Lots of horror stories feature cars. There are the obvious ones, like Christine, and the cars that practically become a character in their own right, like the black Impala in Supernatural. But then there are the lesser-known choices, and today while browsing, I just happened to find two cars that are not quite the same as the cars in certain movies, but they’re the same color and era. I’ll tell you what the movies are when we get to each car, but if you already know, you can sit at my table at lunch.
We did black cars earlier in the week, so yesterday we looked at cars painted in the other traditional Halloween color, orange. The general consensus seemed to be that the Chevy Blazer was too far gone and that the Jeep was overpriced, but not too overpriced to keep it from taking the win. Some of you raised concerns about potential rust on the Jeep under that stippled orange paint, but I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt. Take a magnet with you to check for Bondo, though, of course.
I do like K5 Blazers an awful lot, but that one does need too much work to bring it back to some semblance of respectability. That Jeep seems like a terrible idea to use as an actual road-going vehicle, but if you had a big piece of property and needed a way to get around it, it would be a lot more interesting choice than a side-by-side.
All right. Let’s take a look at a couple of old cars that are almost, but not quite, the same as some cars in scary movies.
1966 Plymouth Valiant V200 – $6,000
Engine/drivetrain: 225 cubic inch OHV inline 6, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Tucson, AZ
Odometer reading: 97,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
Steven Spielberg is Hollywood royalty these days, with a list of directorial credits a mile long, but it all started out with a made-for-TV movie (later released in theaters) called Duel. Duel stars Dennis Weaver as a commuter who, through no fault of his own, ends up as the object of a truck driver’s wrath. Most of the movie is just a long chase scene between a rusty old Peterbilt tanker truck and Weaver in a red Plymouth Valiant. It works, in part, because we never really see the truck driver; they could be anyone. That’s the scary part. This Valiant is a little older than the one in Duel, but it’s the same color and bodystyle.
Like any good Valiant, this one is powered by a Slant Six, which I’m guessing is the 225 cubic inch version since it’s a fancy V200 model. It’s paired with a Torqueflite automatic, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more durable engine and transmission combination in a classic car. This one has had a bunch of recent work done, and the seller says it runs great.
It does look a little tired inside; the Arizona sun has done a number on the dashboard top, and faded the red seat upholstery to a sad dusty pink. But it’s intact, and it doesn’t look like it has been abused. Unfortunately, this Valiant is just a little too new to have the cool push-button controls for the transmission; it makes do with a more traditional column-mounted lever.
The sun has been hard at work on the outside as well; most of the paint is gone from the horizontal surfaces, and it’s chalky and faded everywhere else. But it’s straight apart from a few dings and dents, and it has all the trim, including all four original hubcaps. Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing on the outside of this car; I think the patina on it is perfect.
1972 Oldsmobile 98 – $3,800
Engine/drivetrain: 455 cubic inch OHV V8, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Santa Clarita, CA
Odometer reading: 94,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, but has some electrical issues
If you’ve seen a bunch of Sam Raimi movies, you may have noticed that they all seem to feature the same car: a yellow Oldsmobile sedan. That car is, in fact, Raimi’s own car, a 1973 Delta 88 that was originally his dad’s car. Nicknamed “The Classic,” the Olds has been in every one of Raimi’s movies in some capacity or other, starting with his first feature film, the blood-soaked horror flick The Evil Dead. What we have here is a fancier version of that car, one year older, but it sure does remind me of Raimi’s car.
The 98 was Oldsmobile’s flagship model from way back in 1941. It just got bigger and fancier over the years, until it reached this ninth generation, the biggest car Olds ever built. The 1974-75 models are actually a couple inches longer than this one, even, due to the addition of 5 mph bumpers. Powering this monster is a 455 “Rocket” V8, still unfettered by emissions controls, and putting out 320 horsepower in the old gross measurement. It runs and drives fine, but it has some electrical issues: the turn signals, horn, dashboard lights, radio, and HVAC system are all currently inoperable. Break out the multimeter and get ready to test some circuits. It does have new brakes and a new battery, however.
It’s scruffy inside, with ill-fitting seat covers, a dash toupee, and door panels that have been recovered in what looks like burlap. But the power windows work, even if the AC doesn’t, and I bet those seats are still mighty comfortable. It has the original 8-track player in the dash, too, if you can get it working again.
It’s in pretty good shape outside, just a little faded and dinged-up, but rust-free. It’s listed as a salvage title, but the seller doesn’t elaborate. It’s currently registered, though, and too old for smog testing. It has a vanity license plate – BURLESK – that makes me think the seller is an interesting character. Might be worth checking out the car just to get the story behind that plate.
I really like both of these, actually. They’re in exactly the condition that I like old cars to be: mechanically fine, original, and just a little cosmetically challenged. I’d have a tough time choosing between them. Luckily, I don’t have to; you do. So which would you rather do battle with: a deranged truck driver, or an army of evil spirits?
I like those early 70s B/C-bodies a lot, but the Valiant wins because it’s ready to go anywhere.
I’m too young for either of these. If I were to buy one, it would be for its difference from modern cars. Give me the ostentatious yacht of an Olds over a sixties Camry.
Despite coming from an Oldsmobile family, I’m going with the Valiant for a number of reasons.
That powertrain is legendary. You’re right about it being a shame it doesn’t have the pushbutton transmission controls. I had a friend in elementary school whose mom had a Valiant with those and I remember being fascinated by that. I’d never seen it before. Her’s was maybe a 63? (And even though it was fourth grade, I remember his mom as being a very attractive divorcee. And they lived in a very cool house.)
This particular Olds sounds like more of a project, and I wouldn’t like how it turned out anyway. I don’t like two-doors on essentially a sedan. Especially massive ones like these. In today’s parking lots, those are door dingers. Which annoy me to no end.
Patina aside, I’d probably repaint the Valiant. I don’t like that it looks like someone spilled gray paint on the horizontal surfaces.
It’ll take two tons of fun to tow a vintage Airstream equipped with a stripper pole.
So the Old Olds for me.
I kind of just want to daily drive the Valiant, like for real. Curses to Mr. Tracy for turning me on to what’s basically a 1960s Toyota Camry.
The point about not changing the outside, very much agreed. I might like to get some more modern brakes, but otherwise would leave it alone. Increasingly I want to counter all the fancy damn luxury (and pseudo luxury) cars I see everywhere.
The Olds will be a much nicer ride than a Valiant with the slushbox… so the Olds gets my vote.
Having driven GM land yachts as my first rides (a six-fo’ Chevy wagon, and Dad’s Delta 88) such beasts hold no vestigial appeal to me. I’ll always have memories of 3am runs up a potholed Sixth Avenue back home to Jersey, trusting that the mighty drum brakes would do their job if needed. I can still hear the ringing of manhole covers left trembling it our wake.
So, call me Prince Valiant. It might be best served by leaving the exterior alone but bringing the inside up to something approaching serviceability.
Valiant. I love the 60s Oldsmobile models, but this 98 is the start of the era of disappointment in Olds (and GM in general) design.
The 455 Olds…this was one of our Driver’s Ed cars for the closed practice course track at the nearby university. This was the 80s. The cars were a variety of old 70s stuff. I remember an LTD had the front wheel fall off in the corner. The Olds though had only like 1800 miles on it for some reason, and it had working AC! That was the car I always ran to, although it was tougher to parallel park it between those cones (I do know how to parallel park to this day).
Passing drills would turn into drag races until the Instructor would yell at us over the in car radios (huge metal box in middle of front seat, bench, of course).
Not much after, all the cars got replaced with new Nissans since Nissan just built their 1st new US factory nearby.
Anybody else remember the driving simulators they had? It was a room of like 70s model dash/steering wheel/pedals stations and we watched a video of ‘driving down the road’ complete with kids with ball running out into road suddenly.
My driver’s ed car was an early 70s Toyota Corolla with a 2-speed Toyoglide automatic and a panic brake pedal on the right side for Mr. Curry. He also taught European Civilization and coached the boys’ basketball team at my high school. Great guy. His daughter, Denise, won a basketball gold medal in the ’84 Olympics and scored more points than any player, male or female during her college years at UCLA.
No contest. The Classic easily.
I don’t consider myself bourgeoise but I do have excellent taste, give me the Olds!
Both are good. I like the Oldsmobile better for its menacing presence. In fact, forget the electrical issues- I will ignore them and use it as a beater car.
As for the Valiant, it will be my economy choice. 225 I6s are rough and tough- NO DOUBT.
But I need a massive semi truck, rusty but fearsome in appearance AS WELL. I would go to a junkyard and maybe fire up and old Peterbilt 281..rusty but terrifying….
And my boss would be a cat. Since cats have slaves, he would try to kill me at every opportunity…if he had the ability to drive the truck….
It’s a ‘72 Olds.How hard can it be to find the electrical gremlins in that thing?A 2 door boat with a 455…I’ll take that over an indestructible but boring Valiant any day of the week.
As they stand, the Valiant is more appealing. But if you put $2,800 into the Olds to get to that same $6K investment, I think that would be the better car, so it gets my vote.
I want the Olds but electrical issues give me the fear. Valiant for me.
The biggest-Oldsmobile-ever Ninety-Eight is an irrational dream car of mine. Sorry, Valiant.
I feel like that Olds owner was a big time sloe gin fizz enthusiast. Something gloriously sleazy about a cream on butter personal luxury coupe with a “BURLESK” vanity plate
I think Raimi still has that Olds.
maybe its the socialist in me, but I’d much rather have the very rational valiant over the pseudo-bourgeois olds. feeding that 442 is gonna be really really expensive..
Valiant. It’s too pricy but as someone else noted, it is friend-shaped.
Both are great and I love Bruce Campbell in those movies. Hell, I love Bruce Campbell in any movie he makes. I also recall that Uncle Ben (not the rice guy) drove this thing in Spiderman before getting killed.
Duel scared the hell out of me when I first saw it on TV. Parents were out for the night and it was just my brother an I. Pretty easy to put yourself in McCloud’s shoes and wonder what you would do esp. in an overheating car as that greasy big rig closed on you.
Today, I’m riding with Ash.
I can’t vote against that Oldsmobile. Yeah, it means I’m picking Sam Raimi over Steven Spielberg, but so be it. Besides, the Olds is a bit closer to the Classic than that Valiant is to David Mann’s car.
Since I host that cars and movies podcast (Reels & Wheels – check us out!), I’ll add my one bit of trivia since we did an episode on Evil Dead 2 and the Classic. Rumor (unconfirmed) is that the car appears in The Quick and The Dead heavily disguised as a horse-drawn wagon. I would not be surprised if it was true.
I’ve heard that rumor too. I hope it’s true.
Want to come on the podcast? We’re way overdue for a new episode. It’s all audio and remote via Cast.
Today’s choice wasn’t so much which do I want more, but rather which do I not want the least. I just can’t bring myself to go with the land barge.
There are even less appealing cars to me out there, but ’70s and ’80s GM products make up a large proportion of my life’s “Cars I’d Never Want” pool. There are a few outliers I think I’d enjoy, but most of the GM stuff from those decades is just hard pass, any day of the week.
Fair? Probably not. But it is what it is.
Having owned a similar Olds, the one here is much more akin to the stuff from the 60s than anything from the mid-70s on. The quality was starting to decline a bit, but the major elements were still well-made and robustly engineered. The ’72 is prior to all the emissions requirements that started causing lots of issues as the car makers were figuring them out.
Great point about the pre-emissions stuff.
I had a buddy that was into Oldsmobiles, and had at various times a Delta 88 (mid ’70s?), a Cutlass convertible (mid to late ’60s) and a ’65 Custom Limousine (a stretched version of the 98, with the 455 and all of 22 feet of glorious iron and chrome, with a top speed north of 120 mph). You’re absolutely right – robust is a very good description of them. I just never found any of them appealing, except maybe the Cutlass.
He of course wanted a classic Hurst 442, but those were pricey even back in the ’80s. That desire I completely understood.
An A/C compressor without a fan belt is an instant turn off for me. A new compressor, conversion to R-134, dryer, and other potentially broken parts will mean a four-figure cost to get running again.
I have no choice to take the Olds since I had a four-door version in Blue at one point. I purchased it for about $500 and drove it during my last year in college before handing the keys to a friend when I bought my first proper car.
When I drove it home for the first time I reached into the glove box (which meant sliding over into the middle of the slit bench seat and using my left foot for the gas) and found seven 8-track tapes. David Bowie, The Allman Brothers, The Stooges, Waylon Jennings, Kraftwerk, Stevie Wonder, and Herbie Hancock. It was a sign that the car was perfect for me.
It was an effortless cruiser and incredibly comfortable. The best part was the heater. It was always parked outside during a particularly snowy Wisconsin winter, and I could start it, crank up the heat, go back inside, and within about 15 minutes, all of the snow had melted off the hood, roof, and window. It must have been nearly 100º inside.
The friend I gave it to drove it for two years while he finished school. He never did a bit of maintenance to it, not even changing the oil. The transmission was slipping badly because the brakes had gone, and he would occasionally stop the car by throwing it in park. My buddy called me one day and said he had just sold the car for a case of beer and $100 to a guy who was going to use it in the local demolition derby in a few weeks. So naturally, I drove back to my old college town to cheer it on.
Not only did the Olds triumph, but it did so in spectacular fashion. In the first 30 seconds, it took out two competitors with a single hit by slamming one car into another. When it was all said and done, the Olds drove away with a destroyed trunk, caved-in sides, but no apparent mechanical disabilities.
Previous owner had impeccable taste in 8-track era music. And what a tale!
a fitting viking funeral