did some cruising around eBay motors tonight. found some interesting cars. probably WAY too much info for anyone, but i got on a roll!

Wow really like that Pontiac Catalina. I thought the hub caps were kinda nice though =P Those Edsel are so distinctive, I bet there were the hate it or love it of their time. Was that factory the way it was built underneath, it looked so robust with the x-frame under it, i know of all the amazing things it had on it I'm talking about the structural supports, lol. And just like A lot of american cars I don't understand how Volvo got SOOOO bland after the 60's they were really nice looking back then.

I love your knowledge about these cars, how you know all the details that are off or correct about the guys. It would be a blast to go to a classic car show with you since I bet it's a bit similar to how my friend Joel is with vintage toyotas since he's been in the business since the 70's he knows all the trim/badge detail and such like you do about these cars.

check out this AMC Spirit. this was the updated replacement for the Gremlin. i've always thought this new fastback bodystyle was hot looking! this version has a V8 too, and is in really good shape. i think it's still really contemporary looking in a way, considering it's more than 30 years old! this could be resto modded into quite a hot little car, V8, rwd, hatchback, even a good color. i'd put 4 Recaros in it to update the interior, or maybe just 2 and change the back to just a set of fitted luggage...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979-Amc-Spirit-GT-V8-Four-Speed-Very-Stock_W0QQitemZ120522467107QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item1c0fb2e723#ht_7095wt_944

Yea, it's rear is great looking, has a bit of that 260z kinda going on. I'd remove the front bumper and replace it with something less plastic looking, maybe just do a glass over and paint match it. But yea, definitely could really make it look good. I think I'd change that interior to something dark, either black, navy blue or even maybe a really really dark maroon. I agree on the seats, do some nice kind of tuner type resto. Just have to find really nice appropriate wheels, kidna tough with a small american type in between car.

i'm thinking i might have to do a chop.... : )

when i was growing up in the '60s nad '70s, NO 30 year old car could have come close to being called contemporary looking, since cars of the 30s and 40s were so different. i'm still astounded at the look of the Spirit, design wise. with a few tweaks it really could be a fresh design, so odd for a Disco-era car. not say AMC was really ahead of it's time. they had some absolutely horrendous 70s cars like the Concorde, an updeated Hornet. it was updated with vile 1/2 vinyl roofs with sunken operan windows and terrible striping etc. this Spirit just hit all the right marks for me.

if i do a few more shots tonight, i'll probably peruse eBay again tonight. maybe i'll see if i can find a good '82-'85 Celica. you know i had a white '83 GT-S notchback and an '85 red GT-S liftback. i don't think i took a single photo of the red car though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Classic-Notchback-Rear-Wheel-Drive-Toyota-Celica-GTS_W0QQitemZ220549356603QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item3359c41c3b#ht_500wt_981

this almost makes me cry. it's a synthesis of the 2 Celicas i owned, a red notchback. it has the same gray interior, same sunroof, same radio.... my red liftback was mint when i gave it to someone though. one of the many bad decisions i made in my less-than-fruitful life. i could totally see myself getting this one, but i'd have to take the stupid rear louvers off it, and fix everything on it. these rwd coupes were SO COOL when new. the seats were the most comfortable i've ever had until my Infiniti, although i have to say the manual 'bulb' pump up function was a bit easier to tune than the power units in the Q for some reason.

oh, the sadness of times gone by.

nice celica. Around here can find a good fixer upper for pretty cheap, but super clean ones seem to go for like 2500~3000. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able to have some cool celica pix to show you. It's not so much that I like to make surprises I just don't want jinx myself.

I would love to see an AMC chop. I'd really like to see what you can do with the front end.

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/ford/unspecified/966716.html

was just checking around Hemmings Motor NEws site. for the month fo February you can view their classifieds for free. this is a VERY rare French Ford, the Comete.

reading from one of my source books, Georgano's Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, �1968, the Comete for 1954 came with a slightly enlarged 3.9 liter V8 and a 4 speed all syncromesh transmission, replacing a 4 speed Cotal preselector unit. no production figures, but it has to be pretty low. the body was by Facel, of the equally fabulous and rare Facel-Vegas from France in the later '50s and early '60s.

Man talk about awesome. And you say that they actually had a V8 model?? Jesus.. I bet that thing was a blast.

It's just hard to imagine a V8 in there. I wish ford would make real pony cars again, the mustang has felt like an in between for a while and I wouldn't want Ford messing with their awesome seller. It would be very interesting to see what they would do if they brought out a real spirit version of something like this or the Capri.

I'd love to have something like this, take out most of the originals, put them in nicely sealed boxes and then drop in like a Honda F20C motor, light weight suspension parts, upgraded rear axle, and maybe put in some bucket seats, but I'd leave the exterior untouched, maybe find some nice rubber that has the white side walls still. That's just one classy looking coupe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Flathead_engine

yes, the good old original Ford flathead V8. the wiki above mentions the various versions of it. the one in this Comete would have been the one they say was built by Simca until 1961. the French Ford Vedette became the Simca Vedette in the mid '50s as Ford France was merged into Simca. here's the Wiki on that car. the original one looks like 5/8 version of the '49='51 Mercury, the so-called James Dean Mercury, from the use of it in Rebel Without a Cause.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Vedette

in my first post about the Comete i mentioned the Facel Vega, a high-performance French sports car maker back then. here is a googled image of their brochure for the HK500, the first version of their own sportscar. i find Facel Vegas extremely deisrable! most of them came with hipo versions of Chrysler V8 engines. you can see the body is a development of the Comete bodystyle in many ways.

damn that's a sweet car. And do I see it says 360hp engine? Freaking sweet in that tiny car. I'd love to see a retro vist of that over the thunder bird, well nvm if ford did what they did with the thunder bird it be a little bland. More like how Chrysler did the Challenger. I'm really diggin these French designs, I like the much more than their current stuff honestly.

Facel made an ultra luxury 4 door also, using the Chrysler Imperial platform called the Excellence. i did a Bentley chop a few years ago of a 4 door and named it the Excellence in homage. Facels were also driven by the Rat Packers back in the day, people like Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Lucille Ball... even though they made less than 100 of them i believe, there were 2 versions. the first one had fins on the back, like the second and third photos, and then they updated it and curved the rear trunk and fenders, like the first photo.

also, check out the link below. i was just googling car images, and i found this website with concept cars arranged in a timeline.

http://www.autoweteran.gower.pl/concept_timeline.html

check out the mid 50s Plymouth Belmont. never heard of it before!

I like that the front ends look like one piece with the fenders. I mean a lot of people blend the lines on their cars to give it a cleaner look. I know it's more expensive to produce cars like that, but it's just one of those special touches that sets it apart from other vehicles. I like the view from from the first pic on the Belmont, but when I see it from the side a bit it looks like rear end of some cars. But the Excellence makes me think of those old school Yakuza cars, like the early toyota century, except much nicer. Love the suicide doors, I don't get why we haven't seen suicide doors in such a long time, I mean the last time I saw it was on the Honda Element...

i have to admit, it's fun sharing my love of old cars. sort of like passing the torch to the next generation. my antiques and plants don't really enjoy listening to me when i talk to myself at home, lol. have i ever mentioned i even have antique plants? among a couple of dozen house plants, i have two christmas cactuses--one is 115 years old and the younger one is 92 this year.

holy crap, those are old. I'm kinda into plants, maybe you should start a topic about them =) Right now I have only 1 cactus, the others died while I was on vacation, I think they got too cold. I used to keep one in my car, it loved the heat. And I had a nice small pond with a pretty good arrangement of plants that made it look tropical, but they weren't, just had the image of it. But then when my sister was staying over for a few months her spoiled stupid dogs tore up EVERYTHING, kinda demoralized me since it was too much work to put it back together and killed many plants that I don't know the name of nor have pics. As well as ate all my fish..........

I enjoy your knowledge of cars since there is so much to know and you know a lot of the interesting stuff.