Featuring: Jack B. and Bark M.
Since I have a lot of free time of late, I have been haunting Marketplace a lot, just looking for anything interesting and land yachtish from the ’70s. And today what did I spot but this green on green ’73 Nimitz-class Caprice wagon in San Diego. Continue Reading →
Remember the Fiat X1/9? It was a lovely little go-kart by all accounts, but with its rust-prone steel and thin-on-the-ground Fiat dealer network (at least in the U.S.) it slowly faded from the scene. Believe it or not, there is a nice bright blue one still living around here. I’ve seen it in a driveway several times.
Sadly, not at car shows or on the street, so no pics yet. Anyway, Toyota took the Fiat’s general hard points and then produced a sporty two-seater of their own: the MR2, or “Mister Two,” as it was affectionately dubbed by its fans. Continue Reading →
It’s no secret I love Cadillacs. Even more so when the Cadillac is “triple yellow”, meaning paint, top and interior are all in that classic Cadillac pastel yellow. In 1977 it was Naples Yellow, in 1978 it was slightly paler and renamed Colonial Yellow. Continue Reading →
I’ve always loved these early downsized Caprices. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but when I was a little kid there were TWO 1977 Caprice Estates on my block. They looked so cool. One cream, one tobacco brown. Both with Di Noc woodgrain sides. Continue Reading →
Poor Oldsmobile. During the 1980s it went from volume champion to being essentially the Cutlass Division of GM, thus finishing the decade in a real bind. What went wrong? Was it the loss of divisional independence caused by the newly formed B-O-C Group? The omnipresence of front-wheel drive? Increased, and increasingly intense, competition? In any case, only one thing is certain: In the late summer of 1985, the last medium-priced, B-body Delta 88s came off the line. Perhaps taking with it the bulk of Oldsmobile’s upper-middle class clientele.
The first newly downsized full-size Oldsmobiles–including the last of the “big” Delta 88s and equally trimmer Ninety-Eights–debuted in 1977. The zaftig 1971-76 gunboats were now a thing of the past. Sales of their attractive, crisply styled ‘sheer look’ replacements took off. In 1977, Oldsmobile set a production record, albeit on the strength of Cutlasses. But the big cars did very well too.
Despite being much smaller than the ’76s, the ’77 Royales had more interior room and trunk space. One shocking development was that the standard engine was not a V8. A 231 cu in V6 came standard, but 260, 300 and 400 CID V8s were available. And popular. Also available was a 5.7-liter V8 Diesel.
Oh no! A Seville! When Cadillac sold luxury cars, and where never was heard, any combover word. Yes, the bustle back Seville. Banks of computers are coming online, electricity is churning and burning, as certain RG folks immediately start typing madly, seeing this blast from the past. Great walls o’ text, saying in multiple paragraphs and for the 4,782nd time, I do not like that car, good sir. Oh crap, the RG server is beginning to smoke. BeepabeepabeepabeepaAWOOGAAWOOGAAWOOGA!
Yes, indeedy! *cackles madly*
Here’s another round of the vintage insured photos I rescued from the recycle bin at the insurance company twenty-odd years ago. I saved them purely for the cars in the pictures, but nowadays I can appreciate the buildings too. Continue Reading →
Note: This originally ran on a site run by some dude who bought a Scion xB and painted the wheels red. I drove the car in late autumn 2013, when these were still fairly common as late-model used cars at Caddy dealerships. I’d just bought my 2000 Cartier (which is now living happily in Syracuse, NY with its new enthusiast owner). It was also the first car I drove with a heated steering wheel. 🙂 -TK
Once upon a time, Cadillac sold sedans and coupes, with French names and chrome and bench seats and stand-up hood ornaments. Today, they primarily sell glitzed up combovers and the Escalade-though they do still sell two sedan models. But you’d have been hard pressed to find them on Cadillac dealer lots even before the Chicom Chip Chaos Conundrum-but never mind that.
Yesterday was our first real dose of winter weather. Fortunately I didn’t have to go anywhere, so I rode it out online, over first a pot of coffee, and later, several screwdrivers.
As I was perusing I came across this most excellent ’78 Fleetwood Brougham. It’s in Buffalo, NY. I’ve always loved the 1977-79 downsized Cadillacs. Continue Reading →
So here it is, Christmas Eve Eve, as some may say. I spent the day picking up a pie for Christmas dinner (I don’t cook), hosing off the Lincoln (damn birds, damn berries!) and perusing FB for cars I don’t need or have room or patience for.
And found this seemingly immaculate Mopar M body on Omaha CL. For a rather princely $11,500, but I will admit it appears to be a real time capsule, at least from the photos. Continue Reading →