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.

[David]

Saw a long line of all types of Model A Fords going to Mukilteo speedway for an old car show. Was very cool.

Pic of the Model A Fords

[trinacriabob]

On 8/6/2018 at 7:24 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

German collusion with Americans in my driveway.

Is this within the actual city limits and it's THAT forested?  Interesting.

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

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.

That series was hard to tell apart.  For me, '74 to '76 were easier to distinguish.  Maybe that's because it was about when I started liking cars ... and those cars, specifically.  The green colors in the series you mentioned had that not particularly attractive olive green in the line up.

[Drew Dowdell]

8 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Is this within the actual city limits and it's THAT forested?  Interesting.

I’m 1 mile from the city line and 12 miles from the center of downtown, but there are plenty of places in the city like this.

[Robert Hall]

So what's the story w/ the Catera?   Speaking of old, gold Cadillacs, my sister brought this home this weekend.. 3 years after trading the DTS, she wanted another old Caddy..

[David]

1 hour ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

So what's the story w/ the Catera?   Speaking of old, gold Cadillacs, my sister brought this home this weekend.. 3 years after trading the DTS, she wanted another old Caddy..

Since we have the pic issue, I cannot see it, so what awesome old caddy did she get?

[Robert Hall]

12 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Since we have the pic issue, I cannot see it, so what awesome old caddy did she get?

2006 STS, V6.  About 100,000 miles.  Lt gold w/ cashmere leather interior. Clean w/ a few issues.  Carfax was clean, an Ohio car that wintered in Delray Beach, Fl looks like. 

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

So what's the story w/ the Catera?   Speaking of old, gold Cadillacs, my sister brought this home this weekend.. 3 years after trading the DTS, she wanted another old Caddy..

The Catera belongs to @HoLottaBuicks, my friend Dominic.  He's also my Buick dealer. He took my Encore in for service and left behind his Catera for a few days.  We have a check engine light on the Encore that needs fixing before it can be inspected. 

[David]

Here is the really sharp looking Lincoln Continental that is in my neighborhood. Sadly on a corner that is not great for stopping at except when I got the red light recently and no other auto's so a clean pic from my SS.

[Robert Hall]

Nice...looks like a '63 Continental. 

[David]

On the bus heading home. Just saw a powder blue lambrogini. Ugly as heck, never seen the design before, but

[trinacriabob]

12 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I’m 1 mile from the city line and 12 miles from the center of downtown, but there are plenty of places in the city like this.

I've only been once.  The view from the south ridge where the inclines are was spectacular, as was the entrance into the city via the Fort Pitt Tunnel.  The weather couldn't have been better that day, IIR.  The downtown feels a little shoehorned, though, with the one-way streets on that narrow point.  I did not see the area around CMU but I couldn't leave without seeing the Cathedral of Learning (the name for the tower at Pitt, I guess).   Trees everywhere.  And also some suburbs tucked into what looked like canyons of sorts, in Western lingo.  I remember one such suburb in the northern part of the city.  There was a good and authentic Italian restaurant there.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

11 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Was the STS the Seville equivalent in the 2000s, being a notch above the CTS and shy of the DTS?  Cadillac sure got its act together.  What a 180.  May it keep it going! I like that all brick house directly behind the new used car.

Edited August 14, 2018 by trinacriabob

[Robert Hall]

12 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Was the STS the Seville equivalent in the 2000s, being a notch above the CTS and shy of the DTA?  Cadillac sure got its act together.  What a 180.  May it keep it going.  I like that all brick house directly behind the new used car.

Yeah, the STS replaced the FWD Seville (which had an STS trim), RWD version made from '05-11.      10 years ago, it was CTS, STS and DTS,  like how now it's ATS, CTS, and XTS... (with CT6 in a parallel track to XTS).  (Cadillac is currently in flux between two generations of sedan naming schemes...the letter-TS names being replaced by the CT-digit names)...

Edited August 14, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Robert Hall]

A neighbor down the street had their garage door open, while driving by I spied a dusty '87 Buick Grand National on jack stands inside...

Edited August 15, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Robert Hall]

Saw a black late model Chevy Caprice PPV in traffic... I think it was a civilian, not sure..didn't have excess antennas or hidden lights that I could see, and ordinary plates.    Interesting how much these look like the '05-13-ish Impalas from behind...

[balthazar]

I've known about this 'old car' for some years, but this year the tarp shredded itself and revealed what was underneath; a '53 Buick Special 2-dr hardtop.
 

[Robert Hall]

Saw a few nice oldies out and about today... a very clean dark blue '86-89 Lincoln Town Car,  a clean bright red late 80s Camaro IROC-Z (t-tops off),  and a clean dark blue '68 Firebird 400 ht. 

[David]

Went hiking at Mt. St. Helens, saw the cherry Camaro RS with T tops.

Also saw this Tesla 3 parked by my Escalade when I got back. Great they are selling, but wow just looks blah and the fit n finish leaves much to be desired.

[David]

Stopping at a yummy cafe to eat, got out of the auto and saw across the street this Maverick Grabber. Very clean with the Washington state collectors plate on it.

Walked across and checked out this little Grabber with the 302.

[trinacriabob]

On 8/16/2018 at 9:16 AM, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Saw a black late model Chevy Caprice PPV in traffic... I think it was a civilian, not sure..didn't have excess antennas or hidden lights that I could see, and ordinary plates.    Interesting how much these look like the '05-13-ish Impalas from behind...

Only from the rear and rear 3/4 view.  In all other aspects, I wish they would made a stock version for public consumption.  Nicer front grille (more like Chevy SS), silhouette that isn't as dowdy, sportier dashboard ... still the rear tail lamps are just a hair different to know it's not the regular Impy.

[trinacriabob]

4 hours ago, dfelt said:

These will always look like toads, with or without the steroids.

- - - - -

Another Olds Alero today - a gold coupe in near perfect condition - a senior gentleman sitting in traffic along a major artery.  Never would I have thought Aleros would have been so long lived when I took one from Spokane, WA to Calgary (AB) Canada and back in the summer of 2003.  I also drove through Sandpoint, ID on that trip.  Never would I have thought someone as dumb and annoying as Sarah Palin would hail from there ... and have been catapulted to such prominence.  Never mind.

[Robert Hall]

Total was P-day for car spotting...never know what you will see in garages or driveways when driving through neighborhoods...saw a beautiful dark green '75 Pontiac Grand Ville convertible, rolling top down, white interior.   In a garage, saw a clean orange '69 Firebird convertible, top up.  Saw a clean white '87-88 Fiero GT in a driveway.   And lastly, saw a partially disassembled dusty purple Plymouth Prowler in a garage...

[trinacriabob]

2 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Total was P-day for car spotting...never know what you will see in garages or driveways when driving through neighborhoods...saw a beautiful dark green '75 Pontiac Grand Ville convertible, rolling top down, white interior. 

This is the one described I'd like the most, either in convertible form or big coupe opera window with landau top form.

[Robert Hall]

The DoorDash dasher that brought my lunch today was driving a clean, rumbly good 2nd gen Olds Aurora.  Don't see those very often. 

[Robert Hall]

Just saw a red '70s Lamborghini Jarama.   I've seen maybe one other in my life at a car show. Unusual to see something like this in traffic in Parma, Ohio.. (not my photo, but just like this).  One of 328 built.  Also saw a really clean early 90s BMW 5 series in bright red also.

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Robert Hall]

Not really spotting, but some car-related randomness...I've been helping my sister w/ her new old Caddy--I replaced the wipers, added washer fluid, new floor mats, and replaced some plastic trim screws under the hood (it has the black plastic panels that cover a lot of things).  She's replaced the tires (w/ Falken all season tires) and had a few other things done..the biggest issue being a fuel leak.  Apparently, the STS has two gas tanks..on either side of the driveshaft, ahead of the rear axle under the back seat.  The auxiliary one (left side) had a leak if you filled up the tank.  The shop first thought it was a ring/seal where the plastic fuel line goes into the plastic tank.  Nope.  After filling it up yesterday, it started puddling again last night.  I took it back to the shop (my sister is working out of town) this morning, now the are sure it's auxiliary fuel pump that is leaking.  I was under the car when up on the rack, pretty clean for an 11-yr old Ohio/Florida car, just surface rust on the suspension.    

There are a few things to do, need to replace the struts/shocks eventually, a cracked taillight lens, broken glovebox latch (got a replacement one off eBay), figure out how get the 6 disk CD player to work (seems to be jammed), etc.