold at around the same rate as well. But then the '82 Bonneville G sold slightly less than the '81 LeMans had, and the 6000 got off to a really slow start the first couple years.
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As for premium Japanese coupes in those days, I did like the Acura Legend.
Oh, for the "something you don't hear every day files"...I have Antenna TV playing in the background. On "Barney Miller", a woman comes into the station and says "I'm looking for the officer who found my DeSoto..." And they're arguing over whether it's pink, or "Coral", and how it was a very popular color that year. Naturally they're not going to show the car, but I'm going to guess, 1956? Wasn't coral extra popular around that timeframe? I think pink/coral was Mamie Eisenhower's favorite color, and that's why there were a lot of pink/coral colored cars around that time....not to mention, bathrooms!
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Quiet was never something that registered on my radar. Considering I prefer to have the radio cranked and moonroof open, you really don't notice a little tire whine!
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Can't be more than a few remaining.
The 6cyl manual is more or less a NA Supra with a different body, and can take insane tuning.
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I've had four low-buck Chevys with clutches--'97 Cavalier (129.6K miles), '02 Cavalier (112K), '08 Cobalt (106K I think; got rid of it because the paintwork done when my Stude rolled into it at six weeks of age for the Cobalt, was starting to fade and show wear), oh, and '90 Corsica (108K). All were bought new. No apparent clutch wear at all; trust me, I could still stall them out! When I bought the first or the second car, a woman told me her husband said "GM clutches last 25K miles", LOL.
I never rode the clutch. I tried to teach my daughters to not ride the brakes too, although after a 15-minute try neither girl ever wanted to drive a stick ever again. Riding the brakes--it makes me crazy to see someone's brake lights on for like five consecutive minutes!
I understand why, but when the "Parisienne" came out, I was like, "Come on!". I'd not known GM to move a product from one division to another like that. Sure, the FWD A-bodies looked similar, but a Parisienne WAS a Caprice! Even the instrument panel was the same! I guess though, really, that had been done with Ventura/Omega/Apollo--but I still think when the American Parisienne was introduced, there was extremely little difference from the Caprice Classic.
When they added skirts and that wiiiiiddddddee rocker trim, it did revert in looks to '81 Bonneville I think.
They never did introduce a coupe, like Caprice had.
As for the downsized Monte Carlo, I think you could get a 4-speed in 1978, but, but for '79 it was only offered in the 267 and 305-equipped Malibus. For '80, it was limited to the 305, and for '81, the 305 was standard-automatic (and only offered in wagons, police cars, and taxis). At least, according to the EPA.
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The '82 Parisienne did have a coupe available here but it sold poorly and was dropped in '83. The Chevy DNA is quite visible in this shot.
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The one I wanted then, and wish I had now, is a black '78 Malibu Classic coupe, not Landau, column-shift automatic, PS, PB, gold pinstripe, Sport wheel covers, whitewalls, body side moldings, F41, 305 2-barrel, door edge guards, floor mats, tinted glass, cruise control, remote-control LH mirror, A/C, Special Instrumentation, 50/50 camel cloth front seats with dual center armrests, deluxe bumpers (strips), AM/FM radio with rear seat speaker; Custom Deluxe (color-keyed) seat belts.
Had I been two or three years older at that time, and got the job I got, I probably would've ordered that car.
I think the instrument panel was a bold decision at the time. I'd have to have had the Monte gauge cluster, but to have zero woodgrain inside, and no nameplate on the dash...I still like the dash. Of course, in later years the desire to add both became overwhelming, sigh.
My ordered unit would've looked a good bit like this one. For some reason F41 on the mid-size cars never got the pinstripe whitewall I liked from the big Chevys, but it doesn't bother me on a midsize:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/vintage-review-1978-chevrolet-malibu-classic-car-and-driver-goes-crazy-for-f41/
And then, once Pontiac realized they jumped the gun on dumping full-sized cars, and looked to Canada for inspiration, they figured they might as well bring the Canadian name down, as well. "Bonneville" was now committed to the midsize, and if they tried to revert it back to the full-size, it would have been admitting they made a mistake. I think the Catalina was destined to die, anyway, as the market for lower-end big cars was drying up. The Impala nameplate itself went away for '86, being replaced by a base Caprice. It had the same grille, taillights, etc as a Caprice, but continued the old Impala interior. The only other prestige name in recent memory Pontiac had, I guess, was "Grand Ville", but at that point in time, it probably didn't have much nostalgia or brand equity going for it.
One interesting variant that Canada got, was a Parisienne coupe. At least, in '82 they had one. They also held onto the LeMans nameplate, at least through '82, although it was identical to the '82 Bonneville-G, rather than the '81 LeMans.
**Edit: AB348, we must be psychically linked, somehow
Also, this might be a bit sacrilegious, but I actually like the Parisienne dash! I preferred the "real" Catalina/Bonneville dash, but one detail I liked about the Parisienne, is how they made the four round gauge faces. It made me think just a bit of a '64 Tempest/LeMans/GTO! In contrast, I remember the Chevy sort of going back and forth between a strip speedometer in a rectangle, flanked by a round gauge on either side, or four square gauge faces. I can't remember if one was an upgrade over the other, or maybe the 4 square gauges was an update that came in later years?
I bought my daughter an '09, white with light gray interior, on eBay from guy from NJ which would take me a page to describe how the sale transaction went. He was the son of a well-to-do guy, and whose personality was every bad Jersey stereotype you ever heard. He would be angry at me for asking questions about the car during the auction. But I told myself I didn't need to like the seller to buy the car.
My daughter was in an accident where a pickup pulled out in front of her, then left the scene. She did have a minor fracture in her wrist from the airbag, and we settled two years later with the other guy's insurance company. I got $100 more for her Cobalt than I bought it for four years earlier.
She has said she liked it better than her current Cruze ('15). I'd agree, the Cobalt looked better IMHO. The standard wheelcovers in '09 and later had more, finer openings cut in them and looked a lot better than my '08 I think.
To me, the ignition switch fiasco was so dumb...the way GM handled it. When I saw a TSB about it, mentioning the key feeling 'sticky' to get out of the switch--when I first noticed the very beginnings of that in mine, I had the switch replaced under warranty. My daughter's never had that feeling, later. When it became a recall, it was determined that some fairly-low-level employee didn't change the part no. of the revised switch, I believe it was. So when the recall happened, they couldn't tell for certain if the part replaced in mine from the TSB was the revised part, or not. I bet that never happens again.
I remember asking my local dealer Service Writer, if they were being inundated with that recall, and he looked stone-faced and opened a drawer with several inches of work orders in it, LOL.
I never worried about my daughter's, as the switch felt fine, like new. The wearing was a gradual thing. It did get the recall of course, though. I did mention to my elderly friend who had been my hometown Stude-MB dealer, that his dealer would give him a loaner for as long as it took for parts to come in (he had an HHR). He didn't know that but thanked me profusely. He had a rental for two or three months I think. He saw it as a way to extend the life of his HHR.
It reminds me, obtusely--and this is off-topic too--that, recently, a car magazine had a long-term test of a recent Subaru model and they reported it had been back at the dealer's for something like one-third of the test schedule for various things. Certainly not the current general perception of Subie out there. I do not recall the model or even the magazine name, sadly. But I was pretty stunned to read that, based on all the general perception.
One day, he killed it 27 times in row, at a left turn only light, with traffic backing up farther and farther behind him. Begged me to drive. I wouldn't do it. Eventually, after a lot of tears and angst, we made it.
I bought the BMW in late April, that year. He had an Acura that was a gift from my uncle. He gets his license in August, and starts expressing a deep interest in learning to drive the stick, again. On my new (to me) BMW. You know, the one I'm going to keep for six years..
Anyway, now he is a diehard stick driver. He is on his third one (Tacoma). And, evidently my BMW clutch survived...
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Step son was first. I honestly don't remember teaching him to drive stick - I think his best friend did.
Next up was the step daughter. Wife wanted her to learn how to drive stick. In fact, we searched 3 Ford dealers to find the "perfect" Focus for her - like @uplanderguy, the wife wanted a stick shift with ABS. Found a 5 door version that fit the bill and bought it.
Several attempts to teach her failed, miserably. My daughter is 5'7", but has larger than average feet. She could never get the hang of the foot placement between the three pedals, and we eventually gave up. I drove the Focus, and she drove my Saturn L300.
Last, was my son, who was both the youngest of the three kids and didn't get his license until he was 18. When he graduated HS, I brought out to him my father-in-laws early 90's Subaru Legacy wagon. 140,000 miles, and it made the trip from CO to CA without a hiccup, and averaged 30MPG to boot. I taught him the basics in a school parking lot, and he managed to get the hang of it pretty quickly. He didn't keep the Subaru for long, and gifted it to a close friend of his, who totaled it not much later.
Wife learned to drive stick a lot like @kyfdx taught his son. Her stepdad helped her buy an ex-rental Datsun 210 with a stick. When the transaction was complete, he flipped her the keys and said "see you at home". Wife had it all figured out quickly, and drove nothing but stick shifts until I met her.
Me? Like my step son, a friend taught me how to drive stick in his 70's Chevy Luv. I still remember going up and down the street in front of my house, getting the hang of it. There are times where I'd like to have one more "fun" stick shift car to drive.
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I think there's plenty of image behind the brand along with substance. Also, excellent touchy-feely marketing helps a lot.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/United States/Chevrolet/1984-Chevrolet/1984-Chevrolet-Caprice--Impala-Brochure/slides/1984_Chevrolet_Caprice_Classic__Impala-06-07.html
As I've mentioned several times here, I always liked the gloss black panel above the glovebox, and the Parisienne got this. To my eyes, it's a break from test-tube woodgrain and hard, grained plastic.
Speaking of glovebox--the ones in those cars were pretty useless. A pet peeve of my Dad's, and mine too, was when the owner's manual wouldn't fit in the glovebox.
It's pretty amazing to me that Car and Driver had the '83 Caprice Classic on their "Ten Best Cars" list, in the seventh year of the iteration, and especially that it was a full-size domestic. I'll always like the '77-79 cars best of the run.
My Grandfather did that with my Aunt. She wanted a stick shift as her first car. He bought her a Datsun (I don't remember which one) and once she got her license in his Cadillac she taught herself the manual.
To this day, still drives one (Honda Fit)
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https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0119-356520/1976-chevrolet-cosworth-vega/?fbclid=IwAR334wwtZ7NvnuPvimbZdFNstlmZjGd7ROYPk3u4K8V1eVMv8GntYlKOkX4
Comments from Oct. '76 Road Test posted by the admin of the Facebook Vega and H-Body forum, which I find interesting. I'm sure they're cherry-picked, but still interesting. The sticker price I found startling to say the least, back then when I saw the single one our dealer got in.
"Cosworth Vega is the only American car worthy of the lot. It is more than just some little super coupe...the one thing with the Cosworth that sets it apart from the others is the engine. Stock it has 110 horsepower but it should be good for at least 200 and still be streetable." "The results are in Figure 2. Read 'em and weep, all you foreign-is-better nuts, because right there at the top, and by a long way at that, is the Cosworth Vega. It had the fastest 0-60 time, the fastest quarter-mile time, and tied with the Saab for the shortest braking distance". "Cosworth: The least body roll complemented the power-provoked oversteer"
Supposedly, the test pitted Alfa, Mazda, Lancia and Saab versus the Cosworth. The Facebook page doesn't list models, unfortunately.
Where do they think Cosworth engines originate?
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I only know this because Orbit City is on Indianola in Columbus.
Spacely Sprockets and Co[g]sworth Cogs? The Jetsons right?
Good one! I loved the play on words from that show, and the Flintstones.
Almost too many to quote: Dean Martian, Gina Lollajupiter, Stony Curtis, Rock Hudstone, etc.
Omar, I apparently forgot that you were from Columbus. Daughter and son-in-law both teach at Hilliard.
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There are quite a few '76 cars I could like to own, as well. Still, IMHO, an era of (some) automobiles as 'art' over function. And sometimes...that's OK.
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