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 Face-Vega posted yesterday. 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.
North and South American CC readers are likely familiar with the products of Superior Coach Company – you may have ridden in a Superior school bus “back in the day.” School buses were the company’s main claim to fame, though they were also a major player in the Professional car market. But as with any company, they had their “ups and downs” – let’s take a look at three somewhat obscure Superior buses that were less than a hit with customers. Read the rest of this entry »
Datsun 1200 Coupe – photo from ClassicCars.com
I grew up in northernmost New Jersey near the Palisades, which are the tall cliffs that overlook the Hudson River above the George Washington Bridge. I was 13 or 14 years old the first time I took a bus into the city to see the International Automobile Show in the New York Coliseum, an exhibition hall on Columbus Circle in Manhattan. This was a few years before OPEC and catalytic converters and 5 MPH bumpers ended the golden age of automobiles.
(first posted 7/3/2019) I don’t know about you, but I usually avoid talking about cars with most people, as I find most people don’t care much about these things. But every once in a while, you realize that someone you know is a fellow petrol head, opening up a whole new world of possibilities. Including the possibility that said friend is the owner of a stunning mid-‘60s Porsche.
The seventies were the first golden age for vans; they were everywhere, although their use and function was typically a bit different than when we think of #VanLife nowadays. They were more of a car-substitute for a bit of weekend partying at the beach or lake than boondocking in a remote desert spot. For those that could afford it, genuine Class-C mini-motorhomes were also popular. But there was a niche in between that a few companies exploited, Chinook being a prime example.
Thee Trans Van was one of the more enduring ones, although I’m not sure of their production beginning and end dates. With its wider and taller rear body it offered more room inside than the regular conversion vans; in fact it was essentially a small motor home, like the popular Chinook. But it lacked the Chinook’s raised center roof, which means it’s great for really short people, and rather sucks for anyone else. But hey, its graphics were the best of the era.
Oftentimes finding something to say about a particular car is rather simple as thoughts usually spring forth with wild abandon; harnessing them into a coherent assemblage is the challenge. Such is the case with this Chrysler; thoughts spring forth, but can they find any type of cohesion?
Perhaps they can. I found this Chrysler in the parking lot of a grocery store I have visited more times than I can remember – and this parking lot has seen a whole passel of Chrysler K-cars of every variety over the years.
It’s too bad that I just missed Bicentennial Fever in America: the cheesy cartoons, the shared sense of pride and purpose, the auto manufacturers’ ability to exploit a holiday for potential profits…it must have been a magical time. It might be that the ’69 SC-Rambler was the first salvo in patriotic paint jobs, but the ’72 Mustang Sprint and ’74 “Spirit of America” Impala were not far behind.
