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A while back, I decided to drop dropping hints. That still applies to the verbal kind. But here’s a visual aid: the car we’re identifying is in the foreground, but most conveniently, a visual hint drove past just as I squeezed the shutter. I hope the vacation from CCClueing didn’t take the edge off your skills. I doubt it.
12 Comments on “Curbside Classic Clue Returns From Vacation...”
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Your hints are not helping me. I was going to say that the car in foreground might be a late eighties Chevy Celebrity Eurosport. However, the windshield appears to have a bit too much rake.
Stumped!!
1st gen Neon?
Dodge Daytona?
LeBaron or LeBaron GTS?
I was thinking about how blacked-out windscreen-surround trim became oh-so de rigeur in the mid-to-late 1980’s, adorning all those “Euro-something” GM cars, T-Bird Turbo Coupés (Mustang did an interesting variant with grey) but none of this jives with the clue … so then I started thinking about where Chrysler splashed the flat-black paint …
First thought Laser and Sundance. but these have un-hidden wipers…
Then it came to me, the same vehicle in the Lee Iacocca commercial “this Spring, we are going to introduce two cars, engineered and built in America, so great, they will take on the imports and send them packing … and it won’t be over ’til its over over there!”
So, my vote is for the H-body LeBaron GTS, or if not right there, then the J-body coupe or convertable relatives!
I’m with Robert on the LeBaron GTS. It’s funny, I just saw one for the first time in years a couple days ago at Target, I immediately thought it would have been a great CCC.
I used to think a clover-leaf overpass in our area that is about five stories high was an exciting, almost scary venture at the marked speed limit. Then later I realized that it was boring as everything…once I stopped driving on it in a K-Car.
A pink car and a brown car in the background. For obvious reasons I’m thinking the picture was taken in Central California. I’m definitely wrong but I’ve associated brown cars and pink ones with that part of the world.
I’m also thinking Neon… probably wrong but I’ve seen more pink Neons than any other type of Chrysler.
Along the (badge-engineered) lines of a Lebaron GTS: 1986 or 1987 Dodge Lancer.
My first car 1985 Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo complete with 3spd automatic. Midnight blue with beige interior. Non of that atari dashboard for me… tach, spedo, and a full compliment of accessory gauges including battery and oil. Parents bought the car new in 1985, blew a head gasket approximately 2 years later, replaced under warranty. Got the car when I turned 16 in 1994 and drove that bastard into the ground in the next few years… even blew a the transmission after putting it into a ditch. Was towed out by a friend. Bad things happen when you go from grass to dry pavement with the car red-lined and tires spinning at over 85mph (ahh.. the days of the 85mph spedo)… then helped dad replace said tranny in the garage. Ahh back when cars were “easy” to work on.
Coolest thing about the car – the vented hood and the turbo designation on the front quarter panels. What is it about our first cars that generate so much love?
I’m assuming you mean a kind of “don’t know what you had til it’s gone” kind of retrospective love…
Absolutely! Then again, when we finally did get rid of the dented, bruised, and rusted car the year was probably approaching 2000 and it still ran pretty well. It had something like 140k on the clock… at least 50k of that very hard, very abusive miles put on by a 16 year old who thought he was Jenson Button…
I had an 1987 Dodge Lancer ES Turbo, 2.2 and 5 speed. Black with a reddish maroon interior, sawblade wheels. Loved that car. Bought it greatly discounted in 1988 as a car returned because of bad credit. A 4 door with a hatchback, it kept me out of minivans way longer than any other kind of sedan would have. The turbo motor was slightly troublesome, I had an idle air speed solenoid that would go bad every 30K, replaced it 5 times in 160K miles. Back when it was primary transportation for my wife, a leaking turbo coolant hose led to a head gasket replacement. She didn’t notice the temp gage was pegged… I killed the trans output shaft bearing(s?) in a small rural town in Georgia. The mechanic did his worst, within a year the trans was crap again, later replaced by a new one. With the exception of the later IAS modules, all repair work was performed under the 7/70 warranty! It was a nice sized car and could handle the twisty roads with ease. I’d like to have it back, or better yet, the Shelby version…