Minneapolis Street Sighting: Mercedes 200 fintail

I've always had a fondness for classic Mercedes; some generations more-so than others. I only recently started getting into Mercedes products, and I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve if you will--but I know a good looking car when I see one. I sort of got into these cars last summer, and I obviously still like these; I did shoot a few before I really knew much about them, and this is one of the first fintails I shot--ever.

The reason it's called a fintail is simple-- just look right above the rear decklid. Yes, this Benz had "fins" too, and in my eyes, the Mercedes interpretation looks quite a bit better than the American interpretation. No flashy chrome, and no random emblems, just clean, uncluttered sensible Mercedes styling. Usually, I see these in less-pedestrian colors, but somehow the brown makes this appear to be not as much of a luxury car as it is.

Sadly, the W110/111 cars mark the near-end of good looking Mercedes midsized cars; yes, the W114/115 cars look good, and the W124s do too, but I don't think either of those will ever climb in value the way a good fintail has--but that's just me.

Honestly, since this is one of my earliest "full-car" shoots, the pictures suck; I realize that. But, I do like the color combination depicted here. I often love luxury cars in untraditional colors, and I think the brown over tan works--quite well. Hell, Porsche proves this by offering a Panamera in this combination-- oddly enough, Mercedes makes one pay extra for it via their designo program.

The paint isn't glossy--far from it, and these is nasty fender rot; there's not telling what else this poor car hides under the surface. I imagine it had to be fairly bad, because I never saw this car after that summer (of 2010), shortly later, a brown 1965 Mercedes appeared in a Minnesota U-Pull-It. I wonder if this is it? (Or was, since this car is likely crushed by now). I hope wherever this car did end up, it got stripped of its usable parts if the whole thing wasn't saved.

I hate blogging cars from my archives because more often than not, they're not alive anymore, or they've deteriorated enough that they're not blog fodder anymore. Shame, really, especially considering what a nice car this could've been if it was saved--and what a nice car it was when it was new, too.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Cadillac Eldorado convertible

I know I keep saying I don't shoot Cadillacs much anymore-- but I used, to; quite a bit in fact. I used to shoot more Cadillacs than any other make, and I am not ashamed to admit it; they're everywhere here, for what it's worth. There's no other two-door nameplate that screams "Cadillac" like Eldorado does. In the 1950s, until until the mid 1960s, the Eldorado was a trim package on full-size Cadillacs. In 1967, the Eldorado branched out into its own model lineup, complete with several more luxurious (and somewhat tacky) trim packages.

This generation of Eldorado really has appeal to me--and I have no idea quite why it does. I normally don't like many Cadillacs from this era; the sedans and coupes look a bit weird, but for some reason I like the mid-to-late 1970s Eldorados, especially in convertible form.

I know this is likely not the correct year, but I remember some of these being used on the show, "Dukes of Hazzard" as Boss Hogg's Cadillac; I bet that's why I'm drawn to these--childhood memories in abundance.


 

Upon first inspection, this Eldorado convertible is pretty clean--and initial looks do not deceive. It really is a clean car; while the white paint cannot be overly shiny, it's in very good nick. No rut or crash damage plagues this big Caddy; and.. no bling ether--which is quite a rare sight here. About the only thing that bugs me with the exterior is the black hubcaps; I feel that the caps should be white or red to match the interior.

The interior is clean, too, and in just as well preserved as the exterior; the read suits this clean vert very well, though I'm not too keen on the wood trim. I suppose the interior would look better in a solid red color.  The bit in the center of the steering wheel looks overly tacky, but then again, this was the 1970s--tackiness excused.

This car represents an era when Cadillac was striving to find a styling theme-- but somehow it works on this Eldorado, especially this particular car. I had fun shooting this car, and I hope to find others of this generation-- perhaps in other colors besides white with a red interior.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Cadillac Eldorado

   I know I keep writing that Cadillacs are a dime a dozen here--and honestly they are. By this point, I am almost bored of them. Well--most of them anyway. I tend to look past the vast majority of sedans because they're the most often seen bodystyle. El Dorados, on the other hand, are not quite as common, thus I tend to go after them moreso their sedan counterparts. One problem--aside from very few generations (this one notwithstanding), El Dorados don't really do much for me on the whole. I tend to like specific examples of the breed rather than whole groups of model years.
   Introduced in 1967, this one marks the start of the seventh generation in a long series of personal luxury coupes; what makes this generation unique, is it shares the underpinnings with two other much-lauded GM personal luxury coupes--the Buick Riviera--which debuted for 1963, and the Oldsmobile Toronado--which debuted in 1966. Reading up on wikipedia, I learned that Bill Mitchell had a hand in the design of this bodystyle---yes, that Bill Mitchell--you know, the one who penned the 1963 Corvette, 1963 Riviera, and the 1970 Camaro and many other classic GM designs.
   And he did a swell job with this car; sure, it isn't exactly as good looking as the Riviera, but it does have unmistakable style that can only be described as "Cadillac". From the traditional long hood short(er) deck, to the big eggcrate grille, this personal luxury coupe means business. With 430 cubes under the hood, I'm sure it handles whatever business its owner dare throw in its direction--except for racing.. but its a Cadillac, so why bother?

   I will say that this generation of Eldorado is far from my favorite--those have to be the 1957 and 1958 cars, and the 1964 cars tied for first, with the the Boss-Hogg era cars coming in third. Okay, I still like these, but they're not my prime pickings. I have no qualms about this particular car, though. The paint suits it quite well. I don't see very many green Cadillacs, but this Eldo wears the hue quite well; its sets off the minimal chrome quite well. I also dig the stock hubcaps even though they're not the prettiest design Cadillac has offered.
    I didn't get to peek inside, but I would probably guess that the interior is just as nice as the exterior; in decent shape, but likely shows some wear. I would also guess that this example doesn't get driven much, as evidenced by the flat tire--which was there for more than a week. 
   This is by no means the coolest Cadillac I've shot, and it's by no means the nicest example even, but.. I still dig it, and its a piece of Cadillac's history that still exists to roam the mean streets of Minneapolis. 

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Rambler Classic 770 Cross Country

To continue "offbeat cars" week, I present a second AMC-era product. I like wagons, alot, and I'm just getting into AMC/Ramblers alot more than I've ever been. To me, discovering a new world in an already crowded segment makes me feel like I'm new at being a car enthusiast; I'm not, but my ever-growing knowledge base is only helped with the discovery of vehicles I otherwise would've only given a quick once-over.
While wagons of any sort are far from common, especially in crossover hell, I treated this Rambler initially with surprise; from a distance I thought it was a usual Chevy or perhaps a Mopar, but the rear end didn't look right. So, I pulled my bike up, and.. wow. I stood there for maybe a good ten to fifteen seconds just taking it in. I almost want to say this was the first Rambler product I'd seen in person, and also the first one I was able to shoot in depth.
In the 1960s, with station wagons being a big part of the automotive scene, it seemed as if every major car manufacturer offered multiple varieties to choose from. AMC/Rambler was no different. Rather than naming all of its offerings with traditional names like "Vista Cruiser", "Kingswood", or "Estate Wagon", Rambler opted to number its series of cars. 550 was the base model, 660 was the midgrade, and this 770 shown here was the top of the line model; it feature such niceties such as full on AM/FM radio, eight passenger seating, a standard roof, and standard 232 I6 power. While 145 horses isn't much, especially compared to even four cylinders today, remember this was over forty years ago. I think 145 does the car just fine, as I doubt the owner uses it as a race car of any sort.
This example of a rare breed certainly does the car justice; no hard-life lived here; paint, chrome and side trim are in immaculate condition, as are the factory correct hubcaps. Inside, too, was damn clean. No blatant rips in the upholstery, and all the interior trim seemed to be intact, including the rearmost seats. I don't know if I'm correct, but this looked like a genuine one-owner car. And I'll be surprised if it wasn't.
As an enthusiast, I think cars like this one should be preserved more; not only do they give the next generation of car enthusiasts something to look forward to, cars like this can also be conversation pieces at car shows, and allow the older generation to mingle with the younger generation. In short, cars like this need to be saved in order for the car enthusiast to be saved.