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

andre1969 · January 2022

I think DeSoto used one that changed from green, to yellow, to red in 1959. My '57 just has a red line. It worked when I bought the car, but I remember one day, in the early 90's, stomping on it to merge onto Interstate 95, and the red line shot all the way to 130, and stayed there awhile.

I can't remember now, though, if it froze like that, or if it completely rolled over, leaving just a black line. It's one of the many things the mechanic fixed, so for the time being, it works.

The speedo on a '57 DeSoto is a bit odd, where it actually goes to 130, but it's only numbered to 120.

fintail · January 2022

Fintail does the same in a way, ribbon starts out kind of an orange yellow, then orange yellow striped with red, then red. For extra novelty, as some know, the speedometer is also vertical (this on a later car with a flat horn ring):

sda said:
Yes, that’s it. I find it interesting that ribbon style speedometers were popular in the medium priced field during the late 50s early 60s. I guess they had some novelty and modern appeal. I think they were failure prone as the car aged as I’ve seen many stuck at a certain speed, often maxed out at 120. My grandmother’s 62 Olds Dynamic 88 had one that changed colors, green, orange, red the faster the speed. As a kid I thought that was so cool.

roadburner · January 2022

My 1967 Riviera had the drum speedometer. Futuristic for the '60s.

sda · January 2022

roadburner said:
My 1967 Riviera had the drum speedometer. Futuristic for the '60s.

Those were cool. I like how Buick included full gauges (except a tach) when Olds Toronado used the same type drum speedometer but had idiot lights for engine status. I had a friend that had a 67 Riv GS. What a gentleman’s beast. One morning he came out to find his hood slightly open only to discover someone had stolen the GS specific dual inlet air cleaner.

kyfdx · January 2022

Lincoln had a ribbon speedometer in the '70s. We had three of them.

uplanderguy · January 2022

Seems to me that most domestics had ribbon speedometers through the late '70's, if not even later.

The '56-58 Studebakers had a drum-type speedometer not unlike the '66-67 Riviera in concept.

On a different subject, Curbside Classics today has the Consumer Reports Auto Issue from April 1966, with reliability ratings. Link is below. They have no Studebakers listed, even though at press time the company was still building automobiles, LOL. I don't believe 'insufficient data' as in '62, anyway, they built 102K cars and nearly 8K trucks. Could be that they considered Studebaker a foreign car by that time. They show no reliability charts for foreign cars.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/consumer-reports-automotive-dot-charts-every-dot-has-a-story-part-2-1960-66/

andre1969 · January 2022

Wow...wonder why the 6-cyl full-sized Chevy scored bad in the rust category, but the V8 scored high? In fact, the 6-cyl full-sized Chevy is the only car in that whole list I'm seeing that got a black mark every single year, for rust?!

stickguy · January 2022

couldn't find a better picture but out Volvo had a ribbon style. Numbers laid out like a ruler, and a band came from the left and extended to show the speed. I can't remember at this point what color it was though! But it did have that little red indicator, which you could slide, to point to the speed you weren't supposed to exceed.

uplanderguy · January 2022

I gotta believe it's simply sample error of some sort, but I don't remember ever seeing that addressed.

As I've posted here, I just love the full-size '65 Chevys, and the market agreed. Over one-million Impala models alone were made, and of course that doesn't even include Biscaynes and Bel Airs. I don't believe that number has ever been matched in a car model name since.

I seem to remember some stories about the frame not being great on '65 Chevys, and I think in brochures about the mid-year Caprice, the package even included frame improvements. I've read/heard all the '66's received those too. Useful things, but the '66 can't touch the '65 IMHO anyway, for sheer simple beauty.

UPDATE: Nothing in the '65 Caprice brochure about revised frame, just things like added sound insulation and "extra-thick body mounts". I must've read that in some general website about the cars, written decades later--the kind I always complain about, LOL.

ab348 · January 2022

uplanderguy said:
Seems to me that most domestics had ribbon speedometers through the late '70's, if not even later.

Horizontal speedos, yes, but not many were ribbon style. We had a ‘68 Volvo that had the ribbon style as pictured above. My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I seem to remember that the end of the ribbon was at a 45 degree angle.

stickguy · January 2022

ab, yes it was at an angle. I had forgotten about that.

In my box of "collectibles" I actually have a shift knob just like that Volvo picture. Ours cracked at the base so got replaced and somebody kept the old one that I now have. I think in the same box I have my key for that car (found a whole ring of keys from my HS days, including my Duster and one of the AMCs I had).

roadburner · January 2022

sda said:

roadburner said:
My 1967 Riviera had the drum speedometer. Futuristic for the '60s.

Those were cool. I like how Buick included full gauges (except a tach) when Olds Toronado used the same type drum speedometer but had idiot lights for engine status. I had a friend that had a 67 Riv GS. What a gentleman’s beast. One morning he came out to find his hood slightly open only to discover someone had stolen the GS specific dual inlet air cleaner.

Mine a base Riviera, but as I've said before, I only paid $5.00 for it- so there's that.

uplanderguy · January 2022

Yes Greg; I mistook ‘ribbon’ for ‘linear’. I do remember a neighbor’s ‘62 Olds with the changing colors on the speedometer. I can’t recall other GM cars with a ‘ribbon’ speedometer.

andre1969 · January 2022

This talk of speedometers got me wondering...what car was the last to use a horizontal speedometer? I don't mean the drum/ribbon type, but the type with a needle, where the numbers tended to be compressed toward the middle and spaced out at the fringes?

At first, I was thinking perhaps the 1990 Olds Custom Cruiser wagon, but then dug around and found a few more. Looks like the most recent I could find was a 1994 Grand Marquis.

uplanderguy · January 2022

My '93 Caprice Classic had a linear speedometer. The '94's got digital. Not a fan then or now, of digital instrumentation.

The '91-93 panel may have been 'meh', but I detest the '94-96 panel. How did that get through the approval process?!

stickguy · January 2022

out driving local yesterday, when it was still in the teens, a 1976 Olds Cutlass 2 door. Not sure of model (it passed going the other way a few lanes over) but looked nice. Had a wing on the back. Not bad looking but definitely unexpected to be out then. Had the waterfall grill that always looks somewhat odd to me.

tjc78 · January 2022

@andre1969 said:
This talk of speedometers got me wondering...what car was the last to use a horizontal speedometer? I don't mean the drum/ribbon type, but the type with a needle, where the numbers tended to be compressed toward the middle and spaced out at the fringes?

At first, I was thinking perhaps the 1990 Olds Custom Cruiser wagon, but then dug around and found a few more. Looks like the most recent I could find was a 1994 Grand Marquis.

@andre1969 said:
This talk of speedometers got me wondering...what car was the last to use a horizontal speedometer? I don't mean the drum/ribbon type, but the type with a needle, where the numbers tended to be compressed toward the middle and spaced out at the fringes?

At first, I was thinking perhaps the 1990 Olds Custom Cruiser wagon, but then dug around and found a few more. Looks like the most recent I could find was a 1994 Grand Marquis.

It’s a tie. The 94 Century had one too. I actually was going to say 96 Century, but then looked up images and they changed the cluster in 95

stickguy · January 2022

Here's your dream car! What a barge. and no miles on it (assuming that is legit).

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

explorerx4 · January 2022

EuroNation Bob featured that car a while ago on his channel.

tjc78 · January 2022

@stickguy said:
Here's your dream car! What a barge. and no miles on it (assuming that is legit).

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

I’d take it in a minute.

stickguy · January 2022

I would rather have this one, and save $19,000!

could be a fun toy for $10K. Looks pretty clean.

https://www.euroasianauto.com/details/used-1971-fiat-124-spider/79512176

kyfdx · January 2022

stickguy said:
I would rather have this one, and save $19,000!

could be a fun toy for $10K. Looks pretty clean.

https://www.euroasianauto.com/details/used-1971-fiat-124-spider/79512176

I was offered one of those for $2700! It was red w/black leather.

Of course, that was in 1976.

fintail · January 2022

If only that Mercury was brown:

Ever hear of a ritual killing?

uplanderguy · January 2022

Wally and "The Beav" checking out two truckloads of new '60 Fords. For fintail.

I've loved '61 Starliners since I was a kid but the '60 has really grown on me (I'd love a '60 Edsel two-door hardtop).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9x8PBc1G8E

andre1969 · January 2022

I have to admit, those big 70's Mercurys are growing on me, more and more. The ones I really like are '73-74, where you could still get a true 4-door hardtop, and on the 2-door the rear windows still rolled down. But, I imagine the '75-78 are better built, and probably less cranky thanks to improved emissions controls.

fintail · January 2022

Heck, if I found a really nice good colors 4 door HT or a nice red and white Country Sedan to replicate my dad's car, I would be tempted.

I wonder what Mopar thought of that ad, given their promotion of the show.

uplanderguy said:
Wally and "The Beav" checking out two truckloads of new '60 Fords. For fintail.

I've loved '61 Starliners since I was a kid but the '60 has really grown on me (I'd love a '60 Edsel two-door hardtop).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9x8PBc1G8E

uplanderguy · January 2022

I thought I remembered that Ford had sponsored the show early-on. Maybe not. I wasn't a faithful viewer of the series but I think I do remember Ward driving a '61 Plymouth it.

WARNING: The attached link does not contain classic car footage!

If you're not a fan of Andy Griffith, move on, LOL.

I think andre and I posted here once about "The Andy Griffith Show" migrating into "Mayberry R.F.D.", not as enjoyable for sure, but several of the same characters made the leap.

On Amazon Prime, I paid $1.99 a few days ago to watch episode one of 'RFD', where Andy and Helen get married. Online, I found the four-minute wedding clip. Don Knotts as 'Barney' was best-man, and he's classic 'Barney' here. I enjoyed the entire episode...which did include the Ken Berry character's light mossy metallic green '68 Satellite four-door sedan, and a current Dodge pickup.

https://www.facebook.com/troyclanton/videos/10208264635490018

uplanderguy · January 2022

The Dodge pickup reminds me--was Dodge considered a step up from Plymouth in the Mopar hierarchy? I took it that way. Thus, it surprised me that they placed the truck line with Dodge.

ab348 · January 2022

Chrysler did give Plymouth a pickup in the '80s with the Horizon 024 version called the Scamp, and back in the '30s there were Plymouth pickups but post-war they did not return. The '70s Plymouth Trail Duster wasn't a pickup, although it did have a tailgate. Here in Canada in the '60s and early '70s, Plymouth dealers sold Fargo branded pickups which were identical to Dodges except for the badging.

stickguy · January 2022

I always thought dodge was entry level and Plymouth was the step up?

uplanderguy · January 2022

When I was a kid and would read something about "The Low-Priced Three", it was Chevy, Ford, and Plymouth.

sda · January 2022

The pecking order was Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler, Imperial (when Imperial was a stand alone brand)
When DeSoto was a brand was it equal to Dodge or positioned between Dodge and Chrysler?

uplanderguy · January 2022

I think DeSoto was placed above Dodge but below Chrysler, as near the end DeSotos resembled Chryslers, but I think in the late '50's too, there were lower-end DeSoto models that used some sheetmetal (like front fenders) from Dodges. Andre is the man here though on that era.

andre1969 · January 2022

Chrysler did switch the pecking order around a bit. Initially, Chrysler wanted to buy out the Dodge Brothers, and use them as a medium-price brand. However, they had DeSoto readied, to take aim at Dodge, in the event that they couldn't acquire Dodge. They also had plans to bring out Plymouth, to compete on the low end with Ford and Chevy.

They ended up acquiring Dodge, but brought out DeSoto, anyway. DeSoto and Plymouth both debuted as 1929 models. In those early years, the DeSoto was essentially a Plymouth with a bigger engine, and positioned below Dodge. But in 1934, they made the decision to move DeSoto upmarket. That was the year the Airflow came out. DeSoto went Airflow-only for the whole year, and it was a disaster. Chrysler offered both Airflows and traditional, 1933-style models. However, I'm not sure if they started off Airflow-only and brought the traditional ones back in haste once they saw how badly the Airflow was selling, or if they offered them side-by-side from the beginning?

From 1934-61, the hierarchy remained Plymouth-Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler/Imperial. They tried to make Imperial stand-alone from 1955-75, but it never could shake that "CHRYSLER Imperial" perception. Dodge did take a bit of a hit in its status for '53-54 though. In that timeframe, the Plymouths were put on a stubby 114" wheelbase. With Dodge, the 2- and 4-door sedans were on a longer 119" wb, but hardtops, convertibles, and the 2-door wagon were on the short 114". There were no Dodge/Plymouth 4-door wagons in '53, but for '54 there was a 4-door Dodge wagon. The big advantage to a Dodge though, was availability of its first Hemi V8, a small 241.1 CID "Red Ram". Plymouth wouldn't get a V8 until '55, and it never did get a version of the first-gen Hemi.

In 1960, Chrysler did a reorganization, and this is when the concept of "Chrysler-Plymouth" division came out. In the past, Plymouth usually didn't have its own stand-alone dealerships. They were almost always paired with Dodge, DeSoto, or Chrysler, so Plymouths were often used to upsell buyers into a nicer car. That must have been hard in some of the years though, when there wasn't much difference between a Plymouth and a Dodge. Anyway, for 1960, Dodge dealers lost their Plymouths, so that's where the Dart came into play. In 1960, it had a Seneca/Pioneer/Phoenix lineup that basically matched Plymouth's Savoy/Belvedere/Fury. However, Plymouth did get the Valiant, which Dodge did not have a version of (even though that first year they called it "Nobody's Kid Brother" and tried to market it as just "Valiant"). Dodge would get the Lancer for '61, though. A bit up the ranks, Dodge had the Matador and Polara, which replaced the old Royal/Custom Royal (the Dart lineup, while mimicking Plymouth, also replaced the old Coronet). Plymouth didn't have anything in this range for '60, but a bit up the ranks, there was the Chrysler Windsor. And in its final two years, DeSoto was folded in with Chrysler-Plymouth as well, so there were still a few DeSoto models to fill that mid-price gap.

Plymouth made a bit of a comeback in '65, with the new Fury. However, because they were sold on the same showroom as Chrysler, I think that kept them from ever moving too far upscale. While Ford had its ritzy LTD and Chevy the Caprice, I never thought the Fury VIP was quite in that same league. Still, Plymouth did well for awhile, and even reclaimed third place in sales a couple times in the 1970's. But then, when Chrysler jumped into the personal luxury coupe game, they did so with the Chrysler Cordoba, rather than a Plymouth model, and that sort of got the ball rolling to Plymouth's eventual demise. From that point forward, whenever a new body style came out, if it was something more upscale, it was usually Dodge and Chrysler that got it, but if it was something more low-end, it was Dodge and Plymouth.

For instance, when the Dart/Valiant were replaced, Plymouth got the Volare and Dodge the Aspen. But when the upmarket version came out, it was the Dodge Diplomat and Chrysler LeBaron. By 1979, Plymouth was actually down to just two domestic models: the Horizon and Volare. They had a few captive imports like the Arrow and Sapporo, and a few thinly disguised Dodge trucks to make the lineup seem broader. In 1979, when Chrysler re-did its full-sized cars (the R-body), initially there was no Plymouth. Dodge got the St. Regis, and Chrysler got the Newport and New Yorker. The Newport and New Yorker managed to sell somewhat well that year, although Newports were offered as police cars and taxis, which no doubt helped those sales. For 1980, they re-introduced the Gran Fury, and it was offered as a police car/taxi instead of the Newport, and as a result Newport sales tanked. They all tanked for 1980, but I think the Newport was hit even worse, because the Gran Fury was now taking all those fleet sales.

As for confusion about whether Dodge or Plymouth was the step up, I think that's a pretty good indication that perhaps they needed to work on their marketing. When I was a little kid, for some reason, I thought a Plymouth was a nicer car a Dodge. Don't ask me why...I was a little kid! It could have been something as simple as the letter "P" being higher up the alphabet than "D" or "Plymouth" being a longer word than "Dodge", or more impressive sounding, or something. But then, I think sometimes it seemed like a Plymouth actually had a bit more presence to it. For instance, a 1965 Fury just screams "Plymouth" to me. The front-end, with its stacked headlights and slight forward thrust, has an aggressive, imposing, memorable (to me at least) look about it, whereas a '65 Polara looks kind of generic.

With Chevy versus Pontiac, you could almost always look at the two and easily see that the Pontiac was supposed to be the step up. There could be a bit of overlap between the Catalina and Impala, but it was usually limited to the interior trimmings. And same with Mercury, versus Ford. But often, it was hard to look at a Dodge and a similar Plymouth, and be able to tell which one was supposed to be the step up. And, there were many times where the Dodge really WASN'T a step up from Plymouth, but merely an alternate to it.

stickguy · January 2022

They should have gone full import rebranding with Plymouth. Make it the Euro brand and sell all the Mitsubishis and stuff like that. And the fun cars!

sda · January 2022

It's a shame the Airflow wasn't successful, it was a neat car and innovative. It would tick me off if I was an owner of a dealer to have Chrysler reshuffle what stores sold what, ex: Dodge no longer having Plymouth. Ford did their dealers even worse by insisting they invest in stand alone Edsel stores only for Ford to bail the first year! I liked the styling better of the Plymouth Volare over the Dodge Aspen and the Dodge Diplomat's styling over the Chrysler LeBaron.

andre1969 · January 2022

I wonder too, how much bad timing played into the failure of the Airflow? From what I call reading, didn't the Great Depression start to fade in '32, but then came on strong again in '33-34, sort of a double-dip? In 1933, the cheapest DeSoto was $665 (Business coupe or "Standard" 2-door sedan) and the most expensive was $875, for a convertible sedan. There was a 7-passenger sedan, but it was export-only, and my book doesn't have pricing on it. Anyway, in '34, my book lists $995 as the base price for all DeSoto Airflow models (coupe, "Brougham", 4-door sedan, and "Town Sedan")

In 1933, Chrysler ranged from a $745 6-cyl business coupe to a $3295 Imperial Custom 7-passenger limo. But for 1934, the Chrysler Airflow ranged from $1345 for a coupe (8-cyl, at least) on up to $5145 for an Airflow Imperial Custom Eight 8-passenger limo. The conventional '34 Chryslers ranged from $740 for a business coupe to $970 for a convertible sedan, and all of these were 6-cyl. Needless to say, these conventional cars carried the bulk of Chrysler's sales.

The Airflow's timing makes me think a bit of Chrysler's timing with its ill-fated 1974 big cars, that were launched just a couple months before the first Arab Oil Embargo would plunge the country into recession, and kill demand for bigger cars almost immediately.

andre1969 · January 2022

uplanderguy said:
I thought I remembered that Ford had sponsored the show early-on. Maybe not. I wasn't a faithful viewer of the series but I think I do remember Ward driving a '61 Plymouth it.

Ford did sponsor Beaver for the first two seasons: '57-58 and '58-59. Curiously though, Ward drove a '57 Ford for both seasons. It was a low-line 4-door sedan, like a Custom or Custom 300...the more upright style on the shorter 116" wheelbase which, interestingly, Consumer Reports noted, was roomier inside than the Fairlane/Fairlane 500 on the longer 118" wb. I seem to recall an episode where they showed Mr. Rutherford driving a '57 Ford hardtop coupe, which was only offered in the Fairlane and Fairlane 500 series.

For seasons 3-6, which was also when they moved from Revue studios to Universal, Ward drove Plymouths. First, he had a '59 Plymouth Fury 4-door sedan, then a '60 Fury 4-door hardtop. Followed by a '61 Fury 4-door hardtop, one of the shrunken '62s, again a 4-door hardtop (they show this one in the opening credits of the last season), and, finally, a '63 Fury 4-door hardtop.

One thing they did with Beaver that was interesting, during the Mopar years, is that Ward start the season with last year's model, but then at some point during the season, get a new car. For instance, he started the 3rd season ('59-60) with the '59 Plymouth, but then at some point got the '60. Same for the 4th season, where he started with the '60, but then got a '61. However, they often used stock footage, of a car pulling into the driveway, so there was one or two times that you saw footage of the '60 pulling in from the street, but then they cut to another scene of the '61 stopping in front of the garage and Ward getting out. As I recall, when they showed the '61 in that scene, you couldn't see the back of the car, which would have been a bit awkward, as the '60 had towering tailfins that were almost cartoonish, while the '61 was finless.

In the last season, I remember an episode where Wally wanted to borrow the car, and June remarked "Oh Wally, your father just bought that car!" That was where they started showing the '63.

There was another show that started off with Fords, but then switched to Chryslers, called "Bachelor Father". Interestingly, like Beaver, it also started off with filming at Revue, but moved to Universal. I've only seen a few episodes of the show, but it looks like for the first season, Bentley Gregg (John Forsythe in the titular role) had two cars, a '57 T-bird and a '57 Ford wagon. But in the second, he had a '58 New Yorker convertible!

I haven't seen the entire run of the show, yet, but did catch a '61 Chrysler convertible in the 5th and final season. Antenna tv used to run this show sporadically awhile back, but I never really watched it that much. They just started showing it again this year.

ab348 · January 2022

The selling price on this seems rather insane, even for BaT:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-chevrolet-chevelle-malibu-18/

sda · January 2022

ab348 said:
The selling price on this seems rather insane, even for BaT:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-chevrolet-chevelle-malibu-18/

Crazy price, yikes. Not a fan of the basic wheels. This car was originally sold in @jmonroe1 neck of the woods.

stickguy · January 2022

Not exciting, but does look very original and clean. Probably not many like that left.

uplanderguy · January 2022

I would say I looked at scores of new '71 and '72 Malibu Sport Coupes at my hometown dealer, riding on my bike, as my Dad was a big fan of the size and styling and I was always checking new ones out. His dream one would have been a dark green with optional white painted top. He'd have even taken a six with 3-speed; for him, the car was all about that size and styling.

I remember being very disappointed when I saw my first '72. I thought the new grille was a half-baked thing. "Is that all the styling change?". Yep! The strike kept the all-new body from coming out for '72.

I rather doubted that this car was built with the standard 'moon' caps (I hated them at the time, but in hindsight think they look better than other dog-dish caps). The window sticker confirms it was built with only standard caps. I see it was built with whitewalls. The brochure would have shown cars with the (handsome) '71 and '72 full wheelcovers. One has to wonder if someone 'forgot' to order them. At first I thought, "Well, his plan was probably to immediately put wheels on it", but....with whitewalls? Even then....

This car was delivered to a dealership not far from Pittsburgh. I remember Chevelles for a decade which came to our hometown dealer were also built in Baltimore.

The typical ones I remember were in the $3,600-range--V8, THM, PS, PB, whitewalls, full wheelcovers, 307 or 350 2-barrel V8. The optional price of the 350 on this car per the window sticker makes me think it's the four-barrel but not sure without looking at a brochure. (UPDATE: From the ad, I see that is the case).

That sales price is ridiculous. These cars were high-volume-production of course. That said, I love a low-mileage original and I think in general, the marketplace does too.

I remember the base price as $2,949. I will go back now and look for that on the window sticker the ad includes (I didn't look at that when I was looking at options). (UPDATE: $2,980. That is when there were price changes throughout the model year, but I'm happy I was that close.)

When I saw the selling dealer was "Beyerl", I scratched my head, as later I remember from our getting Sunday PIttsburgh newspapers, a Chevy dealer in greater Pittsburgh named "Baierl". Weird. I then saw someone else in the BaT comments mentioned the same thing.

stickguy · January 2022

Well, if fancy covers were optional, must not have ordered them since not on window sticker. And listing does specify 4 barrel.

texases · January 2022

What should the price have been? Lots of '71 Malibus in that price range (completed listings) on Ebay.

uplanderguy · January 2022

Well, I guess I should say that the selling price was ridiculous to me personally, instead of in general.

RE.: Mileage--waiting for someone to post there, "Gotta be 118K", sigh.

I totally believe the odometer as 'first time around', based on the many, many of these I saw as a teenager and into adulthood.

A lot at our dealer were Mulsanne Blue, I recall that.

I remember full wheel covers were $26, and Rally Wheels, the steal of the century at $44 for a long time. They were still $56 into the early '80's.

stickguy · January 2022

Price seems market reasonable. Given how clean and original it is. Not like they are making new ones! Better just paying up for this than 10k for a rust bucket that will cost $60k to restore. And you can drive this one immediately.

And since it’s not a special model, no worries about making some nice comfort or usability mods.

explorerx4 · January 2022

This looked in like new shape and don't see them often.

stickguy · January 2022

Explorer sport. I like those.

andre1969 · January 2022

The price of that Malibu kinda blows me away, but I'll admit to suffering sticker shock in general, anyway. And yeah, even if $34K is overpriced, it's going to take a helluva lot more than that to restore a junker. And this one does look pretty nice overall. It's not something I would lust after, but I can definitely appreciate the attraction.

And yeah, I noticed on the window sticker it specifies "270 hp", which would be the 4-bbl. The 2-bbl had 255 gross. I think in net hp, they were 165 and 175 hp, respectively?

texases · January 2022

That's a pretty big drop, I thought the gross to net drop by itself was more like 20%, the rest due to lower compression/emissions controls.

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

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