1973 Ford Mustang

1973 was the last year for the classic Mustang. The gas crisis and high insurance rates meant that America was switching from muscle cars to econoboxes. Ford sold 3 times as many copies of the 1974 Mustang II compared to the 1973. Which is really pretty sad, considering that the Mustang II was really a Pinto.

Coincidentally, this car's Wisconsin registration expires today: 10/31/16, Halloween. So many questions. This car looks like a prospect for a Mad Max movie. Did the owner drive really drive it from Wisconsin to Seattle in this condition? It looks like it's been driven through a fire and parked in the ocean. It's stuffed from floor to headliner with junk. Are they just keeping it as a storage locker?

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1965 Buick Slylark Gran Sport

In 1964, General Motors had a rule that the engines in intermediate cars could not be larger than 330 cubic inches. Pontiac put that limitation to rest that year with the legendary GTO powered by a 389 c.i. V-8. After that, the race was on (literally) at GM with Oldsmobile introducing the 400 c.i.-powered 442, Chevrolet's 396-powered Chevelle SS and Buick's 401-powered Skylark Gran Sport.

The Gran Sport is far less known, though just as collectable, as the Chevy, Pontiac and Olds models. This first-of-the-breed 1965 is in excellent condition.

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1946 GMC EC350 1 and 1/2 Ton Truck

GENERAL MOTORS TRUCK. Too tough to die. This truck used to be parked in a different spot in Fremont, so I'm pretty sure it can still move under its own power.

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1963 Chevrolet Greenbrier Van

Volkswagen's first two vehicles were the Type 1 (Beetle) and the Type 2 (van). By 1960 Chevrolet also had a rear-drive car with an air-cooled rear engine in the form of the Corvair, so they decided that since those VW beatnik vans were so popular, they needed one just like it.

The Greenbrier got pretty good reviews from the car magazines, and copies in good condition command high prices today.
































    

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1958 Mercedes 190D

Older, diesel-powered Benzes are very popular here. This is the oldest one I've seen. In the 40s and 50s, Mercedes was a company that made simple products in a country rebuilding from the war. Now in the late 50s, it was once again becoming a technology leader. That doesn't particularly show in the old 190D here, however, it was in 1959 that Benz introduced the first car with front and rear crumple zones to absorb kinetic energy. Known in the US as the 220, I'm sure that car will be making an appearance on this blog.

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1963 Dodge 880

I wonder if the owner of this car has any idea how famous it is? It's already been featured on the car blogs thestreetpeep.com, seattlesclassic.blogspot.com, curbsideclassic.com, and seattlesparkedcars.blogspot.jp. Even in a city full of unusual vehicles it stands out, and not in a good way. It's not just an old, rusting example of a car that was not attractive in the first place. There's a true hideousness to it that makes you wonder whether you'll soon be seeing it in a nightmare.

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1968 Ford Mustang

Two million Mustangs were produced between 1964 and 1968. They are a piece of cake to keep running, and trashing them just makes them look cooler. For those who love neck injuries, 1968 was the last year you could buy a car with low-back bucket seats. '68 was also the year Ford introduced the 302 engine which remained in production until the 2001 model year.

This 289 V-8 with dual exhaust seems to get plenty of drive time. It's parked in a different spot in the U District every time I see it.

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1981 Ford Courier pickup

Ford sold the Mazda B-Series pickup between 1971 and 1982 before introducing the US-built Ford Ranger in 1983. Like every other domestic automaker, Ford has now decided that America doesn't need a compact pickup and has killed the popular Ranger, but that's another story.

One of the interesting phenomena of west coast vehicles is how often you see a car or truck that's been parked outside for decades but still looks practically new. It's also interesting that at one time in America, yellow with brown and orange stripes was considered a tasteful color scheme.

Hopefully I'll spot a rotary-engine Mazda pickup some day, but I'm not counting on it.

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1969 AMC Javelin SST

Over the course of seven decades, American Motors produced a lot of surprising cars and reinvented itself several times. After World War II, Nash Rambler models virtually cornered the market in the compact car segment in America. In the 1970s, AMC sold huge numbers of cheap, dull-but-durable fleet models popular with police departments and other government buyers. In the 80s, the Jeep Cherokee and Eagle wagon 4X4s anticipated the SUV and crossover vehicles that everybody drives today. 

The Javelin, like the Chevy Carmaro, was designed to compete with Ford's wildly popular Mustang.
Thought not sold in large numbers, the Javelin received good reviews from the car magazines, and, quite surprisingly, was very successful in Trans-Am Series racing. Most memorably, the state of Alabama purchased '71 and '72 second-generation Javelins and put them on the road as the most terrifying highway patrol cars of all time.

This particular Javelin is the deluxe SST model with optional 290 c.i. V8. It appears to be an untouched original apart from having a replacement hood from a different color car. It's been parked in this same spot during the ten years I've lived in Seattle. I thought it never moved, but the other day I saw it driving around.

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1950 Chevrolet 3100 five-window pickup truck

Made between June, 1947 and March, 1955 there are few American vehicles more iconic than the Chevrolet Advance-Design Series pickup truck. Chevy sold about half a million of these per year. GMC sold a virtually identical model. Base price new was $1,243.

An incomplete new paint job notwithstanding, this example appears to be about as close to 100% original as you can get. Note: this might be a '49 rather than a '50. I'd have to take a lot closer look than the owner would probably like to tell for sure.

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1962 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85

Welcome to the premier post of Seattle's Old Cars. On this blog I'll be talking about the amazing old vehicles one can see in a city that has never seen road salt and that adopted an interest in imported cars a little sooner than most of America.

My special thanks to other web sites that inspired me: Seattle's Parked Cars, Portland's Old Parked Cars and Jalopnik.com's Down on the Street series.

We'll start with a favorite of mine, this 1962 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85 2-door hardtop. The Olds F-85 first made its appearance in 1961, along with the very similar Pontiac Tempest and Buick Special. It was different from anything buyers had seen before, in that it was a front-engine, rear-drive car with a rear-mounted transaxle in place of a front-mounted transmission.

The '62 Cutlass was also the first mass-produced car offered with a turbocharger. Known as the Jetfire engine, it produced 215 HP from an engine of only 215 c.i.. The turbocharger required its own liquid-fueled cooling system. According to an article on ebay stories blog, the cooling system required, "a combination of methyl alcohol and distilled water, and was dubbed "Turbo-Rocket Fluid" by the marketing geniuses at Olds.  The fluid was actually used to cool the intake charge, and was instrumental to the proper working of the turbo-charger. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for collectors, as the case may be), many consumers were unaware that they needed to keep the resevoir filled with fluid, leading to both mechanical problems with the car, as well as some cars being retrofitted with a conventional carburetor and manifold". A '62 Cutlass with Jetfire engine in good condition sold at auction for $42,100 in 2014.

The Cutlass pictured appears to be largely original, aside from the rims and the addition of a 4-speed transmission. In the ten years I've lived in Seattle, I believe that, alas, it has not moved from this spot.

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