Curbside Classic -

1980 International Scout II Traveler Turbodiesel: A Rare Survivor, Still With Its Original Nissan-Sourced Turbodiesel

– Posted on October 30, 2026

I’d never been to this Cars and Coffee car gathering in Lafayette, barely ten minutes from home, partly because I didn’t know it existed and partly because it’s usually at 8 a.m. Sunday start. But a chance exchange of online comments with a fellow USS Hornet volunteer finally gave me the nudge I needed to go. Upon arrival in my ’91 Mazda, I spotted several classics in the terraced parking lot. Then, I noticed something even more intriguing: a 1980 International Scout II Traveler with its original Nissan-sourced turbodiesel engine. The turbodiesel was offered for just one model year, making this an especially interesting find—and a good excuse to dig into how rare these diesel Scout IIs really are. Read the rest of this entry »

Ian Fleming – The Man Who Loved Thunderbirds

Don Andreina

– Posted on October 29, 2026

(Updated 10/29/2026) “I like a car I can leave out in the street all night and which will start at once in the morning and still go a hundred miles an hour when you want it to and yet give a fairly comfortable ride. I can’t be bothered with a car that needs tuning, or one that will give me a lot of trouble and expenditure.”

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, was a genuine curbside classicist. Here is some of that story. Read the rest of this entry »

Curbside Find: 2003 Infiniti M45 – Easy To Mistake For An American Four Door Hardtop

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on October 29, 2026

(Updated 10/29/2026) The Infiniti M45 was a curious thing, looking so much like an American four door hardtop, which of course hadn’t existed since the 1978 Chrysler New Yorker we looked at the other day. One might think that Americans would be eager to snap something like this, a big, beefy V8 sedan, but that was not the case. At all.

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1964 Autobianchi Bianchina 4-Posti – Lipstick On A Mouse

Tatra87

– Posted on October 29, 2026

Whereas VWs always made people think of various kinds of insects, little Fiats were more mammalian in the public’s imagination. Hence the 1935-55 Fiat 500 Topolino, or “little mouse,” the original miniature Italian car. The rear-engined Nuova 500 had a less rodent-like physique, but apply a dab of chrome here and stick out some fins there, and you had yourself something rather pleasing to the eye.

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Oldsmobile Dealers In Vintage Postcards–1950s – 1960s

Rich Baron

– Posted on October 29, 2026

Jones Oldsmobile, Philadelphia, PA.

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1975 Jeep Wagoneer Custom: A 401-Powered, No-Reserve Example Of America’s Greatest Automotive Industrial Design

Aaron65

– Posted on October 29, 2026

Is the Jeep Wagoneer the greatest piece of peacetime industrial design in the automotive world? I think so, and why not? It’s the prototype for the modern SUV, but its good looks transcended decades. It’s a trim size, functional without being austere, powerful enough for expressway use, and is capable in almost any conditions its owner is liable to encounter. This 1975 Wagoneer Custom has the desirable AMC 401 and it’s in a well-used original state; in other words (and I hold my nose as I say this), it has patina. It’s also a bit of a project, but it’s being sold with no reserve on Bring a Trailer in Meridian, Idaho.

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1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan and 1951 Lincoln Coupe: Streamlined Postwar Luxury From Ford Motor Company

Stephen Pellegrino

– Posted on October 29, 2026

When you hear the name “Lincoln”, these 1949-51 “torpedoes” are not usually the cars that come to mind. I myself didn’t even know they existed until I found them in the American Car Spotter’s Guide many years ago. They were Lincoln’s first new postwar designs, which to me seem to be the culmination of stylists’ dreams of the ’30s-’40s: a long, low, streamlined-looking, “World of Tomorrow” car, gliding smoothly and powerfully along the new superhighways that were just being planned. But as always, “the future” has a way of becoming the past, and these rather bulbous cars were superseded by crisper new designs as the ’50s progressed.

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Curbside Classic: 2003 Ford Thunderbird – Retro Styling, Luxury Pricing, and a Short Life

Gerardo Solis

– Posted on October 28, 2026

(Updated 10/28/2026) In 1997, Ford decided that its time and resources would be much better spent designing and developing a gigantic SUV that you could buy with a 6.8L V10 and that coupes that weren’t named “Mustang” weren’t really worth the effort anymore. Presented with this news we all thought that the good old phoenix would rise no more. But we weren’t counting on one small thing: Retro.

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Classic CARmentary: 1999 Volkswagen EuroVan MV — Back With More Power and the Same Old Downsides

Adam Dixon

– Posted on October 28, 2026

(Updated 10/28/2026) Volkswagen’s EuroVan was never the obvious choice for American minivan buyers, but that was part of its charm. When it returned to the U.S. market for 1999, it brought a new VR6 engine, a hefty price tag, and the same unconventional character that set it apart from the competition. Let’s revisit a contemporary review to see why this European oddball struggled to make a convincing case for itself—and why it still managed to win a few admirers.

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2018 Scania S500 6×2*4 Livestock Truck – A Triple-Decker With a Liftable Roof

Johannes Dutch

– Posted on October 28, 2026

Varkenshandel Tijs Haarle B.V. from the east of the Netherlands specializes in pig trading, the company name says it all. One of their vehicles was present at a September 2026 truck show, a 2018 Scania S500 6×2*4 chassis-cab (so having a counter-steering and liftable tag axle) with a triple-deck livestock body. The body’s roof was slightly raised and the fans of its ventilation system were only partially visible.

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The Cars That Lived In Our Neighborhoods In The 1950s – 1970s

Rich Baron

– Posted on October 28, 2026

Text by Patrick Bell.

Today we are going to tour some vintage neighborhoods and soak in these sights of the 1950s – 1970s. There is a lot to see with cars, houses, and people, so here we go!

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Our New Alfa Romeo Number Was 156 and What a Great Number That Was

Neil Osborn

– Posted on October 28, 2026

There was a trend in England in the late ’90s to buy cars in Europe where list prices were much lower and then personally import them. Relaxations in exchange controls and moves by the Common Market to free up trade between members meant that manufacturers couldn’t refuse to supply a right hand drive car to a left hand drive country if you ordered it like that. To save my company money, I’d already bought a Renault Megane, a Peugeot 406 Coupe and a BMW Z3 in the Netherlands for members of my staff. It always made a nice day out to go and collect it too.

I’m not very good at remembering birthdays. I entirely missed my wife Janice’s birthday in September 1999 even though it was quite an important one with a big round number involved. By this time her Alfa Romeo 164 2.0 Twinspark was getting to be relatively long in the tooth. To make amends for not buying her a present, I wondered if I might do a personal import which is how I ended up buying her an entire Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 Twinspark Lusso, even if it was 6 months late for her birthday… Thank goodness, she liked it!

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2004 Chevrolet SSR: A Convertible Two-Seater Truck? A Retro Curiosity Worth A Second Look

Aaron65

– Posted on October 28, 2026

The automobile industry’s retro craze of the late 1990s and early 2000s reminds me to some extent of the swing revival of roughly the same time period. It seemed cool at the time, spawned a couple of catchy hits, and disappeared just as quickly. While many, if not most, of the retro-themed cars sold at the time have not aged altogether gracefully, just about every one of them will still have their fans, and maybe one of those fans will find themselves behind the wheel of this 2004 Chevrolet SSR, which I spotted for sale at a local dealer’s used car lot.

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In-Motion Classic: 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix Convertible – A Rare Bird In Flight

Joseph Dennis

– Posted on October 27, 2026

(Updated 10/27/2026) If you’re like me, “Grand Prix” and “convertible” are things you usually don’t think of at the same time. When I spotted this one earlier this month, I had no idea just what a rare car it was. In this storied nameplate’s forty-seven model years spanning 1962 and 2008 and the various guises and roles it played within Pontiac’s lineup, 1967 was the only year the Grand Prix was offered as a convertible. Just 5,856 soft-tops were sold that year, alongside 37,125 hardtop coupes, accounting for just under 14% of total GP production.

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The Cars Of Frank Sinatra: A Tour Through Ol’ Blue Eyes’ Garage

J P Cavanaugh

– Posted on October 27, 2026

Aside from my well-known love of old cars, I am also a huge fan of Frank Sinatra. From his early days as The Voice to his twilight in the 1990s, Ol’ Blue Eyes was a singular force in the world of music. I have always been interested in the cars of all of my favorite musicians. Unfortunately, this information is usually very hard to come by, if available at all. Fortunately, Sinatra’s life is well enough documented that we can at least find a few of them.

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1980 International Scout II Traveler Turbodiesel: A Rare Survivor, Still With Its Original Nissan-Sourced Turbodiesel

Ian Fleming – The Man Who Loved Thunderbirds

Curbside Find: 2003 Infiniti M45 – Easy To Mistake For An American Four Door Hardtop

1964 Autobianchi Bianchina 4-Posti – Lipstick On A Mouse

Oldsmobile Dealers In Vintage Postcards–1950s – 1960s

1975 Jeep Wagoneer Custom: A 401-Powered, No-Reserve Example Of America’s Greatest Automotive Industrial Design

1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan and 1951 Lincoln Coupe: Streamlined Postwar Luxury From Ford Motor Company

Curbside Classic: 2003 Ford Thunderbird – Retro Styling, Luxury Pricing, and a Short Life

Classic CARmentary: 1999 Volkswagen EuroVan MV — Back With More Power and the Same Old Downsides

2018 Scania S500 6×2*4 Livestock Truck – A Triple-Decker With a Liftable Roof

The Cars That Lived In Our Neighborhoods In The 1950s – 1970s

Our New Alfa Romeo Number Was 156 and What a Great Number That Was

2004 Chevrolet SSR: A Convertible Two-Seater Truck? A Retro Curiosity Worth A Second Look

In-Motion Classic: 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix Convertible – A Rare Bird In Flight

The Cars Of Frank Sinatra: A Tour Through Ol’ Blue Eyes’ Garage

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