(first posted 6/28/2017, updated 6/29/2023) While we normally don’t cover dealerships on Curbside Classic, Classic Autos Restored Simply, LLC (CARS – get it?) is a very special dealership that I stumbled upon in the tiny hamlet of Beloit, Ohio. I must give props to my awesome wife Kristen, who was riding shotgun with me at the time when I stumbled upon this find, and indulged me 30 minutes of shooting pictures of what to her surly must have just been junk. As an added bonus, it was late in the day when I found this place (the Golden Hour, as photographers refer to it), so the lighting was phenomenal.
What makes this dealership special is that they only sell Curbside Classics, rough vintage cars that are ostensibly restorable. No trailer queens here – all the cars are kept outside in the elements, so if you see something you like, you’d better move quickly.
Many of these cars have been previously covered on CC, so will link to the relevant articles where appropriate. A few I will cover in greater detail in future CC articles. Let’s dig in!
So many Curbside Classics, so let’s start with the 1959 Pontiac Catalina in the hero image above. We’ve lusted over the V-shaped fins of the 1959 Pontiacs on this site multiple times, so I don’t have a lot to add here. Besides, I think the photos speak for themselves.
Interestingly, all the 1959 Pontiacs posted to date on CC have been of the lowly Catalina model. Maybe someone will find a 1959 Star Chief or Bonneville to post in the future to break this trend.
Right behind the 59 Pontiac we have this 1958 Ford Thunderbird. This was the first year for the four-seater Thunderbird, a followup to the iconic (but slow-selling) 1955-57 two-seater Thunderbirds.
This generation of Thunderbird quickly earned the nickname of “Square Bird,” but to modern eyes, these Thunderbirds are anything but. Speaking of which, I for one have always enjoyed the “butt cheeks” on the trunk lid and rear end. You will never see a rear end like this on a car today.
Parked next to the Thunderbird is this delightfully rare 1957 Lincoln Premiere sedan (only 5,139 produced).
If you look closely, you can the fresh air scoops on the rear fenders and the plastic tubes extending from the rear parcel shelf to the ceiling, both of which indicate the presence of the rare trunk-mounted factory air conditioner option. The 57 Lincoln has never gotten proper CC treatment, so look for a fuller treatment from me in the near future. (Update – here it is)
On the other side of the 59 Pontiac, we find what appears to be a 1960 Chevrolet Corvair police cruiser (by appears I mean the police cruiser part – It definitely is a 1960 Corvair). In contrast to the 1957 Lincoln above, the Corvair has gotten lots of Curbside Classic love over the years.
At first, I thought it was a real-deal Corvair police car, but upon closer examination, I think it is just cosplaying. It does have all the requisite options (or more correctly, lack thereof) that one would expect for a police car of this era: Dog dish hubcaps, blackwall tires, and knockout plugs where the backup lights have been deleted. But the star on the door appears to be hand-painted and has no jurisdiction. The radio antennae (two of them?) are not what was typically seen in the early ’60s.
As we step around the corner, we find this 1964 Buick Riviera. The blue letter Ohio plates tell me that this car was last registered around 1980, which means that this car has spent more of its life parked than it has on the road. For good measure, there is a 1970 Volvo 1800E parked next to it (bonus points for anyone who can tell me the model year).
Moving on, we come to what I consider to be easily the most exciting find: A 1951 Kaiser Deluxe, still sporting its original 1951 New York license plates. Indeed, this is the first 1951 Kaiser (and only the fifth Kaiser ever) to appear on this site, so indulge me in spending a little more time with this car. This generation of Kaiser is instantly recognizable due to its “Lightning McQueen” eyebrow-shaped front and rear windshield.
Another distinctive feature of the Kaiser is its aircraft-style doors (with a bonus Hofmeister Kink in the rear door). While these are both common styling features today, they were quite daring in the early 1950s.
All of the independent automakers of the 1950s needed some kind of differentiating feature to set them apart from the Big 3 and help carve out their niche. Not surprisingly, many picked safety as that differentiator. Kaiser was one of the first vehicles with padded dashboards, and the front windshield popped out à la Tucker. In the picture above, we can see the Kaiser’s famous oversized speedometer. Unfortunately, the original steering column appears to have been replaced with an 80s GM unit.
1951 was a good sales year for Kaiser: The post-war seller’s market was still in full swing, and the vicious sales war of 1954 (which would claim many of the independent makers) was still far in the future. The four-door sedan was by far the most popular body style Kaiser in 1951, selling an impressive 39,000 units (although survival rates for all Kaisers are exceptionally low).
Parked next to the Kaiser, we see a 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan. Unfortunately, the Lincoln was covered by a tarp, which precluded me from getting a good look at it. The tarp leads me to believe that it might be a convertible, which if so would make it potentially one of the better restoration candidates on the lot.
These 1949-1951 Lincolns were originally supposed to have covered headlights (not unlike those of the 1942 DeSoto). They were ditched for cost reasons, but the headlights retained their installation positions set back into the fender. This necessitated the tunneled headlight bezels, a look that was born out of necessity but has since become iconic in its own right.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1959 Pontiac Catalina Sport Coupe – Lessons In Aging J P Cavanaugh
Curbside Classic: 1959 Pontiac Catalina Vista Sedan – Wide-Tracking To Success PN
Car Show Classic: 1959 Pontiac Catalina – Options? I Hate Options. AARON65
Curbside Classic: 1958 Ford Thunderbird – The Most Revolutionary American Car Of The Fifties PN
Automotive History: 1960-1963 Chevrolet Corvair – GM’s Deadliest Sin? PN
Automotive History: How The 1960 Corvair Started A Global Design Revolution PN
Sales Lot Classic: 1953 Kaiser Dragon – A Problem Is Simply An Opportunity In Work Clothes, Jason Shafer
Curbside Classic: 1954 Kaiser Special Club Sedan – Some First Car!, Tom Klockau
Wow. I’m not sure whether I feel admiration for this dealer, or whether they are one of those sorts who let stock deteriorate with a ‘no budge’ policy on crack pipe prices.
That Corvair is interesting, hopefully one of the commentariat will be able to say whether these were used as such.
Kaiser for me. Great find Tom.
The “dealership” was closed when I stopped by. I’m not sure how serious of a business this is, or if it is a thin cover for someone’s car hoard.
We have a museum here that I have not been in, but they (he) have an assortment of car and trucks outside that are restorable and for sale. He does restore too. The assortment outside does change over time, so I assume that there must be customers. Anyway it looks a lot like this operation.
Backup lights were optional on base Corvairs at least through 1965. Backup-light-less cars are pretty common and not indicative of a fleet purchase. Same for dog dish hubcaps. Early Corvairs were very Spartan unless you spent some quality time with the order form.
Thanks MadHungarian. It was the light blanks that mostly made me think this might have been legit. I figured they would have been very rare items, but I defer to the highly-informed opinions of Paul, Jason, Roger628 and others here including yourself.
I’ll take the Volvo 1800.
Even the Swedes can have fun=;-)
Boy I hope that Corvair is for real (the livery, that is). Runner up for me is the ’57 Lincoln (very under appreciated, although I always liked the ’56 a bit more – there’s something to be said for relative subtlety) and the Kaiser.
The Corvair wasn’t available as an official police vehicle from GM until 1961 and was cancelled after 1962. Being a ’60 this one is either a novelty piece or used as such without being built for it. I vote novelty piece.
A Kaiser! Love seeing those. I’ve got pictures of a half-dozen or more I need to write up, including a ’53 converted into a pickup and used as a flower car at Henry J’s funeral.
Places like this are fun to see but also frustrating as you can’t quite be sure these cars will ever be refurbished.
“Unfortunately, the original steering column appears to have been replaced with an 80’s GM unit.”
I’d wager that there might be GM power under the hood then as well.
Yes, a great many of those became equipped with Oldsmobile V8’s in the 1960’s and 1970’s – since a lot of them already had Hydramatic transmissions the swap was pretty easy.
The presence of the year-of-manufacture license plate as well as the changed steering column are both indications that some car guy had that Kaiser as a play toy for a while.
Fascinating stuff! I have mixed feelings about lots like these – many times the cars are too far gone to bring back, but I then I still see them in my mind the way they should look.
There have been a couple of CC treatments of Kaisers, and I took the liberty of adding them to the links above. I agree with Dan that someone has probably stuck a 350 with a modern autotrans into this. After our Detroit meet took us near the birthplace of all things Kaiser, I am freshly into them again.
I don’t understand that modern thing which makes everyone seem to want to take a decent 4 door sedan and turn it into a tribute police car. It seems that there is at least one of those at every small car show these days. Always identifiable by the high-trim interior which would never have been chosen for most police duty.
I agree with Dan that someone has probably stuck a 350 with a modern autotrans into this.
Kaisers were underpowered for their price class when they were new. They tried to buy Olds 303s, but GM found some excuses to say “no”. Kaiser was already using a Hydramatic, so a GM V8 would have been an easier fit than some others.
One Kaiser owner I talked with has an AMC 327 in his. Ironically, the 327 was designed by Dave Potter, who had previously worked on a 288 V8 at Kaiser.
It didn’t take the 54 price war to bury Kaiser. The car operation had made nothing but losses. By 53, the company was making so much money on defense contracts, and losing so much on car production, that stockholders were pressing for the company to exit the auto industry and be a pure defense contractor. Charges of price gouging put an end to the defense contracts, the same month that Sears cancelled the Allstate contract and the UAW struck the auto operation. Kaiser management had already decided to bail out of Willow Run when the Hydramatic plant in Livonia burned to the ground, providing an eager buyer for Willow Run.
After our Detroit meet took us near the birthplace of all things Kaiser, I am freshly into them again.
That Kaiser actually doesn’t look too badly off in the pix. Tell the wife working on it would keep you from wandering the streets.
Excellent photographs! I kept going back and looking at these finds over and over again. The Kaiser and the Lincoln Cosmopolitan are mesmerizing to me.
Just a complete guess on the Corvair here: I wonder if it was possibly a promotional car for a dealership? I notice that there’s a dealership decal on the back (Kemerly Chevrolet, which used to be in Fortville, Indiana)… I can see such a car being used by a small-town dealership for promotion, and for use in parades, etc. The generic star and police lettering make me think it’s a novelty car, but I’d assume that anyone who goes to those lengths to make a novelty police cruiser would remove the dealership sticker in the process. Just a thought, anyway.
Very nice and great photos, Google street view shows more 1930’s cars behind the fence.
The Corvair looks save-able, put me first in line to sand off yet another police tribute paint job and lay on some nice light blue or green.
The rest of it looks like beautiful yard art to me, maybe someone else who is more energetic than myself can help that Pontiac…
That Pontiac is calling out to me, too. Love that styling era.
Hmm, I’m sure two guys with lots of spare time such as ourselves could make short work of this. Oh, wait that’s the opposite of us 🙂
“A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.”
(c:
The Beardmore taxi in the background behind the Corvair police car is unexpected.
Correct you are. Here’s a better photo.
I’d have to cast a vote for the Lincoln Cosmo. After building such iconic classics in the 20s, 30s and 40s, the 49 was definitely a new breed of Lincoln. I don’t think that they were treasured like their predecessors were and their survival numbers are extremely low. It would take deep pockets to save this one. The trouble with tarps is they keep water out, but they can also keep water in. I have never seen bumperettes on a 49 quite like the ones pictured. They almost look like they belong in a fireplace. Auto Correct sucks. You don’t put Andersons in a fireplace.
Tom: I want the bonus points. Volvo 1800E is MY 1970.
Thanks – Article has been updated.
Here’s your prize. I better photo of the Volvo (along with the Corvair and Riveria to boot), suitable for framing.
No way is the Corvair legit. And those antennas are modern, magnetic mount units with loading coils, likely for CB. Such antennas didn’t exist at that time.
Yeah, I had one just like the tan colored on on my ’79 Fairmont.
The two Lincolns fascinate me. I vividly recall seeing a 57 Lincoln something like that Premiere when I was in High School in the late 60’s. It showed up late one night at a drag race session being held on a stretch of completed but still not opened Interstate. Painted black, chrome glinting in the summer moon light, it left a very ‘Christine’ impression on me; the hugest car I had ever seen; a monster in every sense. It didn’t do well at the drags among the Chevelles, Road Runners, and the local King Corvette, but it sure left a mark.
The sky blue (used to be red?) Cosmopolitan on the other hand is a car I don’t think I have ever heard of before. It seems almost feminine – small and curvy- compared to its younger bold and brawny younger brother.
The only thing that the cars have in common is that both have rather
weirdunusual grills with odd headlight placement.That Junkyard cum Car Lot is fascinating, but it reminds me of “The Field Of Broken Dreams” out behind my Alfa Mechanic’s shop, or perhaps The Elephants Graveyard
That is a terribly depressing photo, especially for someone like me who has lusted after an X/19 forever. That’s the kind of place that would have me immediately trying to figure out if I could scavenge enough usable bits from several of those castoffs to make one viable runner out of. And of course I haven’t the skills, patience, space nor funds to do so anyway.
So that’s where all the Fiats are buried. Looks like my first Brava in the background.
And a 850 Spider, too. I hope the tears do not cause more rust….
So many projects. So little time.
Sadly, most of these may be, at best, parts-cars by now.
And I already have a small collection of ‘yard-art’!
Happy Motoring, Mark
The Corvair is a tribute.
And it’s something of a mongrel, as it has bright trim around the doors, windshield and the rear window, which was part of the higher-trim 700 series. But it’s lacking other trim that the 700 had. So this is not original in any case, separate from the police car paint job.
This place does have a website, but I have not been able to post it.
The 49 Lincoln may not be a convertible but instead might have a canvas covered roof, but then that would make the blue Continental a 50 (the 1st year for the canvas roof). As far as the 57 Lincoln, I also prefer the 56, at least for the “cleaner” front end.
It’s a shame that the Catalina name equates with “budget-buy”. When I think Catalina I think sporty. I’m not a huge fan of the 59 GM cars, but if I had to pick 1, it would be a Pontiac.
I don’t think I would be able to pick just 1 car from those pictured.
I have to agree that if I were to acquire something from this period, the GM 1959’s would not be my first choice. However, I don’t think either the Pontiac or Oldsmobile would be my choice because the whole point of the 1959 GM’s is the tail fin. I would go for a 59 Eldorado. The 1960 Pontiacs are much better, and the 61-62 models have very good styling, not unlike the 59’s front, but finless.
I’m a NE OH native, Tom, but swear I’ve never heard of Beloit, OH.
The firm’s website is pretty spare, but they do illustrate some cars they’ve fixed up (60s-70s stuff), and note that they have “over 100 project cars,” some of which we’re seeing today.
http://classicautosrestoredsimply.webs.com
As a FoMoCo guy my heart reaches out to one of those Lincolns, but my head says “money pit.” I still think about the clean, “solid driver” ’57 Premiere I passed up in Idaho in the 1980s for a few thousand dollars….
Yeah! Seeing how most of these look today, make’s me nostalgic for the 1980s!
Happy Motoring, Mark
@ George Ferencz: The last time the website photo gallery was updated was 23 May 2014!
” of what to her surly must have just been junk.”
Hmmm…
I’m guessing you meant “surely,” but perhaps “surly” better captured your wife’s mood…
… and don’t call me Shirley.
A shame that the runoff from this lot likely bleeds iron oxide red. These seem rough even as parts cars.
Some great photos! And, thanks, now I’ll never un-see “butt cheeks” and Square Birds.
Very interesting bit on the Cosmo having been styled for headlight covers. I always found the ’49 Lincoln a bit odd – the headlights and the lump of chrome on the fender – since seeing Truman’s limo in his presidential library when I was a kid. Odd, but a look I’ve really come to appreciate. For the novelty, I might pick a ’49 Lincoln over the legendary ’49 Cadillac.
All you need is the placard for car shows: “Under this hood beats the mighty heart of the Ford F-8 truck!” 🙂
“Under this hood beats the mighty heart of the Ford F-8 truck!”
Clunky issue for Lincoln in 1949, but the extension of that placard might read “mated to a GM Hyda-Matic transmission.” Now that’s clunky.
With the Mustang and F-150 sharing the Coyote V-8 today, some things never change.
The lump of Chrome on the fender is a splash guard. The Mercedes 300 SL is probably the car most noted for using them.
The front windshield and rear window shape on the Kaiser was called the “Darrin Dip”. K-F’s Design “consultant” Howard Darrin got royalties from every car produced and even fender script billing.
Interesting bit there.
I have a certain love for the Kaisers but have never been able to really accept the “Darrin Dip.” The dip in the rear is mild and does not bother me, but the front is just plain weird. I’ve speculated on whether the dip actually hurt sales.
For the win, a period visor does wonders for the Kaiser…….
Good looking ride!
I thought the Darrin Dip was the beltline dip/kickup that were seen on so many of his designs from the 30s like the Packard Darrins. The Kaiser still shows that little dip and kickup at the beltline. I had always heard the windshield/backlight feature called the widow’s peak.
The introductory notes for the 1951 Kaiser in my copy of the “Standard Catalog” mention that “A unique “Darrin Dip” was incorporated at the front of the roof.”
But, yes, widow’s peak for the win, love the car, just not this feature.
Same here. The “dip” is on the beltline.
These photos are nostalgic and in a certain way artistic because they capture the kind of scenes which used to be so much a part of the landscape (or “carscape”) back in the 1970s when I was a youth. Traveling down New Jersey’s so-called “ugly” highways and deserted back roads was a kind of treasure hunt for old cars–you never knew what you’d find around the next bend.
Scenes like these are quite rare now, but the photo of the black ’58 Buick Special sedan and white wagon in this ebay listing is quintessential:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-Buick-Special-/322566517081?hash=item4b1a767159:g:ckcAAOSw6YtZT9aW&vxp=mtr
So many cool things here, though I agree I hope they all get some love.
The Pontiac reminds me that Cadillac was the only GM brand to ever have a fin above the beltline. That’s brand control.
The Lincoln’s “sad face”, corrected for 1950, is especially apt here.
And in addition to safety, Kaiser’s other big move to stand apart from the Big Three was through their interiors. This is a relatively mild example, but it’s much more refined than what you’d find in an Olds, DeSoto, or Mercury, let alone Chevy, Plymouth, or Ford.
Carleton Spencer, who ran K-F’s in-house interior studio, was a real trailblazer – and I hope his polar-bear hide and fur “Explorer” show car was still at Yipsilanti everyone visited for the meet-up.
pretty neat/sad, i hope some of these get saved .
-nate
Oh lord! The “Corvair, cop car” is a “hoot”! Andy/Barney should a had one! “Ford would a never allowed though.
The 1959 Pontiac’s trunk badge says came from a dealership in my wife’s hometown:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/morganton/name/mellie-bernard-obituary?id=20534496
The blue Lincoln looks like it’s wearing a black ice pack to help it get over it’s hangover! What a sad expression.
Cars in better than this condition populated the third string used car lots of my childhood. The price written on the windshield, with white shoe polish, was usually just 199.00.
I now spend a lot of time on the AACA website, looking at the cars for sale, “but not by me” listings. These cars would all be considered parts cars, not even worthy of being called projects. The guys on that forum have been around long enough to know that the only car worth considering is the best example that you can find.
That makes sense, but I have chimed in many times that even if a car isn’t worth a full restoration, it can be saved as a beater. Fix the mechanicals, improve the cosmetics and get it safely on the road. Do a bit here and there to improve it, and pass it on to the next owner that might improve it a bit more. Sure, the car will never be a show piece, but an interesting car is saved.
Of the selection pictured, I’d have to go with the Riviera, but I find that sad little Lincoln calling to me.
Great – great find! Being right across the street from what appears to be a nice neighbourhood leaves something to be desired, but this is a great collection. Of what exactly we are unsure. Restorable cars, or cars that have driven their last mile perhaps decades ago, never to move under their own power again.
Certainly some of these still wear their original paint. The ’59 Pontiac even bears its original dealer emblem it looks to me.
Thanks for capturing these once loved cars. We can give them our moment of respect.