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

ab348 · May 2021

@uplanderguy said:
I don't know what it was called, but here it is! (The car looks pretty nice with the Rally Wheels, but I saw this green all over '68 Chevelles, full-size Chevys, and Chevy II's.) I can't say I remember it on any other GM division that year--unusual, and probably a good thing!

It's called Grecian Green on the paint chart, code H, and you're right, it was only offered by Chevy that season. I have to say it doesn't look bad in that Impala picture.

texases · May 2021

And it looks like a white interior, not one of those bad green/green mismatches.

tjc78 · May 2021

Love that color on that Chevy.

uplanderguy · May 2021

andre, your grandfather's car is indeed that same color green.

kyfdx · May 2021

Old grille detective needed:
https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/66097/general/x/what-vehicle-is-this-grill-from-left-on-my-property-by-the-previous-owner/p1?new=1

xwesx · May 2021

Too bad about the missing slats. It looks to be in pretty decent condition for something just left on the property.

ab348 · May 2021

Saw this posted elsewhere. These look better than the factory offering in many cases. Fun times.

texases · May 2021

I remember reading dozens of those catalogs as they showed up at the house.

fintail · May 2021

Saw that white Lark hardtop again, someone is definitely DDing it in the fair weather. Walked by it, I am certain it is original paint. If I drive by it I'll have to get a pic, fun little car. Also saw a fried eggs Porsche Targa.

uplanderguy · May 2021

Speaking earlier of 1968 GM greens, another one-division-only green that year was Pontiac's Verduro (Verdoro?) Green. Olive green metallic. I hated it then, and my hate is softened now but still not a fan. It seemed pretty popular in my hometown. I believe Pontiac used it more than one year but too lazy to check.

ab348 · May 2021

@uplanderguy said:
Speaking earlier of 1968 GM greens, another one-division-only green that year was Pontiac's Verduro (Verdoro?) Green. Olive green metallic. I hated it then, and my hate is softened now but still not a fan. It seemed pretty popular in my hometown. I believe Pontiac used it more than one year but too lazy to check.

Yes, Verdoro Green began as a Pontiac "spring special" color in '67 , and carried on thru '68 and '69, but was exclusive to Pontiac.

benjaminh · May 2021

uplanderguy · May 2021

Funny about "spring colors", Greg. As late as the '63 model year, Studebaker added three new "spring colors". I can't say I remember that in my years of looking at Chevys (probably mostly in-person, '68 through mid-eighties).

sda · May 2021

benjaminh said:

That hurts just looking at those poor cars. What a disaster.

andre1969 · May 2021

I know what you mean about that Verdoro green, Uplander. I don't hate it, but it's not among my favorite greens. I tend to go for greens that are more of an emerald, sequoia, forest, or whatever you want to call it. Or those colors that might remind you of the waters down in the Caribbean, which tend to have varying degrees of blue mixed in. But when they start leaning more toward olive, or more military-looking shades, my interest in them tends to fade.

I didn't realize that Verdoro came out in Spring of '67. I googled the color, and a few cars did show up, mainly Firebirds and LeManses. I wonder if they kept it off of the big cars until 1968? I think it manages to work on a Firebird, or on a '68 Tempest/LeMans/GTO. But, I don't care for it on the '67 midsized. Funny, how a color can work pretty well with one shape, but not another.

sda · May 2021

andre1969 said:
I know what you mean about that Verdoro green, Uplander. I don't hate it, but it's not among my favorite greens. I tend to go for greens that are more of an emerald, sequoia, forest, or whatever you want to call it. Or those colors that might remind you of the waters down in the Caribbean, which tend to have varying degrees of blue mixed in. But when they start leaning more toward olive, or more military-looking shades, my interest in them tends to fade.

I didn't realize that Verdoro came out in Spring of '67. I googled the color, and a few cars did show up, mainly Firebirds and LeManses. I wonder if they kept it off of the big cars until 1968? I think it manages to work on a Firebird, or on a '68 Tempest/LeMans/GTO. But, I don't care for it on the '67 midsized. Funny, how a color can work pretty well with one shape, but not another.

I remember a neighbor of ours had a 66 Bonneville 2dr. It was maroon with a black vinyl top. Often they would park it on the street. One night a drunk crashed into the back of the Bonneville. It really messed it up, trunk lid bent and open, bumper crushed, both quarter panels bent. When the Bonneville was repaired it came back in the Verdoro color. I guess they thought the color would make the car look like a newer model? This was around 1970. The neighbors also had a black 65 Falcon 2dr. They often parked that car in the street as well. Who knew, about a year after the Bonneville was hit, the Falcon was hit and pushed into their yard. It too was repaired but no color change. Lesson learned they no longer parked on the street.

ab348 · May 2021

uplanderguy said:
Funny about "spring colors", Greg. As late as the '63 model year, Studebaker added three new "spring colors". I can't say I remember that in my years of looking at Chevys (probably mostly in-person, '68 through mid-eighties).

I found this article about spring specials:
https://blog.consumerguide.com/spring-special-madness-10-classic-limited-edition-ads/

I know that Olds had some spring colors on the '70 Cutlass and that some carried over into '71. The chart below (the spring colors being the 2-asterisk "special order colors") doesn't seem to be quite right as Viking Blue is a popular color on '70 Cutlasses so I wonder if that should have had 2 asterisks instead of 1.

One thing I didn't realize until recently was that the '69 Dodge spring special offering included this chrome grille extension/hood trim on the Polara. I read that it was done for 2 reasons - the '69 Dodge was not all that well-received and looked kind of blah, and that it was in anticipation of the loop bumper look coming for 1970. Don't know how true either of those stories are.

sda · May 2021

ab348 said:

uplanderguy said:
Funny about "spring colors", Greg. As late as the '63 model year, Studebaker added three new "spring colors". I can't say I remember that in my years of looking at Chevys (probably mostly in-person, '68 through mid-eighties).
I found this article about spring specials:
https://blog.consumerguide.com/spring-special-madness-10-classic-limited-edition-ads/

I know that Olds had some spring colors on the '70 Cutlass and that some carried over into '71. The chart below (the spring colors being the 2-asterisk "special order colors") doesn't seem to be quite right as Viking Blue is a popular color on '70 Cutlasses so I wonder if that should have had 2 asterisks instead of 1.

One thing I didn't realize until recently was that the '69 Dodge spring special offering included this chrome grille extension/hood trim on the Polara. I read that it was done for 2 reasons - the '69 Dodge was not all that well-received and looked kind of blah, and that it was in anticipation of the loop bumper look coming for 1970. Don't know how true either of those stories are.

That chrome trim was probably a good defense against chipped paint caused by road rash.

fintail · May 2021

Looks like that Polara has one of the alligator skin-style vinyl tops.

andre1969 · May 2021

I always liked the big '69 Dodges, and for the most part, liked the Dodges throughout the fuselage era, mainly because they managed to seem less chunky than the other models. Although in retrospect, now that I look at a '69 Fury, it doesn't seem as fat as I remember. One thing that tends to help the Dodge, I think, is that they went for more open rear wheel openings, rather than the skirted look that the other cars used.

ab348 · May 2021

fintail said:
Looks like that Polara has one of the alligator skin-style vinyl tops.

Yes, that was part of the spring special offer.

texases · May 2021

Here's one that survived

andre1969 · May 2021

That '69 Polara convertible is really sharp, and I love that color! I wonder how many they built that year? My old car book doesn't break out individual body style production for that year, but lists roughly 83,000 Polaras and another 5900 Polara 500's built, total. And the convertible was offered in both ranges.

As a rough guide, for 1970, the Polara was offered in Polara, Polara "Deluxe", and Polara Custom ranges, with the convertible only in the Deluxe range. They only built 842 that year.

texases · May 2021

How many total Polaras in 1970?

uplanderguy · May 2021

One thing as someone who grew up in Chevys, I always noticed about big Mopars of the era was the almost-flat place to put your arm on the outside of the door!

andre1969 · May 2021

For 1970, they lumped Polara production like this:
Hardtop coupe: 15,243 (Deluxe, Custom)
Convertible: 842
4-door sedan: 18,740 (base, Deluxe, Custom)
4-door hardtop: 19,223 (Deluxe, Custom)
2-seat wagon: 3,074 (base, Deluxe)
3-seat wagon: 3,546 (base, Deluxe).
So, 60,668 Polaras, total for 1970, compared to about 89,000 for '69. So, extrapolating from that, I'd guess maybe 1500-2000 convertibles for '69?

uplanderguy · May 2021

I never heard of a Polara Deluxe

texases · May 2021

If I use the 1970 ratio, I come up with 1235 1969 convertibles, so I'd guess around 1000-1500.

ab348 · May 2021

@uplanderguy said:
I never heard of a Polara Deluxe

Yeah, there was no Polara Deluxe. Just the regular Polara and the Polara Custom, which had a few more niceties.

texases · May 2021

I wonder how hard it is to find that Spring special edition chrome trim for the front end of that '69.

andre1969 · May 2021

I was wondering about the Deluxe thing, too. Even my book puts in in quotes as Polara "DeLuxe", like it wasn't a real thing. This book also shows partial VIN code information, and has the various cars listed as:
DE: Polara
DL: Polara "Deluxe"
DM: Polara Custom
DH: Monaco
The "D" was the code for "Polara/Monaco" in 1970. The second code was for price class, or at least Mopar's interpretation of it. in this case, "E"=Economy, "L"= "Low", "M"="Medium", and "H"="High".

So I wonder if this "DE" was some sort of limited edition stripper/fleet special model, like something that might be used as a taxi, or for someone to drive around reading water meters? The book even lists the 4-door as having a slant six standard, even though the sales brochure says a 318 was standard.

The sales brochure just lists "Polara" and "Polara Custom", but apparently there was some variation in internal designations for the Polara, so my book probably just added the "Deluxe" to break them up. As for pricing, with the wagons the "DeLuxe" is showing about $150 more, while the 4-door is around $300, which probably reflects the added cost of the standard 318.

Whatever this was though, it seemed like a one-year aberration. In '69 the lineup was Polara/Polara 500, and in '71 it was Polara/Polara Custom/Polara Brougham. For '72-73 it was just Polara/Polara Custom, and then for '74, Monaco took over for all of the big cars, going with Monaco/Monaco Custom/Monaco Brougham.

I guess if nothing else, all that name shuffling kept the marketing departments busy.

andre1969 · May 2021

I'm a day late, but happy anniversary, DeSoto! https://automotivehistory.org/this-day-in-automotive-history/may-6-1928-chrysler-announces-desoto/?fbclid=IwAR0_aDZ9E_5ENdU2CuAYj5OfMivWg-9V7E3lj7Z7w90Da5t9KW2z4lvbhqs

benjaminh · May 2021

uplanderguy · May 2021

When I was a kid, I thought the '68 was a miles-ahead revision to the '63-67. Not so sure now.

texases · May 2021

We visited the museum shortly after the cave-in, Neat to see.

fintail · May 2021

At a time when modern was a necessity and change was mostly embraced, I think the 68 was a worthwhile jump. It had to have been a stunner when new, and the style was able to exist for 15 model years. However, the later cars got a little silly, and I think that devalues the whole line, as even today, all but the nicest high spec early cars are relatively affordable, whereas any 63-67 has some value. That hindsight 20/20 thing, and maybe a factor of being connected to the mid 60s still having more value than being connected to the early 80s.

uplanderguy · May 2021

The dumb stuff I remember. I remember riding with my grandparents in their '67 Impala Sport Coupe, Madeira Maroon, and a new bright blue '68 Corvette went by slowly. I said "Wow" and my grandmother said, "Boy, that is pretty". Cracked me up then, and now when I think back on it.

uplanderguy · May 2021

Speaking of "devalues the whole line"--when Chevy introduced their five-slot Rally Wheels on the '67 Corvette and Impala SS models, I was a big fan. I still like them better than their later Rally Wheel designs. But in '68 you could get them all the way down on a Chevy II; look great but that watered the image down I think.

uplanderguy · May 2021

Pardon the poor pic, but I was behind this blue Buick, I'm going to guesstimate at a '53, three portholes, for a few miles this morning, in Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

It was well-worn but clipped right along and didn't smell bad. He crested a hill and looked for a moment like he was going to lose control of it, LOL.

texases · May 2021

Very few interesting cars in the parking garage at work, except for this one I saw last night for the first time. Not this exact car, but looked just like it. Who knows if it's a real 442.

fintail · May 2021

I've been seeing that white ~60 Lark hardtop street parked all the time now, someone is using it as a fair weather driver. Saw it yesterday, dusty and had been attacked by birds.

ab348 · May 2021

No easy way to tell without the VIN. I see nothing there to say it isn't, but they are not too hard to clone if they are '72 models.

andre1969 · May 2021

There hasn't been much on the old car front on my end lately. But then today, I got an email from the swimming pool company saying that I needed about 900 lb of salt added to the sucker, and if they could make a delivery. Well, lo and behold, look what it gets delivered in!

I talked a bit with the guy who owns it. It's an '87, with the 305. TBI, 4-speed automatic. Basic, work-truck interior. He said he just got it a few weeks ago, and loves it. Younger guy too, so it was nice to see someone young, who appreciates older vehicles.

Here's a couple other shots of it...

It definitely had a nice rumble to it, although he admitted, it was missing part of its exhaust system...

I felt a bit cheated, actually...when I had my old '85, and it lost its muffler, it sounded about the same. But for some reason, when my '79 5th Avenue lost its muffler, it sounded a lot more muscular. I had people starting to ask me if I had a Hemi or big block under the hood, kids with those little fart-can Civics and Corollas would get mad when I pulled up next to them at a stop light and gunned it a bit, etc...

sda · May 2021

@andre1969, have you had a chance to cruise around and enjoy top down driving in your Catalina? ‘67 full size styling always reminds me of Batman, lol.

xwesx · May 2021

fintail said:
I've been seeing that white ~60 Lark hardtop street parked all the time now, someone is using it as a fair weather driver. Saw it yesterday, dusty and had been attacked by birds.

Maybe the real ones weren't happy about their name being used on a big chunk of iron.

fintail · May 2021

Hey, that was considered a compact back in the day! A car like this:

Cool that I live in a part of the world where something like that can survive and be used as at least a sometime-driver. Although maybe not a lot this weekend - temps forecast in the mid 80s, old cars get a little warm around that point. If Sunday is 86 as forecast, fintail will probably slumber til next weekend.

xwesx said:

fintail said:
I've been seeing that white ~60 Lark hardtop street parked all the time now, someone is using it as a fair weather driver. Saw it yesterday, dusty and had been attacked by birds.
Maybe the real ones weren't happy about their name being used on a big chunk of iron.

uplanderguy · May 2021

I like the font they used for "LARK" in ads, through '63.

fintail · May 2021

I've always noticed how the "L" and "A" meet, I think a design to make the name look "compact".

andre1969 · May 2021

sda said:
@andre1969, have you had a chance to cruise around and enjoy top down driving in your Catalina? ‘67 full size styling always reminds me of Batman, lol.

LOL, that's actually one thing that always attracted me to the '67 Pontiacs. Ever since I was a little kid, they made me think a bit of the Batmobile! I haven't had a chance to do much with it, yet, although yesterday I registered it for the GM show in Carlisle, PA, which comes up in late June. So, I'll have to get it in the shop for its annual checkup, before then. It probably won't need much, because I didn't put it in any shows last year. With the whole COVID thing, I didn't know what kind of turmoil there would be with these shows, so I figured I'd just go as a spectator, if they still put them on.

I pulled its battery out awhile back to put in my '79 5th Ave, because the Chrysler's battery was getting to the point it wouldn't hold a charge. Today would have been a perfect day to go get a new battery for the Catalina. I went out and did my booze run for the month as soon as the discount liquor store opened, and also got gasoline for the lawn equipment and topped off the Regal. But once I got back home, I figured the hell with it, I feel like being lazy. This whole working from home thing has turned me into a recluse. If I don't get out and run whatever errands I need to do early in the morning, then I just don't do it, because I don't feel like messing with the crowds once they're out and about.

sda · May 2021

I generally run errands on Saturday morning. I often force myself just to go out and drive around a bit, just to get out of the house. Been working from home since March 2020. I bought a ‘new to me’ 18 VW Passat on Oct 9, 2020 with 18409 mi and it now has 21290 miles, not even 3k in 7 months! My neighbor had his 73 Charger out yesterday. Medium purple, white half top and interior. It even has the factory sunroof which was open, ac, 318. It does have dual exhaust so it has a nice but not obnoxious rumble to it. Sharp car.

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

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