Curbside Classic -

Curbside Find: 1980 Toyota Corolla Tercel – A Definitive CC

– Posted on October 6, 2026

(first posted 10/6/2014) Say hello to the Tercel from Hell. As this old California plate indicates, it’s been in use for a very long time, and as all this rust shows, it’s been running around Bloomington–or outside California, at any rate–for quite a while. I’ve seen this car driven regularly since moving here over a year ago, so I have to imagine its owner just sends payment to the California BMV regularly and its registration is current. Or, our local cops are missing out on an opportunity to fine someone. Maybe, like me, they wouldn’t have the heart to impound the thing.

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In-Motion Classic: 1976 Chevrolet El Camino – Try Everything

Joseph Dennis

– Posted on October 6, 2026

(Updated 10/6/2026) It seems like a fairly common thing for specific makes and models of vehicles to be associated with certain products. The combination that comes immediately to mind is Red Bull energy drink and the modified Mini Coopers that were used to promote it. I’m not sure if Chicago had a higher concentration of these Minis than other cities, but for a while, it seemed as though these Red Bull-mobiles were everywhere for a while, giving “wings” to people in the form of free cans of this beverage being handed out by peppy youth.

When I had first moved to the Second City in my late twenties, I was doing the whole Red Bull-and-vodka thing at night on weekends before learning that drinking that really bad-for-you combo was like setting off a bomb in one’s heart. I have had the occasional energy drink in recent years when on a long-distance drive somewhere, but that’s usually about it. With all of that said, I feel that Red Bull chose wisely when selecting these perky Mini Coopers as a promo tool.

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A Classic Shipping Container Combination – DAF in Full

Johannes Dutch

– Posted on October 6, 2026

My personal favorite of the 2026 ‘Heart For DAF Days’ event, held on October 3 and 4, must be Cattoor’s DAF truck and trailer combination. Sure, the classic stand-alone tractors were really nice, but nothing beats a complete big rig; as if the driver can leave the virtual adjacent truck stop diner any minute to continue the business trip.

The fact that both the straight truck and the full trailer were built by the same manufacturer was the cherry on a large and tasty cake.

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1950s Oldsmobiles in Vintage Photos – Chrome and Rocket V8s

Rich Baron

– Posted on October 6, 2026

Text by Patrick Bell.

Oldsmobiles were the middle rung of the General Motors ladder, and their rise in popularity began in the 1950’s and culminated a couple of decades later. Today we have a nice variety of models from that decade, mostly the kind you could see everyday while you were out and about.

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1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S: A Factory Big-Block Barracuda With A Four-Speed? Yep.

Aaron65

– Posted on October 6, 2026

Despite its reasonably strong collector popularity, some find the second-generation Plymouth Barracuda to be a little too close to its parent Valiant’s hard points to be a truly beautiful pony car. That doesn’t stop it from being my favorite of the Barracudas, and its humdrum production figures make it all the rarer today. One of the rarest of the bunch is the Formula S Fastback featuring a 383 and a four-speed. While this example has had a few modifications from factory stock, it’s a perfect driver example of a big-block pony car the way they did it in Highland Park, and it can be found on Hagerty Marketplace in Grenada, Mississippi.

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1966 Oldsmobile Starfire: The Last Full-Size Starfire, Lost In the Shadow Of The Toronado

Aaron Severson

– Posted on October 6, 2026

Introduced during the 1961 model year, the Oldsmobile Starfire was a flashy, well-equipped sporty version of the full-size Olds 88. It survived through 1966, but by the end, changing buyer tastes — and the intriguing new FWD Toronado — had made the big Starfire all but irrelevant.

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Curbside Classic: 1952 Hudson Wasp – Different, Wonderful, and Ahead of Its Time

Perry Shoar

– Posted on October 5, 2026

(Updated 10/5/2026) Spotted during a dreaded visit to Target last spring, this Hudson Wasp resulted in my partner going inside while I snapped pictures. If he never had to touch or see another car again, he’d be perfectly happy, and that’s why meet-ups like this are so important. Otherwise, you’re left all on your lonesome with an appreciation of all the aspects of what make cars so amazing, and it’s not uncommon for me to feel just like this Hudson, by itself at the back of the parking lot. Speaking of which, many other shoppers, scurrying on and off the premises in their Outbacks and Jettas likely didn’t even notice this green beauty. Read the rest of this entry »

Classic CARmentary: 1999 Chrysler Cirrus LXi – The Chrysler That Looked Like a Bargain

Adam Dixon

– Posted on October 5, 2026

(Updated 10/5/2026) When Chrysler introduced the Cirrus in 1995, it looked like an awful lot of car for the money. My father thought so, too and he was one of those people intrigued by the Cirrus’ high-content-to-price ratio. When he was looking to replace his 1989 Civic in early 1995 (the seats were killing his back), he mentioned to me that he was considering the Cirrus. I had a business trip to South Florida coming up a few weeks after our conversation and arranged to rent a Cirrus so he could take a closer look outside of the confines of a dealership and I could give him my opinion as well. The agency gave me a white Cirrus with about 10,000 miles on it, but it felt like far more. There were numerous squeaks and rattles to go along with the droning V6 and rough-shifting four-speed automatic. After finishing my business in Miami, I headed up to my parent’s house with the intention of telling Dad to avoid this car. When I pulled into the driveway, there was an identical white Cirrus. Damn.

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1960s–1970s Chevrolet Dealers in Vintage Postcards

Rich Baron

– Posted on October 5, 2026

Let’s revisit some of Chevrolet’s prime years with another gallery of vintage dealer postcards from the 1960s and 1970s. Along with plenty of models to check out, these postcards capture the colorful dealership signs and promos, distinctive architecture, and all the little details that made a trip to the local Chevy dealer a fun event.

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My Favorite Model Car Kits: Ten Pre-’48 Classics

Peter Wilding

– Posted on October 5, 2026

YouTube is a fascinating way to waste time. Last week I was surfing through several model car channels, both American and British. I’d never watched them before, though I think I may have ‘met’ two of the American guys online. Their unofficial ‘theme of the week’ seemed to be favourite kits. One of the guys listed a top five, another added two honourable mentions, while a third virtually said ‘Blow that, here’s my top seven’.

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1967 Buick Skylark: An Uncommon Four-Door Hardtop With One-Family Ownership

Aaron65

– Posted on October 5, 2026

In the 1950s and 1960s, full-size four-door hardtops were almost universally great-looking cars that sold very well, but for some reason, that magic never quite spread to General Motors intermediates. Whether it was because of their comparatively truncated length or a price tag that started crowding models on the full-size side of the showroom, sales were tepid, at least by GM standards. Maybe it’s that relative rarity that makes them so intriguing today, as this 1967 Skylark so eloquently suggests. It was bought new by the seller’s grandmother, and is now being auctioned on Hagerty Marketplace in Bloomingdale, Indiana.

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1965 Hino Contessa 1300 Deluxe – Japan’s Italian-Tailored Renault

Tatra87

– Posted on October 5, 2026

It’s easy to call the Hino Contessa Japan’s VW Type 3 or Japan’s Corvair, but we should be more accurate with our similes at CC. This is Japan’s Renault 8/10, really. The Corvair and VW had air-cooled boxer engines, whereas we have a good old water-cooled straight-4 on our hands here. And the boxiness of the design feels a little closer to the French car, anyway.

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Curbside Classic: 1989 Daihatsu Charade – Treat And Retreat

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on October 4, 2026

(Updated 10/4/2026) What a difference twenty years makes. The eighties was the Japanese decade, when they were going to take over the US, if not the world. They bought prime real estate assets like Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach. They wrote books telling the US how to fix its problems. And their car makers were swamping the US like a tsunami. The last of the holdouts, Daihatsu, finally showed up on our shores at a rather inauspicious time: 1988, one year before the great Japanese stock market collapse. Did Daihatsu’s failure and retreat in 1992 have to do more with Japanese hubris in trying to sell a “BMW quality” Geo Metro, or was the Charade just an overpriced charade? Or is there a difference? Read the rest of this entry »

1967 Plymouth Sport Fury: To Restore or Not to Restore? — A Case Of Automotive Cognitive Dissonance

Aaron65

– Posted on October 4, 2026

(Updated 10/4/2026) According to Psychology Today, “cognitive dissonance is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other,” and one need not have a degree in psychology to know that everybody has suffered from the pangs of regret when faced with the possibilities of the road less traveled. Chrysler Corporation is perhaps the most apt corporate metaphor for this psychological phenomenon, as every manifestation of corporate leadership outside of Walter Chrysler himself, and perhaps Lee Iacocca, has had to look in the mirror at the end of the day and make up a good story. This 1967 Sport Fury I recently spotted in the parking lot of a drag strip is proof that I am guilty of mixing my metaphors.

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Car Show Classics – South West Alfa Day 2026

Roger Carr

– Posted on October 4, 2026

Alfa Romeo—and Alfa Romeos—get into your system, and often the only credible response is to meet some fellow patients (or enthusiasts, as I prefer to call them) for a little group therapy. I think it’s fair to say that, whatever the state of current Alfa Romeo sales in the UK, it is probably one of the best-supported overseas brands in the UK classic-car community. South West Alfa Day (SWAD), organised by the energetic and professional Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club UK, provided the perfect opportunity for such therapy, held in the extensive grounds of the Haynes Motor Museum in southwest England. Here are some personal highlights. Read the rest of this entry »