Overall, a very “nice’ car.
The Acura Legend had a very long-lasting influence on my thinking. I was already a Japanese car fan, as I liked Nissans and Hondas. Acuras seemed to be the right mix of upscale luxury with some elements of sportiness but in a refined way. The first generation of Legend coupe was significant, but the second gen Legend coupe was a dream come true for me.
It’s that time of the year again; that of finding some new contributors for our COAL (Cars Of A Lifetime) series section. Do you have car stories to tell? Trips to talk about? Purchases you enjoyed or regretted? Here’s your chance to tell us all about them.
(first posted 7/20/2013) The 1963 Pontiac was the very crest of the wave that swept the Excitement brand to glorious heights in the sixties. The upwelling first appeared out of seemingly nowhere in 1959. It continued to build momentum, year by year, but no one could have imagined how high it would peak in 1963. Anyone alive between the ages of five and eighty-five at the time remembers it well: the Pontiac waves seized the land, and one after another followed the ’63 until it died down again. The choice was to surf it, or be inundated. The latter mainly applied to the competition. Read the rest of this entry »
As I was saying a couple weeks ago in my Daihatsu Compagno post, I found two great CC subjects in one day. The Daihatsu was one, this was the other. The stars aligned for me that day, for while there are a few ‘60s Japanese cars here and there in this country, finding an Italian wartime classic is really not a daily occurrence.
Today’s vintage images feature VW products roaming around the US during the ’50s and ’60s. Naturally, most of the photos feature Beetles, but a couple of other models appear as well. We start with my preferred shot above, which really shows how different these small rear-engine imports were from the norm. I’m sure that no one at the time this photo was taken could have guessed that these quirky arrivals would eventually become a new form of ‘normal’. Not even the enthusiastic owners of this early Beetle.
‘Tis the time of the season for yet another one of these little wrap-up posts. The summer heat was brutal this year, so yours truly did not prowl the pavement quite as often as usual. Still, a few automotive curios were uncovered, here and there – just enough for the usual three posts, starting with the domestics and a particularly fine-looking RX-7. Let’s rotarize this thing, shall we?
The time has come for a change in my driveway! I bought my former car, a 2011 Mustang GT, new in 2010. I loved the car, which was remarkably reliable and the perfect balance of performance and drivability for my tastes. How I got the replacement for it is a case study of how not to go about buying a car, assuming you don’t like wasting money or time.
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There was a host of words and phrases that I had grown up mispronouncing, misunderstanding, and/or misusing until being corrected in adulthood. I can’t really blame my gifted magnet program public schooling in Flint, Michigan for this, as our teachers and the curriculum had us comprehending and using fifty-cent words by the time the training wheels had barely come off of our bikes. Both of my parents were educated and had gone to college (my dad held dual PhDs), so it wasn’t that, either. My Liberian-born father wasn’t going to win any awards for his diction, but he knew what he was talking about. My midwestern-born mother enunciated well enough, but she also had the maddening tendency to make up and regularly use terms I had thought were real.
(first posted 4/9/2014 – with comments left by the daughter of this car’s owner) Last week I caught myself an Aussie beast rarer than the Tasmanian Tiger: a Ford Landau. This example was being driven by an old dear, at least 70 years old, propped up on cushions. I think she saw me with my phone ready to snap, because the car paused for a moment before running off into the wild. Which makes now the best time for an overview of the 1972-1979 Broughamus Fordaustralis.
Is this Buick even roadworthy?
(first posted 9/27/2018) Dr. Samuel Berg (1898-1990) of Newark, N.J. was a true visionary. In the early 1960s, somehow sensing that everything in his beloved city was about to disappear or change forever, he began a monumental quest. His self-appointed mission: to photograph every street and block in the city of Newark. The scale of this project would not be matched until the recent advent of Google street views.
After his death, Dr. Berg’s collection of 2,787 photographs made its way to the archives of the Newark Public Library. It is now available for browsing online. This is a goldmine for people who love Victorian and vernacular architecture and cars from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s–shown in actual use! I have gone through the collection, and have selected photos of some of the more interesting cars and backgrounds.
Photos from the Cohort by roshake.
The topic of old large American cars found in Europe is a recurrent one here at CC, and this pair found in a Budapest garage adds to the collection. On this occasion, both are pure malaise-era Brougham concoctions.
We begin with this ’75-’76 Ford LTD, crowned by one of those very 1970s fixations; roof variations –something Ford was very adept at during this era. And what we’re looking at this time, according to Dearborn’s brochure language, is a “2-door pillared hardtop”. This one must be the entry-level of this body style, as it has no vinyl top and seems relatively sparsely trimmed.
Although more powerful four-cycle diesel engines would eventually surpass the DD 12V-71 as the most powerful engine built for highway trucks, it was certainly true in its heyday. With 475 hp and a shrieking “Screaming Jimmy” roar from its twin exhaust stacks, it turned any truck that sported one into king of the road. This was in the late ’60s and early ’70s, during the great muscle car boom making the 12V-71 was the semi equivalent of an L-88 427 Corvette or a Hemi Charger.
I hate to use the word “fake” in this case–better I should say “faux” or “trompe l’oeil” (because saying anything in French makes it sound more elegant–and this car is élégante et très distinguée in its own way). Its design can be described as Streamlined “Art Deco”–a term which itself is a shortened form of Art Décoratif, after the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925.
Last week Håns and I decided to run up the (miraculously still functioning) odometer and head to Maine for the Volvo Club of America’s National Meet. Mostly this was just an excuse to tuck in one last non-salty drive of the year and to show off my car waxing skills.
Truth be told, my car waxing skills are pretty weak given my lack of interest in polishing much of anything. Still, I can admire other automotive enthusiasts who either have the ability to keep their cars clean and/or have the resources to pay someone else to do that. All of which is to say that for the most part, bringing my car to a show is really just an excuse for a drive, and sometimes to find something really cool.
(first posted 4/11/2014) As one who barely remembers the 1970s, all accounts have it as a never-ending barrage of weird, bizarre, and tacky. It always sounds like the frat party where everyone arrives gung-ho and full of vim and vinegar, consuming mass quantities of beverage both warm and chilled, then disperses quicker than a fart in a hurricane after somebody barfs on the keg.
