(first posted 4/22/2019) Not only are Subaru XTs becoming a bit scarce, but this one posing with a more recent Outback compelled me to take a few shots. They both have boxer fours, but thats about where any similarities end. And by that I mean their drive trains, as this XT appears to be a FWD version, as best as I can tell.
In any case, styling and formats have changed drastically.
(first posted 1/22/2014) Back in 1972 my father, JackD, went on a quest to buy his first new car. His primary criteria were that it carry his family of five and have an enormous trunk to swallow their belongings. At that time we had a pair of Rambler Americans, so it’s not too surprising that JackD came home with a Matador two-door hardtop, an ex-demo car. The sole option was the 258 cubic inch six; no air conditioning, no radio. I was five years old at the time, and have several vivid memories of our new car: the new car smell of Tactyl and Ziebart undercoating, and being able to stand in the back seat and look over Mom’s shoulder. Little did I know that it would become mine, and that I would still be driving it almost twenty years later. Read the rest of this entry »
I’d come to accept that there was nothing on the market either now or in the near future that could tempt me to replace my beloved ’05 xB. I love its roomy boxiness, its simplicity, its practicality, its efficiency, its ruggedness…I could go on. Everything new is either too big, expensive, complex, ugly, pretentious…until suddenly the Slate magically appeared. It’s a format I’ve long espoused: an extremely basic two door pickup starting at under $20k (with EV incentives) with a choice of several rear toppers to turn it into an SUV or such. And with a wide range of customizations, which is where Slate (as in “blank slate”) will make their money. Yes, I’ve just put down my (refundable) $50 deposit. I love it.
For the moment, I’m going with the boxy version of the rear topper, as it reminds me of the original Isuzu Trooper II and Scout.
We have spent a lot of effort debating the merits (and demerits) of economy cars on these pages. We have spent no small amount of time examining products that were designed to appeal to the most frugal among us. To be sure, lots of makes have tried different approaches to win the business of the miserly. For example, how Yugo baited their trap with an unrealistically low price to lure in the unwary customer that just looked at the initial cost of purchase. There was also the sad tale of the first movers in the compact car market that actually priced their products above the mainstream offerings of the day. They came to grief when buyers did the math of ownership and realized that these cars were no bargain. But there was one manufacturer that tried another approach and found a season of success by turning the value equation upside down. That company was Studebaker. The car was the Scotsman.
I’d been noticing a buildup of older cars at this lot right between 7th and 6th Avenues for a while, but when my roving eye spied the red gen1 Caravan, I decided to pull in and check them out. It turned into an unexpected trove of discarded gems, including a gen1 Voyager, both with the 2.5 L four and stick shifts. And two Chevy Cobalts, no less. And a 1980’s Caprice. And a Suzuki Aerio. And a Chevy Aveo and Venture. And…
Come on in and I’ll show you them all. Just don’t ask why they’re all there.
When AMC introduced the Gremlin in 1970, the company made sure to play it cutesy, as if the model was a prank of sorts. Launched on April 1st, and named “Gremlin”, the kind of name asking for trouble in a piece of machinery with tons of precision parts. Still, sales in its native soil were decent and showed that a nice portion of buyers were into the carmaker’s irreverent spirit.
In J P Cavanaugh’s recent post about the oddly proportioned long-tail 1962 Pontiac Star Chief, some commenters wondered how the interior appointments of the Star Chief compared with those of Pontiac’s cheaper bread-and-butter Catalina, something the weathered survivor pictured in that post didn’t clearly reveal. I was curious too, so I decided to do a comparison between these stylish Kennedy-era full-size Pontiacs — including the big Bonneville as well as the Catalina — to see what the Star Chief really offered compared to the rest of the Pontiac lineup.
It’s strange to meet a legend. First, you have to know it’s a legend. I guess that goes without saying, but there are some folks – some with a modicum of automotive knowledge, even – who will walk past this Lamborghini and not bat an eyelid. But most legends are harder to meet because they are rare. Or valuable. Or fragile. These three epithets can describe the Miura.
(first posted 4/4/2013) Toyota is an interesting company. Sometimes, they’re comfortable being pioneers, as with their hybrid technology. But when it comes to their bread-and-butter cars, they lean to the conservative. This Corolla represents that doubly: Not only was Toyota late in switching the top-selling Corolla to FWD with this generation (E80) in 1983, but they were also rather late for the diesel party. In fact, they pretty much missed it, as this quite rare Corolla diesel attests to. It’s still looking for it… Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 9/2/2013) The recent Jeep FC-150 and Jeep Commando CC with their Hurricane Four engine that featured an F-head (Intake Over Exhaust – “IOE”) cylinder head gave me the impetus to re-visit that rather unusual cylinder head arrangement, and consider its place in engine history. If cylinder heads speak to your head, open your intake valve and let’s get sucked into the peculiar mysteries of the F-head. Read the rest of this entry »
I began working at the bank in November of 1993, and around 1997, I transferred to a branch where I first met Olga. We hit it off as friends from the very start, and we remain friends even long after our retirements.
At the time we met, Olga was driving a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which she bought brand new and which had remained a San Antonio car since new.
If you lived through the late 1970s, this is a face you should be familiar with, though its profile will not be. It’s the wagon version of the Mitsubishi Lancer (A70), which in sedan form arrived in the States as yet one more Colt from ’78 to ’79, sold under the Dodge banner in mostly pretty well-optioned versions, as a period R&T test showed. In all, a pretty short stay of this Lancer/Colt in the US, which got taken out of the lineup once the modern FWD Mirage-based Colt hatchback showed up for ’80.
Text by Patrick Bell.
We are going to check out some service stations today, definitely a relic of the past, although I believe there is one state left that does not allow self service gas stations. Most of the locations are unknown, but there is a wide variety of companies. I remember them well, where you could get gas and have your fluids and tires checked without getting out of your car. I never was employed at one, but I hung around several when the opportunity presented itself.
1962 Oldsmobile Starfire Coupe / ClassicCars.com
The four-seat Ford Thunderbird was a highly profitable hit that struck deep in the over-$4,000 price territory occupied by mid-price brands like Oldsmobile and Buick. Oldsmobile tried to fight back with the Starfire, a dressed-up version of the B-body Olds 88 that failed to hit the same sweet spot in the market. Let’s take a closer look at the 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire Coupe, compare it to its cheaper Olds brethren, and consider why it didn’t quite rise to the T-Bird challenge.
(first posted 3/29/2013) A rear-wheel drive station wagon featuring Italian styling touches and proven mechanicals shared with a contemporary sports car? Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what we have here, with this rare 1962 Standard Vanguard Vignale station wagon.
