Category Archives: When they were new

Mark And I love classic cars and really cool ones too. We always have our cameras with us and are ready to snap a picture. Heck one time I passed one while riding my Hayabusa, turned around and followed it until I had an opportunity to take a picture. Yup, We love cool cars.

Car Spots, Fun Stuff, When they were new

Car Spot: The Smart Car

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There’s nothing smart about this car

Known for its massive, and expensive cars, the Smart Car was something really different from Mercedes Benz. It all started in 1972 when they decided to explore what cars of the new millennium would look like. The 1973 oil crisis convinced them that they should move forward with a small city-bound car, thinking that transportation trends were going to change dramatically in the coming decades. The production version of the smart was officially introduced at the 97 Frankfurt Motor Show and in October, the first unit rolled off the assembly line. 

Found this one sitting on a car lot. Might be sitting for a long time.

Originally developed with the maker of the Swatch, (remember them?) Then CEO, Nicolas Hayek, believed that the automotive industry had ignored the customers that wanted a small, stylish car. It measured just over eight feet long, just under five feet wide, and about the same height. Essentially the size of a golf cart. A three-cylinder gas engine powered it. Later a direct-injection diesel engine version was added bumping horsepower, wait for it, up to 89 from the previous 70. Want to know 0-6 times? Anywhere from 11 up to just under 20 seconds. Yup, a gutless wonder.

There’s nothing “Smart” about this car.

Smart first arrived in the U.S. in 2008 and sold nearly 25,000 copies of the Fortwo in its first year and it was downhill after that. The bottom fell out when the gasoline models were dropped from the lineup and just 1,276 Smart vehicles were sold in the US. It wasn’t long after that Mercedes Benz pulled the plug.

A tiny area for maybe a couple of bags of groceries.

I remember when Daimler bought Chrysler (the merger of equals?) in 1998. It was the first time senior-level managers met from both companies, of course in Germany, and one of the Daimler guys took a shot at Chrysler’s minivan. The Chrysler guy had a great comeback. Well, how about all the Swatch cars that are getting destroyed when they hit a moose on the German roads? Apparently, there are a lot of moose in Germany. Good shot! “I liked driving the Smart so much, I didn’t even care when a little girl pointed and laughed at me”, said Alex Davies in a review for Business Insider.

RELATED Post: Why men should never be seen driving this car.

MSRP for a 2014 was $14,840 all the way up to the convertible at $29,050. It gets a combined 36 mpg. On the other hand, a guy could purchase a much larger car such as the Honda Insight: MSRP, $18,725, 42 combined mpg. There are also several hybrids that are priced a bit closer to the high end of the Smart MSRP that get the same or better gas mileage. What are they worth now? You can pick one up, although I’m not sure why for well under ten grand.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Tell your friends and be sure to check back next week for another one of my spots along with a little bit of history.

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Car Spots, Fun Stuff, When they were new

Car Spot: the Buick Reatta

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GM’s other two-seater

Did you know that with the exception of Oldsmobile, all of GM’s passenger-car divisions offered two-seaters during the late 1980s and early 1990s? There was Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac Fiero, Cadillac Allante, and this week’s car spot, the Buick Reatta.

I think it’s a cool-looking car but America didn’t.

Introduced in 1988, the Buick Reatta was a low-volume transverse front-engine, front-wheel drive, two-door, two-seater grand tourer/sports car featuring a 3.8-liter V6 engine utilizing a shortened version of the GM E platform. A convertible was added to the lineup in 1990. It was manufactured in a highly specialized assembly program at the Reatta Craft Centre.

In an interview with Car and Driver magazine when the vehicle was launched, Buick Advertising Manager Jay Qualman said, “We went to the market to ask people what kind of product they envisioned a two-seat Buick to be. We said to ourselves, ‘Hey if we’re really going to be market-driven, we have to look at what they tell us.’ They told us that what they wanted was an affordable Mercedes 560SL.” Welll maybe not quite.

RELATED Spot: GM tries to take the concept upscale with the Cadillac Allanté

How did it handle? Writer Rich Ceppos said, “Somewhere along the way, while Buick was busily exorcising the sports-car demons from the Reatta, it also drove out the visceral excitement that we expect from two-place cars. Where is the sharp steering response that teases you, the taut suspension that goads you to take on a twisty two-lane, the power that opens your eyes wide and sends a thrill down your spine? Not here. The Reatta is nearly viceless, all right, but also nearly soulless”.

This interior has been ridden in.

There were all kinds of options including 16-way power seats, and side moldings in either black or body color, a sunroof became optional in late 1988, and in 1989 keyless entry was added as a standard feature. Tech included a touchscreen computer interface, marketed as the Electronic Control Center, that included radio and climate control functions, date reminders, a trip computer, and a user-configurable overspeed alarm, as well as diagnostic access to the vehicle’s electronic systems and sensors. Later replaced with conventional push-button stereo and climate controls.

Buick hoped when the car came out in 1988 that it would add some sporty flair to the brand’s lineup, one that was pretty dull at the time, except for the Grand National. They added the convertible, but the Reatta never found the buyers Buick hoped for, and it was canceled after four model years.

RELATED Spot: Pontiac’s 2-seater was fun.

What are they worth now? Well, you’d think that with just less than 22,000 made something but they have not appreciated in value. In 1988 listed retail price was $25,000, about $58,000 now, and according to Hagerty average value is just under 10 grand. There are some exceptions though a 1990 Buick Reatta Ltd Dealer Special Ed, 2dr Convertible, 6-cyl. 231cid/165hp FI can go as high as $28,600. But for 10 grand or less, you can have a 2-seater that’s going to always be noticed in the grocery store parking lot.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Be sure to tell your friends and come back next week for another one of my car spots along with some of the history that goes with it.

Car Spots, Fun Stuff, When they were new

Car Spot: Studebaker Lark and Pickup

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One of the last of the independents that just ran out of cash …

Being a big fan of the cars from American Motors, I can appreciate what Studebaker brought to market and how they tried to challenge the Big Three. Like AMC, at times they were brilliant, but other times, not so much. In 1939, the company entered the low-priced field with the popular Studebaker Champion, propelling it past the other independents and becoming a major automobile producer, passing Rambler at the time, and making Studebaker the No. 4 auto manufacturer.

In the ’50s Studebakers were considered to be among the most beautiful automobiles ever built. The 1953 Studebaker models were the automaker’s first new designs since 1947, and automotive historians have long agreed that they were great-looking designs. But a series of events led to the company’s downfall.

While the ’53s looked cool, they suffered from quality issues, then there was a sales blitz by Ford in 1954 that hit both Studebaker and Rambler hard, and then in 1960, the Big 3 found the compact car market. Finally, a change in leadership and a difficult union spelled the end for Studebaker, which had started as a carriage and wagon maker.

I’ve heard this story before because it’s almost the same sad ending that American Motors faced. Like AMC, Studebaker had some really cool-looking cars like the early Commander and later the Avanti. For all the issues the cars had, bland styling wasn’t one of them.

Car Trivia: Studebaker sponsored what comedy show? Click here and see if you got the answer correct. Bonus points if you can sing the opening theme song:)

This week’s car spot, a 1965 Commander I found at a Cars and Guitars sponsored by The Automobile Gallery in Green Bay this summer, is an example of how Studebaker didn’t go down swinging. This was Studebaker’s mainstream model and was most likely built in Canada since they stopped building cars in South Bend, Ind., in 1963.

This car has a great story too. It had 15,000 original miles on it when it was purchased by the current owner in 2019. And get this, it was purchased from some nuns in Green Bay who hadn’t driven it in a long time. I’m not making that up.

This is its original paint, It packs a Chevy-sourced 230-cubic-inch six-cylinder, and twin-traction. Like Corvairs and many AMC cars, a Studebaker is a great entry into the collector game. According to Hagerty, one in fair condition should run about $6,400. A cheap way of getting into the game and having a car that will almost always get noticed.

RELATED Spot: The other independent’s wagon, the Rambler Classic Cross Country wagon.

Did you know that Studebaker also made trucks?

From 1929 until 1963 from half-ton all the way up to two-ton. This one I found on a trip up to Appleton, Wis., where I was picking up a project motorcycle. This looks like a late ’40s, or early ’50s model that is up for restoration. The guy also had a Lark that he had plans for. Trucks are more valuable than passenger cars these days. One in good condition according to Hagerty is worth about $18,000. Again, a cheap entry into the collector market.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our blog. Check back next Friday for another car spot along with some of the history with it. Have a great weekend.

Car Spots, Fun Stuff, When they were new

Car Spot: 71 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible

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This is one sweet ride

The cool thing about an auction is that you will probably see a special car that you’ve never heard of before. Such is the case of a 71 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible that came up for sale a couple of weeks ago at the Mecum auction in Chicago this week’s car spot. Blogging partner Mark Savage was at the event and grabbed these pictures.

Like just about every collector car, it has a story, this one with a little bit of mystery. It was owned by Helen Voorhees Brach. If you’re 30 or under, you probably won’t recognize the name, but if you’re older, you have eaten the candy that her father Emil J. Brach founded in 1904.

Images: Wikitree

Emil Brach is your classic rags-to-riches story. He took $1,000 and on the corner of North Avenue and Towne Street in Chicago opened Brach’s Palace of Sweets. He undersold the competition and parlay that into four factories with a fifth one in the works in 1923 producing 2.23 million pounds of candy in 127 varieties. Name not ringing a bell? Have you ever eaten candy corn or jelly beans? Chances are they were made by Brach’s.

The family company was sold in 1966 for $136 million, around $1.24 billion in today’s dollars. Helen’s husband, Frank, died in 1970 leaving Helen’s share of the Brach inheritance equated to nearly $149 million in today’s dollars. Helen spent her time socializing with friends, and loved the color pink, all her Caddys and Roll-Royces were pink. In 1973 the story gets interesting when she met a young guy through her show horse connections, Richard Bailey, He had a history of scamming the high-income show horse set and did the same with Brach.

On February 17, 1977, Brach headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, and never returned. There have been investigations and books written about her disappearance. Bailey was not convicted of Brach’s murder but sentenced to thirty years for defrauding her. In May 1984 she was officially declared dead. In 2019, the case was still considered open and unsolved, with no one ever facing state murder charges for her death. A Who Done It for sure.

OK, back to the car. A super-clean 71 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible with just 16,000 miles with an automatic transmission, off-white leather interior with coordinating Magenta piping, and finished in the specialty color known as Brach Candy Purple. Some lucky bidder took this car home, along with a hell of a story for $99,000.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back next Friday for another one of my car spots along with some history of the vehicle. Have a great weekend.

Car Spots, Fun Stuff, When they were new

Car Spotting: An under appreciated Mustang

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A Mustang fully loaded

Most of us think of the performance-based Mustangs targeted towards the youth market yet there was one that took a different direction, the upscale Grande. Produced from 1969 to 1973 it was only available as a hardtop. It had tons of options, 45 to be exact, which was a lot at the time and included “Comfortweave” hopsack upholstery, extra-thick carpet on the floorboards, two-tone narrow stripes, faux woodgrain dashboard, padded interior side panels, racing-style mirrors, chrome rocker panel moldings, and wire-style wheel covers.

Mustang Grande I spotted this summer while working at Ironwood Golf Course

Ford also gave drivers the option to order any Mustang engine for the Grande, even including the 428 Cobra Jet V8. This option drove up the price significantly, especially combined with the more elegant Grande package. That said, any surviving Grandes with miscellaneous engines have become very collectible, and only 62 Grandes were built with a 428 Cobra Jet in 1969. Hagery lists an average price for all four years of production at around $12,000 with almost $30,000 for a Concours level example making it a very affordable collectible like this one.

An excellent example. Bodywork looked great

My car spots appear every Friday here on SavageOnWheels.com. Be sure to check back and keep your phone out and ready to snap that next great spot. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

When they were new

So that’s a Matador

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AMC’s entry into the personal luxury market.

American Motors almost always had to swing for the fence when it came to introducing new products because they didn’t have the big budgets to work with like GM, Ford, and Chrysler did. The same went for their marketing.

Enter the second generation Matador in 1974 and with the Ambassador being dropped became AMC’s largest car. With its second generation, the Matador became AMC’s largest automobile after the discontinuation of the Ambassador. A lot of effort went into this entry in the personal luxury market, one which AMC was looking to cash into. Premium trim levels of the second generation Matador coupe were marketed as the Barcelona and Oleg Cassini.

One of the many AMC ads I’ve collected over the years.

The Barcelona edition was loaded with a 360 V8, auto transmission, tilt steering, air conditioning, 8-track player, matching vinyl landau roof, rear opera windows along with unique interior markings and seats your butt could get lost in.

There was a love-it-or-hate-it mentality regarding the Matador coupe even among AMC geeks. I liked it. It beat the coffin-nose front end that the Matador adopted when it replaced the Rebel in 1971. My first car was a 70 Rebel SST with the one year only aluminum side molding.

My first car. Had a 360 V8.

The coupe, designed by Richard Teague, sold well the first couple of years, outselling the four-door by nearly 25,000 units in 1974 but dropped to less than 10,000 in 1978 just over 2,000 and the company pulled the plug. It had a claim to fame being featured in the James Bond movie Man with the Golden Gun where it flew.

The last Matador. Photos: BAT

These don’t sell for a lot of money. According to Classic.com an average of just short of $20,000 which makes this one sold on Bring A Trailer for $41,000. An eye-popping price even for me. That’s quite a return on a car that listed for around 7 grand. This is the kind of money that first-gen AMX’s sell for!

What makes this one so special? According to the listing it was built for its designer, Teague, and was the last one off the line. It went up for sale with only 7,000 miles and the original window sticker. Like most of the ones ordered, this one two was well equipped and lived in Minnesota. Check out that interior. Those seats were pure butt vacuums. Love the license plate. Hope it found a good home.

Fun Stuff, When they were new

Two car guys reunite after 36 years.

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And we didn’t even know each other were car guys then

Author (left), Darrel (right) on set doing a special on the Milwaukee Brewers just before the ’82 World Series where they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a fun season!

It’s funny how life sometimes comes full circle and you are reunited with a coworker after a very long time and you find out something you didn’t know about him when you both worked together. That happened to me recently when I was reunited with Darrel Burnett. He was the Sports

Me and Darrel now. Slightly less hair and a few more pounds:)

Director at WLUK-TV in Green Bay, WI and I was his backup doing weekend sports and reporting during the week. From about 1981 to 1985, we rocked the Green Bay market until new owners came in and both of us ended up leaving.

RELATED: Hear the story about Bart Starr’s MVP Corvette.

Darrel drove this yellow 1978 Porsche 924 while I arrived in a 1979 AMC Spirit and later upgraded to this Spirit AMX with a 304 V8.

Fast forward 36 years

I retired a couple of years ago and started this car blog with buddy Mark Savage. Darrel found me on Facebook and I discover he is running The Automobile Gallery in Green Bay. So of course I had to go up there and catch up with Darrel along with checking out a place I call car heaven. As it turns out we are both huge petrol heads and The Automobile Gallery has some pretty cool cars as Darrel told me during this interview.

Fun Stuff, When they were new

A priceless Corvair

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More valuable to this family than any other car

63 corvair, 1963 chevy corvair, corvair, corvair monza, corvair convertibleBy Paul Daniel

I love going car spotting but sometimes the cars come to me like this 1963 Corvair. One of the fun things I do during the summer is work at Ironwood Golf Course, about five minutes from my house. One day I show up to work at a really big golf outing and what’s parked right out front? This 1962 Corvair Monza Continue reading A priceless Corvair →

Fun Stuff, When they were new

These Jeeps aren’t cheap

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A bright spot for American Motors

jeep cherokee, jeep cherokee golden hawk, rare jeeps
Photo: BringATrailer

I remember my dad, who worked at the National Parts Distribution Center in Milwaukee, came home one day in February 1970 and told me the big news that AMC had bought Jeep. I was probably just as excited as he was knowing that we would soon be having Jeeps show up in our driveway.  One that I remember most is a 1980 Jeep Grand Cherokee Golden Hawk just like this one that recently sold on Bring A Trailer. Not only did this give the middle finger to Wisconsin Continue reading These Jeeps aren’t cheap →

Fun Stuff, When they were new

Missing the guy who got me into cars

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It’s my dad who got me hooked

nash healey, sports cars, nash motors, classic sportscarsAnd his dad before him but this Christmas will be my first without him after his passing away in February. The car dad always talked about buying was a Nash Healey. The car was introduced in 1951 beating the Corvette by two years. There were just over 500 manufactured so they are rare now going for north of $100,000.

I found this video Hemmings made that made me think of this. It’s a video about a dad and son’s bond with cars and I thought I’d share it. Boy, if this doesn’t get you into the Christmas spirit, I don’t know what will.