Curbside Classic -

Car Show Classic: 1983-95 Alfa Romeo 33 – Sudsy, But Not Enough For Some

– Posted on April 26, 2024

(first posted 4/26/2018) Death, taxes and compact Alfa Romeo hatchbacks: three constants in life, at least since 1981. While readers outside of Europe may not be familiar with Alfas like the 145, 146, 147, MiTo, Giulietta and the featured 33, they have helped keep the lights on at the Turin automaker. Each of these models are descendants of the critically acclaimed Alfasud. Such a legacy can be a dreadful burden and the 33 in particular bears the brunt of some outsized expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

Automotive History: Paul Bracq – Neither A Knife Nor A Potato; Part Two

Don Andreina

– Posted on April 26, 2024

(first posted 4/26/2018) Yesterday, in the first part of this series we took you through Paul Bracq’s beginnings with Philippe Charbonneaux and his ten years at Daimler-Benz. Today, we look at the rest of his career.

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Vintage Snapshots: Station Wagons In The 1970s

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 26, 2024

Today’s post is part of a series celebrating the station wagon as we used to know them. And unlike my Life In The Station Wagon series, these showcase snapshots where the wagons are the main feature. In case you missed them, the installments for the 1950s and 1960s are linked further down.

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CC Capsule: 1998-2002 Daewoo Lanos – Humble Remnant Of Lofty Ambitions

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 26, 2024

With big dreams come big falls. And while this car is a rather humble-looking one, those who lived through its launch know there’s more to it than meets the eye. The event was certainly a brief hiccup in automotive history, a short timeframe when upcoming Korean automaker Daewoo attempted to take over the world. A rather misguided and rushed affair that’s been covered at CC in detail.

And yes, this humble Lanos compact was part of that herculean effort.

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CC Driving Impressions: 1988 Volvo 240GL – Brick Loving

SajivW

– Posted on April 26, 2024

The Volvo 240 series is certainly no stranger to Curbsiders, with 9 separate COAL entries and numerous other pieces on the site covering the model quite comprehensively. So is there anything left to say about the 240? Well I’m certainly going to give it a try, because this particular example deserves it. Old school rear wheel driven Volvos have been interesting to me since I was a kid, because my mom’s boss in the early 90s had a Volvo 940 as a company car and I got many opportunities to poke around it and even rode in it a few times. It seemed so solid and felt like being inside a tank, while the smell of the leather and plastic seems to be ingrained forever in my olfactory memories. That red 940 kicked off a lifelong affinity for old Volvos, and though I haven’t yet owned one, it seems like it will be only a matter of time.

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Curbside Classic: 1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car – USS Lincoln Docks In Central Tokyo

Tatra87

– Posted on April 26, 2024

All aboooooard! The final port of call for this ‘70s Detroit Barge Week will take place on the vast deck of the good ship Continental. Look, it even has a porthole on the side! Hope you don’t get seasick too easily, as this vessel is known to be a bit on the wallowy side. Anyway, sound the foghorn, anchors away and let’s see if this Lincoln floats your boat.

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CC Capsule: 1935 MG Magnette NA Roadster — Archetypal British Roadster

Tatra87

– Posted on April 25, 2024

(first posted 4/26/2018) This is going to be a short one. I recovered these photos recently, after having forgotten about them for about four years. In the summer of 2012, I went to the town of Harogate in Yorkshire (on a ferry, via Belgium) to take part in the International Citroen Car Club Rally (ICCCR), a global Citrofest held every four years. Quite apart from the numerous Citroens I photographed on this occasion, a few other interesting CCs lurked in the town itself. Such as this rare pre-war 6-cyl. MG. Read the rest of this entry »

CC Capsule: 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo – Exotic Destinations

Joseph Dennis

– Posted on April 25, 2024

(first posted 4/25/2018) What’s in a name? Often times plenty. It’s why many actors, musicians and other persons of note have been known to the world by names other than those they were given. Have you ever met an attractive person, and at the first exchange of names discovered that theirs is one that probably hasn’t been common or popular since early in the last century? I admire folks that rock such names with confidence.

It’s kind of like the same thing with cars. The right model name can conjure up images of power, youth, and / or freedom. Just imagine if “Special Falcon” had been chosen by Ford over “Mustang” for its affordable sporty car. No doubt, the car itself would still have been a smash hit simply based on its own qualities, but would it have been as big a success if it had been called something else?

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Automotive History: Paul Bracq – Neither A Knife Nor A Potato; Part One

Don Andreina

– Posted on April 25, 2024

(first posted 4/25/2018) Very few individuals in automotive history have been the primary hand in shaping the entire passenger car range for a major manufacturer. Paul Bracq managed to accomplish this, not once but twice.

In this two-part series we take a look at his career, focusing on a number of his more famous shapes as well as shedding light on some of his lesser-known work.

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Vintage Dealer Snapshots: Studebaker Dealers In The ’40s, ’50s & ’60s

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 25, 2024

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COAL: Hooptie Fleet Update — Subaru Marge Gives Her Life For Shane!!

Carlsberg66

– Posted on April 25, 2024

On the very damp and rainy evening of March 8^th, we were enjoying a quiet dinner at home with my eldest son and his girlfriend. In my job, I already respond to my phone and texts like a Pavlovian dog and in order to have some normalcy, especially off hours, I have alerts turned off and chuck it in a corner. I noticed the phone flashed and ignored it. A few seconds later the phone rang, it was my youngest, Shane, 19, who calls me approximately never. “Dad, I’ve been in an accident”. These are the words no parents of a teenager want to hear. You always think something like this cannot happen to you, but it can.

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Curbside Classic: 1973 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible – Lipstick On A Barge

Tatra87

– Posted on April 25, 2024

Could we have a ‘70s Detroiter Week without a Cadillac? I think not. I had another one in mind when I planned this, but this recently-encountered Eldorado seemed even more appropriate. After all, it’s a transitional model, with the dreaded 5mph bumpers (in front only) and it has the biggest production V8 of the marque’s history. And it’s the very definition of a land yacht.

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Kurbside Classic: 1983 Grumman KubVan – Tiny, FWD, VW Diesel Powered, And Very Rare

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on April 24, 2024

(first posted 5/4/2013. One of my better finds) The early eighties was the most revolutionary and unique time in the American automobile industry ever. Thanks to exploding oil and fuel prices, and with the expectation that the increases would continue indefinitely, for the only time ever Americans embraced radical downsizing with a fervor. It was as if the US was finally joining the rest of the world. Of course, it didn’t last; as soon as oil prices started dropping, everyone quickly forgot the whole episode, and the truck/SUV boom soon exploded. But for a few short years, it was out with the big, in with the small. The little relics from that era are becoming hard to find: K-Car limousines, Chevy Sprints, Diesel Rabbits. (of course, we’ve found all of those). But there are others that I’d forgotten ever existed, like this tiny FWD diesel KubVan. Read the rest of this entry »

Automotive History: Since The 1975 Granada Was The Worst Malaise-Mobile, What Was The Best (Or Maybe Just Better)?

Jason Shafer

– Posted on April 24, 2024

(first posted 4/24/2018) A while back, Paul wrote a very enlightening article about the 250 six powered 1975 Ford Granada winning the dunce cap award for having Ford Model A levels of power per cubic inch as well as a few other dubious distinctions. Cars with such attributes simply don’t come about every day.

But the premise of Paul’s article prompted me to be curious about the opposite; what was the best of this era? Nothing is as clear-cut for good as the Granada was for ridiculous, and this question could be likened to asking who had the least bothersome case of small pox. Any determination of what is “best” is a dicey proposition.

Let’s break this down by make for better enlightenment, of which there is a considerable amount.

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Curbside Classic: 1985 Renault Alliance Convertible – Ton Camembert à la Open Air

Brendan Saur

– Posted on April 24, 2024

(first posted 4/24/2018) Believe it or not, there was a time when the French automobile industry was the most technologically advanced in the world, the largest producer of automobiles in the world, and the largest exporter of cars to the United States. That of course, was circa-1900, and my, did things change in the ensuing years.

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