Curbside Classic -

Curbside Classic: Dodge 3700 GT – The Four-Speed Slant-Six Luxo-Sport Dart We Never Got Here

– Posted on April 3, 2025

(first posted 4/2/2019) kurzos has posted a couple of shots of a Dodge 3700 GT. If it looks a bit different than an American Dart sedan, that’s because it got treated to not only a hip-implant, but a sumptuous interior with leather, full instrumentation and a four-speed floor-shifted manual. And yes, the “3700” refers to the 225 Slant Six’ displacement in cubic centimeters. Oh, and disc brakes and suspension upgrades were part of the package too. In Spain in the 1970s, when there were severe import tariffs, this was a very expensive high-end luxury car.

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2003 Infiniti M45 – The Closest Thing To An American-Style V8 Four-Door Hardtop In A Long Time

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on April 3, 2025

(first posted 12/6/2012) Now here’s a future CC I better shoot now, because it’s going to be hard to find in twenty years. They’re already scarce, or maybe it’s just that they’re so invisible. But when it came out, I did take notice: This was the closest thing to a new, big V8 American-style four-door hardtop sedan in a very long time; sort of a neo-Pontiac Catalina. And from Japan, no less. OK; I said close, because it’s not a true hardtop, with that “invisible pillar”, but with the windows up, it’s pretty convincing. Read the rest of this entry »

Curbside Classic: 1977-78 Buick Riviera – A Short Life In Hard Times

Jeff Nelson

– Posted on April 3, 2025

Unsuccessful cars are a bit like bad TV shows. Everyone remembers the runaway hits, (Hill Street Blues), but how many people get all choked up when reminiscing about Cop Rock? Same creators and a lot of the same themes and storylines, but a very different result. The failures are soon forgotten and everybody just blanks out that part of their remembrance and moves on. Today’s CC is like that, in its own way. In its short run, the 1977/78 Riviera aspired to be the Ne Plus Ultra of personal luxury, Buick style. Today, it’s seen more clearly for what it was: a GM placeholder that only borrowed the hard won mantle of an iconic nameplate.

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Vintage Snapshots: Daily Life With Station Wagons In The ’50s, ’60s, ’70s

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 3, 2025

Text by Patrick Bell.

Station wagons were a popular family car during most of the second half of the twentieth century. Today we have a good variety of wagons at work that show how versatile they were; a slice of life during that period.

We have two wagons at a tennis game for our first image, and both of them are from Kansas. The one on the left is a ’74-’77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme or Vista-Cruiser 3-seat, and on the right a ’76-’79 Audi Fox with a trailer hitch and is from Johnson County where the seat is Olathe. On the left edge is a ’77-’79 Lincoln Continental Mark V. It looks like a nice summer day with only one couple prepared to play tennis.

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T87 Singles Collection, Winter 2025 Edition – Part 3: More Foreign Cars (German, Italian, etc.)

Tatra87

– Posted on April 3, 2025

The German contingent was the most numerous by a long shot, for this edition, so let’s get to the Fleisch und Kartoffeln of the matter. We’ll start things light and sporty with the SLs and work our way through to heftier fare, including (as hinted in the title pic) a cornucopia of Porsches.

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1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV Coupe — Fallen Riches

Stephen Pellegrino

– Posted on April 3, 2025

When this car was new in 1959, it was one of the most luxurious, most powerful, most optioned, most lushly trimmed, “ultimate dreamboat” American cars you could buy–and it had that magic name: “Continental”. It was also the longest standard car on the road, and more expensive than most Cadillacs!

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My 1989 Mercury Topaz – “I Can’t Go, I’m Too Nervous”

DougD

– Posted on April 2, 2025

(first posted 5/18/2019) When the future Mrs DougD left University in 1995, she exited the world of bicycles and buses, and needed a car to get to her new nursing job. Read the rest of this entry »

Curbside Classic: 2006 Lincoln Zephyr – Soft Reboot

William Stopford

– Posted on April 2, 2025

(first posted 4/3/2019) Ford’s luxury division is in the midst of its fourth reboot this century. No car exemplifies the constantly changing winds of Lincoln’s design and marketing direction than the 2006 Lincoln Zephyr. Although its name meant a soft, gentle breeze, the Zephyr was blown away after just a year. Read the rest of this entry »

A Gallery Of Highlights From The CC Cohort

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 2, 2025

It’s time to take another look at vintage cars around the globe with a series of highlights from our Cohort contributors. I’ll start with this ’91-’96 full-size GM B-body wagon, a survivor from a nowadays dead branch in the automotive tree. Notice I’m saying B-body, as its identity is a bit in flux; it’s officially a Buick Roadmaster, as the wood appliqué and front bumper tell. But the grille is Caprice though, and the headlights too?

No matter, it’s a very CC find in all its “gotta keep it on the road, at any cost” glory.

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T87 Singles Collection, Winter 2025 Edition – Part 2: Foreign Cars (British, French & American)

Tatra87

– Posted on April 2, 2025

Welcome to the import section of our little tour. Let’s jump right in and ogle some 55-year-old fiberglass in the shape of a lovely Lotus Elan. I must have gone past that car dozens of times, but never saw it because it was always under a tarp. Then, one fine day…

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Curbside Classic: 1969 Buick Skylark Custom – No, It’s Not A Chevelle…

Tom Klockau

– Posted on April 2, 2025

As has been oft-repeated, the A-body GM midsizers were all new for 1968, with swoopy, near-fastback styling in all Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick flavors. We’ve all seen umpteen fake SS454s, fake GTOs, and fake 442s–and maybe even a real one or two!–but I am here to tell you that, yes, Buick did produce a version. And no, it is not “some weird kind of Chevelle.” However, it seems that Flint’s version of the good ol’ A was kind of lost in the shuffle. Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Car Life Review: 1966 Ford Galaxie 7-Litre – “Tends To Confuse Bigger With Better”

Aaron Severson

– Posted on April 2, 2025

By the mid-1960s, performance-minded buyers’ interest was rapidly shifting away from big cars, but that didn’t stop Ford from giving the full-size sporty car theme one more shot with the 1966 Galaxie 7-Litre, powered by the new Thunderbird 428 engine. Car Life tested the 7-Litre in January 1966 and came away more impressed with its stop than its go.

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Thank You All For Your Great Car Buying Advice, But I Ignored It And Bought This Pristine 1972 Ford LTD Instead

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on April 1, 2025

(first posted 1/14/2014) As my father could have told you, I never was very good at listening to advice. I really appreciate all the great suggestions and tips in response to my quandary as to how to replace our poor old dying Forester. There’s 163 comments so far, and all of them good ones. So what do I do? Sit down and carefully mull them over with Stephanie? Not me. Read the rest of this entry »

Curbside Classic: 1996 Land Rover Defender Diesel – An English Off-Roading Icon

Allan F

– Posted on April 1, 2025

What’s not to like about them? They’ve had decades to perfect it.

While passing through a neighborhood in San Diego I stumbled across an oddity: a Land Rover Defender. Well, not exactly an oddity in the sense that it’s still on the road, but that it isn’t a US spec one. A reality immediately evident by the plate and the right-hand drive configuration for even the layman to see. So what was so special about this one to pay for its travels to a land an ocean away from its home country?

Well, for starters, the coolness factor alone is enough for them to pay for themselves; it’s simply an icon of the British automotive culture. I suspect that’s why this one made it overseas; after all, its street tires and suburban residence doesn’t speak to off-roading.

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Vintage Snapshots: Fords In The 1960s

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 1, 2025

Text by Patrick Bell.

Fantastic Fords are our feature for today. We have many fine photos full of Fords from the sixties, with one from the seventies for extra fun. So all Ford fans gather around, and we shall move forward.

Our gallery today will begin with two models from 1960 in Getz’s Restaurant parking lot, which apparently was in Cumberland, Maryland. The first one in the foreground was a close to new blue Fairlane 500 Town Sedan with a couple of passengers who looked like they were ready to go. It was the most popular full size trim for that year, beating out the basic Fairlane 4 door sedan by more than 40,000 units. In the background, a white Falcon Deluxe 4 door wagon, the first year for the new compact. In front of the Fairlane is a ’54 Chevrolet, and on the other side of it a white ’57 Oldsmobile Super 88 4 door sedan, blue ’57 Buick Special or Century, and out in the street perhaps a green AMOCO tanker truck. Next to the Falcon is an aqua ’57 Chrysler.

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