My girlfriend and I had the day to ourselves after the Curbside Classic meetup in Auburn, Indiana, earlier this month, and we decided to take the scenic route home. I’d always wanted to follow the old Lincoln Highway in northeastern Indiana, so I mapped out a quick course and we started on our way. One of the great things about following the old two-lane highways is that it opens you to fun surprises. Like this ’62 Nova. But more on that in a minute.
The reason I wanted to follow the Lincoln Highway was because I knew of this brief brick section just south of Ligonier, which is about 30 miles west of Auburn. It was built in the 1920s, but bypassed at some point to smooth out what had been a wicked curve. If ever you’d like to follow Indiana’s Lincoln Highway and see sights like this, this link gives complete driving directions.
In this part of the state, the Lincoln Highway is mostly US 33. Some older alignments do lurk about here and there, however. One of them begins in downtown Ligonier, running about a mile to the north of US 33 as you exit town westbound. Glory be, a couple miles down this old alignment we came upon a little car show. How appropriate! Here’s more of that Nova.
This ’67 Cutlass Supreme exactly the kind of car I hope to find at shows like this. Not only is it an unrestored original (except for those blingy wheels), but the owner drove it here from Michigan with his family aboard. There was a big child seat in the back, plus a cooler and a big jug of iced tea sitting on the front floorboard. I’ve never been a big fan of Oldsmobile’s 1960s barbell-shaped headlight/grille clusters, but it was great to be reminded how good a pillarless Cutlass sedan looked from there back.
Ford was well represented with a pair of Fairlanes. The first was this ’66 Fairlane XL convertible.
The second was this ’67 Fairlane GTA. That’s the owner there in the hoodie. He told me that it left the factory as a black 390 car. He got it in the early 70s and stored it for a couple decades before starting a restoration that involved painting it this color and stuffing a 427 (I think he said) inside.
Oh great, another faux GTO. But wait. It says Pontiac on the grille. It might be… it could be…
It is! A genuine LeMans. The vinyl roof should have tipped me off, but I’ve seen those three fabled letters slapped onto all manner of Pontiac A bodies. I’m jaded. But this is no plain-jane LeMans; it’s packing Pontiac 400 heat.
I’m a sucker for this generation of Chevy truck. And such a lovely shade of blue it is, too. The tag in the windshield said that this is a ’70.
And while purple is my favorite color, I think a little goes a long way. This ’71 Valiant owner clearly disagrees.
I love an original car, so I was pretty excited to come upon this ’73 Cougar XR7 with its sooooo-70s gold paint and brown vinyl roof. My girlfriend was more enamored of that old F-100, though. She was showing her good taste.
My favorite car of the day was this ’66 Charger. I think they radiate cool. I’m sure that’s not a factory paint color, but this Charger wears it well.
It got a nice restoration. A collage of photos inside told this Charger’s beater-to-beautiful story. I would have loved to just sit inside for a minute.
Hard to tell from the Charger photo, but they did have a shade of magenta that looked very much like that…so it could be a factory color.
I think it’s a factory colour, 1966 Chrysler paint code 6. Chrysler called it “Lilac”, Dodge simply called it “Mauve”.
Well whaddya know. That wasn’t this car’s original color, anyway. The photos inside were of a red car.
Possibly they got inspiration from the 1:18 scale mauve Charger in the back window.
Probably the only instance in history of a Charger going from red to mauve. I like it!
That black Fairlane convertible is a 1966 not 1967.
D’oh! Fixed.
Some great finds at this show. The 70 C10 is done just about the way I was going to do mine before I decided to say good bye and get a new truck instead. Really like the Charger too. Actually I like them all, the Cougar is a good reminder of how quickly cars went to 70’s purgatory.
Id go so far as to say that the ‘bullnose’ trucks are the best trucks GMC/Chevrolet has ever made. Its such a simple straightforward bodystyle but it looks fantastic. And if not for the RamCharger, and Jeep CJs those 1st gen Blazers would be my all time favorite 4×4. They just look….right.
Mine served me well for 30 years and survived long trips sometimes crazily overloaded. Think 30 ft 5th wheel travel trailer, a 700cc Yamaha motorcycle, heavy floor jack, tools, rims and tires etc. spread about the bed, all on a 1/2 ton with only a set of overloads keeping it level, and drive it from LA to Washington State. I couldn’t kill that thing. It just took the abuse and sucked the gas at about 7 MPG.
Awesome pictures!
That red Chevy II is quite nice. Thing is I can recall when that was a small car.
It now seems quite large.
But what most struck me about the pics is that the colors are gorgeous.
Thanks! I shot RAW with my digicam and did some post-processing to make the colors pop. Glad you noticed.
Fun! I have a thing formearly chargers, and this was a nice one. But my fave is the 71 Scamp wearing the same flying saucer wheelcovers that mine had. I could even get used to the purple.
And I hope your travel companion was not too disappointed at the lack of any early Nash-Healys at the small town car show. 🙂
She made do with that old F-100!
I’ll have to say I liked the Plum Crazy Valiant too. All the A-body cars I had, and that 2-door hardtop body style eluded me.
The two door Valiant is actaully a ’71 Plymouth Scamp, and was marketed as such. While Dodge demanded and got the Duster body for the ’71 Demon, the Plymouth Scamp is a version of the Dart Swinger.
Now I am not 100% certain, maybe the 74-76 Valiant Broughams were sold as 2 doors? But I think the Scamps were not called ‘Valiant Scamps’.
The 1971 model was indeed called a Valiant Scamp. Badging on the front fenders said so, as did the brochures. This car has the little rectangular metal “Valiant” badge, but lacks the “Scamp” decal. It was just Scamp from 72-76.
You are right that Plymouth and Dodge traded bodies for the Demon and Scamp. On the Plymouth side, the Scamp was one of the rare instances where a 2 door was on a longer wheelbase (111 inches) than the 4 door Valiant (108).
I just noticed that the Scamp’s fender top turn signal indicators were the chrome units from 1973 and up cars. His should be body colored.
Sorry, but I was intimately acquainted with one of these, including removing most of the trim pieces and painting it.
The same applied in Australia, I’m not sure if they imported panels or built-up bodies to sell alongside the local sedans that were slightly different from the US versions by this time.
I’m pretty partial to the 66 Charger with its unique interior, or the Fairlane hardtop.
You guys beat me to it on the Valiant/Scamp education. Still great little cars and still attainable for a reasonable price. These have to be some of the most do-able classic cars out there.
Those Fairlanes are gorgeous cars.Despite being a Ford fan I really like the Le Mans.I’m an A body fan also Dad had an Aussie Valiant and a Dodge Dart.I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Scamp in the metal despite going to classic and American car shows since the 70s.
Jim, did you ever talk to the owner of that Scamp? That looks strangely familiar. There was an identical car for sale here in Oregon. A plum crazy ’71 Scamp, white roof/interior and those same hubcaps. It was a /6 car but real low miles and I think it ended up selling for around $6K on craigslist. Otherwise, some really nice finds!
I did not. Not sure he or she was even hanging around.
What a nice happenstance to run into a show, and a nice selection of cars. I think I agree with your assessment that the ’66 Charger was the pick of the bunch. Just love those early Chargers with the “electric razor” grille and hidden lamps, plus that long long fastback.
That photo of the old brick section of the highway and vintage sign is great too!
“I’m a sucker for this generation of Chevy truck. And such a lovely shade of blue it is, too. The tag in the windshield said that this is a ’70.”
Definitely a ’70. The 1968-69 models look a lot like each other, as do the 1971-72 models, but the ’70 had a distinctive grille that is easy to tell apart from all of the other years of the 1967-72 styling generation.
Great bunch of pictures, and a great bunch of cars!
Here in Tucson there’s a BIG car show coming up this weekend. It’s an annual fundraiser for some significant nonprofits and comes at a time when the weather is just about perfect. It will be warm (high 80s) but dry, perfect Tucson October weather, and there will be hundreds of cars, of all vintages (there will be an old Pierce-Arrow among the attractions), and everything from lovingly maintained to works-in-progress to incredibly well restored. There are often multiple specimens of a given car (for instance, a whole herd of Corvettes or a flock of Thunderbirds), and I have seen lots of other gems.
I, too, am a sucker for those original Chargers, but any car that is a true 2+2 can’t be bad!
I must admit I think along the same lines as commenter “Syke” when it comes to resto-mods: I hate each and every one of them, but when one is seemingly done right as that Nova appears to be, my “hate” is tempered a bit.
It is so refreshing to see so many cars that are virtually in their original state – sure getting more difficult as time goes by.
As to old roads, U.S. 30, which is also part of the Lincoln highway in Ohio has a small section between Delphos and Van Wert that even has new Burma Shave signs!
There’s also a very cute little drive-in theater, the Van-Del Drive-In near Middle Point, OH. Too far for Wifey and me to go see a movie, though…
There’s a famous brick section of the Lincoln in Ohio that I’d love to see someday.
Ligonier, IN? You threw me for a moment, as US 30 (original Lincoln Highway route still in use) goes right past Fort Ligonier (built 1758, the jumping off point for the successful British attack on Ft. Duquesne, aka Pittsburgh, PA). Ligonier, PA is about equal distance between Bedford, PA (Ft. Bedford, 1755 start for Gen. Braddock’s attempt against Duquesne) and Greensburg, PA and about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Very beautiful, rich and horsey small town. Very strong 18th and 19th century ambiance. Worth visiting.
Ligonier, IN was named by its founder, who came from Ligonier, PA!