Now that’s one hell of a lineup: Valiant, Lancia Beta (I’d love to own one of those), and a Delorean. Is it too much to hope that there were no muscle cars, Mustangs, or Camaros at this show?
Yes, it is. There were ex-NASCAR cars, a 1963 Ford with the 427 Cammer OHC engine (banned by NASCAR in the mid 1960s), and probably 100 other muscle cars.
I think that Valiant may actually be a 61-62 Dodge Lancer, given the round taillights. The Lancer is my favorite version of that early Mopar compact, for some odd reason.
It is my pick out of that lineup if for no other reason that it is not silver. Although that dirt color isn’t much better.
Love that old Dodge. Caught this one in traffic a few months ago, clearly being used as a daily driver. The CA license plate is decades newer than the car but the driver seemed the right age for original ownership. The Lancer also had the hallmarks of being a CA car. Note the cool two-tone paint.
It almost was. 🙂 I was initially going to go with 1966 Chrysler “Scorch Red”, but my wife vetoed it. I finally settled on a GM metallic maroon called “Autumn Maple Firemist”.
jpcavanaugh
Posted January 16, 2014 at 12:00 PM
“finally settled on a GM metallic maroon called “Autumn Maple Firemist”
Oh crap, can the Chevy 350 be far behind? 🙂 Actually, that should look nice. That color can’t be too far off from the reddish maroon I remember from Chrysler in the 63-66 period.
BigOldChryslers
Posted January 17, 2014 at 6:03 AM
Ha ha. 😛 We already have one Chrysler that is metallic “Spanish Red”. I find the colour a bit dull, plus I was frustrated because the paint shop I was dealing with couldn’t do a good job mixing a modern formulation of it. I also decided that Chrysler “Ruby Red” was too dark, though I’ve seen pics of another Chrysler with Ruby Red paint and the Saddle Bronze interior and it looked nice.
On this car, I’m not concerned about having a factory-correct colour. My second favourite colour choice was Ford Toreador Red, or possibly Dark Toreador Red, I forget which one.
jpcavanaugh
Posted January 17, 2014 at 7:16 AM
I have not had to deal with issues that come from trying to update an obsolete paint formula, but I could see where this could be a problem. Your chosen combo should look nice. However, I feel obliged to make one final plug for 1977 Chrysler Russet Sunfire Metallic – about halfway between a red and a bronze. A seldom seen but attractive color (it was on my 77 New Yorker) which will be my first choice if I ever paint a car whatever color I want. What? I can’t possibly understand why you would pick the color of your car to please yourself and not me. 🙂
Out of that bunch, I’ll take the DeLorean. Not a fan of silver cars, but I make an exception for stainless steel.
Isn’t there a law that says all DeLorean’s must have personalized license plates with a BTTF reference? Evidently someone at the DMV wasn’t paying attention.
My cousin’s neighbor in the 80s had a DeLorean with the license plate “ITY BIT” — but this was an older guy and it was long before the BTTF plates started appearing.
I never asked him what that meant. I would be lying if I said that I thought it wasn’t cool. Hell, it could have said FUQUKID and I would have still drooled over it.
Just awesome.
La plus ca change, la plus c’est la meme chose.
The Delorean is more than twice as old now as the Dodge was when it was designed.
But what would the 2000s analog be?
Very nice juxtaposition, Edward. And a carefully worded headline, too. Neither Pininfarina nor Giugiaro were known to be purloiners of other houses’ designs.
I really like both these shapes, yet for the respective design houses there must still be some angst at their individual failings (which was not necessarily the stylists’ fault.)
This excerpt is from ‘DeLorean’ by Ivan Fallon and James Srodes:
(Bill Collins, Head of DMC engineering had just approved the full scale exterior and interior mockup.)
‘Okay,’ he told Giugiaro. ‘The model looks good. Now when can I have the drawings?’
‘What drawings?’ queried the surprised Italian designer.
‘Well, the drawings that define the body surfaces.’
‘I’m sorry, Mister Collins,” said Giugiaro. ‘But it is the model that represents our definitive work, not any drawings. You’ll find it clearly specified in the contract.’
Doomed.
The planned and designed DM-24 lost some of that visual magic…
Lancia Scorpion… the X1/20 project that was to be the big brother of the Fiat X1/9, but was marketed as a Lancia. I remember when all the Lancias first started appearing on Fiat showrooms in SoCal back in the mid-70s and one couldn’t take a test drive until they had fixed something in the transmission (can’t recall what specifically) on every one of them.
Nice trio of cars! Id take the Lancer in a second though. Most of Exener’s stuff came off horribly misshapen but for whatever reason, these always looked interesting and classy. I do prefer the Valiant though…I have no idea WHY, but the toilet seat looks good on these cars.
Now that’s one hell of a lineup: Valiant, Lancia Beta (I’d love to own one of those), and a Delorean. Is it too much to hope that there were no muscle cars, Mustangs, or Camaros at this show?
Yes, it is. There were ex-NASCAR cars, a 1963 Ford with the 427 Cammer OHC engine (banned by NASCAR in the mid 1960s), and probably 100 other muscle cars.
Good news, the Lancer had a slant 6…
I think that Valiant may actually be a 61-62 Dodge Lancer, given the round taillights. The Lancer is my favorite version of that early Mopar compact, for some odd reason.
It is my pick out of that lineup if for no other reason that it is not silver. Although that dirt color isn’t much better.
It is a 61-63 Lancer.
There was no Lancer for 1963; when it lost the weirdo styling in 1963, it became the Dodge Dart.
With the pointy-object names Dodge was using back then, it’s surprising they didn’t scarf up the name Javelin for something before AMC used it.
Love that old Dodge. Caught this one in traffic a few months ago, clearly being used as a daily driver. The CA license plate is decades newer than the car but the driver seemed the right age for original ownership. The Lancer also had the hallmarks of being a CA car. Note the cool two-tone paint.
> Although that dirt color isn’t much better.
And that’s the reason I’m changing the colour of my hardtop when I get it repainted.
As long as its not “resale red”, you won’t get any blowback from me. 🙂
It almost was. 🙂 I was initially going to go with 1966 Chrysler “Scorch Red”, but my wife vetoed it. I finally settled on a GM metallic maroon called “Autumn Maple Firemist”.
“finally settled on a GM metallic maroon called “Autumn Maple Firemist”
Oh crap, can the Chevy 350 be far behind? 🙂 Actually, that should look nice. That color can’t be too far off from the reddish maroon I remember from Chrysler in the 63-66 period.
Ha ha. 😛 We already have one Chrysler that is metallic “Spanish Red”. I find the colour a bit dull, plus I was frustrated because the paint shop I was dealing with couldn’t do a good job mixing a modern formulation of it. I also decided that Chrysler “Ruby Red” was too dark, though I’ve seen pics of another Chrysler with Ruby Red paint and the Saddle Bronze interior and it looked nice.
On this car, I’m not concerned about having a factory-correct colour. My second favourite colour choice was Ford Toreador Red, or possibly Dark Toreador Red, I forget which one.
I have not had to deal with issues that come from trying to update an obsolete paint formula, but I could see where this could be a problem. Your chosen combo should look nice. However, I feel obliged to make one final plug for 1977 Chrysler Russet Sunfire Metallic – about halfway between a red and a bronze. A seldom seen but attractive color (it was on my 77 New Yorker) which will be my first choice if I ever paint a car whatever color I want. What? I can’t possibly understand why you would pick the color of your car to please yourself and not me. 🙂
WE call it the S model Valiant by Chrysler, no divisions for those, nice cars sans the toilet seat
As a kid in the 70s, I used to find the lines on the Lancer/Valiant frumpy back then.
But quite appreciate their flamboyance today.
As an 80’s kid and a fan of the original Transformers cartoon, whenever I hear or read about a Lancia what I see in my mind is this:
Haha! Awesome reference!
I’ve never thought about this, but with the silver Beta next to the Delorean the similarity is quite striking. Nice spot.
Yeah, my first thought was, “I don’t recall Deloreans’ rear hatches opening like that…”.
Out of that bunch, I’ll take the DeLorean. Not a fan of silver cars, but I make an exception for stainless steel.
Isn’t there a law that says all DeLorean’s must have personalized license plates with a BTTF reference? Evidently someone at the DMV wasn’t paying attention.
My cousin’s neighbor in the 80s had a DeLorean with the license plate “ITY BIT” — but this was an older guy and it was long before the BTTF plates started appearing.
I never asked him what that meant. I would be lying if I said that I thought it wasn’t cool. Hell, it could have said FUQUKID and I would have still drooled over it.
It Takes You Back In Time?
Huh? The license plate DOES contain the reference. 1.21gigawatts…1PT21GW
I stand corrected. I wasn’t looking at it closely enough and thought it was just a regular plate. Good one.
Back in the ’80s, my supervisor at work had a Lancia Beta….and that’s the last time I saw one.
Just awesome.
La plus ca change, la plus c’est la meme chose.
The Delorean is more than twice as old now as the Dodge was when it was designed.
But what would the 2000s analog be?
That Lancia is actually a Scorpion (Monte Carlo, in Europe) is it not?
Beta-based, no doubt….
Yes, it is.
Very nice juxtaposition, Edward. And a carefully worded headline, too. Neither Pininfarina nor Giugiaro were known to be purloiners of other houses’ designs.
I really like both these shapes, yet for the respective design houses there must still be some angst at their individual failings (which was not necessarily the stylists’ fault.)
This excerpt is from ‘DeLorean’ by Ivan Fallon and James Srodes:
(Bill Collins, Head of DMC engineering had just approved the full scale exterior and interior mockup.)
‘Okay,’ he told Giugiaro. ‘The model looks good. Now when can I have the drawings?’
‘What drawings?’ queried the surprised Italian designer.
‘Well, the drawings that define the body surfaces.’
‘I’m sorry, Mister Collins,” said Giugiaro. ‘But it is the model that represents our definitive work, not any drawings. You’ll find it clearly specified in the contract.’
Doomed.
The planned and designed DM-24 lost some of that visual magic…
“Delorean” sounds interesting. How much does it cost?
Not much. It was a really well researched paperback done contemporaneously. It doesn’t even feature the outcome of the cocaine saga.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=fallon+srodes&sts=t&tn=delorean
I once had a published copy of the surveillance transcripts; it made for very depressive reading so I stupidly moved it on.
Lancia Scorpion… the X1/20 project that was to be the big brother of the Fiat X1/9, but was marketed as a Lancia. I remember when all the Lancias first started appearing on Fiat showrooms in SoCal back in the mid-70s and one couldn’t take a test drive until they had fixed something in the transmission (can’t recall what specifically) on every one of them.
Nice trio of cars! Id take the Lancer in a second though. Most of Exener’s stuff came off horribly misshapen but for whatever reason, these always looked interesting and classy. I do prefer the Valiant though…I have no idea WHY, but the toilet seat looks good on these cars.
Lancer/Lancia? Automotive pun – or at least a homophone depending on your accent.