I was recently parts hunting at my favorite wrecking yard for my 57 Ford and came across a Country Sedan with factory air. Needless to say I came home with the whole setup including the dash . . .
There is no evidence that Buick ever built Rivieras ('63 on) with manual transmissions. All automatics. These cars had to have been modified. There has been talk of cars like these, but the Riviera Owner's Association has never found any evidence they came from the factory with manual transmissions.
A few that I have seen in wrecking yards. 1940 chev with a small handle inside of the steering wheel that ran on a bearing so that you could drive with the one hand. 1953 ford and a 1953 chev with factory power steering. 1958 pontiac with factory air ride.
The 63 Impala that I had in high school had a vacuum operated power trunk release. Been looking for one for my current 63 but no luck.
How about a real 'fully loaded' 64 Impala SS convertible. See lots of people describe Impalas as loaded or with every option but really only have a few. This one came out the factory with a 409, AC, PW, PB, AM/FM, Tach, Tilt, Wood Wheel, Remote OSRV, Pos,i Windshield washer, day/night RV mirror, and more. Plus it pretty much has every accessory available for 64 Impala's including Cruise, Spotlight, Trunk release, Autronic eye, floor mats, tissue dispenser, Hazard flasher, dual antenn'a, etc. It's also in one of the most pleasing colors, Tuxedo Black which really shows off its trim not to mention one of the more rare interior colors, Silver.
Good chance if you own an Aussie XW - XY Falcon GT and it left the factory with option '90' (delete wax) ,it was assigned for race car duty.
I saw a 67 chevy 2 ss in florida back in '79.The owner said it was one of 50 or 60 with factory front disc brakes.I also knew a guy with '56 vette that was some kind of factory dealer show car that had 2-4's, p/windows and wire wheels with knock offs.I once read a classified ad in a local paper for a 2 spd 9-inch rear out of a Cougar eliminator;I didn't think any of those reached production.
Kaiser, late 40's, with a foot switch to operate the radio station select........Found that in a wrecking yard. 4TTRUK
I know a guy, one of those gravel lot used car dealers who has nothing you want... Except his black '69 Mercury Marauder X-100 with a 429 and 4 speed. My grandmother had another O/T 429 Ford, a '70 Country Sedan. Had rubber carpets too. My O/T Ford experience was my first car, a '69 Falcon with a 302, C4, Traction-Lok 8", and AM radio with dealer installed reverb in the trunk. The lady I bought it from inherited her dad's '54 Victoria and traded it in on this Falcon, special ordering it when she was 18.
I once found a 65 GTO / tempest / LaMans speedometer with a MPH warning buzzer .. You could set it at any MPH to buzz if you went over. Id bet almost no Pontiac people even know they made them.
Dont think anyone has mentioned the 58 Chevy LevelAire suspension. I dont know how many were made but I have seen only 1 2-door hardtop wth it. Isn't the old car hobby funny: I remember when you could hardly give away a 58 Chevy, now look at what they go for.
saw alow mileage 40 ford 3100 miles with a hot air vent system and regular hot water system it was fan motor blowing air accross the rad an exhaust manifold to the vent system..
A friend owns a 67 SS 396 with power windows and wind wings Air with a 425 4 speed only one I have ever seen or heard of.
My '64 Pontiac Grand Prix had what I can only call Factory Chrome Rim Hubcaps....They had separate Chrome Lug Nuts. The car belonged to the Wife of a local Pontiac Dealer and I've never seen another set since then....Centurion9
Also had a 1955 Mercury Monterey Hardtop that had some kind of "Lube button" on the dash. I've been told it was a Dealer installed option on those cars....
One more....A '55 Olds 88 Tudor Sedan with a Three Speed on the column ........That was relatively rare but not nearly as rare as my OT 1970 Catalina Hardtop with Factory Three Speed Column Shifter........Out
It's called a "speed minder" A friend of mine added one to his '68 Camaro SS convertible I once owned.... Many years ago.. It was my first car..
-------------------- I'm about 105% positive that that that supposed "factory" 2-speed 9-inch rearend that you saw advertised for sale wasn't the 'real deal'. There definitely was an experimental 2-spd. rearend that Ford was playing with circa '69 -'70, that was tested and even shown to the public in a couple of Cougar 'Eliminators' as part of an experimental, but never released so-called "Streep" ("Streep" was Fords proposed 70's-era "hip sounding" nomenclature for the combined words "street" &"strip") package. But the 2-spd "Streep" axle wasn't based on a 9-inch rearend. It was Salisbury-type rearend manufactured by Dana - and loosely based on the somewhat ubiquitous Dana 44 rearend which had nothing in common, design-wise with the Ford-manufactured 9-inch 'pumpkin-type' rear. What was most likely listed in the ad you saw - and probably mistaken by the vender too, as an experimental Ford 2-spd "Streep" axle was likely a standard Ford 9-inch center section with an aftermarket Hone overdrive unit attached to it. Back in the late-'60's and early-'70's, a company called 'Hone Manufacturing Co.' made several different models of aftermarket 'add-on' overdrive units, including one model in particular that bolted directly to the front of a standard 9-inch ford center section, in place of the stock front yoke and pinion support bearing. No actual 2-spd "Streep" axle units are known to have ever made it out of either FoMoCo or Dana Corp. to the public, even via some supposed 'top secret' back-door engineering channel. Mart3406 ============
Back in 70-71 worked in an Esso station . Customer cars that had strange combinations include a 67 chevelle station wagon- 327/4 speed, a 69 chevelle with a 396/3 speed floor shift and the mechanics 65 galaxie (x police car) 390/3 speed column shift. It was ordered by the CT state police special for a police captain that refused to drive an automatic. A buddy of his was a mechanic for the police and tipped him off when the car was auctioned off. His wife eventually wrecked the car when she spun out backing out of their driveway and hit some ice. He saved everything from that car- bought another police car and we eventually swapped everything into the second car. In those days you could order some very strange combo's if it was what you wanted.
"One other special feature on the car was that it had a sort of 'mini bar' or more aptly a 'factory' booze stash for the rear seat passengers that was built into the back of the front seat. It was sort of like an elongated but shallower 'glove compartment', set into the back of the front seat and covered by a fake woodgrain hinged metal door. Inside, the compartment that lit up when you opened the door was a polished stainless steel whiskey flask with an engraved Oldsmobile crest" and the word "Oldsmobile" engraved in Olds script and three matching polished stainless 'drinking tumblers' also engraved with the "Oldsmobile" script." Our shop teacher in high school had TWO of these cars with the bar in the back of the front seat. Both were 98 four doors, and if I remember right, had a "Luxus" script (or something like it) on the vinyl roof just behind the rear doors.
1954 MERCURY ROADLAMP KIT An option for the 1954 Mercury passenger car was a roadlamp or fog light kit. These lights mounted in the front bumperettes. What makes them of interest to me is that they later became a rare option for the 1955 and 1956 Ford Thunderbird. The switch is a sought after item as not many have survived. The switch allowed the headlamps to be operated in conjunction with the roadlamps, as required in some states. The lamps could either be clear or amber.
There's one of these Lincolns sitting in front of Shoeboxford in Midwest City, Oklahoma. The windshield is probably worth more than the rest of the car. The car has two alternators on it.
I saw a similar setup on a '52 Olds 98 in a junkyard for the Wonderbar radio; it looked like it had two dimmer switches, but one was for the radio.
My sister had a '64 Impala with factory tilt column and my grandfather had a '66 Mercury Monclair with factory tilt also. I still have the column from the Merc. I also have seen a 1950 Ford with factory vacuum rear window wipers installed. Lastly, I had a friend in the Navy who ordered a new 1969 Camaro with 250 six and a four speed. He traded it in a few years ago for a new Ford Ranger and the dealer "gave" him $7000 in trade. I told him he got screwed and confirmed it when the dealer put the Camaro on their used lot with a $22K price tag a week later. The car was cherry and had been garaged since he took delivery in '69.
I almost forgot (getting old, memory going) I helped repaint a '65 Belvedere in high school vo-tech that had a 4 speed with 426 hemi with cross ram 2x4s. It was a one owner, the guy ordered it equiped that way.
That's the Multi-Luber, a vacuum operated setup that lubed the front end as ya drove. You see it on Lincolns kinda often but it's rare to see on Mercs.
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