Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Classic Cars I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today!
18065 messages, Last post on Dec 08, 2009 at 8:26 PM
You are in the Classic Cars Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
| ...light green base 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan in pretty decent condition. | |
|
I'm back from a few hundred mile road trip, and I did see a few oddballs out on the road. Most remarkable was probably a 52 or 53 Packard convertible driving nonchalantly down a rural highway. Not something you see every day. In the smallish town where I stayed for a few days, I also saw some odd cars...one of those late 70s Olds fastbacks, this one a 2-door, languishing under a carport of a grandma-ish house comes to mind first. I also saw a very nice looking Volvo Amazon wagon sitting on a small town used car lot. The highlight of the car-spotting took place at an estate sale. Out in the garage was a 61 Chrysler New Yorker 4-door post - the slanty-eyed last of the huge fins model. It was an off-white with a blue cloth interior, which was in excellent condition. The odo read 20K, but I am sure it was 120K as it was a regular driver by the old lady owner for nearly 40 years. It had been off the road since 2000. The car was very clean and perfectly straight. I couldn't figure out how to open the hood...the lever was weird, so I don't know what was there. I suspect the car could have been bought for a couple grand.
|
|
|
Replying to: fintail (May 11, 2008 10:46 am) I haven't seen much of interest over the past couple days, with the exception of a nice looking '62 Chevy 4-door pillared sedan. It was black with red trim on the side. I think it was an Impala, but I didn't see the taillights, so I guess it could've been a Bel Air or Biscayne. |
|
|
Replying to: andre1969 (May 11, 2008 2:24 pm) On the obscure car subject, another oddball I spotted recently was a Nissan NX from the early 90s, the odd little t-topped thing. A girl I knew in high school had a NX2000, it was unusual even when new. |
|
|
Replying to: fintail (May 11, 2008 6:07 pm) The 383 first came out for 1959, and for some strange reason, Chrysler actually had TWO versions of it for a couple years! The wedge-head V-8 actually came out the year before in 1958, in 350/361 CID configurations. HP ranged from around 280 in a Dodge or DeSoto Firesweep 350 2-bbl on up to 355 in a DeSoto Adventurer with fuel injection. Chrysler stayed with its older poly head 354's and Hemi 392's for 1958. For 1959, the 350 was dropped, and the wedge was offered in 361/383 CID configurations. That year Chrysler switched to wedgeheads as well. They issued a raised-deck version that was offered in 383 CID for the Windsor/Saratoga and 413 for the NYer, 300E, and Imperial. If you did the math, I think the 383 raised-deck actually rounded off to 382. I dunno why they did that. Maybe for exclusivity or something? So they could claim that Chrysler didn't share an engine with the lesser divisions? I think they only had the two 383's for 1959-60. In 1961, the mid-range Saratoga was dropped. The Windsor used a 383-2bbl that year, but I think it switched to the lower-deck version. That was the Newport's first year, and it was priced to undercut the remnants of DeSoto, and I think was about the same price as a Dodge Polara. It used a watered-down 265 hp 361-2bbl. I wonder what kind of economy a '61 NYer with the 413 would reasonably get? Back when I drove my DeSoto fairly regularly, I was a bit shocked that it actually managed 13-14 mpg in mostly local driving. Maybe 16 on the highway. But there's a huge difference between a 341-2bbl Hemi and a 413-4bbl wedge monster. Oddly, the DeSoto would get about the same economy around town as my '68 Dart 318! I wonder if that's because of the small carb it uses? The opening for the carb on the 341 looks about the same size as the one on the 318. My '79 Newport, which had a 318, also had a really small opening. The 360-2bbl opening in my '79 New Yorkers looks like it can suck down about twice as much volume.
|
|
|
Replying to: fintail (May 11, 2008 6:07 pm)
|
|
|
Replying to: andre1969 (May 12, 2008 5:07 am) I'll admit if I had a place to store that thing, and a way to move it, it would have been kind of cool to buy that finned beast. I am afraid it will fall into some kind of rat-rodder hands, and its very original patina will be ruined. It really didn't need much to be a driver. Oh, and I remember it had a power seat..drivers anyway, I didn't look on the other side. I am actually pretty happy I know almost nothing about carbs 
|
|
|
Replying to: bumpy (May 12, 2008 7:16 am) The one I knew back in the day was yellow. I don't know if the girl it was given to really cared for it - the trendy car for spoiled high school girls back then was a Prelude. Another girl I barely knew had a 4WS Prelude, that was interesting in a pointless way. |
|
|
Replying to: bumpy (May 12, 2008 7:16 am) 
|
|
|
Replying to: texases (May 12, 2008 9:53 am) One thing that set them apart... the availability of a V-6.. There is one that lives about two blocks from me...
|
|
You are here:
Forums
Classic Cars I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today!
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
