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

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  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 50,439
    Was Charles Degaul in the trunk?

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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    Sheesh.
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  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,097
    I know the early cars are pretty rare, but wow. I bet the seller made several times his initial investment.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655

    That red LeMans is pretty, but I don't ever recall a GM coupe of that era with the big quarter window, where a landau-style roof like that was ever available with anything but the opera window.

    Yeah, my attitude on them has really softened up considerably as I've gotten older. I just, for whatever reason, could not stand my Mom's '75. However, part of it might have been that the car she had before was a '68 Impala. I always remember it as being greenish blue, but a few years back I found an old pic of Granddad standing beside it, and it actually looked more silvery-green. But, anyway, I loved the color of it at the time. I need to find a pic of Mom's '75. I don't know exactly what color it was. Mom always called it "Bronze", and Dad said it was a persimmon color. Well, damn if Pontiac didn't have both of those names listed on their color chart for '75, and they're both similar enough, that it's not jogging my memory on Mom's car.

    Mom's had the big triangular windows, which I definitely prefer. I think the interior was a light brown...definitely vinyl. I think it's that color they called "buckskin".

    That '74 Malibu Classic is horrible, the way they closed in the window trim on the inside! But otherwise, the seats do look nice and comfy, and very well padded. One little detail I've noticed on the Chevies is that, no matter what the trim level, I don't think you got carpeting on the lower door panels...even in the Monte Carlo.

    The blue base Malibu coupe, shown on page 9 of that brochure, looks really sharp to me. But, I would hate that interior. And you're right, it seems like there should be a trim level in between that base Malibu and the Classic. That Malibu seat looks like it really belongs in a police car or taxi, or a fleet car that the electric company or whatever might use. Perhaps, they could have offered a stripper level with that interior, reserved just for sedans and wagons...call it a "Malibu S" or whatever. Usually, coupe buyers want their cars to be a little less utilitarian, so in my opinion there shouldn't be a stripper level. And then make the Malibu a slightly nicer trim level, in the full range of sedan/coupe/wagon models, and then have the Classic, as is, at the top of the heap.

    Maybe this was just an example of GM still trying to keep a bit of the old Sloan-era hierarchy going? My Mom's LeMans, despite being a base model, still had nicer seats than that base Malibu. And the Luxury LeMans seemed a step up from the Malibu Classic. But, in trying to keep up that hierarchy, perhaps it made the Malibu a bit *too* cheap?

    I guess the public really was wanting all of their coupes to look like personal luxury coupes by that time, so that's why the big-window models didn't sell well? Over at Mopar, the Charger and Satellite Sebring coupes, while still hardtops, had thick C-pillars. And the Torino, if you got a cheap one, had a thin roll-down window and huge C-pillar. If you got the models that put the little opera window in the C-pillar, you lost the roll-down window, because, rather than roll down, that window actually retracted into the C-pillar, and there was now no place for it to go.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    ab348 said:

    Sacré bleu! My mind is blown. $92,000.00!

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    Just be careful, those cars are wider than they look!



  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,097
    Plenty of room honey, I know this car!

    I've seen enthusiasts cringe at that scene, that car, a late run DS21, is also pretty rare now, when at the time it was just an odd unloved used car.
  • sdasda Member Posts: 6,936
    We had a 73 Grand Am 4 dr. I really liked that beast. Though it was big, it drove and ran great. The 400 2bbl with single exhaust was ok quick, but loved to swill gas in a large way.

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  • tjc78tjc78 Member Posts: 15,852
    @fintail
    @andre1969

    Ha ha you both beat me to it!

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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    I also hear you can drive those Citroen DS'es on 3 wheels. At least, if "CHiPs" is to be believed...



    And, I'm sure the Citroen aficionados would cringe at this...

  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    Interesting; I was not aware of that story.

    Not related to cars, but a U.S. history lover here-- you guys may have seen that President John Tyler's grandson (not 'great') died recently. Tyler was born in 1790, left office in 1845, and still has one living grandson!

    Stuff like that blows my mind--the last living witness of Lincoln's assassination on a TV game show in 1956; Warren G. Harding's mistress living until 1991, and this.

    All shows me how the U.S. just really isn't that old.
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    andre, I would wager a bet that the '74 Luxury LeMans had that filler panel visible in the quarter windows until Jan. or so too! I remember looking inside Malibu Classics later in the year and they had a 'normal' trim piece around that little window inside, thankfully.

    The only Monte Carlos that had carpeting at the bottom of the door panels in the '73-77 era were the '75-77's with the 'Special Custom Interior'--although the way the door panel was designed, there wasn't a whole lot of carpeting at the bottom. You can see a little in this brochure pic:

    http://autominded.net/brochure/chevrolet/1976 Monte Carlo05.jpg

    I was reminded from the brochure of the wretched "Fashion Tone" optional two-tone on those cars--different color on the front fender blister. Just horrid IMHO.
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    edited October 2020
    The carpeted door panel is better-seen in this Charles Phoenix video of a car with white interior, at around 2:26. Best-viewed with NO sound, LOL! This is the optional Special Custom interior in all-vinyl. Strange that they offered it in two different cloths or all-vinyl, and in 50/50 seats or the swivel buckets.

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=236864827354798

    The lime green interior pieces are bad, but I can't look away! LOL

    Clearly, the styling budget was spent on the outside of the car. Those '73-77 Chevy midsize dashes win the award for flimsiest glovebox door ever made. I remember when new--no detent at all and thin plastic.

    Another Colonnade cheap-out in my memory, although I don't know if this is only the Chevys or not--andre, pipe in--but I remember opening the hood and you could see the jagged, uneven bottom border of the windshield. No molding there, like in the Impala and Caprice.
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    andre--regarding the '74 Chevelle brochure, there is a photo goof there. The blue base-Malibu coupe shows the Rally Wheels used on Novas and Camaros only. Chevelles and Monte Carlos that year used the much-better-looking five-slot Rally Wheels, as first-seen on '67 Corvettes. I saw several new ones at the dealer with the five-slot Rally Wheels but have never in 46 years seen a '74 Chevelle with the style Rally Wheels shown in the brochure.

    Of course, Chevy called both just "Rally Wheels" on the window stickers and in the brochures, plain and simple.
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    Interesting, I've never seen one of those "Special Custom Interior" Montes. They certainly are a nice upgrade, though. I just do not care for that Malibu/Monte Carlo dash, in general though. Sometimes it doesn't look bad in brochure pics, but overall it just seems too big, and wasteful. For instance, there's just so much blank area on the passenger side, so you'd think they could make the glove box bigger. And that whole upper padded section just looks like it's waiting to crack!

    Now that you mention it, I think you're right about the unfinished windshield base on the Colonades. I'm pretty sure my LeMans is the same way. Another "feature" of these cars is that sometimes, at highway speeds, the back edge of the hood, toward the windshield, will start to flutter. It's not as bad as the "oil-canning" feature of 70's Eldorados where the whole hood would start to jiggle and shimmy like a Jell-O mold even when idling, but it's noticeable. Oh, and there's an exposed seam at the top of the A-pillar, where it joins the roof. Models with a full vinyl roof are able to hide this little detail, but on plain-roof, or landau models, it's noticeable.

    As for that '74 brochure, another goof, which seems common with Colonade advertising, is that when they show the 4-doors with the windows rolled down, they either take out the rear window glass completely, or airbrush it out, giving the impression that the windows roll all the way down. To their credit, they do roll down about 3/4 of the way...something that, as the 70's rolled on, we learned not to take for granted.

    That's also one thing that bugs me...a car with frameless doors, where the window doesn't roll all the way down. Just seems like something that's begging to shatter, to me. Now, cars like the '80-85 Seville and the R-body Newport/St. Regis/Gran Fury had frameless doors with rear windows that didn't go all the way down. But, they at least had a spacer window in back, to give the roll-down glass some support, so it wouldn't rattle as much.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 19,256
    1965 Chevrolet commercial. After the Corvette, I kept waiting for the Impala.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X5m4emm0OM
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    edited October 2020
    Chevy never gave a Monte Carlo a center armrest until the Special Custom Interior of 1978.

    Chevy's optional interiors on Monte Carlos and Caprice Classics of '75 and '76 involved 50/50 seating and a reclining passenger seat. I'd probably have rather had a center armrest. Did the B-O-P seating in their midsize specialty coupes have reclining seats, or not? Too lazy to check.

    Good point about the Colonnade four-door rear window pics in the brochure.

    My good high school buddy's parents bought a demo '76 Malibu Classic sedan in dark blue, blue cloth inside, and silver vinyl top. Sounds weird, but it did look nice. They actually traded it on a new '78 Malibu Classic sedan, dark blue with white vinyl top.

    Something I always remember about Colonnade sedans--the doors had strong detents, for lack of a better word. They opened and held open in very noticeable positions, and for as short as they were, required a fairly stiff pull to close.
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    One other Monte Carlo visible cheap-out was the '73-77 rear window had a visible seam down the middle, where the others looked like a single piece of glass.
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    edited October 2020
    I think Chevy had a really solid line-up in '65. The Impala is deftly styled from every angle IMHO. It sold over a million itself (not even counting Biscaynes and Bel Airs). I don't know if that number has ever been topped since, by any single series of cars. And I love the Evening Orchid color of the car in the commercial.

    Agnes Moorehead is hilarious I always thought. I'm still amazed she did Velma in "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" at about the time this commercial was filmed. She is almost unrecognizable in that film.

    I always remember every town, no matter how small, seemed to have a Chevy dealer. I always thought that was a plus. They advertised in 1970 that they had 6,300 U.S. dealers.
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    I never noticed that before. I just figured it was the same window as what you'd see on a Grand Prix, Cutlass Supreme, or Regal. But, looking at pics online, where the two window planes come together, the seam does look noticeable on the Monte, whereas on the other cars, it's mostly just the lighting and angle of reflections that draws attention to it.

    On the plus side though, it looks like the opera window the Monte Carlo uses is unique to only it, so I guess that shows some effort. I also just noticed that the Grand Prix's opera window also seems unique...at least it looks a bit larger than the one used on the Regal and Cutlass Supreme.
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,031
    edited October 2020
    Thanks for the warning about muting the sound on that Monte Carlo video. When the guy started dancing around at the start I knew that had been sound advice. :laughing:

    I love that lime green/white combo GM offered that year. As I've posted before, I'll take mine in a Firebird, please. This is a nice example although I suspect the drivers door has been repainted as it looks just a tiny bit different in some shots. Has a ding on the LF fender just ahead of the door too. And the vinyl roof is close to going bad as can be seen in some of the close-ups. I never paid attention to the MC interiors but those seats look very nice. As noted, if only they had a center armrest.

    GM's cost-cutters discovered you didn't need the stainless piece at the bottom of the windshield and IIRC just used a couple of hidden wiper stops there that were concealed by the hood. That was also the case going forward for the downsized B/C-bodies. I don't recall seeing those wheel covers before, must have been a rare choice.

    I wish I had some interior shots of my '77 LeMans coupe but none exist. It had the proper interior panel over the rear quarter window. It had the color-accent white interior as well, with a blue dash and carpeting, to go with the light blue metallic lower body paint and white painted top. Looked sharp. It had 2 build quality issues related to the doors - both windows would rattle if you closed the door with them partially rolled down, especially the drivers door. I actually took the door panel off that side and adjusted the window guides but could never completely eliminate it. Also, on the drivers door panel around the door lock it looked like the glue had failed in about a 6"-8" wide section and the vinyl had loosened from the backing card, something I could never fix, but just a minor annoyance.

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  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,031
    A thought that popped into my head last night for no reason:

    Were dealership names often two surnames paired together? Up here back in the '50s and '60s it was quite common. We had Teasdale and Foot, Fairley and Stevens, Shultz and Hankey, Stephens and Yeaton, Smith and Watt... it seemed a common thing here. Most of those have now gone away and been replaced with a simpler name. I wonder if that also was the case elsewhere.

    My favorite area car dealer name was a longtime Ford dealer in a town about 90 minutes away from here, which from the 1930s until the late '90s operated under the name "Vee-Eight Motors". When it was sold to new owners around 1998 the name was finally changed. I always loved seeing the dealer stickers on the trunks of Fords with that wonderful throwback name.

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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    edited October 2020
    On that lime green Monte Carlo, those are the Turbine II wheels, standard on the Landau model. I think the five-slot Rally Wheels (N/A on the Landau) actually look nicer. A lot of the cars have had the Turbine II wheels replaced with Rally Wheels over the years.
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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    Vee-Eight Motors, what a great name!

    I grew up in a small town, but the dealers were usually just the owner's last name, followed by whatever the make they sold was. The Ford dealer, still there and the only new-car dealer in the town-proper, has been "Phil Godfrey" for decades.
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    ab348 said:

    Thanks for the warning about muting the sound on that Monte Carlo video. When the guy started dancing around at the start I knew that had been sound advice. :laughing:

    LOL. I just watched the whole thing through with the sound on. Is it wrong that I want to tell the dude that that's not opera, it's a show tune? And with some of the other innuendos he slipped in, I'm surprised he didn't say anything about the "Bi-Level" selection on the HVAC control! :p

    Gotta say though, I'm liking that Limefire Green metallic, or whatever Chevy called it, more and more. And that one looks like a pretty nice example.


  • MichaellMichaell Moderator Posts: 240,118

    Interesting; I was not aware of that story.

    Not related to cars, but a U.S. history lover here-- you guys may have seen that President John Tyler's grandson (not 'great') died recently. Tyler was born in 1790, left office in 1845, and still has one living grandson!

    Stuff like that blows my mind--the last living witness of Lincoln's assassination on a TV game show in 1956; Warren G. Harding's mistress living until 1991, and this.

    All shows me how the U.S. just really isn't that old.

    I saw that obit in The NY Times. I too was fascinated by that.

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  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    That Charles Phoenix does similar pieces on a lot of old cars. I get being enthusiastic, but....sheesh.

    He has one with a '58 Ford Fairlane 500 two-door hardtop, an underrated Ford in my book.

    But he's ALWAYS best with the sound off!
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    edited October 2020
    Just found that '58 Ford video. I'm enough of a masochist that I want to hear it with the sound, but right now my housemate is home watching "The Goldbergs" (computer is in the same room as the big tv). So, I'll watch it later. From the opening though, it looks like a gorgeous car.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9zokMRODXM

    And, I know we've have this conversation before (just like many others!) but I've always kinda had a thing for the '58 Ford. I don't really care for the taillights, but think the rest of it is attractive. I know by and large, the styling is supposed to be sort of a "Thunderbird for the masses", but up front it makes me think of just a hint of DeSoto/Chrysler. Seems like the '58 is under-appreciated by most people, though. They either go for the '57, for its "purer" design, or the '59, which really went hard and heavy for the T-bird/formal look. But, I don't care for the front of the '57, with the jutting headlights, and I don't like the '59 from the rear. The shape of the fins, and location of the backup lights makes the car look really top-heavy and tipsy.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    edited October 2020
    I love that Ford. The only thing that kind of smacks me is, I wonder if those hockey-stick rocker moldings were optional or if every Fairlane 500 had them. I could like the car a bit better without them.

    When they opened the brochure in the video, there's a Fairlane 500 without that molding.

    I like '57 Fords too, but I hate '59's.
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    And, I gotta confess, I'm starting to like the guy more and more. Hmmm...I wonder why? :p


  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    We on the group here can get together for your next birthday and have him send you a greeting on 'Cameo' since he says he does that. :)
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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    That would be DeLightful of you. Downright DeLovely :p
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    OK, Groucho!
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  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,031

    I love that Ford. The only thing that kind of smacks me is, I wonder if those hockey-stick rocker moldings were optional or if every Fairlane 500 had them. I could like the car a bit better without them.

    When they opened the brochure in the video, there's a Fairlane 500 without that molding.

    I like '57 Fords too, but I hate '59's.

    The rocker panel trim is listed in the brochure as an accessory item.

    The colors on that '58 make it for me. I have been rather indifferent to them over the years, both for the taillights which I don't really care for, and the stamped grille which I always thought looked cheap, but that one looks very nice and I certainly wouldn't turn it down.

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  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 50,439
    the owner of the Ford made a good point about why a lot of the older cars are just not worth that much now (and likely to trend down). He said that people like him want what they had (or wanted) when they were young, and finally have the money to do it. Well, like with the 20-30s cars, the people that were driving age in the mid-50s are not buying cars at this points, and families inheriting the ones they did have from years back likely don't want them.

    next up, the late 60's muscle cars!

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  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 235,199

    Saw this on the interweb, today

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  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    One thing that surprises me is how many nicely kept, but otherwise somewhat mundane, 70's cars seem to be fetching obscene money. For instance, that red '75 LeMans coupe I posted the other day had sold at an auction, in 2017, for about $26,000! Now granted, it only had 2300 miles on it, but still. That just seems ridiculous to me.

    And, what can you really do with it, except store it away in a climate controlled facility, probably with the rest of another collection, and definitely DON'T drive it, otherwise it loses the "low miles" benefit. And, I guess, hope that if you want to sell it, hope that someone comes along that's willing to pay even more for it. But, who knows...maybe this one just got caught up in an auction with a bunch of rich drunks trying to outbid each other for bragging rights?

    Also, call me pessimistic, but I don't think the younger generations are going to have quite the financial resources as those before them. So there isn't going to be the same disposable income, to throw at a classic car. It'll be interesting to see where the hobby goes, in the coming years. One thing I have noticed, is that when I go to the swap meets at Carlisle, PA, the car corral area has been a lot more sparsely populated in recent years...and this was even before COVID. And, increasingly, there have been a lot of what I'd call just used cars, rather than what most people would think of as a classic/antique. But then again, time marches on, I guess. I remember in the fall of 2019, there was a really nice white 1994 Intrepid, and a dark green '97 or so Regal for sale. Those are cars that are into their 20's now. I was actually a bit tempted by both of these, actually. While those early Intrepids were troublesome, this one had the more reliable, but lower-powered, 3.3 V6. They were pretty durable, and didn't have enough torque to really hurt the transmission, like the more troublesome 3.5 did. And, while I did not like the '97-04 Century/Regal when they were new, as cheap, fairly reliable used cars they're not bad. And, I've grown to like the '03 I've inherited from my Dad. But, not enough to restore it! Both of these cars looked like that had been very well cared for, too. But, I'm sure that being pressed into service as a daily driver, they wouldn't stay pristine forever. And I'm not about to buy something like that to preserve it.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    stickguy said:

    Well, like with the 20-30s cars, the people that were driving age in the mid-50s are not buying cars at this points, and families inheriting the ones they did have from years back likely don't want them.

    That's sort of how I ended up with my '57 DeSoto. I bought it from an elderly couple in Pennsylvania, who had had it since 1959. This was 1990. They were getting up in years, and decided it was time to let it go. However, none of their kids wanted it. But, as soon as I bought it, suddenly the kids (and grandkids) were whining about them selling it! Now that I think about it, I believe the wife passed away a year or two after I bought it. I kept in touch with them for awhile, but eventually lost contact.

    Heck, now that I think about it, that elderly couple I bought the car from might have been older than I thought. I was only 20 at the time, so honestly, anybody 60 or older looked "old" to me. But, I just did a search online for the wife's name, and there was one match, in Pennsylvania. 111 years old! A lot of those online name searches don't take into account someone's death. For instance, they list both of my Granddads as being 103 and 106, respectively. Nevermind the fact that they died at 73 and 101. Anyway, presuming it's the same lady, that would have put her at around 81 when I bought that car. So, some of the grandkids were probably driving age, by that point.

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    Interesting how Ford would brag about that Torino, being their "roomiest midsized car ever". A lot of reviews I've read have talked mostly about how it was too big and heavy, and not space efficient. And apparently, once fuel economy became a concern, Ford tried to find ways to make it more fuel efficient, but simply gave up and put a larger fuel tank in, so you could at least get better range. And at some point, I believe they got so heavy that Ford gave up on putting a 6-cyl in, and just made the V8 standard.

    I'm too lazy to add up the stats now, but I think the '72 Torino put a lot of pressure on GM, by outselling the Malibu line, and by a fairly wide margin. I think it did it again for '73, although to be fair, some would-be Malibu buyers were probably buying Monte Carlos, whereas Ford wouldn't have an equivalent to that until the '74 Torino Elite.

    The Torino got hit hard during the first oil embargo, though. and by '76 sales were down considerably. Meanwhile, the Malibu still sold fairly well, even through '77 when it had to compete with downsized big cars in its own showroom.
  • uplanderguyuplanderguy Member Posts: 16,056
    That reminds me a bit of a Strato Blue 1964 Studebaker Daytona hardtop I owned for a year, about a decade ago.

    Story condensed--I always remembered seeing it in my hometown; trim, older guy driving it. He lived on Sherrard Avenue and kept the car very nice--I probably first noticed it when I was about 16 (1974). I bought my white '63 Daytona Skytop in 1988. In 1990 in the national Studebaker Drivers' Club magazine, I saw the '64 for sale by the original owner in my hometown, with 55K miles, for $2,500. There was no way I could buy a second Stude at that time.

    I called the seller and he said it sold very quickly, and that he had received about 40 calls on it. A guy from Wisconsin took the Amtrak to Erie and the seller picked him up (an hour's drive away). The guy drove it around the block, said he'd take it, then drove it home to Wisconsin, promising to let the seller know that he got home OK. He did.

    I asked the seller for his name, as the seller told me he had all the original paperwork with it go to the buyer. I contacted the buyer and said I'd pay $10 for copies of any paperwork he had for the car that had the name of the selling dealer, Carl E. Filer Co., Greenville, PA on it. He said 'OK' and I got a stack of stuff from him--window sticker copy, purchase agreement, and about three years' worth of service records from the dealership. I was delighted. Also got a copy of the ad in our local newspaper from the dealer telling customers he intended to stay in business so parts and service would continue to be available.

    Flash forward to 2010 and I saw the car on eBay. I knew the serial no. from the paperwork and it was the same car, in Wisconsin. The buyer had died and it had changed hands a few times in 20 years. I bought it for $4,200, which ended up being too much when it got off the truck at my house. The seller over-represented the condition. I didn't pay a fortune, and it was a twenty-footer, but it had rust in some serious places. I sold it a year later to a guy from Australia for what I paid for it, after providing him photos of all the worst areas.

    But I'm happy to say I owned it. And I'm glad I had copies of all the paperwork, because when I got the car, there was none of that with it.

    I'm leaving out that I wrote the original owner in my hometown that I'd bought the car, and he replied in a card, that he hoped to see the car sometime. I said I would try and get the car over to Greenville by summer's end and I'd let him know ahead-of-time.

    Well, brakes needed work and I had a friend offer to do them--which dragged out over several months.

    The original owner's wife died maybe six weeks after I bought the car, and he died about two months after that. They had no children.

    But....their executor somehow knew my sister, and he asked her, "Didn't your brother buy Delmar's Studebaker? I've got something for him from the house". It was this framed picture group, which now hangs on my office wall. I'm happy to have it. Bottom right pic is the Wisconsin buyer pulling out of the driveway to go home with it.


    2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,031
    edited October 2020
    I think you need to differentiate between people who buy classic cars (or airplanes, or watches, or whatever) just because they have the means and can, knowing they will seldom if ever use them and buy them instead to prove to themselves and others how wealthy they are (the guy that paid over a million bucks for a 2018 Ford GT at B-J this past weekend is likely in that group), versus the person who is actually interested in restoring/preserving/using a collector car because it meant something to them in their youth. The people today who were our age 20-30 years ago and want a car they can use will probably be bidding up prices on vintage Hondas, BMWs, Porsches, whatever. I don't think the disposable income thing is valid - there are a lot of people making obscene amounts of money who want to spend it (though I also agree there are a lot not making the kind of middle-class money many of us had the opportunity to make either).

    But the point is taken, and in part that is the reason I am mulling a sale of the Cutlass soon, that plus the fact that I seldom get a chance to use it any more and it is just one more thing to deal with. Seems a shame to just have it sitting in the garage 99% of the time.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,097
    I think in the future, these collector/hobby cars will become more of a thing for either upper income groups, or a much narrower subset of the population compared the past 50 years - due both to wealth consolidation/socio-economic gap exacerbation, and many young people these days not being into "collecting" anything no matter their finances. I look at my parents and their friends, all who "collected" something and many who had old cars, and then my siblings, who don't collect anything in the boomer/hoarder way, and would think having an old car is a hilarious waste. I even get it about the fintail, along the lines of "you have two cars?".

    That 58 Ford reminds me of my dad. Back when he had the 60, we'd go scouting for old cars, and "found" a dusty blue and white 58 Country Sedan slumbering under a carport. Being in this region, the car was in decent shape, just needed some detail work. It was a different time even 25-30 years ago, and my dad being gregarious, wouldn't hesitate to knock on doors and ask about cars he spotted - he almost never was met with anyone really rude or upset, although "gonna restore it someday" was the typical answer, and it was the answer for that 58. I am sure half the time these days, some old nutter would answer while holding a gun. The non-functional hood scoop on that design always amused me, but I like it more than the frogeyed 57 or rear overbite 59, too.



  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 16,759
    fintail said:


    That 58 Ford reminds me of my dad. Back when he had the 60, we'd go scouting for old cars, and "found" a dusty blue and white 58 Country Sedan slumbering under a carport. Being in this region, the car was in decent shape, just needed some detail work. It was a different time even 25-30 years ago, and my dad being gregarious, wouldn't hesitate to knock on doors and ask about cars he spotted - he almost never was met with anyone really rude or upset, although "gonna restore it someday" was the typical answer, and it was the answer for that 58. I am sure half the time these days, some old nutter would answer while holding a gun. The non-functional hood scoop on that design always amused me, but I like it more than the frogeyed 57 or rear overbite 59, too.

    It's possible that the 58 is still sitting there, with the carport fallen on top of it... still waiting for "someday..."


    I know that some of my cars have big expectations for "someday!" :D
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  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 17,312
    edited October 2020
    andre1969 said:

    Interesting how Ford would brag about that Torino, being their "roomiest midsized car ever". A lot of reviews I've read have talked mostly about how it was too big and heavy, and not space efficient. And apparently, once fuel economy became a concern, Ford tried to find ways to make it more fuel efficient, but simply gave up and put a larger fuel tank in, so you could at least get better range. And at some point, I believe they got so heavy that Ford gave up on putting a 6-cyl in, and just made the V8 standard.

    I'm too lazy to add up the stats now, but I think the '72 Torino put a lot of pressure on GM, by outselling the Malibu line, and by a fairly wide margin. I think it did it again for '73, although to be fair, some would-be Malibu buyers were probably buying Monte Carlos, whereas Ford wouldn't have an equivalent to that until the '74 Torino Elite.

    The Torino got hit hard during the first oil embargo, though. and by '76 sales were down considerably. Meanwhile, the Malibu still sold fairly well, even through '77 when it had to compete with downsized big cars in its own showroom.

    I really liked the styling of the 1972 Grand Torino Sport fastback. Too bad the 351 CJ was the most powerful engine available. When I saw the spy shots of the the 1973 Torinos with that chrome railroad tie-masquerading as a front bumper-on the front I was sure it had to be a prototype- surely the production Torino wouldn't look that ugly.
    I was wrong...

    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive

  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,685
    Just like some bands were 'one hit wonders', the '72 Torino was the same, to me, for the reason you describe.
  • sdasda Member Posts: 6,936
    kyfdx said:


    Saw this on the interweb, today

    That was the best looking year for that body style. The big 5mph bumpers made it look ungainly.

    2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav

  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,031
    I like the ‘72 Torino, but only the fastback body style. The other styles look like someone at the factory bolted on the wrong front end.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,097
    Wouldn't surprise me at all, as you know, in small town PNW, time can move slowly.

    Reminds me of another car that I've pined about before. When I was a young teen, I spotted a Falcon languishing under a carport. It was a 63.5 Falcon Sprint hardtop, 260, red on red, in really decent but kind of barn find dusty condition, and I was really into it. My dad knocked on the door, and the friendly old guy told us stories about buying it new, storing it with the hubcaps in the trunk so nobody would steal them, "saving it" for a project to be completed with his son, who now lived far away and didn't visit often enough. I kind of got a "Cat's in the Cradle" feeling, and felt bad for the old guy, and of course, the car was not for sale. Fast forward several years, the old guy passed away, and the house was emptied and the car removed, never saw it again.
    xwesx said:



    It's possible that the 58 is still sitting there, with the carport fallen on top of it... still waiting for "someday..."


    I know that some of my cars have big expectations for "someday!" :D

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,097
    The 72 Torino to have, in this exact spec, of course:

    image
  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 50,439
    just keep it off the lawn.

    2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.

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