(first posted 12/21/2012) There were plenty of reasons why Mercury failed, but the 1967-1968 Cougar certainly wasn’t one of them. Yes, there were a few others too, but the original Cougar clearly stands out. It was distinctively styled in a way that captured the essence of what it was trying to be: an American Jaguar. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 8/28/2018) It was a small bullseye, and Toyota nailed it. When its Celica was introduced for 1971, there was no guarantee that American consumers would fall for the idea of a small sports coupe. Celica’s original competitors, the Opel Manta, Capri, and Mazda RX-2, all fizzled out quickly, yet Celica became a success and kept going for 36 model years. By the time our 1980 featured car was produced, Celica was the top-selling import in what had become a fast-growing niche. This didn’t happen by chance. Toyota created America’s favorite imported sports coupe by cleverly anticipating trends, and wrapping it in a package specifically tailored for their biggest export market. It was a strategy that paid off not only in the sports coupe segment, but in Toyota’s overall market strategy as well.
Photos from the Cohort by Eric Clem.
It’s always enjoyable to see some classic Cadillacs away from their natural American environment. This time in Lithuania, a more interesting location considering the nation’s history as part of the Soviet Union in those not-quite-fondly remembered Cold War years.
Having spent a few hours stitching on my latest improvement to my ’66 F100 — a proper full-grain leather steering wheel cover from Australia — I decided that it was time for a bit of a road trip. I haven’t taken Ol’ Yeller anywhere but a few miles to the lumber yard, garbage/recycling transfer station and the yard waste dump/compost and gravel facility for all of these past couple of decades.
The PNW Truck Show and the Museum at Powerland in Brooks, OR (a bit north of Salem) was the destination, but I avoided I5 and took the back roads of the Willamette Valley through its endless fields. This is what brought the pioneers here on the Oregon Trail: gold of a different sort, and more reliable.
The collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato brought us a small run of superb racing berlinettas back in the ‘60s. Only a couple of handfuls were made, but the event was remembered fondly by both parties. As luck would have it, at the 1984 Geneva Motor Show, the Aston Martin and Zagato stands were situated next to each other, leading to impromptu discussions between representatives of the Italian carrozzeria and the English carmaker.
It was the weekend of the NASCAR Grant Park 165 last month, and I went downtown to take some photographs of the reconfigured area before the crowds came. This is only the second year these races have taken place downtown, and there’s never any guarantee that some events won’t eventually wind up as an experimental footnote. It was somewhat surreal to see an entire stretch of Michigan Avenue fenced off and not full of its normal weekend traffic. There were giant, temporary grandstands visible from parts of the sidewalk, and speakers both near and far played music at moderate volumes, not unlike at an amusement park. After snapping my fill of shots for under an hour, I walked to the nearest CTA train station. This was when I came across this old Oldsmobile in a parking lot next to a diner in the South Loop.
(first posted 1/9/2013) Everybody has an opinion about pre-1974 Mustangs. The first four (well, four and a half) years are almost universally loved. There is also a small but dedicated fan club for the super-sized 1971-73 version, which some prefer for its aggressive early-1970s swagger. These two camps have debated for years, although neither side is likely to convert the other. Then there is the 1969-70 version: the middle-child of Mustangs. It seems to be nobody’s favorite.
(first posted 8/26/2018) Ah, the Golden Hour, the hour just before sunset (also just after sunrise, if you are an early riser). It is a great time of day for photographing Curbside Classics, like this 1946 Oldsmobile 70-series that I discovered beside a cornfield in rural Indiana on a late summer evening last year.
Honda Civic EX sedan, image from the brochure.
Honda products in the American market had generally been so class-leading through the ’80s and ’90s, that when updates arrived the question came: Can it get any better?
And to many critics and buyers alike, the answer was generally ‘Yes’. And such was the case with the Civic’s 6th generation that arrived for the 1996 model year.
Now here’s something you don’t see every day. Or at least, you don’t if you live in North America. What we have here is a 1996 Lancia Ypsilon – a supermini primarily sold in its home market of Italy. And yet here it is, smack in the middle of Pennsylvania, where it was never sold new. What’s likely even stranger to anyone who does live where these cars are common is that this one won a fancy award at a car show. That’s definitely something you don’t see every day.
As I recently wrote, the Kia Sedona minivan which I bought new in the early fall of 2011 is no more. Or, more accurately, was turned into an insurance check following a collision. I am all in favor of having money in my pocket and needing to look for a car, but this always presents a conundrum.
Coachbuilt cars – can’t live with ‘em, can’t afford ‘em. But somehow, some people with very deep pockets and a lot of taste can, so we can have a look at a few British ones this week. Might as well start with the top of the pile: the last embers of traditional British coachbuilding, as represented by the last non-limousine Rolls with a separate chassis wearing a rather rare, classy and surprisingly modern-looking aluminum convertible body.
(first posted 12/26/2012) Here’s a little secret; just promise to not tell anyone: Inspiration for writing a Curbside Classic can sometime be pretty elusive.
(first posted 8/27/2018) Between Lee Iacocca showing up on television backing up his confidence on their products, reminding congress that they had given bailout money to any number of businesses before the auto industry with nothing to show for it but more outstanding debt, and delivering punch after punch with the K-Car, the S-Chassis minivans, and the later E- and AA-bodies, it’s not a stretch to call him one of the most positively-influential and successful businessmen of the decade when greed was good. A sort of anti-Carl Icahn, if you will.
Still, even for him, not all projects can be winners.
This ’64 C10 was posted recently by Slant Six at the CC Cohort. An old Chevy truck, not pampered, nor restomoded, and still at work in Pennsylvania.
