August Auto Spotter

[trinacriabob]

Well, it's the 1st of August.  Seen anything you care to share, describe, and/or have photographed? Have at it.

Today, I was driving down a major street with two traffic lanes in each direction that had residential homes on each side of it.  I was in the right hand lane.  Following me along in traffic in the left hand lane was a silver 2002-2003ish Olds Alero coupe.  It sounded pretty good as it accelerated in the stop and go traffic.  At a certain point, the traffic was stopped in front of a house with a silver 2002-2003ish Olds Alero sedan.  At this point, these two silver Olds Aleros were perpendicular to each other.

It was funny to me because just last night a friend and I were talking about cars and talking about what was junk and what was in it for the long haul.  He mentioned that Aleros are in it for the long haul.  He, too, sees many on the road.

 

[Robert Hall]

Oddly, I see more Aleros around the Cleveland area than the other N cars of that era.  I rarely ever see Grand Ams or Skylarks...

Edited August 1, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Robert Hall]

Saw a couple unusual cars parked at the bank today...a black Audi R8 convertible, top down, and a very clean triple-beige late 70s Pontiac Phoenix 2dr w/ color keyed Rally II wheels. 

[trinacriabob]

On 8/2/2018 at 2:41 PM, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

 a very clean triple-beige late 70s Pontiac Phoenix 2dr w/ color keyed Rally II wheels. 

Yes, that would indeed be an "unusual" car ... this would have been the pre-X-body platform and the replacement badging for the Ventura.  I preferred the Ventura nameplate.  It sort of made sense alongside Catalina.  IIRC, these cars had the stiff and rudimentary rear leaf (nomenclature?) suspension whereas, a step and two up - at a LeMans or a Grand Prix - you got coil springs all around.

Seeing an X-body on the road and in any kind of shape would be close to a miracle.  That would also go for the Chrysler K-car.  Haven't seen either in quite a while.

Edited August 5, 2018 by trinacriabob

[ocnblu]

6 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Yes, that would indeed be an "unusual" car ... this would have been the pre-X-body platform and the replacement badging for the Ventura.  I preferred the Ventura nameplate.  It sort of made sense alongside Catalina.  IIRC, these cars had the stiff and rudimentary rear leaf (nomenclature?) suspension whereas, a step and two up - at a LeMans or a Grand Prix - you got coil springs all around.

Seeing an X-body on the road and in any kind of shape would be close to a miracle.  That would also go for the Chrysler K-car.  Haven't seen either in quite a while.

PRE-FWD disaster, they were also known as X-bodies.  Nova, Ventura/Phoenix, Omega, Apollo/Skylark RWD were designated X-Body.

[Robert Hall]

 

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

PRE-FWD disaster, they were also known as X-bodies.  Nova, Ventura/Phoenix, Omega, Apollo/Skylark RWD were designated X-Body.

Correct.  The only FWD X-body I've seen on the road since I've been in Ohio was a clean maroon Buick Skylark that I saw last year. 

Must have been a car show or cruise-in going yesterday..driving down a nearby major street I saw in a 2 mile stretch---light blue '55 Chevy stepside pickup, light blue and white '55 Chevy 210 2dr sedan, dark burgundy '68 Olds Cutlass convertible--top down, lt yellow base '67 Camaro, black '69-70 Pontiac Grand Prix.   I've seen the Grand Prix and Camaro before. 

[trinacriabob]

5 hours ago, ocnblu said:

PRE-FWD disaster, they were also known as X-bodies.  Nova, Ventura/Phoenix, Omega, Apollo/Skylark RWD were designated X-Body.

I didn't know that.  I thought it had a different platform letter, just like they changed Regals to a W-body when they went FWD.

[Robert Hall]

Yeah, some lines did retain their RWD platform letter when going to FWD...the X-, A-, and C- bodies did..while the B- bodies that did transition became H- bodies. 

[David]

This weekend is Seattles Fleet Week tied together with Seafair weekend and the hydro plane races and blue angels. Not only is there the Vintage boats exhibit, but plenty of old autos.

I have seen the following just today this Sunday:

• 1976 GMC RV in mint condition, on the freeway this morning. Wish they still made these. Very cool.
• 1967 Chevrolet corvair convertible, on the freeway this morning.
• 1966 Lincoln continental in white, lovely auto, gonna go back and try to grab a pic.
• 2005 Chevrolet Uplander, shocking how nice and clean this was driving through bothell.

[Drew Dowdell]

Going through my collection of old Life magazines. 

 

 

[David]

Amazing how similar all those 1940's cars are. 😕 Reminds me of what we have now with all the same plain generic appliances we have out there.

[Drew Dowdell]

German collusion with Americans in my driveway.

[Robert Hall]

16 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

German collusion with Americans in my driveway.

Ha-ha...German-American-Italian and Korean-American collaboration in my driveway..

[Suaviloquent]

I saw a bright red Model 3 today.

 

In person I find the car a fair bit more attractive. It’s definitely a Tesla anyone can tell.

And the paint finish was pretty good. The whole car length glass is mind boggling actually. Why do that though when there’s no sunroof option?  

[Robert Hall]

14 minutes ago, Suaviloquent said:

I

And the paint finish was pretty good. The whole car length glass is mind boggling actually. Why do that though when there’s no sunroof option?  

Hopefully it has some sort of sunshade..would be a terrarium in the AZ sun..

[Drew Dowdell]

11 hours ago, Suaviloquent said:

I saw a bright red Model 3 today.

 

In person I find the car a fair bit more attractive. It’s definitely a Tesla anyone can tell.

And the paint finish was pretty good. The whole car length glass is mind boggling actually. Why do that though when there’s no sunroof option?  

I live in a fairly cloudy city and there are definitely days where I want the sunshade over my sunroof. 

[trinacriabob]

On 8/6/2018 at 7:47 PM, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Ha-ha...German-American-Italian and Korean-American collaboration in my driveway..

Wait, did the minivan owner, over yonder at the left, park that vehicle on the lawn? 

Today, in a major shopping center parking lot, I saw a newish Chevy SS in a really nice (Schwinn bicycle) metallic medium blue color.  What beautiful looking car!  Too bad they cost too much and can only be had with a high(er) performance engine.  It makes me lament the loss of the Pontiac G8 and its entry level model featuring the 3.6 V6.  I actually think that the grille and rear treatment of this Chevy look a little nicer.  I've usually tended to like the Pontiac variant whenever it was duping what Chevrolet was doing (Grand Prix over Monte Carlo, Firebird over Camaro, etc.)  Inspiring sighting ... thought I'd share.

Edited August 10, 2018 by trinacriabob

[Robert Hall]

Yeah, my Ukrainian neighbors sometimes park in their front yard. They have 3 minivans, an F150 and a Jeep Compass. 

[ocnblu]

3 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Yeah, my Ukrainian neighbors sometimes park in their front yard. They have 3 minivans, an F150 and a Jeep Compass. 

Let me guess, the Compass is the only one facing the right direction.

[Robert Hall]

The Compass is about 5 years old, his daughters car.  Got hit hard on the right side last year, so he had it in the backyard a while doing body work.  He replaced the front fender, both doors, and one morning was putting on bondo w a trowel on the rear quarter..

Edited August 11, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[David]

Weird uploads as the picture uploads but nothing shows. I can open it just fine on my computer of this suicide door white Lincoln from my neighborhood.

Anyone else having problems uploading pictures?

[ocnblu]

Bright blue Bolt parked behind the local Chevy dealer with the front end crashed pretty bad.

[Robert Hall]

Saw a clean gold '67 GTO ht and a bright red '62 Bonneville convertible today.   

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[trinacriabob]

1 hour ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Saw a clean gold '67 GTO ht and a bright red '62 Bonneville convertible today.   

 

Love me some Pontiac.

Yesterday, I saw a 3rd gen Pontiac Firebird Formula in a parking lot.  It was no younger than 1996, because the scoops were tame compared to later years in that series.  It was in perfect condition - black exterior, black interior. 

I looked at the seating area and the dash and they were really nice, as I once recall.  Sort of timeless and Pontiac at the same time.  I'm sure the backlighting was orange, though.

Except for '67 to '69, Pontiac ran each of the successive 3 generations of F-bird for about 10 years apiece!  Also, early models of the 3rd gen started you out with a 2.5 Iron Duke L-4 and they did not fare well.  The 4th gen started you out with a 3800 Series II V6 and I was reading some favorable owner reviews of them.

Just now, trinacriabob said:

 

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by trinacriabob

[balthazar]

Seen last year and hasn't moved; a '70-73 Firebird under a tarp in a driveway, the tarp flapping up to reveal the tail panel. A clean but unrestored green unit.