Does anyone remember this ?

[picklesgarage]

So this is from the April 2002 Popular Hot Rodding. Was an idea section on remodeling some 80s cars. Loved this concept. Part of the reason i had always wanted one and why i bought the one i did.
Does anyone know if anyone tried to follow this and build it as it was conceptualized?

 

[80mirada]

I remember seeing that article, I don't know if anyone has built one like it

 

[picklesgarage]

my guess is no. but even some inspiration for the ideas. like tucking the bumpers. i think that would improve the lines and the profile.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

I never saw anything wrong with the bumpers. It helps that the front one is point and on 5th avenues anyway the rear one seems to look better the way the license plate is in it with the bumper guards closer. R body ones on the other hand do need something...

I always thought these cars would look a bit newer if they had composite headlights like GM did with their cars instead of the old bulbs.

The first gen 300C sort of picks up where the FWD 5th Avenues and dynasty left off. It would be interesting to see someone take one of those and add some of the design ques into it. That actually fit the style of the car that is, not just hitting up JC Whitney and slapping a bunch of low buck chrome trim all over it.. no offense to anyone who's done that

 

[MoparDan]

I always thought these cars would look a bit newer if they had composite headlights like GM did with their cars instead of the old bulbs.

I never liked the look of those composite lights personally, cheapens the look, I used to have an '88 Olds Touring Sedan with those lights and never liked them, I wanted to change them the square lights, but it was just a temporary car until I could find another M-body... Had a friend with two Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams an '87 and a '90 I think, one had square lights, the other had composite lights, the composite light car looked a lot cheaper I thought (and so did my friend)

 

[Mikes5thAve]

I never liked the look of those composite lights personally, cheapens the look, I used to have an '88 Olds Touring Sedan with those lights and never liked them, I wanted to change them the square lights, but it was just a temporary car until I could find another M-body... Had a friend with two Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams an '87 and a '90 I think, one had square lights, the other had composite lights, the composite light car looked a lot cheaper I thought (and so did my friend)

I always thought the opposite- the GMs with the square headlights made them look cheap and old and the composite lights took them up a notch and made them look newer. The later square Caprices, Cadillacs, even the Buick Century and Cutlasses looked better with them and made them look a bit newer without wrecking the over all look of the car.

 

[MoparDan]

I always though they looked plainer and cheaper, to each their own I guess. I wonder what would've happened if they had offered the cars both ways, I wonder which would've sold better

 

[Mikes5thAve]

My guess would be the ones with the newer lights because at the time the vehicles they made the changes to did get a boost in sales. But it wasn't just the lights that changed and pretty much all those vehicles ran their course and it was either make changes or discontinue them.
I only brought it up to begin with because the sketch in the original post shows long single headlights instead of the quad setup.

 

[Opticon77]

Keeping the landau top shape and rear window angle but converting it to metal would be just silly.

 

[volare 77]

I like the look. Would have been nice to see one.

 

[8T2TOP]

Looks like a Foose before Foose was on the scene..

 

[SonOfaTomP]

seeing that thing makes me thankful pimp my ride never got a hold on an M

 

[beatersRus]

seeing that thing makes me thankful pimp my ride never got a hold on an M

actually,they Did....the ostrich car.
funny you should mention it,as i had the chance to buy it years ago.
the episode was aired maybe once and then never again.

it was a 4 door m .and the work quality was horrible.
clearly back then these were ten footers oncam.
this car was painted the most hideous yellow and then had various fowl things done to it in the interior including some bizarre ostrich door skins.
hence the ostrich name.

that car just last year or beginning of this year finally ended up,
stripped out and derbied over on western ny.

 

[SonOfaTomP]

actually,they Did....the ostrich car.
funny you should mention it,as i had the chance to buy it years ago.
the episode was aired maybe once and then never again.

it was a 4 door m .and the work quality was horrible.
clearly back then these were ten footers oncam.
this car was painted the most hideous yellow and then had various fowl things done to it in the interior including some bizarre ostrich door skins.
hence the ostrich name.

that car just last year or beginning of this year finally ended up,
stripped out and derbied over on western ny.

Can you find a picture of it? is the episode anywhere out there? now i'm intrigued. as a kid i always wanted to see a Dip on one of the customization shows like overhaulin or pimp my ride and it wasn't until i got older did i realize how tacky they were. still be cool to see an actual one.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Yeah I'm interested too now to see what this bastardized monstrosity looks like

 

[beatersRus]

i remember trying to find the episode online after i found the car and it was not even in the list of season episodes.
in fact,there was a few of the shows that were nfg and were never shown on tv.
theres a lot of things that were never mentioned,like how some of the vehicles brought in were simply discarded for another vehicle same color.

as far as pics of that specific car...maybe??
my brother has pics,he did take some of the car that day.
it all depends where the pics went,if they stayed on his old fone then no.
if he downloaded them then yes.
ill do my best to track them down,but all you will see what appears to be a taxi colored 4 door diplomat with ostrich colored interior.
Gauuugh !!

heres Tavarish with a very good example of " the work " that went into these .

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Yeah I found that minivan after you mentioned the other car and watched those videos of it being fixed up.

 

[beatersRus]

Yeah I found that minivan after you mentioned the other car and watched those videos of it being fixed up.

itll be a stroke of luck if my brother still has them,and ill bug him to look thru his fones and jog his memory.
i still remember the house where the car sat for Years for sale.
it had a 318 with the big huge alternator and it ran on maybe 6 cylinders at that time.
i might even be able to stop by there sometime and see if they have any info.
the owner?s were all younguns.

as far as the quality of the work,i was laughing too,body kits held on with wood screws,etc etc.

 

[The Director]

The Fifth Avenue in that article screams the early '00s. Pimp My Ride is the first thing I thought of, to be honest. But, to answer the question, this article is actually a first to me, since I've never actually read Popular Hot Rodding before. I've read the Hot Rod magazine before, but I've never seen much of 80s cars ever featured in that.

The closest I saw to that car in the article is that someone on Youtube threw 24'' rims on a Fifth Avenue, but that was it.

 

[picklesgarage]

beatersRus, that van was for sale for the longest time out of Brockton Ma. came across it a few times on craigslist. the last price i remember them asking was like $500.