September Car Observation Thread

[trinacriabob]

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

^ Probably correct, tho I note it's also missing it's 'Chevrolet' grille script. Owner may have removed those emblems.
Gonna go out on that limb and guess this has 8 slugs under the hood now.

I didn't think of that.  Before 1970, the 6s would have produced sufficient horsepower to power that car ... hmm, 230 or 250?  Also, since it's obviously in FL, I hope that it had A/C.  I wonder if they ordered even the base models without A/C at the time of this car.

- - - - -

Spotted today.  Couldn't believe it.  Unusual color.  In terms of photo quality, I'll take what I can get before it darted off.

 

[balthazar]

4 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I didn't think of that.  Before 1970, the 6s would have produced sufficient horsepower to power that car ... hmm, 230 or 250?  Also, since it's obviously in FL, I hope that it had A/C.  I wonder if they ordered even the base models without A/C at the time of this car.

• The I-6s were woefully weak, pre-'71 and post-'71. But the switch to lower compression didn't hurt them much- they already were very low compression, My dad had a '62 Biscayne I-6 / PowerGlide, he's always referred to it as "dangerously slow".
• I believe circa '68 the 235 grew to 250 CI.
•  A/C is going to be uncommon on a Biscayne, even on FL. Hard to relate to today, but these really were (commonly) stripped, super price-conscience basic transports.
• In '67, Chevy built 92K Biscaynes, and 54K were 6s (in the heat of muscle cars and 33 cents/gal gas).

Edited September 27, 2020 by balthazar

[trinacriabob]

15 minutes ago, balthazar said:

• The I-6s were woefully weak, pre-'71 and post-'71. But the switch to lower compression didn't hurt them much- they already were very low compression, My dad had a '62 Biscayne I-6 / PowerGlide, he's always referred to it as "dangerously slow".
• I believe circa '68 the 235 grew to 250 CI.
•  A/C is going to be uncommon on a Biscayne, even on FL. Hard to relate to today, but these really were (commonly) stripped, super price-conscience basic transports.
• In '67, Chevy built 92K Biscaynes, and 54K were 6s (in the heat of muscle cars and 33 cents/gal gas).

Great stuff.  Almost 60% of these Biscaynes were 6s.  Amazing.  And without A/C, in FL.  And had it had had vinyl instead of cloth seats, yikes. 

Well, these people motored along on the cheap knowing they could reach each spark plug and most other components with ease, not have electronic gizmos to go sideways, and have low repair bills.  It's sort of like the tale of the tortoise and the hare.   I couldn't see comfortable folks on Key Biscayne driving a Biscayne, though.  You never know.  I've heard some of the wealthiest people are tight and drive dowdy cars since they don't want attention.

[balthazar]

A lot of low-price cars in this era had cloth standard. Vinyl was an upgrade. Not sure about the Biscayne, but I got your wording that IF it had vinyl...

[A Horse With No Name]

18 hours ago, balthazar said:

Pumpkin-colored, impeccably-clean '72 Monte Carlo.

Friend/co workers family custom ordered a hugger orange Monte Carlo from Chevrolet about 1970.....I think the rust monster eventually ate it, but on the road and lots of fun for several decades.

11 hours ago, balthazar said:

A lot of low-price cars in this era had cloth standard. Vinyl was an upgrade. Not sure about the Biscayne, but I got your wording that IF it had vinyl...

I actually like some of the plainer cars of the sixties better than their upmarket cousins.

[Robert Hall]

While driving through my neighborhood I spotted a garage door open that I hadn't seen open before, with a pale green '54 Mercury and a black Lincoln MKS inside...

[balthazar]

Talking to a customer yesterday- he used to have a ‘55 Merc. In his garage (which houses a plastic fantastic SL MB) there are 4 or 5 posters of different ‘55s.

[Robert Hall]

^ Neat..I had to do some googling to determine the specific year..I thought it was an early 50s Lincoln or Mercury..it was the taillights that nailed the marque and year.

Looked like this, more of an olive green.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Robert Hall

[balthazar]

Circa ‘80 ‘Vette in Depression Beige : 

[trinacriabob]

On 9/27/2020 at 8:06 PM, balthazar said:

A lot of low-price cars in this era had cloth standard. Vinyl was an upgrade. Not sure about the Biscayne, but I got your wording that IF it had vinyl...

This makes sense when I think about it.  I don't know the materials that went into these cloth seats but it seems the base models with bench seats and no armrests had plaid seats or these ribbed fabric seats that felt like a backpack or almost like plastic, respectively.  Then, if it was the better model, such as a Caprice over an Impala, and had an armrest, the cloth had a better feel and sometimes they managed to inset a metal (?) emblem into the seatbacks, the armrests, and/or rear speaker between the seats.  

I may be wrong but it seemed like it was about the mid-70s when there was an avalanche of much nicer cloth seating, almost a certainty in the up line models, and even though one might think it was fragile, it held up well for 100,000 to 200,000 miles of sitting on it.  Which leads me to wonder why one reads furniture reviews about sofas from known manufacturers where the fabric cushions give out in 1 to 3 years.

On 9/28/2020 at 7:51 AM, A Horse With No Name said:

I actually like some of the plainer cars of the sixties better than their upmarket cousins.

Again, less is more.  I agree with you on this.  Also, one could order the better model in a series to get some nicer features (more comfortable seats, alloy wheels, etc.) and keep it within reason by not putting every imaginable pimpy option on it.

Edited October 13, 2020 by trinacriabob

[ocnblu]

On 9/29/2020 at 3:56 PM, balthazar said:

Circa ‘80 ‘Vette in Depression Beige : 

Still more cheerful than the Vulva and Break My Wallet it's nestled between!

[A Horse With No Name]

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Still more cheerful than the Vulva and Break My Wallet it's nestled between!

I can see why you wouldn't be into a vulva, neither one of us is into breaking my wallet.

[trinacriabob]

Some end of month spotting 

Here's my favorite version of the FWD Bonnes and you can see the trestles holding up "the El" tracks over State Street

Spotless, 11 to 13 years old, and in downtown St. Paul ... this could have been owned out of state and brought up into the Land of 10,000 Lakes

A renegade 2005 to 2007 (?) Grand Prix confidently taking a left turn and dwarfed by the archdiocesan cathedral in St. Paul.  I couldn't believe how many of these very last GPs I saw in the Twin Cities, both in excellent and deplorable condition, and still running strong.