caseyctsv Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/6045840180.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 I'm looking for Kerry to chime in on this one...being the automotive savant he is. I do remember seeing something similar while watching some interview of George Barris. No joke, that thing is so gaudy it's cool. Is it me or do a bunch of those photos not show up when you click on the thumbnails? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 They all open for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BStowers023 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Original TV? Did those things really come with a TV? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Original TV? Did those things really come with a TV? lol That's an aftermarket custom touch. Nothing like a CRT beaming microwave radiation through your thigh into your balls. :no: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Kill it with fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Kill it with fire It's got MARBLE dash/door inserts. This thing looks like a sidekick car for "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" YOU, SIR...are out of line with that comment. I'm loving those port-o-walls on a white car. Wondering if they'd look good on a gold-metallic Lincoln. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 That thing is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 so to really understand the car you have to understand the climate it comes from. For some reason or another, in the late 1960's and 1970's people were obsessed with the jazz age between the wars. What we now know as antique automobiles like cords, Duesenbergs, Auburns, Stuz, bugatti, etc...were becoming actually collectible and not just junk that old nutters liked to tinker with. This gave rise to Neoclassicism in the car market. In kit cars we started to see the 1930's jaguar, mercedes, bugatti kits (most based off bugs or pintos, and some proprietary designs like the Excalibur and Zimmer. In automotive design we saw things like the return of landau tops, opera windows, corner lights, and lots of burled wood, velour, and velvet interior touches. On some cars even curtains returned. In the high end automotive customization and bespoke personal luxury space you had people like Virgil Exner reviving the Mecer (using a shelby cobra chassis and drivetrain!), Dusenberg, Bugatti, and finally Stuz name plates: stuz blackhawk: http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/pictures/images/stutz-blackhawk-1969-prototype-2.jpg mercer-cobra: http://www.coachbuild.com/images/stories/Exner_Sibona_basano_Mercer_Cobra_Roadster_1965_01.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cWz8n7M2Il8/UFYNGOEVrlI/AAAAAAAAJSg/OAkDwlqHVDE/s1600/1965-Mercer-Cobra-Roadster-1+%281%29.jpg while custom shops like Ed Roth, dean jefferies, et al made their money catering to the hot rod and Kustom scene, Barris had a lot of success doing non traditional non-hot rod personal luxury cars for celebrities as well as TV and movie cars (as well as marketing products, traveling attractions, etc). He was an expert marketer and self promoter and wasn't constrained to one area of the automotive hobby like a lot of his contemporaries. So it makes sense that he would enter the marketplace with a neoclassic luxury car, the type he thought celebrities would buy, based on an existing chassis that could compete with the others making high end luxury cars. The premise is simple - build one car and market like they are an exclusive series, take some orders, and build the cars to order. If popular - expand the series if not stop making them and claim they are really exclusive. it's a no lose proposition and one that is still used today with places like Ruf and even ferrari. In the case of the Bugazzi they built 12 to order. They really were impressive cars for the time because of all the detail and custom work. The paint was heavy hand rubbed lacquer, real italian marble, and gadgets galore. here is the page from Barris's website: http://www.barris.com/carsgallery/kustomshotrods/bugazzi74.php We don't recognize the names of famous owners now, like Comedian Danny Thomas ("Make room for Daddy" sitcom and founder or St. Judes) or the opera singer Enzo Stuarti, but those were big deal celebrities back then. They say only 2 or three exist but I think that's bunk. There are only 2 or 3 that make the sales circuit, the rest are probably squirreled away in so-cal garages with owners who really don't care one way or the other about letting people know they have something special. By the way this wasn't the first neoclassic luxury car barris brought to market, the Cadillac Del Caballero preceded it by almost a decade and was equally as gaudy. Personally, I love these cars for the time capsules that they are. Don't get me wrong the whole neoclassic thing from the 1970's is ungodly ugly but it's interesting to look back and see what people from that time were being nostalgic about. And not all of them are really that bad....or at least they are so bad they come back around and are cool. Barris' The Parisienne is actually strangly pretty: http://www.barris.com/carsgallery/kustomshotrods/images/ernst51chevy.png And the Caballista Corvette is now and forever associated with pimp culture because of the movie SuperFly: http://www.2040-cars.com/_content/cars/images/3/509603/001.jpg It's easy to hate shit because our manufactured concepts of "cool" have evolved beyond the taste of the era but consider this....how many people 40 years in the future are going to look at the new mini, new beetle, modern challenger, the retro thunderbird and say - "what the hell were they thinking?". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 BTW, since we are talking about barris, celebrities, and bespoke neoclassic cars...in 1962 Chrysler gave Frank Sinatra a one of 26 made "Dual ghia 6.4". Sinatra then took the car to Barris and had him customize the car further. If you want an example of good looking bespoke neoclassic car I think this is it: http://st.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/5/2006/07/c12_0603_40z-1962_ghia_l6.4-front_side_view.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=around%7C660%3A413 http://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1962-Dual-Ghia-L6.4.png?x97981 Sinatra wasn't immune from Barris's gaudy nature either as can be seen by the "Zebra Mustang" barris made for him: http://cdn.stangtv.com/files/2011/01/sinatra-stang-1.jpg http://www.stangtv.com/news/the-famous-frank-sinatra-%E2%80%9Czebra%E2%80%9D-mustang/ It was actually a movie car for "Marriage on the rocks" (1965) but somehow Sinatra ended up with it. By the way - the $29,000 1975 price of the bugazzi in modern money would have been approx $125,000. There are modern luxury cars that cost that much now and they aren't bespoke and rare. I think this really illustrates the value of technology in the advancement of cars and how the cost has inflated. It also highlights why the used car market is such a mess - because what we pay for used cars now is what we used to pay for new ones. my 1967 GTO's $3050 purchase price is about $22,600 in modern money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Kerry, well done. Though, I think Superfly featured a heavily-modified Eldorado, not a Caballista Corvette. What might help those among us for perspective is the poor quality of Malaise-Era vehicles in the '70s and early '80s, and the absence of much competition. What is a CRG (certified rich guy) to do with $20-25k to spend on the greatest car he can buy outside of Mercedes or Rolls-Royce? There was no Lexus, no BMW 6-series/8-series...the PLC (Personal Luxury Coupe) market was dominated by Ford/GM, with Chrysler doing some bit players to barely stay viable before Lee Iacocca had to save Chrysler from dying with the K-car in 1982. So, in an era of safe sex and dangerous cars...you didn't have a lot of choice aside from some crazy customizers to REALLY show off on the boulevard on Friday night, or in front of the disco every Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Good stuff - I am glad I decided to go ahead and post this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Kerry, well done. Though, I think Superfly featured a heavily-modified Eldorado, not a Caballista Corvette. you are right, I don't know why but it is stuck in my head as a Cabillasta corvette even though the real car belonged to a real NY hustler. I think the reason is because both cars were customized by Les Dunham Coachworks out of NJ, and I believe the Caballista corvette was made specifically because of the popularity of the movie. http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Les_Dunham What might help those among us for perspective is the poor quality of Malaise-Era vehicles in the '70s and early '80s, and the absence of much competition. What is a CRG (certified rich guy) to do with $20-25k to spend on the greatest car he can buy outside of Mercedes or Rolls-Royce? There was no Lexus, no BMW 6-series/8-series...the PLC (Personal Luxury Coupe) market was dominated by Ford/GM, with Chrysler doing some bit players to barely stay viable before Lee Iacocca had to save Chrysler from dying with the K-car in 1982. So, in an era of safe sex and dangerous cars...you didn't have a lot of choice aside from some crazy customizers to REALLY show off on the boulevard on Friday night, or in front of the disco every Saturday. Here is a rabbit hole to fall down - this site has pics of no less than 55 neoclassic cars available to buyers in the 1960's through the 1990's: http://www.autofocus.ca/media-browser/there-were-way-more-neoclassic-cars-than-you-think Some are cheesy kit cars like the Fiberfab (later Classic Motor Carrages or CMC) Gazelle and some are pretty high end like the Zimmer and the Dimaro. Of my favorites are the SAMCO Cords which were plastic and had fixed headlights. They aren't even really trying when you see one next to a real cord....but cords themselves are such a weird car (hideway headlights, FWD, Lycoming aircraft V-8s, Supercharging, preselector gearboxes, etc... in a 1930's car) what's not to love? By the way - this is what happens when you don't have internet and world wide connectivity. You get a bunch of people who see a local market and assume there is a large market out there. You end up with market saturation and only a handful of examples built of each car. I think the ones that were most prolific are the ones that appealed to a specific price point (like the cheap as chips gazelle) or the ones that had huge marketing budgets and offered turnkey cars at a reasonable price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 oh...and since we are talking about it...this is kind of the origins of steampunk as well. Let's look at the interior of the mercer-cobra for a second: http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Mercer/1965-Mercer-Cobra-Roadster-i01-1024.jpg and the headlights: I mean come on...how retro futurist brass age can you possibly get? Television shows like "Wild Wild West" (1965) and film version of Jules Verne stories in the 1950s-60s, and even comedies like "the great race" didn't hurt either. By the way, this is the brass age car the mercer cobra was emulating: http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Mercer/13-Mercer-35J_Raceabout-DV-09_PBC_007.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 I dont know how to handle a thread where people are praising Kerry, and he's not arguing with people. Its ... refreshing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Bastard Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 ^ All the copper in that interior, I hope it was finished with a good clear coat. I really like the design and color of it, it just seems like it would be a pain to keep polished up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 I dont know how to handle a thread where people are praising Kerry, and he's not arguing with people. Its ... refreshing. I actually was thinking the same thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 I'm not sure what to make of this: https://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/6054131366.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/family_guy_barfing.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 barfing.gif That sums it up pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Brian Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 That sums up this entire thread pretty well. ftfy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 22, 2017 Report Share Posted March 22, 2017 It looks like they just fiberglassed over the 1/4 window area and the windows are still underneath. If that is the case then a trip to the sandblaster would take that body back down to a stock 1969 camaro in no time. $9K is pretty cheap for a clean 1969 camaro body. a Dynacorn repop is more than that. The split bumpers are fascinating to me, they are literally stock bumpers cut and capped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 1969 Camaro....1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 headlights...dogs and cats, living together... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dharris89 Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 I would take a Pontiac Tojen over that Oldsmero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 I would take a Pontiac Tojen over that Oldsmero Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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