Sweepspear

I notice there is always a lot of activity on the Reatta forum. Talkative bunch.

Thank you Scott! Roger, You are a gifted individual! I had no idea as to the level of intricate detail you put into these! My late Father owned an Avanti at one time, so I have some first hand knowledge. I am speechless as to how accurate even the smallest of details where faithfully reproduced. Thank you for sharing.

Can you, or someone post a link to that French site please? If there is a link in this thread, I'm not seeing it.

This is one thread I will be following with great anticipation! Where is that subscribe to thread button?

Curious as to how your front fender trim was held on. In the assembly manual, it shows trim nuts on both ends with push/barrel type clips in between. On my car, the trim had nuts running the whole length of the fender making them a real joy to remove. :mad: Other '70 owners I have asked found the same thing I did. Nuts. My car is in the process of paint, and when I go to place these back on the car, I am going to find barrel clips that I can just push the trim on in the middle. I have wondered why they chose to use trim nuts the whole length on the front fenders only.

Every few years for fun, I take stock in what I would want to buy if I were in the market and able to afford a new car. I was hard pressed to find an American badged car that I really would yearn for. Probably the closest would be the Cadillac CTS. Which unless used, would be out of my price range. I have never owned anything but American badged cars, and used to feel as strongly as the OP does in his sentiments, but as the years have gone by I have come to realize that war was lost long ago. Life is too short.

During the gas shortage of 1979 I was 18, and remember very well waiting in line to get gas. You were often limited to a just few gallons. This was in the Minneapolis area. When people see my 1970 Riviera, I often get comments on how it must get horrible mileage, and drink gas. People seem to be under the impression that all big cars from that era got less than 10 mpg. P.S., I like your Mark IV!

Use the "New Posts" feature and you won't miss a thing.

The jist of the study shows that laws are not deterring people from using their mobile devices such as cell phones while driving. Therefore cell phone laws have not reduced accidents caused by drivers distracted by mobile devices such as cell phones. Maybe if the fines where on the same level as having an open container of alcohol, drinking while driving, they may have an effect. While I am not fond of those I come across yacking away on their phone while driving, the idea of people texting while driving frightens me more. :eek:

I thought it was a fun show to watch. Wish I could have been there with them scrounging through that Iowa farmer's barns. Inevitably, there will come an episode where they "take a break" and go play paint ball, ride dirt bikes, take helicopter rides or what have you, like so many of these shows before it. That's when you know the show is done for.

Studebaker Scotsman.

The last Gen Riviera, (and Aurora) seem to have proven themselves to be very durable cars. My '96 Riviera is less than 100 miles away form turning over to 200,000 miles and it runs and drives like a dream. I paid $1200.00 for it a year ago when I turned over to my 20 year old son the '92 Park Ave I had been driving. By the way, you would be surprised how popular the Park Ave. is among his peers.

Interesting topic. I think of how a car will grow on you over the years, or with time's passing without seeing a particular car can make you think 'Wow!" when you do run across one. I had one of these wow moments a few years ago when I saw an immaculate Chrysler Cordoba. Yes, I know. A Cordoba. Never thought anything of these cars back in the day. In fact we derided them. Ricardo Montalban and his fine Corinthian leather commercials were great fodder for jokes. When I saw this particular Cordoba it really stood out among all the dull, gray Toyotas and what not on the road that day with it's bright gold paint and white top. I thought to myself, "Isn't it odd that a Cordoba would catch my eye." I can see cars such these from the 70's being an inexpensive way for someone to get into the hobby, even though I wouldn't be interested in owning one myself. My late Father, who was involved in the CCCA as I was growing up, (That's his Lincoln in my avatar) would comment that cars from the 50's, 60's and 70's would never be desirable. "Who in their right mind would want that junk?" He would say. I think of his words when I hear or read the same comments towards cars from the 80's, 90's or cars built today for that matter. While I love the cars he was interested in and was privileged to experience at a young age Packards, Duesenbergs and the like, being 48 years old I am mostly drawn to the cars of the 60's and the early 70's. The Buick Riviera seem to be the car I gravitated to. I currently drive a '96 Riviera, a car that I drooled over when they came out but was unable to afford, and can see them being a desirable car to have in the future having been probably the last coupe GM designed from a clean sheet of paper, and having a short production run of 4 years. They can be had for a song right now, and I have toyed with the idea of selling the '70 Riviera I am currently working on once it is done and purchasing a very clean low mileage '95-'99 Riviera to have as my play car. Who knows how much longer the fuel needed to run a large 455 V8 will be available or affordable the way the political climate is changing. A late model car may have a longer usable shelf life for lack of a better term. Hard to say what the future holds for the hobby. I would sure hate for all the great old cars to become nothing more than static display pieces.

When I bought my 32,000 mile '92 Park Avenue 6 years ago, I had no idea at the time that I would become an expert in replacing wheel bearing hub units. The car now has 70,000 miles on it, and in 6 years I have had to replace the passenger side 3 times, and the driver's side once. I have spent the extra money to try and avoid the Chinesium parts, and am fussy about torque specs. All for naught. Hard to argue with the comment that if GM had used a better engineered part to begin with, this wouldn't be an issue. :cool:

It looks Mercury-ish. :confused:

I cringe at the thought of the '40 Continental my Father lovingly restored that earned CCCA Senior car status being used for such a purpose. I've tried to track it down, but it seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. That's what makes me nervous.

That was painful to read. Sounds like it would have been a sweetheart of a car to keep original. What was that show that was on Discovery/TLC/History. Rags to Riches or something? Followed a guy who bought cars, rebuilt them and then at the end would show the cars at auction. Anyway, in one episode he bought a very nicely restored '55 Chevy from an older gentleman and proceeded to turn it into a custom rod. I about cried. Oh, what was the name of that show.....

Wow! That car cleaned up wonderfully!

'96 Riviera

In the movie Goodfellas, a scene at Idlewild Airport opens with a subtitle saying it is 1963, and then shows Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci leaning against a '65 Chevy. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TexRiv_63</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Just one example of many such errors in many movies. I drive my wife crazy pointing that stuff out but probably 99% of the viewers never notice. </div></div> Same here. The wife just rolls her eyes and says, "Who cares?" I care darnit! LOL!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JohnD1956</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have had this happen occasionally on our 06 La Crosse. I suspect it is the automatic headlight switch and sensor going through a reset function, but I don't know that for certain. If the headlights come on then the dash display would dim. The car thinks it is night time.</div></div> I'll second that. My '96 Riviera behaves this way if I should turn the lights on during the daytime. On a rainy day for example. The dash lights are dimmed until the car figures out there is daylight, then the dash lights brighten. I doubt there is anything for the dealer to diagnose.

I have had my '70 Riviera insured with State Farm for several years. They didn't seem concerned at all about the car needing paint.I sent photos into my agent for his files. It also has MN Collector plates. I came across this thread while researching alternatives for coverage on this car. In talking with my agent recently, I am not feeling real confident about their idea of agreed value.

Those drawings are great! I wish I still had some of my drawings to share. In grade school back in the 60's, I had a lot of the other boys drawing cars in class like I was. The teacher got so fed up she held a contest. Her thinking was, Ok, enough already! We will have this contest and that will be the end of drawing during class! Deal? I won. My favorites to draw were the cars of the 30's and 40's. Nice job on those Studebakers!

I can tell you what my late Father's thoughts were, having owned them back in the 30's and '40's, and then when he restored his '40 Continental. He said the engines always got a bad rap as being a bad engine from not being properly maintained. I can't speak for the earlier years, but on his '40, it didn't have an oil dipstick, but rather a float level device that would visually indicate the oil level. The problem with this was you could not see the condition and color of the oil. Owner's, or service station attendants would only see the level. It's full, everything must be fine then right? Also, he attributed the lack of maintenance to the fact that many who bought these cars while being highly educated people, (Doctor's Lawyers, etc.) were not of a mechanical mind, and as long as the car would start, they were happy. Not unlike many a car owner today. He used to stress to me NOT to rev the engine too fast when I was allowed to drive his '40 Continental, because the engines were not designed to be run at high RPM's. It was always my experience that there really was no need to go high in the RPM band to get the car moving sufficiently to enter an expressway, or to pull away from a traffic light in a timely manner. Nor, did he ever have any issues with overheating on any of the V-12s he owned. Those are my thoughts, and those that were passed on to me.