(first posted 9/21/2018) Mike Hayes has found what has to be one of the rarest American-brand station wagons of the sixties. The Mercury Meteor, based heavily on the new mid-sized Fairlane, was only built in 1962 and 1963, but the station wagons didn’t appear until ’63. That makes them a one-year wonder to start with. And then there’s the low production numbers. Very, very low…
(first posted 9/20/2018) Duesenberg. The name brings back old Popular mechanics articles for me. In them, some comedian I’d never heard of before called Jay Leno would do a full page on how amazing these chrome-laden old cars were and how much powerful and better than any other car that was being built at that time (’20s and ’30s). Way more powerful and faster too. I didn’t have the Internet back then, so I couldn’t quite figure out why they had disappeared if they had been so good. And even now that I’ve had the Internet for quite some time, I never knew that they had tried to revive the brand a couple of times. Let’s take a look at the latest of these to make the metal, all the way from 1979.
I spotted this familiar looking pickup on our walk, but as I got closer, I noticed that the expected “GMC” letters were not in the front grille opening. Hmm. PCG?
“Just be yourself.” “You do you girl.” “Never let anyone dull your sparkle.” “Be whoever the *expletive* you wanna be and screw the haters!!!” These are just a few of the many phrases I’ve heard in my life extolling the value of individuality. Some of them have even been told directly to me, as much as they mean in the real world.
Here in America, we love to venerate the individual: the rugged maverick who blazes their own trail and refuses to just follow the leader. However, as much as this is true, we also value conformity, and those that buck the norm are just as likely to be ostracized as they are to be celebrated. This is a paradox that has been documented to the point of cliche in innumerable movies, books, and other media, but it’s still true to this day. Different doesn’t always mean beloved, or successful.
And in the automotive world, it’s hard to find an example of a company that banked on being ‘different’ harder than Saturn. It was their entire brand image for their first decade. And like so many others, poor Saturn wound up trying to conform when their uniqueness wasn’t exactly what people wanted, to predictable results. But with this Ion, we can at least admire the effort.
And lo, it came to pass that there was despair and ruination in the fair city of Dearborn, for the chariots of Ford were stuck in a rut. In the year of our Henry 1948, hope was fading away, but in the spring eternal, a new model descended from the production line and the people looked upon it and said: “How much?” The rivers of rouge ink ceased to blight Ford’s bank statements, and the son of Edsel found salvation.
(first posting 9/20/2018) Go looking online for information about the GMC version of the Advance Design trucks and you’ll come up with very little. For the Chevy you’ll find more than one list of year-over-year changes, but nothing remotely like it for the GMC. I found one source that talked about the GMCs separately, and it claims that GMC called these trucks “New Design.” Nobody cares; everybody lumps the GMCs and the Chevys under the Advance Design banner today. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 9/17/2018) I’m going to give you a glimpse into the language of us infuriating young people. “Gib” is a horrible slang version of “give” and “Plz” is a lazy way of saying “please”. Why did I choose such a title for a respectable car website? Two reasons. Number one, it catches the eye, and number two, it will serve the article. Read on to find out how… Read the rest of this entry »
It’s time again to give Dearborn’s middle child a few minutes of attention, with this set of images portraying the brand in some of its better days. Most shots date from the 1950s, but a couple do come from the 1960s. And regarding the folks posing alongside these Mercurys, they make a curious juxtaposition; from family-types to some with a James Dean vibe.
The transformation from a DAF 8×4 chassis-cab into a Ginaf 8×4 Wide Spread is like a Dobermann morphing into a Rottweiler. Completely unrelated, I know, but you get the picture. Even better, featuring two fully identical 2015 Ginaf G6 4243 CS asphalt dumpers, caught in the yard of a used truck dealer on September 14.
I’ve been waiting for a while now to see an actual Cybertruck in person, and today it finally happened! I wanted to share with you my spontaneous, initial reactions; because when you see something this radically new for the first time, you will never see it the same way again!
Like many fans of vintage cars, I do enjoy a show with plenty of classic cars rolling around. And back in the mid-80s, for a short while, that not-quite-common need was satisfied by “Crime Story”. A groundbreaking period cop drama produced by Michael Mann, stuffed with all sorts of glitzy rides from the ’50s and ’60s. You wanted some shiny Jet-Era fins in your RCA box set at prime time hours in 1986? If so, “Crime Story” was your happy place.
(first posted 13/3/2013) This isn’t the kind of speculation one may find in the Future Classics column of Collectible Automobile. I am not arguing that any of these cars will become Barrett-Jackson trailer queens. Instead, I pose these as the cars us Curbside Classic car-nerds will be fussing over in 15-20 years’ time when we see one on the street. Not every Curbside Classic-er will like these cars now or like them in the future, but I am sure in 15-20 years’ time each of these will summon the kind of vigorous debate and historical analysis this site is known for. And I am sure this website will still be around then!
(first posted 9/19/2018) Throughout the 1980s, Volvo was a very square automaker, in both the figurative and literal senses. Its 200 and 700 Series sedans and wagons were durable, comfortable, practical, and very square in their styling. While charming in their own conservative ways and a rational choice in European car, Volvos of this era were hardly the cars that turned many heads or stirred many emotions. Nevertheless, Volvo did have at least one vehicle in the 1980s that oozed sex appeal — the ultra-low-production 780 coupe.
Most sources cite only 8,518 examples produced globally, though the Volvo Bertone registry claims this number is 11,905 total, — either way, the odds of encountering two of them together are not favorable, and more so, what are the odds I did within minutes of getting behind the wheel of another 2-door Volvo for the first time ever?
