This year’s edition of the ‘Murican Day at the Classic Park in the Netherlands was held on the 18th of September. Pony cars, muscle cars, land yachts, SUVs and pickups. The full-spectrum, yet classic Cadillacs predominated. Well then, time to cast off.
1983 Lincoln Town Car.
1966 Ford Thunderbird Town Hardtop.
1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
1954 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 Imperial Limousine.
1977 Lincoln Continental.
1970 Ford Mustang Mach1.
1994 Ford Mustang GT.
From Belgium, this Chevrolet Corvette C2.
1955 Pontiac Star Chief.
1974 Chevrolet Suburban Cheyenne super/10.
Chevrolet Suburban Silverado with Belgian plates, so probably those are Rijkswacht-bullet holes.
1968 Cadillac DeVille convertible.
1972 Cadillac Eldorado.
1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
1941 Buick Special 46-S.
1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible.
1966 Plymouth Fury III. With a 1965 grille, right ?
1968 Dodge Charger.
1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
1972 Mercury Cougar.
1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car Lowlander-edition. Very rare.
And this outstanding 1973 Imperial LeBaron brings up the rear. More Americana in part two.
Very nice!
Thanks for this, I got a good smile picturing wheeling a 77 Lincoln around downtown Amsterdam!
My favourite is the 68 Charger. It’s always nice to see one that’s not orange or black.
Agreed on the Charger. Oddly enough, it’s twin is owned by a local guy although his wears the wheel covers like the black one in Bullitt had and let fly all over San Francisco.
Why can’t I have these kinds of car shows in America? Almost every car show I’ve been to has been just muscle cars and 30s cars that have mostly been turned into rat rods. I like the nice mix of 70s cars and land barges in it as well, gives it some variety. Anyways, enough of me griping, these pictures are really cool.
Interesting note, at a car show around SD, I saw someone who had a 1977 Lincoln Continental coupe (not a Mark V just the regular version) that they had turned into a convertible. It actually looked really nice, even though I’m not a fan of convertibles for the most part.
Just doesn’t work that way here. Clubs tend to put on shows and the show is for their car be it brand or model. Mustang shows, Cougar shows, Camaro shows, Corvette shows, Mopar shows, Ford shows and so forth. Then there are the generic Hot August Night shows where hot rods begin to show up.
It is rare that I see around here a show for just ordinary classic cars. They won’t be sponsored by a club by more likely a town having a charity fund raiser in their downtown. Even then seeing full size family cars is not that common. Once in awhile there might be some full size Fords, Mercurys, older GM cars, Lincolns (not often), Cadillacs (not often), and a Mopar C Body. Cars I rarely see in umolested original condition would be an Impala, Caprice, and Cutlass.
A thought that compliments what tbm3fan has said, as what he says is rather accurate…
I’m lucky I suppose. The sizable club where I live welcomes all makes and models, and while factory stock is preferred there are still members with mildly rodded cars. But he’s right in that if a show is sponsored by a club, it’s often going to be fairly narrow in focus.
I’ll be honest, I like the Town Car/Continentals the best along with the Imperial – although I always appreciate a Mustang GT minus spoiler.
As big as those American luxury barges are compared to the average European car I’m surprised the Americans are required to have boat bow lights on each corner for locating. 😛
A marvelous group. But the red 1967 Cadillac convertible (my favorite of those pictured) is actually a ’68.
Fixed.
Great pictures! Just when I think a car has a blemish and think it doesn’t belong, I realize my monitor needs cleaning.
Really love the Lincolns.
Great shots. I especially dig the Cougar and the Charger.
I believe the deVille convertible is a ’68, not a ’67.
It’s a toss-up between the Corvette and the T/A for which I’d want to own.
The Cougar and Charger are appealing, but both really need vinyl roofs to look “right”. Put a white roof, or even a (canopy) half roof on the Cougar and a black roof on the Charger.
And so, there is the creepy Plymouth of the QOTD.
Leave it to the Dutch to make big V8 ‘murican cars (Ram trucks running on LPG included) a daily sighting…
You’re well informed. Indeed, an American V8 vehicle having an LPG system is very common. Almost standard equipment, certainly in the ones that are used as a daily or frequent driver.
Today’s average fuel prices per liter: Euro 95 gasoline € 1.60 / Diesel € 1.27 / LPG € 0.76. LPG is by far the cheapest fuel per liter. LPG fuel consumption is a bit higher though, and the road tax is much higher. (both compared with gasoline)
All 40+ years old vehicles are road tax-free though, so there you go. And for commercial vehicles (pickups !) you pay far less road tax than for passenger cars.
The 1954 Cadillac runs on LPG, for example. The small black filler cap is clearly visible in the picture below.
The prices aren’t too far off from Portuguese ones, but Portuguese income is lower, so it’s very rare to see an American V8, and when that happens, it’s nearly untouched. LPG conversions are actually more often seen in Volvo 5 bangers or small petrol cars, like those from the Daevrolet era which had LPG versions that sold well… And law obligated them to use a HUGE sticker (below) saying it was LPG powered until 2014!
Sticker translation: LPG – Gas (not gasoline) powered vehicle.
Great selection! That black 77 Lincoln is fairly rare in not having the opera windows, which everyone then seemed to want.
You are right about the 66 Plymouth – I went back and looked at that before I saw your caption.
And oh, that Imperial. Was there ever a color less suited to that car? We gripe about the lack of color choices today, but sometimes that’s a good thing. 🙂
Really? I like the color. Not quite on the vinyl, but the green I like.
A vintage early 70s color, for sure. I didn’t mind it on Darts, Challengers and Chargers, but it just never looked right to me on New Yorkers or Monacos. I am not sure I have ever seen an Imperial in that color, those were typically in darker, more conservative hues. But wth, if you are going to have a big 70s American car, you might as well have one that stands out.
My Great Aunt and Uncle had a ’73 in yellow, with white leather and a white vinyl top. Very much the 70s, indeed.
I like the Imperial, though the Town Cars and Suburbans definitely caught my eye. A nice collection.
That Fury and Charger are pure WIN!!!
I like how both of those ‘Burbs are wearing period correct wheels that actually set the trucks off, too. Unlike here where some fool with more money than taste would be falling all over himself to slap a set of 22″ or more blingy clown shoes on them….
Love the ’60 & ’68 caddies. The red looks amazing on both of those cars.
That ’68 Deville convertible has my vote, though I also do quite like the Imperial, peculiar color green and all.
That ’83 Town Car is also looking quite good in its two-tone. It’s getting uncommon to see the pre-’85 versions with the vertical tail panel and bladed lamps.
Just for the heck of it I checked Craigslist. I’m in the Bay Area and searched 1970-88. The huge majority of Lincolns were Marks. Out of 31 only five were Town Cars.
The 1983 Town Car was actually imported as a new car by Hessing De Bilt, the Dutch importer of US-FoMoCo products. Given its current plates it was exported to Belgium later.
I’d love to see a show like this locally. Any vintage car show I’ve seen in recent years has been overrun by Mustangs, Corvettes, Camaros, Chevelles, etc., etc., etc. There’s so much more of interest to car buffs both old and young than the same old musclecar snoozefest.
Ain’t that the truth. I don’t get excited about musclecars. They’re ok. But I’d rather visit with a ’68 Chevrolet Biscayne with the dog dish hubcaps and 6 humble cylinders under the hood.
And forget about ‘rods and Customs. Meh. Not interested in someone else’s vision of what they want their ‘personalized’ auto to be. Years ago I used to buy Old Car Trader magazine and there was a section for ‘Rods and Customs’ and it was always full of these types of vehicles folks were looking to sell. And they were expensive. I figured the owners had sunk lots of $coin$ into fixing these up that way they wanted and then, for whatever reason, decided to sell it on. I always wondered why anyone would want to buy someone else’s ‘Custom’ car.
The 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville is one of the most beautiful automotive designs of all time (but not in red).
The 1977 Lincoln Continental.even sports a trailer hitch. Wonder what he(or she)pulls with it?
Maybe a pair of bicycles. Leave the Lincoln in the truck stop’s parking lot and take the bike to travel to the inner city.
What a fantastic selection of American iron. Thanks VERY MUCH!!!
Great pics – thank you. Very nice to see all the Lincolns – hopefully they’re all members of the Lincoln Continental Owners Club (LCOC) – even the “Lowlander”….
And that Yellow ’67 Vette is a beauty…
The IMPERIAL is the clear winner, and I wonder how many DAFs you could park in the same footprint.
Many other cool cars too, the Wagoneer and Suburbans pop out for me.
None of the vehicles have signs of rust or the tin worm.
Do they use salt on the roads in the Netherlands??
Yes, although the climate is mild, salt is used when necessary during the winter months.
But the excellent old(er) American vehicles you see above are hobby vehicles, they will never hit the road during “salt season”. They are often in a good condition to begin with when they are imported from the US or Canada (the famous “original one owner car”). Or they get a respray or restoration here.
Gray import pickups with a registration as a commercial vehicle, those are the ones that are driven daily or very frequently. The official import of new American vehicles into Europe has almost completely come to a halt. A handful of Cadillacs, the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette and the Jeeps. That’s about it.
Jeep did very well in the nineties with the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee, meanwhile the recent and current models have become true exotics. Too bad, less variation on the road.
That ’54 Cadillac Fleetwood is just so stately.
A former man friend of mine drove a turquoise Mark IV w/ white top and leather interior. Talk about seventies colors! Definitely not for the self-conscious.
That Corvette C2 has a back end that was copied by the Buick Riviera in the early ’70s, was it not? Those ‘boattail’ Rivieras?