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Curbside Classics: ’57 Ford, ’58 Chevrolet, Saturn Vue & Chevy Equinox – What’s 50 Years, After All?

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– Posted on April 28, 2025

Photos from the CC Cohort by Hyperpack (Slant Six), captured at Len’s Auto Sales Service, Blairsville, PA. 

To us who enjoy cars, unexpected sightings such as this American mix of models and years offer curious joys. A chance to glimpse at what was, what one enjoyed, and what one discovers anew. The time jump in this car collection is basically a half century, between the late ’50s models and the 21st century ones. Yes, time traveling in one small street section, something fans of the automotive can enjoy at ease when the opportunity comes. No need for future technology to arrive, just your love for old metal.

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The Cars Of Elvis Presley

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– Posted on April 28, 2025

How many of us would like to call the local Cadillac dealer at midnight, order a Fleetwood or two, and pick them up after waking up at about 3:30 in the afternoon or so? Well, one person did just that.  By all accounts, Elvis was smitten by the same bug that haunts all of us: He couldn’t stop thinking about those darn horseless carriages. Unlike most of us, he could literally drive anything he wanted.

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1981 Ford Accessories Brochure: Make Your Ford Your Own

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– Posted on April 28, 2025

1981 Ford Accessories Brochure Cover

Is that new Escort or Fairmont great, but not quite perfect?  Well, leaf through Ford’s Accessories Brochure to make that new car feel more like your own!  If big-ticket items like new wheels are out of your price range, then more modest accessories such as a digital clock or tape stripes might do the trick.  This 1981 brochure shows just what those offerings were for Ford cars.

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Vintage M/T Review: 1965 Dodge Monaco – “As Rugged As It Is Rich”

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– Posted on April 28, 2025

 

From the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, the Dodge Monaco was the senior trim series of the full-size Dodge line, but the original 1965 Monaco was a hardtop-only personal luxury model, Dodge’s short-lived attempt to take on the Pontiac Grand Prix. Here’s what Motor Trend had to say about the car Dodge marketed as being “as rugged as it is rich.”

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Car Show Classic: 1969 Honda N360 AT – Think Small… No, Smaller Than That

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– Posted on April 27, 2025

(first posted 4/16/2019)       As promised in my recent double post on a classic car meet I attended in France, here’s one car I saw there that merits its own (little) post. Old Hondas are not exactly my strong suit,  so I trust you will be forgiving if anything I write about it seems amiss. But I just had to feature this one, as I really took to it when I saw it, even with its slightly scruffy bodywork.

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Curbside Classics: 1981 & 1982 Chevrolet Monte Carlos – Yin & Yang

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– Posted on April 27, 2025

(first posted 4/8/2019)          This month will mark the first time in seven whole years that I will have spent time with either / both of my two first cousins.  That’s really a lot of time, when you think about it.  This span can mean the difference between the fifth grade and high school graduation.  Different presidential administrations.  The beginning or end of a long-term relationship.  Births.  Deaths.  Needless to say, I’m beside myself with excitement to be visiting with my aunt, uncle, two cousins, and their spouses and kids.

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Vintage Postcards: Packard Dealers In The 1950s

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– Posted on April 27, 2025

Cooke Toledo Motors Ltd., Montreal.

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Truck Stop Classic: Late 80s DAF NATE 2826 DKS 6×6 Tractor – Heavily Customized

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– Posted on April 27, 2025

Sarens - DAF NATE 2826 DKS 6x6 tractor - 1

The motto of the Belgium-based Sarens company is ‘Nothing too heavy, nothing too high’. No further explanation needed. Last year, the thorough restoration of one of their classic, custom-built heavy haulage tractors was completed.

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All Those Glamorous Four-Door Hardtops, Part 3: 1965-1969 – Now Available In Sizes S, M, L & XL

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– Posted on April 27, 2025

The second half of the sixties is often called the golden age for American cars, and that certainly applies to four-door hardtops. Not only did full-size versions continue to expand their market share, but hardtop GM pioneer upped the ante in two size classes that otherwise never got them: the compact Corvair in 1965 and the mid-size A-Body cars in 1966. They didn’t last very long, with the Corvair 4-door hardtop dropped after 1967, and the mid-size cars after 1972. That was something of a foreshadowing of the end for the whole genre.

But we’ll leave that to Part 4; for now we can celebrate the Golden Age of the 4-door hardtop.

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My 1999 Alfa Romeo 166 – Was There Ever Really Another Choice?

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– Posted on April 27, 2025

Well then, here you have it, CC friends, the final result of my most recent search for a new (to me) automotive millstone. Any of you who have read the entirety of my COAL series could probably have figured this out from a mile away, but I’ll admit to being quite surprised that a significant percentage of commenters on the previous post also expressed enthusiasm for the Italian choices (and nobody took the opportunity provided to justifiably call me a blithering idiot!)

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Curbside Classic: 1977 Datsun King Cab Pickup (620) – Yes, We Have Long Legs In America

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– Posted on April 26, 2025

(first posted 2/18/2012)     Datsun pioneered the little Japanese truck in America; more correctly, they built their business on it. In the early sixties, their cars weren’t exactly quite ready for US prime-time, given the competition. But there wasn’t any for their little trucks, toy-like though they were (early Datsun pickup history here). Datsun held the top sales spot for years, until Toyota finally edged them out. And although they grew with each generation, they were always cramped in the cab, until 1977, when Datsun unveiled their grandiosely-named King Cab. Now standard cabs are relegated to parts delivery trucks, and even then, they’re probably roomier than this King Cab.  Progress. Read the rest of this entry »

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Car Show Classic(s): 1966 Panhard 24 B (and CT) – Be Still, My Beating Twin

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– Posted on April 26, 2025

(first posted 4/25/2019)      I’ve been wanting to write about this car ever since I started posting on CC, and finally the day has come. As I reported earlier, I went to a classic car meet in France recently and, as expected, bagged a bunch of CCs. I secretly hoped that a Panhard 24 would be there. I was wrong: there were two!

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Curbside Classic: 1989 Mitsubishi Montero – An Off-Roader In A Grocery-Getter World

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– Posted on April 26, 2025

(first posted 2/5/2019)       Success came relatively easy for 1980s SUVs, since the vehicles formerly known as off-roaders suddenly found themselves in a booming market segment.  As the editor of Four Wheeler magazine noted at the time, SUVs had become popular because “they make good grocery-getters, they make good four-wheel drive recreational vehicles, they make good commuters.”  But not all SUVs actually made good grocery-getters, and not all achieved sales success.  Mitsubishi’s Montero was one such vehicle.  In a decade that saw US annual SUV sales balloon from 42,000 to over 800,000, Mitsubishi was lucky to sell 10,000 Monteros per year.

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Vintage Snapshots: The Wedding Car – 1950s to 1970s

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– Posted on April 26, 2025

Text by Patrick Bell.

Today we have a gallery of cars used in weddings.  Some of these were obviously a “getaway” car, where someone chauffeured the bride and groom to another destination.  Meanwhile, many were likely simpler ceremonies where the newlyweds used their own car to escape the festivities when the time came.  Mine was of the latter variety; I had a ’69 Chrysler Newport that we used to go on our weekend honeymoon.  The car is long gone, but thankfully, I still have the wife.

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My 1995 Mazda Protege: Zoom Zoom, Whir, Crunch, And Pop – Lemon Law Protege

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– Posted on April 26, 2025

 

This story pisses me off every time I tell it.

In late 1994, we got my now-ex-wife a ‘95 Mazda Protege. Dark blue, with purple tones in certain light. It replaced her GLC, which she loved. Mazda had a good reputation, and she wanted another, and it was peppy for an economy car, fun to drive. It was great. For about 10 months.

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