Curbside Classic -

Curbside Editorial: Lexus in 2025 – They Aren’t Not What They Used To Be

– Posted on November 21, 2024

I saw my first Lexus TX in the wild not long ago and I was a bit conflicted about it. It’s a massive crossover clearly on a transverse-engine FWD platform, which isn’t exactly aspirational for us car dweebs. Huh, I thought. Looks like Lexus is finally getting in on the 3-row troop transport game. It lacked the pricey gravitas of an X7 or GLS but looked fully capable of taking on the Q7, XT6, MDX, and LT70x in the suburban status derby.

That last one isn’t a real car, by the way. This alphanumeric naming soup is so overcooked that you can invent a plausible one by just mashing your fist against the keyboard. TR-55e. See?

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Curbside Classic: 1994 Chevrolet Impala SS Station Wagon – Unicorn Spotting

Jon Stephenson

– Posted on November 21, 2024

I wrote about Chevy’s modern-era Impala SS last month. Everyone knows about that popular sedan. What fewer people know about is the fact that GM built one Impala SS wagon but never put the model in production. That car survives and is on the loose, occasionally terrorizing the roads of Minnesota. Here’s how I encountered it. Read the rest of this entry »

Parking Lot Classic: 1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Hardtop – Happy Haunting

Laurence Jones

– Posted on November 20, 2024

(first posted 2/12/2013) To continue on the trajectory of early -’60s Oldsmobiles that continues to haunt me, I present this Dynamic 88, which I first met under the cover of night. While I continue my daytime errand-running drudgery, let’s pause to examine where Oldsmobile was in the early 1960s.

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Curbside Classic: 1986 AC 3000ME – Optimism, With A V6

Roger Carr

– Posted on November 20, 2024

(first posted 11/20/2018) The AC name is, or was, well known. Remember the Cobra? A Ford V8 and a Carroll Shelby designed installation in the compact AC Ace body and chassis, which dated from 1953. The resulting car was billed by some as the fastest car in the world in the early 1960s, albeit with a very different heritage and driving experience to a top European sports car. Perhaps it’s best to think of it as a de Tomaso Pantera for the 1960s, not a Ferrari. But it was still hugely charismatic and appealing, and that endures. Read the rest of this entry »

Car Show Classic: 1927 Lancia Lambda (Series VII) Phaeton – Art-Deco Avant-Garde

Tatra87

– Posted on November 20, 2024

Lancia’s reputation for making extremely advanced and unconventional cars was well established even in the marque’s early years. If one model really stood above the rest in terms of sophistication, it would have to be the Lambda: not only did it represent a significant leap forward compared to Lancias that preceded it, it was arguably the most advanced automobile of the 1920s.

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Vintage Snapshots: At The Mall! – Parking Lots 1950s-1970s

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 20, 2024

With Christmas Season approaching, the time has come to pay another visit to the mall. And what better way to do so than in the past, thanks to some vintage images?

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Curbside Classic: 1951 Kenworth “Bruck” – Custom Shuttle Bus

Gray Walters

– Posted on November 20, 2024

While digging around in the depths of my digital photo albums for CC worthy oddities, I rediscovered this custom commissioned 1951 Kenworth I found on display outside of the Whitefish, Montana Amtrak station. I can’t add much beyond rephrasing what is known about this machine from the historical marker, which you can read in full here.

The curious “Bruck” name is less mysterious when you realize it is the words “bus” and “truck” smooshed together. It was used between 1951 and 1972 by the Great Northern Railway to replace a defunct short line railway connecting the small town of Whitefish to the larger town of Kalispell, Montana. After national passenger service was federalized under Amtrak, the Bruck was retired and soon found itself in long term outdoor storage at a train scrapyard.

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My 1978 Pontiac Grand Am – Commuting Days

Harry Case

– Posted on November 20, 2024

1978 Pontiac Grand Am image from the web.

It was 1990 and the growing joys and demands of family and work left me little time to pursue any automotive adventures. In the meantime, the ’87 Plymouth Voyager was a competent vehicle and versatile family hauler.

However, the ‘78 Grand Am I had bought for commuting had to be babied since there was no prospect of buying a replacement if it failed. All it had to do was get me back and forth to work and I had no desire or intention at the time to work on vehicles. Besides, the shift to electronic ignition, fuel injection, disc brakes, and front-wheel drive on our family fleet meant my experience was out of date and I would be facing a steep learning curve to tackle any issues involving those systems.

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Curbside Classic/Automotive History: 1977 AMC Hornet AMX – The Long Slow Decline Of The AMX

Ed Stembridge

– Posted on November 19, 2024

(first posted 2/12/2013) In 1966, the American Motors Corporation (AMC) unveiled a pair of radically styled concept cars called AMX (American Motors eXperimental) in an attempt to better connect with the youth and performance markets. The cars generated a lot of excitement, and in 1968 AMC introduced the production AMX, which was available through the 1970 model year. Throughout the 1970s, AMC was in a long, slow slide as it struggled to remain relevant (and solvent) as one of the last American independent car manufacturers. The AMX name would be applied to a number of AMC cars, including our subject for today: the one-year-only 1977 AMC Hornet AMX.

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Online Classic: 1988 Buick LeSabre T-Type – Can You Go Home Again?

William Stopford

– Posted on November 19, 2024

(first posted 8/1/2018) When I found this LeSabre T-Type on Craigslist, I thought two things. Firstly, this was a surprisingly attractive design for an American GM product from the 1980s. Secondly, didn’t our Jim Klein own one of these? Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Snapshots: Cars, Trailer Parks & Trailer Homes – ’50s-’60s-’70s

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 19, 2024

Today we’ll take a look at cars around trailers, motor homes, and trailer parks. A short collection of images with some neat looking rides that offer glimpses of what life was like around these mobile homes.

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CC Global: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 319 CDI And 519 CDI – Comparable But Not Identical

Johannes Dutch

– Posted on November 19, 2024

Spotted on a Saturday in September, parked a short distance apart. Two black, third gen Mercedes-Benz Sprinter panel vans. Both powered by a 190 DIN-hp turbodiesel and with an RWD drivetrain. Other full matches are the wheelbase (3.67 m), overall length (5.93 m), and the raised roof. And in both cases, a tridem axle trailer was coupled to the van. So far the similarities.

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Curbside Classic: 1968 Toyota Crown Wagon – Mission Accomplished

Rich Baron

– Posted on November 19, 2024

Today’s title may feel a bit odd, considering that the Crown never quite took off in the US market. But elsewhere, particularly in Asia and South America, early generations of the Crown paved the way for buyers of those regions to consider Toyota as a viable provider of accessible luxury. While the ’64 Corona and ’66 Corolla were the models that brought legions of faithful consumers to the brand, the Crown made a case for Toyota being more than a purveyor of mass-market cars.

In those markets, the Crown showed that Toyota could build a refined vehicle with luxury touches at discount prices, offering a nice alternative to semi-premium European and US brands. An international trajectory that rose on the inroads done by the ’62-’67 Crown S40, and on which the ’67-’70 S50 generation built upon. So, when excluding the US market, we can say mission accomplished.

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Curbside Musings: 1995 Mercury Cougar XR7 – The Kitty Grew

Joseph Dennis

– Posted on November 19, 2024

Last month, my essay featuring a Jaguar XJ6 from the mid-’80s prompted memories of one of the cats in my childhood household, a tiger-striped tom named Chester. In that piece, I had loosely compared that Jaguar to a black cat, and even though Chester didn’t have black fur, many recollections posted from commenters about the cats they had known and loved made me think of Chet. My brother had named him, but it took little time for me to realize how perfectly his name seemed to fit him. He was a Chester. When I think of characterizations of house cats in popular culture, the word “aloof” often comes to mind. I have been around cats for much of my life and have known many that needed to approach you instead of being approached. Chester was not like that at all. He was almost dog-esque in his demonstrative nature, boisterous personality, and loudness, being very capable of projecting his meow.

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Curbside Classic: 1986 Volkswagen Cabriolet – What Women Want

J P Cavanaugh

– Posted on November 18, 2024

(first posted 2/14/2013) What is it that makes a car a “chick car?” Put another way, what is it about some cars that appeals to the fairer sex? And why is it so hard to come up with one on purpose?

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