(first posted 9/21/2018) Yes, a Smart and a Cadillac posing together isn’t exactly original, but with a ’62 Fleetwood 75? Probably not, so we’re going to add to the cyber collection of the genre, thanks to Nicky D, who shot these two in Fairfax. And just how much longer is the Fleetwood, as in multiples? Two and a half times as long? Three times? More? Looks can be deceiving.
(first posted 9/21/2018) It’s been a while since our last European Deadly Sins series. And it so happens I’ve recently regained access to a few documents pertaining to the darker secrets of the automotive history of my birth country. So let’s grab a shovel, go to the French section of the Graveyard of Marques and examine today’s first corpse: Berliet.
Here’s a somewhat unusual pairing posted by Slant Six at the Cohort; a sheer-look era Oldsmobile 98 and an Aero-era Ford Thunderbird. Both, sitting quietly in a driveway, and both suffering from the odd paint ailments of Detroit’s mid-80s finishes. Still, the two vehicles speak of two styling languages that each marked an era; though living side by side in the early ’80s.
It’s time to revisit station wagons in the 1960s, as they were. Just as I’ve done with previous galleries on this topic, this collection of images is not meant to be comprehensive. It’s just a quick visual trip through station wagon choices back in the day. Still, a bit of info and trivia will be offered on each for the uninitiated.
Denning is one of the more storied of Australia’s coach and bus manufacturers. Much like GM’s models in North America, they were the default image that many Australians had of an intercity bus – and still do to this day. Read the rest of this entry »
Fairlane hardtops in the ’63 brochure; Sports Coupe in the foreground.
Text submitted by Harry Case.
In 1970 I inherited my mom’s car to travel back and forth to school in Ohio. I had joined a fraternity with a large collection of car enthusiasts and the parking lot was a study in contrasts. We had the muscle car fans with a 67 Fairlane GT and one with a 69 Mercury Cyclone. We had the foreign car fans, an MG midget, a Lancia Fulvia and a VW. The classic car contingent included a 56 Chevy and a 51 Chevy pickup.
(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.
