How do you think I really keep CC going? dePaul’s (as in de man) Official Curbside Classic Sales Lot, of course. Business is a bit slow, and the first of the month is just around the corner, so now that I have a captive audience of fourteen, I need you all to start putting your money where your mouths are, and start buying Curbside Classics, not just talking about them. I’ve got this sweet Mark VII for Sajeev; educatordan will look fine in that navy Fifth Avenue; that blue Cutlass has larsupreme written all over it. We’ve got just the ticket for every one of you CC readers…
Help me out here folks; I know at least one or more of you is a big lover of these big-hipped LHs. And shrunken-head Caddies; we’ve got several of those. I’ll throw in a spare 4.1 motor in the trunk; plenty of them out back. Gen1 Sable and Taurus wagon; a perfect choice for a his and her’s combo. No reasonable offer refused. Guaranteed to have at least two forward gears left.
Someone head over to TTAC and give a shout out about these pristine Panthers (I’m on the black list there temporarily, for putting up a comment suggesting that if folks were tired of hearing about the Ray Wert – Jack Baruth pissing match and wanted to read about cars, they should head over here. So someone else is going to have to be my proxy spammer).
Who’ll make me an offer on that early Caravan? If you’re in real luck, it might even have the turbo four. Now I know we have at least two or three furrin’ car lovers at CC, so here’s a Mazda 929 that looks so much like an American car, I actually allowed it on the front row. That’s normally a strict no-no.
Foreign cars, as well as ones from other galaxies, have to share to share the middle row.
Here’s the pride of the front row. This DeVille sports the ultra-rare brushed-suede top option. It won’t last, literally.
Now I know who’s name is on this swell 1973 Olds 88: geeber. I take PayPal, my friend, and I might be able to arrange Drive-Away delivery, but if you take that option, you’ll need to front an extra $1000 for gas; this puppy has a Rocket 455, you know. What do you think: 7, 8 mpg?
Here’s what I suggest for some of you to save on delivery costs: I’ll make a a twofer deal on one of these fine trucks, and we’ll weld up a tow bar out back for you to haul your cream puff home. I’ve got a slew of bicycles (don’t ask how I got them) we’ll cut up; their frames are perfect for the job.
If ya got yer eyes on that Conti, and yer a bit worried about those saggin’ air bag springs; no worries on that account. I’ve got a gas-powered compressor we’ll throw in the trunk, and it’ll keep those bags so stiff, your eyes’ll be jiggling the whole way home.
Now back here is where we keep the cars that will never sell that are a bit more challenging to sell. Might be a small detail like a busted transmission or hydro-locked engine, but don’t let that discourage you. There’s a Pick and Pull just down the road, and I’ve arranged a special 10% discount for all my customers.
Now there’s another of them mini-Caddies. Perfect for these high gas price times. And no; it’s engine hasn’t been yanked and dropped in a Citation, although that does make for a fun ride…here; I’ll prove it.
This baby has Digital Fuel Injection and makes 475 hp. It’ll smoke those yuppie Bimmers and newfangled Caddies, even with those tiny 14″ tires. Or because of them. New ones are only $48 bucks a piece at Wal Mart. How much d’ya think a set for a CTS-V will set ya back?
Anyway, Caddy-powered Citations are so yesterday. Drop that 4.1 into this Isuzu/Geo/Whatever Thing, and you’ll really impress them back home. It’s a GM car, right? So it’s a plug and play swap.
If you’re local, or thinking of moving here to Curbside Classic Land, I might suggest one of these Eugene-mobiles. You’ll fit right in.
Now if you’re really hard to please, and just haven’t been inspired yet, that’s ok, because I’ve kept my best cars for last. Here is a gem of a Skylark. The fact that it’s surrounded by pedal-powered vehicles in no way has anything to do with the intrinsic goodness and reliability of this Baby Buick. Let’s step into my office and talk…what; still not good enough? OK; I’ll show you the special, but only because you’ve hung in there and haven’t driven off yet.
There it is! And it’s strictly reserved for the CC loyals only. Readers of Jalopnik, Hooniverse, Bring a Trailer, TTAC; whatever: don’t even bother. You’ll be asked what car was featured in CCCCC Part 2, so forget it.
Now this gem of a one-owner Vega should sell itself on just this one picture alone at the special CC price of $1495. But if you’re the Nervous Nellie type and really need to take a closer look, I’ll be putting up a separate post here ASAP (too many pics tend to slow down our old 1996 vintage servers someone donated). But by that time, it’ll undoubtedly be sold, so you can consider that article a consolation prize, and cry into your coffee for not calling me and giving me your credit card number, SS #, driver’s license, home address, and a scanned copy of your birth certificate (passport is an acceptable alternative). I’ve got bills to pay too, you know.
This Vega now has its own Curbside Classic feature here
I’d have trouble choosing between the Fifth Ave (if I could only find that RARE 4brl intake manifold for one in a scrap yard somewhere!), square Town Car (I even know a shop that would sell me a rebuilt 300+ hp 302V8 attached to a C4 automatic), or shrunken Sedan De Ville (you know if I had a 4.9 Cadillac V8 lined up to swap in.)
You know I actually have a few saved searches in my browser called – “In case you ever loose your mind and buy a car to hot rod.”
An Edelbrock Performer is great on a 318, but you may have to sacrifice the air conditioning. You can really wake up one of these M-bodies simply by converting the ignition from Lean-Burn to standard electronic ignition, along with a swap to an older-style carburetor (I specified ’77 Dodge truck) to give you a vacuum port to connect to the distributor.
I was about to get really upset at first, seeing all those great ’80sish cars, and no Panther Town Car???
But then, there it was.
My avatar pic approves.
I’m quite tempted by those minnie Cadillacs… I’d Love a 1990 Fleetwood Coupe, or even a 60 Special Sedan or Fleetwood Brougham… The 85ish Front seats always looked crappy IMO. The Famous “Blows a Rod” 4.1, IIRC… was The 4.5 Better, BUT NOT AS GOOD as the 4.9 From what year on?
Still I have yet to lose my mind enough to actually buy a 20 year old Cadillac or Lincoln. A Ten year old Toronado Trofeo in 1999, but thats as close as I came. I would Love a 1989 or 92 Trofeo, due to the extremely rare survivor rate In California. The Toronado looks Custom Built. Subtle.
I Like the White Lincoln Town Car more than the Off White Mark 7, or Do I? Hmmm… At First I thought the 1985 Sedan De Ville was a Buick Skylark to be honest. Hard To believe that thing next to the LHS is a Cadillac!
I loved the 1989-93 Cadillac Sedan de Villes when they came out, even though I was in middle school at the time. Make mine in that Cadillac-exclusive pale yellow, with matching yellow leather. No fake convertible top or fake continental kit, though, please!
I will take the E30, always wanted one of those. There is a guy locally with a gorgeous 85 325is that he did a full bare metal restoration on, its amazing… only asking $5k, and no one has bit yet. I keep hoping for a small windfall before it sells.
The 325is wasn’t introduced until 1987. A 1985 would be a 325e.
325e would not be nearly as much fun as a 325is!
God, I love this website – and I’ll take the Crown Vic parked next to the Town Car.
What, no Falcons in stock?
I was gonna snatch one up and then head on over to the St. Vincent de Paul store for a cool deal on a pork pie hat.
I heard it’s de rigeur.
The hilarity of this? I was considering a 1993 Cutlass Ciera as my next clunker to be. But I just couldn’t bring myself to it….
Also, I inherited a pristine 1995 LHS about 9 years ago. It did handle well for it’s size, but I also always felt there wasn’t enough glass area to make up for the dark (I had charcoal leather) interior. And the 3.5L V6 seemed rougher and more asthmatic than my dads 3800 Series II 88 (which, well is probably all sound deadening). I drove it off of an overpass on the way to class about 18 months after I got it avoiding someone who stopped dead in my path. I just took the salvage title because, of course at 108K the Ultra Drive transmission was starting to forget R meant reverse and I bought a 1991 H-Body 88.
…So this afternoon I’m looking at a 1983 Mercedes 280E (I assume black market, I’ve never seen a M110 equipped W123 past 1980). But that Ciera is in that oh so 80s “Oldsmobile Blue”
Paul, if ever a 89-93 Cutlass Cruiser shows up with the 3300, leather seats and the wood applique, you know where to email me.
The LHS caught my eye, especially those spirograph wheels!
I have to admit those wheels are awesome, I still have the spare tire sitting in my Dads garage. But personally I always liked the looks of the Concorde more, It just seemed less fussy.
Also the LHS is the only car that I drove from San Francisco to San Jose in 22 minutes in. It was great for anonymous speeding at 110 mph.
If that Vega were a ’71-’73, I’d be tempted. Of course an engine swap would be first on the list…a Turbo Ecotec w/5-speed would work just fine, uh huh…
Dude, you rock! That’s so much more original than a SBC.
EV conversion: The Vega Volt
Or biodiesel conversion: The Veggie Vega
I rather like that Geo Storm – good looking cars. Probably generic early 90s fwd performance though. The Vega is awesome – replace the engine with something reasonable and it wouldn’t be half bad. Replacing those big impact bumpers would be nice too but I don’t the the slender early ones would fit. Good thing I’m already at my self imposed quota of obscure 70s compact cars.
Well with gas at $10+ per gall here mebe the 79 F100 and do a diesel transplant, a lot of Aussie built Fs were galvanized were yours?
I will tell you guys from experience (helping a college buddy) that those x-body Buick Centurys have an inordinate number of bolts holding the front fender on. (He was trying to get to the power antenna motor that was buried in the fender.)
Keep an eye out for a Volare/Aspen. If I want a comedy car option, it should be the one that bankrupted Chrysler.
I bet that old Accord still runs well.
I’d take either one of those Tauruses (plural = Tauri?) or that Olds Ciera if I need a decent car , but that Olds 88 with the 455? 50 cents a mile for gas at today’s prices? No friggin’ way! The trick of buying a keeper at one of these lots is to find a stripper without all the fancy power options. Power windows? You’re lucky if the driver’s side one works. Sunroofs leak. Air leveling suspensions break.
You got it. That 88 had about two inches of water on the floors in the backseat. Only about half an inch in the front though!
I had no idea it was a Rocket til I opened the 1,200 pound hood. I will admit the engine and bay looked pretty damn good.
if it had that much water in the back seat, there must have been even more in the trunk. Unfortunately all 70’s GM full sizers will develop leaky rear windows eventually.
What about me???
You know, if Sajeev, Dan and my “supreme” competition doesn’t come through, any one of those first three cars would look mighty fine in my driveway 🙂
But then again the mid-90’s Camry catches my eye, but ultimately, it’s that little 1985 X-Body Skylark that makes me smile the most. Why??? Because my first car was an 85 Skylark. It gladdens my heart to see one again, as they are quite rare these days.
BTW Paul, are you just having a really good day, or is our good friend obbop filling in for you??? 🙂
Well, it couldn’t have been that good of a day if I forgot you 🙂
And where is obbop anyway? Haven’t seen him here yet.
Too bad some of these things are halfway across the country. I have a soft spot in my head for those original T-115 minivans.
Actually that Isuzu/Geo/Whatever Thing would make a nice electric car. Lightweight and low drag, like this one: http://evalbum.com/166
Here’s hoping the engine’s blown.
As sad as they are now, back when I was selling Toyotas in the early 90’s, these were the cars we were selling the Paseo against. Toyota was clearly concerned about the Storm, as we spent a lot of time in our sales meetings learning about the car and how to sell against it. All for naught, as the Storm was a good seller and the seven Paseos we had all sold at a loss.
However, this would be a GREAT car to stuff a turbocharged Ecotec into…
Oooo, I think I spotted a gen 1 Legacy wagon in the front row next to the Taurus in the front row. That one goes on my list! Where do I sign?
Sold one of those to a mate 6months ago 350000kms still going strong.
I overlooked the early Lumina in the photo with the shorty Cadillac. That would be a keeper, too. Many of those are pushing 300,000 miles in my neck of the woods…
Homer Simpson must shop there. There is a parking spot between the town car and it’s baby brother panther. Word on the street is Homer is driving the only Yugo in craptivity.
My late Dad had a 1992 Mark VII that was exactly like the one in the pic.
It ran over 200k and finally lost it’s life when another car swiped the side of it. It was the perfect ride for downtown NYC traffic. The engine would just burble and purr with a faint sound as we listened to WYNS on the way home.
One of the not so fond memories I have is throwing up in that car. It was a tough call between barfing on my clothes or the floor since I know I wasn’t going to make it in that split instance. I chose the floor. My Dad had the car steamed clean and brought it up every now and then.
All you had to do with that car was watch the freon level and replace the balloons. Everything else was easy as pie and with my father rarely breaking 2000 rpm’s, someone must have got a hell of an engine. Then again with all those miles I doubt it was ever re-used.
Me and a friend cruised by this lot a few days ago. The 85 Towncar was tempting. I had an 85 as a youth, but this one was the Sig Ed, and the interior plush red velour was in amazingly good shape. Even had the push-button door-lock code thingy.
I’m pretty amazed this place even exists. Like Paul indicates, many (if not most) of the cars are barely functioning, and the prices are hardly charitable. I think of it as a museum rather than a car lot.
For some reason, it reminds me of the car lot where Kermit and Fozzy bought a car in the Muppet Movie.
I don’t see anything on the lot for me today. Call me when they get a C-body Mopar in …unless it’s that rotted-out ’65 Newport that you featured before. 🙂
For some reason, it reminds me of the car lot where Kermit and Fozzy bought a car in the Muppet Movie.
I think they drove a Studebaker right? So for the remake they’d have to get say the 88 Oldsmobile, right?
I saw the LHS and had to comment. Please Paul, do a CC on the best car Chrysler made in the last two decades!
It’s inevitable!
you sir, are one of my heroes. a lot stuffed with the kind of vintage daily drivers that i remember seeing on little private lots off of highway 101 in santa rosa, CA circa early-80’s. the truck site you mentioned is simply the icing on the cake!
I know this is a long shot, but I saw an article from 2011 showing a 1941 coe cab you had for sale. Do you still have it (or another one by now)? I can be reached at 316-371-2236. Thank you.