CC Cohort channaher found three big vintage Amis sitting at what appears to be a service center lot. Not exactly what one would expect to find at this kind of facility, starting with this flamboyant gold and white ’63 Buick Wildcat coupe sporting genuine wire wheels and wide whitewalls. Kinda’ stand out from the rest of the rabble in the lot. Well, you probably already noticed number two back there. But number three presents a mystery.
In for a tune-up? This 1962 Series 75 also manages to stand out rather effectively, especially against the white van.
Here’s the final member of the trio. I wouldn’t have noticed, and it’s hard to read but channaher asks a good question: Why there should be an “Innsbruck” on the (rear) fender, I could not tell you. Me neither. I remember a line of RVs a few years back that were called Innsbruck, but a Lincoln Town Car? Blasphemy. Anybody else?
“Hey Harry – Did that case of Liquid Wrench come in yet?”
Wait, you missed the maroon Caddy in the background of the first photo and the black 1930’s/1940’s sedan in the background of the third photo.
Not so much missed them, but didn’t mention them, since they were a bit out of proper range. Good noticing.
That red ’95-’96 Fleetwood looks like it had a Giant Wheel-related accident. Poor Caddy.
Poor Caddy indeed, but a well-deserved scare for the mental giant who donked it.
The rear quarter script on the Continental must have been added by the owner. Maybe he was visiting the local junkyard and ran across an Innsbruck RV. The reflectors on the rear bumper aren’t stock either.
What is unusual about the Connie is that it is a plain, no-option version. If it was a Town Coupe it would have had a full vinyl roof (or optional landau roof, as shown below) with opera lamps.
Fleetwood 75 through many years was one of the most beautiful cars ever made.
This location has been a filling/service station since the days of Esso, but I started noticing the older cars late last year. I believe the older sedan to be a 1940 Buick Special (Model 41). There was also a 1964 Ford Thunderbird there, and a few days later a very pretty Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Yeah, sometimes that Cadillac is on wheels and sometimes it isn’t.
It’s funny but none of them look as big as expected alongside modern tin. The Series 75 looks small behind the Subaru and alongside the Maxima, and the Focus wagon almost towers over the Lincoln.
Modern cars are really very big (and heavy and safe) indeed. Its just that their design was inspired and initiated by really small cars like Austin Mini, VW Rabbit and Fiat Panda type cars. The stereotype was not helped at all by the penalty box Gen 1 US Corolla, Honda Civic and Accord. The current models of all these cars (including BMW Mini) are significantly larger, while retaining the shape and design language of their tiny predecessors. Even the Gen 2 Scion Xb is longer (by a foot!) and wider than the Gen 1, simultaneously being more powerful and as fuel efficient.
The only place this trend really hits home is in American pickup trucks. They’ve retained the same proportions as classic designs, so the great size increase is very much conspicuous.
This does not go down well with lovers of small cars who would want a tiny A-segment hatch (but not the Spark as its from Chevrolet). As I generally like big cars, I’m quite satisfied with modern cars’ direction. However, the design now leaves much to be desired, with car stylists being underpaid and/or parochial so that all `new’ designs are rehashes of one theme or the other.
Yes, indeed! Especially if the old car has a flat roof and squarish shape. Modern automobiles look as fishbowls or balloons in order to gain more interior space. To me, CarCounter is quite right when he says that “the design now leaves much to be desired, with car stylists being underpaid and/or parochial so that all `new’ designs are rehashes of one theme or the other…” I hope to live enough to see a return to the grand style that characterized the good old American car!
Please help me identify what the black/blue car from the 1930’s-40’s in the very last photo is.
As channaher mentioned, it appears to be a ’40 Buick. I’m inclined to agree.
To answer the question about the Lincoln Innsbruck on the quarter panel. The local dealer (Ken Johns) added this emblem to the stripped down models of the Lincoln coupes, they didn’t make the sedan. They were the stripped down models with min no options, The Cadillac Calais of Lincolns. I’m not sure if other dealers other than the New Mexico dealers did this, but my Aunt bought one in 1977 but didn’t want to pay the price for a new Town Coupe.