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I have a feeling that if it lived a more "normal" life, its economy would be better. It does show though, how far vehicles have come, with regards to fuel economy and performance advancements.
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This wins my award for biggest "fake news" ever seen from an automotive author.
They're saying they had to use up 100 leftover 1961 Chevy bubbletop roofs.
Guess they also had a bunch of leftover glass and hardware, and made special-for-'62 interior trim pieces specific to this roofline too. Sheesh. From my friend:
(Now let me get this straight: According to these geniuses, fewer than 100 1962 Bel-Air Sport Coupes were made to "use up" "leftover" 1961 roofs. Is that stupid or what? My Standard Catalog of American Cars, 4th edition, says 1962 Chevrolet production figures are not broken down by series, only body style. They say 323,427 1962 full-size Chevrolet sport coupes were made, Impalas and Bel-Airs combined, and we are to believe that fewer than 100 of them were Bel-Airs? Talk about an urban legend...what morons...):
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/bubble-love-1962-bel-air-better-resto/?wc_mid=4035:20827&wc_rid=4035:1076571&_wcsid=5F38EB4024F1A1746EB5C7420A94B3AB760D306D2D37CEEA
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JagfFhONxpY
I googled around, and found this interesting chat thread: https://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/24871/
Of course, like most things on the internet, take it with a grain of salt. But someone mentioned that in the US, there were about 9600 Bel Air bubbletops built, and Canada had maybe another 12-15% of that figure. Supposedly 602 of them had the 409.
I didn't realize they were that rare. But now that I think about it, I can't remember the last time I saw one.
Also, if you do a google image search for "1962 Bel Air Bubble Top", an awful lot of pictures come up. And you have to scroll pretty far down the list, before incorrect matches start popping up. Many of the pictures are different shots of the same car, but I'm sure you could probably find more than 100 unique cars just doing an image search.
A few years back, I remember seeing online a light green metallic six-cylinder Bel Air bubbletop for '62, full wheelcovers and whitewalls. I liked it for its honesty.
But where do people come up with this stuff? I believe the author totally made it up for the story, sheesh.
Now that I think about it, did the '63 Grand Prix and Starfire use the same roof? I know it's modified from the typical B-body hardtop coupe roof, and the Starfire has that little kick-forward in the rear window area at the base of the C-pillar. But, the rear window looks like it might be shared.
Today, of course, GM would just put a black plastic triangle on the Olds in that spot and call it done.
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I'd buy a 327 with Powerglide, whitewalls, wheelcovers, tinted glass with that big blue band, padded dash, day-night mirror, power steering and brakes, radio, floor mats, and rear-seat speaker. Not sure what color.
I sincerely believe there are no such cars like that extant.
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
I think this one might be called "Twilight Turquoise Poly." Another one that seemed really common, and nice, was simply "Silver Blue Poly."
As for the low-rent interiors of the more basic trim levels, I don't mind the Bel Air, either. I think GM tended to do a pretty good job dressing up their cars in those days, so even a cheap car didn't have to be something to be ashamed of.
The interior seems quite acceptable but I wonder how much more it cost to move up to an Impala at the time. Of course you would be losing the '61 2-door roofline if you did, but presumably get more in the way of standard equipment.
I remember reading a complaint from the general manager of Olds in the '60s saying that Chevy's interiors were too nice for the class they were supposed to be selling in, which was hurting the other GM brands.
One of the things I did not like about the '62 was that hard, sharp-edged hood over the instrument cluster. I don't know if they offered a padded version of that (and the right side of the dash too) as an option. I've seen some current-day pics but am wondering if they are an aftermarket addition as I don't recall ever seeing one in earlier years.
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Growing up Chevy, and looking back, I think Chevy was great about putting its money where the customer could see it. Impala interiors were, to my eyes, often plusher than Catalina/88/LeSabres, particularly in seating and interior door panels and armrests, although Chevy's instrument panels were oftentimes plainer (but not always). An Impala sometimes had exterior moldings standard that cost extra on a Catalina or LeSabre. But then, they used small V8s in their big cars and Powerglide, for way too long IMHO, I guess to keep the price down. But of course John Q. Customer doesn't SEE the Powerglide or 307, but they see that nice Impala interior! LOL Sometimes the Caprice interiors were too frilly for me (e.g., panty cloth) and I actually prefer an Impala.
Even the Bel Air's seating into the early '70's was to me comparable to a Catalina, but of course the Pontiac had a much nicer instrument panel.
As I'm older I appreciate lower-production numbers in general, more, but really, very few GM products could be called low-production, LOL. I'm not talking particular engines or COPO cars; just models in general. So I probably wouldn't be compelled to choose a Pontiac, Olds, or Buick over a similar Chevy due to exclusivity or rarity, if I really didn't think it looked nicer. Of course, some I do think look nicer!
That said, a '62 Bel Air bubbletop strikes me as rare to see today, compared to an Impala Sport Coupe.
Over at the competition, Ford's cheapest big hardtop was the Galaxie 500 Victoria, at $2674. This book doesn't break out 6/V8 statistics for Ford that year, like it did for Chevy, so they just printed the 6-cyl price. They also list a Galaxie 500 XL Victoria at $2268, but that's obviously a typo. Judging by the price differential between the 500 and the 500 XL in convertibles, I'd guess it was really $3268. I think the XL was Ford's response to the Chevy SS, just with the difference being it was a separate series for Ford, but an option package for Chevy, so maybe that's why Chevy didn't break out production figures?
That $108 difference is probably around $900 these days, adjusting for inflation, so that probably wasn't a huge deal for this type of car buyer. And, when you figure all the extra-cost stuff in those days, like a radio, heater, automatic, power steering/brakes, and so on, that $108 was a pretty small portion of the overall price of the car.
I wonder too, if buyers at the time thought that bubbletop roof was looking old fashioned? Looking at it through modern eyes, I think it looks great. But, at the same time, it doesn't look that different from the roofline of a '57 Ford or Plymouth, so some buyers at the time might have thought it was a step back, style wise.
I hate losing the third light on each side in the back though, LOL.
I wanted to try and get in front of it, and sort of score a picture of it through the side view mirror, but traffic didn't cooperate. I haven't seen a Chevy Uplander, or any of its siblings, in ages now, so it was kinda cool to see one that looked like it had been well taken care of. Judging from the plastic wheelcovers, it looks like it was a low end model, too, the type of vehicle I'd expect to end up as rental fleet fodder, or just used up and discarded, in some other fashion.
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Oldsmobile-Cutlass-/284174171564
As much as I'm don't like the Aerobacks, for some reason, I find myself liking this one, a lot. Maybe because it looks like it's in nice shape, except for that B-pillar interior trim. It's an attractive color, and looks very well equipped. It would be really cool if it had the color-keyed Rally wheels. And while a 305 would have been more desireable, at least the 260 was durable enough.
I read not long ago that although the 260 is slow, it's a reliable engine. In a hobby car I could live with 'slow'.
I'm far-more intrigued with this car (bad pun) than the same-year Cutlass Supreme, as an example. These aeros are almost never seen.
I remember around 1990, when my dad bought the 60 Ford, he needed a piece of red carpet for it, and in the local junkyard there was a red Aeroback just like that, in pretty decent shape (I think it was wrecked). He bought the carpet out of it.
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Tiny thing, but I don't remember the "Cutlass Salon" nameplates inside of the rear door panels like this one has. That seems odd, but not a deal breaker.
UPDATE: The silver car andre posted previously has those nameplates in the same spot as well, so they must be factory.
On Collectible Automobile's facebook page, they'll occasionally do these "Ten slowest cars of 19XX" articles, showing cars that Consumer Guide had tested, and I've seen Cutlasses with the 260 pop up on occasion, with a 0-60 time of around 18 seconds. I think it was a sedan in '81, and a coupe in '82. I know they were slow, but I have trouble believing they were THAT slow!
But, then again, I think a 2.29:1 axle was standard on the 260, so geared like that, it wouldn't be all that fast even if it was a more powerful engine. A friend of mine had an '82 Cutlass Supreme sedan with a 260. This was in the late 90's, around the same time as I had my '86 Monte Carlo, with a 305. His car was obviously slower than mine, but in those young-and-dumb days, we drag raced one night out on US 301. While he couldn't keep up with me, he still did better than I thought he would.
I have a feeling the 260 would be horrible, compared to the modern, faster cars we've all become accustomed to over the years. So as a daily driver it might be annoying if you had to do a lot of highway merging with short on ramps. But, as an offbeat collector car, I think I could live with it.
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1958 DeSoto Firesweep convertible on Barnfinds.com
I think I might have seen this car at the Mopar show in Carlisle PA last summer. The ad says the car is in Lancaster (or "Lank-ister" as they say in those parts ) which isn't far from Carlisle. Here's a pic I took of it...
The two-toning in my pic looks more like a deep red, where it looks more pinkish in the Barnfinds (and eBay) pics. But that could just be lighting, camera quality, etc. I'm guessing it's the same car. Heck, the ad says there's only 12 left, so how many of them would have those wire wheels, and that particular two-toning?
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I was admiring a black '57 Golden Hawk next to it, talking to the owner, who had restored my '63 Lark, when the owner of the DeSoto asked me to move away from his car. I hadn't brushed against it (nor would I), but he thought I was standing too close, LOL.
First hit Wendy Williams. Ain't happening.
Next channel was The View. Ain't happening.
Next was The Price Is Right. Since it had been shown here in pictures, I
thought I'd watch. Sure enough the car was a Mirage.
But now the model waving hands and showing the car
is a guy in a nice sweater with a nicely trimmed beard.
Somehow things just ain't the same...
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Youtube is great for when nothing is on TV, or like me, have cut the cable cord.
The one I'm thinking of was a 1958 Adventurer convertible, equipped with the optional ~$600 Bendix fuel injection, and one of the very few that wasn't converted back to dual quads.
Here's the auction ad for the one I got that pic from: https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0810-96539/1958-desoto-adventurer-convertible/
It says there were only 5 Adventurer convertibles built with the fuel injection, and they were all converted to dual quads within a year, but it sounds someone saved the original fuel injection setup for this one, and at some point converted it back. So, who knows, this could very well be the same car I saw.
There were only 82 Adventurer convertibles, built total, so it was a rare car, to begin with.
Funny thing, when I saw this car at Hershey, I got hollered at, too. I was standing with a friend looking at it, and we were talking about it. Someone on the other side of the car wanted to take a picture of it. We weren't blocking the view of the car, but apparently he didn't even want anybody in the background of the picture. He was actually quite nasty about it the way he hollered, too. He was probably a good 30 feet from us, on the other side of the car as well, so it took me awhile to realize he was actually hollering at us, so that might be why he was getting belligerent by that time I actually heard him. I almost hollered back, but my friend is a bit more civil than me and persuaded me not to.
Hey, it just clicked with me. Was it 2002 that you went to Hershey and saw this car? Maybe our paths crossed that day, even though we didn't even know each other yet! I remember it was a dreary day with off/on rain, although it somewhat broke up late in the day and you could finally see some blue sky. Funny the things you remember.
Apparently this was a special big money week and I saw a lady win $210K playing Cliff Hangers, the mountain climber game. Never saw a prize that huge before. It was a double bust for both contestants in the showcases, one of which had a Hyundai Accent in its booty.
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It has wheel opening trim which was optional even on an Impala sedan and also the lower models, although rarely ever seen on a Biscayne or Bel Air. But more importantly, I think I see a nameplate on the front fender. Impalas and Caprices had the nameplate up on the C-pillar. I think I see two capital letters which would indicate Bel Air.
Thanks!
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.