Curbside Classic -

CC For Sale: ZIM GAZ-12 / Chayka GAZ-13 Hybrid – A Rare Bird, Indeed

– Posted on August 28, 2024

(first posted 8/29/2018) This summer, my uncle (who also happens to be my boss) gave me an unusual working task: to find a nice, restorable ZIM GAZ-12 for him and manage the restoration project. The quest has proved futile so far, but at least the process was both entertaining and informative. One of the more unusual finds I’d like to share with the CC readers. And, first of all, sorry for the low quality of the photos – that’s what the seller provided me with, and going all the way to the city of Samara to see this car in person is not exactly at the top of my priority list.

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Curbside Classic: 1966 Plymouth Barracuda – Dad’s Boots

Pioneer_fox

– Posted on August 28, 2024

(first posted 8/28/2018) One day, as I passed by a concrete plant near the yard I used to work at, I saw this distinctive shape sitting in a field that hadn’t been there last time I’d passed by. I may be terrible with names and faces, but I never forget a car. Still, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was no way I was seeing a real first gen Barracuda! Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Snapshots: Early Import Adopters – 1950s-1960s

Rich Baron

– Posted on August 28, 2024

Let’s take another look at cars and their people in the ’50s and ’60s. This time, paying attention to those early import adopters in the US. As such, it’s the second gallery with the theme, and it features more or less the expected suspects of the period; a good deal of British roadsters, with other brands that left US soil long ago. And then, a few that have remained to this day, growing beyond the scope of anyone’s imagination.

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Truck Show Outtake: The Ultimate Needle Nose Peterbilt – Best In Show

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on August 28, 2024

There was a road train’s load of splendid old trucks at the 2024 PNW Truck Show this past weekend. Rather than overwhelm you with them all in one sitting, I’ll dribble them out in not-so-small doses. I should probably save this for last, but I’m a bit impatient, so let’s take in this rather forbidding customized 1948 Peterbilt.

No, it’s not just the camera angle; that needle nose has been stretched, by a bit over two feet. The Pinocchio of trucks. It makes the truck in the movie Duel look tame. It just needs a DD 16V-71 under that endless hood.

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Curbside Classic: 1978 Ford LTD Landau — Diesel Swapped Hipster Bait

Gray Walters

– Posted on August 28, 2024

Irony is a difficult word to define, but so is “hipster.” Yet the two seem to share a comfortable coexistence when it comes to automobiles. I’ve occasionally wondered if my choice to daily drive a 39 year old diesel sedan and penchant for confusing T-shirts puts me fully into the hipster category.

The answer is significantly easier when it comes to this straight piped American sedan with imitation period bumper stickers and a healthy dose of patina.

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My Hobby Car of a Lifetime #15: 1951 Jaguar Mark VII — The Empire Strikes Back!

Jose Delgadillo

– Posted on August 28, 2024

“God Save the Queen!” “Britannia rules the Waves!” Owning a few Jaguars makes you spout phrases like that.

I had never owned a Barn Find or Yard Car… yet. These are currently all the rage, but as a young high school freshman I fantasized about an abandoned ’59 Ford Thunderbird and an early Fifties Cadillac sedan sitting in the orchard of an old farmhouse. My school bus would pass by this little farm in Clayton California as it drove down Marsh Creek Road on its way to the Concord high school I attended. The farmhouse was just past the curve of the road, down a bit from the tavern where I would see a black ’60 Cadillac convertible.

In my mind, I could rescue these cars, return them to good running condition, and have a couple of unique cars to drive.

If it was only that easy!

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Curbside Classic: 1968 Mercury Cougar – Mercury’s Greatest (Only?) Hit

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on August 27, 2024

(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 »

Curbside Classic: 1980 Toyota Celica GT – From Zero To America’s Favorite In Under Ten Years

Eric703

– Posted on August 27, 2024

(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.

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Curbside Finds: 1959 & 1968 Cadillacs In Lithuania

Rich Baron

– Posted on August 27, 2024

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.

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I Take My 1966 F100 On A Road Trip – And Get 21 MPG

Paul Niedermeyer

– Posted on August 27, 2024

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.

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Curbside Classic: 1986 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupé by Zagato – Lightweight Unobtainium Brick

Tatra87

– Posted on August 27, 2024

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.

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Curbside Musings: 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Brougham Sedan – So Chicago

Joseph Dennis

– Posted on August 27, 2024

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.

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Curbside Classic: 1969 Ford Mustang – Everybody’s Second Choice

J P Cavanaugh

– Posted on August 26, 2024

(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.

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Cornfield Classic: 1946 Oldsmobile 76 or 78 Club Sedan – Fastback Flashback

Tom Halter

– Posted on August 26, 2024

(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.

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Vintage R&T Review: 1996 Honda Civic Coupe EX – Giving People What They Want

Rich Baron

– Posted on August 26, 2024

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.

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