Ahh… The weather is warm, there’s a lovely breeze outside, and the Curbside Classics have come out of hibernation here in North Texas.
The first oddity is an International restomod found outside a local flooring store. If you look closely, the wheel caps are from a Ford van and glancing inside revealed the seats and dashboard from a Ford too. I’m not sure of the model, maybe a Curbivore could enlighten me in the comments?
This next one was found outside a gas station not a few blocks from my house. This 1966 Mustang is all original and still has its 200 I6 and three speed automatic. It’s the daily driver of a young man who works at a speed shop and has no intention of dropping in a V8. He likes it just the way it is and that makes my heart happy!
OwO What’s this? It’s a 1957 Chrysler New Yorker that just so happened to pull up right next to the Mustang! The owner and I had met at a local car show and this gave me the perfect chance to get some pictures while not surrounded by a crowd. Needless to say, I spent nearly an hour outside talking to them both. It was certainly a night to remember!
This 1964 Corvair was parked at an IHOP a few blocks from my office. The paper underneath the windshield wiper said it was for sale and it was gone the next day.
There’s a place called the Buttermilk Cafe that tends to draw CCs to its lot and on this overcast day, I found a Land Rover Defender with its non US licence plate and knew I had to get a picture.
I attend a camera club once a month and was nearly late because I had to walk all the way across the parking lot to see this bright orange Porsche 914. It has such an interesting shape!
I’m cheating a little bit with this Wagoneer, as it was found in Dallas. I was in town for a convention and recently fell off an electric scooter. It was a bad fall and even though I was making my way back to my car to bandage up my bleeding hand, I had to get a shot because these are my favorite Jeeps.
Up until this weekend, I had never seen a first gen 200 SX and was walking through a small storage facility when I saw this strange shape. A kid at the local burger joint had mentioned owning an “old Datsun” and I think this is what he meant! Love the hubcaps.
I’ve talked with the owner of this 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 a time or two, but never thought to stop for pictures until I passed it in the parking lot of a sporting goods store. It’s in rough shape, but is still driven daily by its owner and it always makes me smile when I see it around town.
Lastly, a hint for my next article. No, this isn’t my car but… it will play a big part in my next COAL! Until next time, this is Pioneer_Fox signing off.
The first generation 200SX has not gotten better with age, despite the patina on this example. It’s telling that no one has bothered to steal the hubcaps over the last 40 years.
Nice Corvair coupe! My favorite year, but make mine a Monza (or better yet, a Spyder).
I love the Corvair and the 200SX. The first generation 200SX is such an oddity.
I wonder if that International sits on a Ford Ranger platform.
I’ve never seen a (stock) Ranger with a big beam front axle and leaf springs. 🙂
It doesn’t look like a real restomod to me, as it very much looks like the stock suspension. The wheels are different, but its stance is as tall as ever.
Yeah a Ranger would have a twin I beam or twin traction beam hanging from coils and radius rods.
It is not however the stock front axle either. While I agree I don’t see any “pumpkin” to make it a driven axle the problem is that the axle centerline appears to be pretty much in line with the center of the hub cap. While the truck would have come with an I beam axle it would be a drop axle, not a straight axle like this. This is a walk-in body so you do not want it riding high, you want that step near the ground for safe and easy ingress and egress with your load in hand.
The Oldsmobile is a 1979 Delta 88. Body style changed in 1980.
Yes, I was going to say it had to be 77-79, though I could not pin it down exactly. This shape is soooooo much more attractive than the 1980+ version.
Ah, thank you for the clarification.
I thought at first that your opening shot was one of those old “Old Truck As Business Sign” things that I am seeing from time to time. But it would make a bad sign because nobody can read it.
I laughed out loud at the two shots in the gas station. Going from the first to the second make it look like the modern Chrysler 300 behind the Mustang turns itself into the macho 57 New Yorker, transformer style. Or in the way that a cat arches its back and makes its fur stand up. That Chrysler is pissed! 🙂
And wow, the hubcaps on that Corvair do not ring a single bell in that part of my brain. Was this an actual Chevrolet offering? Maybe I just saw too many with whitewalls and wheelcovers back in the day. The Datsun hubcap rings bells, though the bells associated with the 1963 Dodge we saw the other day.
I blew up the pic and the center emblem is not Chevy at all. So I got nuthin.
Same here, I am wondering if this is a set of those old J C Whitney-style knockoffs that would kinda-sorta copy a part but with an insignia that was just generic enough to suggest the real one without actually copying it.
No, they’re Corvair dog dishes. They may also have been used on the Chevy II.
here’s another one, but a better shot.
From the 1964 brochure. Fuzzy scan, but these are the 500 series dog dishes.
I can’t tell if the IH is a 4X4 or not, could be just the thing for delivering milk or ice cream to remote areas.
I think the Corvair is my pick today, if it’s got a 4 speed manual transaxle..
Doesn’t look like it. Just a straight front beam axle. And no 4×4 front hubs visible either.
The very faded paint on the side said “fresh from the oven” so I’m guessing it was from a bakery at some point.
That Delta 88 isn’t an ’84, it’s and early one like a ’77 or ’78. We had a similar car in my family for years.
Ok I’ll try one more time with this. The hubcaps are not from a Van. They are most likely from the CVPI wheels they are currently on, though they were also found on Rangers with 14″ wheels that look nothing like those 16″. Yes the early IH 1/2 ton 2wd trucks used the same 5 x 4.5″ bolt pattern as used on many Fords as well as many other vehicles.
I’m thinking that 200-SX may be a ’79, which is the rarest year for that odd (77-79) bodystyle. It’s in rough shape, but it’s outlasted 99.8% of the other 200-SXs.
I like the “I Fight Poverty — I Work” vanity plate on the Corvair. Somehow it seems fitting.
On the Land Rover ‘E’ prefix plate puts the original registration date as 1987-88, but the Defender name didn’t appear until late 1990.
July 14, 1988, actually, but it doesn’t appear to have been in the UK for quite some time as its most recent recorded MOT test expired at the end of July 1989. I wonder what its story is; an import to the US that far back seems unlikely. And correct me if I’m wrong, but that looks like a more recent UK plate, as evidenced by the country code on the left side that indicates EU membership (which couldn’t have been issued before 1993). Very strange. The simplest explanation, of course, is that the online UK MOT history database is incomplete, but I wonder if there could be more to it than that.
You’re right on the plate having been changed; it has the 2001 onwards narrower figures.
The Corvair is my pick. This one is a Corvair 500 – bottom of the line and only available as a coupe.
I think $7,700 is reasonable for a (hopefully) rust free Texas car. With a clean, original interior and even if it is a PG I think the car was priced well.
Great finds Pioneer_Fox, glad you are enjoying nice weather for CC spotting.
Really like the ‘Power Wagon’ look of the International. I find the burly no-nonsense look of 40s and 50s era 4 wheel drive vehicles appealing. One of my favourites of this genre being the Volvo TP 21, as seen in Republica’s ‘Ready to Go’ video.
So many oddities in the exterior design of the first 200SX. How many small cars in the 70s came with fully chromed A pillars? Gives it some Eldorado/Toronado level flair. With the radio antenna mast built in on the driver’s side. While wearing some of the cheapest looking wheel covers of the decade. Not even worthy of the lowly B210. 🙂