48

Curbside Classic: 1960 Ford Thunderbird – Fancy Meeting You Here

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– Posted on October 23, 2026

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(Updated 10/23/2026)    Yawn.  Another restored squarebird convertible in resale red.  Aren’t there a couple of these at every car show?  But I didn’t find this one at a car show.  Instead, it was on a quiet neighborhood street, looking just a little rough around the edges.  Sort of like an elegantly dressed lady who has somehow found herself in a low class bar.  This car had an air of mystery about it, which is fitting because for its entire history, the Thunderbird has always had some mystery as part of its aura.

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29

Curbside Find: Triumph 1300 – Before It Got Converted From FWD To RWD

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– Posted on October 23, 2026

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(Updated 10/23/2026)            The Triumph 1300/1500 is one of the very rare historical oddities: designed and built as a FWD car for some years, then converted to RWD. Really. Let’s take a little look at how it started out in life, and just how and why it ended up as RWD, including as one of the more legendary hot cars on the other side of the pond, the Dolomite Sprint.

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6

1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III LWB Saloon by James Young – Whatever Floats Your Canoe

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– Posted on October 23, 2026

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After the hat on a hat, putting a cherry on top and the cat on a hot tin roof, the new idiotic idiom for 2026 will be: strapping a canoe on your Rolls. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean either, be it figuratively or literally, but it does have a certain je-ne-sais-quoi about it, only I don’t know what it is.

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9

Neon Signs & Glass Facades: Googie And Modernist Restaurants In Vintage Postcards – 1950s-1960s

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– Posted on October 23, 2026

Captura de pantalla 2026 10 21 17.00.09

Today’s time-traveling wheels take us back to the mid-century era, when Googie and Modernist influences had transformed roadside restaurants and diners into architectural attractions. It’s a destination we revisit every now and then, but how to avoid it? This was a time of futuristic flourishes and optimism, when clean-lined architecture met colorful, asymmetrical geometric shapes and bold neon signage built to catch the eyes of passing motorists from a distance.

Clearly, these are quintessential mid-century designs, from an era when cars played a central role in everyday life. Take your pick of these architectural time capsules, and park your time machine without a worry: parking was plentiful, and traffic was a whole lot lighter.

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21

1970 Cadillac Calais Coupe: The Least Expensive (But Rarely Chosen) Way To Become A New Cadillac Owner

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– Posted on October 23, 2026

Driver front 3q picture of turquoise 1970 Cadillac Calais Coupe parked in a lot

Classic Era locomotives notwithstanding, Cadillac’s peak probably landed somewhere in the 1955-1970 range, when their cars were so good that enthusiast publications almost had to apologize for the fact that they were mass produced rather than built in a shed somewhere by old-world craftsmen with nothing more sophisticated than a chisel and an awl. As with most things, Cadillac didn’t fall from grace immediately after this period, but rather started a slow decline probably around the time this gorgeous 1970 Calais was built. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at this one, which is for sale on Bring a Trailer in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania.

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26

Rental Review: 2026 Toyota RAV4 LE AWD – America’s Second-Best Seller Is Not Thrilling, But Nice

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– Posted on October 23, 2026

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When the RAV4 kicked off the modern crossover era in the U.S. with the 1996 RAV4, it’s likely nobody predicted that crossovers would make up the majority of vehicles sold in the U.S. 30 years later, or that the Detroit Three plus a few foreign automakers would nearly or fully abandon the traditional sedan body style in favor of them.  For 2026, the ur-crossover enters its sixth generation as America’s most popular not-an-F-Series (though, under statistics heavily disputed by Ford, the RAV4 outsold just the F-150 in 2024 by over 15k units).  Does the new RAV4 have what it takes to keep up the momentum?

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43

The Compadre BTV History – The Anti-Cadillac For Developing Nations

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– Posted on October 22, 2026

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(Updated 10/22/2026)    Fellow readers, what you see above this text, while admittedly not beautiful, is a piece of history. More unique than a Ferrari 250 GTO, though not nearly as desirable, what you’re looking at is the only car to ever be manufactured in Central America. If you’re surprised you didn’t know about this, don’t be. The Compadre (I’m not joking, that actually is its name) seems to have a perception filter built on it. Very few people know it exists and extremely few examples survive to this day. Finding information about it, let alone pictures, is extremely difficult and no one seems to know for sure what is actually the story behind it, why it came to be and how did it disappear from our shores. Dig a little deeper though and you’ll find quite a story.

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18

Classic CARmentary: 1999 BMW 328i Sedan — When a Four-Door Sedan Drove Like a Sports Car

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– Posted on October 22, 2026

Captura de pantalla 2026 10 21 14.37.44

(Updated 10/22/2026)            There’s no shortage of debate among BMW enthusiasts over which generation of the 3 Series deserves the title of the last great one. The E46, while later generations are sometimes criticized for growing too big and too soft. Let’s revisit a contemporary review of the 328i, written when its combination of a silky inline-six, a five-speed manual, and everyday practicality made a compelling case for the four-door sports car.

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7

2024 DAF XFC 530 FAD 8×4 Dump Truck – A Modern Traditionalist

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– Posted on October 22, 2026

2024 DAF XFC 530 FAD 8x4 dump truck - Hart voor DAF dagen 2026 - 1

Twin-steer, a dual drive tandem with planetary drive axles, leaf springs all around, a powerful turbodiesel, and all that completed with a fully up-to-date day cab. This DAF in factory-demo-red is a customary European vocational truck for sure. All main truck makers can offer such a straightforward 8×4 chassis-cab, directly from the factory. Vocational trucks are mostly equipped with a dump body, concrete mixer, or roll-off system.

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18

The Cars We Loved, and the People Who Drove Them: Vintage Photos 1960s–’70s

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– Posted on October 22, 2026

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Text by Patrick Bell.

We can do some people watching today, along with our usual car spotting.  It is always fun to connect the cars to the people that own or operate them (and vice versa).  And there is a nice variety of each, so here we go!

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11

1972 Volvo 1800ES: The Best-Ever Example Of How To Effectively Restyle A Car On The Cheap

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– Posted on October 22, 2026

Passenger front 3q picture of yellow 1972 Volvo 1800ES parked on the grass in front of a house

A decade is a long run for any production car, but given the changes in automotive design between 1960 and 1970, it’s amazing that the Volvo 1800, in its various guises, lasted as long as it did with few updates. For its final two model years, however, Volvo managed to send the 1800 out with ingenious flair by turning it into a wagon, instantly updating its Italianate late-1950s appearance for a whole new era, the early 1970s. Like the coupe, the 1800ES was never a big seller (8,077 total in 1972 and 1973), but it’s certainly a popular collectible among Volvo enthusiasts, and this yellow beauty is up for auction on Cars & Bids in East Haddam, Connecticut.

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28

1964 Studebaker GT Hawk: One Of Only 70 Final-Year Hawks With The R2 Supercharged Engine

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– Posted on October 22, 2026

Right front 3q view of a Horizon Green 1964 Studebaker GT Hawk with its headlights on

The Studebaker Hawk got a new lease on life with Brooks Stevens’ dramatic 1962 restyling, but by the 1964 model year, that lease was running out: The Hawk would be gone before January 1964. During that final half-year, only 70 GT Hawks were built with the optional R2 supercharged engine, and only one of those cars — this one — was painted this attractive Horizon Green Metallic.

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103

Curbside Classic: 1990 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe and The MN-12 Platform – More Than You Might Think

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– Posted on October 21, 2026

Thunderbird SC 4

(Updated 10/21/2026)    During the life of the Ford Thunderbird, it dived in many varied directions and often with staggeringly different results.  Through it all, it did manage to present itself as the aspirational vehicle in the Ford lineup.

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52

Curbside Find: 1961 Envoy Sherwood – A Vauxhall For Canada

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– Posted on October 21, 2026

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(Updated 10/21/2026)           I’ve said it before, but the Curbside Cohort is the gift that just keeps giving. Following on from the 1960 Vauxhall Victor we saw in May this year comes a 1961 Envoy Sherwood station wagon, or as we Brits would call it, a 1960 Vauxhall Victor estate car, posted by William Oliver. Read the rest of this entry »

20

1962 Ogle SX1000 – Take A Good, Long Stare

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– Posted on October 21, 2026

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It’s always an honour to be the first to post about a marque on this website. CC has been around for 15 years now, so there aren’t many we haven’t done, at least of the postwar and non-EV kind. Those of you of a more Britannic persuasion may have heard of Ogle, but probably few have seen one in person: most sources claim 66 cars were produced only. So ogle it at will, it’s a rare sight.

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