Seeing Keith Thelen’s Dodge Monaco recently, and how it was equipped with a six-cylinder engine, made me start thinking of unusually equipped cars. But it hardly stops there, at least for this era of Dodge.
One could obtain their ’77 and ’78 Dodge Monaco with a three-speed, column shifted manual transmission. Maybe this in and of itself shouldn’t be a surprise. What did capture my intrigue is that the top trim level Monaco Brougham was available with said column shift – there was no transmission upgrade accompanying the upgraded trim. This doesn’t exactly mesh with the perception that anything “Brougham” was automatically loaded to the gills with equipment.
Chevrolet did have a three-speed as standard equipment on 250 cid powered Chevelle’s in 1977; Ford had automatics only on their LTD II that year.
Did Chrysler build any this way? Who knows. However, it did prompt me to think larger, thus our question. In whatever combination of equipment, what was the most oddly equipped car you have seen?
My parents had a friend who was a Pontiac dealer in the ’60s, and to accompany our latest wagon (a heavily optioned 1967 Executive dealer demonstrator), the car ordered for my mother that year was a ’67 GTO, Linden Green with black vinyl roof, with 400 4-barrel, positraction, a/c, power brakes and steering, and an automatic on the column. No console, just a hump between the Naugahyde bucket seats. Not sure how rare this combination was among the tens of thousands of hardtop coupes made that year, and detailed breakdowns don’t seem to be online anywhere.
The car came with mounting points (under the headliner, not visible) for optional shoulder belts, and I wish it had been so equipped – I still have a small scar at one end of my eyebrow from hitting the steering wheel when the car was totaled in a chain-reaction highway hydroplaning incident in September 1974. Radial tires would have helped, also disc brakes, etc.
As a parent of teenagers now, I can’t even imagine how my parents let me drive this car to and from college, hundreds of miles, in the first place – much less on highways with potentially bad drainage. A teenager with a GTO!? (A year earlier I’d gotten it up to 120 mph on the PA turnpike, but of course never mentioned that to them. Sh*t, I wasn’t even 17 yet.) Kids today get into fatal crashes even in cars with modern passive safety equipment; all the GTO had was dual-master-cylinder brakes and an energy-absorbing steering column, both by federal mandate starting that model year.
From what I recall, until 1967-1968, there was no bench option for a GTO, bucket seats were standard, but consoles weren’t. So if you ordered an automatic car, but no console, you had a column shift with nothing between the seats.
JP Cavanaugh did a CC on a GTO with buckets but a column shift: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1966-pontiac-gto-%E2%80%93-a-goat-or-a-mule/
In the mid seventies I owned a ’69 Chrysler Newport 2 door with only one option; power steering. It had the base 383 2 barrel with a 3 speed on the column. No radio, manual brakes, no a/c. It was a cruiser and I sure enjoyed it’s one option. I wish I had some interior photos of that one.
During that same time period I was employed in the used car business and ran across some oddballs. A ’65 Barracuda with a slant 6 and 4 speed, a ’66 Sport Fury with a 440 and 4 speed with manual steering and brakes, a ’64 LeMans 2 door sedan with a 326, powerglide, a/c and full power are some that come to mind easily.
My parents had a good family friend that ordered a ’72 Toronado with every option except a/c (and possibly cruise, I don’t recall). We lived in Alaska at the time, so he said he did not need it. It was not unusual to see luxury cars without a/c in Alaska. He was right, you did not need it. I never could figure it out, because the way I saw it was you did not need power seats or windows either. And a good by product of factory a/c was a much better heater.
Carmine reminded me of a late eighties Astro van I that came through the Chevrolet dealer I worked at that had a V6 and manual transmission. Then about 5 years ago there was a ’64 Newport 4 door for sale locally with a 3 speed on the floor. I thought that was odd so I did some research. It turns out that in the early sixties (and possibly before) Chrysler (not Plymouth or Dodge) did not offer any column shifters. Automatics were push button, and manuals were floor shifters.
BTW though, It’s not a Powerglide, its an ST-300, a 2 speed Hydramatic. It was common in all the BOP midsize cars until the Turbo350 came out in 1969.
THM’s became available in the GTO for ’67 . . . . but THM 350s became available in ’68 for the A body intermediates (those without big block engines). Friend in high school had a ’68 Chevelle 327 with THM 350 . .
The Turbo 400 became available for the midsize performance cars in 1967, so it was only in a Chevelle SS, GTO, 442 and GS400, but the Turbo 350 wasn’t an option in ANY car until 1969 when it debuted.
This was because from 1960-62, Chryslers had the Astra-Dial dash.
The dash flared right out to the wheel,leaving no place for a column shift. Now, in ’63-’64 they could have offered it, but didn’t.
Likely, the small volume made it non-cost effective.
I believe that the years for factory floor-shifted 3-speeds in Chrysler C-body cars were 1962 through 1964.
After reading most of these stories, I think we need a thread about cars that were “overly” equipped. What cars had too many options? What cars had that one very limited-production package?
The special 4 seat 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham Talisman comes to mind, the option package was almost the price of a base Pinto or Vega. It divided the massive Fleetwood Brougham into a 4 seater with big consoles in between the seats, special velour upholstery, even the headliner was velour.
The option continued to be available in 75-76, but the rear console was dropped, so those are 5 passenger versions.
Wow, that Talisman is the big daddy of broughams. I had completely forgotten about them
I just sold a 76 Talisman I had. It is a 50K mile car with perfect interior and the outside required new filler panels. I could never warm up to the car so after owning it about 16 years I sold it to a friend who kept after me to sale the car to him. He bought it and it seems it has tried to self destruct, which has been a big embarrassment to me. I still have a great affection for these domestics.
I’ve never seen one — and for that matter it might not exist — but the most oddly-equipped car I can imagine would be a fully-loaded, every-available-option Studebaker Scotsman.
Studebaker did not allow one to order up a fully loaded Scotsman. By that I mean you could not order one from the factory with power steering, brakes, power windows, seats, air conditioning, etc. Only the six cylinder engine was available and an automatic transmission was off limits too. The antiquated flathead six was, some say, inadequate for the size and weight of a Studebaker by 1957 and had been that way for some years.
Studebaker even went so far to discourage dealers from adding accessories and bling to a Scotsman after it was received at the dealership. Only a very few items were offered as approved for the Scotsman but this didn’t keep dealers from adding items to make it more appealing (at a customer’s request or not.) This was thought to be done so as to not eat into the sales of Champions which for additional money, was a nicer and way better finished automobile (albeit still hindered by that old flathead six.)
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
If you had any options for a Scotsman, it would become a stripper Champion!
Not sure whether or not it’s been mentioned already, but Mitsubishi had some rather odd equipment combinations in the mid-90’s. I’ve seen several 94-96 (pre-facelift) Galant S base models with leather and power sunroof, but manual windows and locks. Never could figure out why so many were equipped this way.
Also, Toyota offered the 3RD (92-96) generation Camry in DX-V6. Manual everything (transmission and accessories) with the tiny base wheels and the most powerful motor. Only one person that I’ve spoken to about it can recall seeing one.
I mentioned in my post that they kept that for the following generation too (CE V6 manual). car and driver did a little story on it once and likened it to an old Roadrunner 🙂
Back when I worked a summer at a car dealership, I noticed the salesman all had weird optioned cars (at least the car guy car salesman). My auto shop teacher was the head of HR so I asked her one day if the salesman got to pick their own ride for demo cars. She told me that the dealer owner decided that if a salesman met a certain threshold he could grab a common car off the lot throw dealer plates on it for themselves for 6 months at a time. She said he than made a deal that the top 5 salesman could order what ever they wanted off any lot under 60K (he owned a number of large dealerships around the state.) The 3 that stand out are a V10 ram extended cab long bed 2500 with a manual and no options other than AC (I heard that this salesman bought the truck after his demo was over) A 4th gen camaro ordered with a factory warrantied aftermarket supercharger (by one of the customizers thru a deal with GM. ) Had every option including T-tops special racing stripes and a few other bolt ons from the performance parts catalog. I gather this one upset the boss as it came awful close to the top of the budget and was still on the showroom floor a year later. (I’m not a camaro guy so I’m sure the details are off but I do remember it sitting in the showroom with a sign that said demo marked down to 46K) There was also a ram 3500 diesel with dually 4wd reg cab larime slt leather every option but no tow hitch or heavy duty options and bucket seats. weirdest truck ever.
A friend in high school had an 80’s ram half ton royal se (top trim) with a 4 speed and a slant six and also a heavy duty 4 speed and a very low rear end. The story was it was bought by a short older gentleman who wanted power windows but as he couldn’t reach the crank handle but wanted a manual with the slant 6 so the truck would last.
I saw at least 3 that my friend’s mother got stuck with in the early 70’s that, to me, were in another world, options wise. All three had base engines with the 3 on the tree shifter, no radio, and in the two Fords, not even a factory heater! The first one was a red Nova with a heater, that’s it. It didn’t last long, it rusted very quickly, and in 4 years, was gone, replaced by a blue Maverick with a very obviously added on heater plopped on top of the trans tunnel. It worked fine, but was horrible looking. The Mav lasted about a year or so, then it was wrecked when my friend’s older brother, at the beginning stage of a long long string of bad moves, wrapped it around a tree a few months after getting his license. It was replaced by a icky green Comet, with the same ugly heater in it. She had that car a long time, and then it was replaced by a stripped to the point of “Where did they find one like this??” ’80 or so Mustang, which hung around until about 1990, when it was replaced by a Toyota pickup. That didn’t last long, it rusted like it was made of metal dust barely held together. She moved out of town at that point, driving away in a new Caravan, a loaded up one, paid by her divorce settlement. She had finally had enough of her husband’s cheapskatedness.
My ’66 Galaxie 500 convertible was an odd duck. It had manual windows and locks, but a power top (not uncommon, I’m sure); a grille from a lower-end 500 but all of the trim and interior bits from an LTD, and GT-style rims. 390 2-bbl and Cruise-o-Matic.
Power tops were standard.
Yeah power top was even standard on the base Mustang convertible and that is a car that did not have a large heavy top.
1967 Ford Mustang convertible base model. Vintage Burgundy paint, black interior, 289 2 brl V8, 3 speed cruise-o-matic, manual windows, manual locks, manual steering, manual locks, AM radio, and NO A/C.
I only call it “unusual” because whomever ordered it (salesman or original) ordered performance options (V8), ordered convenience options (auto trans), but didn’t go all the way. You have to have the V8? Why not 4 brl carb too? You had to have the automatic? Why not power steering and brakes?
Actually, power tops were only standard on Ford’s large cars.
It was still an option the Mustang.
So someone ordered the freaking power top too! Aye my family heirloom gets weirder and weirder. I wonder if it was ordered by an elderly salesman who thought that power brakes and power steering were needless frivolities? But then why the automatic? Why the power top? It couldn’t have been a “performance special” because then I would think you would go all the way and order the 4 brl carb and 4 speed manual trans.
FYI the first owner of my car was a new high school graduate who had just gotten their first job. Oh and female too for what its worth.
https://www.martiauto.com/reports2.cfm
If you really want the lowdown, spend a few bucks with these guys.
My ’64 1/2 mustang convertible was ordered on April 17 1964 with PS, PB P-top factory A/C a 289 4bbl (D-code) and 4 speed, dual exhaust, White sidewall tires, front and rear seatbelts deluxe wheelcovers with spinners, 2 speed wipers and washer, dual outside mirrors and exterior decor group (pinstripe/rocker moulding), but no back up lights.
It was originally Rangoon Red with Red interior and White top.
It’s now Midnight Turquoise with a White Pony interior.
You should drop the $60 or so & get the Marti Report for your car! It’ll tell you exactly what was extra-cost & even give you the original selling dealer’s info. You can pay extra & get the option breakout percentages & find out how many 1967 Mustangs were equipped the same way yours is.
I got the report for our mundane ’67 coupe along with a perfect original-style aluminum door tag with the correct codes stamped out on it for maybe twenty extra bucks.
At a dealership near me there’s a brand new 2012 Chrysler 300 Limited still in stock. It’s dark blue and really pretty. Seems to be fairly loaded, has the Pentastar, basically everything else. Except it has the 4.3″ display, and not the UConnect 8.4″ system. There’s a note saying that there was limited availability on the car when that came out. So it just sits there. If I had the money and wanted a nice new car, that would be one heck of a deal. I think it has at least $7k off sticker right now.
http://www.millsfordwillmar.com/inventory-details/2012/Chrysler/300/2C3CCACG2CH147377
The lack of the nav and maybe that it’s a pretty expensive 300 for not having the V8 might have held it back? I dunno?
There is a Cadillac-Buick-GMC place down here that has a 2012 Lacrosse on the lot, new, Its the last one on the lot, for some reason it hasn’t sold.
Back when I sold Buicks, we had a 98 Park Avenue on the lot until 2000. There wasn’t even anything wrong with the color or the options, it was black with grey leather. We ended up selling it with a huge discount.
$41K is way to much for that car. You can get a new 300 with the V8 nav and sunroof for under $40K
I think the asking price is around $34k. To me, that price is much more reasonable. And although I’d rather have the 8.4 screen, I use the nab on my phone. Not a huge deal, other than I am not buying a car right now!
In 1970 my dad bought his first new car, a base 1970 Firebird, loaded with options. AC, V8, 4 speed, 8 track, nice interior, rally wheels, vinyl roof, etc but refused to buy any power options (steering, brakes, windows, locks)
From the time I was in high school I ordered all the stock for my father’s Pontiac-Buick store and later, while in university, his Chrysler-Dodge store. This was back in the days before option packages, when it was a time-consuming chore to individually specify every single feature of every vehicle. I honestly don’t remember making any egregious errors and had worked out systems to identify what colour combinations and so forth would optimize the inventory. But one year in the 80s while I was tied up with exams, my Dad, who wasn’t the most detail-oriented guy, decided he needed to get some orders in and did it himself. Among the many resulting issues I remember a Fifth Avenue that arrived without a rear window defroster. As the highest-priced car Chrysler sold at the time, no defroster–in Canada–meant that car sat for well over a year before it finally sold (to someone who planned to winter down south).
What a relief when I got into the business myself–with European and Asian manufacturers–and discovered how easy it was to order stock when all I had to do was pick an option package and colour!
In 1987 my parents bought a one year old Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham Coupe. It was black, with black landau top, red pinstripe, chrome Super Stock Wheels, and Dark Claret (cranberry) leather interior. It was a V6, which wasn’t all that uncommon, but it had NO power windows, power door locks, power seat or Cruise! It did have AC, tilt, delay wipers, rear defog, am/fm/cassette and power antenna though. The salesman said the former owner had special ordered it and traded it for a new one. Despite it’s unusual options, it was stunningly beautiful and the dealer, the long since gone John Lee Oldsmobile of Ann Arbor, had several buyers lined up wanting it! My dad offered the most for it, so we got it!
My mom had 2 Saturn SL2s. The ’94 had crank windows, manual transmission, alloys, upgraded radio and a power moonroof. The ’96 also had crank window, manual transmission and power moonroof, but it had hubcaps and standard speakers. It also had cruise control.
I got a 92 Saturn SL1, which was kind of the reverse of yours, from a GM employee. It had Power Windows and Locks, CD player radio upgrade, anti-lock brakes and a 5 speed manual. I think he originally ordered it with the sunroof which ended up not getting it with it. I think he wanted a SL2 but there was some sort of hold on them for Employee orders.
My aunt had a 77 Bonneville with no power seat and she couldn’t see over the dash and it had every other option. Uncle had a 78 LeMans. Power locks no power windows and win do regulator delete in the rear. Had no ac clock or guages and all that was just black plastic. A truly ugly car.
There’s no “window regulator delete” on that generation of A-Body.
None of them had windows that went down. It’s been a much discussed topic here over the years.
Also worked with guy with loaded Taurus with 4 cyl.
There was even a 5 speed 4 cylinder Taurus available. I remember a friend of mines grandmother had a Dodge Shadow with a digital display AM ONLY mono radio, huh?
I went to high school with a guy whose parents had an ’86 Taurus MT-5 wagon…the one with the 4-cylinder and 5-speed. I don’t think I’ve come across another!
I’ve seen ONE Taurus MT-5. It was in Kodiak, Alaska in 2005 and was pretty well trashed/used up. I knew they existed. I remember some of the four cylinder Taurus from ’86 and ’87; these were usually low-buck specials to get people in the doors of Ford dealers back then in the S.F. Bay Area . . .
I’ve never seen a manual Taurus in person, have seen a police package Taurus up close before.
I had a ’92 Plymouth Voyager with a 5-speed manual transmission. If I remember the stats correctly, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth sold a total of 176,000 minivans in 1992, 3000 of which came with a clutch. It was a pretty decent van, actually.
I once saw a 2012 Focus Titanium with a cloth interior and no sunroof. Pretty weird especially when you consider that it’s the 4th and highest trim level. Not surprising that the 2013’s could not be ordered that way.
Parents leased a 1976 Ford Elite-460, dual exhaust no cats, Autotemp AC, tilt, cruise, split seat luxury interior . No other power equipment.
No rear defroster(this was Canada), AM only radio, no light package,so no interior lights of any kind other than a dome light Not even an ashtray or glovebox light. I was so pissed about that that I went to the j-yard and over a couple of trips, amassed all the items to retrofit the light group, most of the wires for it all were already built into the harness. The only tough part was plumbing the live wire into the headliner for the nifty dual-beam spotlight lamp.
Not bad for a 16 year old, huh?
My dad recently bought my brother a ’96 VW Golf. It’s a 4 door with the near indestructible base 2.0L 4cyl and 5 speed manual, with standard steel wheels with hubcaps, factory CD player, power locks, power trunk release, power sunroof and manual crank windows.
I wish you could still get cars like that. Exactly what you want without having to order packages and pay extra for options you don’t really want just to get one that you do want.
During the depths of the Malaise Era, the jump in gasoline prices in 1979 (due to the Iranian Revolution) pushed my dad to get a 2nd, more economical car, and chose a Ford Fairmont over Malibu/LeMans, Citation, and Chevette (he was a GMer, but they were costing more). I persuaded him to special order one so we could get the 4-cyl 4-speed (I wanted to learn to drive a stick eventually–and it was peppier and more economical too!) and let me pick the options, so in Feb 1980 we special ordered a
silver Ford Fairmont sedan with the base drivetrain (2.3 4-cyl, 4 on the floor), power steering and brakes, “handling suspension”, Exterior Accent Group (midway between base and top-of-the-line Exterior Decor Group, included chrome wheelhouse moldings, and the “cool” aero mirror–driver side only though), the Turbine Wheel Covers (which looked deceptively like allow wheels), and the NY-state mandated rear defogger.
We took delivery after 6-8 weeks.
If I had to do it over, I’d delete the power steering and get the Interior Accent Group, which had nice door panels and seat trim. Both area in ours looked cheap. I don’t think a tach was available–we could’ve used it.
Paul would call that car an “American Volvo” because of the European-ness of how it was equipped. 🙂
302 is the only way to fly in a ‘mont.
The Fairmont created a awkward marketing situation for Ford: Volvo engineering at a Maverick price-point. So I think it had to look cheap or it would’ve upstaged their more profitable upmarket models, esp. since it drove so much better than any previous Ford sedan. This was resolved later with derivative Fox models.
I never got to try the 2.3L; ours had the more entertaining 302, a blast to drive (as roger implied).
The Lima four was noisy enough to where you didn’t need a tach: upshifts would be dictated by the scream and thrash . . .
1968 Chrysler 300 Convert, copper, black top, black interior. Bucket seats, no console, only options being power steering and A/C
Manual brakes, windows, column shift auto…
Glenn Howard wouldn’t have liked that one too much.
My first car was a 1963 Valiant 100 2dr sedan, 170 ci slant six, 3 speed column shift. It had zero options, which on that car meant , rubber floor covering, no radio, no heater, no backup lights, single speed wipers, no windshield washers. It had a block off plate on the firewall where the blower motor would normally go. It had defroster vents with nothing connected to them. People were always floored that cars had been built without heaters.
It was possible to “delete the heat” up to 1967, but in 1968 Federal standards required a defroster, which meant, by default, a heater.
D3 products sold in Mexico didn’t have standard heaters for several more years. If you wanted heat,you had to take AC too.
My Dad got a 63 Plymouth Savoy Coupe with Automatic, radio, deluxe Wheel Covers and no Heater. He had the dealer retrofit a heater in it. A little to cold in Savannah, Ga for no heat.
In 1995, an acquaintance found in Palolo Valley (Honolulu, near the Nuuanu) a 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury. No rust; a few scrapes. Came from an elderly owner’s estate sale. 318 Polyhead, whitewalls, the standard Sport Fury full wheel covers, side trim, white with gold vinyl bucket seats and the standard full console with floor shifter. However . . . it was a radio/heater/defroster delete. No power steering, no power brakes. I would believe the only options were the whitewalls (4 ply nylon Goodyear in the trunk) and the Torqueflite. That’s it. Open the hood and there’s just “engine” . .
Renault 5 Baccara, “Le Car Brougham”, sort of…
Lots of pictures here:
http://www.renault5baccara.nl/html/Folder_Baccara.htm
My Grandparents had a 64 LeSabre 4 dr sedan with AC, kind of rare in PA. at the time, Power Windows and Seat, 2 speed Auto, Radio with rear speaker, Power Steering and Brakes but not the exterior decor package which included the chrome window moldings and thicker side molding. It also had blackwall tires but did have full wheelcovers.
I knew a kid in grade school whose mom drove a 64 Buick LeSabre wagon – blackwalls and dogdish hubcaps. Not common on a Buick of that era.
There should be a word about how many of these oddly optioned cars come about. There are certainly a few that are ordered, with probably the most famous being the Central Office Production Order (COPO) 1969 427 Camaro. A COPO was how it was possible to circumvent the normal order restrictions (like getting an engine over a restricted size, such as a 427 in a 1969 Camaro). Normally, it was used for fleet cars but, every now and then, a dealership would get a solitary order through. One of the biggest issues with these COPO specials is the long time it would take to get one built (if it got built at all). Because of the special nature of these cars, to save money, manufacturers collect similar orders, then run a single batch of all the cars at one time.
But, more often than not, what happens is that, at year end, the factories will use up inventories of parts and options just to get rid of them (particularly of options that won’t be coming back the following year).
The absolute best known for these goofball option combinations was Chrysler and their infamous ‘sales bank’. In fact, IIRC, there was a shake-up not long ago when Lutz tried to put an end to the ‘weirdo’ cars that would crop up at the end of the model year and dealerships were able to buy on the cheap but were still a hard sell. That’s a big reason why there are huge rebates at the end of the model year to clear out the remaining inventory. Many of those vehicles will have odd option combinations and, thus, be less desirable.
Back in 1996, I was lusting for a new VW GTI VR6 and as it so happens, my then wife was in the market for a new car and she had her heart set on a Jetta. We go to a VW dealer where we make the deal on the Jetta and I ask the salesman if they had the new GTI in yet since it was not on the showroom floor. He responded that he did and it was in the back lot, so we went to take a look at it and while it was not in Black as I would have wanted, it did look damn good in Mars Red and before I knew it, we had signed a deal for his and hers VW’s.
Now because the model was relatively new, I did not realize that I had bought a GTI with some trim quirks that no other mk III GTI had that I have seen since (and they are minor to say the least). My wheel center caps had BBS instead of VW printed on them and yes, they were the stock wheels. The rear GTI badging was in red instead of silver as in all other 96 GTI VR6’s. And I also had little GTI badging on the rear side strips between the door and the rear wheel wells on both sides of the car.
I asked a little while later if any of this stuff was aftermarket or dealer installed and the dealer said it was not. I had posted this on a VW website a long time ago and someone had replied that it was how the Canadian GTI’s were trimmed…I have no idea if that is true or not but if so, I may have had a Canadian trimmed GTI but in US spec (the speedo was in MPH).
I think I blathered about this one somewhere else here, but my blue ’73 Bonneville has got a weird option mix. First off, the paint itself is not a 1973 color and is listed on the invoice as a $119 option. Interior is blue fabric. This is from memory as I don’t have the invoice in front me:
Tinted glass
Power windows
6-way power bench seat
Deluxe seat belts
tilt
cruise
manual A/C
AM/FM Stereo 8-track
Rear defogger (wires-in-glass type)
Power trunk
Lamp group (map/dome light, red/white door courtesy lamps, etc.)
misc moldings, etc.
Bumper rub strips
Bumper guards
Sport mirrors
Rally II Wheels
RTS Handling package
400-4bbl engine (base engine is 400-2bbl)
Dual Exhaust
Limited-Slip Rear end
Heavy duty air cleaner
Rally gauges…
and….
Economy axle ratio! What the heck!
The car was not ordered with the top engine (455). It also did not have power locks nor a visor mirror.
In contrast, my Mesa Tan ’73 Bonneville coupe (white interior) was ordered like this:
Tinted glass
tilt
cruise control
manual A/C
AM radio
rear speaker
Rear defogger (blower type)
Misc moldings
Bumper rub strips
Bumper guards
Single chrome remote driver door mirror
RTS Handling Package
455-4bbl engine (base engine is 400-2bbl)
Rally Gauges
So this one has the top engine with single exhaust, the base wheelcovers, and no power-assisted options. It’s not as ‘showy’ as the blue car but it’s quite a bit quicker despite its single exhaust.
Neither car has a vinyl top which is cool.
I’d kill to have my first ’73 Bonneville coupe back though.. It was golden olive with white interior and had the optional white cordova top. It was ordered with
Tinted glass
Deluxe seat belts
Power windows
power locks
door mounted courtesy lights*
map/dome light — note that these were ordered SEPARATELY instead of the “lamp group” — not sure why
AM/Stereo 8-track
passenger visor mirror
driver visor mirror — a very rare $3 option
manual A/C
white paint stripes
custom-finned wheelcovers
Dual sport mirrors
bumper rub strips
bumper guards
Rally Gauges
This car had the base 400-2bbl engine and no tilt nor cruise control. It was by far the most beautiful of the four 1973 Bonnevilles I’ve owned. (Bonneville #4 is a Burnished Umber sedan with the “basic group” — nothing interesting worth mentioning).
My black 2004 F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab (4-door) XLT. 5.4L V8, power windows/locks, a/c, non-power seats, sliding rear window (not power), 3.83 limited slip, factory trailer hitch….
… without the large telescoping side mirrors. And the best part: 6sp manual.
My Grandfather’s 1959 Chevrolet Impala he had in the 1960’s. It had every option known to man, but it was a pillared 4-door sedan, and it had a stovebolt six. As one would guess, it was a special order, from a farmer.
I was web surfing once and ran across a clone of that ’59 Impala pillared sedan. Very well equipped – in Indiana no less – but, with the 235 Blue Flame Six. It WAS originally ordered by a farmer.
Was it white?
When I was 11-15, I was a Boy Scout. One of the kids in our troop, George a-Greek name I can’t remember – his Dad had special ordered a ’66 Chevy Caprice that was loaded to the gills – but – had a 3 speed on the column. I rode in that car on the way back from Sierra camp, ca. 1972. It had the vinyl top, the simulated mag wheel covers; I know it to have been a 396 from the crossed flags/Turbo-Jet on the front fenders . . . went like stink through the Sacramento Valley . . . .
I also saw at the 1987 Napa Silverado Concours d’ Elegance a ’55 Packard Carribean with three-on-the-tree and overdrive. Although not listed in the Packard catalogue, Packard would build ‘special requests’ for customers as long as it was found in their parts bin. I understand there were about a dozen ’55-’56 Carribeans so equipped.
That’s crazy when he could have gotten the much cooler Impala SS
I’ve seen ONE Taurus MT-5. It was in Kodiak, Alaska in 2005 and was pretty well trashed/used up. I knew they existed. I remember some of the four cylinder Taurus from ’86 and ’87; these were usually low-buck specials to get people in the doors of Ford dealers back then in the S.F. Bay Area . . .
I’ll again throw in my uncle’s 1966 Impala four door sedan – it was factory ordered with one option, a radio. Blackwalls, dog dish caps, six and three-on-the-tree, no PS or PB. My cousin ordered a 66 Impala sport coupe that year with the 283 and three-on-the-tree. He did order the wheel covers and whitewalls but I’m not sure about PS or PB. This was small town IN in the 60’s. Lots of folks did not want the options – they liked to shift and were used to driving manuals without PS or PB at work, whether it be a tractor or a truck. And forget A/C or PW – “just more stuff to go wrong.”
Wow, this is the 227th comment on this post so far. Is it an all-time CC record? At least for a flame-war-free comment thread? Great topic, Jason. Nice work, gang.
Thank you!
I’m not sure what the highest number of comments is.
One more oddball . . . . former brother in law worked at a Chevy dealer in Corte Madera late 70s. He came by our house with a brand new ’79 C-10 Chevy truck, 2WD, short wheelbase stepside . . . bare bones Custom Deluxe, three on the tree, no power nothing – except – (I’m not making this up) it had power windows and door locks!
That reminds me of a beige ’76 or ’77 Malibu 4-door sedan that ended up in my favorite Birmingham impound auction many years ago. It had the 6-cylinder, dog dish hubcaps, auto trans, A/C, power windows and power door locks.
It had no other options — no clock, remote mirror, tilt, cruise, etc. Weird!
I currently own a 1970 Charger 500, that was ordered by the 67 year old original owner. He walked the line on options: 318, power steering, no PB, manual driver side mirror, buckets, console, AM radio and A/C, but with a driver side only fresh air vent, unusual for an A/C equipped car! Oh, yeah, black wall tires and dog dish hub caps. There is a note on the original invoice where he asked the salesman if the external mirror could be moved to the front fender!! The steelies and dog dishes were immediately replaced w/ road wheels (Magnums) upon my getting it!! 🙂
Nice!
Oh man, that’s gorgeous!
Ah yes… fond memories of the days when people could order any strange combination that was buildable at the factory. I knew a family that had a 1967 Chevy BelAir 9-passenger wagon with the standard 6-cylinder and 2-spd Powerglide. I remember riding in it when we actually had 9 good sized high school students on board. Slow does not begin to describe it!
Remember back in the 60s, when all Cadillacs were big, and the base model was called a Calais? We had a customer at the Texaco station where I worked that had the most Spartan 1970 Cadillac possible… a Calais coupe with naugahyde seats, hand crank windows, and no factory air. and the point of driving a Cadillac was ???
Swinging the pendulum in the other direction, one of my easily googled favorites from the on-line auction circuit is a showroom perfect 1964 Pontiac Catalina Safari, claimed to be factory original with a 389 3×2 bbl. engine, 4-spd manual trans., factory air, and 8-bolt aluminum wheels / drums, plus every other power gadget you can name.
Finally, my all -time favorite from Consumer Reports about 35 years ago: The took delivery of a Dodge Aspen (or was it a Plymouth Volare?) that was trimmed as an Aspen on one side, and a Volare on the other. Badge engineering hits rock bottom!
Now why didn’t I think of my dad’s 66 Windsor sedan sooner! My grandad factory ordered the car. PS but no PB (not too unusual). Bumperettes on the front bumper. You usually only saw them on New Yorkers because that’s all they showed them on in the brochure, but they were available for the Newport and Windsor as well.
Here’s the kicker: If you ordered a power antenna it came mounted on the rear fender. My grandad asked for the regular fixed antenna to be mounted in the back where the power antenna would go, and they did it!
Dad’s 66 Newport, the one with the am/fm radio, had the little bumperettes also. My 66 New Yorker has the power antenna and that thing really extends. This car has am/fm as well along with the rear reverberator.
Mr. Bill
Bill, What color is your New Yorker. I have a 65 Imperial LeBaron.
Well, originally it was metallic green with black vinyl “sail” inserts on the roof with a black and white bucket seat interior. Before I purchased it, the color was changed to a non-original dark blue and the sails are now white. It still has its black and white interior – black carpet, dashboard pad (white dash), black and white door panels and all white vinyl seats. It has every option except power discs and power vent windows. Everything else, and I mean everything, is present.
Mr. Bill
I wish you could still order cars with whatever strange combination of equipment your little heart desired. I can’t recall ever seeing anything truly out there in person, the one that sticks out was a ’90 Cutlass Supreme International 4-door, completely loaded but with the Quad4/5-speed that used to race at the local autocross.
But, I’ve always been interested in cars like this, and the coolest one I’ve ever seen online is this ’67 Caprice wagon, 427/4-speed and seemingly every option available that year (except front buckets). I’ve posted this here before, but I can’t stop obsessing over how cool it is.
Original window sticker is below, more pictures of the car near the bottom of this page: http://www.impalass427.com/Allchevysphotofullsize4.htm
I once owned a 1981 Mustang Coupe that was such a stripper it didn’t even have an ashtray! It came with a 2.3 four cylinder and four speed manual, and I think it had power brakes, Beyond that, it had vinyl seats, crank windows, and a dome light (OK- it did have an aftermarket radio). That was it EXCEPT-
A T-Top roof. I thought Mustang T-tops only came on the hatchbacks, but this car was a coupe. Turns out the Mustang II only offered T-Tops on the hatchbacks, but Fox bodies offered T-Tops on either body style.
Caught this one leaving a Mustang show back in 08 maybe? First and last T-Top notch I’ve ever seen.
What a great thread…266 comments when I started, and being a weird-option-liking kind of guy I read the whole thing. Ain’t CC grand??!
I concur! We’ve gone past 275 or so at this point and I have yet to be able to read them all.
In 1978 I saw an all black Monte Carlo,with black cloth interior .The window sticker showed NO options. It was at a dealer in Sedalia,Missouri. The salesman told me a branch of the local Mennonites can drive plain cars. He said the factory called 3 times to verify the order before they built it.
There is a very sizable Mennonite population in various sections of Missouri – to the point there is a town in Knox County where every car in town is black.
With the advent of aluminum wheels as standard equipment, I have also seen a lot of aluminum and alloy wheels painted black.
This compelled me to make my first post, in 1986, my Dad bought a brand new Pontiac 6000. He really wanted a SE, but didn’t want the crappy carb’ed 2.8. The salesman found what he was looking for but it was a real oddball, it was a base 6000 not even a LE, with an Iron Duke optioned nearly identically to an SE. Most options I’ve never seen on another base 6000. This was the first car my Dad owned that reached 200,000 miles.
Digital dash
Removable glass sunroof
Cloth buckets with console shifter
Rally suspension
Alloy wheels with Goodyear Eagle GT tires
AM/FM cassette with EQ and premium sound
Appearance package, lower door chrome trim
Remote trunk release
No power windows/locks
No rear window defrost
Another oddball I came across when I was in high school was an 87 6000 STE with a 5-speed manual. Was in the local classifieds and took it for a test drive, was a nice driving car the guy was asking too much. I ended up buying a more common 86 6000 STE with, unfortunately, an automatic.
The oddest vehicle I’ve been around was a 1999 Ford F-150 a family friend bought new. They were our neighbors up at Lake Carroll, and he ordered a brand-new truck from the small Ford-Mercury dealer in Mt. Carroll to exclusively use up there. An F-150 XL, black with gray interior, eight-foot bed, Club Cab, V8 and manual floor-shifted transmission. No appearance options, no alloys, etc. Plain cloth bench seat. He loved that thing, and I rode in it many times. It was very different from his regular car back then, a silver 1999 Volvo S70!
My current V50 is a bit odd, as it has all the options–moonroof, winter package, rain-sensing wipers, premium sound with CD changer, roof rails–but has cloth upholstery and a manual passenger seat. Even odder, it has cloth seats combined with heated seats! I’ve been told that it had to have been an ordered car, as no dealer would have ordered cloth trim with the heated seats. I rather like the combination, though.
What’s odd about that F-150? It sounds like it’s optioned to be a real truck, not a brougham with a long open trunk.
Yeah, that’s what’s rare 🙂
Haha! Nowadays that’s VERY rare.
My bought-new ’86 Ford Ranger4x4 Supercab had the STX trim package which included a gorgeous leather-covered steering wheel and nice brushed-metal (plastic) dash panels. But it had roll up windows, no AC (in California) and skinny plain steel wheels with 195/75 BSW tires. Also manual hubs, which is why I picked it. Its replacement (bought used) was a ’93 Land Cruiser with the optional moonroof, 3rd row seats, front and rear lockers … and non-power cloth seats. One of very few non-leather LCs of the FZJ80 variety that I’ve seen. Our bought-new ’93 Corolla DX wagon had no AC but we added it (OEM) before taking delivery for a very reasonable price. It’s still hard for me to believe that AC/PW/PDL etc are standard on pretty much every car now. I remember looking at classIfieds advertising cars with “RH” as a teen.
I once bought used a 1993 Nissan Altima GXE, very nicely equipped except for leather. What struck me about that car was that it was factory-equipped with HUD (head-up display). Have never seen equipped one like that since.
BTW, I loved HUD. It’s an option I wish was still offered.
I’ve got three. My dad’s current truck is one – ’99 Ford F-150 XLT with regular cab and long bed. 4×4, auto, 4.6 V8 but… with the Off-Road package. Which isn’t entirely rare, except the original owner got it with the off-road logo deleted (the old 4×4 Off Road sticker on the rear, not the newer FX4) and ordered it with the manual transfer case shifter on the floor instead of the “fourth AC control” that others had. Dad hated it at first – Mom picked it up 2 years old as a Christmas present at a great price – but now loves it like 13 years later. If he ever retires it, I’m buying it.
Second was my first car, a ’68 Ford Galaxie 500. 390 V8 2bbl, C6, two door fastback with every option possible checked. Center console (coolest. shifter. ever.), buckets, A/C, disc brakes, up level interior trim and.. a rear window defroster. Which was a heating element and a fan. It was telling how rare some of the options were that it was impossible to find interior parts and brake parts for the thing.
Third I’m working on a CC for. A Toyota Turbo truck that’s got no options at all. It’s pretty awesome!
Oh! One more! I had a 1993 Taurus GL a few years ago which in and of itself isn’t rare. It was white with light blue interior. 3.0 Vulcan with bench front and rear, column auto trans but it also had the 16in “turbine” alloys and.. a sunroof?
In all honesty I liked that car, a lot, and probably should have kept it. The A/C was busted but the sunroof and four windows open made it really pleasant.
I once had a Caprice, 1979, with about every option you could order, performance axle, 350 cui engine, full power, twopainted, cruisecontroll, and so on, but without intermittent wipers. If it is one thing that you need in Norway it’s delay-wipers. Sold new in Norway, I think maybe the salesman forgot to order that option?
My dad had a pair of 1978 Ford F-150 4×4’s. The 1st one he bought new, and the 2nd one he bought around 1990. Both were regular-cab, long-box, XLT-trim (carpeted floor, cloth seat, air conditioning, etc), 400ci/C6 powertrain. The 1st one had monochrome paint, AM radio, and dual fuel tanks, pretty normal for a pickup of the day; the 2nd one was fancier with two tone paint (brown with cream/yellow roof & bodyside) and the AM-FM stereo radio… but it only had a single fuel tank from the factory, the rear-mounted 16-gallon one.
A previous owner had “corrected” the oversight by installing saddle tanks in the unused space in the Styleside box below the box floor and between the cab & rear wheel, similar to (but less safe than) the GM installation that shortly became famous through Dateline NBC.
We took the saddle tanks out & lived with the 120-160 mile fuel range.
I used to date a girl in college who was a fellow Jeep fanatic…she briefly dated a guy before me that had an early ’80s CJ-7 with an iron duke and 3 spd slushbox. That had to be THE definition of gutless! The Wrangler has always had a few oddball 4 bangers mated to slushboxes out and about. Seems like a completely baffling combo, considering the use for a Jeep and the general demographic that buys them.
My dad had a ’63 Falcon Squire wagon with buckets and the center console. it had the atuo on the column. In the late ’70s he had a Mercury Monarch 4 door with buckets and a floor shifted automatic. My cousin had a ’63 Corvair Movza convertible with factory A/C. and a 4 speed.