Photos from the Cohort by Benoit.
Here’s an example of the CC effect in the virtual world; about ten days ago I posted a gallery with vintage images of station wagons from the ’70s. Then, over the next few days, a stack of 1970s wagons appeared at the Cohort. And with old wagons being just about as common as Dodo birds, I always find it hard to resist giving any surviving sample its few minutes of CC glory.
When Rolls-Royce took over Bentley in the mid-‘30s, each of the two marques had a clear role and segment. Rolls were very large and opulent, suitable for chauffeur-driven limos. Bentleys had smaller engines and a sporting heritage. After 1945, the two marques became clones technically, but Bentley kept a sporty model in the Continental and LWB models were still the purview of Rolls-Royce. By the time the brand new V8 came to be in 1959, though, the Bentley marque started to lose what remained of its character. But at least the grille stayed.
Not too bad for a first effort. But still very Japanese looking. All photos from web.
The best Harley that wasn’t, and the beginning of the end.
After I sold my long term Harley XLCR, I was without a bike of any kind for several years. As I approached my first retirement in 2006, I started thinking that I might want to get another motorcycle.
I had been a Harley fan for a long time, but I had seen how the Japanese manufacturers had really gotten serious about building their own V Twin powered cruisers. Their early efforts were kind of amateurish; while the bikes were V Twin powered, they definitely wouldn’t be mistaken for something that came from Milwaukee!
(first posted 5/1/2018) CC reader Franco P. sent me this shot of two Nissan Cubes side-by-side. A while back, this might not have been so unusual, but the Cube is quickly slipping into obscurity, at least from a subjective point of view, if not quite truly rare.
(first posted 5/7/2018) Anyone mildly familiar with the 1980s melodramatic primetime soap opera, Dynasty, will know that Alexis Carrington was a force to be reckoned with. Strong, confident, dignified and larger than life, yet brash, manipulative, elitist and self-interested, the character of Alexis Carrington was not unlike that of Chrysler’s CEO during the 1980s, Lee “Lido” Iacocca. In one way or another, both would ultimately try to claw his or her way back into the control of organizations they had been ousted from, though in the case of Alexis, “clawing” could be quite literally-speaking in addition to figuratively.
For today, let’s check out some outdoorsy images of vintage rides in camping action. The images mix camping grounds and parks, with most shots heavily featuring the family ride. There’s a good deal of variety in location and vehicles, all comprising a good deal of fins and open spaces. Some of CC’s favorite themes.
Sometimes interesting cars appear in unlikely places. My wife snapped these pictures while chaperoning our daughter’s band trip in Salem, Massachusetts. She knew the car was interesting, but wow – this is a car I haven’t seen in decades, and rust-prone New England isn’t where I’d imagine one to be driving down a city street. A one-in-a-million encounter… in more ways than one.
Interestingly, Salem once played a bit part in Toyota’s history. In 1972 – around the time our featured car was new – a Salem Toyota dealer sold a red Corolla wagon to a local couple. What seemed like an ordinary transaction, though, was made more interesting because Toyota declared that car to be the company’s one millionth US sale. The lucky couple were treated to a ceremony, as well as engraved watches and a free London vacation. But Toyota itself was the real winner. The company had made it big. And the Corona Mark II was part of that success.
I didn’t really know what a “marquis” was until I looked up the definition. Why would or should I know this? There has never been any such title in the U.S., at least to my knowledge. Even though I did okay in subjects like social studies and world history, I’m pretty sure I’d lose all my money on “Final Jeopardy” if the question was on the subject of titles and rankings of nobility. Ask me what a “marquis” is, and I’ll tell you that it’s a title, but little else. If I was feeling smart or flip that day, I’d say a marquis was a big, old Mercury. I might even make reference to a kid in my second-grade class who had that name, though his was pronounced “Mar-KWEES”. (He was cool and I liked him.)
(first posted 4/2/2013) The year 1966 was an exciting time in the American intermediate-car market, with each of the Big Three serving up a fresh, new model. At the time, the Dodge Coronet, although an excellent car, was hampered by its Chrysler parentage–but time is, after all, the great equalizer, and this car has since become a sought-after icon of its era.
(first posted 3/29/2013) As a child of the nineties, I feel blessed to have grown up in a decade of so many breathtaking car designs. I naturally feel a small wave of nostalgia every time I see one of my favorites. One of those cars is the Dodge Intrepid. When the LH cars (Chrysler Concorde, Dodge Intrepid, Eagle Vision (CC here) came along in 1993, they completely changed the automotive landscape, signaling the end of the K-car and the beginning of Chrysler’s newest fad for the next decade: Cab-Forward. Read the rest of this entry »
Richard Teague was responsible for a number of attractive automotive shapes. The best to reach production was the Hornet. Super minimalist, long hood and tight tail, coiled-fist boxy, flares you can see from the moon. It oozes handsomeness and purpose.
There is one thing, however, that irks me. Those short rear doors.
This week will be dedicated to the last great decade of British cars (i.e. the ‘60s), with a particular focus on luxury – something of a British specialty, at least in automobiles. And what better way to kick things off than with a carmaker that was so traditional and exclusive that they never bodied any of their own chassis?
Rich Baron’s recent capsule on the Australian Matador X Coupe captured by Peter Wilding struck me with a double-barrelled CC effect.
Buried in the recent past was an Australian AMX I’d caught through the gates of a slightly decrepit mansion compound.
And in the more distant past a story I’d nearly finished and completely forgotten about, compiling the American Motors Corporation vehicles I’ve photographed built by Australian Motor Industries.
(first posted 4/9/2013) Traditionally, very small cars and four-wheel drive have rarely mixed. The extra mechanical drag inflicted by the four-wheel drive system tends to blunt the car’s fuel economy potential, and their small wheels limit ground clearance. The Subaru Justy is one of the few small cars of the 1980s and 1990s that combined 4WD with a small body, but oddly, that isn’t what it’s most remembered for today. In the United States, the Subaru Justy is mostly known for two things; as the last car in the U.S. market to be sold with a carburetor, and first one with a CVT gearbox. A justifiably odd mixture of old and new tech.
