For the fifth stop of our foray into the Classifieds of Craig, let’s visit someplace a bit different. Instead of ripping the covers away from the backyards of other contributors (and I’ll be doing my own backyard soon enough), let’s mosey to another location related to CC. Nashville was the location of the 2016 CC Meetup and it’s rather ripe with nearly corrosion free pickings.
Case in point in this 1966 Plymouth Fury two-door sedan. While Plymouth built 12,500 copies, you can wager that most were not treated with kid gloves as this Fury I is a fleet grade machine. This Fury being a radio delete car certainly enhances its appeal. Nashville is full of interesting possibilities, but you can’t fall prey to having tunnel vision.
One parallel example of interesting possibilities, having moved into fruitful accomplishment, involves this amazing musical collaboration between Nashville legend Tammy Wynette and a British dance band. The cars in Nashville, much like this song, offer up some opportunities one may not have thought about.
Such as a 1958 Saab on a Ford Bronco frame. If one frees their mind of constraints, there is no end to what can be accomplished.
You just want to make sure the result is something useful and not hokey. The jury is out on this 1976 Pontiac Catalina although this does provide a new dimension to the phrase “sled”.
Then there are the other times automotive creations aren’t fully appreciated until much later. A 1982 Chrysler Cordoba is a prime example of this phenomenon; a great looking car from the wrong company at the wrong time. But they are still there, doing what they were meant to do for their happy owners.
The nice thing about Nashville is the alternatives it provides. If you think a Chrysler is too rich for your blood, or it looks too formal with the chrome grille, you can opt for a 1981 Dodge Mirada. It’s the same car as the Corboba but with a different name and header panel.
Or maybe an Imperial is what floats your boat. This 1981 Imperial sold alongside the Mirada, making a 1981 Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge showroom a rather bipolar place. This Imperial and the Mirada above joined the old school Dodge St. Regis / Plymouth Gran Fury and Dodge Diplomat with the new wave Dodge Omni / Plymouth Horizon and the all new Dodge Aries / Plymouth Reliant.
It would have made for quite an interesting juxtaposition of old and new.
These craigslist ads are a snapshot in time and Nashville currently has a generous number of two-door cars for the taking. We’ve had three rare-birds in a row, so let’s up the ante with this 1990 Buick Reatta. In scouring different CL ads throughout the country, this is only the second one I’ve seen making me wonder if they are dying off or people are keeping them squirreled away for future use.
Undoubtedly the truth lies somewhere in between.
Something that is an undeniable truth is this 1975 Mercury Grand Marquis being a damn fine looking car. All the black paint really makes this girl sparkle and quicken the pulse (well, okay, maybe it’s just mine). There is no denying this car has more presence than the accumulation of the entire 2017 model year production of Camry’s. There is also no denying those aftermarket wheels and wide whites are both an eyesore and a crime against mankind; Ford never put such second-rate crap on a Mercury.
A set of the factory aluminum wheels would help this Mercury proclaim its rightful spot as the crown jewel of the 1975 Ford lineup.
While that Mercury is a bejeweled lady, this 1979 Ford Fairmont Futura is a bit more elegant in her demeanor. Perhaps that is the achilles heel with the Futura; I inadvertently skipped past it without really seeing it. Yet something positive must be said for restraint; perhaps the Futura has more the gentle southern demeanor which is a terrific trait of Nashville.
This is a panorama from Wiki, thus the short height
Speaking of, I never have really set the stage for Nashville for those outside the US. While it’s known as the home of country music, Nashville is the state capital of Tennessee and has a population of around 660,000 – quite comparable to Boston, Massachusetts. The Nashville Metro area has just under 2 million people and Nissan North America is the fifth largest employer.
The climate in Nashville is much more temperate than most of the cities we’ve seen so far, with the average low temperature in December and January being barely below freezing and the average high for those same months being 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
This all allows for cars to have little to no rust, and it’s frequently advertised as such, like with this 1966 Ford Fairlane two-door sedan. Being quite original with its straight-six and three-on-the-tree, this Fairlane would make for a great recreational car that wouldn’t drink an inordinate amount of fuel.
Recently, reader 64bler recommended scouring the craigslist in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for AMC products. Doing so revealed some, but surprisingly Nashville has many more. Perhaps it is due to population, but regardless, there are some goodies to be found such as this 1966 Rambler American. While not entirely stock, it still has a six-banger and it would be a fun ride to bomb around the Music City.
For our last car, we must pay tribute to the unofficial car of CC, the car often used as a yardstick with which to compare all others. No, I’m not talking about any Camry or Accord. This particular car has been the frequent source of comments and is a favorite among our esteemed founder, Herr Niedermeyer. May I now show you…
This fantabulous 1971 Ford LTD two-door. Powered by a 429 cubic inch V8 and equipped with power windows, this is simply the ultimate Ford of all time, knocking the 1975 Grand Marquis off her perch. Think of this 1971 LTD as the Queen Bee of all Fords.
Since it would now be impossible for anything better to exist in the Nashville area, stay tuned for our next installment.
Wow 5K For Cordoba!I Would Take The 71 LTD.Great Looking Car.
And 1971 was the last year of the high-compression engines for FoMoCo, so that thing will have some serious scoot! High-octane gas with lead additive is a must, however. Even with the 2.75:1 rear axle, you can break the rear tire(s) loose with ease from a stop.
Some nice selections. Having luxuriated for four years in a 66 Fury III, I simply cannot take the giant step backwards into a Fury I. A man gets accustomed to his luxury.
That Pontiac – wow. Those things were floppy with their roofs intact. I can only imagine how this one does the shimmy shimmy shake over every bump in the road.
But I could be very happy with any of those three J body Mopars – the Doba, Mirada and Imperial of that generation all appealed to me.
I’m going to mirror your observations, Jim. With two exceptions, I never lived with any Fury and the Rambler American would make a fun car, even with the 232 I-6.
I saw the Mopar J-bodies and thought: Oh wow!
I love the “mini Magnum” grille on the Mirada, and it’s probably the sexiest post-’74 car sporting a slant six, but the Imp is the winner for me.
My best friend’s family (in Towson) got a new ’65 Fury III sedan just after we moved there. The first time I got in it, I was rather surprised to hear the distinctive delicate clatter of a slant six’ mechanical valve lifters. And then listen to it groan as it had to pull a car load of kids up the very steep hill that they lived at the base of. I can still hear Mrs. Gaeng working that big Fury up Alabama St….
That poor suffering Saab, what a nightmare!
AGREED! Give me any or all of them except the SAABRONCO, and the extremely pimped out CATALINA (Dear God, what a hideous car! More a parade float than a car)
The Red and White Magnum just jumps of the page! But I have a love of Red cars. And wouldn’t that Fury I make a fantastic sleeper? Satin Black, blacked out chrome, and tinted windows.Viper V-10, perhaps?
Live within a 2 hr drive from Nashville, and have bought Motorcycles and Cars from CL Nashville before. Always a good selection posted.
While the city proper may have a population similar to Boston, the Nashville metro area is much smaller. And while best known for Country Music, much of the Contemporary Christian Music made today comes from Nashville.
Kings of Leon and Kesha call Nashville home as well.
Now, with that ’66 Plymouth and a Hellcat drivetrain…hmmm.
Nashville annexed most of Davidson County, similar to Indianapolis and Lousiville. So, city has bigger footprint, but not as huge a Metro area population as older Northeastern regions… yet.
Yep, I work in Louisville Metro, and live just 10 miles MOL, from the metro limits. Lousville Metro covers ALL of Jefferson County. Louisville Metro Police LMPD, covers the whole county. But some towns within the county have their own Police and government. Like St. Matthews, Shively, Jeffersontown. And a few others that are “independent” subdivisions. Like one cop and one cop car. Population overall, about 440,000+ give or take.
The 1980-83 Cordobas were so under-rated. They were nice looking in a clean, crisp way, and had pretty solid mechanicals too.
That Marquis is gorgeous!
It’s just me, or the LTD has similar wheels as the Grand Marquis, just blacked out? If that were true, it would be much more of as offending an insult to humandom, automobilekind, and carmanism than the Grand Marquis case.
Please take a look at that. I’d hate to see such a crime go unpunished.
Well the GM has “wagon wheels” or “white spokes” (that were painted grey) which is what was put on trucks at the time, not cars. Right era, wrong application.
The LTD has the “soft 8″ which has been common on both cars and trucks but are from a much more recent era.
However all is not lost, the white spokes are almost certainly 15″ so he factory wheel covers will snap right on while you enjoy the advantages of the wider aftermarket wheel. It is likely that the LTD’s wheels are also 15” and will accept a set of OE hub caps as well. Either way they are certainly more welcome than many aluminum wheels that are both ugly and won’t accept the factory wheel covers.
Personally I’ve run rusty “Chrome Modular” wheels with the factory wheel covers on my Scouts. Moves me up to the 7″ wide wheel that were designed for radial tires while keeping a stock look. Seriously the OE wheels with the radial tires could not hold onto a hub cap due to flex when cornering.
I’d go for either the 1971 Ford LTD or the 1975 Mercury Marquis, I always liked 70’s black cars with a red trim.
The red ’71 LTD, since it’s like Burt Reynolds’ Ford Custom sleeper in “White Lightning”.
I like Rambler American. The wheels are just right.
With a half-decade since the platform’s introduction as the Volaré and Aspen, Chrysler had the mechanicals down solid on those second-generation Cordobas and Miradas. They did a good job of styling them to disguise their origins, too. With what you could do with a 318 V8 now, and well-known suspension upgrades similar to what was applied to many years of Dodge Diplomat police cars, these could be a lot of fun.
But the Saab…is that really better than being crushed?
Loved the article, but I’ll save my money for another Merkur or woebegone Maserati. 😉
Regarding the Saab on the 4 X 4 frame:
Is this the result of a mind free of constraints, or just a mechanical mating of two cars that happened to be in close proximity?
This project eliminates all the unique characteristics of the Saab drive line, and a Saab cabin of this vintage does not offer significantly increased comfort over the Bronco body.
When it’s all said and done, we have Bronco performance and comfort levels without any Saab quirkiness. I’m all for unique creations, but to my mind, the final product should carry forward elements of both vehicles.
Most likely it is the result of a rusted out and/or rolled Bronco and that funny car that has been sitting out back for so long because no one knows what is wrong because no one understands its quirkiness. I’d say it retains some Saab quirkiness because it still has that quirky Saab look.
Or maybe it belongs to a Professor of Forestry? 🙂
The imperial might be worth a trip to Tennessee
I know – I want one of those cars in the worst way, but I don’t have indoor storage and I don’t know what I would do with it.
I was leaning towards the 1981 Imperial, if you can believe that but of course you got me with the Rambler.
Great wheels, laced roof is easily fixed with a repaint, and I could probably find another hood somewhere.
This would be a great car for my Dad, he has been bested by the central button cluster in his Ford Escape and would appreciate a vehicle with a radio he can use.
Another day and another Poncho I like?? Seriously I’d drive that as a summer cruiser, just need to peel of those double stick taped on chrome bits and get a set of the pipe organ JCW speakers for the rear shelf. The wheels could be changed but they certainly are the worst thing out there being a very loose variation/amalgamation of a slot mag and 5 spoke design.
As a Mopar guy, I think I need to get down to Nashville, stat! I’m really liking what I’m seeing. And, it’s not that far.
But, have to admit that I also like the Rambler. And the Ford Futura. And, the red, 429-powered 1971 LTD. And, seriously, have always thought I’d like a Buick Reatta. If only I had a large storage facility, and a bit more cash.
Now, I just went to the Nashville CL site and found a nice 1951 Packard Touring sedan with under 24K original miles! Talk about really rare. And, listed at $4950. Anybody with some money to burn and adequate storage space to properly keep and care for an old ride, sure looks like a good time to start that car collection.
American or Fairlane for me, please.
Would love the Fury if it has a Slant Six. Cordoba, Mirada, Fairlane and Rambler.
The black wheels on the LTD are not a positive. Why not just take a rubber mallet to the fenders and perhaps bend the antenna so it points to the right while we’re at it. Smash a window.
Full on budget custom. /sarc
There’s nothing here that’s getting me all hot and bothered to head to Nashville again, unfortunately. Although it makes it seem that there are just about zero imports in Nashville except for that Saab monster and everything at the Lane Museum which I know isn’t true…
However, I was quite surprised to see the KLF reference, having been a fan in college and actually owning their CD, I didn’t know you were a fan too…You wouldn’t guess it now but my dance moves were legendary; “white man’s overbite”, etc…. 🙂 You should have gone a bit further down that rabbit hole as the KLF were also known as the Timelords concurrently and put out a 12″ dance single at the time (that I actually still own) with some great CC cover art, reproduced below that’s right up your alley…
“Justified and Ancient” is a song I had forgotten about and it literally popped back in my brain one day a few years ago. It’s now a Jason Favorite, but at Casa de Shafer, I’m alone in that sentiment.
The ’68 Ford makes a brief appearance in the video I imbedded however, it’s white from being so dirty / dusty.
hehehe. This one’s going to be a CC Vinyl when I get to it. Big fan of the KLF and v. pleased to see mention of it here.
Hold on to your KLF btw. They deleted their catalogue years ago (as well as burning 1 million pounds in genuine currency as an ‘art installation’).
71 LTD for me. Anyone got a spare set of hubcaps?
I’d take the ’66 Fury, the ’71 LTD, the Fairlane and the Rambler. Oh and that silly SAABronco looks like it would be a bit of fun too!
So the guy with the Fairmont has ” a lot more” than $5500 in it so that’s what $7-8000? Wow.
My heart’s kipping a few beats over the Fury, the Fairlane, and that LTD. Decisions, decisions…
I think a certain CC editor is currently salivating over the 71 LTD :). Just sayin’.
Actually, I’ve moved up the food chain a notch, and that big Marquis is really talking to me, especially with those wheels. Perfect!
So it seems the price of the day for cars in Nashville is about $5-6000.
The Mirada all the way. I had one a few years back and was always being asked “What kind of T-Bird is that” or “Is that some kind of early Monte Carlo SS”?
I wonder if the Imperial still has it’s EFI or it has been “fixed” with a carb.
Has anyone ever heard of or seen one that had it’s EFI sorted out and runs OK?
Jason, you’ve found some good stuff on Craigslist but you’ve outdone yourself this time. I love me some Chrysler J-Body goodness! The Mirada is most my style but I would be more than happy with the Cordoba and the Imperial too! Adore them all, and it’s a pity Chrysler’s tumultuous circumstances at the time undid them all. If they had been Buicks and Cadillacs, they probably would have done quite well.
Are there any car related websites willing to show any respect for craigslist rules? Or does its policy of generally expecting its users to voluntarily behave like adults rather being forced mean that anything goes?
My takeaway from this is just how many ways there are to replace the factory wheels on a car, and how few of them are an improvement. 😉
Nothing in this group that I really need, but the Mirada does look pretty nice.
Dodge Mirada for me, please. Looks great in red!
Forgot to say that I most like the Cordoba, Mirada and Imperial. First choice would be the bright red Mirada. Think I may have previously mentioned that I had an identical one a little over 30 years ago. Even though I liked it at the time, I made the huge mistake of trading it in on something smaller that I also liked. But, back in the day when they were new, I also very much wanted one of those Imperials. Have also wanted one of the second generation Cordobas, too. Especial one of the LS models with the 300-inspired grille. But I could be happy with the listed one.
As a resident of Nashville, I check out Craigslist pretty regularly. Many of those posted have been for sale for quite some time. The Mercury, the LTD and the Imperial I know have been on Craigslist for more than 2 years. Not sure why they haven’t sold yet.