Mike Hayes got a whopper here: a battered Buick Roadmaster sporting a Chevy caprice front door. How many other body parts would fit? A Chevy front clip and some Chevy badges would turn it into a Chevy…Master!
The giant trunk attracted my attention to this old black car parked outside an auto parts store. I couldn’t tell it was a Ford until I saw the badges, and I had only the dimmest clue to its age until Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 5/30/2012)
Front-wheel-drive may have been a bit of expensive over-kill for the personal-luxury coupe 1966 Toronado, but the Oldsmobile engineers who created the UPP (Unitized Power Package) unleashed a revolution for powering motor homes. It was just the ticket: a compact, but very powerful (375 hp) and slick package to stick in the front end of an RV. Who would be the first to take the plunge? Or more importantly, who would have the lightest motor home to turn into a hot rod? Ultra, of course. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 8/10/2016) Alright, well maybe as a humbler GXE model, this 1990 Maxima isn’t the best example to make for the whole four-door sports car case. But compared to bulkier-looking modern sports sedans (and all modern cars in general) there is something undeniably athletic about this 1990 Maxima’s lean, sleek looks.
I hadn’t really ever thought about how crucial armored trucks like Brink’s were back in the day when everyone got paid in cash. I used to get paid in cash, in my first few jobs, working at two different gas stations. The owner just peeled off the bills to me; no withholding, no stub; $35 for Saturday and Sunday, which was pretty good money for a 16 year-old in 1969.
I’ve just spent five minutes staring at this picture, trying to make sense of it. Yes, I know; nobody ever spent that much time closely looking at a 1969 Ambassador’s rear end cap, garnished by a heraldic crest, or whatever that is. Well, at least not since it was approved by Dick Teague, AMC’s design chief.
I wonder what he thought of it. Just another desperate attempt to make a two year-old body look different by covering up what had originally been the taillight. And we think that it must have been exciting to be an automotive stylist back in the good old days.
Ok, now we can move on to the rest of this car, shot and posted by William Garret.
In January 1963, Swedish truck maker Scania-Vabis introduced the LB 76 cabover series of heavy trucks and tractors, mainly to serve the key export markets, where overall length restrictions had come into effect. No cab-over-engine model in the product line simply meant no opportunities to expand the business abroad.
Hondas remain a largely unknown quantity for me, sorry to say. They were not overly popular in continental Europe, where I spent my formative years – particularly the big ones. Once in a while, you might see a Prelude, but generally, folks who bought Hondas in Europe in the ‘80s and ‘90s were looking at Civics or CR-Xs. Accords were rare and Legends aptly-named. So finding this exquisitely well-preserved early Inspire was, for yours truly, the occasion for a long overdue bit of education.
(first posted here on 5/30/2012)
In 1959, David Peterson, a professional aircraft designer, had a dilemma: he owned a travel trailer and a boat, but couldn’t tow them both at the same time. He dreamed of putting an engine under the floor of the trailer, and towing his boat with it. When the Corvair appeared that year, he decided to act on it. He rented a large garage, tossed out the trailer, started from scratch, and four months later out rolled the first Ultra Van, a full sized motor home, but weighing a mere 3,000 pounds. It was way ahead of its time then, and it still is today. Which probably explains why it was a commercial flop, as well as being my all-time favorite RV ever. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 8/9/2016) Things have really changed changed quickly the past few years here, in regard to the former demon weed marijuana. So much so that folks will put out a nice classic car for sale on a busy street corner and ask for weed in trade, right there on the For Sale sign. And if you call up the number on the sign, and ask just how much weed they’re wanting, they’ll not only tell you in no uncertain terms, and even offer to to buy more from you for cash. Weed For Clunkers. Or classics, I should say, in the case of this fine Maverick Grabber. Read the rest of this entry »
An all-Mopar rig with a boxy Dodge LN1000 hauling a quite mixed assortment of 1973 cars.
Roshake77 posted several Trabants still on the streets in what I assume is Budapest, including this wagon on the go. Like so many cars from the 60s or so, it looks mighty small in today’s traffic.
The summer weather in Chicago has been doing this thing where it has been sunny and hot during the work week for what would be perfect beach weather. Then, right in time for the start of the weekend, the clouds and/or rain roll in for an extended stay starting on Friday evening. There’s no use in complaining about it. More than probably anything else, this trend has forced me to think about taking some time off from work instead of staying behind my laptop and distractedly pining away for the chance to be outdoors. These weather patterns haven’t been the rule. It’s just that this past July, when I snapped these photos of our subject car, has been particularly fickle in that regard. Most months contain exactly four weekends, and all of them are precious to me, especially during summer.
(first posted 8/8/2016) My Pop was born in 1927, and like most everyone here at CC, he was a huge car enthusiast from a very early age. He loved to talk about new cars and share remembrances of his favorite old cars, whether he owned them, rode in them or lusted after them. Of all the cars he loved, however, there was one make he wanted above all others: Cadillac. As he built his career, he reached a point where he could afford a Cadillac, but held off getting one, primarily because he didn’t want to look “too flashy” in business. But when he took an early retirement in 1989, the time was right for indulgence, plus Cadillac had just introduced some much needed enhancements on their FWD C-bodies. So he finally took the plunge and bought a brand new 1989 Sedan DeVille. Did good things come to those who wait?
