Curbside Classic -

Curbside Classic: 1989 Daihatsu Charade – Treat And Retreat

– Posted on October 4, 2026

(Updated 10/4/2026) What a difference twenty years makes. The eighties was the Japanese decade, when they were going to take over the US, if not the world. They bought prime real estate assets like Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach. They wrote books telling the US how to fix its problems. And their car makers were swamping the US like a tsunami. The last of the holdouts, Daihatsu, finally showed up on our shores at a rather inauspicious time: 1988, one year before the great Japanese stock market collapse. Did Daihatsu’s failure and retreat in 1992 have to do more with Japanese hubris in trying to sell a “BMW quality” Geo Metro, or was the Charade just an overpriced charade? Or is there a difference? Read the rest of this entry »

1967 Plymouth Sport Fury: To Restore or Not to Restore? — A Case Of Automotive Cognitive Dissonance

Aaron65

– Posted on October 4, 2026

(Updated 10/4/2026) According to Psychology Today, “cognitive dissonance is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other,” and one need not have a degree in psychology to know that everybody has suffered from the pangs of regret when faced with the possibilities of the road less traveled. Chrysler Corporation is perhaps the most apt corporate metaphor for this psychological phenomenon, as every manifestation of corporate leadership outside of Walter Chrysler himself, and perhaps Lee Iacocca, has had to look in the mirror at the end of the day and make up a good story. This 1967 Sport Fury I recently spotted in the parking lot of a drag strip is proof that I am guilty of mixing my metaphors.

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Car Show Classics – South West Alfa Day 2026

Roger Carr

– Posted on October 4, 2026

Alfa Romeo—and Alfa Romeos—get into your system, and often the only credible response is to meet some fellow patients (or enthusiasts, as I prefer to call them) for a little group therapy. I think it’s fair to say that, whatever the state of current Alfa Romeo sales in the UK, it is probably one of the best-supported overseas brands in the UK classic-car community. South West Alfa Day (SWAD), organised by the energetic and professional Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club UK, provided the perfect opportunity for such therapy, held in the extensive grounds of the Haynes Motor Museum in southwest England. Here are some personal highlights. Read the rest of this entry »

HMB-1: This Rusty Barge Was Built By The CIA For A Top Secret Cold War Recovery Mission

tbm3fan

– Posted on October 4, 2026

At first glance, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about the structure sitting just off to the right of the Alameda Ferry Terminal. But, if you knew its history, you’d realize this rather innocuous-looking structure has quite a story to tell: This is HMB-1, a barge that was originally built by the CIA for a highly secretive underwater recovery operation, and that was later used in an experimental stealth ship program for the U.S. Navy.

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1989 BMW 735i: You Can Go Home Again

D. Crane

– Posted on October 4, 2026

In January 2026, I was on my way to work when I spotted a familiar gold BMW sitting on the local lemon lot. It was a 1989 BMW 735i, nearly identical to the 1988 735i I had once owned and loved—and eventually regretted letting go. In fact, aside from a few details, it might as well have been my old car. And just like that, the possibility of owning my first love all over again was suddenly on the table.

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1963 Mercury Monterey S-55 Two-Door Hardtop: One-Year-Only Bucket-Seat Breezeway

Aaron Severson

– Posted on October 4, 2026

While the 1967–1968 Cougar remains most people’s favorite Mercury, the brand’s most distinctive models were certainly the 1963–1966 Breezeway cars, with their reverse-slant C-pillars and retractable rear windows. Although most Breezeways were sedans, there was also a two-door hardtop, which in 1963 was offered in sporty S-55 trim, with bucket seats and a center console. This Pink Frost survivor is one of those rare two-door bucket-seat Breezeway S-55 cars, which were only available for a single year.

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Manual Classic: 1970 Gulf Safety “Car-Chek” Guide – A Relic From When Service Stations Sold Tires Instead Of Twinkies

Aaron65

– Posted on October 3, 2026

(Updated 10/3/2026) The Gulf Oil logo ranks among the most recognizable in the petroleum industry, especially among gearheads. The Gulf colors of powder blue and orange adorned the flanks of such heady machinery as the Ford GT-40 and Porsche 917, but few know that the standard Gulf service station colors were dark blue and orange; these are the colors that grace the cover of my 1970 Gulf Safety “Car-Chek” Guide. Owners of Gulf service stations were expected to provide more than gas and snacks; many of them were full-service garages, performing minor and major repairs for their patrons’ cars. This book was their guide.

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Vintage R&T Review: Opel Diplomat V8 – “Something That GM Could, And Should, Build In The US”

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on October 3, 2026

(Updated 10/3/2026) Now that’s an interesting line, as this Diplomat was actually seriously considered as the basis of the 1976 Cadillac Seville. As the story goes, the big Opel’s body tolerances were too tight for GM to build in NA, although I suspect that may well not be the full story. But the even more interesting line in this short review is the last one:

“Why doesn’t GM import the Diplomat? Simple. It would meet head-on with upper Olds, Buick and Pontiac models and could no more achieve the prestige of a small Mercedes than it does in Europe. But if they gave the Chevy Nova sedan its brakes and rear suspension, hmmm…”

This was in February of 1972, well before GM had committed to build the Seville using the Nova as its basis. And no, they didn’t give it the Diplomat’s DeDion rear suspension and brakes. And although it tried to take Mercedes head on, it never made the slightest dent in Mercedes continued growth in the US.

Now if they had done that ten years earlier, it might have been a different story.

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Mercedes-Benz Actros 3358 – A Triple Of Three-Pointed Stars

Johannes Dutch

– Posted on October 3, 2026

A trio of identical Mercedes-Benz Actros 6×4 tractors, neatly arranged at a September 2026 truck show in the east of the Netherlands. The one on the right was first registered in February 2019, the other two in October 2018. They’re obviously quite exceptional.

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Classic Cars And Family Pets In Vintage Photos — 1950s-1970s

Rich Baron

– Posted on October 3, 2026

Text by Patrick Bell.

Pets are part of the family for most people, and that is what we are featuring today along with their cars. Take a look and see if you can relate to any of these vintage photos of a day in the life of a pet, their owners, and their cars.

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My 1991 Nissan Maxima: 4 Door Sports Car? Give Me a Brake

Eric Trowbridge

– Posted on October 3, 2026

1991 Nissan Maxima Large — A symphony in beige

After about three years in New York City, initially in Astoria, Queens and then Roosevelt Island, cabin fever was setting in. I found New York an exhilarating place to work but an exhausting place to live. I needed to get away from it more than I was able to without a car.

My wife and I did travel a fair bit outside the city, but almost always by plane on long-distance trips. We took occasional weekend excursions in the New York area – the Hudson Valley was a favorite destination – but were at the mercy of public transportation and then taxis (always an iffy proposition in small towns). I rented a car a few times, but doing so was almost more inconvenience than it was worth.

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1994 Ford Thunderbird LX: As Teal As You Remember It, But A Little Rustier

Aaron65

– Posted on October 3, 2026

Do you remember when these big MN12 Thunderbirds were all over the road, many of them painted the same Teal Clearcoat Metallic as this 1994 model? You weren’t imagining it. While the popularity of big personal-luxury coupes was winding down in the 1990s, Ford still managed to sell 120,000-plus of these newly restyled T-Birds in 1994 alone, and that’s nothing to scoff at, even today. Hyperpack found this well-used example and posted it on the CC Cohort.

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Looking For A Couple Of New COALers

Rich Baron

– Posted on October 2, 2026

Some of our current Cars Of A Lifetime (COAL) series are getting close to the end, which means it’s once again COAL contributor recruitment season. COAL has been a Curbside Classic staple for years, and we know there are plenty of you out there with a lifetime’s worth of car stories just waiting to be told. Family cars, first cars, college beaters, dream cars, questionable purchases, memorable road trips, spectacular breakdowns… if a car played a part in your life, we would like to hear about it.

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1971 (Vauxhall) Firenza – Viva, Canada

Perry Shoar

– Posted on October 2, 2026

(Updated 10/2/2026) This find, by canadiancatgreen, is quite impressive. While one might expect to find a rare car like this Firenza (Vauxhall Viva HC) in a context where uncommon, orphaned cars are appreciated, seeing it with rust around its edges and Pep Boys hubcaps indicates unceremonious use as a daily driver. Replacement parts for a car like this don’t exactly fall into one’s lap and by most measures, it shouldn’t have made it this far. Yet here it is in all its chartreuse glory; if cars were sentient, I’d want this one to know how lucky it is.

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Car Show Classic: 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham – When A DeVille Isn’t Big Enough

Brendan Saur

– Posted on October 2, 2026

(Updated 10/2/2026) The 1970s was a decade of some of the biggest shakeups in the automobile industry. Two energy crises, increased federal safety standards, and a flood of imports dramatically changed the automotive landscape over the course of a few years. By decade’s end, cars were smaller, bumpers were larger, and convertibles had all but disappeared. From a stylistic standpoint, vinyl roofs, wire wheels, opera windows, and interiors that resembled your grandparents’ living room had all become mainstream, as the Great Brougham Epoch was in full swing.

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