Editor’s Note: The recent Curbside Classics of Baghdad has prompted another international submission, so we’ve created a new category: CC Global. This comes from Richard Dilks, who recently visited Tallinn, Estonia. We’d love to see Curbside Classics from your part of the world or the places you visit. If you’d like to put together a collection of pictures with some accompanying text, please send them to us at curbsideclassic (at) gmail.com.
To twist a quote from ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’, I’m a longtime CC reader and first-time CC writer.
Here in the UK, CC is often my lunchtime respite. Obviously, it has started seeping into my consciousness outside of lunch: While tootling round Tallinn last weekend, I found myself not only taking in the cars amidst the architecture, beer and cake, but snapping them as well. So here goes; a weekend’s random ambling round Tallinn, brought to a screen near you.
First up we have the clean-lined glory (and dodgy electrics) that make up the Peugeot 405. Although the rain was just a little intense when I snapped this, body rot hasn’t seemed to have set in. There’s a bit of me that just longs to get one of those and lope around in it. And there’s another bit that really doesn’t want the electric window to stick down in that rain.
Moving on to more humble and aged steeds: our first Lada. OK, this is a photo of a photo; in fact, of one taken 12 years ago.
A change in venue and automotive furnishings is evident in the next photo. A place where dirty snow and a beaten Riva had lingered just 12 years ago is now all pristine vines and organic chocolate.
But what’s this? Round the corner, I find ancient and modern smack next to each other—an actual Lada Riva, crude and reliable as ever, next to a Nissan Box (Writer’s note: ‘Box’ might not be the actual model name).
Clearly, the demise of the Soviet bloc has not prompted Estonians to dash out and buy new Ladas. A trip to the excellent Museum of Occupation explains why (by the way, this is the only museum I’ve ever visited that depicts both Nazi and Soviet evils side-by-side). These Gazes look rather cute now, all polished up and quaintly curvy–but then you realize that even as new cars their technology was hopelessly outdated. The one on the left, for example, apparently has a 1920 Dodge unit up front and a just-prewar rear axle. In the ’50s, it must have been oh-so-desirable and sold only to a lucky few–small wonder Stalin had an armored Packard.
But enough of the proles. What do those further up the pecking order drive? Perhaps this trusty Merc W115.
Or this lovely-condition SL, which peeks ’round an ornate corner.
Or this 993 911, just as fetching as the church it’s parked outside.
Maybe one hardy achiever is still tooling around in this Daimler. For their sake, I should hope it’s not the troublesome V12 version, but considering what they’ve done with the wheels, I actually hope it is. What ruination lies beneath those gorgeous lines.
Perhaps they’re not doing the driving, but being driven. I giggled when I first saw this, but when you think about it, what better stretch than a Lexus LS400?
But let’s get real. If you’re making serious cash, you want something just a little bit more modern. Out of a fair numbers of Range Rovers, Panameras (is there a more hideous machine?) and even an Escalade, I picked this nastily blinged Bentley Mulsanne as typical of the breed. New tarnish on an old badge, for me anyway.
But surely Tallinn–as a mixture of East and West; of German, Swedish and Russian occupation; of independence and European Union membership; as a bridge between Scandinavia and Russia; and as a damn fine place to spend the weekend–surely, can Tallinn not do better?
Yes it can. Just look at this Pontiac Executive, a gaudy shark lurking on a side street.
As you can see, I couldn’t resist snapping it in all conditions. To end with another film reference, it spoke to me of an early-teen memory, from GoodFellas, in which Ray Liotta’s character’s Pontiac Grand Prix is shown parked outside his lover’s apartment as night turns into day.
Looks very familiar to older parts of Wroclaw, Poland where I live.
Great job!
I’d forgotten all about the Pontiac Executive and so decided to go do some Web sleuthing about it. First hit: the inevitable Wikipedia article. Guess which particular Executive is featured in the article’s main photo.
How could I never have heard of the Pontiac Executive? And why are its only (apparent) pics from some Eurospot?
Had to do the Google, too. It’s a small, small world. LOL!
Well done, Richard; I shall raise a pint in your honor!
Beautiful photography. The picturesque scenes are so different from the backdrops to my photos. They remind me of stylish spy movies. (Psst – don’t look now, but there is an attractive lady in a flowered skirt following you.)
Your piece reminds us once again that locale and context are everything. Growing up, there would have been nothing less exotic than a 68 Pontiac. Especially a light green one. But now, and particularly in eastern Europe, what a delightful visual contrast of old Europe and 1960s America.
As for the Pontiac Executive, it was the successor to the Star Chief, the mid-range car between the Catalina and the Bonneville. Neither the Star Chief nor the Executive ever sold well, and both have been largely forgotten, even in the States. It seems to have suffered from that mid-level curse that also hit the Buick Invicta. I guess there really can be too many choices.
As much as I love communism, the cars have generally failed to interest me. Luckily, there are tons of old Western models trundling around those parts of the world today. Looks like Estonians share their Baltic friends’ love of Johnson/Nixon/Ford era Detroit iron, too!
In any of the Euro-communist countries, you could have a curbside classics side-by-side with an architecture commentary. Actually, that could’ve been done in Baghdad, too, and it’s a shame I’ll be seeing my family in Turkey this summer, rather than Tehran, because I really wanted to snap some photos,
but I digress.
I never knew Stalin had had a Packard. Is that the car which inspired the Chaika?
Well done, Richard. Seeing the contrast of old world architecture with newer world automobiles is a tasty combination.
The photography alone prompted me to do a google street tour of Tallinn before coming back to read your piece again!
Nice little overview of the cars you saw.
Yes I did know there was a Pontiac Executive – I know it was not a luxurious model but when you use a name like “Executive” I think the car should be driven by “Mad Men” types.
Thanks, Richard. The big Pontiac reminded me of how like fish out of water big American cars looked to me when I went back to Austria to visit. In the summer of 1969, there was a new black Polara four-door hardtop down the block from my Grandmother’s house; sitting on the cobblestones. How expensive that must have been for the owner to buy, never mind feed.
Heyyyy. I took a photo of that very Pontiac when I was in Finland & Estonia last year! I think I even posted it on CC, where was that??
Nice car, good to know it’s still there. It did look quite ridiculous on the narrow cobblestone street….
Here it is….
What are the chances that a UK CC spotter and a Canadian CC spotter spot the same CC?
I think the cobblestone street looks ridiculous, not the car. A FIAT wheelbarrow and a trash-heap would be more in line with the street.
Interesting write up – and how unexpected it must have been to see the Pontiac!
Wow, I had no idea that Pontiac was so famous! At least the photos prove it does move, which it didn’t during our visit.
My reaction was similar to others – “Wow, an Executive!”. These aren’t a common sight even in the U.S., especially in two-door form. That’s probably why its picture has gotten around so much on the internet.
For anyone who’s not familiar with the Executive: in the ’60s, Pontiac had two main full-size models, the Catalina and the Bonneville. In addition to being more luxurious, the Bonneville rode on a longer wheelbase, and came with a more powerful version of Pontiac’s V8. The Executive and its Star Chief predecessor were positioned in between the two. They used the longer Bonneville wheelbase, but were not as well equipped as a Bonneville, and I think they used the Catalina version of the engine. They were essentially for a customer who wanted a Bonneville-sized car but not quite a Bonneville-sized pricetag. That the fullsize segment could be sliced and diced so finely illustrates the extent to which fullsize cars dominated the U.S. market in those days.
For several years up through 1965, this car was called the Star Chief. At that time, Pontiac apparently decided that the Star Chief name sounded too much like something out of the ’50s, and decided to replace it with Executive. 1966 was a transition year where the car was called both names, as the “Star Chief Executive”. For 1967, “Executive” fully took over. In the early-to-mid ’60s, the Star Chief was only offered as a four-door sedan, in pillared or hardtop variants. A coupe was introduced in 1966, and an Executive Safari wagon in 1967. (As with the Bonneville Safari, the Executive Safari was actually built off of the smaller Catalina wheelbase. Pontiac did not make its fullsize wagon body in a long-wheelbase version, presumably because the cost of making two versions of the wagon body didn’t make sense when measured against expected sales.) Even after the coupe and wagon were introduced, though, my sense is that the four-door sedans continued to be the best-selling Executive styles.
While there was obviously enough of a market for this car to justify Pontiac selling it for as long as they did, it was much smaller than for the Catalina or Bonneville. Without any sales or production figures in front of me, I’m thinking that a typical year in the ’60s might be something like 200,000+ Catalinas, 100,000+ Bonnevilles, and maybe 40,000 Star Chiefs/Executives. Couple this with the fact that most ’60s Star Chiefs/Executives were four-door sedans (historically considered less desireable than coupes or convertibles by classic car collectors/enthusiasts), and you can see why they’re such a rare sight today.
The Executive continued through 1970. For 1971, Pontiac shuffled around its fullsize model lineup a bit. While I’ve always been a bit unclear on the exact purpose of everything that Pontiac did — I see that some of this is covered in another CC on a ’72 Catalina that has been posted — one of the changes was to move the Bonneville to the same wheelbase as the Catalina. In light of this, it no longer really made sense to continue offering a car like the Executive as a distinct model, so it was dropped.
What a fun visit! Thanks, Richard. Good to know that CCers everywhere have similar tastes…
“Panameras (is there a more hideous machine?)”
Not since they stopped selling Maybachs!
While Pontiac Executive and Star Chief are not well known to younger car fans, Olds also had a lot of names in the 60’s, until narrowed down to Delta 88 and 98 in 1971.
Dynamic, Jetstar, Delmont, Super 88’s, and Starfire.
Even today, some assume all big Chevys were Impalas, and will say “What’s a Biscayne?”