Curbside Classic -

Curbside Classic: 1949 Oldsmobile 88 – Ghost Of The Future, Legend of the Past

– Posted on April 30, 2024

(first posted 4/30/2018) I first spotted this CC on my way to work one morning. Bellingham was covered in pea soup fog and I could only make out the bulbous shape of this old ghost of a car as it blended anonymously into the gray mist. I made a note to come back. When I returned later, I saw this old beauty more clearly and made out the obvious: Oldsmobile, 88, Futuramic. That’s it. I also knew my parents owned a 1964 Olds Jetstar 88 when I was a kid. We called it the Tan Tank.

Dad was always proud of the “Rocket 88” motor, and rightly so. The 88 legend started with this ’49, which was nothing less than the first post-war factory muscle car, never mind just being the best car in the world at the time for the money.

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Vintage Snapshots: Thunderbird People In The ’50s & ’60s – The Flair And The Square

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 30, 2024

Ford’s response to the Corvette was a unique thing. A not-so-sporty premium two-seater with neat styling that didn’t take long to become an automotive icon; the Thunderbird. And once the four-seater arrived, the formula took off and the car’s fame only grew in the public’s eye. There was nothing quite like the Thunderbird, and the public knew it.

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CC Outtakes: Car Spotting In Uruguay, Part 2

Guest Writer

– Posted on April 30, 2024

(Yesterday we shared Part 1 of the curbside finds at Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. We follow today with Part 2)

Text and photos by riveranotario.

Car spotting was even better around the beach. The mosquito situation was way worse though! I took these first images while we escaped towards the city center in search of more repellant, which we had run out of, given our lack of familiarity with how often we needed to use it.

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Curbside Outtakes: Daimler Series III or ’70 Cadillac De Ville – The Best In The World Or The Standard Of The World?

Roger Carr

– Posted on April 30, 2024

Something a bit different; two CCs of some note given their locations, one outside a used car trader on a British industrial estate and the other on a side street in a French town, slightly off the beaten track. Both top of their ranges, both dark red and both considered by at least some of their compatriot owners –and would be owners– as being as good as a car could be. Best car in the world, as it was hailed in some of the British press? Or the Standard of the World, as its maker declared? Read the rest of this entry »

Curbside Musings: 1996 Ford Thunderbird LX – Migration Patterns

Joseph Dennis

– Posted on April 30, 2024

Birds have been increasingly visible in my neighborhood this spring, and I’m thrilled. The day of this writing, I had just returned from the local grocery store and had passed a sparrow, a pigeon, and a couple of robins feeding on something that had been left at a curb on my block. I’ve written about my love for birds at CC before, but today it struck me that some of the things about them that resonate with me are their quick reflexes and ability to fly, which allow them to take off at the first, perceived sign of danger. They can just go away instantaneously, far out of the reach of would-be predators. It’s now warm enough for me to sleep with my windows cracked open, and I awaken to the sounds of bird calls echoing throughout my forest of a neighborhood.

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Curbside Classic: 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado – Personal Luxury, Oldsmobile Style

J P Cavanaugh

– Posted on April 29, 2024

(first posted 3/14/2014) It has been a tough winter in Indianapolis. We are very near to a seasonal snowfall record and have had some extreme cold to go with it. From the perspective of a car stalker, these are the doldrums. Sure, there are plenty of old beaters plying the streets, but a guy can only get so excited about another old Taurus or Lumina (or yet another GM B-body.) But for all the interesting old iron, snow brings salt, and salt brings rust; so, anyone who cares about old wheels will leave them parked until spring rains wash all that salt off the streets. But very rarely, and only if you have been a very good boy or girl, you will see something like this.

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Rampside Classic – 1937 Vickers Wellington – Bomber Command’s Only Ever-Present

Big Paws

– Posted on April 29, 2024

(first posted 4/29/2018) We all know the Lancaster – the real heavyweight of the RAF’s campaign over Germany and the occupied nations of Western Europe. As Britain celebrates the centenary of the world’s first independent air force, we should also remember the very different Vickers Wellington, which outnumbered even the Lancaster; was produced before, during and after the war; and bore the stamp of an individual genius like very few other aircraft have ever done. Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Dealers: 1957 Imperials In The Showroom

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 29, 2024

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Alleyside Outtake: 1985 Winnebago LeSharo Turbo Diesel – “Caution, I’m Slow”

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on April 29, 2024

It pays to walk down a different alley once in a while…in this case, the payoff was a nothing less than a LeSharo, which has become exceedingly rare. It has the FWD cab and drive train form a Renault Trafic van mated to a low-profile fiberglass camper body. I have not seen one for well over a decade; the last one is written up here.

And yes, with a 75 hp 2.1 L Renault turbo diesel, it was slow, although not as slow as the 57 hp naturally-aspirated version.

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CC Outtakes: Car Spotting In Uruguay, Part 1

Guest Writer

– Posted on April 29, 2024

Text and Images by Riveranotario.

This February I was for the first time in Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay. This city is one of the most well-known tourist destinations in that country since its old quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We got there just for the day on a ferry from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Of course, the most interesting part for me were the cars.

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Cohort Classic: 1973 Pontiac Catalina 400 — Role Playing; From Lead Actor To Ensemble Player

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 29, 2024

Photos from the Cohort by Hyperpack.

Being in the public eye is tough. Celebrities, politicians and Youtubers know it. And then, product planners. After all, a product goes out there in the same fashion; to be tried, tested, and find love or scorn. And much like a celebrity, 1970s Pontiac was vying for a new public angle after its 1960s heyday receded. It was quite a turn, from 1960s sexy heartthrob to middle-aged Brougham actor.

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Curbside Classic: 1966 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 – The Best $3,000 Big Sedan In 1966?

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on April 28, 2024

(first posted 3/19/2015) If you were a typical white-skin, white-collar middle-class Pop with a wife and 2.3 kids, and were looking to spend three grand on a nice-ish white sedan in 1966, you could do worse than to have picked this Olds Dynamic 88. It was reasonably stylish for being a plain sedan, had plenty of room in its 123″ wheelbase, had that famous GM ride, and Oldsmobiles had rep for being screwed together pretty decently. But best of all, it was the only car in its class to come standard with a 425 cubic inch (7 liter) V8; not bad, for an inflation-adjusted $21,600. That is, as long as you were good with manual steering, manual brakes, crank windows, no air conditioning and a three-speed manual on the column. Maybe that part wouldn’t exactly make wifey any too happy; better get ready to cough up some more white-bread dough. Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Mechanix Illustrated Review: Tom McCahill Tests the 1953 Studillac – Effortless 125mph Top Speed

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on April 28, 2024

(first posted 4/28/2018) The early 50s were a very fertile time for automotive creativity, and engine swapping was as rampant as wife swapping (supposedly) was in certain parts of the country a decade later. We looked at a Cadillac-powered 1946 Continental here recently, but here’s another one that involved a brand new car, the 1953 Studebaker, which was of course the most dramatic new car that year, and certainly the most aerodynamic. That made it attractive to those looking for some serious speed, both on the salt flats as well as the highway. Bill Frick created a cottage industry, first with a Fordillac, but then turned his attention to the new Studebaker coupe. Tom McCahill tested on for Mechanix Illustrated.

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Vintage Snapshots: Car Washing In The ’50s & ’60s

Rich Baron

– Posted on April 28, 2024

With winter well in the rearview mirror, it’s time for a little of car washing in the old-fashioned way. No pressure hoses, no power tools. Just buckets, bowls, sponges and additional period gear. And in that spirit, here’s a gallery of vintage images of that inevitable automotive activity, the wash.

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CC Global: 2023 Trucks@Twenthe – Happy Hunting Ground (For Truck Enthusiasts, Anyway)

Johannes Dutch

– Posted on April 28, 2024

No fear when these guys show up in your rear-view mirror, it’s just that family names ending on -ing or -ink are commonplace in the eastern regions of the Netherlands, where they speak Dutch Low Saxon. So far for some geography trivia, it’s about time to focus.

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