1988 Chevrolet Corvette convertible - Worthy of Praise

 

I was barreling along State Route 14 the other day on the way home from the salt mine when I saw this parked near the side of the road. Out of the corner of my eye I saw what I thought was either 500 or 5,000 shoe polished on the windshield. What with a fourth-generation Corvette convertible on my "must have" short list, I promptly turned around and went back for a closer look. Could this be the road or barn find of my life? 

Well, it might be but I ain't paying no $18,500 for it. And with an asking price this high, an "OBO" of ten-grand, shoot, even twelve or thirteen, probably wouldn't get me far. 

Shame too seeing what spectacular condition the body and paint are in and a color combination to die for. 

I didn't even bother texting to find out how many miles are on this - I would assume not many again given the shape of the body and the interior. 

Hard to peg if the price is fair or not. Haggerty says $23,400 for "excellent" condition and just $9,400 for "good". Split the difference and we sort of have the asking price. Even at $23,400, this would be a bargain considering what it can do compared to a third-gen or C3; trust me on that one. 

Chevrolet introduced these fourth-generation or "C4" Corvettes for model year 1984 in coupe guise only, the convertible came in 1986. In my opinion, the drop top, whether up or down, cures the car of most if not all of its fastback styling foibles. 

Sorry, this pretty girl is not a fan of fastbacks in general and particularly on Corvettes. And while I find little else to find wrong with "C4's" stylistically, mechanically the early ones are atrocious, the convertibles are one of just a smattering of domestic '80's cars I think worthy of praise. 

Just not $18,500 worth of praise. 

1992 Buick Riviera - Old and Grumpy

My office is next door to a transmission shop and on occasion, something interesting shows up over there like this 1992 Buick Riviera did the other day. For the record, I find many things "interesting", that doesn't mean I necessarily like them. 

General Motors' "Great Downsizing Epoch" started out well enough with their shrink-rayed full-size cars for 1977; they were far less successful hacking away at their intermediates for 1978. However, there was a ray of hope and promise in 1979 when they introduced their downsized "E-body", Cadillac Eldorado, Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Riviera. Not surprisingly, those cars were designed by Bill Mitchell who retired in 1977, and while he had a strong influence on the downsized 1977 full-size cars, he did not have a hand in the design of the 1978 intermediates. GM downsized the "E's" again for 1986 and botched the reboot so bad it damn near killed a market segment. 

Sales imploded. While Buick sold over 65,000 Riviera's in 1985, the last year for the 1979 era design, they sold just over 22,000 of the downsized little stinkers for 1986, a whisper over 15,000 for 1987 and a laughable 8,600 or so for 1988. They redesigned them for 1989 smearing on cake frosting to make the cars look more like Riv's of yore and it worked to some extent as sales bounced back to 1986 levels for 1990 and 1991. Then the sales began circling the drain again for 1992 and 1993. 

In fairness, the shrunken "E-bodies" were roomy inside, comfortable, feature laden and rode and handled better than any "E" before them. Several problems, though. GM grossly underestimated how important the axiom of "size matters" was to their core E-body customer; the smaller "E's" weren't much larger than lesser GM makes and models and they cost twice as much. They also had myriad warranty issues and, lastly but not leastly, especially the Riviera, they was ugly. The Eldorado and Toronado didn't win any awards for inspiring design either. 

Cadillac and Oldsmobile did a nice enough job upsizing their "E's" as well for 1989, I wouldn't kick an Eldorado Touring Coupe or Toronado Trofeo of that vintage out of my garage. Buick, on the other hand, was far less successful with their rehash of the Riviera, they only made a bad thing worse. 

When I saw this car the other day, I first thought it was aging better than I ever thought possible. The closer I got to it I realized I was wrong. I didn't take my own word for it either because sometimes you don't know how something you've known for half your life has aged or weathered over time. I texted a couple of photos to my twenty-six-year-old, semi-car crazy hipster son and asked him for his take on it. 

Here's his reaction. 

Regardless of whether I like it or not, seeing an oldie at the transmission shop next to my office while a most pleasant way to start the day for me, is most often times not a good thing for the vehicle owner. A quick chat with Peter the shop manager and he told me he can't find the parts he needs to fix its busted THM 440-T4. 

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The owner has options, though. He can search for parts himself, sell it "as is" for next to nothing, sell it for parts or drive onto a frozen Lake Eerie in wintertime. 

T

1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo - Daily 3

Please accept my apology. I know I've blogged way too many times about General Motors star-crossed, intermediates over the years but there's just a bit too much going on with this 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for me not to at least write something about it. 

Yes, it's a Facebook Marketplace find and last I checked it was still for sale up near Flint with an asking price of $6,500. Seems a ton of money for one of these that's not an SS but that's just my two pennies. I think this may have more issues than it being just a base model as for why it's not selling. Poster of the ad claims it's got the optional Chevrolet 305 V-8 so it does have that going for it although that V-8 really didn't provide all that more "go" than the Chevrolet or Buick 3.8-liter V-6 that was standard. If this has the optional F41 suspension this would be quite the fun little road carver. Swap the intake, carb and the rear end and let's go! 

We can glom some good news from the ad for this car as it appears the used car\old car (this is no classic) market is either cooling off or is correcting itself as during The Pandemic I blogged about this 1982 Monte Carlo that wasn't in nearly the good shape this one appears to be in. The ask on that patina rich one was $6,000. Holy smokes. 

What I find eye-brow arching is how anyone could post an ad for a car with the ash tray jammed full of cigarette butts and a towel in between the door and the dashboard. Now, I ain't no expert on anything but having sold six cars over the last four-years on Marketplace, I can tell you that it doesn't take much effort to clean out your car to take photos of it before posting. Details, people. Details. 

What's with the windshield wipers in the "up" position too and if you look closely, the speedometer appears stuck at 45-miles per hour. Is the person who took this photo really going that fast with their hands off the wheel meanwhile taking this photo? 

I'd disclose either in the copy for the ad or to folks inquiring about it that it has been smoked in and there might be a water proofing\weather stripping issue, but that doesn't need to be in the pictures for it. Then again, for whatever reason, folks who have a proclivity to appreciate these cars do tend to be smokers and might not mind the gentle perma-waft of burned-out Marlboro's. 

They also, apparently, tend to be lottery players. 

1976 Buick Riviera - Careful What You Wish For

Ah, 1971-1973 "boat tail" Buick Riviera's - you either love them or hate them. I'm so fond of them I've reserved at spots for a 1971 or 1972 model (forget the big front bumper '73's) in my "Jay Leno Fantasy Garage". One original and unrestored the other LS-swapped up the ying-yang that still looks stock. Sigh. 

Legend has it these cars were polarizing inside GM as well as with dealerships who claimed the design too aggressive and off-putting to Buick's generally conservative clientele. Buyers apparently felt that way too as sales of the "boat tails" dropped off by roughly half of what they were prior. What to do? 

Just get rid of the "boat tail" and make the rear end more mainstream, right? That wasn't as simple as you'd think as doing just that would make the Riviera all but a LeSabre; which it essentially was albeit one with the interior of an Electra. In lieu of that, this is what they did for 1974. Careful what you wish for. 

Our subject here is a 1976 that popped up on Facebook Marketplace recently. Asking price is $8,000 which is quite the deal if this really is in the great shape it appears to be in. Personally, I much prefer a LeSabre of this vintage but that's just little ole me. Taste and armpits as they say. 

Actually, the design was inspired the tail end of an experimental Cadillac deVille and the grafting of the rear end of this car onto the Riviera was Bill Mitchell's idea. Hey, we're all human. Back in the day, GM designers mixed and matched disparate design cues and elements that may have been intended originally for one make and model but ended up on another. Google "Pontiac Banshee" and you'll see just how much of that car, that never made it to production, there is in the third-generation Corvette. 

Buick designers weren't too proud of their efforts with the updated Riviera; they claimed they did what they were told to do. 

Honestly, in a vacuum these aren't such bad looking cars - had Buick called them "Wildcat" or "Centurion" they would have been just another emissions clogged, gas-swilling, phlegmy, mid-'70's Buick. However, once Buick glued or riveted "Riviera" on them, these cars were forced to write checks their egos couldn't cash. 

Sales sputtered along at around 20,000-units sold per year between 1974 and 1976, about the same number sold as boat tails sold. Blame the OPEC gas crunch for some of that as anything with a V-8 engine suddenly became a pariah. That and the premium sticker price didn't do sales any favors either. Sales of 1974 Chevrolet Monte Carlos, a design debatably as outlandish as the Riviera boat tails, were comparatively off compared to 1973, but once gas prices stabilized, sales soared. 

Buick's designers were further hampered updating the Riviera for 1974 by limited resources. This mid-production cycle reboot had to be done as economically prudent as possible since GM was spooling up for their "Great Downsizing Epoch" they'd begin for model year 1977. There was little money to be spent on an all-new design that was going to be discontinued as soon as possible. 

My question is - why didn't Buick disguise an Oldsmobile Toronodo and call it a Riviera? That could have been a nice "stop-gap" model until the Riviera ultimately came to share platforms with the Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado in 1979. I find it hard to believe they didn't think of that. Perhaps it was simpler or more cost effective to do this instead? 

As for our '76 here, as they say in the business, "there's an arse for every seat". This will no doubt sell and to someone who may purchase it for reasons that I would never think of. 

1985 Buick Electra (Coupe) - Trash or Treasure

The poster of the ad for this 1985 Buick Electra claims this a classic - ouch. That's like hearing a song you remember from your high school days being played on the oldies radio station. And just like not all songs from high school should be heard again, through my chipped windshield, this falls short of being a classic. Way short. 

Although, with an asking price of $6,500 and just 84,000-miles on its 38-year-old analog ticker you could do worse for the money. You could do better too; all depends on what you're looking for. First car for your teenage son or daughter you'll be ok with them beating the tar out of? Snaps to you if dropping $6,500 is akin to pocket change but if it checks out mechanically this might be something a tad more interesting for them than a ten- or twelve-year-old crossover. I'd clear that with them before you show up one day with this for them - you could be scaring them for life. As far as buying it to mothball in hopes of it appreciating one day? Well, this ain't no Buick Grand National.  

That's not to say this biggish old Buick doesn't have anything to offer or isn't historically significant. To the latter, it most certainly is with it being Buick's first full-size front-wheel driver and features rack-and-pinion steering, a port-fuel injected, transverse mounted V-6, four-speed automatic and independent rear suspension. Heady stuff in its day but only us car wonks care about such things. 

It is a big, comfortable cruiser that appears to be in very solid condition. Get it closer to five-grand and I think it bought even better. All said and done, though, to me this is just an old car and one that hasn't stood the test of time either. Aesthetically anyway. That's saying a lot too since I am a fool for coupes. 

Awkward looking now as it did back in the day when it was shinier and new, two-door cars that are less attractive than their four-door counterparts are few and far between. Subjective? I guess...but sales for these were so slow that Buick pulled the plug on them after 1987 with less than 15,000 sold. The LeSabre coupe, introduced in 1986, stuck around through 1991 accounting for less than 10-percent of LeSabre sales. No surprise then that when Buick rebooted the LeSabre for 1992, a two-door wasn't part of the lineup. 

What makes this so clumsy looking is that unlike the front-wheel-drive LeSabre coupe, this thing suffers from a dowdy, formal roof line and one accentuated with a god-forsaken vinyl top. What's more, it's windshield lacks the LeSabre coupe's degree of rake. Mind you, it's not like the LeSabre coupe, even in T-Type guise, was the second coming of the Buick GSX. 

Makes me wonder why Buick bothered in the first place if this is really nothing more than a four-door sedan with two less doors. Was it because Buick always built a two-door Electra and they felt compelled to continue the tradition? Even the Electra coupe it replaced had an elan this car sorely lacks. 

What makes a car a classic in the first place anyway? That's actually hard to define and in fairness, taste being like armpits, it's really up to the individual. Afterall, one person's trash could be another's treasure. 

1967 Plymouth Fury III Wagon - Are We There Yet?

Some of my earliest childhood memories involve me and my family "going on vacation" to resorts in the Pocono Mountains the last week of August coming home on Labor Day. Living a stone's throw from Kennedy Airport and traffic being what it was and still is there, we didn't go far, hence, the nearby Poconos. Seriously, the task of just getting off the Island and getting through The City could take two-and-a-half to three-hours. The traffic and being shoehorned into my father's 1961 Rambler Classic, the 125- or so mile traipses to some resort in the Pocono Mountains in northwest Pennsylvania felt as though we had driven to Europe. 

One year we stayed in our home state and traveling roughly the same distance, we stayed in a motel and partook of the amenities of several of the Catskills' staple resorts that were straight out of "Dirty Dancing"; again, we didn't stay at those resorts we just visited them. Nice to see how the "other half lived" and all. The highlight of the trip, for me at least, was a dark blue Plymouth station wagon my father rented for the trip that was just like this dark red 1967 Fury III wagon I found on Facebook Marketplace recently. Asking price is $4,500. Are we there yet? 

I couldn't have been more than five, maybe six at the time so my memories of the big Plymouth are mostly random flashes. I do recall being all alone out back waving to folks in traffic and being delighted when they'd wave back. Some did not. Perhaps they were like, "who the hell let's their kid bounce around in the back of a station wagon with a rear facing jump seat?" And with no seat belt on to boot. 

Through what I construe are adult lenses, I find it somewhat humbling to realize that the staple of familial hauling as we came to know it was not even twenty-years old when this big Plymouth rolled off the assembly line; you grow up with something you think it's always existed. Like how my twenty-something sons view the internet. "Station wagon" had been around for years before The War but they didn't really gain traction in this country until after it. 

The Big Three quickly tapped into the market potential for car-based utility\family haulers and Chrysler had a large part in pioneering them with their series of wagons across their Chrysler, Dodge, Desoto and Plymouth divisions. Their 1955-1975 Imperial division never got one. Wagons become so popular that for 1967, Plymouth had three succinct lines of them - there were these full-size Fury's in I, II and III trim levels, the somewhat smaller "Belvedere" line, can't call them truly mid-size, and the compact "Valliant". 

I can put two and two together now and surmise that big Plymouth was the impetus for my father purchasing the 1968 Ford Ranch Wagon from Hertz that would be the familial chariot of my woebegone wonder years not long after. Difference was, the rental Plymouth was equipped decadently whereas the Ranch Wagon was as bare bones as a Conestoga Wagon. Rear jump seat? Nope. Just a flat, steel floor back there. Roof rack and air conditioning? Please. 

I blame my parents both being children during the great depression for the reason why they were unscrupulous penny-pinchers. The last night of that Catskills trip they took us to an all-you-can-eat "smorgasbord". Arriving late, the place was closing but my mother was able to coerce the staff to let us eat, we were the only ones in the place. The food had the unmistakable texture and taste of stuff that had been under heat lamps for hours and in the middle of the night and by the next morning, we were all violently ill. I don't recall waving to any one in traffic on the way home the next day. That trip even longer than the trip up there due to frequent, ahem, rest stops.