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131

Car Lot Classic: 1980 Mercury Cougar XR-7 – That Very Common Dishonest Car – Yours For $2995; Hurry!

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– Posted on November 17, 2024

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(first posted 3/15/2013)    If I ever run out of cars to shoot in Eugene (not likely), I’ll just start hanging out in our sister city to the east, Springfield. The other day, I stopped in at two car dealers; Springfield Buick, and Dan’s Automotive. This used car lot on Main Street was surprisingly chock-full of CCs, and I’ll give you a full tour later, so don’t go off about the Stude in the background. But the queen of the lot deserves its own special moment, since it’s one of my all-time favorite cars. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cohort Capsule: Vanden Plas Princess 4-Litre R – International Brougham?

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– Posted on November 17, 2024

Screenshot 2014-08-01 00.49.13

(first posted 8/25/2018)         I wouldn’t classify it as such.  I think it’s important to limit the Brougham classification to those primarily American (and sometimes foreign, usually Japanese) cars which really do it justice.  This car–spotted in California by CJCars–has a gussied up style for sure, but it stops short of true Brougham.  What is it, then?  Well, m’dear, it’s nothing less than proper British luxury–in the form of one of its rarer exemplars.

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11

Curbside Finds: Cadillac STS & Chrysler Vision – Back To The ’90s, In France

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– Posted on November 17, 2024

Photos from the CC Cohort by Guillaume Vachey.

As soon as I saw the image of these two Américaines, I was transported back to the mid-90s. Never mind that they carry French plates. So, not quite a location I would have trotted back then, but there’s no way these two won’t reawaken those now-distant 1990s memories in my head.

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11

Vintage Snapshots: A ’65 Citroën DS Wagon Across The US In The 1960s

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– Posted on November 17, 2024

In every age, there are those who enjoy that which is different. Folks who astray from the usual, either due to fondness for the uncommon or a quest for new solutions or experiences.

Today’s series of vintage images featuring a ’64-’65 Citroën DS wagon seems to be such a case. From the looks of things, someone wanted to taste something quite different from your garden-variety Ford and found it in this nicely loaded Citroën DS. Then, piled on miles and miles across the US over the years, leaving a short but nice record of its journeys.

So, how about checking out America as seen by this DS wagon between 1965 to 1969?

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10

Vintage Review: 1954 Hudson Hornet With Twin-H Power – The Flathead Six That Spanked The V8s

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– Posted on November 17, 2024

Given the brawny new ohv V8s that the Big Three and Studebaker had by then, it might seem odd that the Hudson Hornet with an old school flathead six utterly dominated stock car racing, winning 64 out of 108 NASCAR races in the years 1952-1954, thus establishing itself as a legend and cultural icon. Sadly, that all would end with this ’54 Hornet, as a desperate Hudson merged with Nash that year, thus ending production of the step-down Hudson. Maybe just as well, as all those V8s were now sprouting four barrel carbs and such and by 1954 they were ready to take down the Hornet.

Motor Life tested a Twin-H powered Hornet to see for themselves just how hot it really was. They were not disappointed.

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19

Working Where Volvos Were Born – Part Four

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– Posted on November 17, 2024

Not a partial shot of a Volvo instrument cluster. The arrow indicates that the fuel filler is on the driver’s side. (Source: the web)

 

In last week’s post I noted that in the world of automotive product planning, if you achieve a .500 batting average, you’re doing well. Over the years, I surely had a few misses along with the occasional hits.

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Curbside Classic: 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-4-2 – Esmerelda Had More Sympathy For Quasimodo Than Did The General

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– Posted on November 16, 2024

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(first posted 2/13/2013)

For many years now, I have been a firm believer in two things:

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58

Curbside Classic: 1992 VW Passat Wagon (B3) – Practicality Über Alles

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– Posted on November 16, 2024

(first posted 8/11/2014)         Since its inception, practicality and functionality were the dominant forces that defined Volkswagens. With the arrival of the B5 Passat in 1996, that took a decided turn towards a more Audi-esqe and upscale image, which soon manifested itself in the Phaeton and that other miscalculation, the Passat W8. That’s not to say that the B5 Passat doesn’t have its charms, although once its soft-touch “paint” that coats many of its interior pieces starts peeling away like a sunburn, a considerable part of that charm flakes away. No such issues with its B3/4 predecessor: it was as honest and unadorned as a shoebox; the last of the old-school VWs. And I briefly lusted after one, if one can actually have such feelings for such a practical box. Read the rest of this entry »

26

Vintage Postcards: Restaurants And Diners – 1950s to 1970s

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– Posted on November 16, 2024

Round-Up Drive-In, Las Vegas, NV.

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20

Dealer Classics: JDM Smörgåsbord In Saitama

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– Posted on November 16, 2024

I live in north Tokyo, so I do have a tendency to go south into the city for my regular CC hunting trips. Last week though, I decided to go due north, cross the Arakawa river and explore Saitama prefecture in a little more depth than usual. I’ve done this before, but pickings were usually slim. Not this time: purely by luck, I found Flex Auto Review, a pretty big classic car dealer. Let’s look around the forecourt and see what we have.

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7

Bus Stop Classics:  1966 CAIO Gaivota and 2001 Rio de La Plata Maxibus – South American Streamliners

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– Posted on November 16, 2024

A few weeks back we reviewed the Necochea Aerobus, an early attempt at streamlining from  Argentina.  Today let’s look at another Argentinian bus and one from Brazil that were both similarly designed to “cheat the wind.” Read the rest of this entry »

9

My First Corolla AE86 – Obtaining My Dream Car – Part One

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– Posted on November 16, 2024
2005: My first AE86 on the day I bought it

2005: My first AE86 on the day I bought it.

 

As described in the prequel, I obtained my first Toyota AE86 from a user on the AEU86 forums called Jasper. Jasper had bought the car from the treasurer of the Dutch Toyota Club. The AE86 in question was a USDM car, a 1984 Toyota Corolla SR5 with air conditioning and a sunroof to be more precise. This will be a three-part series covering how I was able to purchase it, my ownership and what happened to it after I sold it.

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63

Car Show Classic: 1962 Pontiac Star Chief – If You Can’t Decide Between The Bonneville Or The Catalina…

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– Posted on November 15, 2024

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(first posted 5/14/2013)    Pontiac had an interesting lineup in the Sixties. While most people remember the Catalina, Grand Prix, GTO and Bonneville when it comes to ’60s Ponchos, the Star Chief still hung in there despite its ’50s-vintage nomenclature. The somewhat ignored middle child in the big Pontiac lineup is neither well-remembered or often seen today, so you can understand why I was happy to see one at last year’s Galesburg Car Show. Yes, I am still mining pictures from that single event–there were so many cool cars there!

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41

CC Global: Ford Transit Mk2 Phase2 – Mid-Eighties Blue And White Transit Bus

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– Posted on November 15, 2024

(first posted 11/11/2018)          Sometimes automakers come up with a timeless model name that can be transferred from generation to generation. One of them is Transit, everybody just knows you’re speaking Ford, no matter where you live. Ford and Transit go together like Volkswagen and Transporter, like Toyota and HiAce, like Fiat and Ducato.

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33

Vintage R&T Review: Lancia Scorpio (Monte Carlo) – “…a Scorpion without its stinger”

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– Posted on November 15, 2024

(first posted 11/15/2018)          Let’s follow up our look at that Fiat X1/9 with its big brother (or sister, depending), the Lancia Scorpion (Monte Carlo in Europe). It was originally designed to be the X1/9’s bigger brother, to be called the X1/20. But perhaps because the 124 Spider was such an evergreen hit, or because Lancia needed a boost, it arrived as such, and was even referred to as a Beta at the beginning.

It promised much: a bold (and successful, in my eye) rolling sculpture by Pininfarina, and much of the same basic technical approach that made the X1/9 such a delight on a windy road. There was just one thing missing: power. Yes, it was 1975, but surely a bit more could have been done to give the Scorpio a bit of bite.

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