1965 Rambler Marlin - Raise The Roof

When I was a kid, my father had a '61 Rambler Classic that stood out like a prop from a cheesy fifties sci-fi movie in a sea of lusciously sleek Chevys and Buicks. All Rambler's of that vintage had a weird, not of this world motif as if they were from Mars or a communist bloc country. For model-year 1964, though, Rambler got far more mainstream with their wares making them look not unlike something you'd see in a Chrysler-Plymouth showroom. Albeit one up in Canada where everything is just like it is down here except everything is different enough for you to realize you're not in the United States. For 1965, Rambler even got into the burgeoning personal luxury car ring with something they called "Marlin". However, something got lost in Rambler's interpretation of what a personal luxury car was or was supposed to be. 

In fairness, even by 1965, the definition of what a "personal luxury car" meant was still fairly fluid. GM and Ford designs were all based on full-size two-door models, Chrysler didn't have one really, meanwhile Rambler based theirs on their compact "American". All well and good as they stuffed the Marlin with as many luxury accoutrements as possible. Even an optional, all metal tissue dispenser under the glove compartment. Problems was American Motors executives insisted the Marlin be a "family-friendly" 3+3. What's more, a 3+3 with not just generous leg room for rear seat passengers but commodious headroom. 

To make that happen, designers literally raised the roof. Or the back of the roof to make more headroom. While the rest of the car is a pretty generic mid-sixties mashup of then contemporary designs, the back half of the car looks like a '66 Dodge Charger got jiggy with a Ford Mustang 2+2. With the Charger's DNA, the '66 (and '67) Charger certainly being nothing to look at, winning out. Just like that, a design that could, on paper at least, give a Ford Mustang 2+2 a stylistic run for the money was unceremoniously ruined. 

Big fastbacks aren't everyone's cup of anti-freeze. They certainly aren't mine. The Big Three all tried their hand at it with varying degrees of success. Or failure depending on your point of view. When a small or smallish car like this Rambler Marlin apes the lines of a larger design, proportions tend to go into the proverbial dumpster. No matter how practically successful it was. I mean, that's some serious head room for the back seat of a compact car. And seeing the impetus for this design was pragmatic in nature, in a universe where style was king, the end results could only be dubious. 

American Motors sold just over ten-thousand Marlins for 1965, less than half that for 1966. While a total reboot of the Marlin for 1967 resulted in what perhaps it should have been from the start, AMC sold just over three-thousand of them. They promptly pulled the plug on production and the Marlin became but a footnote in history. Note the three-on-a-tree above. Unusual, I'd say, for a car with luxury pretension. Again, though, what a personal luxury car would come to be known as was still several years away. 

Shoot, I can't tell you the last time I even saw one of these at a car show. Even the biggest and broadest of shows too. Rambler Marlins are that rare; they were known as AMC Marlins in 1966 and 1967. This one popped on my Facebook Marketplace feed recently and I jumped on it. Well, saved pictures of it so I could "blog it". I'm still making good on my New Year's Resolution from a couple of years ago to branch out and blog about cars that I don't like. 

Seller is asking some $12,000 which means they've done their homework. NADA pricing guidelines peg this "average retail" at $11,650. High retail at $18,800. Based on these photos, I'd say they've got it priced just right. This thing does appear to be in great shape. Bonus points for the original AM radio and a clock that allegedly still works. Remarkable. 

Comment below if you're interested and I'll do my best to hook you up. I could be wrong, but something tells me this white fish is going to be around for a while. 

 

1972 Datsun Fairlady Z - The Other Half

I guess it's inevitable that to keep great cars from the past on the road, they're all probably going to meet the fate of this 1972 Datsun 240Z. Meaning, they're going to be resto-modded up the wazoo. I'm not the biggest fan of resto-mods since if I wanted something modern, I'd buy it. Modernizing an old classic, especially if it changes the overall appearance of it, I find it be of waste of time and money.  Unless, as Jay Leno points out, what's being restored was a basket case to begin with. Let's hope this handsome devil started out that way. Seems someone spent a pretty penny fixing it up too seeing it's for sale with an asking price of $88,000. NADA guidelines peg original 240Z's "high retail" at $53,000. Quite the spread. Even in these Covid-price-inflated times where Chevy Cruze's with 100K on them are going for ten-large. 

Can't blame someone for attempting to recoup what they spent on this although I'd question the wisdom of someone dropping ninety-plus grand on it. Rest assured, someone will. Speaking of Leno, this car is like something you'd find in his garage. The other half, as they say, really are different from you and me. 

These cars were game changers since they took everything the best sports cars or GT's did at the time and they did it even better. Overhead cam engines, disc brakes, independent suspension. And they didn't overcharge for that stuff either. All that's a moot point on this car seeing everything that made this great fifty-year ago has been tossed. 

Resto-modifications include a General Motors built, LS-1 V-8 that makes, allegedly, more than 400 horsepower (dyno-sheets included!), a Tremec, 6 speed manual transmission and a total rebuild and modernization of the brakes and front and rear suspensions.  Seats have been upgraded to your obligatory Recaro's. They sure look comfy. 

Below is the over-written online copy for it that reads like a cheesy real estate ad. Again, $88,000 is a lot of money for this car - good luck getting it insured for anything over book value too. Then again, if you that asking price donesn't make you light headed, you probably don't care as you contemplate adding it your personal "Jay Leno Garage". Comment below if you're interested and I'll do my best to hook you up. Only thing I'd ask is you let me take a spin in it. 

LS1 Swap - A/C - T56 6Speed - Recaro Seats - Carbon Accents

This is Fairlady Z Resto-Mod is the ultimate street machine. Countless hours and dollars were invested in designing, fabricating and restoring this car. The vision of the build was to turn a classic Datsun 240Z sports car into a classic Datsun 240Z supercar. It was a rust-free California car prior to the bare-metal restoration. This car is show-quality throughout. The exterior body is very straight with great gaps. It was painted GM Crystal White Tri-Coat, which is absolutely stunning. The hood rise and all the trim were painted Satin Black. The car is dressed with Cobra mirrors, halogen smoked headlights, custom emblems, carbon-fiber dipped front and rear bumpers, carbon-fiber front and rear spoilers with matching door handles. The car has a great stance on 16" Pana Sport Racing wheels that were dipped in carbon-fiber on front and back. The wheel center caps were dipped in white carbon-fiber to match the exterior color. The wheels are wrapped with new Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires that stick to the pavement. The all-new black interior is tastefully done. Some interior upgrades include aluminum Fairlady Z door sills, MOMO Competition steering wheel, AutoMeter Phantom gauges, Recaro bucket seats, black billet window cranks and shifter with Hurst knob, Performance billet pedals, custom Z accessories, Vintage Air and Heat, custom sound system, roll bar and rear strut tower bar, which were painted to match the exterior. The engine compartment is nicely detailed throughout. This car is powered by a GM LS1 V8 engine with 400+ horsepower. Dyno sheets are included. The intake manifold was dipped in carbon-fiber and the valve covers were painted to match the exterior. It's equipped with many upgrades, such as a custom cold-air intake with K&N filter, Taylor 409 Racing red wires, Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator, AN fittings, Optima red-top battery and custom strut tower bar. The engine is cooled by a custom aluminum radiator with dual electric fans, carbon-fiber dipped cover and aluminum reservoir. The engine breathes through a custom exhaust system with Sanderson headers and Flowmaster mufflers. The engine is coupled to a Tremec 6-speed manual transmission with hydraulic clutch. The power is transferred to the pavement through the Infiniti Q45 R200 VLSD rear end. It has custom billet rear differential mounts and billet axles with C/V halfshafts. The undercarriage is nicely detailed throughout. It's equipped with custom-made subframe connectors from front to back. It has rack & pinion steering. The suspension system consists of MSA camber plates, MSA coilovers, Eibach springs, Tokiko illumine 5-way adjustable inserts, and Suspension Techniques front and rear sway bars. The braking system consists of Modern Motorsports Extreme 13" PBR four-wheel disc brakes with a Wilwood master cylinder. WOW, the list goes on but its going to take a serious enthusiast to pilot this Z.

1990 Buick Electra Park Avenue - Buick's Old Big Dog

I need to spend more time just wandering around the Pull-A-Part yard instead of going there only when I need stuff. Seems I always come across something interesting like this 1990 Buick Electra Park Avenue. Well, interesting to me at least. 

Yes, Electra Park Avenue. Up from 1975 through 1990, the Park Avenue was a top-of-the-line trim level or sub-model of Buick's Electra line. After 1991, Park Avenue became Buick's big dog with "Electra" sent to the dumpster. Or junk yard. 

This being a '90 makes it somewhat historically significant. This was the end of the line for the first generation of General Motors front-wheel-drive "C-bodies" that also included the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight and the Cadillac deVille series. These first hit the road in 1985. 

Many of GM's older buyers thought these cars were too small although they have more room inside than what they replaced. The Cadillac's got bigger in 1989, for '91, the Buick and Oldsmobile's were significantly upsized. With no increase in interior space either. Just like GM did in the old days. 

These cars have their naysayers. I certainly can't say they were beautiful in their day, but their driving dynamics were much improved over what they replaced. That being the body on frame, rear-wheel-drive, mostly V-8 powered C-bodies. Problem was, they were still a far cry from what was coming ashore in those days. And by 1990, GM's pricing ladder had all but been obliterated making the differences between their lines hard to distinguish. Save for what GM charged for them. 

Probably the most interesting styling\engineering detail on these cars is this "clam shell" hood. It pops open at the front like a regular hood, but it has a reverse cantilever hinge that opens it much like the clam shell hood on Corvettes at the time. Pretty neat. I couldn't get it open all the way but trust me, it gave you tremendous access to the engine compartment. My father had a similar 1987 "H-body" Buick LeSabre that had the same hood design. 

What's really amazing is how great the body is on this thing. I didn't see any rust and there was only 61,000 on its old school analog ticker. I know the guy sells cars out of this lot and he says many people throw cars away that have very minor problems. He fixes them and then he sells them. They have to be sold with salvage titles but who cares? 

I guess whatever sent this car here must have been too much for someone to fix. 

 

 

1963 Chevrolet Corvair 500 - Father of the Year

When I was in high school, my friend Kelly's father bought her a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair just like this one. I thought it cute as a button, like she was, but she hated it. Although it was in very good if not mint condition, she thought it an "old person's car" and not something she wanted to be seen in or associated with. I thought it quaint and older than it was, it wasn't twenty-years old at the time, but that didn't stop me from begging her to let me drive it. She acquiesced for no other reason than to shut me up. 

Despite the lack of power steering, I found it handled amply. If not quite well. Better than my stinking Comet did. The brakes were so-so, but the air-cooled and very noisy flat six out back felt responsive enough. The whole thing was so different from anything else I had driven up to that time; not that by the age of 18 I had driven that many cars, but I knew enough by then that the Corvair was different.   

The Chevrolet Corvair and its corporate brethren at Pontiac (Tempest), Buick (Special) and Oldsmobile (F85) were General Motors' salvo at the growing popularity of imports in this country in the late 1950's. And with the Corvair, it was their direct shot at the original Volkswagen Beetle. That being a reasonably space efficient, compact, air-cooled, rear-engined transportation conveyance. The BOP offerings were certainly odd in their own ways but nothing like the Corvair was. 

With the Corvair in particular, GM attempted to out-Volkswagen Volkswagen. That being putting the engine in the rear of the car where it "belongs on a compact car". Putting the engine "out there" gave the Corvair a remarkably spacious interior, given its size or otherwise, and enabled designers to make it very, very low. In fact, the lowest car sold in the U.S. at that time. Giving credit where it's due, GM styling was at its Zenith in those early days after Harley Earl retired so at least they were interesting looking. What could possibly go wrong? 

Well, everything. Actually. The tip of the spear of "Unsafe at Any Speed", Ralph Nadar's scalding 1965 tome on the state of automobile safety at the time, or lack thereof, because of the deliberate omission of a front stabilizer bar, to save $4 per car, when the swing axle on early Corvair's "tucked in", the lack of something to stop or at least inhibit the front of the car from bottoming out meant Corvairs could flip over when turned aggressively at speed.  

Kelly wouldn't let me drive her Corvair over thirty miles per hour nor on the highway because her dad said it would be too dangerous. But he bought her the car anyway? Father of the Year. 

I found this Corvair on Facebook Marketplace for sale down in New Philadelphia which is a lovely community 85 miles southeast of Cleveland and roughly 90 minutes west of Pittsburgh. A nice Sunday afternoon jaunt for my wife and I if we were interested in this. Which, despite the mild nostalgia, trip, I for one am most certainly not. 

Price has been reduced from a heady $8,500 to a more reasonable but still wishful $3,500. Body appears pretty solid, no visible rust. Which is remarkable on a car this old up here. Its decent shape is why it was bought by the father of the poster of the FB ad in the first place. He bought it, stuffed it in this garage to work on it and that was that. He passed away shortly after he bought it apparently. I guess he loved Corvair's, they do have their positive attributes. They have no idea if it runs or not. Bonus, it comes with a full set of matching Chevrolet Citation wheel covers. 

I doubt all it needs is a good cleaning and a headliner. What folks say they "don't know" about a vehicle is a blaring siren to assume and prepare for the worst. This isn't my cup of tea but perhaps it's yours. Comment below if you want more information on it. 

I'll look up Kelly and see if she remembers her Corvair too. I bet she says she doesn't.  

 

1980 Pontiac Grand Am - Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I'm sure General Motors didn't mean to make a mockery of their lovely 1973-1975 Grand Am but these 1978-1980 models came up as either half-baked if not half half-hearted attempts to emulate one of my favorite cars of all time. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Our subject here is a 1980. 

Although contemporary reviews lambasted its overt, excessive styling and middling performance, puckish, impish, eight-year-old me was struck by lightning when I first saw one at the New York Auto Show in the long since demolished New York Coliseum in the fall of 1972. First impressions can indeed be lasting. Even time spent with several in the early to mid-eighties couldn't dissuade me.  

Based on this overwritten 1978 magazine ad copy, clearly someone at Pontiac (or their ad agency) had intentions of connecting the old Grand Am with the, ahem, new one.  Even if there were few buyers for the originals. Feisty 301 cubic-inch 2bbl\V-8. Truth in advertising? Please. 

Same crew that drew up the original Grand Am probably had a hand in another 1970's Pontiac oddity, the spectacular, one year only, 1977 Can Am. Did Pontiac show that crew the door when it came time to bake up the 1978 Grand Am? Oh, and why this mashup of a Trans Am and Grand LeMans (of all things) works so well, much like love, defies logic or reason. 

In fairness, the problem with the 1978-1980 Grand Am wasn't the car itself but what it based on. That being the new for 1978, freshly downsized, Pontiac Grand LeMans. Itself part of a gaggle of impossibly mediocre looking makes and models that included the slanty-back, hatchback Oldsmobile Cutlass\Buick Century and of course the belle of the ugly duckling ball, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. 

When we understand that the Grand Am was a trim level of the Luxury\Grand LeMans, we can also appreciate the Grand Am, well, at least the original ones, as a separate model from Pontiac's less sporty, more luxurious two-door, the Grand Prix. Why have two if not three cars all targeting the same buyer? Sign of the times. And what a time it was to be a coupe lover.  

I might be splitting hairs or attempting to distinguish varying shades of grey, but Pontiac sufficiently disguised the 1973 Grand Prix from the Luxury LeMans\Grand Am to make one at least think they were succinctly different models. At least through my foggy goggles. And Pontiac never made the Grand Prix out to be a performance model like they portended to make the Gran Am. The Cam Am too. Did I say it was a great time to be a coupe lover? 

Since I have no use for any downsized GM intermediate, any pretense of the Grand Prix and Grand Am being different went out the rear window (that wouldn't roll down). Best I can say about this vintage of Grand Prix is that at least it's not a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Nice "snowflake" rims too. Swap the front facia and lose the hood ornament and what do you have? A Grand LeMans. The prior Grand Am and Grand Prix had enough separate body stampings to, again, construe they were different cars. Which, in reality, they really weren't. 

Personal luxury car buyers turned out to be a fickle bunch. Despite strong sales at first, GM's new-for-'78 models helped grease the skids for the demise of a once healthy market segment. One that seems all but impossible to fathom in this day of do-everything-well crossovers. Just like the original Grand Am's, the downsized 1978-1980 models didn't sell well; big sporty cars have never sold well and the "imitation" Grand Am's questionable looks, from certain angles, didn't help. Pontiac pulled the plug on the model line for good, well, technically, after 1980. Apparently, whomever at car company's names cars had plum run out of ideas since starting in 1985 they festooned "GRAND AM" to a new front-wheel-drive compact no one in their right mind could construe as an imitation of anything. 

1977 Buick Regal - If the Brake Shoe Fits

Perusing Gateway Classic Cars massive inventory of what they deem "classics" is a Sunday morning, coffee cup in hand timewaster and they never let me down when I want to find something that piques my fancy. They're a nationwide consignment network and everything they have for sale, from exotic cars to sports car and ponies to crossovers, is hysterically overpriced.  Like this very nice, low mileage 1977 Buick Regal. Asking price? $18,000. To make matters worse, they claim it has a "heart pounding 305 V-8", guys, you're talking to car people here, these cars never came with a "305" which was a Chevrolet engine anyway.  Be real. And they claim this is a "personal luxury car". 

I'm not going to spend today's soliloquy drilling down into who or what would spend $18,000 on this thing. But, who the hell would? I wouldn't pay half that. By the way NADA price guidelines peg this at $10,900. And that's for "high retail". 

I'd also stop short of lumping this quasi-handsome, two-door Century in the same vehicle grouping as my beloved Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlo of the same vintage. Although, if the brake shoe fits, you can call it a "personal luxury car" or whatever you want. For my money, a "personal luxury car", by my definition, is a stylized, two-door, intermediate sized coupe with unique sheet metal from the four-door sedan it shares its underpinnings and mechanicals with Like the Grand Prix was different from the LeMans and the Monte Carlo was different compared to the Chevelle.  

In fairness, Oldsmobile didn't exactly disguise their two-door Cutlass' as anything more than what it was either. And seeing that it was one of the best-selling nameplates of the 1970's, my argument holds no water. However, these Regals where a different putt since Buick sold a smattering of them compared to the number of Cutlass' Oldsmobile sold. To say nothing of the zillions of Grand Prix' and Monte Carlo's sold. This all really matter? Of course not. But if I'm going to drop eighteen-grand on anything from 1977, it most certainly wouldn't be a Buick Regal. 

Back in the days before the Earth cooled, I test drove one of these that was for sale for around $1,500. It was in real nice shape similar to what this looks like too. I passed on it because it didn't pass my vaunted definition of what a personal luxury car was. I wanted a Grand Prix or Monte Carlo but those were going for a thousand if not two thousand more. This kid had his standards and he stuck to them.  Hey, if you can't join 'em, do the next best thing and get a shameful knock-off. I bought a Chrysler Cordoba on the cheap and never looked back. 

The Regal started out as a trim level on the 1973 and 1974 Buick Century. It became its own separate model, so to speak, in 1975. The nameplate stuck around off and on for most of the last fifty years with, amazingly, General Motors only dropping the nameplate after 2020 when they stopped selling rebadged Vauxhall\Opel Insignias as Buick Regals. They had also put it on hiatus from 2004-2010 but something tells me "Regal" might just be kaput for good now since Buick doesn't even make "cars" anymore. 

1996 Mercury Cougar XR7 - Dad, That's Awful

 

I never gave this iteration of the Mercury Cougar a moment's notice back in the day. Was it my loyalty to GM or that these were more expensive than any GM10\W-body coupe? Note my "W-body" 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo is in the background. Maybe it was that I was not a fan of its quirky Thunderbird-esque styling. I know my older son isn't. I showed him these pictures of this 1996 (or 1997) and he didn't sugar coat his opinion as he blurted out, "oh, god. Dad, that's awful".   

I found this recently in the parking garage in the "outdoor mall" near our home here on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. There was an oversized, Walmart\Target\Autozone cover on the steering wheel and a knapsack in the back seat telling me it's a daily driver for some young person. Was it Grandpa's car that sat undriven for a quarter-century or did their car-geek parent buy it for them and is jamming it down their throat? I wonder if they really like it. Again, I know my son most certainly isn't. 

The Mercury Cougar and Ford Thunderbird were all new for 1989 and a subtly significant reskin occurred for 1993. My experience with them was quite pleasant. Solid, smooth, comfy and the time I drove a five-speed, Thunderbird Super Coupe, I was like, "I need this". 1989-1990 Cougar XR7's had the Thunderbird Super Coupe's supercharged, 3.8-liter V-6, 1992-1997 XR7's were stuffed with V-8's. Either Ford's 5.0-liter "Windsor" or their "modular", 4.6-liter, two-valve, single-overhead cammer. Ford sold just shy of a half-million these Cougars and just a hair under a million Thunderbirds from 1989-1997, so it was a bit of a head scratcher when they pulled the plug on them. 

The Ford Motor Company either saw the handwriting on the wall that big coupes were dying, or they purposely steered the market towards even bigger, heavier and no doubt more profitable SUV's. Can you purposely change the course of lakes, rivers and market niches? Oh, yes. You most certainly can. 

Amazing how much the car market has changed in the 25 years since this was new. Not only has the entire personal luxury car niche all but dried up, but the sedan segment is all but gone as well. I can only imagine the myriad changes to come in the next quarter-century as "electrics" takeover.  

Legend has it Ford used BMW's 1976 vintage "E24" coupe as a handling and styling benchmark for these cars. Debatable as to whether or not they came close to hitting either mark. I know how my son feels about them although he's not a fan of most nineties' cars. That includes my wife's beloved 1995 Lexus SC400. Best I can say about this car, despite being a good, old-fashioned gas guzzler, she'll run well on regular and blessed with four-wheel-independent suspension, she'll ride and handle better than any other personal luxury car ever did. Fun fact, Ford didn't put an "IRS" on the Mustang until 2015. 

One thing is all but certain, I can't imagine one of today's new-fangled electrics being around in twenty-five years.