Early Winter 2024-25 Finds

Happy New Year ONEC readers! We're back with some more classic cars as we enter Winter and the start of the new year. Be sure to read our year end review write up in sub page to see what's in stock for 2025! We're exited for another year of ONEC. 

Above: 12/22/24 - 1972 Pontiac LeMans GTO (David)

Winter started off rather appropriately with a small snow storm, and thus gave us this winter themed '72 Pontiac GTO. This GTO has definitely seen better days, but is still identifiable as one of Pontiac's best cars of all time. 

1972 marked the final year for the GTO's second generation, and the last of unrestricted cars before emission regulations bogged the car's true power potential in 1973 for its third generation and final production year until its 2004 revival. By 1972, production of the GTO began to wind down. It was no longer its own model, instead becoming a trim package of the LeMans model. It was still available with the 455 cubic inch V8 engine, rated at 300 horsepower. This option was also available on the LeMans sport coupe for a smaller price, which led to consumers buying the LeMans with the 455 engine instead of the GTO. In total, 646 GTOs were produced with this engine in 1972, making them fairly rare cars. 

Above: 12/22/24 - 1968 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 Limousine (David)

The Cadillac Fleetwood 75, one of the biggest factory produced cars of all time. Though this example has seen much better days, it is the most luxurious Cadillac ever produced and also the largest Cadillac produced, until the 1971 tenth generation enlarged the previous 245 inch length to a whopping 252 inch length in 1974. 

While the 1971 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron is regarded as the largest passenger vehicle ever built, the Fleetwood 75 is regarded as the largest production car ever built. This is because the Fleetwood 75 is technically classified as a limousine, and not a regular passenger car like the Imperial Lebaron. 

Above: One Heck of a Car

The fact that the Cadillac Fleetwood 75 was offered as a factory option is astounding. When I first saw this car, I thought it was a conversion of a regular Cadillac Fleetwood from 1968. However, when I posted the car on ONEC's Instagram page, a GM historian commented that this was the Fleetwood 75, and one heck of a car in his words. This led me to research the Fleetwood 75's history, and learn how it was the largest American car ever produced. 

Though the Fleetwood Series 75 name was discontinued in 1977, the option was renamed simply as the Fleetwood Limousine. It would remain in its classic form until 1984. In 1968, with a length of 245 inches, and a wheelbase of 150 or 156 inches (depending on the option), there was nothing larger than a Fleetwood 75. From 1946 to 1984, there would be no larger can than the Fleetwood 75. In fact, there probably never will be a car as big as the Cadillac Fleetwood 75. 

Above: 1/7/25 - 1986 Ford F-150 XL (David)

This nicely patinaed 1986 Ford F-150 was photographed on Wickenden St. in Providence. It's always nice to see an older seventh generation OBS Ford, as they aren't as common these days as the newer eighth and ninth generation trucks. This example appears to be well kept and all original. The unique two-tone finish in Dark Teal over Desert Tan is a nice color combination that has faded well with its age. It's an honest truck after all, so I'm glad the owner continues drive and maintain it well. 

As for the dealer sticker noting Menard Ford, a dealer ship from Woonsocket, RI, that detail makes this Ford is truly a local vehicle. You can understand why its paint aged in such a way, being a New England car for nearly 40 years. Menard has been closed since 2021, but in its place is another Ford dealer, Imperial Ford. Imperial Ford is part of a larger chain of four car dealers, owned by Imperial Cars. They specialize not only in Fords, but with Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Toyota products. 

The Volvo 740 Wagon lurking in the background can be viewed in Late Spring Spotting 2023 Part 2. 

Above: (1/25/25) - 1965 Chevrolet Impala Convertible (Sam)

"The Branchburg Impala." 

Above: 2/10/24 - 1980 Cadillac Seville Classic Roadster (David)

Here's something you wouldn't expect to see in a mall parking garage! Parked away from all the other mall patrons, this 1980 Seville Classic is a car I'd never expect to see at a mall, nor anywhere for that matter. Though it's one of the oddest designs to come out of the 1980s and of American car design, you'd think I'd remember it more, but I don't. 

This Seville Classic is part of the second generation of the Cadillac Seville. Introduced for 1980, there wasn't much different between the original 1976 to '79 first generation cars and the '80 to '85 second generation with exception of the bizarre retro-modern sloping rear trunk lid design. This design choice was made after Cadillac realized that the customer demographic buying the Seville were older individuals who wanted a Cadillac product that wasn't as large as the full size Fleetwood Brougham or DeVille. The original Sevilles from the late '70s were designed to appeal to young professionals, but with the older demographic in mind, Cadillac redesigned the Seville to mimic the designs from which the car's consumer base were young. 

Interestingly, Bill Mitchell was the designer of the second generation Seville, and responsible for the interesting retro-modern styling of the car. That name may sound familiar, as Mitchell had designed some of GM's best designs. Mitchell gave us the 1949 Cadillac, 1955 to 1957 Bel Airs, 1963 Buick Riviera, the Corvette C2, the 1970 Camaro, and the Corvair. These designs have been regarded as some of GM's best looking and most unique. Ironically, Mitchell did not favor designing the smaller Cadillac Seville, because he was quoted in 1974 as saying "Small cars are like vodka. Sure people will try them out but they won't stay with them."

Above: The Strangest Looking Cadillac

This has got to be the strangest looking Cadillac, in my opinion. Though it looks like a standard Cadillac Seville from the front, the sloping rear 1/3 of the car is... well it's certainly a peculiar design choice for sure. The Seville Classic was built to appeal to older customers, with a design trying to mimic automotive designs of the late '30s and Post-War era. Therefore, an argument can be made that the Seville Classic was the first retro-modern car design. 

GM notoriously used the retro-modern design technique to appeal to customers, with memorable vehicles like the Chevy SSR and the HHR. Both of these were based on the Advance Design trucks produced from 1949 to 1954. The redesigned 2010 Camaro was based on the original first generation Camaros from 1967 to 1969, and the Hummer H2 was based on the original HUMVEEs from the 1980s and '90s. Of course, the retro-modern design technique would most famously be used on the Chrysler PT Cruiser, a design which many consider to have aged horribly. Most of the designs 

I personally don't mind this look on the Cadillac Seville, though it gives the car a really strange appearance. In fact, that's a problem a lot of retro-modern cars face. The aforementioned Chevy SSR and HHRs were some of the most bizarre and ugliest looking cars to roll out of GM dealerships during the 2000s. The PT Cruiser, though it was a Chrysler product and received Motortrend's Car of the Year award upon its debut, would later be dubbed one of the worst aged cars as the years went by. Though the retro-modern designs seek to mimic older, more timeless designs, they ultimately fall short because the "modern" aspect of the design as a whole is truly a product of its own time, only seeking to mimic a time in which the car itself did not exist.