I'm stuck in the 80s...automotively

[Sefton]

The 1979 SAAB 900 Turbo. Goes well with Weejuns and a blue Brooks Brothers blazer. I've got the Weejuns, now I just need the blazer and the car. Oh,well. Next Christmas is just right around the corner.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Have any of you tried to buy whitewall tires lately? The selection is SLIM at a normal tire store. Guess nobody wants them but me.

Every time I buy tires for my '67 Chrysler, they ask me if I want the white walls showing: I've never had to ask for them. Regular tire stores.


Lee

 

[davestlouis]

sefton, I think that's a SAAB 99, predecessor to the 900...the dash is different, and the front structure is shorter and shaped a smidge differently. Cool car either way. I have had a couple of classic(pre-GM) 900s and loved them. My blushing bride has a NG(new generation/GM)900 convertible and absolutely detests the poor thing.

mrnewport, the Goodyear store I went to told me the only WSW tires in my size were special-order Coopers for almost $200 each, so I went to the Firestone down the street, they had 2 choices, for a heck of a lot less than $200 each.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

mrnewport, the Goodyear store I went to told me the only WSW tires in my size were special-order Coopers for almost $200 each, so I went to the Firestone down the street, they had 2 choices, for a heck of a lot less than $200 each.

The first set I bought for this car, I got at Discount Tire. I got the second set at the same place that does my brakes and will soon rebuild the front end: It's an independent frame and wheel shop. It's been a couple of years, but at the latter I paid about $400.00 for all four, including mounting, balancing and etc. The car has it's stock 14" wheels. I don't buy brand-name tires, because they're always much more expensive and, besides, I've never had trouble with the off-brands.

Back to the '80s, though: There are a lot of cars from that decade that I'd love to own. Unfortunatey, even today most of them are way, way, way out of my price range and most of them involve some sort of bull or horse. On the cheap side, though, I've always wanted one of those K-car convertibles with the fake wood trim or an '80s Dodge Rampage. You know the one; car front, truck back. Like an El Camino, but smaller.


Lee

 

[Sefton]

davestlouis, you're absolutely right. My first post in a long time and I steal the wrong picture...
I guess I'll take a 99 and a 900 then. That's the end of my SAAB story.

 

[Warbaby]

My '87 Crown Vic:

I bought it a couple of months ago from a 93 year old woman who kept it in her garage undriven for the past 10 years - only 32,000 original miles and in like-new condition. It's the first Big American Car I've ever owned and I've come to love driving it. There's something very reassuring about piloting 2 1/2 tons of steel in a world of little plastic cars...

 

[davestlouis]

Warbaby, that's a real car there. You should get a lot of miles out of it. There used to be a saying that pertained more to the Lincoln Town Cars of that era..."there's a Lincoln and the box it came in", because they were so square and boxy. That could apply to your Ford and a lot of other cars that I really like.

 

[Diamondback]

Nice ride, Warbaby...

Found the screen-used MIB Crown Vic for sale, going rate is 20K. I can tell you what my moves would be if I bagged it... 1. Have all the special mods copied and fitted to a daily-driver copy, 2. see about getting Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones to autograph both cars inside the glove-boxes, 3. donate the original to an appreciative auto-museum somewhere and possibly get a huge tax-writeoff from doing so, in addition to having gained the engineering data for my own MIBmobile and kept the original preserved and displayed for the--what, two dozen including myself, tops?lol--fans of the film.

 

[davestlouis]

hey sefton, I've got a couple of BB blazers...you find me a decent 99 or 900 turbo and I'l give ya one of the blazers. A kid who lived up the street from me in the early 80s drove a SAAB 99 EMS in a sort of salmon-silver with orange mousefur interior...sounds odd now but at the time it was the essence of cool.

On a slightly different note, both by grandfather and father owned AMC Gremlins, pop liked his purple '74 so much that my dad bought an orange '75 that was he worst car ever! He sold it in less than a year and never took any car-buying advice from my pop ever again. I wouldn't mind having one as a toy, but I haven't seen one in years.

 

[davestlouis]

mrnewport, there was just a white on red Rampage on the local craigslist...Dodge Omni front, with a small truck bed, set up like the VW pickup that was Rabbit-based. This particular Rampage had sustained damage from an engine fire, but it was clean as a pin prior to the fire. The VWs were cool because a lot of 'em had diesel engines.

If I had a big pole barn I'd fill it up with oddball '70s and '80s era cars. I can think of 20 or more that I'd like to buy while I can still find them for very little money.

At one point I had 9 '70s and '80s Mercedes sedans laying around, between my driveway, my office and another lot where I hid several. They weren't worth much but I liked them and they all ran and drove. Just keeping track of the keys and making sure the license plates hadn't expired took a lot of time. I really think having 1-3 "toys" is plenty for the average guy, more than that becomes difficult to manage.

 

[David Conwill]

Speaking of Mercedes, I snapped this a couple weeks ago while visiting the midwife. It's a 300D. I don't know much about them except they look good and are popular as "greasels".

-Dave

 

[davestlouis]

That's a late-production W114/115. I think they only built 300d's in that body style in 75 and 76? I'm doing that from memory. I've had a couple of 220d's and a 240d, and let me tell ya, they are SLOWWWWW. Tough old cars, as long as they don't get too rusty. Many of them had crank windows, crank sunroof(if they had a sunroof at all), and all of them had manual seat adjustments...there's not a whole lot to go wrong, and the way they were engineered, they are easy to fix...just overhaul whatever broke and keep on truckin'. Even the seats are designed to be rebuildable...get a new horsehair pad and a new cover, and if the metal springs and frame are bad, they sell those too.

I like M-B cars because of the way they are engineered. What turned me away from them is the cost of parts...I normally do a little tune up on any cars I buy...spark plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor. On a normal car, all of that is pretty cheap, probably less than $50. On a v8-powered M-B, you really need to use real M-B parts or it won't run right, so when I did a tune up on my 420SEL, the parts cost something like $400. A rear muffler for that car was $1900, dealer-only part because it is funny-shaped. Too rich for my blood.

 

[scottyrocks]

The 1979 SAAB 900 Turbo. Goes well with Weejuns and a blue Brooks Brothers blazer. I've got the Weejuns, now I just need the blazer and the car. Oh,well. Next Christmas is just right around the corner.

Many years ago, I had a 79 900S. The tranny went and I couldnt afford to fix it so I sold it. I really liked that car. First car I ever saw with orange back-lit gauges (like my current MINI Cooper).

 

[davestlouis]

SAAB's tend to be rough on transmissions, especially the turbo cars. The gearbox wasn't designed to handle the torque that the turbo can produce. I'm drawing a blank as far as the color of the dash lights in the SAAB my wife has now...I almost think they are green, but it's a newer, GM-era car.

 

[The Captain]

I'm a Chevrolet man from way back. Among the group is this '82 Berlinetta Camaro. Always keep it the garage (bought it new in '82).

 

[davestlouis]

Nice Berlinetta...I can't tell you the last time I saw one of those around here, seems like the Z28s have survived in small numbers, but not normal Camaros and Berlinettas. I seem to recall that the Berlinetta was supposed to be a luxurious variant, and some had digital dash instead of analog instruments...what instrument cluster does yours have?

 

[The Captain]

Nice Berlinetta...I can't tell you the last time I saw one of those around here, seems like the Z28s have survived in small numbers, but not normal Camaros and Berlinettas. I seem to recall that the Berlinetta was supposed to be a luxurious variant, and some had digital dash instead of analog instruments...what instrument cluster does yours have?

Here is a shot of my odometer taken last year (I do have a few more miles on it since then). Yes, the Berlinetta is/was touted to be a touring car. The ride is nice out on the road and it handles like a "slot car". The speedo having km/h on the same needle as MPH is a sign of the times - the '80s.

 

[davestlouis]

I had forgotten about that dual speedo needle...80s indeed. Good grief, you've barely broken it in.

 

[lolly_loisides]

My everyday runabout is a 1989 Ford Capri (they were sold as Mercury Capri in the States). I love it, it's alot of fun to drive.

 

[Jay]

Jay, that an SE, T/A, Formula or base-model? If the latter, do you still get hit with "Caution Car List" insurance rates on it like you would SE and up?

The fender air-extractors are T/A or Formula, but a competent metalworker can refit those to any F-body. That rib around the swage-line tells me it's either an '85-on or had 'em retrofitted, no spoiler says either non-T/A or removed.

You seem to know a lot about these cars, Diamondback! It's an '87 T/A with the spoiler removed. It started to fall apart about 4 years ago and is now sitting in my garage. I'm not sure but I think my rates are okay. Maybe it being registered as a hatchback has something to do with it?

Hey Captain, does that Berlinetta have the tiltable radio console too? My brother had one like that years ago. Neat feature.