1946 Willys Jeep CJ-2A

A 1941 Chevy coupe weights 3,025 lbs. So it's not clear what the Army was thinking when it asked for designs for a general purpose vehicle weighing no more than 1,300 lbs. Bending to reality, the spec was changed but still limited to only 2,160 lbs. That's most of the reason why the initial Jeep contracts were awarded to American Bantam and Willys-Overland, makers of America's smallest cars.

Four levers?! To the right of the driver, the first lever is the gear shift. The second takes the front axle in and out of four-wheel drive. The third shifts the transfer case between high-range gears (good for driving on pavement) and low-range gears (good for driving off-road). The little lever on the floor is for overdrive.

The civilian model (hence the model name "CV") is the same as the military model, except that the military model doesn't have the gate on the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1980 Cadillac Seville

"That is the ugliest car I've seen." That was my father's reaction upon seeing the new "bustleback" Cadillac Seville in the fall of 1979. I'm sure that was an exaggeration. After all, dad could remember a lot of Detroit ugly, like the 1958 Dodge.

I haven't seen one of these in quite a while. They were built on the same reliable front-drive platform as the Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, but most of them had truly terrible engines: the Olds diesel or Cadillac's failed "variable displacement" V-8. Weirdly, both Chrysler and Ford decided to copycat this car in the form of the 1981 Imperial and 1982 Lincoln Continental.

 

 

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1973 Saab Sonnet III

It's from Saab, so it's gonna be weird. Designed to compete in America with MG and Triumph, the Sonnet sold less than 2,000 copies per year in the 1970s, and I think this is the only one I've ever seen. Too bad it's not running; restoring it will be no small task.

So what you've got is a fiberglass body over a Saab front-wheel drive chassis, powered by a Ford 1.7 liter V4. Apparently it was a pretty fast car. Observations:
* I believe this car came with a monstrous front bumper to meet the new 1973 US safety standards, but the owner of this one has tossed it.
* Note that the "hood" on this car is just a small panel. The earlier, much rarer Sonnet II had a hinge that allowed the whole front clip of the car to open. But if you want to do any major maintenance on this Sonnet III you will just have to, ah, take the whole front end of the car apart.

 

 

 

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