We’ve been neglecting the CC Cohort again, so let’s take an abbreviated tour of some of the more recent postings there. This 1961 Ford Falcon with the optional exterior decor package was shot by Tim Finn in Portland. These early Falcons were very popular “hipster-mobiles” a few years back, especially so in places like Portland, but most seem to have either moldered away or succumbed. Not this one, which looks to be in very fine shape. I have a soft spot for the ’61 Falcon, odd as it may seem, but I can’t deny it.
Trabantino posted this sublime Peugeot 504 cabriolet, another car I have a soft spot for. I promise I won’t use favoritism for all my picks here.
When’s the last time you saw an early (’71 or ’72) Pinto sedan (non-hatchback)? These, especially in this color, were so popular in the Pinto’s early days, but not many have survived. I drove lots of them as a car jockey and then a couple of years later I had a GF who had one just like this. Too bad it was an automatic. Shot by hyperpack.
A fine pairing of a Peugeot 505 and 604, by William Oliver. It’s easy to see how the two shared significant aspects of their undersides.
An Opel Rekord A 1700 shot by Trabantino. It looks to be very original and is showing some mild rust.
And here’s the coupe version of the same car, shot by Roshake. Like a number of German coupes of this era, its roof is quite short, leaving a long tail.
How about a Beater Porsche 912? Shot by Berna912.
Mike Hayes found this very minimalistic ’68 VW Beetle. No unnecessary frills.
Hyperpack shot this ’64 Pontiac GP missing its front bumper, but it does have those fine 8-lug wheels.
Jerome Solberg found and posted this clean looking ’67 Dart GT convertible.
A survivor ’57 Chevy 210. No one’s messed with it, being a 4-door and with the six cylinder engine.
A Buick Reatta in very fine shape, shot by chrisjcieslak.
A GAZ 14 “Chaika” by Trabantino.
And on the other end of the spectrum, a Smart Balance EV (from China) shot by Roshake.
A fabric-roof Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue, by hyperpack.
Last but not least, a Saab 900 with a utility trailer. Shot in Bristol by Nathan Williams
The 504 coupe cabriolet is a piece of art.
The sedan and wagon were also beautiful but with the cabriolet Pininfarina did a spectacular job. I have seen few cars as well designed as that one.
A lovely group of pictures .
The VW was an autostick when new….
-Nate
-Nate, you certainly have an eye for detail. How could you tell? There ain’t much of that car left!
I looked it up, that black can inside the right rear fender (or would be, if there was a fender) is the ATF reservoir.
Thanks, DougD!
The Saab 900 four-door hatchback shown here was inexplicably pulled off the US market in 1981 after only two years on the market, after which only a four-door sedan and two-door hatchback (and later a convertible) were offered. I never understood that; the sedan lost much of the utility that was a Saab trademark. No split fold-down rear seats; no bumper-level trunk liftover, no huge cargo area opening, no rear-window wiper. Saab lost at least one sale (to me) by not offering it.
I wouldn’t call this one shipshape or Bristol fashion, despite its location.
Might as well have made it a true wagon–that was my beef with the Malibu Maxx 4 door hatch I almost bought.
I believe that the US accounted for a big portion of SAAB’s sales. Due to currency fluctuations in this era, SAAB (and some other European manufacturers) had to switch from “quirky family cars” to “yuppie-mobiles” in order to maintain sales. Five-door hatchbacks weren’t what yuppies wanted.
I assume the 900 5-dr. was cancelled due to poor sales, but what’s odd is that the Saab 9000 did very well as a 5-door hatchback just a few years later.
Since they were discontinued from North America, I’d forgotten that other markets got 900 5-doors much later. It’s great to see this example.
Is that soot around the Pinto’s gas cap?!
Well, they ARE combustible after all. 😉
The VW picture caught my eye. I thought it may’ve been WV. Turns out, after pulling an Eric703 on this, it’s really WA.
The reason that bug caught my eye, it that for a brief time my niece in WV had a 1968 bug in similar condition, and even the same color! The car came with a soup’d up engine to swap in (the engine even looks the same).
So down the rabbit hole I went to find the bowling alley. I even virtually drove over to the same spot to take this picture (using Google Street view of course).
I doubt it’s the same car, but man was that resemblance was uncanny.
I’ve gotten a lot of good pictures at that bowling alley over the years! It’s like a magnet for interesting cars.
Yeah, I noticed after I screen-grabbed that shot, there are two Camaros in the picture. I immediately noticed the third-gen one, but there is another more modern one a few steps away in a similar color!
Glad you fell down the Geography Rabbit Hole!
My Dad got me into geography and reading maps when I was like 5… ok, maybe not that early, but I’ve always enjoyed it.
I’m not as good as you though. It’s amazing to me how you find the most obscure locations in these picture posts with barely any clues.
At least we had a bowling alley name to work with here.
I have to admit though that this is fun!
Similar here. Dad was a commercial traveller, and when he came back from his weekly trip, we’d get out the map and he’d call say the places he’d been and get me to point to them.
We have a state map on the wall in the family room. When the kids were young we’d use it to illustrate where we were going, and figure out the best route – which for us was usually avoiding heavy-traffic highways. It was also good for bushfire season – “Yes we can smell the smoke, but the fire front is over there. See the scale, it’s 30km away. We’re safe.”
But I am in awe of the way some of you guys can zero in on a location from a photo.
Who would guess that there’s still a beater Porsche 912 left in the world? There are literally thousands who would be salivating to get their hands on such a thing.
I’m happy it’s still out there…
Yes, so incredibly rare. That was one of the cars my father looked at when he went car shopping in spring 1968. An eclectic mix it was. A white Mercedes 220, a green Porsche 912, a lime frost Mustang GT-CS, and my seafoam green Cougar. Lots of green. After I got the Cougar he eventually got a 72 911E Targa in silver.
The photo of the Pinto reveals how the roughly 1970 Ford design language (think Torino) got “scrunched up” into the lines of the Pinto. Shortened, and made more puffed up and bulbous. In all this time, I had never noticed it. Thinking about it, the Maverick was the sort of sub-Torino, which got worked over one more time to create the Pinto.
Wow – that Peugeot 604 and 505 pairing! A 604!!! I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen one during my entire adult life.
I love the 64 Pontiac in that not-vrry-popular one year color. The blue Dart convertible right below it makes me go into a swoon.
I’ll have to admit I have a soft spot for the ’61 Falcon as well. That grille has a whole ‘LLLLectric Shave!’ vibe to it.
It’s nice to see that grille is still in such fine shape after all these years.
+1 on the ’61 Falcon with the Lectric Shave grill.
Wonder what Atomic Era car would go with Hai Karate…
It has to be a first generation Toyota Celica.
Not because of any Asian reference here, but because of a guy I knew back in high school. At the roller rink, he seemed to have to fight off all the hot girls, so he must’ve been wearing the stuff.
He drove a silver ‘70 Toyota Celica and got all the girls.
Thanks for that blast from the past. The commercials for that cologne were hilarious! I haven’t though about those ads in years…
Paul, as a Ford car jockey, was there much knowledge of, or talk about the Pinto’s issues?
I’m 61 and don’t remember it being talked about much until maybe 74-75.
On another note, the 57 hits close to the heart. Dad had bought a 2 door BelAir with the nice cloth interior, a clock and nothing else! The older gentleman he bought from said that 57 was the V8 and power glide. He special ordered his with the Blue Flame(?) 6 and a three on the tree!
No, not back then. That was several years later.
Nice collection and stuff I dont see much like the beater Porsche and early Opels even early Falcons are a rarity, I never see Chaikas in the wild that really is a catch, Pintos we didnt get, Peugeots we did but two like that in one place no never and theres a Peugeot.Citroen dealer nearby, I was in there for suspension juice recently and their showroom feature a SS VLgroup A Holden 70s Chevrolet Camaro and a 57 Chevy sport hardtop, oh and some new cars I ignored.Minor correction the last beater grade Porsche was a 365 in Pitt Town NSW around 25 years ago in use dented and roadgrimed it looked great
The Pinto has its’ original body-color gas cap. I’ve heard conflicting info from different sources that the gas tank recall included a vented one which was always chrome in order to save the cost and bottleneck of color-matching them in the field, or didn’t include a replacement gas cap.
That was a sharp looking 61 Falcon. The thin chrome lines going down the side of the car and correct white wall tires really compliments the car!