1962 Mercury Monterey - Stranger Than Fiction

 

 

I've stumbled across a number of odd old cars in airport parking lots over the years but perhaps none odder than this. Honestly, at first I had no idea what it was. I thought it was one of those far out Chryslers from the early sixties but as a I got closer I saw that it was a Mercury Monterey. After some due diligence I've found it to be a 1962.
 

 

Save for these funky jet age, post tail fin tail lamps, there isn't anything note worthy about this car. I'd love to just cut this fender section out and hang in my basement. I think it that cool. Too bad the rest of the car isn't. It's just an old, boring Ford. Poor thing isn't even a Breezeway.

 

 

My all too forgiving iphone 4S camera doesn't do the patina of this old bomb justice; it's awful. Although it's too bad this vomit green Ford Escape is blocking my view of that delicate and all chromed metal finned grill. It's another styling detail worth mentioning but not nearly as neat as the tail lamps.

 

 

A little history. The '62 Monterey was part of a four year production cycle for this vintage of full size Ford. It shared most if not everything under its sheet metal with the Ford Galaxie - which outsold it 10 zillion to 1. Ford always struggled with what to do with Mercury.  Fancy Ford or a dumbed down Lincoln? Being it's own separate line out of the question considering costs. Sure, there were a couple of stand outs but for the most part, Mercury suffered from every middle child lament you can think of. The Monterey just a symptom of it all.  

 

 

Still, running into a fifty two year old car is a treat. Like running into a celebrity or walking onto a movie set. It's just so surreal. Having had several old cars, none this old mind you, you don't see the specialness in your old car as much as someone does who just happens by it. To the owner of this car, probably, it's just an old car.  There is something very interesting about this car though. See those tags? They're Oklahoma tags.

 

 

What is a 1962 Mercury Monterey with Okie plates doing in an airport parking lot in Cleveland? If I had the time I'd do a stake out and wait day and night for the owner to return. It would be time well spent when I find the story behind this car to be stranger than fiction.

 

 

Oklahoma!

 

Yankee Stadium Frieze Shutters (Update)

It's been a long, brutal winter and I'm looking forward to warmer weather, the return of our Corvette, a years over due family vacation and wood working in the garage. First project on the agenda; the shutters for the basement windows.

Light through glass block is a lifeless intrusion and is best blocked out, man cave or not. Those glass blocks have a small vent in them that can be opened but we never open them. Only upon doing measuring for the shutters did I even notice the vent. You can't get out or in through those windows and I have to wonder why they're there in the first place. Just for that vent? Some sort of building code? What they do at worst is light our man cave during the day making it difficult to watch the TV. Yes, even that monster 60 inch HD is tough to watch with all that light beaming through. Curtains can only so much to block out the light and good luck find store bought shutters that would block out the light.

 

I had originally planned to build shutters that emulated the 1976 Yankee Stadium Frieze that adorned the outfield walls. This handsome facsimile, and this may sound blasphemous to many Yankee Stadium cognoscenti, is better looking than the turned metal frieze that decorated the roof of the 1923 Stadium.

 

 

As a kid I wasn't a fan of the Frieze. I thought it dainty, old fashioned, fuddy duddy-ish. The Yankees stunk too and had for years and years. The World Series years seemed decades past. The stinky, dumpy stadium fit the rancid team perfectly. Sorry, that's a little harsh. The Yanks weren't rancid they were just painfully mediocre.

 



  

New York in the '60's and '70's had little appreciation of its architecture from before World War II. Take the original, grand old Penn Station for instance. Gone with nary a protest. When the renovations of Yankee Stadium were taking place I applauded not only the removal of the site blocking posts but the removal of the dainty decoration on the roof. Yankee Stadium was going to be cool and modern like Shea Stadium! Newness to everything. The hell with history.

 

 

  

Legend has it George Steinbrenner insisted the "new" Stadium have a Frieze on the roof. Problem with that was that in order to have the Stadium be pillar free, because of the unique cantilever that held up the upper deck and mezzanine, the roof couldn't support anything that big and heavy.

 

 

Instead, a Frieze went onto the outfield wall. A beautifully tasteful compromise even more remarkable seeing that it was done during the tasteless 1970's. BTW, it was then Yankees president Mike Burke who insisted on the Frieze. Mr. Burke didn't do much for the Yankees during his long, tortured tenure but he did get the Frieze done.

  

 

My first go round with the Frieze shutters went even so far as my tracing a template. I ran into issues when I quickly realized that the above template would dwarf the window openings. Boiled down to the position of the office projector and how big or small I could make the projection. It was either too big or too small to base a shutter on. 

 

 

At 42 X 15, with shutters that big, I'd have to alter my Yankees insignia. Making any changes to what has become a beloved family icon didn't sit well with the biggest Yankees fan in my life, my 17 year old.

 

 

Giant shutters would mean at least moving the insignia lower. While it does need to be remounted to eliminate that odd cantilever, I've opted to not change a thing about it. The sign stays as is.

  

  

So, I decided to make these things shutters first and if they were to emulate the Yankee Stadium frieze, well, it would be in decoration - not part of the structure per se. From 3/4 inch plywood, I cut panels that were an inch and half smaller all around that the window opening. I painted the panels blue, the trim white as a contrast to the Yankees insignia.

 

 

The panels will fit up inside the open like a sliding medicine cabinet door. A 1X1 will be attached to the back of the panel and the weight of the entire "shutter" will hold it in place. Short of an earthquake, they'll stay where I put them. I have to get a scroll saw to make the Frieze decoration as good as it can be. While certainly much easier to go with pin stripping, I think it will look much better to go with the Frieze.

 

 

Anything worthwhile usually not being the easy way out.

 

 



 

 

 

Seven of the Hottest Collector Cars Under $25,000 - I Weigh In

I found this Haggerty Insurance article on yahoo and weighed in with my opinion on each of them.

The original article is posted below.

If you haven’t noticed, the classic car market is hot right now. The formerly quiet entry level of the market is fully awake, and cars that formerly sailed under the radar are now commanding attention. Here are seven of our favorite new Ford Focus-priced classics that won’t be affordable for long:

1. 1987 Buick Regal Grand National: Darth Vader’s official car (most were black), the turbo V-6 Regal was one of the few non-V-8 cars that the primarily baby-boomer muscle-car crowd took an immediate shine to. They’ve never been cheap, but that’s how current prices will seem in a few years when the Gen-Xers who wanted them new start pumping money into the collector car world.

Sorry. These cars are expensive to maintain and original parts are hard to come by. If you spend top dollar on an '80s' Buick, you need to keep it original. It's not like parts for these turbo V-6's are available in a mail order catalog. Save your money and buy a mint condition Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS or Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 of the same 1983-1987 vintage instead. Less money up front and less headaches in the long run too. IF you found one of these in pristine, original condition, it would be for north of 25G. You can find these for under 25 but most likely they've been beat to death or modified.

2. 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: Black-and-gold Malaise Era Trans Ams, particularly those from the “Smokey and the Bandit” years, are among the hottest things in American collector cars right now. Barrett-Jackson had about 15 of them on sale this past January in Scottsdale, Ariz., and all brought good money. In five years, $25,000 for a nice one may seem like a gift.

Maybe…but…as cool as these are some will only see these cars as the Smokey and The Bandit. You really want to drive a car that's famous for being in a movie? Same problem with the Dukes of Hazard's "General Lee". My money would be on a 1974-1976 SD-455 Trans Am instead.

3. 1978-83 Porsche 911SC: The window on affordable classic (read air-cooled) 911s is closing fast. The early pre-safety bumper cars (1964-73) are now in the $50,000 to $350,000 range, and the dirty little secret is that while they may have more vintage charm, they’re not nearly as good as the later 1978-83 cars. With excellent rust-proofing and 300,000-mile engines, these are the last bastion of affordable classic 911s. Cars that were $15,000 two years ago are now pushing $25,000. Act now.

What? Who wrote this article? Certainly not a hard core car person. Stay away from this car. Far, far away. These cars are crazy expensive to fix and are difficult to drive.

4. 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL: The R107 series SL (in the U.S. the 350/450/380/560SL) were the darlings of well-to-do dentists and their former hygienist/second wives from the early 1970s until the late 1980s. Attrition has thinned the herd and few outstanding low-mileage examples remain — those that do now command good money, particularly the more powerful last of the line 560SL. One sold at the Gooding and Company auction in Scottsdale, this past January for about $45,000. Lesser examples were everywhere at the Scottsdale sales. Care for something a bit edgier? The 1988 BMW M6 is equally hot.

Same deal as with the Porsche 911’s. No. No way. Spend similar money on the infinitely superior 1990 (R129) or newer SL.  

5. 1968 Chevrolet Corvette 427/390 coupe: The fact that you can still (if you shop hard enough) find a decent original engine, big-block, chrome bumper C3 Corvette for $25,000 is simply amazing. With the spotlight on collectible Corvettes at Barrett-Jackson this past Scottsdale, we sense that this is another rapidly closing window. Your only hope is probably a 1968, which was the first model year for the C3 and had a reputation back in the day of being a bit troublesome. Those issues however, were relatively minor and have long since been sorted out. Do it now or settle for a small block later.

Craptacularly awesome cars but the author makes it seem as though they're a dime a dozen. They're not. Good luck finding one. I also find it hard to believe you can find one in great shape for under $25,000.

6. 1988-91 BMW M3: The E30 M3 as it’s known to Bimmerphiles is smoking hot right now and is only likely to get hotter as more younger collectors enter the market. The first of the officially badged M-cars (along with the four-door M5) to hit the U.S. is just hitting its stride as a collectible. A beautiful 40,000-mile example sold for over $40,000 at the Russo and Steele sale in Monterey, Calif., last August. In just seven months, the perception of that sale has gone from “pricey” to “a steal,” a sure sign that this car has hit the collectors’ radar. Good ones for $25,000 or less are going to dry up any second now.

See my comments on the Porsche and Mercedes Benz. Stay. A. Way.

7. 1991-92 Acura NSX: Early NSXs have never been cheap per se — we struggle to recall too many ever selling for much under $20,000. These are supercars that you can live with. Honda quality and execution are everywhere (including the interior which detractors compare to a nice Accord). Only the car’s voracious appetite for rear tires detracts from the ownership experience. Rare Alex Zenardi special edition NSXs are destined to break the $100,000 mark in the near future, and they’ll likely pull up the earlier cars. The last decent $25,000 NSXs will likely be sold sometime in the third quarter of 2014.

To each his or her own. If I had $25,000 to spend on collectible it wouldn’t be on one of these. Perhaps that's the North Easterner in me talking.
 
Here's the original article: I should do one of these myself.
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/seven-hottest-collector-cars-under-25-000-151939667.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

1980 Cadillac Coupe deVille - Cadillac (Gets Ready To) Jump The Shark

Jumping the shark is an idiom used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality. It's usually a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show where the writers use some type of "gimmick" in an attempt to keep viewers' interest. Its name is taken from a scene from a fifth season episode of Happy Days when Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water-skis.The usage of "jump the shark" has subsequently broadened beyond television, indicating the moment when a brand, design, or creative effort's evolution declines.

 

 

During the second energy crisis of the 1970's, the price of gas in the United States passed $1 a gallon. An  almost incomprehensible amount of money at the time when you consider that gas was 35 cents a gallon six, seven years prior. To minimize fuel costs, many jumped out of their big gas guzzler for cars that were, if not down right compact, at least reasonably fuel efficient. For 1980, in an attempt to offset fuel cost concerns, part of Cadillac's update of their 1977 "little" Cadillac was another downsizing of their division exclusive V-8 engine. The 425 V-8 engine, which was downsized from 500 cubic inches for 1977, was downsized again this time to 368 cubic inches.

 

 

Power dropped significantly and GM didn't reduce gearing to help offset that loss of power either. Reducing gearing would, in theory at least, wipeout any mileage gains from the drop in power. That's why the '80 Cadillac deVille was the first of the "slow poke" Cadillacs that plagued the division in the early to mid '80s. However, back then, less was  more. A drop in power meant that the car was "better on gas", so the sales pitch went. Not sure how good a 4200 pound car with a massive, carbureted, 145 horsepower engine would be on gas but at least GM gave their dealerships something to tell customers who were concerned about mileage. Any middling improvement in mileage was considered a marketing coup.

 

Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, particularly GM, that GM was ramping up to have the entire Cadillac division Jump The Shark for the next decade or so. For 1981and for 1981 only, Cadillac took the defanged but still perfectly fine engine from this car and strapped the legendarily abortive fuel injection system on it that was supposed to, dependent on load, utilize 4, 6 or 8 cylinders at a time. A terrific fuel saving idea that was at least twenty years ahead of its time. Even today, these fuel shut off systems are somewhat fussy, clumsy even. Can you imagine how this performed in 1981? Suffice to say, it didn't.

 

I've always been a fan of these 1980 - 1984 Cadillacs but have stayed away from them because of their crummy engines. If only I could find a 1980. Well, here one is but I'm in no position to buy it. This low mileage example is on the sales floor for an eye watering, $7995. While she is a low mileage beaut with a scant 38,000 clicks on her, that asking price is all the money in the world. Good luck with that. As we like to say in the business, though, there's an arse for every seat. I have no doubt some lucky devil will get their hands on it. I only hope they love it as much as I would.

 

 

Cadillac is in a wonderful position these days and one has to wonder if they'd be in that position today of it wasn't for what became of this car. Cadillac today not unlike a child who has a tough childhood who blooms into a strong, resourceful adult using their childhood experience as an inspirational touchstone. After all, no one deliberately screws up at work or "Jumps The Shark" on purpose. Happy Days eventually got canceled; Cadillac keeps on going.

 

The Brake Job - If I Think I Can, I Can

It's frustrating when you take your car into the shop with a coupon for a $22 oil change and come out with a estimate for a $390 brake job. Did I even ask you to look at the brakes? Makes you almost not want to answer the phone from the shop when they call with an update because you  know they're going to hit you up for additional repairs. Warranted or not, that call can ruin your day.

 

 

When this happened to me recently, I took matters into my own hands. I'm mechanically inclined and a research monkey so the first thing I did was learn all I could about doing brake jobs. After doing my due diligence, I found the procedure to be straight forward and didn't see anything overly complicated about it. My credo, "If I think I can, I can!"

 

I shopped around for the best price on the best parts and finally bought the parts from NAPA for a grand total of $90. Yes, 90 bucks. I also had to buy a torque wrench and some minor attachments so all in, I'm at $130. $390 down to $130? Let's do this. 

First off, this is not a project for the faint of heart; especially in the middle of winter when it's 25 degrees outside and maybe 30 in the garage. At least there's no wind in the garage. Also, this is not a DIY blog so if you're interested in doing this yourself I suggest you do your research like I did.

 

To start, there's a total of four bolts that need to be removed on each side of my front brakes. The first two that come out are "slider" bolts that allow the caliper to move back and forth. That top slider came out with just a grunt or two. That bottom bolt was pure, unadulterated torture. An impact hammer would've helped greatly. A hammer slamming on the end of my 1/2 inch socket got the job done slowly but surely.

 

 

Opposite story with the bolts that hold the caliper to the spindle. The bottom came out easily but because of that bottom bolt on the strut, that top bolt was near impossible to get at. Thank goodness for deep socket extensions.

 

 

All told about an hour or so into the project. That included two trips to the auto parts store for sockets and attachments that I didn't realize I needed at first. I knew getting it apart was 90% of the work. End in sight. At least on the right side.

 

That's a C-clamp and a piece of old trim from a bathroom remodel pushing the cylinder back into the brake caliper so the new brake pads can be installed. I learned this trick when I did my research. Very effective.

 

You can really see how worn down the front pads where. I can't complain, I got 70,000 miles out of the original brakes.

 

 The new rotor, pads and the old caliper bracket back on the car ready for the caliper to be reinstalled.

  

 

As luck would have it, the left side came apart in less than 10 minutes. Also, I found it much easier to remove the bolts from the left side than the right side.

 

 

I labeled everything so reassembly could be as straight forward as possible. Notice that the bolt at the top of the page, which is one of the sliders, has a boot at the end of it. Had I not labeled it I would be guessing if it went in the top or bottom.

 

 

Torque it all to 75 foot pounds, put the wheels back on and then the road test. All was good in the hood. Net savings, $260.

 

Onto the rear brakes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Chrysler Cordoba - My Favorite Car

When it comes to my cars, I like my cars as manly as the manly men I identify with. Big, bold, powerful. Not overly flashy either; I'll substitute superficial flash for real performance any day. Just give me meat. No need to cook it. Now, when it came to combining manly men and manly cars, no man and car came together better than the combination of Ricardo Montalban and the Chrysler Cordoba. 

 

 

The Cordoba in this ad does not have Corinthian Leather despite the notation.

 

As an impressionable nipper growing up in the concrete and asphalt jungle of suburban New York City, I thought that guy in those Cordoba commercials the coolest guy since Captain Kirk. He could tell me to smear  peanut butter on my chest to grow hair and I'd do it. While the car he was hawking was nothing more than a castrated Dodge Charger/Chevrolet Monte Carlo wannabee, with this cool guy was selling it had to be cool. Such the power of an effective pitch man. Keep in mind, this was two to three years before he put the white leisure suit on that made him a household name.

 

 

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino died in 2009 at the age of 88.

 

When it came around for me to get my first car at the tender age of 17 in 1982, naturally, I bought a Mercury Comet instead of a Cordoba. I couldn't afford a Cordoba. Lord knows what I was thinking when I purchased that squeaky piece of crap Comet but I did have the good sense to ditch it quickly and with no replacement in site. That's when you know the hatred is pure, white hot and honest; when you dump someone or some thing with nothing waiting in the wings. "Oh, it's not me, sweetheart; it's all you. Literally, nothing is better than you." Isn't that what manly men do? Cut their losses then figure out what they're going to do? Fire, ready, aim. That's me. Or, that was me. Being a responsible husband and doting father can change a manly man.
 

 

This is a '77 Cordoba. Mine was a '75.

 

After weeks of fruitless searching and finding Cordobas that were two to three times north of my price range, I found a family in my neighborhood selling their 1975 Cordoba, with just 50,000 miles on it, for a mere $750. They were selling it so cheap because they had gotten it as a gift from a family member who dealt in stolen and repossessed cars and they didn't feel right about reaping a huge payday just because they didn't want the car anymore. Nice people! I didn't ask any questions as I jumped, sorry, more like pounced on it. While it needed a paint job and some suspension work (the family's son had beaten on it considerably) all in all, it was a fabulous deal. And best of all it was the car that Ricardo Montalban made famous.

 

 

The 1975 Cordoba was Chrysler's second "Cordoba". The first one was a one year only (1970) optional trim package on the Newport. It was only available on two door models.

 

Compared to that crappy six cylinder Comet, the step up in power and performance was formidable. Although saddled by a soul crushing catalytic converter, teeny tiny Holley 2 barrel and a 2.4 rear end, the big 360 V-8 did its best to entertain. Silver lining, for a two ton, carbureted, mid '70's American, it got decent gas mileage.
 

 

The rich Corinthian leather was quite nice, not that my car or the car Ricardo Montalban pitched actually had it. Softer and way more supple than the industrial leather offered by General Motors, Chevrolet did not offer a leather interior on the Cordoba's arch nemesis, the Monte Carlo.

 

I dug just about everything about the Cordoba (except the vinyl roof) but that car did have an Achilles heel, poor winter weather traction. When it would snow or it would be icy, watch out. Here comes Connolly in his Cordoba; bad things happened. Snow tires were no help when the back end comes swinging around like a baseball bat.  

 

 

The problem with these cars was traction in bad weather. There wasn't any.

  

I can't tell you how many times I spun out in my Cordoba but it had to be at least a half dozen major spills in the near five years I owned it. The front to rear weight bias on this car was just ridiculous. I wrecked it three times because of bad weather, the final time being that infamous December morning in 1987 when I slid under the business end of a Town of Babylon maintenance vehicle crushing the roof down on top of me. A manly death for a manly car. Rest in peace my friend.

 

 

Me and 1978 Dodge Magnum restored in the spirit of my Cordoba.

 

I searched for years for a comparable Cordoba to replace it and finally bought the Cordoba's cousin, a 1978 Dodge Magnum. I restored it to look like my long lost, oh-so-manly Cordoba and I hot rodded it too. That car was fast. Quite fun. To this day, though, when asked what my favorite car was that I've owned, I never hesitate when I say, The Cordoba.

 

That car still is the greatest automotive purchase of my life. Ricardo Montalban was proud of me.



1974 Imperial - Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

To understand what this car is or was supposed to be, understand that 1974 was as different from 2014 as 1860 was from 1900. Or as different as 1974 was from 1934.

In 1934, the Duesenberg Model J was the largest, grandest and dare I say, most beautiful car in the world. In many ways luxury car builders over the next forty years built their cars with not only this car in mind but the aura that this car created as well. This car was so spectacular that it surpassed even Cadillac for prestige. If you wanted to impress, this is what you drove. Or were driven in.

Forty years later, "Doozies", yes, that's where the expression comes from, lived on, metaphorically, through "luxury" automobiles like the Imperial LeBaron. Auto advertising in the 1970's, particularly as it pertained to luxury cars, was evocative of what the automobile appeared to make perspective owners want to be seen as. Same is true today, to a certain degree, but back then and through the benefit of forty years of hindsight, it's painfully obvious than this car had nothing more to offer buyers than the illusion of wealth and grandeur. What is that couple supposed to be doing in this photo from a Imperial brochure anyway? Does it matter? They're rich! If I was selling these back then my push to buyers would've been simple and direct. "Drive this car and people will think you're wealthy".

That's not a come hither look; she's waiting for you to get in front and chaueffer her to the ballet or 7-11 for a pack of Marlboro Lights. She's not going to tell you anything about the optional Sure Grip rear end, torque flight transmission or 440 cubic inch engine either. Just shut up and drive and please stop for gas. Old money meant you didn't drive, you were driven. These cars were actually more comfortable to ride in than drive. They were an exhausting handful behind the wheel.

 

 

Automobiles that could do more than just be pleasant riding and looking meatloaf wouldn't come from these shores for at least another twenty years (give or take). A luxury automobile that could do more than just be pretty? Radical. Based on these photos, did people only use these cars when they were going someplace special? Was there a wedding like, everyday back then? 

 

 

The new for 1974 Imperial was nothing more than a "modern" interpretation of the "classic" Duesenberg.  Not that buyers expected more; it doing nothing to advance the state of the luxury car at the time. That's why Mercedes Benz was such a paradigm shifter.

 

 

What happened next? The perfect storm of pollution control and safety mandates, the gas crisis and soft sales overall for the Imperial nameplate prompted Chrysler to kill the division after the 1974 model year. That change didn't so much spur changes in the way American luxury cars were built or marketed as much as being a bell weather that things were about to change. Change big time.