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

stickguy · November 25

when my son was little I took him to car shows, and he always impressed the car people by peeking in the windows and announcing if it was a stick shift.

also remember taking him to the car show in philly, in a stroller, and he pulled himself up to the front and stayed that way staring at all the cars.

fintail · November 25

I saw the gold Firebird on the road today.

I remember when I was a little kid, I liked toy cars that had a floor shift detail.

fintail · November 25

stickguy said:
Tom, that entails having the app on the phone (heck, knowing how to have the app on the phone) and knowing how to stream it to the car. Not everyone does. I’m sure if I told my wife to do it she would give me that look.

Gotta have a smartphone! I know many do not (my mom does not, doesn't care, and she's not a complete Luddite as she's attached to her iPad).

stickguy · November 25

at this point it almost is a must. Quite a few things can only be done that way, or at least easily. Parking lots are phone based now, but may still have a stray kiosk you can use.

roadburner · November 25

stickguy said:
when my son was little I took him to car shows, and he always impressed the car people by peeking in the windows and announcing if it was a stick shift.

also remember taking him to the car show in philly, in a stroller, and he pulled himself up to the front and stayed that way staring at all the cars.

My son liked to get on the PC and build cars using the BMW NA website. At the time most dealers had one or two kiosks for customers to use to build cars. When we went to a BMW CCA event and those kiosks were set up he would build cars to order.

texases · November 26

@stickguy said:
at this point it almost is a must. Quite a few things can only be done that way, or at least easily. Parking lots are phone based now, but may still have a stray kiosk you can use.

I hate the parking lot thing. What a pain for someone like me that uses them rarely.

stickguy · November 26

I just hate paying for parking.

thebean · November 26

Free enterprise capitalism at work. Everybody needs to make a living.

texases · November 26

Last week tried parking at one with a sign saying $4 and up. Scanned the code, cheapest price was $18 for 2 hrs. Left, found a meter for $1.

fintail · November 26

I suspect other cities do it this way too, my city uses "Park Mobile" for parking, but I think meters also take cards and some still take coins. I would rather not pay as well, but locally I think one would find cars permanently in higher demand spots if they were free, so I can understand it.

tjc78 · November 26

At the Jersey shore it’s all park mobile. Seems to work well for the rather expensive parking there.

xwesx · November 26

I cannot remember where I was now, but there was a "private" parking lot across the street specifically for this museum we visited. We had to pay for an assigned space to enter, and when I arrived at the space, it was TINY! I mean, not terribly short, but basically the width of the car, so two cars properly parked next to each other meant that it was impractical for a person to enter either one. The space next to mine was vacant, so I just parked between the two spots, which afforded about 30" between my car and the one on either side. A little more than standard, but not by much (a normal spacing is about 24").

The attendant was very unhappy about that. I offered to pay for the second space, which he would not allow, so I just told him that I wasn't willing to pay for guaranteed door dings. If they were unhappy with that, they should repaint the lot to reasonably accommodate full-size vehicles. When I came back a few hours later, I didn't have any door dings... and there were probably a dozen other vehicles throughout the lot parked the same way I was.

REBELS!!!

ab348 · November 26

tjc78 said:
At the Jersey shore it’s all park mobile. Seems to work well for the rather expensive parking there.

Here the city uses something called HotSpotMobile for street parking. You need an app and an account to pay.

explorerx4 · November 26

Cleveland still has streets with no parking fees.
When I go to baseball games, I park at a lot that is $10 cash(10 minute walk to the park) and you get a bag of peanuts, too.

stickguy · November 26

having had to use it a few places (mostly Boston) at this point I think I have 2 or 3 parking apps, including park mobile, on my phone.

We have plenty of quarters in the car (thanks Aldis!) so old school meters are just fine. and a whole lot quicker.

towns collect plenty of taxes. Municipal lots should be free. especially in the ones that are complaining enough people don't come downtown now. Some have pay to park but spot you an hour or 2 to prevent squatting. That I like.

kyfdx · November 27

In Miami, this May, we had the Miami parking app.. We went to a restaurant in Coral Gables (10 minutes), and it had a different app.

I don't mind the apps, generally, but it's a pain in a different locality. Took ten minutes to get it all set up, just to go eat dinner.

uplanderguy · November 27

Hauling this old chestnut out again for Thanksgiving. My hometown's Stude dealer. This is one of two pics I have. It shows less of the building, but the kid is smiling. He looks miserable in the other one!

uplanderguy · November 27

I usually enjoy the holiday tear-jerker Chevy commercials this time of year. Just saw this year's. I wasn't very impressed. The vehicle was a late box-Suburban (late '80's). The storyline was about empty nesters.

Hard to beat the first one, "Mom's Car", about the daughter having her late mom's '66 Impala SS convertible restored for 'Dad' for Christmas, or 2023's, Grandma with dementia going for a ride in the '72 Suburban and she is more talkative and reminisces.

imidazol97 · November 27

Here's a link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB-DXIGGoqc

fintail · November 27

I don't mind the sentimentality of the ad, but IMO the actors don't look old enough for their assumed ages. i do like the nice touch of the Caprice LS Brougham (or whatever the half vinyl top model was called) driving by in the early house scene, and no out of period cars visible in other scenes. It would also be remarkable for someone to keep that Suburban as an ordinary car for 35 or more years in a snowy (and I assume salty) climate.

Funny that a late squarebody Suburban is now seen as an oldie, a friend in high school had one, an ex-forest service car or similar, and this was over 30 years ago.

The first Suburban themed sentimental ad was more of a hearstrings type piece for sure.

uplanderguy · November 27

I worked with a guy who had a late square Suburban he bought new and drove for a lot of years. He called it “Big Red” and it was a base trim with panel doors and 4-speed manual.

fintail · November 27

xwesx said:
I cannot remember where I was now, but there was a "private" parking lot across the street specifically for this museum we visited. We had to pay for an assigned space to enter, and when I arrived at the space, it was TINY! I mean, not terribly short, but basically the width of the car, so two cars properly parked next to each other meant that it was impractical for a person to enter either one. The space next to mine was vacant, so I just parked between the two spots, which afforded about 30" between my car and the one on either side. A little more than standard, but not by much (a normal spacing is about 24").

The attendant was very unhappy about that. I offered to pay for the second space, which he would not allow, so I just told him that I wasn't willing to pay for guaranteed door dings. If they were unhappy with that, they should repaint the lot to reasonably accommodate full-size vehicles. When I came back a few hours later, I didn't have any door dings... and there were probably a dozen other vehicles throughout the lot parked the same way I was.

REBELS!!!

That reminds me of some years ago, I was in Switzerland and had an A8 rental car. I was trying to park it in a garage adjacent to old town Basel, and the spots were almost exactly as wide as the car, no way to get out if you parked. Added bonus that the lanes were so narrow it was a chore to maneuver the barge. I ended up parking in a seldom used corner of the garage that seemed to be used for storage.

thebean · November 27

Happy Happy Happy Turkey Day to all you and yours! 🦃🏈

benjaminh · November 28

1960 Chrysler Windsor with 7k miles driving in 2025 on its original Goodyear tires...

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

texases · November 28

@benjaminh said:
1960 Chrysler Windsor with 7k miles driving in 2025 on its original Goodyear tires...

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

I hope not fast or far!

explorerx4 · November 28

Here's my take on that Suburban commercial.
"Looking forward to seeing your new Sububan when you come over for Thanksgiving(or other holiday)".
"Can you come over to us? We're not sure if it's going to make it".

uplanderguy · November 29

They'd probably be more likely to arrive than if they had a '22 or '23 Tundra pickup. I know it's not conventional wisdom, and I knew they had engine manufacturing problems, but I was pretty surprised to see in CR (yes, I know, I bag on CR!) that the '22 Tundra is rated eleventh out of eleven similar vehicles for reliability.

benjaminh · November 29

The tires on that 1960 Chrysler blew my mind. I would have said that tires from the year 2000 would likely blow out if driven on. Boggles my mind. But also...for gosh sakes put on a new set of tires.

fintail · November 29

There are even memes out there about the current Tundra, Toyota makes big mistakes now and then.

When my friend bought that low mileage 00 Avalon this year, it was on original tires, which had no visible issues on the sidewall anyway. I told him it could be driven around town, but don't go out on the highway. He replaced them within a couple months (they've put over 5K miles on it, doubling the mileage).

uplanderguy · November 29

Somewhere I'd heard to not go over ten years on tires, and on my Studes I tried to not do that.

fintail · November 29

Fintail's tires are 12 years old, the car does ~1000 miles a year these days, I hope to get a little more time out of them as they are not cheap.

benjaminh · November 29

fintail said:
Fintail's tires are 12 years old, the car does ~1000 miles a year these days, I hope to get a little more time out of them as they are not cheap.

https://www.michelinman.com/auto/auto-tips-and-advice/tire-buying-guide/when-do-i-need-new-tires

On the other hand, since your classic Mercedes is garaged and kept in almost perfect conditions...?

fintail · November 29

benjaminh said:

fintail said:
Fintail's tires are 12 years old, the car does ~1000 miles a year these days, I hope to get a little more time out of them as they are not cheap.
https://www.michelinman.com/auto/auto-tips-and-advice/tire-buying-guide/when-do-i-need-new-tires

On the other hand, since your classic Mercedes is garaged and kept in almost perfect conditions...?

Michelin may have a vested interest in a couple ways for recommendations, but yeah if I had tires showing signs of age, I would look into replacement. I am flattered by the "almost perfect" observation (so is the car

), but yes the car is garaged and not exposed to harsh conditions, the car seldom exceeds 60 mph these days. I check the tires regularly and they have no visible issues. The car is on BF Goodrich Silvertown tires.

The wagon got new tires this spring, at 6 years old and under 40K - the originals looked ok, but I needed 2 replacements due to one being damaged, and they had a buy 3 get 1 free promo, so I just went for it.

texases · November 29

One problem with old tires is the rubber hardens, tire looks good but traction is reduced, especially in the wet.

uplanderguy · November 29

Fin, I’m reminded of you a bit. Daughter just sent this pic of her “window seat” on the flight home to Seattle today, lol.

ab348 · November 29

When I had the ‘68 Cutlass I grappled with the aging tire issue. I put a set of Goodrich Radial T/A tires on it in ‘94, and replaced them around 2010 since it was always garaged and they had very few miles. When it departed they were about 10 years old.

tjc78 · November 29

I still think this is a great looking car…. Shame they aren’t known to hold up well.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1EchsaDh42/?mibextid=wwXIfr

uplanderguy · November 29

Looks and sounds pretty good for 100k to me.

xwesx · November 29

uplanderguy said:
Fin, I’m reminded of you a bit. Daughter just sent this pic of her “window seat” on the flight home to Seattle today, lol.

Lucky! She got the inner wall and didn't have some pesky shade to move, either!

xwesx · November 29

The tires on my C20 are from 1997. I really should replace them, but I have to replace the wheels, too, due to the lack of availability in 16.5" size anymore. I am not terribly keen on that, though I have been keeping my eye out for a set of 17" steelies that will accommodate my dog dish hubcaps.

fintail · November 29

texases said:
One problem with old tires is the rubber hardens, tire looks good but traction is reduced, especially in the wet.

I get around that problem in the old car by not driving it in the rain

The 12 year old tires on it feel fine, I am sure they have some aging compared to a new set, but I like to think they have a few more years at the current rate of usage. At least they aren't as expensive as they could be, thanks to small (13") wheels.

For the window seat, still beats a middle seat or aisle next to the lavatory etc.

LHS seems decent enough for the money, just be sure to be prepared for the known quirks.

gsemike · November 29

VW New Beetle Dune

Nice color; convertible; Turbo

stickguy · November 29

I would not mind that one.

uplanderguy · 2:56AM

Only car-related thing to this post will be the humor of a green 'woody' LeBaron with red interior, in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles".

We watched it again the other night, and I still love it, although wish I knew how they put the car fire out!

I told my wife, "I can't stand Steve Martin's wife in this. She looks stoned in every scene".

I saw recent discussion online that the movie was cut down considerably for time and a part of the storyline that got cut, was that she felt 'Neal' had been having affair(s) being away so often.

That would better-explain her aura I guess.

fintail · 7:47AM

uplanderguy said:
Only car-related thing to this post will be the humor of a green 'woody' LeBaron with red interior, in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles".

We watched it again the other night, and I still love it, although wish I knew how they put the car fire out!

I told my wife, "I can't stand Steve Martin's wife in this. She looks stoned in every scene".

I saw recent discussion online that the movie was cut down considerably for time and a part of the storyline that got cut, was that she felt 'Neal' had been having affair(s) being away so often.

That would better-explain her aura I guess.

Yep, there is known to be at least an hour of deleted scenes from PTA, and probably even more material that didn't make it to the film. The way Neal's wife reacts to his calls hints at an untold story - she is suspicious although what made it to the movie doesn't hint at a reason for suspicion.

I make it a point to watch the movie every Thanksgiving - there are some good scenes of what I am certain was an actual rental car lot in St. Louis (where Neal has the keys to a nonexistent "white Town Car" before the famous Edie McClurg scene) - interesting to me to see what was in a fleet at the time, oddities like AE86 Corolla and 4th gen Celica along with the expected sea of A-bodies, G-body coupes, Tempos, Taurus and Sable, Cougar and T-Bird (perhaps a Hertz lot?) etc.

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

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