Disclosure: This site may receive compensation when you click on some links and make purchases.

Maybe It Is Easier Being Green?

Not to totally disagree with Kermit, but my late uncle had a theory that far more green cars survive as lower mileage cars than any other color. He said it was because they were ugly (note, he owned several green cars, so I’m not really sure where that came from) and I’ll be honest–I’ve found a lot of green lower mileage cars that I’ve wondered how they survived because they weren’t anything tremendously special–at least to the average car nut! This 1968 Pontiac Tempest is one of those. It’s for sale here on eBay at no reserve in it’s 72,589 mile glory, and I’m sure there will be doubters on the mileage. Read on and see!

Take a look at the scads of documentation, going back to when the car was new. Still not convinced? Read on!

Notebooks recording every tank of gas and all maintenance ever done to the car are included. It’s been off the road for a while until recently, but now has a complete tuneup and fluid change, new tires and it’s ready to go. The seller has loaded a video here about the car that’s a joy to watch. This really is just a nice used car.

Of course, there are blemishes. I suspect it’s been repainted at least once, and there are some spots of surface rust in places. The finish is perfectly acceptable to me, though. By the way, those wheel covers are from a later Pontiac, but a complete set of the originals can be bought here on eBay for less than $105 with shipping.

The interior is in stellar shape except for one tear on a seam on the driver’s side (you can see it in this shot) and a damaged headliner, but the seats have been reupholstered at some point. I don’t see 172,589 miles of wear on the pedal pads, though.

The engine is a healthy 350, the air conditioning works but doesn’t blow as cold as it should, and you really owe it to yourself to watch the video long enough to see the seller balance bottles of water on the running engine to illustrate how smooth the V8 runs. Yes, I’d love this car and will be watching it closely. Could you overcome the greenness and four door stigma to love it too? And what do you think about my uncle’s theory?

Comments

  1. HoA Howard A Member

    I’m sure the mileage is correct. Don’t buy the green theory, although, it’s well known in drag racing, green is an unlucky color. In the 60’s, green was huge. My parents had green appliances, green bathroom stuff, and I kind of like green. Sure beats black and silver of today. Nice car, shame nobody wants it.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Steve

      Here’s my 1972 Camaro Sport Coupe with 27k original miles – PS/PB/AC 350. It’s nostalgia for me since my first car, purchased in 1977, was 1971 Camaro in the same color scheme. Parted the ’71 out in 1983 but kept the two major parts that didn’t sell. Now the trunk lid and rear bumper from the ’71 are on the ’72. I’ve come to like most green vehicles.

      Like 1
  2. Avatar dj

    I’ve had several cars that were green and low mileage. That being said, my current 72 Lemans Sport is Shadow Gold with 70k mileage. So the green theory is not quite true.

    Like 0
  3. Avatar Terry Johnson

    In 1968 Tyler bought a brand new GTO 4 speed car in that color. It grows on you. :-) Terry J

    Like 0
    • Avatar Bingo

      Yep. I remember Tyler. Really??

      Like 0
  4. Avatar nessy

    I am not really a true Pontiac fan, Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs do it for me, nor am I a green fan, I guess not a 4 door sedan fan either but there is just something about this car that I like….It sure is different.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jeffro

      I agree. This car gets me all hot and bothered

      Like 0
      • Avatar Tony C.

        Wow Jeffro, if that’s the case you better not go out on the front lawn you might have a real problem.
        TC

        Like 0
  5. Avatar The Walrus

    Your uncle was spot on. Greens like this were trendy in the late 60’s-early ’70’s with green in general peaking around 13% of cars sold. This dropped to nearly 0% by the early ’80’s and has since recovered and stabilized around 2-3%. This meant that when cars this color were about 10 years old they looked very dated. Add to that an uninspiring car beneath the color and you have a disproportionate number of pristine 4-door green machines. Obviously there are cars in all colors are out there in original shape, but you don’t see nearly as many of the more appealing vehicles in green or the less inspiring vehicles in more appealing colors that would be expected if all other factors were even.

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Joe M

    Definitely agree with your uncle, growing up in the70’s and 80’s there was a elderly woman a few blocks away from my house, that had an all green 67 Camaro with a 6cyl. That car sat in front of her house for 25 to 30 years in the city, with the occasional trip to the grocery store or church. No alarm system, no steering wheel lock, nothing. Not once did anyone ever try to steal it in the city. It went to her daughter when she passed in her late 80’s in the 1990’s.

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Bill the Engineer

    Oh, this one is SO tempting! I only wish I had the room for it at the moment. It would be an instant POCI show car while I am working on my other one.

    Like 0
  8. Avatar Ralph Terhune

    I have a green ’67 Ford LTD 4 door sedan with 52K miles on it and it looks like a 5 year old car. Green really suits this car. Very nice!

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jaygryph

      I have a green 1969 Galaxie Country Sedan wagon. Love that car. It looks nice on it.

      And hey, Pantone says the hot color for 2017 is a sort of 70s medium green so I bet you will see a run of new cars in green and prices on green cars go up a tick.

      Green cars unite!

      Here is mine!

      http://m.imgur.com/a/WK16y

      It’s so close to being on the road again. I’m excited. A carb is next on the list.

      Like 0
  9. Avatar gbvette62

    Pontiac called that color Verdoro Green, and it was extremely popular in 68. Verdoro was available on every Pontiac line, Firebird, LeMans, Bonneville and Grand Prix.

    My mother had a Verdoro Green 68 LeMans 2 door hardtop, with a black vinyl top and the a pale green interior (Ivy Gold it was called). It was a nice car, with buckets, console, 350 2 bbl, PS, PB and air.

    Like 0
    • Avatar JoeR

      My first car was a 69 verdoro green GTO hardtop with gold interior. When we were young, my father had a 68 Dodge Charger, green with black interior and a 383.

      Around 1982, my mother inherited a 1989 Chevy Citation…..in green!

      (We also had a brown with woodgrain 1971 Pontiac Grand Safari, so not all green vehicles)

      I just can’t recall seeing many green cars around. I guess they just blended in.

      Nice car here.

      Like 0
    • Avatar Nova Scotian

      Chevy interiors were called Ivy Gold.

      Like 0
    • Avatar GSCHEVY

      They also painted 1968 Chevelles in Verdoro Green Metallic if they were produced in the Oshawa, Ontario Canada plant. The attached all numbers SS396 was a car that I knew for it’s entire life until I bought it from the original owner in 2001. The picture is after the restoration that I did (excluding paint and body work).

      Like 0
      • Avatar Jamie Staff

        Gorgeous car!

        Like 0
    • Avatar Bill O Member

      That was my favorite color for Pontiacs. None of the other GMs offered it. I think it was available from 1968 to 1971.

      Like 0
  10. Avatar Jim Mc

    Nowadays this would be considered a full-size car but back in the day it was a mid-size. And for a mid-sized late ’60s 4-door, it’s proportioned beautifully. The curves have an almost sensual appeal to them. It’s too bad more folks don’t dig the 4-doors as I think ones like this are a prize.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar George

    All the best cars my parents had were green! Or at least started out that way…

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Vince Habel

    This is a rare 9 cylinder model.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar Rustytech Member

    Nice car. It’s never going to be valuable but would make a great car for hauling the family around, at least it wouldn’t look just like the hundreds of other cars on the mall parking lot.

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Larry K

    Here’s one from Florida I passed by in Aurthur Ont, Canada. Rat poopoo on the floor but otherwise nice.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Chebby

      That’s a beaut! How much were they asking?

      Like 0
  15. Avatar David Miraglia

    Nice car, Green with envy….

    Like 0
  16. Avatar Bubba Smith

    Your Uncle and I share the same theory…I have observed that a disproportionate number of low mile cars for the 70s and early 80s are Green or Poop Brown…makes total sense to me as their owners were ashamed to be seen in them when new…hence the low miles now. Long live the boring, fugly earth tone wonders.

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Rocko

    My father always bought brown Fords, said this way the rust don’t show!

    Like 0
  18. Avatar Jaygryph

    The thing about four door cars, they’re cheaper, and when you’re in the driver seat they feel just like yer driving a coupe.

    Plus, you can more easily pile yer buddies in the back. Cruising in a tiny back seat sucks.

    If you’re into a car for the driving experience than how it looks should be secondary to how it performs when ya got yer neat hooks on the ol guide circle.

    Like 0
  19. Avatar CapNemo

    I love this car! I want to touch it. I want to be friends with it.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jeffro

      Take your meds. You’re scaring the children

      Like 0
  20. Avatar Rolf Poncho 455

    Green makes me feel Blue

    Like 0
  21. Avatar tripavents

    Green… unless its a British car in “british green” or “moss green”

    Like 0
  22. Avatar PRA4SNW

    Yes, green was popular in the late 60s – early 70s, but my theory is that people don’t repaint survivor cars as often as other types of cars. That’s why you still see them.
    If you had a car that was green after it fell from popularity, you probably had it repainted a more popular color of the time.

    I, on the other hand, took my 70 Vette back to it’s original Donnybrook Green from the terrible baby blue it was when I bought it.

    Like 0
    • Avatar PRA4SNW

      Photo:

      Like 0
  23. Avatar CaCarDude

    Had a few nice green cars over the years, a ’64 Lemans that was original beige was painted a dark green when I bought it in 1970, also had a mint condition ’71 Nova SS in a Cottonwood green, one of the best cars I owned back in the day, another was a ’70 VW bug in a dark factory green, I like the Pontiac green, my older sister and her hubby bought a brand new ’68 GTO in the same Verdoro green with parchment interior.

    Like 0
  24. Avatar Thomas Luther

    Never had green but can relate to low mileage 6 cyl 71 Nova coupe in Placer Gold. No options other than power steering and an AM radio and black cloth. Purchased by my dad in 1980 with 49k on the odometer for $800. Unfortunately with the abuse of my sister and her husband and 2 engines and a transmission later the car was sold and the people who bought it totalled it. Very sad ending to a beautiful car that I never got to own or restore. And Gold gold gold 😳

    Like 0
  25. Avatar jürgen

    Nice car.
    I ve never seen in Germany.
    I live green.

    Best regards from germany. Jürgen

    Like 0
  26. Avatar jürgen

    Thats My green pony

    Like 0
  27. Avatar MRE2ME

    If you lived in Canada in the 1960’s Bell Telephone painted all their vehicles in this colour(Canadian spelling). We just called it Bell Telephone Green.

    Like 0

Leave a Reply to dj Cancel reply

RULES: No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.

Become a member to add images to your comments.

*

Get new comment updates via email. Or subscribe without commenting.