Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History is a channel for true car people who love and miss what were once mainstream, domestic (GM, Ford, Mopar, AMC) cars. People who don’t want just a high-level understanding of a classic car, but really desire to know the details, odd facts, how the car stacked up against its competition and versus its predecessors and successors. No hype; no fluff. We talk about cars as well as key milestone in automotive history. Subscribe here for the nitty gritty on what are now rare classic cars and take a stroll down memory lane.
Today's interiors your sneer at were created by ENGINEERS for the purpose of SAFETY. It has been shown that grey or black interiors do not cause snow blindness like bright colors, especially white, cause. When designers overrule engineers, you get an art gallery, nice to look at, but hell to drive in. My first car with dark grey A-pillars astonished me as to how much more action and detail my eyes picked up on the road, when my peripheral vision was not causing my pupils to shrink. And the scientifically chosen green backlighting created much less eyestrain on long drives at night.
Neat car. My first was a 1969 Ford LTD, which of course has a lot in common with the Merc. I took a couple of them apart back in college, doing a complete custom repaint w a friend of mine. Finding a Marquis is food for thought, if I ever find myself with the spare cash & time. Too many hobbies!
Brings to mind Douglas Adams : FORD (Ford Prefect, a person, not car): Oh yes! And I was passed by one of these mothers once out near the Axel Nebula. I was going flat out and this thing just strolled past me, star drive hardly ticking over, just incredible! ZAPHOD : Too much. FORD: Ten seconds later it smashed straight into the third moon of Jaglan Beta. ZAPHOD: Hey right? FORD: Yeah! But a great looking ship though. Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow.
I tended to like Japanese cars in the 80s, but had a couple of these as rentals and was impressed. The v6 was decent, and it seems they were reliable enough. I don't have any good memories of the tempo/topaz, though.
One of my favorite videos to date. I always thought that the toronado was good looking. (My Mom's boss owned a new one in 1966) However I think I prefer the Delta 88 especially the interior and dash. I rode in a Delmont two door with the 425 back in high school and that car was a freaking rocket on wheels. I think Olds had the best and toughest drivetrain available in the late 60s. I also enjoyed the explanation of the wheel arches and admired the line on the toro that runs from the front of the roofline all the way to the rear of the car. You have a good eye for design. Too bad it was wasted on counting beans. Lol
I borrowed my uncles Riveria to take my girl to the senior prom ((1964). But I topped off his tank before I gave it back. Good thing gas was only about $0.33 a gallon then! My ride then was a 1955 Jeep CJ5, not the most romantic date car!
My father was a Ford salesman from 1960 to 1982 he would get a new demo car every 2 weeks, mostly country squires (LTD Station wagon), but occasionally, he would bring home a T-Bird, the smoothest ride ever. Once he came home with the black mariya (fully optioned black on black T-Bird), he gave me a ride to the roller rink in it for my eleventh (1970) birthday. I felt so cool.
Nice. I like the circular speedometer in the middle. Our 1965 Mustang had the old style dash with the speedometer that ran left to right. When we got our 1966, Ford started using the circular dial, which I believe was originally on the GT in 1965, on their Mustangs. Ford only used front side marker lights in 1968 and reflectors on the rear. I guess that they figured that you weren't backing out onto main streets at night, or at all and the reflectors would suffice. I can't remember when they started using illuminated rear marker lights. A friend of mine's dad had a 1968 LTD fastback, totally loaded. Absolutely gorgeous. As usual, an excellent video.
I love both cars. I currently have a '71 Toronado and is a joy to drive. Growing up, my family had a '72 Delta 88 4 door sedan. That was an awesome car as well. Sure wish I could find one again 😢
I've seen a few other corporate videos from this time, and this is pretty in line with them. It's like looking back at advertising from the late 90s - early 00s ahd seeing how "XTREME" everything was.
Adam, your videos are wonderful! You bring the glorious automotive past back to life with your content. Glad you left the prayer sticker on the 88. It’s always good to praise the “ultimate” designer!
Always brilliant, informative aand nostalgic.....keep these viideos coming. If you ever feel the need to cover mid 60's Ford Custom cars that would be great. My dad worked at Ford and always drove the most frugal offering they had. No power brakes, no power windows, no power steering, no radio, no A/C and if offered would have chosen the 2-rope steering mechanism. I learned to drive on this beast....great memories parallel parking it. Cheers to you and your knowledge.
@10:22-That instrument cluster on the '57 DeSoto is stupid! Note the gauges for fuel, temperature, oil, and après need to have been places just below the speedometer and the knob controls placed where these gauges are present. I think the '57 Dodge had the gauges below the speedometer arrangement.
The standard Oldsmobiles of the mid-60s were good looking cars but nothing that special . The Toronado, on the other hand, looked like something from the future, really in a class of its own.
GM was amazing in the 50s and 60s. The 70s and 80s for GM was a mess thanks to our gov. I had to ditch them in 1980. The Japanese had an easy time taking over and I was pleased to finally drive a brilliantly engineered car.
I would say the fender panels on the Toro were more expensive to produce because GM did them as full stampings. The 88 used finishing caps at all four corners to complete the shapes of the fenders.
Adam, how could the Riveria be on the same platform as the Eldorado and Toronado back then? The Riveria was rear wheel drive, and stayed that way until '79? 🤔
That wasn't a picture of a Ferrari "kammback", it was the one off, Breadvan. The kamm back is most famous on the 250 GTO but was also present on many Ferrari's of the 60's, as well as the Cobra Daytona.
According to the "67 brochure, it was power disc brakes that were standard on the Marquis, PS optional. Also, automatic trans was standard, with a no-cost choice of 4-speed. In '68, it was power nothing and 3-on-the-tree.
There seem to be no comments about other weird steering wheels so I think I have to mention Citroen, specifically the older ones. Pretty much until airbags became mandatory, they exclusively used single spoke steering wheels with wild designs on all their cars, in later models like the XM it even included remote buttons for the radio. The whackiest one has to be the one from the Citroen C6 though. Its a rather recent car (2005), but they decided to make the center "pod" with the airbag and the buttons remain stationary. So while you turn the outer rim, the inner part stays put and all of the buttons are in the place you expect them to be
