Curbside Classic -

Cohort Classic: 1975 Mazda Rotary Pickup – One Of A Kind

– Posted on November 10, 2024

(first posted 4/3/2013) Here’s a find that I’ve long hoped to bag myself: a rare Mazda Rotary Pickup. improbocat found this one, and just posted it at the Cohort. It was an audacious vehicle at the time; now it seems almost absurd. But in the early seventies, Mazda was flying high on the strength of their rotary engine, and they were sticking it in anything that they thought those power-loving cheap-gas swilling American would buy: Little econobox RX-2, mini-GTO RX3; Luxo-rotary RX-4, the RX-7, of course. The only thing left in the cupboard was the B1800/2000 pickup. Why not? Ask OPEC. Read the rest of this entry »

Curbside Classic: 1967 Mercury Comet 202 Two-Door Sedan – Cheap Thrills

Dave Skinner

– Posted on November 10, 2024

(first posted 8/28/2014) They built this Mercury Comet the year I turned six, so my recollection of these models is buried quite deep in my memory banks. Still, there were plenty of these around through my teenage years, so I’ve got a pretty solid feel for what a Mercury Intermediate ought to look like, and this one looked a bit strange. The tail lights and side sculpting read as Mercury, but that roofline screamed “Falcon.” Gathering shots for the article, I wondered what was going on. Had someone grafted Mercury body parts onto a Falcon? Or was this just another variation of Ford’s prolific Falcon platform, one that escaped my notice back in the day? Read the rest of this entry »

Junkyard Finds In The Open – One More Visit, Up North

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 10, 2024

Photos from the CC Cohort by canadiancatgreen.

There’s a certain feeling of serene beauty and calmness about junkyards in open fields. Or so they do to my eyes. And the farther they seem to be from civilization, all the better and the more appealing.

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1980 VW Rabbit Found At The Pump Slurping Diesel, Obviously

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on November 10, 2024

The diesel Rabbit phenomena was huge here in Eugene, and I’ve documented many of them over the years here. And it’s not completely over yet, as this one getting a fill-up of diesel attests. Talk about the ultimate long-life car; it’s right up there with the Corolla. These are simple cars with very rugged engines. Their owners are loyal, even fanatical. You want to have a conversation about cost-per-mile operating costs over 40 or 45 years? Well, good luck trying to top one of these.

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Curbside Find: ’97-’02 Daewoo Nubira – Postcard Perfect Footnote

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 10, 2024

Photos from the CC Cohort by Mike Hayes.

I didn’t dare to use the word “unicorn” on this post’s title, even if I’m pretty sure that’s what this Nubira is nowadays. True, not many of these Daewoos have survived to this day, but “unicorn” is such a mythical-sounding name. As in something worth hunting for and looking forward in expectations –qualities I’m not entirely convinced an old Daewoo embodies.

But the brief period the maker aimed high, aspiring to be the next hot thing in the US market? That I’m pretty sure qualifies as an automotive footnote. And here we have a perfect sample of the era, surviving to this day with few blemishes and posing in a setting that’s oh-so postcard-like.

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Auto-Biography: Working Where Volvos Are Born – Part Three

Stephen Hansen

– Posted on November 10, 2024

Last week’s post briefly touched on the initial design ideation for Volvo’s next-generation small cars which would replace the Swedish automaker’s compact S40 sedan and V40 station wagon. Those quick sketches and their accompanying descriptions, nearly one hundred in all, as I recall, were reduced to fit in an A4 portrait format and then bound into handy reference books for Volvo management to peruse at their leisure.

We instinctively knew that the compact-car segment was beginning to fragment, not least with the addition of smaller sport-utility vehicles such as the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Thanks to our new Ford connections, we learned of the Blue Oval’s compact unibody Escape sport-utility (Maverick in Europe) and Land Rover’s compact Freelander SUV, both in late-stage development for U.S. introduction in the 2001 and 2002 model years respectively.

It seemed that a market opportunity could exist for a Volvo entry positioned above the Asians and domestics but below the compact Land Rover entry. And after all, an “all-activity vehicle” was one of the avenues explored by Volvo design teams and enshrined in the aforementioned reference books…

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Car Show Outtake: Opel Monza – The Other, Other Monza

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on November 9, 2024

(first posted 6/7/2013) When we think of Monza, it’s likely either the Corvair or the Vega-offshoot. But there’s a third (are there more?) GM coupe that bore that name, and our man in the UK, Roger Carr, found this example at a car show somewhere there. Except for the name and the fastback roof, there’s nothing in common to the other two. Read the rest of this entry »

CC Capsule: 1979 Pontiac Bonneville – A Doppelgänger If I’ve Ever Seen One

Brendan Saur

– Posted on November 9, 2024

(first posted 11/9/2018) Of all the 1977-1990 GM B-bodies, from a brand perspective, the Pontiacs are the rarest. Never as popular as their Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Buick cousins, the B-body Pontiacs had the smallest annual production totals, leading to their hiatus from the U.S. market for 1982 and most of 1983. Despite their proportional rarity, is it merely coincidence that I keep encountering silver Pontiac B-bodies?

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Junkyard Classic: 1984 Subaru Hatchback – $146.73 Of Depreciation Per Year (For 34 Years)

Jim Klein

– Posted on November 9, 2024

(first posted 11/9/2018) Inexpensive. And Built To Stay That Way. So read Subaru’s advertising tagline for all of the 1980’s and nowhere was the “Inexpensive” part more apropos than with their hatchback version of the second generation Leone (that wasn’t generally known as a Leone over here in the US). Two things really surprised me when I saw this car in the junkyard recently.

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Vintage Snapshots: Buick People In The ’50s-’60s – Portholes And Sweep Spears

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 9, 2024

On today’s gallery, let’s revisit Buicks during some of its glorious days of the ’50s and ’60s. The images feature a mix of drivers, owners, and admirers posing alongside these Flint products, with attitudes that range from jolly to proud.

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CC Video: 36 Unrestored Split-Window VW Buses Take On The Wilds, Snow, And A Deep River Crossing

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on November 9, 2024

This video brought me a lot of joy. It’s easy to assume that all T1 (first generation) VW buses (and pickups) are all perfectly restored and come out on nice sunny Sundays for a little ride or a car show. Here’s 36 battered old T1s (not Type 1, Nate) off for four days in the wilds of northern California near Mt. Shasta. They encounter snow, mud and a very difficult river ford (at 42 17 minutes) that swallows up three out of four that attempt it. Engines need to be pulled, and other technical issues arise. But the convoy goes on, something this group does every year.

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Curbside Outtake/QOTD: 1968 – 1976 Ford Torino – What’s Your Favorite Generation?

Jim Brophy

– Posted on November 9, 2024

My first car was a 1964 Ford Fairlane – so I’ve always had a soft-spot for it. Fairlanes weren’t the sportiest offerings during Ford’s “Total Performance” era, though the 1966/67 GT and GTA with their S-Code 390’s put up a pretty good fight. But things took a much sportier turn in 1968 with the introduction of the Fairlane Torino, and its 428 cu in “Cobra Jet” engine option. Here is just my take on the three generations of Torinos and how I’d rank them. Read the rest of this entry »

Prequel To My Cars Of A Lifetime

Art

– Posted on November 9, 2024

BMW 2002 similar to my grandfather’s 02 – Press photo by BMW

I have been enjoying the various COAL series on Curbside Classic for the past few years and have finally made the step to share my stories and memories of my cars. I’m a middle-aged man living near Amsterdam in the Netherlands and, as far as I can remember, I have always been a car enthusiast. However, before sharing any of my own cars, I need to provide some background information on my family and me first. Why did I become a car enthusiast? Who inspired me? What has formed my taste?

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Car Show Classic: 1970 Buick Electra 225 Convertible – Black Cherry Blues

Tom Klockau

– Posted on November 8, 2024

(first posted 9/22/2018) Was 1970 Peak GM? It is a divisive question. But I for one, think it may be “the year,” despite all the goodness present in the 1965 GM lineup and the commencement of de-contenting which began in 1967-68. But if for no other reason, recall that 1970 was the last year you could get a C-body GM luxury convertible.

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