I actually remember the Dugan’s Skelly Station. Moved to Colorado Springs as a kid. We got gas there several times before we moved up to the Austin bluffs areas. Amazing someone had a photo of the place! Love the old cars shown as well. I want one..
I had one in exactly the original color starting. The interior was vinyl. And had hub caps over the rally wheels. It was in 83 and I was stationed in Norfolk. I had the car till 87 when I was stationed in groton and was rear ended and totaled by a drug addict. I really miss that car
The Slate kind of reminds me of our C$10k econoboxes of a few years ago. The car makers got an earful about how Canadians missed cheapo little cars like the Firefly and would eagerly snap up a modern equivalent. The problem was the market had moved on. Canadian buyers no longer wanted no a/c cars with cranker windows.
This could be a real issue for Slate. Perhaps commercial users will snap them up.
I do agree that what comes up as the “SUV kit” does remind me of the Trooper II, and is therefore rather attractive to me.
I might be more attracted to the whole thing if they weren’t restricted to renderings that make me wonder how come none are “purple cars”. But maybe that will improve over time.
As far as the backed by Bezos versus Tesla thing; well, to me that’s kind of like the Penguin vs. the Joker. So, I’ll just sit that one out.
Those street parked ones, at least some of them anyway, were just push mobile styling bucks. They do have a number of actual pre-production prototypes, that want keep in-use for development purposes.
I was on my way to get gas at Costco and was following an early 90’s Dodge Caravan. I noticed that it would roll slightly back as we negotiated the stop and go traffic. That indicated that it had a manual. The van was a bright blue and looked brand new. It had running boards and wheel flares and a roof top rack with the mandatory Thule carrier. It was sporting darkly tinted rear windows and several Van Life decals among other decorations as well as a trailer hitch. The van turned in to the Costco gas station and I caught up to the driver. He was a young guy in his mid 30’s and told me that his family had a van like this when he was growing up. His van had quite low mileage of around 50K. The paint was original. He bought it, and set it up for family camping trips with his little kids. He told me he wanted the manual trans with the V6, though he had been looking for a turbo model. I told him about my ’90 Caravan and how it had been great for family road trips. I was amazed to see that someone valued an old minivan enough to find a nice example and fix it up. I never thought that these minivans would incite that type of nostalgia.
A few weeks ago there was a sighting of a Slate somewhere in or near San Jose. It may have been anon-running dummy, but it’s a lot more than a rendering. Several reputable YouTube video’s have aired today showing full-sized examples with opening doors and YouTubers climbing in and out.
I didn’t know that the Chrysler minivans offered a front bench seat option.
Doing some research on that, it appears the option was introduced during the 1985 model year and was offered with either the two-row (making it a 6-passenger) or three-row (8-passenger) seating layouts. The bench seat was a $93 option.
I couldn’t find a photo from an actual car, but here’s an image of the bench seat option from a 1986 Caravan brochure. The brochure confirms that an automatic was mandatory w/ the bench seat.
Those Aerios and the tall car small wheels reminds me of our Fiat 500. The black steelies are 15″ but they look tiny where the 13″ wheels on a Scirocco looked proportional.
The sun fading on that first Caravan looks more like what I see East of the Cascades, where the high desert sun bleaches lots of stuff.
The original Lark was not nearly as spartan as the Scotsman was, but Studebaker reintroduced an ultra-stripper rendition of the Lark in mid-1963. This time around they chose a less stereotypical, if less memorable name – the Standard, and was still able to keep the starting price well under $2,000. These were again offered in only three body styles – two- and four-door sedans and a wagon. But by 1963 Studebaker’s only wagon was the sliding-roof four-door Wagonaire, so that’s what was offered as a Standard. Like the Scotsman, the Standard was devoid of all exterior chrome trim. The inside seemed a bit nicer though based on the rear-seat shot in this Youtube video, with what looks like a decent vinyl door trim panel in place of the Scotsman’s painted metal and cardboard. Presenter John Cameron Swayze was a former NBC News anchor, who also pitched for Timex watches in the popular “takes a licking but keeps on ticking” adverts. The Standard was mostly aimed at fleet sales, but Studebaker would also sell them to private buyers if they wanted one.
I don’t support Amazon, and I wouldn’t support this company because of the association to Bezos. He is very strongly anti-union. And would likely pay slave wages to workers, to keep costs down.
Trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions of dollars have been transferred upwards in your country for decades. Because of robber barons like Bezos.
Could never in good conscience support either Musk or Bezos. Both robber baron oligarchs. Unfortunate, as the market could use an affordable EV.
All true Daniel, and I agree, but I’ll go no further – it becomes disrespectful to the thing that makes this site such a rarity on the Net, namely, decency.
true yes, but what remains unsaid is who are their overlords who make even more? I’m talking about the owners of the Central Banks who’s names are conveniently left off lists of the richest people.
No matter which vehicle—or any other product—we choose, we always end up feeding the same: the banks and super-rich shareholders.
As long as the system exists, there’s no way out. At best, we have the option of throwing as little as possible into the beasts’ mouths by refraining from consumption whenever possible. And of thoroughly rethinking our voting decisions.
I’m a fairly knowledgeable car guy, don’t know it all, but better than most. I’ve seen 2 different references to Star Chief. Here in CC (more than once) and an Aunt who had one when i was moved to the Midwest for High School. (Divorced parents, Mother who thought she could move from Southern California 60’s to return to the Midwest 40’s, blah, blah, blah)
Anyway, as a passenger, my memories of it were it had a lot more HP than our 289, Fordomatic Galaxie 500. And she wasn’t afraid to drive that thing on rainy, wet roads. Never a problem that I saw, but on my rides in those conditions, even with seat belts on, I was grabbing for armrests and anything else that would help secure me, just in case… Oh, one more thing. It had those, absolutely miserable in hot and humid Midwest summers, clear vinyl seat covers. You know, where you stick to the seats if the temps are above freezing.
Odd reflections I suppose, but I swear that is the only Star Chief I’ve seen on the road. And I’ve seen a lot of unusual cars over the years.
Lots of great classics here. Thanks for sharing! Did you check if the ZJ was a manual? That might be quite possibly more rare than the minivan manuals which themselves have to be more rare than a manual in the Camry.
They sold a ton of these things, someone had to like them, but it wasn’t me.
I saw garish styling but it seemed like they had trouble keeping up with me in a VW bug in the canyons around LA. You know, the ones half of which recently burned. They could pull me on the straights, but not by a whole lot, but hit the curves and I was either losing them or on their back bumper depending on who was in front.
It was a 4,000 pound car, 210 inches long, with room for 2 front seat passengers, maybe 2 small children in back and a modest trunk. A perfect car for the Disco era. But they sold a ton of them, someone liked them.
Late 70’s. I had a Simca 1204, think VW Rabbit size, but with a French accent. FWD hatchack. I knew a girl who was moving who asked for help, before pickup trucks were considered commuter vehicles. She needed someone with a big car to help move, meaning me. With a car almost 5 feet shorter than her Monte Carlo. And no, it wasn’t a romantic come on, trust me, it was not. I did help move the big stuff though.
Mid 70’s, I was the electrician at a very large medical lab in LA. They had a fleet of half a dozen or more of Dodge Colts for picking up medical samples. I had occasion to drive them a few times and was impressed, not to mention the good PR they got in the car magazines for the SSS race series. They auctioned them off regularly around 60K, IIRC and replaced them with new. I put in a bid on one, I think it was open to the general public, it was long ago, but didn’t win the bid. It went to one of the pickup drivers! The people who drove them every day were happy enough with them to want one for their own. I can’t say I’d put a lot of miles on Datsun/Toyotas of that era, but they didn’t impress me nearly as much as that Colt.
I think this is brilliant . Someone has realised that a modern car is engine , battery and bling . Well the electric engine is old tech, battery prices are coming down . Who owns the biggest distribution of bling on the planet ? Put them together and you get this car . I live in France and I want one and to choose my own bling
I was never terribly keen on these….SSHH!…I guess I’m just not much into racers, which they generically resemble…don’t tell anyone this. (Yes, it’s true, I did like the Renault 16 of about the same year more. Ok, yes, I get treatment).
Well, that was until many years later when I saw one in person, and it does actually make one’s jaw drop. Super-pretty, in that way modern cars never are. It was dainty, and barely higher than a road marking – hell, I tripped over the one I saw. Ok, I didn’t but man, these do not amount to much in height. Art they surely are, and famous rightly.
As to fragility, yes and no. The mechanicals are robust, I believe: after all, that engine was used (albeit with more capacity and cams and valves) for damn-near 50 years. The chassis, however, was just a little too clever for its own good, and later – perhaps the SV-on, I forget – they had to make the entire structure out of a thicker gauge steel, to stop the attacks of the flexies that could bother the original.
As an aside, can you believe that Ghandini did not hold the car in especial regrd amongst his work? Us mere mortals, huh.
Got to admit I love it (at least in theory, and disregarding the backer). Folk so commonly over-estimate their daily range needs. The styling is proper job too. Not at all easy to make simplicity look good.
I wonder if the millennial find it underwhelming? After all, the (now long) trend for angry overcooked styling and screen-ridden interiors must be appealing to someone. Sure ain’t me or my age group!
My fraternity brother ran one of these. First thing he did was swap in a 3.90 differential and rear springs. I got the original to replace the failed rear end in my 63 fairlane. One thing about 66 fairlanes was terrible build quality. Failed electrical systems, brake lockup and general fit and finish. My father traded in his 66 wagon before payments were up, first and only time he did that.
A fair assessment on your part. These were nice around town cars however. And yes, if you were a good mechanic they could be made to run better and I feel the styling held up pretty well over time. The 389 Pontiac could be a bearing spinner if you got too aggressive.
I saw this yesterday morning. Spent a few hours researching. I love it! My 2018 JL Wrangler Sport has 3 options, Auto, A/C, tinted windows. NO big touchscreen. Manual knobs for HVAC, crank windows, steel wheels. I love my Jeep. I looked at 2026 Wrangler Sport. They now have large touchscreen, power windows/locks, stuff I really don’t need.
This truck would do 95% of our running around. Annual trip to Pigeon Forge would be in a rental car.
It’s worth thinking about.
Slate looks like what I used to doodle in school 50 years ago – I love it. I have to say I do miss electric windows when I drive something without them and I can’t believe that in a new design they would cost more than work out windows – it seems to me like sales feature – look how back to basics we are! And to those people worried about the heater and a/c, you won’t be using them anyway, they cut into the range too much.
The Dacia Spring is an electric hatch available in the UK with a similar range and back to basics ethos. The media was clamouring to get it here in RHD and it’s available for the equivalent of $20,000 (including 20% VAT). But I’ve only seen one on the road, the rest are being advertised at reduced prices. People don’t buy the basic patrol Dacia Sandero either which is larger but the same price. They pay $25,000 for the Sandero with the touchscreen, electric windows and keyless entry.
Basic transport is a niche market. I’d like to see the Slate do well and wonder if it will.
Somewhere along the line Subaru captured the Volvo demographic and the company seems fine with that. More profits, but less personality. Quirkiness may be cute, but it has its limits. Subaru will never see the likes of the XT again.
Rudy’s Odorless Cleaners isn’t the best product placement for a formal wedding with rented limo! But maybe it was a good reminder when the bride later needed help with household drudgery.
I actually remember the Dugan’s Skelly Station. Moved to Colorado Springs as a kid. We got gas there several times before we moved up to the Austin bluffs areas. Amazing someone had a photo of the place! Love the old cars shown as well. I want one..
I had one in exactly the original color starting. The interior was vinyl. And had hub caps over the rally wheels. It was in 83 and I was stationed in Norfolk. I had the car till 87 when I was stationed in groton and was rear ended and totaled by a drug addict. I really miss that car
My uncle, back in the day, had this exact car, a green Scot. Ah, memories.
The Slate kind of reminds me of our C$10k econoboxes of a few years ago. The car makers got an earful about how Canadians missed cheapo little cars like the Firefly and would eagerly snap up a modern equivalent. The problem was the market had moved on. Canadian buyers no longer wanted no a/c cars with cranker windows.
This could be a real issue for Slate. Perhaps commercial users will snap them up.
a/c is standard.
I wanted a Maverick Hybrid when they were offered for $19,999. Turned out to be impossible to buy one for that price.
For certain buyers, this will be ideal. I expect to see them, waiting to perform a delivery, in every NAPA and O’Reilly parking lot.
Yup I expect them to eventually take over those O’Reilly and NAPA fleets, perfect for their use.
I do agree that what comes up as the “SUV kit” does remind me of the Trooper II, and is therefore rather attractive to me.
I might be more attracted to the whole thing if they weren’t restricted to renderings that make me wonder how come none are “purple cars”. But maybe that will improve over time.
As far as the backed by Bezos versus Tesla thing; well, to me that’s kind of like the Penguin vs. the Joker. So, I’ll just sit that one out.
There are genuine prototypes out there, like this one parked in Venice with a silly wrap:
Those street parked ones, at least some of them anyway, were just push mobile styling bucks. They do have a number of actual pre-production prototypes, that want keep in-use for development purposes.
I was on my way to get gas at Costco and was following an early 90’s Dodge Caravan. I noticed that it would roll slightly back as we negotiated the stop and go traffic. That indicated that it had a manual. The van was a bright blue and looked brand new. It had running boards and wheel flares and a roof top rack with the mandatory Thule carrier. It was sporting darkly tinted rear windows and several Van Life decals among other decorations as well as a trailer hitch. The van turned in to the Costco gas station and I caught up to the driver. He was a young guy in his mid 30’s and told me that his family had a van like this when he was growing up. His van had quite low mileage of around 50K. The paint was original. He bought it, and set it up for family camping trips with his little kids. He told me he wanted the manual trans with the V6, though he had been looking for a turbo model. I told him about my ’90 Caravan and how it had been great for family road trips. I was amazed to see that someone valued an old minivan enough to find a nice example and fix it up. I never thought that these minivans would incite that type of nostalgia.
Hmm. I’m pretty sure the manual was not available in V6 passenger Caravans. And Wikipedia seems to agree.
Yeah, I wasn’t quite sure of that. When I bought my van in ’90 I thought all were equipped with a V6.
A few weeks ago there was a sighting of a Slate somewhere in or near San Jose. It may have been anon-running dummy, but it’s a lot more than a rendering. Several reputable YouTube video’s have aired today showing full-sized examples with opening doors and YouTubers climbing in and out.
The Ford Maverick is also a (not as) small truck. More equipment, but nice if you can find one.
I didn’t know that the Chrysler minivans offered a front bench seat option.
Doing some research on that, it appears the option was introduced during the 1985 model year and was offered with either the two-row (making it a 6-passenger) or three-row (8-passenger) seating layouts. The bench seat was a $93 option.
I couldn’t find a photo from an actual car, but here’s an image of the bench seat option from a 1986 Caravan brochure. The brochure confirms that an automatic was mandatory w/ the bench seat.
Those Aerios and the tall car small wheels reminds me of our Fiat 500. The black steelies are 15″ but they look tiny where the 13″ wheels on a Scirocco looked proportional.
The sun fading on that first Caravan looks more like what I see East of the Cascades, where the high desert sun bleaches lots of stuff.
The original Lark was not nearly as spartan as the Scotsman was, but Studebaker reintroduced an ultra-stripper rendition of the Lark in mid-1963. This time around they chose a less stereotypical, if less memorable name – the Standard, and was still able to keep the starting price well under $2,000. These were again offered in only three body styles – two- and four-door sedans and a wagon. But by 1963 Studebaker’s only wagon was the sliding-roof four-door Wagonaire, so that’s what was offered as a Standard. Like the Scotsman, the Standard was devoid of all exterior chrome trim. The inside seemed a bit nicer though based on the rear-seat shot in this Youtube video, with what looks like a decent vinyl door trim panel in place of the Scotsman’s painted metal and cardboard. Presenter John Cameron Swayze was a former NBC News anchor, who also pitched for Timex watches in the popular “takes a licking but keeps on ticking” adverts. The Standard was mostly aimed at fleet sales, but Studebaker would also sell them to private buyers if they wanted one.
I don’t support Amazon, and I wouldn’t support this company because of the association to Bezos. He is very strongly anti-union. And would likely pay slave wages to workers, to keep costs down.
Trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions of dollars have been transferred upwards in your country for decades. Because of robber barons like Bezos.
Could never in good conscience support either Musk or Bezos. Both robber baron oligarchs. Unfortunate, as the market could use an affordable EV.
All true Daniel, and I agree, but I’ll go no further – it becomes disrespectful to the thing that makes this site such a rarity on the Net, namely, decency.
true yes, but what remains unsaid is who are their overlords who make even more? I’m talking about the owners of the Central Banks who’s names are conveniently left off lists of the richest people.
No matter which vehicle—or any other product—we choose, we always end up feeding the same: the banks and super-rich shareholders.
As long as the system exists, there’s no way out. At best, we have the option of throwing as little as possible into the beasts’ mouths by refraining from consumption whenever possible. And of thoroughly rethinking our voting decisions.
Star Chief.
I’m a fairly knowledgeable car guy, don’t know it all, but better than most. I’ve seen 2 different references to Star Chief. Here in CC (more than once) and an Aunt who had one when i was moved to the Midwest for High School. (Divorced parents, Mother who thought she could move from Southern California 60’s to return to the Midwest 40’s, blah, blah, blah)
Anyway, as a passenger, my memories of it were it had a lot more HP than our 289, Fordomatic Galaxie 500. And she wasn’t afraid to drive that thing on rainy, wet roads. Never a problem that I saw, but on my rides in those conditions, even with seat belts on, I was grabbing for armrests and anything else that would help secure me, just in case… Oh, one more thing. It had those, absolutely miserable in hot and humid Midwest summers, clear vinyl seat covers. You know, where you stick to the seats if the temps are above freezing.
Odd reflections I suppose, but I swear that is the only Star Chief I’ve seen on the road. And I’ve seen a lot of unusual cars over the years.
Lots of great classics here. Thanks for sharing! Did you check if the ZJ was a manual? That might be quite possibly more rare than the minivan manuals which themselves have to be more rare than a manual in the Camry.
They sold a ton of these things, someone had to like them, but it wasn’t me.
I saw garish styling but it seemed like they had trouble keeping up with me in a VW bug in the canyons around LA. You know, the ones half of which recently burned. They could pull me on the straights, but not by a whole lot, but hit the curves and I was either losing them or on their back bumper depending on who was in front.
It was a 4,000 pound car, 210 inches long, with room for 2 front seat passengers, maybe 2 small children in back and a modest trunk. A perfect car for the Disco era. But they sold a ton of them, someone liked them.
Late 70’s. I had a Simca 1204, think VW Rabbit size, but with a French accent. FWD hatchack. I knew a girl who was moving who asked for help, before pickup trucks were considered commuter vehicles. She needed someone with a big car to help move, meaning me. With a car almost 5 feet shorter than her Monte Carlo. And no, it wasn’t a romantic come on, trust me, it was not. I did help move the big stuff though.
Mid 70’s, I was the electrician at a very large medical lab in LA. They had a fleet of half a dozen or more of Dodge Colts for picking up medical samples. I had occasion to drive them a few times and was impressed, not to mention the good PR they got in the car magazines for the SSS race series. They auctioned them off regularly around 60K, IIRC and replaced them with new. I put in a bid on one, I think it was open to the general public, it was long ago, but didn’t win the bid. It went to one of the pickup drivers! The people who drove them every day were happy enough with them to want one for their own. I can’t say I’d put a lot of miles on Datsun/Toyotas of that era, but they didn’t impress me nearly as much as that Colt.
Paul, I am surprised you had no comment on that xbox in the line. How come ?
I think this is brilliant . Someone has realised that a modern car is engine , battery and bling . Well the electric engine is old tech, battery prices are coming down . Who owns the biggest distribution of bling on the planet ? Put them together and you get this car . I live in France and I want one and to choose my own bling
Psst!
I was never terribly keen on these….SSHH!…I guess I’m just not much into racers, which they generically resemble…don’t tell anyone this. (Yes, it’s true, I did like the Renault 16 of about the same year more. Ok, yes, I get treatment).
Well, that was until many years later when I saw one in person, and it does actually make one’s jaw drop. Super-pretty, in that way modern cars never are. It was dainty, and barely higher than a road marking – hell, I tripped over the one I saw. Ok, I didn’t but man, these do not amount to much in height. Art they surely are, and famous rightly.
As to fragility, yes and no. The mechanicals are robust, I believe: after all, that engine was used (albeit with more capacity and cams and valves) for damn-near 50 years. The chassis, however, was just a little too clever for its own good, and later – perhaps the SV-on, I forget – they had to make the entire structure out of a thicker gauge steel, to stop the attacks of the flexies that could bother the original.
As an aside, can you believe that Ghandini did not hold the car in especial regrd amongst his work? Us mere mortals, huh.
Got to admit I love it (at least in theory, and disregarding the backer). Folk so commonly over-estimate their daily range needs. The styling is proper job too. Not at all easy to make simplicity look good.
I wonder if the millennial find it underwhelming? After all, the (now long) trend for angry overcooked styling and screen-ridden interiors must be appealing to someone. Sure ain’t me or my age group!
My fraternity brother ran one of these. First thing he did was swap in a 3.90 differential and rear springs. I got the original to replace the failed rear end in my 63 fairlane. One thing about 66 fairlanes was terrible build quality. Failed electrical systems, brake lockup and general fit and finish. My father traded in his 66 wagon before payments were up, first and only time he did that.
A “back to the roots” concept that might also interest me. Unfortunately, only available in the US.
A fair assessment on your part. These were nice around town cars however. And yes, if you were a good mechanic they could be made to run better and I feel the styling held up pretty well over time. The 389 Pontiac could be a bearing spinner if you got too aggressive.
I saw this yesterday morning. Spent a few hours researching. I love it! My 2018 JL Wrangler Sport has 3 options, Auto, A/C, tinted windows. NO big touchscreen. Manual knobs for HVAC, crank windows, steel wheels. I love my Jeep. I looked at 2026 Wrangler Sport. They now have large touchscreen, power windows/locks, stuff I really don’t need.
This truck would do 95% of our running around. Annual trip to Pigeon Forge would be in a rental car.
It’s worth thinking about.
Slate looks like what I used to doodle in school 50 years ago – I love it. I have to say I do miss electric windows when I drive something without them and I can’t believe that in a new design they would cost more than work out windows – it seems to me like sales feature – look how back to basics we are! And to those people worried about the heater and a/c, you won’t be using them anyway, they cut into the range too much.
The Dacia Spring is an electric hatch available in the UK with a similar range and back to basics ethos. The media was clamouring to get it here in RHD and it’s available for the equivalent of $20,000 (including 20% VAT). But I’ve only seen one on the road, the rest are being advertised at reduced prices. People don’t buy the basic patrol Dacia Sandero either which is larger but the same price. They pay $25,000 for the Sandero with the touchscreen, electric windows and keyless entry.
Basic transport is a niche market. I’d like to see the Slate do well and wonder if it will.
Never seen this before, at first I thought this was a very late April fools’ on Paul’s part, but the idea seems quite compelling.
I have long wondered why EVs and Hybrids are often high performance and/or ginormous SUVs, something like this would fill a real need.
And Hopefully, They all lived happily ever after! 💕 💞. Now entering the Golden Years ✨
There’s one extremely rare car in those pics I wonder if any can figure ?
Somewhere along the line Subaru captured the Volvo demographic and the company seems fine with that. More profits, but less personality. Quirkiness may be cute, but it has its limits. Subaru will never see the likes of the XT again.
Rudy’s Odorless Cleaners isn’t the best product placement for a formal wedding with rented limo! But maybe it was a good reminder when the bride later needed help with household drudgery.