Bonus NPF!
Several months ago a friend sent me this picture of a nearly perfect, impeccably maintained and restored vehicle from the automotive past.
In case you didn't recognize it – and honestly I'm a bit worried about you if you did – that's a 1979 Plymouth Arrow Truck. It's something of a punchline, the only truck produced by now-defunct Plymouth and a perfect example of the compact pickup boom of the El Camino era. In no real sense is it a Plymouth (it's a rebadged Mitsubishi Forte, predecessor of the Mighty Max) and in no real sense is it famous, highly regarded, valuable, or sought-after. 36 years have failed to make it collectible.
Why do I like this picture so much? Because we see crap on the road every day. Only very, very rarely does one see perfect, mint condition crap. A restored, flawless car from 1979 is not in and of itself a rare thing. But the vintage auto market and "Trailer Queens" (cars of perfect appearance that are never actually driven) on the Concours circuit are universally high end.
Lots of people restore 1970s cars – Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Corvettes, Rolls-Royces, and so on.
When lower end cars are restored they inevitably come from the American Muscle Car genre – Mustangs, Camaros, Roadrunners, Challengers, Barracudas, and their ilk. What you see in this picture is the equivalent of seeing a perfect, factory condition 2001 Chevy Cavalier on the road in 2040.
It's so unusual that all I can do is stare at it and think, "Who would do this? Why that car?" And then I want to meet whoever did it and shake the magnificent bastard's hand.
Like I wanted to do to the guy who spent $55,000 absolutely flawlessly restoring an AMC Pacer a few years ago.
It doesn't take much taste to appreciate a high priced Italian sports car from the past. Any nouveau riche hedge fund grunt can go to an auction and drop $250,000 on a 1970 Mustang that someone else restored to perfection. That's why I hate the auction/collector car market. It would be far more interesting, at least to me, if more people did things like this. There is nothing interesting about seeing an old Cadillac someone dumped six figures into because he remembers the first time he got a handjob in one back in the Eisenhower years. There's something compelling – if also ridiculous – about having a perfect Matching Numbers 1989 Dodge Shadow, Dodge Shadow Registry No. 0000001. Automotive history isn't just about the highlights. It's about the cars people actually bought and drove. That turquoise Taurus says more about the early 90s than your mint condition ZR-1.
Good on you, Mr. 1979 Plymouth Arrow Truck. If you're going to have an obsession, why have the same one everyone else has?
JustRuss says:
Thanks for sharing this. Last year I came across an absolutely pristine Dodge Omni in the supermarket parking lot. It was awesome, thoroughly made my day.
Jeff J says:
How many people 40 years ago would have expected to see meticulously maintained Beetles on the road today? Granted, although they were lower-end they're a bit of a special case.
Last week I was stopped at a red light next to an 80's Pontiac Acadian in very good shape. I shouted, "Hey! Nice car!" "Gotta drive somethin'!" was the reply.
mikem says:
I have a picture of me next to a fully restored (or maybe hardly ever driven) Ford Maverick. Didn't get a chance to talk to owner. We had one when I was a kid (mid-70's). It was a piece of junk, as I recall (but then again, all of our cars were junk, because we had no money).
Anyway, brought back all kinds of memories, and it begged the question: who in the world would restore/drive a frickin' Ford Maverick?!?!
TAGinMO says:
It's hardly surprising that a man contemplating organizing the inaugural Ed Lauter Film Festival would feel something of a kinship with the guy who restored a '79 Plymouth Arrow.
anotherbozo says:
@TAGinMO: I was about to crack wise myself, but your comment, without being belittling or snarky, is perfect.
Ron Pop says:
The death of the small pickup is really unfortunate. I remember in the 80's my father bought little RWD Nissan's that didn't look much different than this. He got 'em stripped: No radio, no AC, no tachometer. The only option he sprung for was the rear window you could open, that way he could talk to whoever was riding in the back. Those were great crappy trucks. Nowadays everything is obscenely huge and loaded with features, and six times the price. Even the poor old Subaru Baja has bitten the dust.
afeman says:
I would be delighted to have a small pickup, if only to mount an anti-aircraft cannon on the bed.
I have a 1993 Volvo 240 that I am sometimes dream of restoring, which is complicated by the finish having gotten this:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y20XU9eEFdE
Rich says:
The '77 Plymouth Sapporo was the last car for me. Paid about $300.00 dollars for it in the early nineties. True, when it rained it rained in the car, but that thing could scoot, dig itself out of a mudpit like nothing. A great vehicle. I'll always miss it.
BruceJ says:
You all should come live someplace like the southwest: no rust, hell , no rain :-), and lots of old cars.
Jack the Cold Warrior says:
3 old cars I'd love to restore:
1965 Buick Skylark convertible, black. The car I got to use in High School and early college years. Hand me down from my older brother, who drove it cross the USA several times when he was assigned to Ft. Lewis, WA, after his first tour in Nam as an infantry officer. Loved that thing, it did duty for all my siblings, survived tires coming off at 60mph, collision damage from aptly named Speedy's Pizza delivery VW; late in its life the gas tank actually fell off due to rusted attachments when my sister and her future hubby went over a speed bump by the college gym. RX: put the gas tank in the trunk, route the gas line through a hole in the trunk floor, and drive on. Never fixed it, whenever we pulled up to the full serve gas stations of the day, we enjoyed the shock of the attendant when there was nothing behind the fuel door! Then we opened the trunk. Freaked them out.
1965 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser – yes, like the one in "That '70's Show" except this one was a beautiful blue, rather than the muddy brown of Eric and Donna's ride. It faithfully shuttled my sister, her friends, their stuff, and me to and from college for 3 years, until my 16 year old brother flipped it over avoiding a crash when the brakes failed. But, it protected him because during the roll, he was thrown under the dashboard.
Finally, 1979 Camaro, dark blue metallic flake, V-8 that could handle the autobahn, as I got it new while I was stationed near Ansbach. Nothing like crusing at over 100 mph on the autobahn! And being in awe of the Mercedes and BMW's as they passed you doing 140-160. Should have gotten the big V-8.
These vehicles trigger memories of wonderful and exciting events of youth and family. That's why people like to restore them.
Alan C says:
My wife had a co-worker whose father's dream was to own an El Camino. My reaction upon hearing that was Geez, just buy one then! But now every time I see an El Camino on the road I'll say wistfully, "It's always been my dream to own an El Camino."
Sally's Dad says:
I am one of those guys who restores & drives unusual cars. I did this one http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1950-1951-studebaker.htm about 15 years and still have it. I love the smiles and thumbs-up I get every time I take it out for a spin.
I'm in the process of resto-moding a 63 Ford F100 Shortbed Stepside (Crown Victoria front suspension, Lincoln Mark Viii rear suspension, etc., etc.) that is going to be my daily driver when it's done.
I know there's at least one other regular contributor – I'm looking at you Major K – who is into Desoto's, which although was a division of Chrysler until 1961 is one of those cars you don't see a lot of.
Death Panel Truck says:
Sorry, but no. Plymouth was making trucks in the 1930s and 40s.
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Archive/Event/Item/1939-PLYMOUTH-PT-81-PICKUP-81887
Dave Dell says:
I recall my sister's Chevy Nova station wagon (60's vintage I think). Later the Nova wagon was part of the TV show "Tool Time".
I think some of the best vehicles to restore would be some of the very early SUV's such as the Chevy Blazer two door.
If you want to see mint condition older cars go to AZ. Never any salt damage, rare to see rust.
Dave Dell says:
I'm sorry, the TV show "Home Improvement" which featured a TV show called "Tool Time" with "Tim, the Tool Man Taylor". Tim's long suffering wife drove a red Chevy Nova wagon in mint shape.
WFB, III says:
I've been driving a '65 Ford Custom 500 for over 30 years (the car was purchased new by my aunt and given to me when she passed away in 1983). Besides the Ford, I have a '48 Plymouth Special Deluxe Sedan that I like to drive occasionally. It's a great old car to take on old time "Sunday drives" around the countryside. However, the one car I'm most proud of is a '61 Chevy Bel Air. The car was one of another of my aunt's, and I just recently was able to get the car. I'm having it restored, and am looking forward to making it shine again.
doug says:
If you like looking at cars such as this, which I do, check out the bring a trailer auction site. The vast majority are not trailer queens but rather daily driver or projects with lots of intelligent comments on each sale.
As far as resto mods, right now there is a xjs with a blower sticking through the hood on the site, which is ,well, odd looking.
Ed thanks for all you do. Enjoyed the architecture shots during your travel very much.
coloradoblue says:
Ok, reading the name of the car made me flash on the old Harry Nilsson song "Me and my Arrow" which I think I remember was used for the TV advertising of this car. Anyone else remember this?
Katydid says:
My first thought on seeing the truck? What a shame they don't make reasonably-sized trucks anymore. My father just junked an early 1980s-era Isuzu pickup that gave 30-plus years of good service before it became more expensive to repair than it was worth (East Coast rust was also a problem). It was a stick-shift, with roll-up windows and no power steering, and it moved kids in and out of college and various apartments for three decades, hauled 99% of Harry Homeover hardware & home repair stuff, slept 3 on camping trips, got great gas mileage, and was easy to park. At his age, he doesn't need a gigantor king-cab monster truck that gets crappy mileage.
Mothra says:
Afeman, I like the way you think. I, too bemoan the passing of the small pickup truck. Such a practical thing. I have no trouble at all understanding why someone would restore a Plymouth Arrow.
lsauve says:
love your blog… bought a mug.
navarro says:
my first semester in college i was living in a dorm in deep east texas and one of the guys down the hall had a plymouth arrow that he had wrecked the year before and was waiting on a slow boat from japan for the last few parts to repair it. this was the car not the truck. right before christmas he got it back and so he and i and another dorm buddy went for a ride to see the christmas lights on the bridges and barges of nachitoches. louisiana. after driving around the bridges for a bit we started to head back when we saw a sign that showing the mileage to natcez, mississippi. as one, the guys in the front seats cried out "it's only 169 mile to natchez!" tragically, we ran out of gas just on the other side of the border with less than $2 between us and a mobil credit card which proved less useful than we thought it would. we ended up trading a hunting knife for a couple of gallons of gas and made it to a mobil station in louisiana.
Joe says:
OT, but I have been watching some TV this holiday weekend and I think I have seen Ed Lauter on the screen about six different times.
Bruce Webb says:
"who in the world would restore/drive a frickin' Ford Maverick?!?"
People too chickenshit to drive a fully restored Ford Pinto. Just because it had a rear fuel tank that tended to blow up if the car was gently tapped from the rear. All the more reason to drive your Pinto and/or Maverick BALLS OUT!
Because who is going to catch a car that tops out at around 80? Well everybody. On the other hand the Maverick would get you around town and back and forth to work. So it had THAT going for it. And it is not like you are going to have a lot of competition for your restored Maverick at the Labor Day Street Car Show. I mean First in Class is cool even if the category is not exactly Classy.
Lawrence A. Kurfiss says:
I love the the utilitarian philosophy expressed in this essay. To the man who restored the AMC Pacer I say YES. That was one of the most audacious designs American carmakers ever produced.
I hadn't even noticed that there aren't any more small pickups being made! But now look around, and the Toyo/Nissan/Honda P/U's are all gargantuan! That is a sweet looking little truck, and congratulations to the owner and to you for addressing this topic. Well done.
Interrobang says:
There's a garage around the corner from me, and someone regularly parks a '53 Hudson Hornet convertible (red with black top) in its lot. While I understand from a friend who is a far more knowledgeable vintage-car buff than I am that the Hornets of that period are in demand because at the time, they were considered some of the top stockers available, you don't see too many of them around (probably because the early '50s gearheads wrecked them up stock-car racing them?). It's a nice change.
My neighbour to the east has a pickup truck that is so gigantic, it barely fits in the laneway between our two houses (which, admittedly is not huge, but there is like no space left over). I wish he'd get a smaller truck, leastways so that when my white cat escapes the house and gets under it, I don't have to wait forever for him to come out.
vegymper says:
I can really, really understand the nice American feeling of driving in style in Grampa's gas-guzzler, however, being one of the environmentally conscious and/or living in countries where gas costs a pretty damn fortune (not in the US), I'd vote for keeping in the museum any thingy that does less than 25 mpg. But, maybe my readings including e.g. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ make me a part of the death panels network invented by libruls, innit? "Not only they want to deprive us from our guns, but also from our global-nonsense-warming cheap gas!"
Dr. Acula says:
How about an immaculately restored Renault Le Car?
geoff says:
Thank you for this, Ed. For all you Maverick haters, WHATEVER!! And I see y'all's 1979 Plymouth Arrow and Renault Le Car (good one) and raise you…
1980 Subaru BRAT!!
FortGeek says:
I'm the proud owner of a favorite car for people to hate: an '81 Chevy Citation X-11. I bought it sight-unseen and had it trucked up to Pensacola from Bradenton in early 2009, took it from "oh, crap, what have I gotten myself into?" to roadworthy in three weeks (lots of little crap, a few bucks at a time, like vacuum lines, a radiator cap, some new plugs).
I ended up with a very reliable V6 with a 4-speed stick, an acre of space in back, almost 30mpg on the highway, and adults and little kids who stop and stare and say, "WOW! Cool car!"
The only other car I've had as good as this one was her "little sister", an '83 Citation that I drove for 10 years, parked in 2006 with an eye to repairing some bad rust, and was made to get rid of by Code Enforcement in 2008. I still miss that little car.
Major Kong says:
I've owned several of the 60s muscle cars and they just weren't all that great.
I can buy any number of new cars that are quicker, handle better, stop better, have more features, get better mileage and are far more reliable.
Sure, I loved my 66 GTO but I wouldn't trade my Audi for another one as a daily driver.
The fact that some of these cars are fetching six figures at auction just has me scratching my head. I guess nobody ever went broke betting on Baby Boomer nostalgia.
I can see something like a Duesenberg or Pierce Arrow fetching a million dollars. These were hand-crafted works of art and were affordable only by the very wealthy in their day.
A 1970 Road Runner is a mass-produced Detroit car with questionable build quality, a primitive suspension and a taxi-cab interior. Just because some Boomer lost their virginity in the back seat at the drive-in does not make it worth $50,000 in my book.
Rich says:
The Plymouth Arrow was a rarity in its time and being a badge engineered Mitsubishi makes it pretty uncollectable, esp. given Mitsubishi being cheapest/cruddiest Japanese make and Chrysler nearly going broke by making real junk in this period.
Some novelties do get collectors–pariahs like the Edsel, Kaiser Fraser Darrins. Some collectables were pretty awful cars–the Ford Mustang was basically a sporty Ford Falcon and designed to compete with a niche accidently pioneered by the Corvair Monza series. My brother had one of the later sport ones-it was fast but handled poorly and was more about making a statement than being a really good road car.
Major Kong says:
I have a 1957 DeSoto FireFlite.
I like it because it's cool and fun, but as a car it's junk.
nocomment says:
My late good friend had one of those trucks back in the day. Looked just like the one in the picture….nice ride.
@coloradoblue;
Yes, I believe you are correct about the Nillson song and the ads for the Plymouth Arrow.
Bitter Scribe says:
This is making me think of this Dilbert strip.
montag47 says:
Hmm. A "flawlessly restored" AMC Pacer, to factory standards, would of necessity have to include missing bolts, impossible to tune carburetor, misaligned body panels and an engine with nine different main and rod bearing sizes. AMC was on its last legs by the time the Pacer arrived, and it showed (and the Jeeps weren't much better).
Being a mechanic in an AMC dealership didn't endear me to the brand. My first job was to replace a crank under warranty after an oil pump failure, and, honest to gawd, it came from the factory with nine different journal sizes and a color-coded chart on how to install bearing shell halves. When I expressed amazement at this, the owner of the dealership said, "that's common industry practice." I could only reply, "yes… for 1946."
Linkman says:
The Le Car was the single worst car I've ever had the pleasure of driving, my grandparents somehow ended up with one. Horrid.
The Maverick, on the other hand, was a great little car, I had a hand-me-down 1973 with a 250 inch^3 straight six, and AM radio. It rusted out behind the wheels in the trunk like any good little American car in Ohio in the seventies, but it was actually reliable and a fun car to drive at the time.
Respect to those who maintain these cars just because they want to, the rest of the car world be darned. Still probably costs less than a golf hobby!
Alan says:
For what it's worth, Plymouth also produced a badge-engineered version of the Ramcharger SUV/Convertible/truck thingy called the Trail Duster. It sold like coldcakes.
BethanyAnne says:
omg, the memories. My older brother had a Dodge Rampage around the same time period. Red with a camper top. I mostly learned to drive in that little thing – Fleetwood Mac in the cassette deck, and my brother in the right seat. Good times.
democommie says:
I tried and failed to post on this thread the other day; for that I have a sad–ymmv {;>).
Otoh, it occurs to me that there is one thing to be gleaned from this thread.
The next time someone tells you how the UNIONS fucking killicated Motorcity and the rest of the midwestern rustbowl…
Give them a list of the automobiles that were designed and marketed (and, ultimately paid for by all of us) by U.S. automakers that did a bit less well than was forecast–starting with the Bailey Electric, through the Chrysler Airflow, the Edsel and dozens of others–and ask them how much UNION participation there was in that process.
It's a trick question, the answer is, "none".
Nate says:
I know someone who has a fairly functional Scout 2! It's loud as hell but it was a fun little ride. He's in the process of fixing it at the moment… :)