The Thunderbird: So irrational, so illogical, so often successful. Out of all the cars that make no sense–at least on paper– I’m willing to give the beguiling bird a pass. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my favorite is the first version to really jump the shark: Landau bars and eight-tracks, anyone?
William Oliver has found a near-unicorn: a first or second year Ford Tempo, with the original non-aero sealed beam headlights. Near-unicorn, you say? Well, the reality is that all-new American cars invariably arrived less than fully-baked, something Toyota had been doing for decades, but the Big Three were slow learners. So yes, these early Tempos became increasingly rare a lot faster than their Cockroach of the Road™ successors. Of course, even they’re getting mighty rare, but that’s a different story.
With 2025 half over, it’s a good time to look back through my collection of single pictures featuring interesting cars I’ve seen over the past six months. Since most of these pictures are in-motion shots, not all are sharply-focused or from ideal angles, and most of them happen to show the rear of cars. Still, I figured that all of these cars were interesting enough to use up some pixels.
This month, chez T87, will be dedicated to the 21st Century. Stretching the “classic” part of CC a wee bit, but I’m sure there are a few modern cars that warrant an honourable mention on this website. Today’s entry, though less than 25 years old, has earned classic status. We’re not looking at a modern car in any sense of the word. But as Beetles go, it’s as new as they get. Quite the historical artifact to find curbside.
1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III in Medium Blue Metallic / Bring a Trailer
Years ago, I called the 1969–1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III vulgar, which continues to get me periodic hate mail. While I still don’t much like the Mark III, I’ve come to admit that in certain important respects, it was a more successful effort than a rival I like a lot better — the 1967–1970 Cadillac Eldorado. Here’s why.
Sadly, I’m not getting in a lot of daytime scouting outings lately due to my current schedule. Fortunately, we knocked off early on Wednesday, which allowed time enough for our preferred urban hike. I was waiting at the traffic light at Sixth, when what do I see coming down the road? Whoa! Not exactly the usual fare. Time to whip out that camera and hope it fires up in time. Read the rest of this entry »
When I found the genuine curbside classic 1974 Buick Century that I wrote up in a Capsule article before, that was exciting for me. I love finding real CC’s and I also love GM’s Colonnades. I’m not saying they are my favorite cars ever, but they do intrigue me as being the last line of cars GM introduced that were designed primarily for style, without regard to size, fuel efficiency, space efficiency or any of the practical parameters that would soon play such an outsized role in all their newer vehicles.
I also recently came upon this car at the Mecum spring auction in Houston. It’s the polar opposite of that Buick: you are not likely to ever find a more pristine, original Colonnade. Click through to take a close look at this 1977 Creampuff Cutlass. Read the rest of this entry »
Since May 2024, F-Trucks Nederland BV is the official Dutch importer and distributor of the heavy-duty Ford trucks and tractors developed and built by Ford Otosan from Turkey. Their very-well-organized open house day was held on June 21, a warm and sunny Saturday. Just a 25 minutes drive from my place, so a must-visit it was, no doubt about that.
Aunt Lennie on the Redwood Hi-Way, near Mill Valley Junction, California.
For anyone whose lived through a long rainy winter in Northwest Washington, the allure of California is strong. My family made the trip to SoCal in ’71 and ’76, once in a Rambler Classic and once in a Mercury Marquis Brougham. I bet you can’t guess which one was rock solid on the Grapevine and which one imploded in a steaming tangle of shredded V-belts and coolant, with just enough inertia to coast into a Las Vegas service station. Yes indeed, it was the big Broughaminator. But I digress. Read the rest of this entry »
Automatic shifter in a 2013 Toyota Corolla LE
Have you ever wondered why modern automatic transmissions all have shift patterns beginning “PRND”? It wasn’t always so — if you’ve driven older cars, you may have noticed that they often placed reverse at the other end of the shift quadrant, next to Low. Why that changed is a complicated story involving the early GM Hydra-Matic transmission and an inventor named Oscar Banker, who nursed a decades-long grudge against General Motors.
(first posted 7/5/2019) I’ve been seeing this 510 wagon running around town, and I finally caught up with it at Jerry’s. It’s missing a few body parts, but that hasn’t slowed it down any. Maybe the opposite.
Mike Hayes found a ’59 Ford Skyliner lurking in a parking lot. I thought it might make a nice bit of contrast to the Facel-Vega posted a while back. Talk about different approaches to end up with a coupe. Well, a coupe-cabriolet, in this case, as the Skyliner was the US pioneer in retractable hardtops.
But I always thought Ford missed a niche opportunity: turn the slow-selling Skyliner into an extended-cab Ranchero.
Light-up grille logos are the latest questionable automotive styling trend, popping up on vehicles ranging from Mercedes to Infiniti (and beyond). Many readers may not realize that this styling feature has far older origins. Let’s explore.
