Text by Patrick Bell.
The lure of the outdoors is the motivator for camping, and we have a selection of images from the past that show you don’t need expensive gear to have a good time. Take a look and see if you agree.
In late 1997, I acquired a 1976 Mercury Cougar XR7 with the intent of driving it cross-country in the heart of winter. I reasoned with myself that I would drive the car for a few weeks locally, to flesh out and resolve any possible issues, before taking it on that journey. In reality, I had no means to address any serious issues anyway, so I said a few prayers, and ignored a minor underhood fire that seemed to resolve itself. With that, I rolled out of Seattle early on the morning of January 3, 1998.
It’s hard to imagine any vaguely style-conscious American in 1967 voluntarily buying a new Ford Falcon, especially a four-door sedan. Just as its Australian cousin was starting to get interesting, the U.S. Falcon was sinking into colorless oblivion, offering neither sporty performance nor sex appeal. It was too banal to be a symbol of defiance and too bland to be worth making fun of. Especially in four-door sedan form, the Falcon was just a plain, ordinary, cheap generic car for people who didn’t have the time or energy for all that fashion stuff, which is exactly what makes it stand out today.
(Updated 11/18/2025) Imagine, if you will, it’s September 1966. You’ve accomplished what no one in your family had done before. Just a few short months ago, you earned your Ph.D., and with a little hard work and a lot of luck, you’ve been hired to your first professorship, at Stanford. Now it may be no Harvard or Yale, at least not yet, but for a first time position, you still consider it quite the coup. Classes begin next week. You found a tidy little cottage in Palo Alto, just a couple of miles from campus. Sure you could keep riding your bike like you did as a graduate student. It’s really not that far, and the weather is just so damn pleasant. But this is California! How are you going to get to the beach on the weekends or up to the city for a show? Besides, you’ve worked hard to get here; you deserve a reward. On down to Peninsula Chevrolet of Palo Alto. Read the rest of this entry »
(Updated 11/18/2025) What do you call a Toyopet found in the wild? A Toyoferal? This 2nd-generation Corona, which looks like a mini imitation-crab American mid-‘50s design, is the first Toyopet I’ve encountered on the street. I got close, prudently, and took a few photos. It didn’t seem too ferocious, so I smiled and even muttered a few kind words. But I didn’t go as far as Toyopetting it.
What a difference a few years make. If you were an Italian car enthusiast circa 1950, Alfa Romeos were a complete Everest. They were strictly made in chassis form, powered by an aristocratic DOHC straight-6, had a sophisticated suspension and cost a fortune. By 1955, Alfa Romeos had become affordable, now featuring a DOHC 4-cyl., more basic suspension and series-made bodies.
Going through my photo files often brings me up with a start, when I find out just how many of a particular model I have made, or how many cars for a particular year. Last year we looked at 1970, and I featured 22 models out of 48 I’ve built for that year. Not that I deliberately omitted anything; rather I thought you wouldn’t want the see six Torinos, five Mustangs, three Olds 442 and the like. One of each was enough. A representative sample, you might say.
We have a similar problem for 1971; choosing one example of each car. The best? The most colourful? The most unusual? We seem to have a lot less variety for 1971, and ‘only’ 36 models in total, so I’ll throw in a few extras this time around. We’re a bit Mopar-centric this year, I hope nobody minds. I know some guys who’ll be happy…
Alt country singer-songwriter Neko Case caught a few gearheads’ attention back in 2009 when she crouched on the hood of a 1967 Mercury Cougar for the sleeve art of her album Middle Cyclone, but even dedicated Neko Case fans may not know that she previously co-wrote and performed a musical ode to the ’63 Rambler she once owned — perhaps the only song ever written about a 1963 Rambler Classic sedan.
“Cooler By The Lake” read some of the banners in my Chicago northside neighborhood of Edgewater. This could be a reference to how the breezes off nearby Lake Michigan keep things nice and cool in the summer, but it also refers to the beautiful multiculturality and artful, relaxed feel of this area. It could just as accurately symbolize the car-spotter’s haven it is during warm weather months. The sighting of this ’66 Continental convertible at the end of this past September was only one such example of many this year.
(Updated 11/17/2025) Can you believe we haven’t had a single BMW 2002 on CC all year? Unmöglich! Quick, here’s 1990cc’s worth of pure Bavarian sweetness, by way of one of Tokyo’s biggest BMW showrooms. Don’t you love it when you can get the stuff uncut and straight from the best dealer in town?
Welcome to Curbside Cafe; may I take your order?
Yes, I’d like an obscure 1950s pickup and one of those futile Cadillac two-seaters from ten years ago.
You mean an XLR?
Yeah, one of those.
You want those together?
Yep, is that available?
Um, I guess so, but you’ll have to wait in the parking lot. We’ll deliver them out to you there.
Did such a conversation actually take place? Doubtful… but is there any more likely explanation for this odd pairing of Curbside Classics to be parked next to each other in a fast-food restaurant’s parking lot?
It’s getting harder and harder to find cars we’ve not had on CC yet, but I think I got one here. In the world of ‘50s Italian cars, there are a few great marques – your Lancias, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, Ferraris and Maseratis, basically, maybe with OSCA and Abarth added on top, if we’re feeling generous – and there are the etceterini, i.e., the “etcetera” category. Within this grab-bag of (typically Fiat-based) micro-racers, enthusiast projects and low-production derivatives, the most exclusive has to be Bandini.
It is not often I get the opportunity to come across a car I never knew existed. I was browsing Japanese cars that could be imported, as one does, even though I have no space to obtain one at the moment, and came across a thumbnail of a car I did not recognize. Opening the full size photo, it became obvious that it was a version of the Toyota MRS (what the MR2 Spyder was called Japan). But this is no aftermarket body kit, but an official Zagato.
If you were a Ford kid as I was in 1993, the new Camaro (shown above as a 1994 model) gave you fits. It was sleek and it was fast, and all hopes turned to the introduction of the ’94 Mustang that was so eagerly anticipated. As we all know, as far as horsepower was concerned, it landed with a thud.
Most people wouldn’t think of the Metropolitan New York and New Jersey area (part of the rustbelt) as being a good place to find well-preserved old cars. But actually it is–for two reasons: One, population density. When you have so many houses and garages per square mile, the odds of finding an old car increase. Two, there are lots of “old money” families, often descendants of early 20th century European immigrants–conservative people who are frugal and like to hold on to familiar things. So while cruising Facebook Marketplace, I came upon these two local beauties: a 1954 Kaiser and a 1955 Packard. They’re going to need some work, but if you are willing to invest some money beyond the initial purchase price, what a great car you will have!
