Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[81MC]

I ####ing love that of all the Mercedes, Porches and Bimmers that get talked about in here, it’s still the 80s ####box talk that is actually exciting. Who here wouldn’t honestly rather have that Omni than some goudy-ass wrapped G70 in their driveway?

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I've seen a few late model LeBarons rolling around lately too. Driven by teens. Mayhaps they're taking this retro love too far.

Probably just aspiring periodontists.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by 81MC

I ####ing love that of all the Mercedes, Porches and Bimmers that get talked about in here, it’s still the 80s ####box talk that is actually exciting. Who here wouldn’t honestly rather have that Omni than some goudy-ass wrapped G70 in their driveway?

Sliver is the only one who can answer that with any experience, though his was a G80.

Honestly, I'd take bird flu over a Dodge Omni. Let's not let our nostalgia for old cars cloud our judgement; Dodge Omnis and their contemporaries were pieces of garbage. If you're going to romanticise older cars, there are far better examples that get the point across.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

I saw an honest to god K-Car the other day. Like the above cars, it was like seeing a dodo bird when you assumed they had all died off. It was in this powder blue:



0-60 in about 13.5 seconds. I still remember going on a test drive with my dad from Varsity Chrysler in one of these. I also remember it dying (smoke or steam was involved) on the test drive, on Crowchild North, right by that 2 lane bridge just before McMahon. We bought an Olds instead...

I love how these vintage sighting of cars are from 70-90 yr old owners who have some kept these beasts going. I mean, who even does work on a K-Car nowadays?

Every Kcar that showed up in my dad's shop in the 90's was fully saturated with oil everywhere, and suspension components that had more play than a 90 year old marathon runners knees. As a youth I started to consider perhaps they even came out of the factory like that.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by 81MC

I ####ing love that of all the Mercedes, Porches and Bimmers that get talked about in here, it’s still the 80s ####box talk that is actually exciting. Who here wouldn’t honestly rather have that Omni than some goudy-ass wrapped G70 in their driveway?

I absolutely get more excited about seeing great condition old regular cars than anything new or fancy, especially in our climate. A few months ago I saw a stunningly good condition teal Ford Tempo driving down my street and was blown away. That thing was rarer than any exotic whatevercar.

[TorqueDog]

Here's a question -- selling used car parts: are there any options out there for someone looking to sell their used parts aside from trying to find someone on FB Marketplace etc.? There are a lot of used parts businesses that advertise buying old junk cars (for the purposes of parting out), but I have some mint condition factory parts I'd like to move along, and would prefer to just sell them to a business at a discount than try to get the full market value and doing all that work.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Every Kcar that showed up in my dad's shop in the 90's was fully saturated with oil everywhere, and suspension components that had more play than a 90 year old marathon runners knees. As a youth I started to consider perhaps they even came out of the factory like that.

That sounds about right. My first car was a Dodge Aries, I remember trying to find it's top speed but bailing on that idea at around 120 km/h or so when it started to violently rattle and shake (best guess, speedo topped out at 100 and I buried the needle a bit below it) . It died just after I moved to Calgary in 2002 when the engine blew up, quite literally as it turned into a giant smoke machine. Lots of people are nostalgic about their first car, but I don't miss that POS one bit

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I absolutely get more excited about seeing great condition old regular cars than anything new or fancy, especially in our climate. A few months ago I saw a stunningly good condition teal Ford Tempo driving down my street and was blown away. That thing was rarer than any exotic whatevercar.

I'm the same.

On Monday I saw an absolutely mint Mazda GLC. That predates the 323. GLC stood for "good little car" unless somebody was BSing me back in the day. It was crazy to see.

Another cool car I saw a couple years ago now was a wagon Toyota Tercel 4x4...mint in that tan colour they all came in. It was surprising because I think those were lemons from new, so to see one this decade was whack.

My 17-year-old has gotten super into cars over the past year or two and he gets super excited about Supras and exotics, like a 17-year-old should; however, those don't do much for me. I barely care. Let me see an '87 Celica GT-S or something and I get so stoked.

I haven't seen a Tempo in too long. My mom had an '87 until probably '96 or so. That was our family car for a long time. Honestly...it was a good, fuel efficient, inexpensive car for a single mom without much money. Perfectly comfortable and competent for all the years we owned it, so I do have a soft spot for those. She kept it perfect, too. Looked brand new until the day she sold it.

[DownInFlames]

I saw a Subaru SVX the other day. Sadly it wasn’t in great shape, but still cool.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I absolutely get more excited about seeing great condition old regular cars than anything new or fancy, especially in our climate. A few months ago I saw a stunningly good condition teal Ford Tempo driving down my street and was blown away. That thing was rarer than any exotic whatevercar.

Fancy new cars are a dime a dozen. Calgary is a wealthy city, there's no shortage of vehicles in that high end but not quite super car market. Also, if you ever wanted to look at a new car you can simply go to a dealers lot.

The classics in good condition are not only more rare but sometimes cost the same. It takes a special kind of disposable income to spend brand new Range Rover money on a Grand Wagoneer for instance.

[kevman]

And on that note, I saw a mint AMC Eagle a few months back at Safeway. That thing was beautiful. I would happily take that fishing on the trunk road one day and really hope it starts back up when it's time to go home.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The thing had 150 hp and weighed 1.5 tonnes. "Plenty of power" may have been relative for 1978...

True but it still fun to drive.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What the hell is going on in this thread lol.

Fun! And memories!

Originally Posted by Table 5

I absolutely get more excited about seeing great condition old regular cars than anything new or fancy, especially in our climate. A few months ago I saw a stunningly good condition teal Ford Tempo driving down my street and was blown away. That thing was rarer than any exotic whatevercar.

Oh my God! My first friend to get his own car got a Ford Topaz!

Topaz GLORY!!! We loved that POS!

It was baby-s### green and had a Metallica tape stuck in the deck and it would NOT release it!

Oh man, Topaz Glory....what a time to be alive. Rollin' up to the club in your POS old Topaz blaring Metallica?

Ohhhh.....kill me. What a time to be alive.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Geraldsh

All this nostalgia…where are the pintos?

My brothers first car was a Pinto station wagon. Yellow color and the fake wood paneling. He liked it because he could store his hockey gear in the back

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Dion

My brothers first car was a Pinto station wagon. Yellow color and the fake wood paneling. He liked it because he could store his hockey gear in the back

That thing looks like toilet contents.

[Bill Bumface]

I saw the same mint Tempo that Table5 did and was equally excited.

We lived through an era where the Ford Taurus was the highest selling car to now just an endless era of F-150s. I miss the days when the boat wagons followed by the family sedans were your default car purchases.

Speaking of Tauruses, the old Taurus SHO with the Yamaha V6 and Mazda manual transmission were one of the best sleepers. Everyone's mom was driving a Taurus around and you ignored them completely until you saw that bumper.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Here's a question -- selling used car parts: are there any options out there for someone looking to sell their used parts aside from trying to find someone on FB Marketplace etc.? There are a lot of used parts businesses that advertise buying old junk cars (for the purposes of parting out), but I have some mint condition factory parts I'd like to move along, and would prefer to just sell them to a business at a discount than try to get the full market value and doing all that work.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I recall hearing about an online consignment option for things and these services gets a base fee plus percentage.

I'm not sure of a specific business, but I guess one other option is to just put it all in a single listing on FB marketplace at full market value and see if someone bites for like 10-20% off on the whole thing?

https://www.a1part.ca

I guess you could always contact these guys, say you have mint parts and see what they offer you vs FMV before doing the other option? Another could be messaging a parts re-seller on eBay and ask what they'd offer you if you sold them the whole batch of stuff?

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I absolutely get more excited about seeing great condition old regular cars than anything new or fancy, especially in our climate. A few months ago I saw a stunningly good condition teal Ford Tempo driving down my street and was blown away. That thing was rarer than any exotic whatevercar.

I'm the same way. Seeing a 30 year daily driver type or somewhat uncommon vehicle from those days that's in decent shape still gets my attention. I saw a Tempo a few weeks back and was like what...that's still running? I saw a Jeep Comanche pickup that still looked good one day. Hadn't seen one of those in like 30 years.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Dion

My brothers first car was a Pinto station wagon. Yellow color and the fake wood paneling. He liked it because he could store his hockey gear in the back

That thing is majestic and I'll not tolerate any slander to the contrary!

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I absolutely get more excited about seeing great condition old regular cars than anything new or fancy, especially in our climate. A few months ago I saw a stunningly good condition teal Ford Tempo driving down my street and was blown away. That thing was rarer than any exotic whatevercar.

A friend got a 30 year old Grand Marquis that had 25,000km on it. Grandma’s car. Absolutely mint.