(first posted 1/21/2019) It’s no secret that Portland, OR has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country in recent years. It’s “where young people come to retire”, as well as others. And the streetscape has been changing rapidly too, like these condominiums that have replaced so many smaller street front low-rise buildings.
But this venerable Rambler Classic has survived, yet.
(first posted 10/10/2011) Every once in a while, a visionary, iconoclastic automotive pioneer bursts on the scene and, bucking the long odds and naysaying “conventional wisdom”, delivers a disruptive new line of cars. Frequently, that new model sets the status quo on its ear and forever changes the way we think about (and react to) our transportation needs. Those brave revolutionaries almost single handedly redefine their market segment and leave an indelible mark on the industry itself. Today’s story, though, has nothing to do with anybody like that. Our narrative today is of a modern P.T. Barnum and the circus freak show that he brought to America in the twilight of the Reagan years. The man is Malcom Bricklin. The car is the Yugo.
(first posted 1/20/2019. Update 1/19/2025: Aiden still has the Camaro. He graduated from the U of Arizona is working in Phoenix but the Camaro is still sitting at his parents’house under a car cover as he’s got a Mazda 3 hand-me-down.)
Four years ago, my then 13 year-old nephew Aidan waxed eloquently in his first post at CC about a Chevelle SS454 we had found on a walk near his house in San Mateo, CA. Now that he’s 17 and is a newly-licensed driver, it should not come as a big surprise that his first car is another vintage Chevy, a ’79 Camaro Z-28. On my recent visit there, I was eager to see it and check it out. That included a short drive to this park to shoot it, which was a trip in the way-back machine. Which is why Aidan bought it in the first place.
Photos from the Cohort by tbm3fan.
There was little of the Imperial name by the time I was in my early twenties, other than a few worn-out ones from its failed ’80s revival. So whenever one of these American style luxury flagships from the Pentastar shows up I pay some attention. After all, it’s only through these rare survivors that I can take a brief glimpse at these Cadillac-Lincoln challengers.
And here’s one, captured last October in California, looking quite sedate and dignified in its stately white color.
The ever-accessible small Japanese pickups from the 80s and even 90s are finally starting to age out of their affordable all-purpose work and leisure vehicle roles. But these famously resilient vehicles are nothing if not tough and can overcome the most unexpected hardships. So it should come as no surprise that this rare 1973 Toyota Hilux pickup survived being decapitated by a tree limb and continues to soldier on nearly unfazed.
I’ve long been skeptical of the Ford Expedition. Since its launch thirty years ago as a thinly-veiled F-150 wagon, it struck me as a crass way for image-conscious North Americans to spend a whole lot of money pretending they aren’t driving a minivan, and ruining the planet in the process. That’s a bit unfair to the vehicle given its ability to do genuine work like towing the family RV or boat, but my rude impression of the Expedition and the entire Nimitz-class battle wagon fleet remained. It’s hard to deny that they are expensive and inefficient tools for moving kids around suburbia.
(first posted 8/9/2011) Lots of people rightfully think of Cadillac as the All American car. Founded in the U.S.A., long called the standard of the world, no other country could be the home to a true Cadillac. So when GM announced a new kind of Caddy to the world in mid 1996, car watchers everywhere wondered if a car whose DNA came from another continent could ever be the real thing. Their worry was not misplaced. For only the third time in its long history, Cadillac imported a car from Europe and the results were disastrous. The Cadillac Catera was little noted or long remembered, but its failure forced GM to do what had been unthinkable just a few years earlier – start over with a clean sheet of paper and finally save its luxury division.
(first posted 1/19/2019) Think Alfa Romeo and your mind’s eye will most likely conjure up a beautiful red roadster or lithesome coupe, both powered by a high-revving DOHC engine that is both powerful and visually a work of art. But buses (and trucks) were once a major part of the company’s product line. As we’ve recently reviewed the Mercedes O6600H and the Krauss Maffei KML 110 coaches; both produced in the decade of the 1950’s, let’s look at several buses that Alfa built during that same period.
I was in the middle of a long stroll in San Francisco this past December, during what was a brief visit to the city I had lived in twenty years prior. What better way to get reacquainted with the neighborhoods than to travel them by foot?
Despite the inevitable changes, the streets did manage to give my mind a good flood of memories. Nothing like physicality to create such feelings; in my head, it was the days of the turn of the century placed against the updated surroundings. And in keeping with the theme, what do I find? An early aughts Buick LeSabre, a true callback to those Y2K days (remember that?).
Text by Patrick Bell.
We are going to look at some Pontiacs for today’s feature, mostly from the sixties and seventies with one from the fifties for good measure.
First off we have a pleased-looking young lady with a new ’68 Firebird hardtop that probably is hers. It was purchased at McKissick Pontiac in San Leandro, California, and appears like the base model dressed up with the Rally II wheels and a remote control outside mirror.
From 1968 through about 1979, the Cadillac Eldorado and Lincoln Continental Mark were at the top of the heap of American prestige cars. In July 1970, Motor Trend began what for a time became an annual tradition: comparing these premier personal luxury coupes to ask which one was truly “King of the Hill.” Let’s take a look at the cars, and see which one came out on top.
A little while back, I wrote about a wonderful ’81 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham that Cindy and I had received from her grandparents; Louis and Molly. Cindy’s grandparents were such wonderful people; Louis loved his wife and cherished every minute they had together, while Molly was a typical sweet grandmother who never complained.
The day came when Paul, my father in law, knew it was time to take his father‘s car keys away. Louis‘ driving had gotten unsafe and it was the best thing for everybody involved. The only thing was that at the time, the car was in the hands of Paul’s sister. However, that was not what Louis had in mind at all, he told Paul to take the car back and give it to Cindy and me as he wanted us to have his last car. It was just his wish. What a kind man.
(first posted 1/18/2019) On a gray morning earlier this week I had an in-town errand. As I pulled into the still mostly empty lot, I spotted a nice little pickup which I chose as my parking neighbor. My own Tacoma, though it would have looked small compared to the F150 you can see in the background here, absolutely dwarfed this JDM rarity.
(1/18/2019) When I spotted this Montego convertible parked by the beach at Half Moon Bay, I had the thought that doesn’t come to me very often: Have I ever seen one of these before? Given that I was sixteen when this car was new, I undoubtedly did, but wouldn’t have paid it much attention at the time. But in more recent decades, when I began to appreciate all the older cars still on the road, including once-invisible ones like a Montego, I can say fairly certainly: No.
Well, there’s a pretty good reason for that. All of 1,725 Montego convertibles were built in 1969. As a logical consequence, this was the last year for the ragtop. And how many of them are still around? So yes, I was pretty happy with this find.
