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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.
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.
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@andre1969
Ha ha you both beat me to it!
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And, I'm sure the Citroen aficionados would cringe at this...
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/citroen-helps-de-gaulle-survive-assassination-attempt#:~:text=In August 1962, a group called the OAS,riding from the Elysee Palace to Orly Airport.
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.
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.
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.
Of course, Chevy called both just "Rally Wheels" on the window stickers and in the brochures, plain and simple.
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X5m4emm0OM
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.
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.
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.
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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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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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.
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.
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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!
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.
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 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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next up, the late 60's muscle cars!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Saw this on the interweb, today
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
I know that some of my cars have big expectations for "someday!"
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
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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.
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