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Cars That Could Have Been Great, But Missed

421 messages,  Last post on Jan 31, 2013 at 2:32 PM

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What is this discussion about? Chrysler, Wagon

Messages Page 38 of 43

#364 of 421 Re: Chryslers "Cloud" Cars [andre1969] by lemko

Apr 26, 2011 (6:09 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (Apr 25, 2011 4:21 pm)
If the 'Trep hadn't been wrecked, do you think you'd still have it?

#365 of 421 Re: Chryslers "Cloud" Cars [lemko] by andre1969

Apr 26, 2011 (6:18 am)

Replying to: lemko (Apr 26, 2011 6:09 am)
If the 'Trep hadn't been wrecked, do you think you'd still have it?
 
Yeah, probably, although it would have around 164,000 miles on it by now (had 150K when wrecked, and I've put 14K on the Park Ave).
 
The Trep actually saved me a bit on maintenance though, getting wrecked when it did. It was about due for a transmission service, which I tried to do roughly every 30,000 miles. Rear brake pads tended to last around 50,000 miles, so it was probably going to need them again soon. And, as preventive maintenance, I might have changed the battery by now.
 
Now, if the engine or transmission had gone out in that car, I would have junked it, but both were still working fine, so I'm sure they still had a few good years left.

#366 of 421 1970 Riv/Toro by tomcatt630

May 01, 2011 (8:25 pm)

Even as a kid I didn't know why they changed the looks on Riv/Toro for 1970 just for a year. Sales of the 70's tanked, and probably from the looks. OTOH, I have a car buddy who had a green 70 Riv and likes them for "uniqueness".
 
Another odd look from GM for 1970 were the full sized Pontiacs, they looked alot less sporty than the 65-69 and the big grille was like an antique radiator.

#367 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [tomcatt630] by andre1969

May 02, 2011 (5:19 am)

Replying to: tomcatt630 (May 01, 2011 8:25 pm)
I never did like the '70 Riviera, but can still tolerate the Toronado. At least with the Toro, it seems like they only botched the front, but with the Riv, they messed up the whole thing. Almost overnight, it seemed to go from sleek, sporty, tasteful, to an odd combination of old man's car and pimp-mobile. I think the one redeeming feature was that 1970 was the year the Riv hit its peak horsepower, before the decline.
 
I think Pontiac was trying to apply Grand Prix styling to the big cars for 1970, and that retro style, or "neoclassic" as they called it back then, was starting to come into vogue. It worked on the '69-70 Grand Prix, but I think the result was a bit less tasteful on the big cars. They were just too wide to wear a grille that narrow and tall, and it left too much room on either side. And trying to fill it in by spacing the headlights out a bit, and making the fake horn ports, which gave it a "6-headlight" look, just didn't work.

#368 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [andre1969] by lemko

May 02, 2011 (7:45 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (May 02, 2011 5:19 am)
I guess that explains the 1970 full-size Pontiac's weird look. They tried to make it a massive Grand Prix. I always thought the 1970 Riviera looked like a Skylark on steroids. The fender skirts were bad enough, but that vinyl sweepspear was really overkill.

#369 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [andre1969] by ab348

May 02, 2011 (8:36 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (May 02, 2011 5:19 am)
Actually, given a choice between the '69 and '70 big Pontiacs, I'd take the '70. I liked the attempt at pseudo-classic styling, and the '69 by comparison seems bland. I think the '70 looks better to my eye now than it did when it was new.
 
There is nothing at all good I can say about the Riv for that year though. Dunno what they were thinking. At least on the '70 Toro you could order the GT option which gave it the most power it would ever have along with a dual-cutout rear bumper like the 4-4-2.

#370 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [ab348] by oldbearcat

May 02, 2011 (8:49 pm)

Replying to: ab348 (May 02, 2011 8:36 am)
My Dad owned a 70 Toro GT. It was quite a beast. If you uncorked it at a stoplight, the front tires would go up in smoke. Turns out - this was his last Olds. One evening in 1977, he took the Toro downtown, and, came home with a new BMW 530i. The BMW dealer must have thought that he was nuts. He left the house dressed in a old sweatshirt, and, a pair of WWII vintage fatique pants. He'd just finished mowing thw grass, and, I guess he just decided to go swap cars. I didn't even know he had been looking at BMWs.
 
Regards;
Oldbearcat

#371 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [oldbearcat] by lilengineerboy

May 03, 2011 (3:59 pm)

Replying to: oldbearcat (May 02, 2011 8:49 pm)
One evening in 1977, he took the Toro downtown, and, came home with a new BMW 530i.
 
Yikes, so close. Its too bad he couldn't hold on a litte bit longer and go for a 528i instead.

#372 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [lilengineerboy] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

May 03, 2011 (4:12 pm)

Replying to: lilengineerboy (May 03, 2011 3:59 pm)
Yeah, he missed the Rhine River barge on that one. Oh well, what's a few cracked cylinder heads among friends?

#373 of 421 Re: 1970 Riv/Toro [Mr_Shiftright] by oldbearcat

May 03, 2011 (8:19 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 03, 2011 4:12 pm)
Would you believe Dad owned that BMW for 17 years, and, the head never cracked. Did a bunch of other bad things - including catching on fire twice.
 
Regards:
Oldbearcat

Messages Page 38 of 43

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