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

kyfdx · May 27

Reminds me.. saw a Viper, yesterday. That's been awhile.

texases · May 27

I just finished reading an Automobile Quarterly issue dedicated to the history of Chrysler. Written in the early 90s, it ends with what I think of as 'peak Chrysler', with the LH cars, the Viper, the intro of the Neon, and the big money being made from the purchase of AMC/Jeep and the intro of the XJ. It would be a very different story if written today.

ab348 · May 27

That era certainly was peak Chrysler.

xwesx · May 27

explorerx4 said:
Saw an early 90's Dodge Stealth driving on my street today. Looked brand new.
Yesterday parked on a lawn, a mid 90's Mustang Cobra convertible for sale, asking price 18K.

Ah, yes.... I had the distinct displeasure of driving in to work today sharing the road with a '90s era Mustang (*not* a Cobra). It was on its last bolt and sounded like it wanted to be a track car, but definitely didn't have the oomph to pull it off.

fintail · May 27

Saw 3 different 70s F series today, maybe a club had a meeting or something, as I saw a few last weekend too. One was a certain 4x4 and another clearly looked restored, two tone. I also noticed the clean 90-91 Taurus I jog by was missing a center cap, saw a 190E in traffic, and another mid 80s Nissan/Datsun (620) pickup, this one also looking clean and possibly repainted.

uplanderguy · May 28

That era certainly was peak Chrysler.

Don't tell that poster who's still mad about his Neon and wished here that Chrysler execs "rot in hell"!

ab348 · May 28

Haven't seen that fella recently here.

stickguy · May 28

He probably retired happy now that rite aid went out of business.

uplanderguy · May 28

Funny you mention Rite-Aid. They were the client I was assigned to the last fourteen years of my work life.

I'm retired happy.

stickguy · May 28

I want to retire so bad that looking out at the rest of the brush that needs clearing behind the house makes me sad I can’t go out and do it!

andre1969 · May 28

I remember Lemko once joking about that guy being my alter ego, because our usernames are somewhat similar, yet our opinions of Chrysler Corp are almost polar opposites! Although in his defense, if I had bought a first-gen Neon, who knows? My opinion of them might be a bit different, too!

Did Rite Aid make him mad, too? Did Rite-Aid actually go out of business? They used to be pretty common around here, but I haven't thought about them in ages. I just did a google search though, and there's a few of them not too far from me.

uplanderguy · May 28

Rite Aid has said they are closing a lot of stores. I know the one in my old hometown is closing. They tore down a few houses to build it probably in the last fifteen years and now it'll be an empty building. Sigh.

stickguy · May 28

I think he bought a timex watch and it broke and they would not give him his money back. It became war.

xwesx · May 28

Rite Aid closed their store in Conneaut, OH, last summer. The site is now vacant, though it looks a lot like it did before the closing....

fintail · May 28

Small pickups are out. Yesterday spotted an 86-92 Mazda single cab 4x4, today spotted a same era Mazda extra cab 4x4. Also the street parked pre-89 Ranger and early S-10 in my neighborhood are out as usual. Oddball for the day was a 90s JDM Toyota wagon moving relatively slowly with some traffic backed up behind it on a county highway.

tjc78 · May 29

texases said:
I just finished reading an Automobile Quarterly issue dedicated to the history of Chrysler. Written in the early 90s, it ends with what I think of as 'peak Chrysler', with the LH cars, the Viper, the intro of the Neon, and the big money being made from the purchase of AMC/Jeep and the intro of the XJ. It would be a very different story if written today.

I've always liked the LH cars, especially the first generation. It's really a shame they just weren't more reliable because they certainly were some of the best looking and unique sedans of the era.

uplanderguy · May 29

I like the first Intrepid myself, in the ubiquitous dark green. Totally original. A coupe could maybe have been interesting.

andre1969 · May 30

I knew someone who had a 1994 or so Concorde, with the 3.5 engine. He also once owned an early Vega, and a Pinto. Guess which one of the three was the most troublesome?

The real estate agent who helped me buy my condo back in late 1994 had an LHS. It was brand new, but I can't remember if it was a late 1994 or early 1995. BUT, she was already having issues with water leaks! Suddenly it's 1957?!

From what I've heard, the 1996-97 LHS cars were improved considerably. The base 3.3 V6 was a good engine right from the start, and wasn't strong enough to really hurt the transmission. The early 3.5 was pretty troubleprone though. The main culprit I remember hearing about was water pump failure, but it had other issues, too.

sda · May 30

Not wanting to give up traditional Chrysler owners, the LH version of the New Yorker was nice, but the LHS was the star. A friend’s dad bought a fully loaded LHS to replace his Maxima. He loved the LHS. His was reliable and was finally retired by his son at 160k. One of the cylinders lost most of its compression.

tjc78 · May 31

Loved the LHS, great interior. 300M was a good performer for its day as well. My uncle who ran Dodge and Chrysler dealers for years has a minty emerald green over beige one.

Michaell · May 31

tjc78 said:
Loved the LHS, great interior. 300M was a good performer for its day as well. My uncle who ran Dodge and Chrysler dealers for years has a minty emerald green over beige one.

When I was shopping for a sedan in 2002, I wanted a 300M, but it was a bit above my budget.

fintail · May 31

I recall the 300M was a big deal when it was launched. A friend's dad who was some kind of senior engineer got one as a company car, and we were all pretty wowed by him getting something so posh (the prior company car was a late first run Concorde IIRC, I remember riding in it once). Now that I think of it, that family had a Mopar streak in the late 90s, they also had maybe a 97 or so Town and Country and my friend had a 90 Caravan ES.

My uncle, who is now about 90, bought a 300M new and still had it when I visited a few years ago - not sure if he is still driving, but he cared for the car and was happy with it. He's the uncle to my aunt who had relatively cool cars when I was a kid - a red four eye Fox Mustang with T-tops and wheels etc, replaced by a Fox bustleback Continental, also the aunt who won a wedge "Citicar" electric in a shopping mall contest when I was maybe 5 years old, and I remember getting a ride in it. The 300 appears in the 2008 streetview (early streetview images are low resolution) of their house:

texases · May 31

'89-'91 BMW E30 325i cabrio, red, nice shape except for the aftermarket wheels, in the neighborhood park's parking lot. Young driver, told his girlfriend not to worry that he left the parking lights on...I would.

fintail · June 1

Was out in the fintail today and happened upon an impromptu car show. I had plans and not a ton of time to spare but snapped a few pics of what I thought was most interesting - I mostly like original or restored close to original cars rather than the usual customized muscle or tri-Chevies etc. These caught my eye, things either seldom seen or close to what they looked like back in their day (the bubbletop and Lincoln appeared to be unrestored or aged restorations, the ~67 Chevy is a custom of course, but I thought it was cool and well done):

uplanderguy · June 1

I love that '61 Impala...as long as it doesn't have pushbutton radio!

explorerx4 · June 1

I see a 68 blue Chevy.

fintail · June 1

I didn't even think to look at the radio in the 61, but it was a very original looking car, not perfect.

I confuse the 67-68s. That one had a nice paint color and all-white interior, also notice the rear doors are filled in.

ab348 · June 1

fintail said:

I confuse the 67-68s. That one had a nice paint color and all-white interior, also notice the rear doors are filled in.

That must make accessing the rear seat quite challenging.

uplanderguy · June 2

'68 full-size Chevys--seems like I always saw them the most in that champagne color.

andre1969 · June 2

Uplander, is this the shade of green that your parents had on their '80 Monte Carlo?

This pic is from a Curbside Classic post on Canadian junkyard sightings. It caught my eye partly because I'm a bit surprised these things are still showing up in junkyards! I figured at this point, most of them were either long since gone, or fixed up and modded. And the green definitely caught my eye. Seems like green in general really fell from popularity after 1979. I seem to recall Chevy only offered one shade of green for 1980, the one that looks kind of military in certain lighting?

uplanderguy · June 2

That is indeed the green. With the gold pinstripe, I liked it. I always felt ours had a good paint job too. It did look military. My dad retired from the USMC Reserves as a Sgt. Major so he liked that green for that reason too.

uplanderguy · June 2

BTW, for styling i always liked the '78 Malibu Classic best, inside and out, but that '80 has those scooped-out "Sport Wheel Covers" I like best on those cars.

fintail · June 2

Looks like that Malibu is on its original wheelcovers too. Landau with the half vinyl top?

Sightings today - 3000GT, the Alliance convertible is now on small wire wheels with low profile tires (no kidding), Aurora still has a flat, not sure if the Topaz on the same block has moved in months, yet another mid 80s Datsun/Nissan pickup this one a more patinated single cab,

uplanderguy · June 3

Yep, that is a Malibu Classic Landau.

Seen yesterday in town, never seen before here, black '52-53-54 Ford Customline two-door sedan, stock, black with white painted roof, small hub caps, wide whites.

Not a Ford I've ever been interested in, but I gotta admire the condition as it drove by, and that it's survived all these years.

Just when I think I've seen all the old cars around here, I continue to be surprised.

uplanderguy · June 3

Forty years ago today I took delivery of the first car I ever ordered (my C8 is only the second).

1985 Celebrity Eurosport two-door; solid dark plum color (can't remember what Chevy called it); matching cloth bucket seat interior, 2.8 MFI V6, Eagle GT tires, aluminum wheels. Optional instruments, and "Extended Range Sound System" which got you a little emblem on the dash, LOL. It was a box but I liked the solid dark plum when most had silver as a secondary color below the body side moldings.

I didn't want the four-speed automatic but had to order it--I ordered in March and I assume this was about CAFE. My friend's Dad was a Chevy/Buick Service Manager and advised against the 4-speed automatic...and he was right. At 37K I lost 3rd and 4th gears. The powertrain warranty was, I'm pretty sure, 24K miles but my dealer put a remanufactured one in for $100. The first one whined and they immediately replaced it. Drove it to 60K miles uneventfully.

It cornered quite flat and was pretty peppy for the time, at least for me coming off a V6 Monte Carlo. Roomy back seat.

I'll have to see if I can find a pic.

At the time, not much else like it for size and interior space, and optional equipment--except the other GM's like it, LOL.

They told me the aluminum wheels were backordered. I told them if it came in with the steel wheels I wouldn't buy it.

It took three months for that car to come in. I lived in suburban Atlanta and it was built in Oshawa, ON. I don't know why it wasn't built in Oklahoma City like other Celebritys.

I found out they got a weekly order update on Mondays. I called every week. I had been told six to seven weeks. That salesman couldn't get me out the door fast enough on delivery day. It was missing its factory floor mats. Salesman said, "Did you pay for them?" and I showed him the window sticker. He acted mad at me, LOL. Of course, I was 27. He was about 60.

stickguy · June 3

Custom order? 99% sure (hey I just woke up) that my mavericks were the first cars I did that with.

tjc78 · June 3

I've never ordered a vehicle....I seem to just check every dealer within a 200 mile radius and find the spec I want.

Of course pre-internet days that wasn't quite as easy. I remember driving to all the dealers on Sundays (closed in NJ) with my Stepdad looking at all the different packages and options.

roadburner · June 3

The only car I ordered was the Club Sport. Options were:
Bright Red or Black
Locking Differential
Premium Sound
Sunroof
I only wanted the differential and the audio upgrade. Munich then decided to build all of the Club Sports with a sunroof and tack an additional $1,200 on to the price. I told my salesperson (a friend and BMW CCA member) that I didn't want the sunroof (I wanted to spend $1,200 on track tires and a CD changer). She went to bat for me so my car is one of maybe ten built without a sunroof- and one of only 89 painted Bright Red.
I ordered it in August; it was built in Munich on October 10, 1995 and I picked it up In Chicago on November 16, 1995.

Twenty-nine years later:

texases · June 3

Great that you got it without a sunroof, a major pet peeve of mine. In addition to the cost, they eat up headroom, put about 100 lbs on the top of the car (worst place), the drains plug and water leaks, and the mechanisms can break. Other than that, what's not to like?

uplanderguy · June 3

Back in the mid'80's, on domestics, you could order options a la carte. I miss that.

I always called it "ordering". Because I'm a*al, or something worse, LOL, I never liked saying "special ordered". To me, that's something like a COPO--where it's not supposed to be available, but you or the dealer knew somebody at Corporate or the zone office.

I recall GM 'broadcast sheets' that are often found stashed inside the car, would say "CUSTOMER ORDER".

Gave up on finding a pic of my '85 Celebrity Eurosport coupe.

This I do remember--after I had it, I was driving my friends' loaded '84 Monte Carlo (not SS). I turned into a parking lot like I would with my Eagle GT's, and I felt like I was going to roll that Monte over, LOL. Even that, today I'd much rather have a Monte Carlo than any GM FWD A-body.

uplanderguy · June 3

300M--that pic reminded me--at the time I thought, well, they looked kind of blob-by like everything was going then, but that tiny horizontal crease in the upper body that started right behind the front fender "300M" emblem--that always looked to me like someone keyed the car there, LOL.

stickguy · June 3

When I got the mavericks they were largely customer spec’d orders. The since sticker was even a different color (blue or green) if it was ordered or for dealer stock allocation.

xwesx · June 3

I ordered the 2010 Forester. But, it ended up being "port-swapped" or something along those lines, like a dealer swap but with cars that were sitting at port, so it was only about 2.5 weeks from order to fulfillment. The timing was great! I was able to fly down to Seattle and drive it home *just* before winter set in here in the far north. To date, still one of my favorite road trips; I ran the Cassiar Highway in eight hours flat - still a record (for me!).

sda · June 3

I had an 89 Jetta Wolfsburg Edition. It was a good driving car.

https://youtu.be/LO65L-wUCuI?si=EeBkEgN4qTTnQ0Hs

fintail · June 3

I've never ordered a car, all of my new ones were off the lot, leftovers or oddballs where negotiation was possible.

Uplander's Celebrity was probably a fair looker in its day. I always thought the A-bodies looked fine in the mid 80s, although getting a little long in the tooth for the new decade. Had my parents came home with a sport model when I was a kid, I wouldn't have complained (then again, I was pleased with our Tempo GLX, so maybe I am off a little

).

kyfdx · June 4

I've had the dealer do trades for different colors/options, but I've never ordered one, either. I've always found the best deals are for cars on the lot.

stickguy · June 4

I’m more interested in getting exactly what I want. The mavericks were a unique situation. Such high demand ford was only doing customer orders. No stock inventory units.

uplanderguy · June 4

Of my 16 new cars, two were ordered, three were on the dealer's lot, and the rest, I had the dealer do a search for exactly what I wanted.

I remember my '93 Caprice Classic--bought at age 35--the salesman kept asking if I had a second choice for interior color. I said, "Nope".

He later said...."203 dealers....and ONE car equipped the way you want".

andre1969 · June 4

I've only bought three new cars in my life, and they were all on the lot. However, one common denominator in them all, is that my uncle was with me when I bought them.

Back in November 1999, my uncle asked me to give him a ride to the Chevy/Dodge/Isuzu dealer to pick up his '97 Silverado, which was having transmission work. I was actually planning that day, to go look at a '95 supercharged Riviera, in black I think, that was for sale at a Mazda dealer. Well, I give my uncle a ride down there, and after he pays for his truck, he says, while we're here, let's go over and look at the new cars. First I drove an Isuzu Hombre. Hated it. Then a Dodge Ram, regular cab, 8-foot bed. 3.9 V6 (a sawed-off 318). Didn't really care for it, either...that engine was kind of a dog. When the salesman mentioned they were offering 0.9% on the Intrepid, I drove one. I think in lieu of the financing they offered cash back...forget how much, but back then I remember interest rates were around 7%, so the 0.9% seemed the way to go. I also looked at the new '00 Impalas, but didn't really care for them. Plus, they only had fully-loaded ones that were like $25-26K, and that seemed out of reach for me. I also looked at a couple Malibus. I think they were only around $16-17K, but because of the financing, really weren't that much cheaper than the Intrepid. And they just seemed too much like, well, settling. I remember they also had a black Dodge Stratus, pretty fully-loaded...2.5 V6, sunroof, leather, and I think it was around $21K MSRP. But, they weren't offering the low financing on it. And the Intrepid was bigger, and a newer design. So I ended up doing the mental mathematical gymnastics to justify it, and ended up bringing it home that night. My uncle even lent me $2K for the down payment! I liked that Intrepid, but sometimes I wonder if I would have bought that '95 Riviera, otherwise?

Then, in September of 2012, I was thinking about getting a new truck, and found this 2012 Ram Hemi, fairly basic but good enough for what I wanted, listed for something like $17,500. My uncle went with me, so that if I bought the truck, he could drive my Park Avenue back. Well, when we got there, it turns out that $17,500 was the price with every rebate imaginable applied. Plus shipping. Oh, and in the state of Maryland (probably other states as well) they tax rebates. After all that extra crap, I was starting to lose interest, and in private with my uncle, mentioned I was seriously having second thoughts. He said that it's still an awfully good deal. He also asked me if I liked the truck, and I said yeah. But, when I asked him if HE liked it, he said don't worry about that, do YOU like it? So, we got them to throw in a sliding rear window and a third key fob, and for around $20,750 out the door, it was mine. On this one, he ended up letting me use his '97 Silverado as a down payment, which we went back and got. It was pretty much on its last legs, so we only got $1300 in trade. So basically, his truck plus $19,450. Oh, and it turned out later, he really DIDN'T care for the truck! He said it was too hard to get in and out of, and too cumbersome to park. I forget the third thing...maybe the fuel economy? His Silverado had the 4.3, and it was great on gas. The 5.7 Hemi isn't bad for what it is, I guess, but still not as economical as a 4.3. Plus, it requires 89 octane.

The final one was September 2023, when I bought the Charger. The dealer was about 50 miles away. I was driving up in the '03 Regal I inherited from my Dad, and it was knocking at death's door by that time. I figured it would be just my luck, that it would break down on the way up there, so I had my uncle follow me in his Colorado. Well, the Charger was listed online for something like $46K. It had an MSRP of around $54K. It was another one of those stories, where they threw every rebate known to man at it, and stripped out the freight, to get to that $46K. I couldn't get them to budge on the price. And they offered me $250 for the Regal. I was about ready to walk, but then my uncle pulled his, "well, do you LIKE the car?" spiel again. He also threw in "you KNOW you can afford it" and I think he even added a "Well, you're not getting any younger, so why don't you just treat yourself for once!" So, I was able to get them to come up to $500 for the Regal. I know I could've gotten more for it trying to sell on my own, but I just wanted it gone. I also let them talk me into an extended warranty. Ordinarily I wouldn't have, until the sales lady said that if the touch screen goes bad, even that's $3,000+ these days. So, I figured what the hell. Anyway, that car with the $54K MSRP sticker ended up costing about $54K, out the door.

About two weeks after I bought the Charger, my uncle ended up having to go into the emergency room. He'd had kidney issues all his life, and as he got older, there were other problems (bad heart, etc). And, after about a month, he died. It should be awhile now, before I need another car, but I do kinda wonder...with my uncle gone, who am I gonna have around, to talk me INTO buying another new car!

sda · June 4

Your uncle was a good, generous man.

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

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