A Gallery Of Highlights From The CC Cohort

It’s time to take another look at vintage cars around the globe with a series of highlights from our Cohort contributors. I’ll start with this ’91-’96 full-size GM B-body wagon, a survivor from a nowadays dead branch in the automotive tree. Notice I’m saying B-body, as its identity is a bit in flux; it’s officially a Buick Roadmaster, as the wood appliqué and front bumper tell. But the grille is Caprice though, and the headlights too?

No matter, it’s a very CC find in all its “gotta keep it on the road, at any cost” glory.

Let’s move into a different era with this somewhat menacing T-Bird from the Brougham age posted by Hyperpack. My, those black halogens and open eyelids… In its current form, maybe a good vehicle to star in a follow up to that cheesy 1977 B-movie, The Car. That was a Lincoln in disguise, if I recall correctly, and if this car made it into a sequel, it would keep the automotive horror within Dearborn’s house.

On the opposite side of the transport realm, and across the Atlantic, Trabantino posted this Citroen 2CV. The kind of “basic machine that exudes character” that no one seems to make anymore.

Let’s follow up that unforgettable icon with the nowadays barely remembered Suzuki X-90. A car that shows there was quite a bit of automotive exploration in the otherwise sedate jellybean ’90s. A tallish two seater with optional 4WD and targa roof? Who was asking for such a thing?

In any case, a neat footnote to automotive history. This one is also in the Old Continent and was posted by Guillaume Vachey.

We don’t just go for the unusual, peculiar, cute, iconic, or desirable here at CC. The humdrum and prosaic have a place, too. And you can’t go much more ho-hum than a mid-80s Datsun 720 pickup. Utilitarian and dependable workhorses that hardly get much fanfare, but keep toiling away unassumingly.

Let’s go exotic now, “American exotic” that is. Notice something different in this one? Yeah, those amber lights up front. This ’59 4-door Imperial was posted by ACB ACB, and it currently resides in Australia. No mention of when it arrived Down Under, but this Imperial’s chromey-gaudiness had to be quite a headturning sight from the moment it arrived on those roads.

Far more prosaic, this “barely there” 1980s Pontiac Firefly was uploaded by frequent Cohort contributor canadiancatgreen. Most of you know this as the Suzuki Swift or Chevy Sprint, and I always have to remind myself that Pontiac had its own spinoff of the little critter in Canada.

Sticking to finds by canadiancatgreen, here’s a ’91-’94 Grand Prix. Remember these? The Sable-esque lightbar upfront tells this is an SE trim. A feature originally offered in the STE, and eventually available in the SE and LE trims.

The cute Kei car factor will be covered this time with a pair of Daihatsus posted by Roshake. The gold one is a Trevis and the silver on the right a Cuore, and now I’m just thinking; where have good car monikers gone?

The Cuore is a later evolution of what most in America got to know as the Charade. This one looks to be from the 1998-2002 generation, still sporting 3-cyl. revvers of various displacements. Meanwhile, the Trevis is a 2006-2009 model, and its styling has that retro-look popular at the time. As for its power, it’s also a 3-cyl., but just in 1000cc configuration.

We’ll remain in Eastern Europe with this ’64-’69 Skoda MB1000 also uploaded by Roshake. These rear-wheel drive models were a relative boon for the Czech automaker, on which much of their output for the next decades would be based. Gosh, I owe these Skodas a proper CC entry… (Sigh… he said, as he looked upon his calendar).

Let’s move back to the US landscape. Now with a known shape, a ’67 Toronado shot by CC favorite Ralf K. And notice it ain’t alone, with a black one on the right.

For a far better preserved later Toronado, you’ll have to take a look at this one in SF, shot by Chasglynn. This ’71-’72 displays long, low and wide in ways few others could; especially when seen against today’s traffic.

Long, low and wide was the “desirable” of the ’70s. If young, in the 1990s, it was the sporty coupes, especially of Japanese origin. And this Nissan 240SX captured by canadiancatgreen would have been a pretty desirable possession for a twenty something in those years. Of course, the 240’s luck went down the drain with the next generation, but that’s Nissan doing Nissan. Make a catchy offering, and find a way to make it unappealing soon after.

Jumping the pond back to Europe, another find by Trabantino with this Seat 127. Of course, nameplate aside, this is a Fiat 127 built under license by Spain’s SEAT. The Fiat-SEAT arrangement meant that at some point, a great deal of traffic in the Iberian Peninsula was Fiat derived. To think that, along with BMC, Fiat has spawned various family trees and automakers across the world. A particularly curious fact, as the company’s current tenous situation wouldn’t seem to support such a legacy.

Did I hear anyone ask for a K-car? If so, here’s one. An early ’80s one, of all things, found by canadiancatgreen.

Want your K-car be more special? How about this mid-eighties Dodge 600 droptop found by Hyperpack? There can’t be too many of these still around, can they?

We’ll close with this lineup uploaded by Hyperpack and found in Blairsville, PA. A ’57 Ford 4-door sedan in three-tone, and two ’58 Chevrolets, alongside a newer Bowtie offspring. Plus the black ’02-’06 Saturn Vue; the only one of this group from a defunct brand. Will that make it more collectible down the line?

Somewhat doubtful, I would think. The Vue’s legacy seems to be that of a footnote; from this bunch, I see the other survivors lasting even longer. Even in their dilapidated condition, just as ornaments”. And as such, they make a nice sight to close this tour.