Time flies. A reminder of that came along recently when Jim Klein posted some onesies and twosies of cars he had captured in 2020. Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I’m about to do some large-scale flattery. However, instead of just one year this will cover 2019 and 2020.
This first picture is a 1975 Oldsmobile commercial chassis. It had been used as an ambulance by a small town in Northwest Iowa and is now sitting at a museum in Sioux City, Iowa. It seemed like a good attention getter for a lead photo.
Let’s have another red example. My father-in-law asked me to attend a car auction for him in Columbia (all referenced towns for the remainder of this are in Missouri). It was open to the public as several state agencies and utility companies were selling equipment. The minivan my father-in-law wanted was pulled at the last minute, so I only stuck around long enough to see fifteen year-old six-wheel drive bucket trucks go for insane prices.
When leaving, I saw this auction fodder Ford Contour SVT out in the parking lot.
It had a five-speed transmission. I grabbed a full set of pictures so perhaps we will see it again someday.
Soon thereafter I accompanied my wife and our daughter to Springfield. They took lessons in how to sew leather while I did more fun things.
We stayed at The Rail Haven motel at the corner of Glenstone and St. Louis Avenue. The Rail Haven is a well-known spot for Route 66 aficionados as St. Louis Avenue is part of the old 66. Likely realizing an opportunity, the motel has two old Fords out front, this ’56 sedan being one of them.
The other is a ’55 two-door sedan with a six. Both are operable and have three-speed manual transmissions. Patrons are encouraged to explore them.
Back closer to home, within eyeshot of the state capital building, I found this 1937 Chevrolet. Consider this as another preview; I simply haven’t yet found the right inspiration to write it up.
People talk about old cars being so large. When compared to a Pontiac G6 it’s obvious such assertions aren’t always the case.
On the other hand, nobody ever considered a Cavalier as overly large but they do tend to last forever. And ever. And ever.
Frequent sightings of old GM (oops, I meant gm) products are commonplace around here. The Corollas and Civics others claim also last forever? Not so common. Regional differences are just that.
Quick: Why did the turkey cross the road? To get away from Jason’s un-mowed yard.
Sorry, this was too good to not include. Even though we are ostensibly in town, deer, raccoons, and opossums are an almost daily sighting here. Turkey are an infrequent delight as are the foxes we’ve had in the backyard. We’ve avoided armadillos thus far.
An inability to get away, this time from surrounding traffic, has also led to some missed opportunities. I found this Nissan in Lebanon but I was stuck in a left-turn lane. Oddly enough, contributor Eric703 has also found this car. Rare is the time two contributors have captured the exact same car, but it’s happened.
On the flip side, I had an unimpeded view of this Chevelle near Columbia. Seeing a four-door Chevelle turned an otherwise gloomy weather day into something much better.
The lady driving the Chevelle had her window down. I hope she didn’t get sprayed with too much water from passing cars.
Other than the Olds at the very beginning, these pictures are being presented in the order they were on my phone, working our way toward the present.
I say that as having two A-bodies in a row is a complete coincidence. This Pontiac LeMans was found in Troy during a trip to visit my in-laws. Troy has been a tough nut to crack for getting car pictures; the cars are always moving and/or going the opposite direction.
However, the town of Lebanon is an absolute gold mine for car spotting as it was north of town I found this Kaiser. As the CC Effect would have it, I found it a day or two after Paul wrote about the first generation of Kaiser automobiles.
This Kaiser was fully operational and for sale. It was memorable as the gentleman I spoke to was nearly seven feet tall and his shoulders were as wide as this Kaiser. He was as nice as could be but he did have presence – much like a red Kaiser.
Perhaps the toughest location I frequent is an intersection near my house in Jefferson City. I have spotted Packards, Corvairs of multiple varieties, Road Runners, a Plymouth GTX, and a Ford retractable hardtop, all moving under their own power. This 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 convertible is the first sighting I’ve been able to record.
I found it on a cold, January day. Interestingly, there are several of this generation of B-body convertible floating around here. Several times over the summer I saw a young guy in a red ’71 Impala convertible. Of course, I could never get pictures.
Last February I made a trip to Cape Girardeau to visit my parents. On the return trip I opted to avoid the interstates and take the scenic route. Due to this decision I was able to find this extended wheelbase Crown Victoria taxi at a used car dealer in Farmington.
The lot was full of Crown Vics, leading me to suspect this was probably the real deal. How in the world it made its way to Farmington from New York City is my question, followed by who in the world would want to own this nasty old thing. The stories this car could likely tell…
Here’s one that isn’t nasty. Rather, it’s quite tasty and inviting. The Dodge pickups of this generation, particularly the 1981 and up models, are more plentiful around here than their Ford and GM counterparts, a remarkable feat given their relatively scant production volumes. This simply seems to reflect the intrinsic goodness Dodge lovingly built into every one of them.
Seeing this is chicken soup for the automotive soul. I found it between Eugene and Tuscumbia.
Back in March of this year we had a hail storm. I knew it was bad as the stones landing on my deck, after hitting the roof, had shattered and were still enormous. This is a smaller stone, picked up near my back door. Nearly every building in this town of 40,000 has had the roof replaced since that storm.
Since my roof was schnockered (I had shingles curled up at the edges as well as huge delaminated areas), my insurance company highly encouraged its replacement. That sucked, as my old roof was not even five years old. However, here is the truck and conveyer offloading the new shingles. These delivery people showed up entirely unannounced, banging on my door at 6:15 am. I did not appreciate that and they knew it.
This seemed like a Johannes Dutch type of picture.
Despite having worked from home since mid-March, I have still been getting out periodically to check on field staff and remain visible. It has also allowed some reasonable captures, although it hasn’t really yielded material for more in-depth articles.
But I could still find this 1955 or 1956 Ford and this Studebaker trailer.
For whatever reason, I thought of JPCavanaugh when I saw this trailer south of Brazito. His Kia Sedona could pull it quite nicely.
Speaking of pulling, I saw this 1973 Ford Gran Torino Squire at an old car dealer here in Jefferson City. It has a 400 cubic inch (6.6 liter) V8 under the hood. If memory serves, it has only around 50,000 miles on it. The right person could really enjoy this wagon.
Earlier I mentioned my having been working from home. While it’s been a mixed bag, there have been some advantages. As I spend a sizable amount of time on the phone, during the warm months I would spend the mornings outside on the deck (and nobody ever knew I might only be wearing my shorts). But it also allowed me to better see the going-on of the natural world.
One morning our feral kitty, Julius, was sniffing around in the yard near the rear of the house. Shooing him off I found this baby rabbit. It was smaller than the palm of my hand. My wife found a local veterinary technician who takes in wild animals for foster care. After delivering this tiny thing, we learned it is female and doing fine. Perhaps Julius had something to do with it, but this rabbit was uninjured, which doesn’t seem overly kitty-like. A life saved.
On the other hand, this snake wasn’t so lucky. My first thought was lawnmower, but I see no mower induced injury. Perhaps it was Julius this time.
Not really moving on from dead animals, I found this Mustang II in a local salvage yard. Other than the front, it looked quite complete.
It was sitting next to two different generation of Impalas. What a difference twelve or so years can make.
Around this same time I had a few medical issues. But there was a payoff; picking up the images from my CT scan allowed me to discover this Dodge pickup. These truly are common around here.
Some chicken soup is just what the doctor ordered.
With the discovery of my (now resolved) medical issues, I realized my level of local exploration was pretty crummy, so I began exploring local county roads on Saturday mornings. Naturally, I found a Dodge pickup. More chicken soup.
On the adjacent property was parked a first generation Ford Bronco.
Around the corner was an early to mid-1980s Ford F-150. It’s the first Ford of this era I’ve seen in quite some time.
These findings have been good but for whatever reason I’ve got them on various cameras. So I shall leave with one last find, hoping to place it in a compilation of county road finds sometime in the future.
You just never know when an AMC Javelin will be poking out its nose, awaiting discovery.
Either the interior of that Ford Contour had been dusted for fingerprints or the owner has a nasty cocaine habit!
The Chevelle lady is using her vent window for spray&draft-free ventilation.
Decades ago, I rescued a tiny bunny from the jaws of the neighbor’s cat. The ungrateful critter shat down the front of my shirt. I haven’t seen any rabbits since a groundhog appeared last summer.
Love the ’37 Chevy. Properly sized black walls with original wheels and hubcaps (I assume all of that is true, I don’t actually know for sure), really set off the entire package in a consistent and attractive way.
The movie would have come across a bit different if that was the Gran Torino variant that Clint had owned…I like it though, someone picked a fun color, the wood is in good shape, and it seems ready to go from this vantage point.
Great finds! Interesting that the eighties Dodge pickups are more common there than Ford/Chevy. While not rare out here on the left coast, they are still quite outnumbered by their better-selling contemporaries. And I like the animal sightings too. This fall and winter seems to have really brought out the wild turkeys here, and where there’s one there’s usually a big flock. They tend to take the right of way crossing the roads, which can mean a long wait if there are ten or fifteen.
That red Mustang II looks just like the one owned by one of my roomies in law school – the same dulling red, no vinyl roof and a good head start by some northern Indiana rust. He had no flip-up sunroof, though.
That 37 Chevy reminds me a lot of a car I spent a little time with yesterday and which will probably be written up here at some point fairly soon.
For some unexplainable reason, I feel drawn to that Gran Torino wagon. May be a 6 litre V8 has something to do with it.
Nice selection all round.
But Roger, if it is litres you want, that Oldsmobile ambulance up top has gobs of ’em! If 6 is good, isn’t 7.5 better? 🙂
When did “commercial chassis” ambulances based on big sedans like the Olds 98 stop being a thing? I rarely recall seeing those in my parts even back then; most smaller ambulances were converted Ford Econolines, particulartly 1975 and later. Or are they still being made and I’ve just missed them? I do still see limo and hearse conversions, increasingly from SUVs, but rarely ambulances.
My hometown had a ’71 Olds ambulance. No idea who built it.
Car based ambulances aren’t used anymore to my knowledge. Back then it was “scoop’em up and get to a hospital ASAP. Drivers then were only trained in something better than basic CPR. But regulations and technology changed them to more of rolling triage units, with trained EMT’s operating them which made it necessary to go to the truck based units for more room and to carry more equipment.
The 1st time I ever saw a truck based ambulance with 2 “EMT’s” was the TV show EMERGENCY. And I have heard they inspired a lot of municipalities to switch over, but I’m not sure if that is true.
They were dwindling in the seventies- That Olds may have been one of the last of them.
Based on reruns of “Emergency!” (filmed from ’72 to ’79), the (LA) ambulances from that decade were built on van or pickup commercial chassis, while older ’60’s models included a Chevy Suburban with a fiberglass cap and a Cadillac or two.
Looks like they made one in 1993. But I would guess early to mid 80s.
Ewwww, old ambulances creep me out. Always have, just the thought of all the folks that died in there. Adding to the creepy factor in that photo is the United Airlines logo. Has flight 232 written all over that scene – scary!
Ah, scrolling into the picture I now see that’s exactly what that was about!
I know I’m a bit biased since I owned one for 10 years, but I consider those Contour SVTs to be one of the best sports sedans of its era. I really loved mine, and wish I still had it, if it hadn’t become a moneypit. I know you shared some of the pictures with me of this one a while ago, and what amazed me was that there was a sticker on the windshield indicating that this one had 300,000+ miles.
My SVT had the bluish/purplish interior that was on the ’98 models, and that had the benefit of hiding the inevitable spill marks from the cupholders that couldn’t actually hold cups, as shown on this red car here. Mine had identical marks when I bought it used – fortunately since I don’t drink and drive, I never added to them.
Good to see that 200SX is still on the road. Or, actually, still in the parking lot. My picture of this car from 2019 is below — looks like it’s within a few spaces of where I found it.
And regarding your urban wildlife, last time I was in Jefferson City I saw a flock of turkeys as well. Around here, our main backyard wildlife are foxes — we have lots of them here, and I live on just a 1/3-acre lot. Just this morning, I saw two foxes chasing each other around a neighbor’s yard.
And that Javelin — I can’t remember ever seeing one in Apple Green. I’m not sure whether I love or if I’m horrified at the sight.
You guys remind me that Jim Grey and I once got shots of the same red and white 1970-ish Ford pickup. I am sure that we have gotten double pictures of some others. I am quite sure that his pictures are better.
Jason! What gives? The front, where’s the front end of that flatbed truck?….Geez!
The Grand Torino wagon is calling to me.
Our family had a 75 Torino wagon years ago in another city. It was a beast but did us well for a couple of years. The woodgrain wagon in your feature would be welcome at my house although I doubt it would fit in the garage.
Having owned a 98 Contour Sport with V6 and 5-speed manual I know what a great combo that is. So, the SVT Contour would be just right for me. Comfortable, great handling and plenty of torque. How I miss my Contour.
My favorites are the 1956 Ford Customline in that period green shade as well as the Kaiser.