The yachts above are safely moored to the pier, where the captains, their passengers and the visitors of the 2016 American Day enjoy a drink or a meal. Good, then we can enjoy some other classic and recent American iron.
1965 Ford Mustang convertible.
1960 Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
2002 GMC Sierra 4×4.
1996 Mercury Grand Marquis LS.
1973 Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
1956 Chevrolet 3100 Hydramatic.
1972 Chevrolet El Camino.
1968 Buick Wildcat Custom.
1964 Cadillac DeVille convertible.
1985 Ford F-250 XLT Diesel.
1960 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe.
1972 Ford LTD.
1959 Chevrolet Apache 31 Stepside.
1964 Mercury Comet.
2002 Cadillac Eldorado.
1959 Chevrolet Apache 32 Fleetside.
Its load is a Panama Jack bicycle.
1950 Oldsmobile Futuramic 88 Club Coupe.
1972 Buick Electra 225.
1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
1975 Ford Elite.
1959 Chevrolet Apache 31 Stepside.
1993 Chevrolet Suburban 1500.
And the last of the tour, a 2007 Chevrolet Corvette.
Great assortment but I can never get over just how right the original Mustang looks. Every line, curve and detail is just so…..right!
And it was designed by committee!
Question: On the ’76 Cutlass and the ’75 Ford Elite, I see the corner markers up front. In typical driving in your area, how often will they encounter such close confines as to use these? As long as the hoods are on these, it does make sense – rather like curb feelers mounted 90 degrees from typical. 🙂
On the flip side, I talked to the owner of a ’72 Electra at a show earlier this year or last year. He loves to deer hunt. The trunk of the Electra, he claims, is big enough to swallow an entire eight-point buck subsequent to only field dressing. That’s a whole lot of talent for a car.
The ’02 Sierra 2500 is still quite prevalent in my area with many of them having several hundred thousand miles on the odometer.
A few years ago, I came across a photo album from the 1960s from a family of avid sportsmen. I remember in the photos, there were no trucks. Instead of trucks, the hunters used their own cars (mostly Buicks and Cadillacs in the photos), and placed their deer in the trunks (or strapped to the trunklids) when headed home. Try THAT with any modern car!
Reminds me of a story…
I used to work with a gentleman who was a periodic deer hunter (deer season started here yesterday, so it’s on my mind as the deer have vanished from my yard)….anyway, one year it bagged a fairly large one and he had driven his ’83 to ’86ish Olds Cutlass Supreme. He said it took some doing, but he successfully tied it to the trunk lid. And then, after dropping it off to be processed, drove it to the carwash.
I was surprised to see the “candlesticks” mounted on two different cars too. In the U.S., they are usually only used on big semi trucks or Billy big rig pick ups.
Jason, I’ve been visiting US car shows for about 15 to 20 years now, but it was the first time I saw such corner markers on a car. They were pretty much standard on all conventional trucks, like in the picture below. I guess it’s just a fun item on the Olds and Ford.
Thank you. I refrained from saying it earlier, because I couldn’t remember with certainty, but I was thinking you at one time had stated roads around your part of Europe are fairly open without a lot of the space constrictions found in other countries nearby.
Perhaps it’s simply a joke about their relative size?
Here’s a typical country / polder road. Quite narrow, with ditches on both sides. Sometimes also with trees alongside the road. But if farm equipment and big trucks can drive here, than certainly a land yacht. The more main routes are of course much wider.
Take away the windmill and that scene looks exactly like the southern part of Manitoba. Except our roads are in much worse condition.
Here’s my Dad’s 53 Hudson, owned between 1970-’74. He bought it from a little old lady. I don’t recall whether a standard size person could see the tip of the right front fender from the driver’s seat, but chances are excellent that an 80 year old could not. (photo by Hugh Talman. I have a picture Hugh took of Mario Andretti holding a print of this picture).
A person should learn something new every day, and today has been a good day in that regard.
I have seen these previously, but only on snowplows!
Maybe they are both owned by someone with tight access into their garage?
Johannes, your contribution to Paul’s site is amazing. Really enjoy you pics and writing.
Thank you.
+1.
Thanks for this… It makes me look at a lot of these cars with fresh eyes. There are a lot of (from a practical standpoint) an awful of outrageous designs there – it makes me think of exotic tropical birds- so beautiful, but you wonder how the hell some of them manage to even fly…
Great variety of vehicles here.
The most curious to me is the ’72 Ford LTD… it’s a car that never generated much affection here in the US, and whose memory seems to have completely faded away. Yet someone brought a beautifully preserved example a few thousand miles across the ocean. I wonder — of all vehicles — how the owner made the choice to import that particular car?
Great-looking Buick Wildcat too — and I notice it has the original dealer badge from Vincel Buick in Springfield, Missouri!
There’s a shelter here for pretty much anything old, from Lada to Lincoln. Most popular US cars from that era are (of course) Buicks, Cadillacs and Lincolns. But a Ford LTD in an immaculate condition ? Sure, why not. Heck, it’s more special and exotic than a Lincoln Continental Mark IV or V.
At one time this LTD must have roamed the streets here in the SF East Bay; I recognized the Hayward Ford license plate frame on the front of the car.
Johannes, thanks for another great post.
I found those LTDs really impressive when new. They just felt so much more luxurious than the GM B bodies and (especially) the fuselage Mopars. They did not, however, age as well.
Stylish beautys…….
The good old days when new cars had beautiful shimmering chrome.
The EPA has made sure those days are history.
That 1960 Impala brings back memories of the rare beauty I once owned with
factory AC, pwr. windows and str. and the dreaded troublesome Turboglide trans. with a 283cu engine.
I paid $1,280. from a chev. dealer in 1964 and it was in near perfect cond.
I have owned many cars since then, but that was the sharpest.
Please elaborate on how the EPA made sure new cars could not have chrome.
Chrome Plating>>>>>>>>>>>>
Fear of air pollution due to the chemical process necessary to strip and plate.
“evaporation” from the dip strip tanks.
Just like water based spray paint has been forced on the industry.
What a great group of cars and trucks. And thanks for carefully avoiding the usual tri-fives in favor of rigs that are actually cool, like the Apache trucks and the Elite. And don’t let Mike Wolfe see that Panama Jack….
The 85 F-250, 02 Sierra and especially the 93 Suburban are usually the vehicles that trailer the real classics to car shows here in the states. Really weird seeing them IN the show, especially the latter two for which I consider the one-two punch in the design collapse of trucks.
I’m pretty sure the Mustang is a 66, the 65s used gold colored air cleaners/valve covers for the 289s(except HiPo), 66 switched to corporate blue. Gorgeous car though, those pale yellows were the best
Man, it amazes me that somewhat normal used cars over here (Like the Grand Marquis) are considered show worthy over in other countries. I guess when it comes to American cars, everything is considered.
Also, that Eldorado is not a 2002. Midway through 1999, the car lost the chrome trim around the sides and bumpers and the example you have still has the Chrome on it.
I like the Impala sport Coupe but not the spats and bumper turd they ruin the original design, Most of the rest Ive seen here in traffic commuting to Auckland and back recently lots of very nice cars going to and returning from car shows, Nice selection.
All beauties, but park that ’73 Sedan de Ville in my driveway!
Thanks Johannes,
I am very impressed with the underside of the hood on the Mustang in the 2nd photo. You could eat off that.
Not so impressed with the loads of imitation American cheese that those poor pickups are hauling, can’t a nice old truck just be a nice old truck?
Love the pickups. Europe needs more pickups!
Interesting to see the ’90s Econoline wheels on the ’85 F-250. But hey, it’s all the same axles.
On that subject, I have heard from several sources of questionable veracity that the Econoline wheels are not true 7-lugs, like the ones used on 1997-2014 F-250 light duty/F-150 heavy duty pickups, but rather there are the more tradition 8 lugs underneath a 7-lug wheel cover. Just looking at them, it doesn’t seem like there’s any wheel cover to remove. But if it is true, it would make sense that Ford only made one special 7-lug wheel just for light-duty 3/4-ton pickups, and not another one just for 3/4- and 1-ton Econoline vans and some Super Dutys.
Great lineup. You had me at 73 Cadillac and 68 Wildcat, but then I fell for 72 Electra and Gold LTD.
A law school friend drove a 72 Cad almost identical to this 73, right down to the color. He inherited it from his father. It had been well cared for, but by 1984-85, it was getting ratty and was beset by a constant string of minor issues. He finally sold it after someone backed into the front in a way that made it impossible to open the hood.
Great Pictures – would have never thought a ’72 LTD would have shown up in a car show in Europe…