Text submitted by Steve Walton.
I bought a 1986 Volkswagen Cabriolet new and still own it. Here’s my story.
My 1986 VW Cabriolet – Bought Since New, And Still Mine
– Posted on June 21, 2025
Recent Posts
0
1947 Chevrolet Cadet: The Revolutionary Postwar “Light Car” Chevrolet Never Actually Built
– Posted on June 21, 2025
Between 1945 and 1947, Chevrolet developed an advanced postwar compact called the Cadet. Originally intended as a “light car” that would sell for less than $1,000, it quickly evolved into one of the most ambitious and sophisticated U.S. car designs of the postwar period — only to be canceled in 1947, before more than a handful of prototypes had been built. Here is the complete history of the Cadet as presented by Karl Ludvigsen in Special Interest Autos magazine in 1974, supplemented with additional technical illustrations from lead design engineer Earle MacPherson’s March 1947 patent filing.
164
Curbside Classic: Mercedes W124 (1985-1996 E-Class) The Best Car Of The Past Thirty Five Years
– Posted on June 20, 2025
(first posted 6/5/2013) Superlatives make great headlines; backing them up is another story. But is it even necessary, in the case of the W124? What other car designed thirty thirty-five years ago still looks so fresh and contemporary? And whose all-round capabilities even come close? And whose obvious influence on just about every modern car is so widespread? Need I go on? It’s not really necessary, but maybe there’s a few doubters…
4
Curbside Classic: 1988 Cadillac Eldorado – Puttin’ On The Ritz
– Posted on June 20, 2025
There’s a section of Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago’s “Loop” District that’s referred to as “Jewelers Row”. Over the stretch of two city blocks that run north and south between Washington and Monroe, there are a series of storefronts on the eastern side of Wabash that specialize in selling all kinds of jewelry. Most of these stores close around Five O’Clock in the afternoon, and most merchandise is then taken out of the display cases near the front windows, but passing these storefronts is nevertheless an insightful look into how some of the better-to-do people in this city spend some of their disposable income.
9
CC Find: 1985 Mitsubishi Mirage (C10) 3-Door – When Origami Was All The (Mi)Rage
– Posted on June 20, 2025
I was navigating a CC desert in the nether regions of north Tokyo. In those latitudes, the chances of encountering the older exotics that are often found on Sunday in the city centre are next to nil, but the odd JDM nugget can be discovered. That day, prospects were looking grim, but all of the sudden I saw… a real Mirage! The kind that doesn’t disappear when you approach it.
19
Vintage Snapshots: Cars And Driveways – The Suburbs And Their Beauty In The ’50s & ’60s
– Posted on June 20, 2025
Text by Patrick Bell.
The suburbs really flourished in the fifties and sixties as part of the post war boom in the USA. Many people used their newfound prosperity to buy new homes, moved there with their young baby boomer kids, and also brought their new post war cars along. Today we have a fine gallery of homes and the cars, plus a few people (and one dog) as well.
In the image above, it was a nice summer day when this lady posed with a ’58 DeSoto Firesweep 2 door Sportsman (DeSoto speak for hardtop). The neighborhood was quiet, other than a deliveryman with a bicycle down the street.
16
A 45 Minute Driving Tour Of Port Orford, Oregon: Views Of Old Cars, Boats, Old (and Burned) Houses And Of Course The Ocean
– Posted on June 20, 2025
We were in Port Orford last week and on Thursday morning I dropped Stephanie off at a yoga class and drove the Tracker to the car wash for its first cleansing in three years. Since I had 45 more minutes to kill, I decided to drive around town and shoot old cars at the curb or in driveways. That turned into a somewhat more comprehensive tour of the little beach town that time forgot, as it’s a pretty small place (1135 inhabitants).
That’s not to say I covered the whole town; mainly just the blocks comprising the older part of town, on either side of Highway 101 that runs through it—without a single traffic light. So it’s the grittier, or shall we say more “authentic” parts of town—which is precisely what attracted us to it, as it reminded us of little beach towns in California in the ’60s and ’70s before they were gentrified and built up.
28
Curbside Recycling: 1977 Ford LTD 2-Door Pillared Hardtop – Oh Baby. Oh Baby. Oh. /s
– Posted on June 20, 2025
I know there’s no such thing as a pillared hardtop. Except that’s what Ford called it in their brochure and like wildfire the term caught on and now it’s used from Toledo to Tokyo, Modesto to Munich, and perhaps even Cairo to…Cairo, IL. So it’s a real term since Ford, America’s premier truck-maker, used it in print first.
And here it is, folks, Ford’s Personal Entry-Level-Luxury Coupe for 1977, the LTD 2-Door Pillared Hardtop. More limited in panache than the Thunderbird, and Less Than Daring in appearance compared to a Lincoln Mark V. Or maybe not. If you squint hard enough they all look kind of the same, except the LTD leaves you with enough change in your pocket to maybe try to impress a streetwalker by flashing your cash. ‘Coz the badge on the car ain’t going to do it by itself, ya feel me? And just like that streetwalker’s gonna pocket your cash up front, I’m not showin’ you the pillared hardtop goods till you click through…No free rides, that’s Hollywood Boulevard 101! Read the rest of this entry »
7
Curbside Classic: 1967 Mercury Cougar GT – Wild & Beautiful
– Posted on June 19, 2025
One of the many things I love about Chicago is that admission to the Lincoln Park Zoo costs absolutely nothing. Of course, donations are welcome, but it is one of only a handful of free zoos in the entire United States. In fact, I went there just the weekend before last. There are so many creatures to see and observe, all beautiful and unique in their own ways. After making a beeline for the penguins (my favorites), I usually walk the short distance to the Kovler Lion House to see the big cats. Though the Lincoln Park Zoo doesn’t have any cougars, I’ve always been fascinated by large felines. Their combination of power, balance, ferocity, elegance, and grace has always intrigued me. In my mind, the very first Mercury Cougar embodies all of these qualities, in one way or another.
43
2004-08 & 2008-13 Honda Odyssey – World’s Sexiest Minivan
– Posted on June 19, 2025
(first posted 10/18/2017) No, I’m not talking about the North American market Odyssey when I apply the “World’s Sexiest Minivan” label. As you can see, the featured Odyssey looks entirely different to the one sold in the US and Canada. After the first generation model, the Odyssey nameplate was applied to two different lines: one sold in North America, and one sold in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Americans and Canadians got a bigger body and a V6 engine, we got style. Who was the winner? Read the rest of this entry »
8
Curbside Find: 1974 Buick Century – Colonnade Still Standing
– Posted on June 19, 2025
GM’s Colonnades were possibly the most common cars on U.S. roads in the 1970’s. I was a young kid in the late 70’s and just becoming car conscious, but even I can remember seeing them everywhere. You’d probably not find a large parking lot like this without one. In the 80’s and early 90’s, these were the quintessential decrepit old used car. Cheap, plentiful and reasonably reliable for the low budget auto consumer. Everyone knew they would never be desirable classics like their immediate predecessors. Forty years on, most all of them have succumbed to the rusts of time but for the few survivors which are now garage-kept collector cars despite the naysayers. Not this one! Read the rest of this entry »
19
The Cars & Trucks of My Formative Years, Part 4 – This Potpourri Flavored Stew Ain’t Just Cars
– Posted on June 19, 2025
So far in this series we have seen pictures pulled from the refuse pile. Not this time! This entry has some flavorful pictures, but there was nothing standalone. So what else is a guy to do than make a (hopefully tasty) stew?
First up is the old state capitol building (does that need to be capitalized?) in Vandalia, Illinois. The date on the back of the picture says June 1986. I have no memory of this trip whatsoever.
38
Curbside Kiddie Attractions – MOM!!! Can I Ride??
– Posted on June 19, 2025
Doesn’t it sometimes feel like life is all movement, yet going nowhere? Back and forth, up and down. But at the end of the day we’re right where we started. Or as Shakespeare and later Faulkner noted, life is but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
So in that vein, here’s today’s tale of a favorite American pastime. Paying to sit in one place, making no forward progress, but having an imaginary blast nonetheless.
8
Curbside Classic: 1982 Toyota Corolla Levin (TE71) – In Its Successor’s Long Shadow
– Posted on June 19, 2025
If you say Toyota Levin (or Trueno) in Japan, anyone with even a basic amount of automotive knowledge will immediately respond “AE86.” There are so many of those around. Their FWD successors, which came in three generations between 1987 and 2000, are also present in decent numbers, but older RWD models are very thin on the ground nowadays. However, i finally found one.
67
Curbside Find: 1994 Chevrolet 1500 Pickup – Still Hard At Work
– Posted on June 18, 2025
(first posted 10/23/2017) Some time ago, GN posed a question to CC readers as to which were some of our favorite designs from General Motors during the Irv Rybicki era. It didn’t take a lengthy scroll through the comments to find that many liked the looks of this generation of C/K pickup, built on the GMT400 and GMT480 platforms. I was in middle school when they made their debut close to thirty years ago, but I agree with those who stated the styling of these trucks still mostly holds up in present day.
