Idle thoughts - survival rate of malaise-era cars?

Crap.

Dangit

Sonofabitch

Oh E36 M3

JeezLouise

Aw WTF

berkeleying A, cotton

Cripes almighty

What the...

Oh snap!

There goes my berkeleying mortgage payment

Whorecrackers

Aw man!

Aaaand I'm screwed.

We really really really need to do a Land Yacht special class at the challenge one year

In reply to Curtis73 :

I'd pick the 74 Satellite out of that bunch, but I have a soft spot for Chrysler fuselage cars.

I could have sworn someone in here said they were looking for this

78 Ranchero

You like what you like.

If it is some late-70s or early-80s "underpowered" car that other people tend to shy away from, that is great. It means when you find one, it will be affordable. 

eastsideTim said:

In reply to Curtis73 :

I'd pick the 74 Satellite out of that bunch, but I have a soft spot for Chrysler fuselage cars.

Me too... and slab sides.  I have a hankering for a 66 T&C

But a 5th gen has such clean lines:

noddaz said:

I have an unproven theory that green 4 doors have the highest survival rate of any vehicle.

Absolutely.  Based on my observation, it doesn't even need to be a 4 door.  I have seen more stock unadulterated Camaros in army drab green than in any other color.

pontiacstogo said:

penultimeta said:

One man's malaise-era beater is another man's affordable classic. 

Ditto!

Those have not been affordable for quite some time.  

In reply to stuart in mn :

One of my neighbours has a burgundy over white one he's had since new.

Edit: a 73 ish Grand Am

In reply to noddaz :

what are ya talkin about? i own two!

I got a 1979 Thunderbird for free. And a 60k Zephyr for $600. 
You can't really say I saved the thunderbird since I quite literally cut it in half, but it'll be on the road again. 

eastsideTim said:

Paul_VR6 said:

I see these at our local drag strip often. My assumption is that most of the ones remaining share a similar fate. Who else would knowingly keep an 82 Olds Cutlass going?

I could be wrong, but I think they have a rear suspension design similar to fox body Mustangs.  If so, I can see how they’d be popular for drag racing, even without being back-halfed.

The downsized a/g body have a factor 4 link rear suspension.

on dirt with jacking bolts etc you can really get it 3 wheeling

In reply to eastsideTim :

I had a 74 Satellite right out of college in the early 2000's.  318, automatic.  2 door version.  Loved that car- it was green with green vinyl interior.  Drove that thing all over the East coast, finally got stupid and tried to put a 360 in it, and some shorter gears, and it just kind of....ruined the car.  Ended up selling off the engine and roller separately.  Rust had kindof gotten to it, too.  

Gotta admit, something about that 84 Lincoln speaks to me.  I'd yank the diesel out in a hot second, though.  Is that a Fox platform derivative?  

EDIT: Wiki tells me it is a Fox platform, but also that engine is none other than the BMW M21.  Huh.  Huuuuuuh......

I've had a bunch of malaise era cars over the years. Current one is a stalled project 81 Malibu. Body & paint is done and I need to finish building the 357 to replace the V6. Already have a T-400 and an 8.5" GN rear to put behind  the SBC. Complete Hotchkis suspension's been sitting in my dining room for years. Landau top is going back on.

[URL=http://s240.photobucket.com/user/NOTATA/media/81%20Malibu/81Malibu119.jpg.html][/URL]

1. The 60s cars are remembered as fast while the 70s were a disappointment from a speed stand point. (Of course there are exceptions). 

2. The 70s cars have a lot of plastic parts inside and out that didnt hold up well, are basically unrepairable and not reproduced. Try to find bumper fillers or interior panels, they are gone. 60's cars had metal parts you could fix or fabricate. Interoir trim was largely flat panels covered in vinyl. Easy to copy unlike the plastic molded parts in later cars.

3. In the 80's, performance was still low ( but slowly growing) and the 60s car's were fondly remembered by people who owned them 20 yeard earlier. Rescue and restoration began. 

4. Today you can build a 60's car out of a catalog fairly easy. 70's parts are hard to find unless very popular. (Corvette/Trans Am/some Mopar)

NOT A TA said:

I've had a bunch of malaise era cars over the years. Current one is a stalled project 81 Malibu. Body & paint is done and I need to finish building the 357 to replace the V6. Already have a T-400 and an 8.5" GN rear to put behind  the SBC. Complete Hotchkis suspension's been sitting in my dining room for years. Landau top is going back on.

[URL=http://s240.photobucket.com/user/NOTATA/media/81%20Malibu/81Malibu119.jpg.html][/URL]

I have such a soft spot for G-bodies.  Pre-drilled for any of the GM engines or transmissions, relatively lightweight, great lines.  Once you fix the front camber curve and build and axle that can take more torque, they are a killer platform.  GM parts bin brake and suspension upgrades, dirt cheap parts, dime-a-dozen junkyard parts... truly one of my faves.

Right now my big lust is a Boattail Buick.  The REAL boattails... 71-72.

It was technically at the very beginning of "malaise," but this type of bloated mixture of rounded and sharp corners was carried through until the late 70s.  It was almost like the Riviera predicted the styling of the malaise era cars.  Definitely a bold style.

As recently as about 20 years ago, I recall responding to a classified ad for a Buick 455 for sale.  Went to look at it and it was in a 72 Riviera.  I could have had the engine for $250 or the whole car for $1000.  It ran fine but had rusted brake lines.  These days, just try to find a wasted example for less than $5000.

The fact that it can swallow a Cummins under that hood is a bonus, but I'd do a Duramax.

My belief we've seen the natural attrition of rust and lower value vehicles being written off with damage that's too expensive for insurance co's to repair. Add in the lower desirability to the at large population and the financial meltdown leading to buy back programs, the herd is getting thin on the ground.

Gearheadotaku said:

2. The 70s cars have a lot of plastic parts inside and out that didnt hold up well, are basically unrepairable and not reproduced. Try to find bumper fillers or interior panels, they are gone. 60's cars had metal parts you could fix or fabricate. Interoir trim was largely flat panels covered in vinyl. Easy to copy unlike the plastic molded parts in later cars.

I wonder if anyone's begun trying to reproduce these with 3D printers? It seems like a nice fit for the job.

@Curtis: I love boat tail Rivieras.

Rons said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

One of my neighbours has a burgundy over white one he's had since new.

Edit: a 73 ish Grand Am

There recently was a '74 Grand Am on my local Craigslist with a four speed manual transmission...I was tempted.

volvoclearinghouse said:

In reply to eastsideTim :

Gotta admit, something about that 84 Lincoln speaks to me.  I'd yank the diesel out in a hot second, though.  Is that a Fox platform derivative?  

EDIT: Wiki tells me it is a Fox platform, but also that engine is none other than the BMW M21.  Huh.  Huuuuuuh......

Some Lincolns of that era also came with TRX wheels and tires, like a BMW.  They were doing some weird things.

A thought just occurred to me - since the M21 was based on the M20 BMW baby six that was common to e30 3 series BMWs, and since transplanting e36 or even e46 M3 engines into e30s is also a relatively common thing, it follows that the same could theoretically be done to a diesel Lincoln.  Maybe not practical, but it would be interesting. 

Stampie said:

Curtis73 said:

Stampie said:

Between the safety standards ruining the looks and the emission standards ruining the performance they basically all sucked. Yeah a few survived but only because they could overcome those two strikes. 

But they are perfect platforms for a super easy engine swap.  Heck, if you're getting a 1964 GTO, it's going to have 10.5:1 compression and open chambers that worked great with leaded gas and only made 330 gross hp (275 or so SAE net).  You're going to have to swap heads anyway and neuter it further or keep race gas around.

And I think this is beautiful:

I agree. I think a 70 high compression Cadillac 472 would be cool in a 78 small body Cadillac coupe de ville. But you know what?  That same engine will be so much berking cooler in a 28 Model A.  Yeah these years are good values but to they are priced low for a reason. 

I remember Steve Magnante & Co. did a test in Hot Rod back in the early 2000's.  They said a '72 up low compression 472 - 500 was a much better candidate than the high comp offered up until '72.  There isn't nearly as much difference in their true outputs as the numbers would lead you to believe since they switched to net ratings.  

A 401 CJ said

I remember Steve Magnante & Co. did a test in Hot Rod back in the early 2000's.  They said a '72 up low compression 472 - 500 was a much better candidate than the high comp offered up until '72.  There isn't nearly as much difference in their true outputs as the numbers would lead you to believe since they switched to net ratings.  

True.  And mixing and matching old and new pistons/heads nets you either 7:1 or 14:1 with the 500s

Someone I knew in college mixed early small chamber heads with a later flat-top piston shortblock to get somewhere around 14:1 and he runs ethanol.  Mid 10s in a boxy S10 with a smooth idle at 500rpm, and 5500 rpm shifts.  The bang for buck on those was amazing.  No expensive parts needed.

A ton of these cars wound up in demo derbies or ran over by monster trucks. In the '80s people rejected the malaise cars very quickly in favor of small cars. I remember by '84 a lot of '79s were already junked or smashed up. They lost their value very quickly at that time.