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

stickguy · January 5

We have that now. Not a big deal after having it. Only issue is if you don’t have bump outs to back into, or if the driveway is too skinny and tight to the garage.

A positive is that you always come in and out of the driveway nose first.

xwesx · January 5

stickguy said:
We have that now. Not a big deal after having it. Only issue is if you don’t have bump outs to back into, or if the driveway is too skinny and tight to the garage.

A positive is that you always come in and out of the driveway nose first.

I agree, stick. I think that a 90-degree driveway approach is ideal because it allows you the option of nose-in or nose-out when parking in the garage without ever having to back into or out of the street! And, the driveway itself typically affords better short-term parking options when folks come to visit.

fintail · January 5

I kind of like the idea of a side driveway like that, if there's room to back in. I am fortunate to live on a relatively quiet street, so I can stop and back up my driveway with little issue. That type of driveway also makes me think of "E.T." where the older brother is learning to drive and clumsily backs the family's lovely then-new Audi 5000S down the long steep driveway.

fintail · January 5

Someone had an obscure sighting. A trailer containing a modern car and three of the rarest fintail variants - a Universal wagon, a W112 300SE LWB (rear door lengthened by ~3"), and what I think is a Binz high roof wagon (MB did not have an in-house wagon until the 1979 model year):

I have no context to the photo.

thebean · January 5

Wow! Love the MB’s.

imidazol97 · January 5

Wow

uplanderguy · January 6

Our garage is in the front of the house, but we have a paved turnaround so easy to back into it and enter the street facing it.

texases · January 6

With our house on a creek, it has a street-entry garage, with a 'T' shaped driveway that makes it easy to back out, then enter the street nose-first (worked with a Suburban). The area past the paved T is gravel, good for parking our son's car when he was here. Some of the houses on my street have an 'L' instead of the 'T' shape, so they have to back all the way out. Most Dallas area houses have a rear alley/rear garage.

uplanderguy · January 7

Back to Cadillac Fleetwoods for a moment—always irritated in ‘76-79 when they attempted to use the “FLEETWOOD” block-letter concept again on nameplates, but were too cheap to attach individual letters so put them in a rectangular block the color of the car, and applied that. Couldn’t find a photo to show.

Unrelated, but saw this FB post this morning of a guy’s mother receiving the keys to her new ‘56 C1. Wedding gift from her husband. Guy in pic is the dealer in Great Bend, KS. Sold in ‘59 when baby came. Guy says his dad still blames him lol.

Very nice car. I never could tell a ‘56 from a ‘57 but would prefer a ‘56 solely because everything ‘57 Chevrolet is so overhyped.

andre1969 · January 7

uplanderguy said:
Back to Cadillac Fleetwoods for a moment—always irritated in ‘76-79 when they attempted to use the “FLEETWOOD” block-letter concept again on nameplates, but were too cheap to attach individual letters so put them in a rectangular block the color of the car, and applied that. Couldn’t find a photo to show.

Here's one from a '77:

uplanderguy · January 7

Thank you for posting that pic.

RE.: Buying a new C1 for your wife reminds me of Homer Simpson buying Marge a bowling ball for her birthday with “Homer” written on it.

tjc78 · January 7

On the Caddy topic, I really think the last traditional Caddy was the 89 Brougham. It still had quad headlights and traditional bumpers.

The 90-92 was very similar but it had more flush bumpers and the obvious change to composite headlights. I guess you could make the argument that 92 is the last of them since it really is the same car as a 1980 model.

uplanderguy · January 7

I usually think the last magnificent Cadillac was the ‘66 Fleetwood Brougham, with real wood on the interior doors and the fold-down table for the rear seat.

Overkill, but the ‘74-76 Fleetwood Talisman seating was over-the-top, especially in all-leather.

To actually own one, I’d enjoy ‘76-79 Seville, ‘79-80 Eldorado, or ‘77-79 Fleetwood Brougham.

tjc78 · January 7

There are a bunch of Caddy's I would love to have. In no particular order:

Late 60s Eldo
89 -92 Brougham
Early 90s STS
70 Sedan/Coupe De'Ville

uplanderguy · January 7

You guys may have seen this, but it is a bit comical, even though we know current cars are designed to crumble, to absorb energy.

The license plate was torn off the New Yorker.

stickguy · January 7

The bigger difference tends to be impact to passengers.

tjc78 · January 7

This happened to me. When I had my 79 Continental I was sitting at a light and a first gen Altima (it was a fairly new car then) rear ended me at about 40 MPH or so. Altima was destroyed, air bags blown, spewing coolant everywhere and the engine broke off it's mounts. The Lincoln was totally untouched except for some rust that came out of the frame lol.

Before camera phones so no pics...

The officer that showed up was the best. He said to the Altima driver "what exactly did you hit?"

texases · January 7

That photo doesn’t actually show what happened. I’ll need to find it, but the damage done to the other car was not caused by rear ending the big boat.

texases · January 7

Found it:
https://theautopian.com/no-that-old-chryslers-rear-bumper-didnt-demolish-that-new-kia/

ab348 · January 7

texases said:
Found it:
https://theautopian.com/no-that-old-chryslers-rear-bumper-didnt-demolish-that-new-kia/

I read that and have no clue what actually happened. What a terribly-written story.

xwesx · January 7

Haha! Agreed! The way it is written offers really no way to visualize the series of events.

Based on the small snippets provided by the "refuting" story (presumably provided by the pickup truck driver?), it sounds like the Kia tried to make a left in front of the pickup, collided, then was spun around and hit the back of the Chrysler while the pickup was deflected and cracked the fourth car (Ford Fusion). However, which one was going which direction? beats me!

fintail · January 7

Pretty sure I have mentioned it, a family member had an incident like that back in the mid 90s. They had a pretty clean blue and white Mark IV, which was rear ended by a Prizm at maybe 35 mph. Prizm was totaled like the Altima mentioned above, Lincoln had barely a scratch - however upon later inspection the frame was bent, and the owner soon bought another car (IIRC a 65 Coupe DeVille that was later stolen).

explorerx4 · January 7

I could be weong but I'm pretty sure those big Chrysler's were demolition derby favorites due to their strong frames.

uplanderguy · January 8

I remember the demo-derby stories involving ‘64-66 Imperials, which unlike that New Yorker which was unitized body, were body-on-frame with also a strong unitized body. I could be wrong. Andre, our resident “Mr. Mopar”, can probably comment with more authority here.

andre1969 · January 8

I always heard with Imperials it was the '60-66 models that got banned initially. Like you said, Uplander, they were still body-on-frame, but got a lot of the unibody type improvements for '60. I think some derbies banned the entire '57-75 run, just to be safe. With the '55-56 and earlier Imperials, I don't think they ever caused any controversy, because they were basically just longer Chryslers, but I don't know if they were any beefier. The later models were less unique and became more Chrysler-like as the years went by, but I think some people still associate them with the extra ruggedness of the '60-66 models.

Years ago, I remember reading an article in an old Mopar enthusiast magazine, where they took an old Imperial, maybe a '64, and cut as much weight off of it as possible, to see the correlation between less weight and better performance. Apparently they were inspired by someone who did the same to a '71-76 Cadillac. Only problem is, the Caddy was like an aluminum can in comparison to the Imperial. I don't remember how much weight they cut off the Imperial, or how much it improved performance, but it was a LOT of work to cut up that Imperial.

uplanderguy · January 9

Looking at Mecum Kissimmee results, saw a ‘76 Malibu Classic Landau in the lime green with white top and white vinyl interior which I find loathsome yet fascinating at the same time. 7817 miles, sold for $24k.

www.mecum.com/lots/1161280/

350 engine. I’m always amazed at how many Chevy Colonnades of that era I see advertised with 350, when I saw many, many more with 305’s new when I about lived at my hometown dealer. Because people associate “small block Chevy” with a 350, I always wonder how many 305’s get sold decades later as 350’s.

ab348 · January 9

I loved that lime green and white combo GM offered in ‘76. Back then our next door neighbor had a ‘76 Impala Custom Coupe in that combo. His had a white vinyl roof outside and a green dash and carpets inside along with the white seats. A few years later I bought a ‘77 LeMans coupe with a white interior that had a blue dash and rugs to coordinate with the light blue metallic and white 2-tone paint.

uplanderguy · January 9

I do like the white vinyl of those days, with the contrasting carpet, dash, and seat belts. That lime green on the dash though, wow.

ab348 · January 9

The dash wasn’t bright lime, more of a mid-green.

uplanderguy · January 9

On the Chevelles and Monte Carlos, the dash was retina-searing lime.

imidazol97 · January 9

Somewhere i have photos of a lime green Buick Regal with white vinyl from an all GM car show.
I think it was bright inside. Can't recall how dash colors were done.

Not my photos and not Regal

andre1969 · January 10

Here's a '76 Regal in that lime green:

And count me as one of those who has sort of a love/hate relationship with it. I tend to like greens that are darker, like sequioa/forest/jade, or hues that have a bit of blue in them.

Yet, I still find that lime green fascinating.

uplanderguy · January 10

I generally think bright colors are more suited to small cars. But other than that color on the dash, I do like, especially, the Monte Carlo’s ‘Special Custom Interior’ in white, with the green carpeting.

MHO only, but the ‘76 big Chevy is a complete turnoff in that color, especially with the lime color on the wheel covers.

stickguy · January 10

I like it.

ab348 · January 10

uplanderguy said:

MHO only, but the ‘76 big Chevy is a complete turnoff in that color, especially with the lime color on the wheel covers.

Oh, you're such a stick in the mud!!!

Hey man, it was the '70s. That was très stylish at the time, even those wheel covers (which the neighbor's car also had). Those folks were cruisin' in style, dude...

imidazol97 · January 10

In 73 I had a Torino with brown wheel. Cover center to match the body color. Didn't MB have color wheel covers on some at the time. Then in 77 I ordered my Cutlass with color wheels, Rally Ii, I think they were called.

kyfdx · January 10

At that time, I loved the Lime Green GMs!

uplanderguy · January 10

If I owned one of those lime green GM’s with white interior, I’d probably wear white shoes and belt to cruise-ins with it.

fintail · January 10

imidazol97 said:
In 73 I had a Torino with brown wheel. Cover center to match the body color. Didn't MB have color wheel covers on some at the time. Then in 77 I ordered my Cutlass with color wheels, Rally Ii, I think they were called.

MB used color matched wheelcovers from the maybe mid 30s into the early/mid 80s.

I like the lime green GMs too, it's a style, more lively than modern color trends. It seems after the early 00s, everything went boring and safe.

ab348 · January 10

Hope those white shoes have platform soles and that the pants are bell-bottoms!

Speaking of such, as @imidazol97 mentioned, wheel covers that were color-keyed to the body paint color were a big thing with Ford in the '70s. I thought they looked pretty good. Our '74 Maverick LDO in Polar White had them. I know I have a pic of it somewhere but I can't find it at the moment, so here's an ad for the same car in gold. Also an ad for the '76 Chevy Landau Custom Coupe in @uplanderguy 's favorite color:

uplanderguy · January 10

The ‘75 Nova LN I liked a lot, except for the body-colored wheel covers. I used to think I’d have had to order one with the optional Turbine wheels (yeah, at age 17!).

‘63 Studebaker Larks had a wide band of white paint on the optional “Wheel Disks”. The one I owned for 23 years had them; it was a white car. I’ve seen a fair number of ‘63’s with ‘62 or ‘64 wheel disks and the owners have told me they didn’t like the ‘63 wheel disks.

ab348 · January 10

This isn’t really the forum to ask this but since you probably won’t see it if I ask elsewhere, a question for you, Bill: yesterday I got behind a new model Corvette on the expressway. It was (I think) white like yours, unless it was a very pale gray (no idea if they offer such a color). It could have been white but suffering from road grime or salt spray. After following him for a bit he signalled to move right to exit.

When he did my brain seemed to have trouble perceiving what I was seeing. The Vette taillights are quite compact as seems to be a trend these days but I thought I was seeing a sequential signal. Upon a closer look it was apparently just a single segmented LED light that simulated (if that’s the right word) that type of signal. It is such a small light that I had a hard time getting my head around it.

This car had a black scoop or appliqué behind the door and ahead of the rear wheel. Is that an option?

uplanderguy · January 10

That black scoop is standard on all C8’s. Body color is optional but I like the contrast on a white car.

There is a very light gray available. I thought about it until my dealer told me “it looks like glossy gray primer”.

I honestly didn’t know or remember about whether they had sequential turn signals or not! Only the outside lens has a sequential feature so it’s not like old Cougars or Thunderbirds.

Funny, I had just brought something in from the trunk of the Cruze and a friend of Sheila’s pulled in to drop something off and she said she hadn’t been that close to the Corvette before so I opened the driver’s door and fell in love with the red interior all over again.

I hate black wheels and spoilers, and also since I’m cheap, neither are on my car.

ab348 · January 10

Finally found a pic of the ‘74 Maverick LDO that I ended up driving to university.

Also stumbled on to this pic of a ‘72 Gran Torino Squire wagon with the much-coveted “Uplanderguy Edition” wheel covers lacking any body color paint whatsoever.

fintail · January 10

The color matched wheelcover thing also makes me think of these:

Part of me wants to call it copying MB, but I think it's maybe concurrent design just because it has a cohesive look. When I am out in the fintail, I regularly get comments about the hubcaps.

uplanderguy · January 11

My biggest high school crush was the granddaughter of our town’s Ford dealer, and she drove a new light blue metallic ‘73 Maverick LDO 302 to school. She had reddish or strawberry blonde hair that looked right out of a shampoo or conditioner ad, lol.

First GM I remember with body-color wheel covers was the very first ‘70 Caprice sedan our hometown dealer got in. I remember old salesman Virgil I think thought I was a pest hanging around on my bike down there, as I remember him saying “$5,000–you could buy a new Olds or Buick for that”—which even then I interpreted as, “why don’t you go to Stevenson Buick-Olds and pester those guys”, lol.

andre1969 · January 11

On the subject of car colors, when I was Charger-shopping, I briefly considered going wild and getting one in either "Plum Crazy" or "Sublime." But in the end I just couldn't do it. I figured it would be something that I'd get a kick out of for a brief moment, but then get tired of it. I figured the "B5 Blue" would age more tastefully, as time went by.

uplanderguy · January 11

Cars, like most things—I do think ‘simple’ ages best.

sda · January 11

andre1969 said:
On the subject of car colors, when I was Charger-shopping, I briefly considered going wild and getting one in either "Plum Crazy" or "Sublime." But in the end I just couldn't do it. I figured it would be something that I'd get a kick out of for a brief moment, but then get tired of it. I figured the "B5 Blue" would age more tastefully, as time went by.

Do you have 1,000 miles on it yet?

andre1969 · January 11

sda said:
Do you have 1,000 miles on it yet?

Yep. Up to a whopping 1,593!
I thought I would start driving more once I retired, but it looks like just the opposite happened. My last day of work was April 30. I'm mostly driving the Ram, but since then, I've only put about 4,000 miles on it. I'd been turning into a bit of a hermit, although I did make all the car shows I normally go to. However, its been getting a bit more use lately. I had also been procrastinating about getting my deceased Grandmom's house cleaned out and on the market, but in early November finally had a wakeup call. So I've been going over there a lot, and taking loads either to the landfill, the scrapyard, to donate, or over here to my place.

I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. At this point it's mainly just getting up into the attic of the garage and cleaning it out, and getting the old pool table out of the basement. At some point, the basement flooded, and the legs at one end of the pool table got soaked, and it slowly collapsed on itself. Oddly, the legs at the other end are fine. I wonder if there's any kind of salvage market for an old pool table. I think new ones are well into the $thousands. And with this one, if someone replaced the legs at the one end, it would still be useable. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to bust it up, and take it to the dump. How do you even dismantle an old pool table, I wonder?

Almost forgot, on the obscure car front. On Friday morning, when I did my usual gas station/Aldi run, I spotted this '69 Camaro. Not the best resolution, as it's a zoom in I was able to catch while we were in a traffic circle.

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

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