This recent past holiday, some people took a vacation to see the natural beauty of the American West. I, on the other hand, spent another couple of days exploring American decay at Desert Valley Auto Parts in Casa Grande, Arizona. We start with a classic 1958 Plymouth and a motorhome of similar length, above.
Let’s check out what else was to be found on those two days, starting with this smile greeting you:
Corvairs abound:
Plenty of big GM Cars from the company’s heyday:
A few more finds:
Not a car but cool, nonetheless:
And lastly, a couple of convertibles:
So much more, but not enough space to show everything.
Related CC Reading
The Station Wagons of Desert Valley Auto Parts
The Trucks of Desert Valley Auto Parts
Cohort Pic(k)s of the Day: Stacked Cars at Desert Valley Auto Parts
The Dodge Lancer is a 1962 770 4 door sedan.
Only `62 had the Lancer script on the doors.
`61 Lancers had block letters in the door.
Lancer was only a 2 year model, `61/`62.
It was replaced by Dart as the compact for Dodge in `63.
Dart had been a full size car `60-`62.
The red `64 Dart is a GT.
The `58 Plymouth is a Belvedere 4 door hardtop.
It immediately made me think of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”.
Good write up, David. However, I would call the red ’64 Dart a 270 model. The GT’s had a double chrome side moldings with a painted center. And it had a bench seat, while the GT’s were bucket seats. Plus this one came with a V8. The 270 V8 was likely a rare beast.
The two Pontiac’s are a white ’60 model and a ’64 Grand Prix.
The Olds 98 sedan is a ’54.
The ’58 Plym is a rare 4 dr hardtop!
The Kaiser might be a ’54, it looks like it has the red taillight extension over the top of the r fenders, it appears there’s a remnant of a broken lens there? A ’54 only feature I think
Wow ;
So much to see, I could prolly spend a few days in there gawping .
-Nate
Days? Weeks! And I would probably need a few car carriers, too…
From the vintage cars, my choice would be the ’53 Kaiser Manhattan – don’t know squat nothing about them but I like the design. A restomod project maybe.
And the cars which were not in the center of the pics…the 280Z beside that cool custom sled, the Benz right of the 1st gen Corvair. Yummy.
All So cool, that custom needs to be brought back…!!!
Agreed, and whoever built it did a pretty good job on the sheet metal work. The rear body is heavily modified and it looks pretty straight with minimal body filler!
An area of outstanding beauty, both the natural and the man made.
I’d like to camp there for a few weeks and try to drive that 58 Plymouth out under it’s own power.
The ’47 Buick batting in the 2-spot strikes me as the automotive version of a post-bout, veteran pugilist on the downslide: his left eye and cheekbone took a shot and he probably has a broken jaw, but by gosh his mouthguard did the job!
There is a 1979 palm springs buick lesabre in one of 2nd gen corvair picture. I seen only one in our neighborhood when it was new.
Make that Palm Beach Buick LeSabre !!!
That Marlin Cabin Cruiser with Johnson Super Seahorses apparently comes with a saddle for one of them…?
Aside from the fact that this is Arizona and not New Mexico, the opening photo carries strong Breaking Bad vibes.
(attached photo from Hatch, NM…where Breaking Bad is still a vibrant part of the local economy)