Teal: DOTS Edition

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 06/09/2020 at 09:59 • Filed to: teal tuesday, Dots

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Warning: Teal Tuesday post.

Every single time I started to stop to take a picture of something yesterday, an order came over the doordash app. That’s why I couldn’t photograph this beautiful 1956 Chevy Bel Air (I think that’s this one’s trim) with my usual thoroughnes. It was pretty rough but that two tone teal on rust was enough to make me teal up.

Edit: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! pointed out this Chevy as a 1957 non Bel Air. I think this one is a 210. Sedans aren’t as desirable, so this one may not be worth saving.

I haven’t seen it here before so it is likely a new arrival at this shop. The for sale sign looks pretty old though, as does the writing on the window that I didn’t have time to read. Did the 56 Chevy have opposed windshield wipers or is this one just busted?

And of course, I saw much more teal a few days ago.

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I’d take this 1955 Mercury Monclair over a 55 Chevy Bel Air any day of the week. All teal interior too.

Well, that’s been teal.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:02

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‘57, and I believe a lesser trim than Bel Air, as I think the Bel Air’s all got the chrome fin trim. That one is a less desirable model due to the trim and being a four-door sedan, but it’s still nice.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:04

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Is this in one of Detroit's suburbs?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 10:06

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I think trim is 210, to be distinguished from 150 & Bel Air.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 10:06

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I noticed the lack of a filler panel between the two swoopy chrome trim lines, but it could have fallen off given the state of the rest of the car. I’ll correct, thank you.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 06/09/2020 at 10:07

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Nope. Suburb of Atlanta. Car doesn’t have enough rust for Detroit (hehe). Is that where you are?

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:12

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Aah, I asked coz there is a very similar complex in Detroit and there used to be an old dirt modified car in the corner where the rusty Cheby is sitting.

I’m in southern Indiana...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 06/09/2020 at 10:16

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I could name a half dozen similar complexes without leaving my county. But we tend to see what we’ve seen before so I can understand. What kind of car was used as a base? I’ve never seen a car sitting there before either.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:16

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Here’s a four-door Bel Air hardtop, which would be the primo way to have four doors:

Although purists would still go for the two-door hardtop, despite I think being more common. Despite the white relief on the fin panel, you can see ribbing.

Here’s another 210 sedan (note the hubcap match):

What makes this confusing is that the ribbed chrome detail on the fin relief sometimes got painted white, and 210s get the fin relief area painted either body color or a contrast color, so the distinction between a 210 and a Bel Air if they both have white fins isn’t as instant.

The 150, on the other hand, had a totally distinct side trim which looks rather nice.

As the poverty model, it had dog dish hubcaps originally.

Thomas Donohue > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:18

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Mercury Montclair.....haven’t seen one of those in a while.  Nice.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:22

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IIRC it was a tube chassis car

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 10:23

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Another thing I forgot to mention that helps distinguish it from a premium model: if it were a Bel Air, I think almost without exception it would have front bumper dagmars, gold hood/trunk badge, and rear bumper cleats.

This little cap here:

...would be a rubber cone,

and right here would be vertical uprights:

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 10:36

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Thank you. So I’m right in saying it is a 210?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Thomas Donohue 06/09/2020 at 10:38

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It was a showroom quality restoration. I didn’t want to breathe on it, less it fall back into the wormhole that brought it here. Beautiful car and not all that common.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 10:40

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Ah, I know what you are saying. I wonder why a tapered rubber blanking plate was considered worthy of only the premium model.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 11:01

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All sedans are worth saving! Sedans have been discriminated against for far too long. Especially on classic cars, I tend to think that four doors look almost just as good if not just as good or even better than coupes. Plus, considering how much cheaper they are, they’re a sTEAL by comparison! I actually think the ‘57 Chevy sedan is proportionally better than the two door.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 06/09/2020 at 11:05

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I tend to like short and stubby proportions, but whether the coupe or sedan looks better can vary wildly. Personally I think the coupe looks a little better but not worth the premium. Really, I don’t think 55-57 Chevys are worth the premium when compared to their contemporaries. 

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 11:11

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I became a four door enthusiast after discovering the ‘57 Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon, my favorite 50’s wagon. The Del Rio is a two door which makes it unique, but rough examples I was seeing were going for twelve grand! The four door equivalent on the other hand... in the same condition, two grand. And it would look almost just as good. After that, I am of the opinion that two doors are cool, but not ten grand cooler than a four door.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 11:18

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Yes. Pretty clearly a 210.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 06/09/2020 at 11:18

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Coupes are supposed to be cheaper than sedans. Classic cruisers work well with four doors, but I can see the appeal of coupes for non daily duty. Two door wagons on the other hand though are absolutely fantastic. A lot of it really depends on the car though. I would give at least one more arm and maybe half a leg for a Volvo 1800ES over a coupe. But the four door Corvairs actually appeal to me because so few of them remain. Especially the wagons.

If you get your butt down to Georgia there’s a great deal on a four door senior of Phoebe’s. Fortunately, someone rolled the dang window up.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 11:31

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It’s an “extra safety feature” as well as a styling element. Many dagmar bumpers were done that way only for styling, but rubber “pasties” as found on the Bel Air and the Cadillac were (I think) so that conceptually you wouldn’t scratch or dent the bumper in a really mild fender bender. Because in buying the premium model, you want to protect your investment and keep the chrome unscratched, you see.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagmar_bumper

The cleats/”guards” on the back bumper are a conceptually similar thing - more chrome, more fanciness, but also a thing that will distribute an impact and prevent an impact from overriding or underriding the bumper:

The fad for both cleats and dagmars had pretty much burned out by the early ‘60s, though they were available as a factory add-on option for the ‘63 Galaxie, and I kind of want a set:

Not at current prices, though. One of the last sets of fronts on eBay went for 650+, and there’s a set of rears going for 1100+.

Here’s a ‘58 cadillac, an exemplar of the rubber-enhanced dagmar design:

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 11:34

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Four door T-birds are cooler than people think. I don’t care if that statement doesn’t make sense.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jim Spanfeller 06/09/2020 at 11:35

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/signed

-man with two antique four doors and plans for more

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 11:35

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Wasn’t it proven that the underride guards usually just redirected impacts to the side? I can understand the reasoning though. Thank you. I love little details like that. I wish cars still had low speed impacts in mind when designing bumpers. They are no longer designed to bump and look good at the same time.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 11:37

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That was the first one I’ve seen in person. They are more sleek than they have any right to be. Add suicide doors and you’ve got one fine and unique automobile.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 12:00

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The theory back then was that people were going to hit things with their bumpers and bumpers were going to get effed, but anything bad enough to really, really screw the bumper, you had bigger problems. So, there were a lot of 5mph-ish bumpers that in practical terms would be a bit distorted after a 5mph impact. Through the 60s, I think the styling favored minimizing the bumper more and more, which ended up with cars having no real practical bumper at all. Then the ‘70s, and institution in ‘73/’74 of totally invulnerable 5mph no-allowed-damage bumpers, which actually meant that the MGB and others ended up with rubber dagmars of a sort. Plus ca change...

I think it was then also or slightly before that pedestrian safety standards started to set in, which perversely means there was less motive to offer a big ostentatious bumper because It Might Have Sharp Edges Oh No. Less interest in the bumper mostly surviving an impact and protecting the car per se, more an exercise in smooth bluntness and protecting things the car hits.

Wrap that all up with aerodynamic losses of a big bumper, and that was the grounds for eroding the stand-off 5mph bumper (which was a travesty) into the it’s-5mph-we-swear integral bumper with body cladding. So, while supposedly the car still survives a 5mph impact with no damage, in practice it’s often worse than it has ever been, with no chrome battering ram to resist minor scrapes and dings on anything but a truck, and minimal contribution to styling.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 12:05

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I can see where it comes from, but I would like just a little lenience with .5 mph taps. Unpainted plastic bumpers can be quite resilient (my mom’s XC90 has survived with no damage from around a half dozen rear endings) but once you paint them it’s over. The increase in pedestrian safety is admirable, but a little compromise for bumper resilience would be great. 

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 12:27

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I don’t know if you’ve played the ‘40s crime/detective video game L.A. Noire, but there is a case in that game in which a hit and run happens, with a significant wound originally attributed to something on the car - but while people are tut-tutting about the lack of pedestrian safety due to wild styling, it is discovered that the wound is a knife wound. The man had staggered into the street after being stabbed, and was only then hit by a careless driver.

The hit and run vehicle is a ‘42 Lincoln, which when all’s said and done only poses pedestrian risk from the hood ornament, and precious little else. Actually surprisingly within modern standards for lack of any one thing sticking out too far, other than the bumper cleats :

It also, I guarantee, meets modern standards for minimum distance between hood and engine (no, that’s really a thing).

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 12:34

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I actually am nerdy enough to know about the hood being used as a crumple zone for pedestrians. Yes, that car seems remarkably unpointy for the time. I haven’t played the game but I might if it gets real cheap. Actually pedestrian safety is an interesting issue. Especially how CUVs, most notably ones not sold in stricter NCAP countries (we need to test that) tend to not throw people in the hood, instead launching them ahead to be run over again.

You know how in The Great Gatsby whats-her-name gets run down and the only damage is a small dent on the fender? The Leonardo DiCaprio movie adaptation drives me crazy, most notably because in that scene she is launched o to the hood, shattering the FRICKIN SAFETY GLASS! I don't think that Lincoln's soft good would do much good since someone is more likely to get stuck on the fender, which isn't that bad an outcome all things considered.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 12:46

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It would be interesting to determine if pre-’40s and ‘40s vehicles are statistically much more likely to roll someone off to the side rather than suffering a sustained impact. While the old Budd-process bodies don’t appreciably crumple, just being rounded and having low front profiles off the sides would have to help - and a tradeoff of the extra pointiness of an early ‘30s car would be the more fragile (soft?) detached fenders.

‘41 Chevy as ‘40s roundedness example:

Jim Spanfeller > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 12:54

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I saw one on the road a while ago... they really do look fabulous.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 12:56

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Senior? That’s at least a 67, so Phoebe’s a year older than it. Unless you mean they’re both seniors, which I suppose is true...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 12:56

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I think that would crack a rib but throw you away from the car to the side. Later low and long cars of the 60s would just fold you at a 90 degree angle. It very much depends on how ornamented the front is, but separate fender are probably good for that. Those thick heavy hoods don't have much give in them though.

Im not volunteering to find out.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 06/09/2020 at 12:57

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Umm, both, but one is wrong.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/09/2020 at 13:08

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Well, hell, I wouldn’t volunteer to get hit by a Delahaye 135. It’s still getting hit.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 06/09/2020 at 13:14

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But your last moments would be a thing of beauty!