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.
(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!
(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.
(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.
We’ve visited the Imperial marque once before, with a gallery that mixed photos of some of the vehicles on their own, and others alongside their owners. Today’s follows the same idea; with vintage photos of Imperials not being that common, I feel any image capturing them is worth a moment of CC fame.
Ah yes, the intriguing world of special and heavy haulage once again, starring a semi with a payload capacity of 116 tonnes (255,700 lbs). An extendable Broshuis semi-low loader with seven or ten axles. Stretched to the max, the deck length behind the neck is 30.5 m (100 ft). Surely something you don’t see at the local warehouse loading dock.
image source: learnedalongthewayblog
In reality, there is really no conflict between “Real Car Guys” and “Tourists”.
One of my favorite blog sites has been “My Jaguar Experience”, which presented a dichotomy of this nature. The story was the experience of trying to daily drive a Series Three Jaguar XJ6. It covered the never-ending series of little problems that resulted in a major breakdown that ended the ownership experience in an unhappy end.
The author placed a lot of blame on himself, which I felt was pretty unfair and unnecessary. He was not a hands-on enthusiast and was not the kind of person who would diagnose a problem and perform the repair himself. He had never made any claims to the contrary.
He broke down the enthusiast community into two camps. The “Real Car Guys” and the “Tourists.”
The real car guy’s motto is: “We can do it!”
Yes, I know it’s an endless point of debate, but let’s face it, the original (1963-1965) Riviera is the greatest of them all. It was an absolute styling sensation when it arrived, arguably the best-styled American car not just of the sixties but even the whole post-war era. And it wasn’t just a pretty face; its performance was outstanding, and not just in a straight line. The Riviera was a world class gran turismo.
In 1965, Buick upped the ante with the Riviera Gran Sport. Standard equipment was the ultimate 360 hp dual-quad “nailhead” 425 Super Wildcat V8, a reduced backpressure oversize dual exhaust system, a 3.42:1 Positraction rear axle and a few other goodies. CARS magazine wrung one out and was duly impressed.
(first posted 11/10/2018) Here’s the final installment of Road and Track’s long term test of a first year 1975 Rabbit. The plan was to test it only to 24,000 miles, but since the car required extensive upgrading to 1976 specs (by VW) and then suffered a major failure (broken crankshaft) along with numerous more minor maladies, the test was taken all the way to 48,000 miles.
And it shows just why VW lost its grip on the US market to the Japanese.
(first posted 7/31/2014) We here at CC simply don’t do things part way. Maybe we have all been schooled by the Teutonic discipline of our founder, but we just can’t stand to see a job left unfinished. Which is why we have been in such anguish on the topic of AMC’s designer cars from the 1970s. After we brought you a 1974 Oleg Cassini Matador and then a 1972 Gucci Sportabout, we have been wringing our collective hands over the incomplete status of our collection of these most fashionable Kenoshans. Of course, we have Curbside Correspondents in SoCal, the PNW and other areas of old-car spotting heaven who continually delight us with their rare finds. But when the chips are down and heavy lifting is required, it’s just time to come to the Midwest, that’s all. Which is where we found the car that completes our set: the 1972 Pierre Cardin Javelin.
(first posted 6/9/2018) Everyone has different theories. My theory is the creation of the Allante goes something like this….
…One day back in the early to mid-1980’s, Somebody in Charge at Cadillac awoke with a hangover. Too much rum and dancing with foxy brunettes while dancing to Donna Summer can have bad consequences. Read the rest of this entry »
I stumbled into this ad from 1961 and just had to share it with you. The continental spare mount is bad enough ($29.95), but it’s also available with a trailer hitch ($39.95) so that your 42.5 hp 948 cc powered Sprite can haul your boat or Airstream. I’d love to see it pulling the boat up the typical steep boat ramp. Do I smell a smoked clutch?
Doesn’t that lovely line of Volvo 140 butts make you want to say “Man, I remember when cars came in so many different colors!”? That’s been my comment on that scene ever since I took the photo earlier this fall. I mean, look at that! Two kinds of blue, two kinds of yellow (is Butterscotch yellow?), and a deep green. Those were the days, eh?
Nissan’s former reputation for sportiness, dating back to its days peddling Datsuns, is all but gone today. The Maxima died in 2023, but the manufacturer still maintains a well-rounded lineup of sedans with the Versa, Sentra, and Altima, albeit with most traces of sportiness removed.
Now the top dog by default, the current Altima took over from the Stanza as Nissan’s mid-sized model back in 1993. If the state of 5-year-old Altimas around me is any indication, this segment of cars tends to get ridden hard and put away wet by many of its owners. Without the reputation or resale value of, say a Toyota or Honda, to stave off repair bills equaling the value of the car, a mainstream Nissan sedan showing up in a junkyard in such excellent condition 37 years after it rolled off the assembly line is genuinely remarkable.
Photos from the Cohort by Slant Six.
In recent years, I’ve developed a habit of checking on old rock bands to see what they’re up to, especially those I never cared much for and yet were awfully popular. This often occurs after listening to playlists with my wife.
Hey… what happened to those guys?
And more often than not, I’m always surprised when they’re still around. Not only touring but with a bunch of releases I never heard of. Not that I’m gonna check out their new tracks (or old ones), but I always find it nice to see how there’s a space in this world obsessed with newness for an old act playing to an established crowd.
