Recent Posts
146

Curbside Classic: 1992-97 Cadillac Seville – A Forgotten Contender

seville13

(first posted 4/8/2014)     Read any Cadillac review from the past decade and you’ll get the impression that Cadillac had simply been peddling crap cars from the 1970s up until the early 2000s. I’m not going to deny for a second that the 1980s were a terrible decade for the luxury brand and its prestige, but the 1990s marked a turnaround for Cadillac, with a sharply styled model range brimming with fresh technology. No Cadillac better exemplifies the changing fortunes of the General’s flagship range than the 1992 Seville. Read the rest of this entry »

62

Rental Car Review: 2017 Toyota Corolla SE – When Frontier Airlines Completely Screws You Over, You Can Trust A Corolla To Save The Day

2017 Corolla

(first posted 9/27/2018)        Sunday 6:55 a.m.: I emerge bleary-eyed in the hotel’s palatial lobby and follow the scent to the sumptuous dining area for yet another breakfast of exotic fruits, artisan breads, and cooked-to-order whatever you’d want, to be washed down with the finest fresh-pressed juices as well as coffees made with beans roasted on-site, all provided for courtesy of the Curbside Classic Corporate AmEx Card which Paul issues to all the contributors after their 100th post and which we put to good use at the 2018 Midwest Meetup last weekend.  Such is the life of us CC Contributors.

Read the rest of this entry »

19

Vintage Snapshots: 1957-1958 DeSotos On The Road

When the fin-tastic “Suddenly It’s 1960!” Mopar offerings of 1957 appeared, they certainly caused an impression. Typical of the era, one could pick and choose from the gaudiest to the cleanest styling of those fin-tastic products, thanks to the varieties offered by the Pentastar divisions. Dodge models having the most decoration, while DeSoto having among the cleanest during that ’57-’58 run.

Read the rest of this entry »

17

My 1985 Honda Nighthawk 450 – You Can Always Come Home…

…but you’ll quickly remember why you left.
Read the rest of this entry »

14

1976 American LaFrance Fire Engine For Sale – Just What You Need

I’d been meaning to check out the Sixes Grange Marketplace near Port Orford, and when I saw this firetruck for sale sitting out front, it was just the incentive I needed. It’s a 1976 American LaFrance; did the new 5 mile bumper regulations apply to fire engines too?

Read the rest of this entry »

7

Curbside Classic: 1948 Cisitalia 202 SC – Pinin’s Magnum Opus

It’s usually very difficult to pinpoint anything to do with automotive design with accuracy. The Citroën Traction Avant was not the first mass-produced FWD design. There were all-steel wagons well before the 1949 Plymouth Suburban. Straight “pontoon” fenders are not a post-war invention. And one look at a Rumpler or a Burney and the Tatra 77 looks a lot less revolutionary. Is the Cisitalia 202 the first truly modern front-engined sports car?

Read the rest of this entry »

58

The Latest Ultimate Curbside Classic: 1946 Chevrolet Pickup – The Oldest Working Daily Driver Truck?

CC 224 017 1200

(first posted 4/12/2014)    The overarching purpose of CC is to document the older vehicles still on the streets. And when they’re in front-line duty, as daily drivers or work trucks, the goal is really being fulfilled. Therefore I called the 1956 Ford F350 that still hauls big loads of recycled cardboard in Eugene every day “The Ultimate Curbside Classic“.

Now, I was aware that this older Chevy truck existed, and had even shot it some years ago, but it was sitting in the driveway of its home. What I didn’t know then is that this ’46 Chevy is still very much in front-line duty; it’s a daily driver, and has been ever since its owner James bought it 45 years ago for $100. So now we have a new Ultimate Curbside Classic, at least until something else tops it; which wouldn’t really surprise me. Is there a Model T still at work? Read the rest of this entry »

49

Curbside Classic: 2001-09 Jaguar X-Type – X-Typecast

(first posted 9/26/2018)     Let’s take a step back to a particular point in time. Jaguar has a fairly wide range, offering three separate sedan lines. Unfortunately, two of those aren’t meeting sales targets, one of them being afflicted by ungainly, retrograde styling. Actually, this exact scenario has occurred at two different points in Jaguar’s history: first in the 1960s and then in the 2000s. The X-Type was one of Jaguar’s sluggish-selling sedans of the 2000s. Read the rest of this entry »

17

Vintage Dealers: 1959-1961 Buicks In The Showroom

1959 Buicks in the showroom.

Read the rest of this entry »

7

Truck Stop Classic: 1993 Renault R 340ti Major 4×2 – Le Tractor

Eddy Lenders - 1993 Renault R 340ti Major 4x2 tractor - 1

Everything’s covered up these days! Don’t worry, I’m just talking about most modern, heavy trucks and tractors. You can barely take a close look at their stout undercarriage. But this 1993 Renault on-highway tractor is a fine mix of old-school and modern; a fully exposed chassis, yet far from being outdated, technology-wise. Now let’s get to the bottom of it.

Read the rest of this entry »

13

Curbside Find: 1980 Alfa Romeo Spider 2000 Veloce – Not So Cut And Dry

Not every Pininfarina design was flawless – even the best in the business get it wrong once in a while. The Alfa Romeo Spider, which had an unusually long production run (1966-1993), went through four distinct iterations. The coda tronca (“truncated tail”) version we have here was the second one, made from 1969 to 1982. That first cut was the deepest indeed. A deep mistake?

Read the rest of this entry »

28

Curbside Classic: 1952 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible – Land Yacht in the Tropics

First and foremost, let’s just take a moment to appreciate that what you see before you is now a Seventy two year old automobile! My mind refused to process that fact until I actually did the math, because it still thinks a 70 plus year old car means something from the 1930s. But alas, time stands still for neither man nor machine, and this shiny emblem of jet-age Americana is unquestionably, a septuagenerian. It also appears to be the very first example of a 1952 Cadillac to appear on CC, although a couple of brethren that are slightly older and younger, have had their moment.

Read the rest of this entry »

72

Curbside Classic: 1972 Cutlass Supreme 4-Door Hardtop – Squint And You Can You See The Seventies

(first posted 9/26/2018)        This past Saturday while running errands, I rounded a familiar corner in my suburban Chicago town and saw a decidedly unfamiliar sight.  Peeking out between the trees, parked in front of a stately older home, was this 1972 Cutlass Supreme 4-Door Hardtop, in what looked to be impeccable condition.  Between the brand-new looking Olds, and the timeless house, the glimpse view could just as easily have been in the fall of 1972.

Read the rest of this entry »

62

Curbside Classic: 1995 Toyota Camry DX Coupe – A Unicorn Of Camrys

(first posted 9/25/2018)       If there is one car that has built its popularity and reputation on being boring, it’s the Toyota Camry. Make no mistake that through the years, the Camry has been a safe bet for those seeking dependable, reliable, and predictable transportation, with few surprises. Yet through those years and through the hundreds of thousands of Camrys sold each year, Toyota has thrown us a few curveballs by way of the Camry. One such was the 1994-1996 Camry coupe — the Camry that dared to be sporty and personal.

Read the rest of this entry »

27

Vintage Snapshots: Lodging In The US In The 1970s – Sights & Cars

The Fern, Kenoza Lake, NY.

 

We spend a good deal of time here at CC devoted to cars, their history, and the world around them. Hotels and motels are clearly part of that world, and most of us have spent quite a few hours in one or the other. With that in mind, let’s reminisce about some of the available lodging during the 1970s.

Read the rest of this entry »