Curbside Classic -

Junkyard Classic: 1987 Nissan Stanza – Mini Maxima

– Posted on November 14, 2024

Nissan’s former reputation for sportiness, dating back to its days peddling Datsuns, is all but gone today. The Maxima died in 2023, but the manufacturer still maintains a well-rounded lineup of sedans with the Versa, Sentra, and Altima, albeit with most traces of sportiness removed.

Now the top dog by default, the current Altima took over from the Stanza as Nissan’s mid-sized model back in 1993. If the state of 5-year-old Altimas around me is any indication, this segment of cars tends to get ridden hard and put away wet by many of its owners. Without the reputation or resale value of, say a Toyota or Honda, to stave off repair bills equaling the value of the car, a mainstream Nissan sedan showing up in a junkyard in such excellent condition 37 years after it rolled off the assembly line is genuinely remarkable.

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Curbside Find: 1990-1991 Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue – Playing To The Established Crowd

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 14, 2024

Photos from the Cohort by Slant Six.

In recent years, I’ve developed a habit of checking on old rock bands to see what they’re up to, especially those I never cared much for and yet were awfully popular. This often occurs after listening to playlists with my wife.

Hey… what happened to those guys?

And more often than not, I’m always surprised when they’re still around. Not only touring but with a bunch of releases I never heard of. Not that I’m gonna check out their new tracks (or old ones), but I always find it nice to see how there’s a space in this world obsessed with newness for an old act playing to an established crowd.

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Vintage Snapshots: Two Dockside Classics With Mopar Photobombers

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on November 13, 2024

(first posted 11/13/2018) I’ve been perusing another trove of vintage snapshots, and these two, presumably shot on the same day, rather grabbed me. It took me a couple of minutes to identify this splendid superliner, as initially I thought it was the Queen Elizabeth. It’s the SS France, which was launched in 1961, and was the pride of its country. But like all of these liners, it fell on hard times and she was laid up in 1974, and sold Norwegian Cruise Lines, and renamed the Norway. After a long career as a cruise ship, she was sold and resold, with the designs for either refitting or scrapping, but the liner was laid up eventually over environmental concerns. She was finally scrapped in 2008.

And how long did this 1960 Plymouth survive?

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Curbside Classic: 1968 Ford Fairlane GT – The Unexpected Wallflower

Jim Grey

– Posted on November 13, 2024

(first posted 3/23/2013) Ford may have been first to the intermediate dance (among the Big Three, anyway), but GM came fashionably late and better dressed. Styling, they say, sells cars, and GM’s mouthwateringly crisp, taut lines across its new 1964 A-body line suddenly made Ford’s fast-selling Fairlane look frumpy. Annual freshenings of the 1962 body did no good, and a 1966 restyle helped only a little. So Ford tried again for 1968, presenting this fresh, clean result.

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Obscure Rebadges From Around The World: Part 5

William Stopford

– Posted on November 13, 2024

(first posted 11/13/2018) It’s been a little while since I did one of these. Click the links for Parts One, Two, Three, and Four.

Obscure rebadges can result from many different scenarios. Sometimes an automaker needs to fill a hole in their line-up and they don’t have a suitable in-house product. Sometimes a rebadge is the result of a misguided joint venture. Other times, corporate acquisitions give automakers access to product that’s worth keeping around. Today, let’s look at four examples of how these scenarios led to obscure rebadges. Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Dealers: Pontiac Dealers 1950s-1960s

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 13, 2024

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Curbside Clueless Outtake: Get A Load Of That Road Hog

Tatra87

– Posted on November 13, 2024

Whether it’s obscure ancient European racers or one of the myriad JDM sub-models I’ve never seen or heard of before in my life, CC hunting in Tokyo never fails to surprise and, occasionally, delight. Piggy-in-the-middle here, however, has me well and truly stumped.

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CC In Scale: A Gallery Of Japanese Car Models

Peter Wilding

– Posted on November 13, 2024

One of my favourite regular CC posts is Tatra-san’s random monthly sightings where he shows us vehicles many of us have never heard of. With that in mind, let’s turn to some Japanese oddities, such as cars you may not be familiar with. No Skylines this time; even if they are my favourites, they’ve had their day. As always, there are more out there; these are just the ones that have taken my fancy.

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My 1984 Ford Escort Wagon & 1980 Ford Fairmont – More Dearborn Pains

Harry Case

– Posted on November 13, 2024

1984 Escort wagon photo from the web.

The new Escort was perfectly sized for our growing family and the upright seating position was a vast improvement over our old Pinto. The 1.6L four-cylinder front wheel drive experience was a new one for me. The Escort was much better in the snow than any car I had ever driven –I had even high-centered the Pinto on the drifts in poorly plowed roads more than once, its low ground clearance and light weight over the rear wheels proved unsuited to Upstate NY winter roads.

Initially, we were very pleased with the Escort, it was more comfortable overall and Barbara drove it with the two children. That is until the driver’s seat collapsed when a bolt holding the seat to the frame sheared off unexpectedly while she was driving on the interstate. It was a terrifying experience for her.

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Curbside Classic: 1973 Toyota Carina – My CC Holy Grail

Dave Skinner

– Posted on November 12, 2024

(first posted 3/26/2013) There are about 250 million cars on the streets across the United States. Most have not reached Curbside Classic Status, and those that have are often “common” classics such as an SS Chevy or Mustang. In addition, the ravages of rust and time have driven car after car into the jaws of the recycling center. Because of this, our roads are littered with the popular, the common, and the new. Despite this challenge, each of us searches for their own Curbside Classic Holy Grail. It may be a very rare car, an unusual body style, or a car we remember from our youth. My personal Holy Grail is the Toyota Carina. Read the rest of this entry »

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Classic Curbside Classic: 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV – Gas Fed Beef

Richard Bennett

– Posted on November 12, 2024

(first posted 12/19/2011) Ah, the 1970’s. It was the Big decade, a time for big houses, big hair, big families, and big cars!

Despite this being the Malaise Era, status seekers still knew what they liked. Show the world you have arrived with a Fleetwood. Keep up with the Jones’ by buying a Cutlass.

But according to stories I have heard, if you were the owner of a Steak House, or a Car Wash, you drove one of these.

The Lincoln Continental Mark IV. Read the rest of this entry »

CC Capsule: 1982-85 Ford Escort XR3i – If You’re Looking For A Good Time…

William Stopford

– Posted on November 12, 2024

(first posted 11/12/2018) There are some old cars you won’t be surprised to see still on the roads two or three decades later. Camrys and Corollas, for example. Old pickup trucks. Exotics. Conservative sedans favored by the elderly. One type of car you definitely don’t expect to see is a 1980s hot hatch like this Ford Escort XR3i. Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Snapshots: Traffic In Toronto In The 1970s

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 12, 2024

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A Fall Harvest of Old Trucks (and Some Yummy Looking Volvos)

Dead Swede

– Posted on November 12, 2024

This butterscotch 144 looks good enough to eat.

Autumn is my favorite time of year, especially here in the Pacific Northwest. This fall there was a great pumpkin harvest, and a bumper crop of old trucks. Mix in a couple of classic Volvos and you’ve got a veritable cornucopia of quirk. Hope you enjoy my most recent finds. Read the rest of this entry »

Car Show Classic: 1963 Hino Briska – Before The HiLux

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 12, 2024

Here’s something I didn’t expect to find at all, not even in a car show: a partially restored early ’60s Hino Briska pickup. A surviving relic from the early days of Japanese products spreading, trickle by trickle, around the globe. And while today’s Briska isn’t clearly all original, it’s –for a rare survivor– mostly all there. In some ways rather fitting for CC: a mix of modern preservation aided by local ingenuity to make up for the missing pieces.

So as we check out this Briska a little closer, I hope you’ll forgive the lack of originality on some of its cosmetics. After all, when talking about a 60+ years old obscure Japanese offering, factory trim is not something to be found in a local parts store.

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