Vintage Dealers: A Cadillac-Oldsmobile Dealer, From 1956 To 1966
– Posted on May 6, 2024
Recent Posts
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QOTD: A, M or C?
– Posted on May 6, 2024
Richard Teague was responsible for a number of attractive automotive shapes. The best to reach production was the Hornet. Super minimalist, long hood and tight tail, coiled-fist boxy, flares you can see from the moon. It oozes handsomeness and purpose.
There is one thing, however, that irks me. Those short rear doors.
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Car Show Classic: 1965 Alvis TE21 – Give Me Aristocracy Or Give Me Death
– Posted on May 6, 2024
This week will be dedicated to the last great decade of British cars (i.e. the ‘60s), with a particular focus on luxury – something of a British specialty, at least in automobiles. And what better way to kick things off than with a carmaker that was so traditional and exclusive that they never bodied any of their own chassis?
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Automotive History: The AMCs of AMI
– Posted on May 6, 2024
Rich Baron’s recent capsule on the Australian Matador X Coupe captured by Peter Wilding struck me with a double-barrelled CC effect.
Buried in the recent past was an Australian AMX I’d caught through the gates of a slightly decrepit mansion compound.
And in the more distant past a story I’d nearly finished and completely forgotten about, compiling the American Motors Corporation vehicles I’ve photographed built by Australian Motor Industries.
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Curbside Classic: Subaru Justy – Extra Justification
– Posted on May 5, 2024
(first posted 4/9/2013) Traditionally, very small cars and four-wheel drive have rarely mixed. The extra mechanical drag inflicted by the four-wheel drive system tends to blunt the car’s fuel economy potential, and their small wheels limit ground clearance. The Subaru Justy is one of the few small cars of the 1980s and 1990s that combined 4WD with a small body, but oddly, that isn’t what it’s most remembered for today. In the United States, the Subaru Justy is mostly known for two things; as the last car in the U.S. market to be sold with a carburetor, and first one with a CVT gearbox. A justifiably odd mixture of old and new tech.
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Curbside Classic Outtake: 1960/70’s Vanden Plas Princess 1100/1300 – The Real Anglophile
– Posted on May 5, 2024
(first posted 5/5/2018) I came across these two on a recent Sunday Tokyo sojourn – one a full-fledged Brit, the other an aspiring impostor. Let’s first take a look at the distinguished UK citizen hiding under the overhang. Read the rest of this entry »
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Vintage Snapshots: Van Life During The 60s & 70s
– Posted on May 5, 2024
This is the second installment in this series, featuring vans and their owners in the ’60s and ’70s. And today’s collection shows a good range of situations around these lifestyle vehicles; most are at play, and some are at work (sort of). Plus, their strength as a ‘home on wheels’ is heavily featured with a few of these appearing in outstanding locations.
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Vintage R&T Review: 1985 Toyota Corolla (AE86) GT-S – The Exciting TwinCam 16 – An Honest High Performance Weapon
– Posted on May 5, 2024
There are several ways to start this entry, all in the form of a question. For example; what’s it like to be around when a car legend appears? Particularly one that comes from a place you didn’t expect it to? And also, remember when DOHC engines were rare and had an exotic vibe to them? When 4-valves per cylinder sounded just soooo sexy? And finally, remember when variable intake systems were the new thing? Ready to tame the exotic, and make high-revving engines docile for daily life?
All of these questions are at the center of today’s vintage car review: The legendary 1985 Corolla GT-S.
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CC Global: Two Tractors, More Than 50 Years Apart – Both Making a Big Noise
– Posted on May 5, 2024
Deutz, an illustrious name in the vehicle manufacturing industry. The company’s founders gave us the internal combustion engine as we know it. Their air-cooled diesel engines were distributed all over the world, in large numbers. And Northwestern Europe is still littered with classic Deutz tractors.
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COAL #19: The Volvo Handicap Car
– Posted on May 5, 2024
During my first several months at Volvo, I put quite a few miles on the ’74 Audi Fox, considering that my commute alone added roughly 500 miles each week. By the fall of 1976, however, I was given the chance to run up the odometer on the first Volvo I had the opportunity to drive for an extended period, so I was understandably eager to take the keys.
It wasn’t a company car, strictly speaking, since my “permanent temporary” employee status made me ineligible for that particular perk (as well as any other benefits, for that matter). No, this was a two-door Volvo DL sedan (a “242 SRA” in sales-version speak), meaning that it was equipped with a manual sunroof, three-speed automatic transmission, and power steering, none of which were standard equipment on an entry-level 242 in the mid-1970s.
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Curbside Classic: 1958 International Metro – The Original And Greatest Step Van
– Posted on May 4, 2024
(first posted 4/5/2013) All hail the mighty Metro! The finest step van ever made; the icon of the whole genre. I’ve been hoping to find one for years, and here this one was right under my nose: TheProfessor47 posted this at the Cohort, saying he shot it in Eugene. Where?
We must pay our due respects, although the credit goes at least as much to the Metropolitan Body Co. that invented and even patented the step van, and Raymond Loewy, who styled the version for International way back in the thirties. That explains why I always loved the Metro so much: it was by far the best styled van ever made, from that best decade ever for design. Read the rest of this entry »
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Cohort Capsule: Fiat 125 “Samantha” Coupe – One of 100 Built
– Posted on May 4, 2024
(first posted 5/3/2018) It’s a real treat to run into a car that I’d utterly forgotten about. When I was scrolling down at the Cohort, and this orange coupe appeared, I did a double take: Wait a minute…what is this again? it looks so familiar, but I couldn’t place instantly, although the Fiat wheels were of course a give-away. This was shot and posted by William Rubano, who did not identify it in his posting.
It’s a Fiat 125S coupe by Vignale, and if you’ve never seen one before, there’s a reason: only some 100 were built Vignale, and it was penned by Alfredo Vignale himself, as he rather fancied a handsome coupe for his driving pleasure. And he got it, along with 99 other folks willing to pay more than the price of an XK-E for a pedestrian Fiat sedan in a finely tailored Italian suit.
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Vintage Snapshots: The Cars In Our Neighborhoods In The ’50s & ’60s
– Posted on May 4, 2024
Today’s collection of images is meant to highlight cars in residential areas during the ’50s and ’60s. It’s a mix of images, with some driveways, a few people and much curbside. All in an effort to provide a feel of the vehicular landscape in the ‘hoods during that mid-century period.
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Car Show Photo Report – FBHVC Drive It Day 2024
– Posted on May 4, 2024
Does this denote the start of the season, as they used to say in London? The FBHVC (the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, the club of historic and classic vehicle clubs that aggregates their voice to relevant parties) promotes an annual event known as Drive It Day, to bring classics out of winter hibernation and onto the road and to support a deserving charity. It is held on a Sunday in April, to celebrate the ‘One Thousand Mile Trial, an 11-day round-Britain public test, that started on 23 April 1900 to “prove the viability” of the motorcar, and times with many owners getting on the road for spring and summer as well. Many marque and area clubs will organise something, and this is a summary of one such event, where four clubs gathered at the Shuttleworth Collection, an active museum dedicated to motoring and aviation history with a focus on Britain and pre-1939 flying. Here’s a mostly visual walk around of the informal display. Read the rest of this entry »
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All The Curbside Classics of Harrington, WA – A Complete Survey Of One Small Rural Town
– Posted on May 4, 2024
My van sojourns in the West take me through many small towns and hamlets invariably populated by a very high percentage of curbside classics. I’ve shot and shown many examples here over the years, but for some time I’ve been wanting to stop and document a whole town’s worth. Last week a perfect opportunity arose, and the results follow: every older car and truck that was visible from driving the streets of Harrington (pop. 424), situated among the endless wheat fields of Eastern Washington.
And what brought me here?
