Sixty8panther

Western Mass & Boston & the inside of the 495 belt are like two completely different states.

Picture this: It's 23 degrees last night... I'm driving down Lakeview Ave. in Lowell, my snow tires have been on the Mercedes for over a month, people are already prepared for the cold winter, plow attachments are on the front of pickups, Christmas Wreaths are hung on most people's front doors, at least every 3rd house has Christmas Lights on their trees / bushes / roof.... And then I see it: 1970 Dodge Challenger.... not rotted to death but looking like it's a year round daily driver and has been for every day of it's 40 years of existence. About 4 coats of white paint, most of them worn out and faded and cracked into the primer.... spots of surface rust visible in several big patches... looking less like oxidation and more like light tan coffee stains on an off-white shirt. Scummy oil stained rear valance, slightly misaligned headlights, the rims just looked flat black in motion, possibly steelies, and the stance, it was in a word: perfect. I mean this thing sat like it was one of the Challengers that was raced in the Trans Am Series in 1970. Then there was the sound: it rumbled and boiled over with a baritone song just coasting at 40mph. I was in love... it was the closest thing I've seen in years to my '68 Camaro "Semi-Street-Legal-Dragster-Mad-Max-Special". A classic muscle car that is often times considered priceless even in rough unrestored condition, and some redneck from Tyngsboro or Dracut or whatever is driving it like it's an '87 Ford F150. The overall condition of this thing was great but it did have the rough edges & patina of a 40 year old DPW truck. It passed by me one more time later on in the night, on Long Pond Road in Tyngsboro and it looked to be a ghost, a specter or some sort of Automotive hallucination, as its tail lights faded in my rear view mirror and it's exhaust rumble dissipated, and it slipped into the vanishing point. I'm not even a huge fan of the 1st gen. Challenger and always felt it was a bit of a rip-off of the Camaro & Firebird. But it's so cool to see a true classic muscle car being used as God intended, on the road collecting bugs in its grille and wearing through tbe rubber on its rims. I used to be one of those that carried the torch but I can not afford ANY sort of Muscle Car these days, vintage or new. Anyway, this was the coolest post-war car sighting of at least 2 months.

Nice... sales were healthy and except for the Lumina Van & Trans Sport not a single product looked like a lame rebadge and not too many of the vehicles in Pontiac's portfolio overlapped. BTW Oldsmoboi: Great Quote in your Sig. 100% true.

Check this out: The quote that makes this post worthy: The Library of Congress estimated that (of his record collection just from 1948 to 1967) only 17% of it is available for sale to the public in ANY media. That's staggering. I surfed onto this site where the video was embedded. http://jumpwithjoey....01_archive.html

Wow... I can not compete with that. Wild stuff. One of my recent favorites was borne of my time playing the video game "Heroes of the Pacific" I was flying a Fw190 for the Luftwaffe but I was shooting down Japanese Zero fighters, Betty Bombers and strafing Japanese Landing craft, with limitless ammo... LOL (Heroes of the Pacific: WWII air combat, featuring American and Japanese planes, mostly fighters, Bombers, Torpedo Bombers & Dive Bombers, as well as a few prototypes, two german & one Russian fighter... but sadly no Bf.109, although the Ki-61 is which is the Japanese built cousin to the Messershmitt 109 is... it used the license built Daimler Benz inverted, supercharged V12)

Balth: did you notice that the champagne metallic '64 Pontiac Banshee coupe concept went through RM auctions recently? It did not sell but the highest bid was $325,000. I noticed it in the list after someone posted the link on B-59.com because a '59 Buick E225 ragtop sold for $88,000 http://www.rmauctions.com/AuctionResults.cfm?SaleCode=AM10&SortBy=AL&View=Normal&Category=Cars&Currency=USD&tempstartrow=76&currentpage=4&Collection=

I like how you made the word HARDCORE in blue AND bold. All joking aside, welcome. I'm sure you've heard many stories about me.... they're all lies. Except for the one about the Menage a Trois with Drew Barrymore and Melissa Gilbert. That $h! really happened.

Since the GM B-body was killed 14 year ago I will go with the closest alternative. The ONLY alternative, really. Ford's Panther Chassis: Ford Crown Victoria Ford Police Interceptor Mercury Grand Marquis / Marauder Lincoln Town Car If I have to beat a dead horse by listing the 460,302 reasons why, then I will but I think most of you know where I am coming from on this one. P.S. The Viper is not something I lust after per se, but I'm with D.F. 100%. If I was a millionaire I'd be tempted to buy one.... so long as Eddie Griffin was never allowed to drive it.

I do like the looks of the AUDI. It def. looks like a hardtop. Then again so were the Camaro & Challenger concepts.

I'm going to sketch a few ideas out today and submit something soon. After all this is right up my alley.

brandy

Here's four of my top 10 favorite concepts from GM.

Since this is BlackViper's family we're talking about a PT is a bad idea. Seems like they'd probably manage to roll any vehicle with a center of gravity slightly higher than a Lamborghini Countach. Or maybe it will get driven off a cliff / boat ramp. J/K (sort of) The good thing is P/T has lots of HEAD room... for er... you know.

1977 - 1979 Impala 2-door Mercur Scorpio & XR4Ti Jeep Scrambler

Here's the meat & potatoes of my desktop wallpaper: If (not holding my breath) I ever have a couple billion dollars burning a hole through my pocket and I've already collected a few dozen V16 Cadillacs, SSJ Duesenbergs, Brass Era Stanley Steamers, Mercedes Benz SSKs, Twin-Six Packards etc. I'll buy a few Messerschmitt Bf109s, a Chance-Vought F4-U Corsair & an SR-71.

Buy the white R.E.O. Prequel but don't spend more than $1800. The economy sux, it's a BUYER's market.

- ANY Ford Tempo, more so the Mercury Topaz (I helped by junking 2nd gen.lipstick red Topaz sedan I got for free & buying a 1st gen. Topaz coupe & promptly destroying it in the Demolition Derby after which it was smoooshed in a crusher) - 1973-up Blazer (k5) "Convertible" with removable hard top. - 1st Gen. Ford Escort (Mercury Lynx / Tracer) - Mazda Navaho - Geo Storm - Chevrolet Citation (nevermind the Pontiac Phoenix!) - Diamond Star based, hatchback Plymouth Laser / Dodge Charger - Honda CRX [both gens.]

That's a great winter beater. I was born in 1979, looking over this car and realizing it's 31 years old makes me feel like a beat up old car.

Sucks to see so little interest in trivia.

Yup, I'm with O.B. about the door.

Yeah, I've seen it before... certainly lands somewhere between amazing & retarded...?

If it wasn't for those photos.... Anyway, more proof that Honda makes their cars as soft as Nerf Balls.

I drink red wine with my pasta & Sam Adams beer. I drive a 2-metric tone V8 Mercedes Benz Coupe My motto is "Shake-N-Bake" I wear t-shirts & cut-off shorts unless I must be more formal & I wanna go FAST, I wanna go FAST!!!

- 1980s G-body coupes. Not that I never see them but seems like their numbers dropped by 90% in the last 3 years. - Pontiac Fieros I actually got excited when I saw one the other day. - 1980s Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams As most of you know, I've had several 1970s & 1980s RWD Cadillacs for daily drivers and around here it used to be quite common to see 25-30 year old Cadillacs being daily driven by seniors & or young enthusiasts like myself. Sad to say I no longer see many old school Caddys on the street. Even 3 years ago you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an '87 Brougham and now I'm lucky if I see more than a couple in one whole day.