(first posted 1/22/2015) Today’s find is another example of how well vehicles stay preserved here on Vancouver Island, even if there’s no real effort on the part of the owner to preserve them. This classic 1980 Plymouth Caravelle two-door coupe, adorned with a pair of ‘hot-for-the-era’ glass T-tops, should technically be extinct, but still it holds on, 35 years later, looking for one more chance. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 5/11/2011) Necessity really is the mother of all invention. And the history of this peculiar kind of truck was born during wartime shortage. In Sweden before and during the second world war, there was a shortage of tractors and farm equipment. So, what did the farmers do? They had to make with what they had, and what they had was trucks. Tractors were made out of anything resembling a vehicle, most of them had Ford A or AA origin. The trucks were used in a similar fashion to the original Jeep and the English Land Rover, working on fields or hauling stuff around the farm. In modern times, the truck has evolved into something not that different from the Australian “Ute”.
by Corey Behrens
One of my rather odd habits is naming cars, or the ones I like, anyway. My 2018 Volkswagen Golf is a car I certainly like and what’s not to like? It is a hoot to drive, is very easy on fuel and can do many things very well. I didn’t take long to coin “Wolfgang von Wolfsburg de Puebla,” Wolfy for short.
by Don Kincl
What should a Buick be? It should be serious but not severe, sober but not dour, undeniably upscale without drawing too much attention to itself. The kind of car a doctor or a judge or the pastor of a large church might drive. Mature, accomplished professionals want a mature, accomplished car that will propel them expeditiously and comfortably to their important destinations. A Buick communicates that they have carefully thought through their choice of conveyance just like they have every other choice in their lives.
At least that’s the traditional image. One could argue that having a strong image (or maybe stereotype) has sustained the brand to this day, even as all the other middle rungs of the GM ladder have been removed. It would be hard to imagine a better exemplar of the brand and its traditional qualities than this blue beauty I found resting curbside recently. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 1/21/2015) As someone with a vast knowledge, love, and passion for cars, it pains me to say that I haven’t had a chance to drive the sheer number of cars, especially “classic” cars, that many of you have had. Driving a classic car is an opportunity which I’m rarely presented with, so needless to say it was an invigorating experience when I was able to get behind the wheel of this 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix.
We had a lot of good nominations about the easiest cars to work on. How about the opposite? And let’s expand that a bit, up to 1990, so that we can include this 1985 Honda vacuum line chart. Yes, just the vacuum lines. Ah, the good old days…
So let’s hear your nominations for what you never want to deal with again. Or wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
GM B-Bodies used to be the top dog of Beaterville. Our biggest Goodwill store is across the street from Home Depot, so I could always count on one or two or three over there in the parking lot. Not anymore. So when I spotted one recently, I drove across the street to document it. Who know how much longer its heart will still be beating, especially if it has that obscure Pontiac 265 V8 under the hood.
The Cohort gives us another gem, courtesy of Corey Behrens. When did you last see a Vauxhall Cavalier Sports Hatch on the road? Read the rest of this entry »
The other day we looked at the similar-looking Bedford and GM NA vans, and pointed out the Bedford came along two years before the American version, which it undoubtedly influenced stylistically. Thanks to this shot of a fine survivor gen2 Econoline (by Mike Hayes), let’s take a look at the situation with Ford vans on both sides of the big pond. It was quite similar to GM, where the European Mark1 Transit came out a couple of years before this generation of Econoline, and its influence can be seen here.
Enough with all those weird parallel-universe JDM-only cars! For once, here’s one we can all remember – the Toyota saloon that the whole world knows and, presumably, loves. But even in this case, there are Corollas and there are Corollas. Just what flavour of this multitudinous species did I manage to unearth here, in what is, after all, its birthplace?
(first posted 1/20/2015, updated with more pictures) Most of the time, I love the fact that I’m a car guy in Michigan. Sure, our roads are terrible and our car insurance is among the most expensive in the nation, but we have car museums aplenty to keep the most devoted motorhead pacified during the drab winter months. My wife and I recently visited the R.E. Olds Museum in Lansing (for about the dozenth time), and came across this weird gem.
John Lloyd posted this shot with the following comment:
Pueblo, Colorado. This is the fifth one of these I have come across in the past five years. A lot of these were made in the early fifties. Many went to military bases as one I saw had Navy markings. I have seen and photographed five of them in the last decade. Henney was a big provider of ambulances, hearses and stretch limousines.
Checker Motors, the builder of the iconic Checker Marathon, was not exempted from the increasing federal rules governing new automobiles. That meant a full complement of 5-mile bumpers, starting in 1974. Checker complied, and with a vigor. The only question is why Checker didn’t put bumpers like this on the taxis years earlier. It seems so obvious, if you’ve ever been in New York traffic, especially back in the day when taxi drivers seemed to be a bit less inhibited.
William Rubano found and posted this immaculate Marathon sedan. He’s labeled it “1976-1978”, presumably because he knows some tell-tale about this one to narrow it down to those years. I’m in no position to second guess him, but given the bumpers, it’s clearly a 1974 or later.
