Photos from the CC Cohort by Hyperpack.

I won’t deny that I have a fascination of sorts with the wild and outlandish vehicles of the Chrysler corporation created from 1957 to 1961. Now, keep in mind that fascination doesn’t mean admiration or condemnation; admittedly, the cars created at the Pentastar in this era go from the futuristically attractively bold to the outlandish and bizarre. But to ignore them? That’s hard to do. So, fascination, in my case, is the word.

The ’61 full-size Plymouths certainly fall on the outlandish side of the equation. Wild, extroverted, and overwrought fit too. See that face once, chances are you’ll never forget it.

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So Cal Metro found and posted this tired Checker Aerobus. I can well imagine it led a long and hard life. Not all of these were used strictly as airport shuttles, but its name does rather suggest that as its primary market. This was of course in the day before van-based shuttle buses were invented, or at least popularized.

I found one in a more scenic setting a few years back:

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On September 25, 1973, Chrysler Corporation introduced a new generation of full-size car, sold by Dodge as the Monaco.  Also referred to as the C-body, the exterior was new as were many structural components.  This new Monaco was the Dodge successor to the “fuselage” cars that were introduced in 1969.

In early October 1973 the first oil crisis hit.  This crisis affected not only the United States but also Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan, and later South Africa.  By some reports the global price of oil quadrupled between October 1973 and April 1974.

The new Monaco weighed 300 to 400 pounds more than the outgoing model, despite a half-inch reduction in wheelbase, and now had a larger 360 cubic inch (5.9 liter) V8 as standard equipment.  This, combined with the timing of their introduction, helped make these new Monacos a challenging sell.

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Here’s a time warp traveling object, a 1987 Ford Taurus wagon in what seems almost showroom condition. Oh, fame, fickle fame… The once ubiquitous Taurus, among the best-selling models in the ’80s and ’90s, now seems like a faint memory. But for those who lived those times, this find is certain to take us back to the days of going to the nearby mall and dropping the kids off to go to Sam Goody (or whatever it was they did) while you went to JCPenney and Radio Shack (You have one of those programmable VCRs?). Then drive back home in modern Aero comfort to watch a new episode of Alf, Who’s The Boss?, or Wiseguy (or Star Trek TNG in my case).

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