Classics I've owned

**Bigb23** · June-20-15, 10:07 PM

Just was watching Orange is the new black, and they had a 1964 Corvair Greenbrier. I had many a drive-in memory with that camper interior.
Also I had a 66 chevelle and a 71 Nova SS. And I did many Limosines and trailer queens for the concours show circuit. You know- the check book crowd.

And I will leave out Jay Leno, the most hands on guy that should be allowed to even touch cars. Go to his YouTube channel.

**Gannon** · June-21-15, 07:12 AM

Mine are of a different sort...and I do so wish I still had them all.

My '83 VW Rabbit GTI was the first one sold down at Melton Motors of Southgate. The '97 1/2 Contour SVT was the first one out of the Ford dealer on Telegraph in Taylor. Both ended up being phenomena.

My 2000 Audi A4 Avant set the pattern for the modern all-wheel-drive station wagon remarketing, complete with a 4-cylinder turbocharged engine. I see echoes of it in everything from the Magnum wagon, which had EXACTLY the same lines only larger...to the Cadillac wagon that certainly came after Camillo Pardo's British friend from Cadillac took mine for a spirited test drive late one night. Hell, they didn't even HAVE a four-cylinder engine in their offerings prior to that...he was really amazed at the performance. Nobody seems to call 'em station wagons, but they are everywhere now, but in 2000 available from only a few European makers, Audi doing it the best.

Next up? Restoring an old air-cooled VW in some form. Back to my original vehicle...I've owned five or six Beetles in my life, and need another soon. Maybe two...one I can make electric.

Cheers!

**Jimaz** · June-21-15, 07:24 AM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

Just was watching Orange is the new black, and they had a 1964 Corvair Greenbrier. I had many a drive-in memory with that camper interior....

Heh. We had one of those too.

Chevrolet Greenbrier

Ours was green too but without the white stripe. We used a screwdriver for an ignition key. It had a reversible rear seat. I lost the fan belt once when I popped the clutch. The air-cooled rear engine gave it good winter traction. We took it to the top of Pikes Peak once but ended up pushing it because of the altitude. Fun times!

There was a nicely restored one owned by a business based in downtown Utica a few years ago. Haven't seen it lately.

**Jimaz** · June-21-15, 03:03 PM

By chance I just now ran across the original receipt for the above-mentioned 1961 Greenbrier. It was purchased used from Vic Herbert, Inc. in Denver on July 8, 1961 for $2,995. Trade-in was a 1952 Willys Wagon 4x4.

Spooky coincidence. I wasn't even looking for this document.

**jiminnm** · June-21-15, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

Next up? Restoring an old air-cooled VW in some form. Back to my original vehicle...I've owned five or six Beetles in my life, and need another soon. Maybe two...one I can make electric.

Cheers!

You're bringing back my memories of my 1972 Karmann Ghia [[bright yellow coupe), purchased at Wood Motors on Gratiot and 8 Mile.

One classic was a 1981 Datsun 280z. What a fun car to drive. Unfortunately, it was determined to rust away under me [[despite Ziebart). I traded that for the other one, a 1985 Merkur Xr4ti. I loved driving that car, and it's a shame that anything could go wrong with it did. It also only lasted four years, which was when the extended warranty expired. That got traded with a bonus rebate from Ford for the Merkur for a 1989 T-Bird Superbird. For some reason, that car was very hard on rear tires.

**Gannon** · June-21-15, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by jiminnm

You're bringing back my memories of my 1972 Karmann Ghia [[bright yellow coupe), purchased at Wood Motors on Gratiot and 8 Mile.

One classic was a 1981 Datsun 280z. What a fun car to drive. Unfortunately, it was determined to rust away under me [[despite Ziebart). I traded that for the other one, a 1985 Merkur Xr4ti. I loved driving that car, and it's a shame that anything could go wrong with it did. It also only lasted four years, which was when the extended warranty expired. That got traded with a bonus rebate from Ford for the Merkur for a 1989 T-Bird Superbird. For some reason, that car was very hard on rear tires.

Nice!

My next-door-neighbor during my formative years on the east side of Dearborn, across Tireman from the Aviation Subdivision, had a 280z. Took me for a drive on the Southfield Freeway one time, and got it up over 100 for a short while. Got me started on high-speed driving. Even dark brown, that car was dreamy to a 14-year-old!

Later in life, after my divorce, a friend moved in that owned a killer pearl-white Superbird. With a manual transmission! He's the one that got me started on the SVT path...we had his 'bird and my Contour in the driveway for a while in Dearborn Heights! He had an issue with the rear tires, too. Odd.

**rb336** · June-22-15, 09:17 PM

A Series II Sunbeam Tiger

**Zacha341** · June-22-15, 11:12 PM

Goodness what was the problem with that Merkur line? It was the worst. We used to call them X RAT-TEE 'rat'! A friend had a Merkur Scorpio. It was beautiful in a way but not a runner. It broke down once and for all finally -- un-repairable and finally banished to where horrid tinker-mobiles go: junk yard Hell.

The few Merkur anythings you saw running was not because it was unique, NO, it was just not a runner, so you saw only a few. Had a unique look, but a super 'lemon', un-reliable car.

Originally Posted by jiminnm

...I traded that for the other one, a 1985 Merkur Xr4ti. I loved driving that car, and it's a shame that anything could go wrong with it did. It also only lasted four years, which was when the extended warranty expired. That got traded with a bonus rebate from Ford for the Merkur for a 1989 T-Bird Superbird. For some reason, that car was very hard on rear tires.

**jiminnm** · June-23-15, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Goodness what was the problem with that Merkur line? It was the worst. We used to call them X RAT-TEE 'rat'! A friend had a Merkur Scorpio. It was beautiful in a way but not a runner. It broke down once and for all finally -- un-repairable and finally banished to where horrid tinker-mobiles go: junk yard Hell.

The few Merkur anythings you saw running was not because it was unique, NO, it was just not a runner, so you saw only a few. Had a unique look, but a super 'lemon', un-reliable car.

I wish I knew because I really liked driving that car. I sometimes wonder if Ford saw the handwriting early on because I was offered a Ford extended warranty at a decent price. I rarely buy one of those but, for some reason, did with the Merkur. I never had breakdowns, but was a regular dealer customer getting nearly everything replaced under warranty over the 4 years. Traded it when it hit the end of warranty, 60,000 miles.

One benefit, though, was that for the first year or two Ford tried to build a Merkur community amongst their customers. We got invited to Ford sponsored dinners and meetings, got to meet Jackie Stewart and heard him speak a few times, and even got driving lessons from his crew. It was fun while it lasted.

**Gannon** · June-23-15, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by jiminnm

I wish I knew because I really liked driving that car. I sometimes wonder if Ford saw the handwriting early on because I was offered a Ford extended warranty at a decent price. I rarely buy one of those but, for some reason, did with the Merkur. I never had breakdowns, but was a regular dealer customer getting nearly everything replaced under warranty over the 4 years. Traded it when it hit the end of warranty, 60,000 miles.

One benefit, though, was that for the first year or two Ford tried to build a Merkur community amongst their customers. We got invited to Ford sponsored dinners and meetings, got to meet Jackie Stewart and heard him speak a few times, and even got driving lessons from his crew. It was fun while it lasted.

I remember that community-building, made the XR4Ti look like the next logical step up from my GTI...glad I didn't take the bait.

Just speculating here, but there were a few now-legendary cost-cutting execudroids within the system...who made their names higher on the corporate ladder...Jack-the knife and that jackass who ruined both VW and GM [[I'm sure he got in trouble for stealing and sharing corporate secrets when he made the move).

That was such a nasty time to be a supplier to the industry...

But really, now that I think of it, was the Mercur disaster a foreshadowing of what Jack-the-knife would later do to the whole organization?! Did he make any of the decisions on that mess, later to be blamed on an inept Mercury dealer network..unable to deal with a non-geriatric crowd?!

**Zacha341** · June-23-15, 09:23 AM

60K miles was alot for that car. The Merkur was luxury deluxe but a clunker for certain. Ford new. Too bad they could not make a go of it, if they actually ever tried. In the mean time Honda and Toyota were creeping up with their compacts loaded running to 200K miles easily. I recall as I had a couple of college student hatch back Toy Tercels [[used) after a couple of bad turns with compact Fords and Chevy's.

I once had a Pontiac Lemans. What a beauty it was [[77 or so year). Heavy, blue and impressive. Multi-barrel whatevers, fast with chrome. bench seating [[I was not so crazy about the seating).

Originally Posted by jiminnm

I wish I knew because I really liked driving that car. I sometimes wonder if Ford saw the handwriting early on because I was offered a Ford extended warranty at a decent price. I rarely buy one of those but, for some reason, did with the Merkur. I never had breakdowns, but was a regular dealer customer getting nearly everything replaced under warranty over the 4 years. Traded it when it hit the end of warranty, 60,000 miles...

**Zacha341** · June-23-15, 09:25 AM

Always preferring heat in a car [[back then you'd freeze off winter in a VW) I never had one, but I always recall fondly seeing those yellow low-riders. Did they make them in any other color?

Originally Posted by jiminnm

You're bringing back my memories of my 1972 Karmann Ghia [[bright yellow coupe), purchased at Wood Motors on Gratiot and 8 Mile.

**Gannon** · June-23-15, 09:25 AM

Looks like it was Lutz' baby...there is no timing in the wiki on when Nasser was with Ford of Europe. I wouldn't put it past the guy to have submarined Lutz's initiative...it paved the way for him to be CEO. He was so bad, a Ford had to step in for a while and do double duty to get rid of him.

Geez, that whole era was filled with troublesome execudroids...they'd lost their minds...and Detroit suffered. Wonder how many other bad decisions were made...there must've been a slaughter in the supplier chain when Jack and Jose were doing their thrashing.

**Gannon** · June-23-15, 09:29 AM

Wouldn't be the first time one corporate division would attack another. According to Robert Lacey, in his excellent Ford, the Men and the Machine, the Edsel died because they had to use Ford and Lincoln assembly lines...which made the work harder on those lines, so the quality suffered.

Wonder who's got the skinny on all this, my conspiracy antennae are tingling...LOL!

**Honky Tonk** · June-23-15, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Always preferring heat in a car [[back then you'd freeze off winter in a VW) I never had one, but I always recall fondly seeing those yellow low-riders. Did they make them in any other color?

One used to run around Southwest Detroit, covered in pink, long-hair, shag carpet, back in the day.

https://www.google.com/search?q=karm...g&ved=0CDcQ7Ak

**Gannon** · June-23-15, 09:41 AM

That car was my first experience with the cyclical repetitive nature of traffic flow and timing...got me to develop a habit of noticing recurring vehicles during my commutes and travels. It was amazing how often we saw that damn thing! Of course, my father was working at Fleetwood and Turnstedt/Fort St. around that time, so we drove around there daily.

**Honky Tonk** · June-23-15, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Gannon

That car was my first experience with the cyclical repetitive nature of traffic flow and timing...got me to develop a habit of noticing recurring vehicles during my commutes and travels. It was amazing how often we saw that damn thing! Of course, my father was working at Fleetwood and Turnstedt/Fort St. around that time, so we drove around there daily.

Are you talking about the shag Ghia?

**Gannon** · June-23-15, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Are you talking about the shag Ghia?

Absolutely. That thing was unforgettable.

**black gold man** · June-23-15, 04:44 PM

In 84 I picked up 67 firebird 500 bucks clean white inside and vinyl top.
I 75 and 6 mile junkyard body shop gave me lacquer blue paint, 2 QT panels
one fender I paid for parts it came out of the junkyard looking good for 1500 bucks.
New chrome car was mint. I got new truck in 90 [I still drive the truck today] and sold the bird for 3900.
Today I think 13,900 easy.

Last oct I picked up a 85 Chrysler fifth avenue 39000 miles like new love it.
[IMG]

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Also still have the Datsuns new paint on the blue one reassembling now.

**Honky Tonk** · June-23-15, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by black gold man

In 84 I picked up 67 firebird 500 bucks clean white inside and vinyl top.
I 75 and 6 mile junkyard body shop gave me lacquer blue paint, 2 QT panels
one fender I paid for parts it came out of the junkyard looking good for 1500 bucks.
New chrome car was mint. I got new truck in 90 [I still drive the truck today] and sold the bird for 3900.
Today I think 13,900 easy.

Last oct I picked up a 85 Chrysler fifth avenue 39000 miles like new love it.
[IMG]

[/IMG]

Also still have the Datsuns new paint on the blue one reassembling now.

240, 280? Hard to tell on the phone.

**black gold man** · June-23-15, 07:23 PM

240 blinkers are down low and you cant sit on the bumpers. It is 78 280 but I now have
put the 240 bumpers on. That pic is old.

**Zacha341** · June-26-15, 12:30 PM

Not yet a true classic but a friend has a 2008 Grand Prix [[the last year they made it). Standard burgundy/ red color. I'm not into the red interior lit dashboard but nothing like the roar of that particular V6 engine. Course you either liked or hated that car... if interested PM me.

**black gold man** · June-26-15, 02:15 PM

In 2011 I took the big bumper off and welded up the holes got it to the paint shop . Just the other day I got the rear back together.

**Jimaz** · June-27-15, 01:18 PM

I doubt it counts as a classic yet but just today I recovered the use of my 35th anniversary edition 1999 Mustang GT. It was carefully resurrected after sitting unused for five years.

It has no speed limiter, indicating it had been ordered from the factory with Z-rated racing tires installed. V8 with five-speed manual transmission.

Now I just need to calm down so I can relearn how to operate the darn thing.

Except for my racing tires it looks identical to this one [[even the spoiler which I believe is not stock):

**G-DDT** · July-02-15, 09:25 PM

Dodge Aspen. That crummy little green tank survived a collision [[only major one I was ever in) with a Ford Pick-up Truck it totaled on Ford Rd. going 45 mph when the brakes went out on it, suddenly, as I was coming up to a red light. Luckily, no one was hurt. It only sustained a small, disfiguring crunch on the passenger side, and it still continued to run for many months afterwards. My friends dubbed it "Franken-fender".