The non-muscle American car thread (READ THE OP)

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In your opinion, which country makes the best looking cars?

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I've never liked E-bodies but a set of Spyders sure helps.

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I don’t mind the green interior. My Dad’s Malibu coupe was triple green(green landau) and my Aunt’s brother-in-law had a double green(no soft top) downsized Monte Carlo. My pastor also had a double green Maverick, but I can understand the green being too much.
 
TexRex
I've never liked E-bodies but a set of Spyders sure helps.

spyder-cuda.jpg
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Another E-body (boo) on Motor Wheel wheels (yay). This time they're polycast Exiters and they're on the Challenger pace car that wrecked at the 1971 Indy 500. The car was restored, obviously, but I'm not sure if the wheels are those originally wrecked or if replacements were sourced.

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Being polycast, they are a steel wheel into which a durable plastic has been cast to give the appearance of a cast magnesium or aluminum wheel for a fraction of the cost but adding a significant amount of weight.

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More-door hardtop Fury

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I love the '72 Fury range with its twin venturi grille like a '70 Super Bee, but joined in the middle with the Plymouth script in its own little home. Exposed headlights are my preference over the hidden units. Shame about those wheels, though.
 
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My Mother had a pristine two tone blue LeBaron coupe like that. Vinyl split bench. Column shift. Had no power, but did feel very lightweight compared to GM boats my Dad drove.
 
How could this be for 1969? The interior looks updated. The windscreen looks chopped. So many details from the grille to the taillight design(remind me of an Impala). Love it!
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Love the top and headrests on this model.
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Pretty 2+2 is pretty.

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I'm surprised at how good the PMD 8-lugs look in black on the black drum and without beauty rings. They're usually silver or chrome on the bare or silver drum, while every other black drum I've seen had the beauty ring covering either a silver or black wheel.

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1977-oldsmobile-cutlass-s
1977-oldsmobile-cutlass-s


It needs a set of SSIIs or SSIIIs and RWLs but sweet fancy Moses do I love a '77 Cutlass S. It's a big glass coupe with the classy Cutty Supreme nose instead of the weird 4-4-2 front end styling. One year only as the '76 S and 4-4-2 shared sheetmetal and '78 saw all GM A-bodies downsized from the Colonnade era.

Edit: Here's the '77 4-4-2 with which the S shares its big glass body shell. I was overly kind when I called the front end weird. It's ugly. This one's got the Super Stock IIIs (painted body color) but that's a lot of rubber to not have something fill the space and RWLs are preferable to narrow whites.

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Nice and crisp. Crazy how we used to drive on those shopping cart wheels. The ride was smooth, but can’t believe engineers thought it’d be safe.
 
The update makes it look very front heavy in the profile pic. Not balanced like one with the wraparound rear spoiler. Might be a bit of the front suspension drop putting me off.
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05XR8
The update makes it look very front heavy in the profile pic. Not balanced like one with the wraparound rear spoiler. Might be a bit of the front suspension drop putting me off.
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So I learned something today. I'd assumed someone ticked an option box for the base Firebird pedestal spoiler (RPO D80) when ordering their T/A but I looked it up and apparently a Formula or T/A (and by extension a GTA) hatchback could not be had without the Aero Wing after the facelift. Interestingly it got its own code (RPO D81) despite being a package deal. This is probably a carryover from earlier cars where you had a choice (save for the GTA notchback which could only have the pedestal spoiler for fairly obvious reasons).

To your point, I think the car needs something for visual balance...but I personally think the pedestal spoiler fulfills that need. I actually like the more subdued appearance and the spoiler probably has more practical benefit as a spoiler than the Aero Wing does as a wing. I do wonder why someone did the swap, because I gather the revised Aero Wing doesn't suffer the warping and cracking issues that '85-90 Aero Wings do due to their foam core construction and years exposed to the elements. Could be for the same reason that I like it.
 
TexRex
So I learned something today. I'd assumed someone ticked an option box for the base Firebird pedestal spoiler (RPO D80) when ordering their T/A but I looked it up and apparently a Formula or T/A (and by extension a GTA) hatchback could not be had without the Aero Wing after the facelift. Interestingly it got its own code (RPO D81) despite being a package deal. This is probably a carryover from earlier cars where you had a choice (save for the GTA notchback which could only have the pedestal spoiler for fairly obvious reasons).

To your point, I think the car needs something for visual balance...but I personally think the pedestal spoiler fulfills that need. I actually like the more subdued appearance and the spoiler probably has more practical benefit as a spoiler than the Aero Wing does as a wing. I do wonder why someone did the swap, because I gather the revised Aero Wing doesn't suffer the warping and cracking issues that '85-90 Aero Wings do due to their foam core construction and years exposed to the elements. Could be for the same reason that I like it.
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Okay. My first thought was an update to a regular Firebird. I also thought the wheels only came in black or gold. Figured this owner did respray and removed the badges. More my color combo, even though I love me some gold center wheels.
 
05XR8
Okay. My first thought was an update to a regular Firebird. I also thought the wheels only came in black or gold. Figured this owner did respray and removed the badges. More my color combo, even though I love me some gold center wheels.
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Gold, black or silver cross-lace wheels could be had on any T/A. "Base" T/A was a 15" dished cross-lace while WS6 and GTA were upgraded to 16" with flat faces. 16" was all you could get because the GTA got the WS6 handling package (as did the Formula) and it included bigger brakes that the 15" wheel wouldn't clear. Gold was standard for the GTA but black or silver could be subbed in--likely uncommon because GTA decals were gold. Black was standard on the WS6 but you could go gold or silver. Either the GTA or the WS6 could be had with the 16" Hi-Techs that came on the Formula. I don't know if a Formula could be had with the cross-lace wheels but Hi-Techs were considered an upgrade so it's unlikely anyone checked the box if they could.

I think that one is probably a base T/A or WS6 that has the 16" silver cross-lace wheels, odd spoiler and decals removed. It could be a respray with Aero Wing holes filled and decals just not replaced. The page it was on said it's a GTA but there's no GTA identifiers. It's possible that it is one, as there's nothing that says it can't be (decals not replaced and either silver cross-lace are original to it or switched later). It's also possible but unlikely that it's a base Firebird or Formula because those ground effects are difficult enough to install even when the car came with mounts for them, and neither Firebirds nor Formulas did. Could it be? Sure.
 
Yeah, that's old school 1983 Orlando style, when I used to visit my grandparents. Built for high grass, gravel and dusty roads. :sly:
 
That would be real nice, East Bay Style (SF) in the 70's dropped a couple inches in the back and an bunch in the front. Some guys would even raise the trans tunnel to get some suspension movement.
 

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