1963 Buick Wildcat

Believe it or not, there was a time when Buick made performance cars. The 401 c.i. V-8 in this Wildcat produced 325 hp and a mind-bending 445 ft.lbs of torque. This car features bucket seats, and what was a pretty new idea in 1963: the shifter is in a center console rather than on the steering column.

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1978 Plymouth Fury A38-Pursuit

Let me tell you about the greatest police car ever made. In 1980s, when police would try to pull over a speeder, if the leadfoot driver was in a old GTO or some other fast car from a bygone era, he would just drive away, knowing that the cop couldn't catch him. That's because police cars had gotten a lot slower. The Dodge St. Regis (what kind of name is that?) police car of 1980 probably only had a 318 V-8 to pull all that weight around, thanks to big engines going out of fashion. Not to mention the fact that Chrysler was on the verge of bankruptcy, and its future dependent on cars that were economical and just not much fun.

But in 1978, those things hadn't happened yet. That year, the Plymouth Fury police model was America's fastest car, with an incredible array of high-performance equipment.

From hemmings.com:

"The A38 package added brawn to the otherwise sedate 218-inch-long sedan, beginning with heavy-duty tuned suspensions "matched for high-speed handling and police duty," per period literature. The A38 also added slotted 7-inch-wide heavy-duty wheels, heavy-duty front disc/rear drum brakes, fabric-belted radial police pursuit tires, 500-ampere heavy-duty battery with heat shield, 100-ampere alternator, high-capacity radiator, calibrated 140-MPH speedometer, oil gauge, more responsive power steering with hose heat shields, and grass shields for the catalytic converters. Its differential was Chrysler's 9¼-inch unit offered with an array of ratios for various department needs, while an engine oil cooler and more were optional."

"Hidden from view were one of four engines, beginning with a standard two-barrel 318 altered for stressed service. Options including tuned versions of the 360, 400 and 440, all of which still featured four-barrel carburetors."

"With the exception of a full-size Chrysler, the 440 was unavailable for public use, and even then, the civilian version was rated for 195 hp. Those destined for police cars were instead rated for 255 hp and 355-lb.ft. of torque. The extra power was enhanced by dual catalytic converters fitted to a true dual exhaust system and electronic spark advance (except in California) and supported by heavy-duty parts like a shot-peened nodular cast-iron crankshaft, double-roller timing chain drive, moly-filled top compression piston rings, high-load valve springs with dampers, a windage tray, chromed and hardened exhaust valves. Bolted against it was the stout TorqueFlite automatic. 

Also in 1978, the Michigan State Police launched its yearly performance-based police car tests, a true best-bang-for-the-buck evaluation that dramatically differed from those done jointly, since 1956, by the Los Angeles County Sherriff's and Los Angeles Police Departments. Michigan's result: the 440 Fury handily bested the competition. Supplied with a 2.71 rear gear, it went from 0-60 MPH in 9.2 seconds; top speed was 132.7 MPH."

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1946 Dodge Power Wagon

If you like old cars and trucks, you cannot help but stand in awe of a vintage Dodge Power Wagon. Mechanically derived from Dodge's 1942–1945 3/4-ton WC series military trucks, the Power Wagon was introduced in 1946 as the first civilian production 4x4 truck.

It's always been curious to me why Ford and Chevy didn't make anything like this or indeed any 4x4 vehicles at all in the mid-20th century. America's population was a lot more rural then, with a lot more folks driving on terrible roads. Apparently it just never occurred to people to buy 4x4s. I'm told by old timers that people living in the hills of Kentucky back in the day usually bought Oldsmobiles because that was the car that survived longest on the state's terrible roads.

In the 1950s and 60s there were two Power Wagons. One as a 3/4 ton that looked like other trucks and vans made at the time. But Dodge was also selling the same straight-outta-WWII vehicle you see pictured as late as 1963.

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1971 Dodge Challengers - one spotted in the wild!

There are some popular collector cars from the 60s and 70s that you see all the time on the street. Ford Mustangs and most Chevy models for example. Then there are some you never see. Recently I saw this unrestored Dodge Challenger in rush hour traffic in Seattle. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw one anywhere but at a car show. I think most of them were driven into the ground when new, and the their build quality wasn't great in the first place. So most survivors are fully restored, like the car pictured below.

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1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner hardtop convertible

The Ford Motor Company struggled in the early postwar years, but by the mid-1950s it was conducting business in a way that might politely be described as "overconfident".

Now this might be hard to believe, but in the 1955 Ford was still a privately-held firm, with the Ford family itself owning 25.5%. Ford also owned its own iron mines and steel plants and made every part in house, with the exception of tires. Ford went public in early 1956, and the success of its initial public offering, which raised $660 million (about $6.5 billion in today's dollars), seems to have gone to its head. Specifically:

* In the fall of 1957, Ford launched the Edsel program, often considered the biggest product launch failure of all time. By the late-1959 cancellation of the project, Ford had lost $350 million. And one wonders how they managed to lose that much, given that:
(1) Ford promised that the Edsel would be a whole new kind of car, when really it was just a Ford or Mercury with a new skin.
(2) Ford did no studies on whether the Edsel could be profitable.
(3) Ford never test-marketed the vehicle and proceeded under the assumption that buyers would like it when it hit the showroom (they didn't).
(4) Incredibly, Ford didn't dedicate any assembly lines to the early Edsels, so they were built on the same lines as Fords and Mercurys, causing confusion as workers attempted to switch back and forth between parts bins and assembly routines, resulting in cars of poor quality.

* In 1956 Ford created a Continental division to sell its new super-premium Continental Mark II, a car which cost $10,000, or close to $100,000 today. One has to wonder what the point was, given that even at that price, Ford lost $1,000 on every Continental Mark II.

* Last but not least, we have the car pictured. The 1957 model was one of the most successful Ford products of all time, outselling Chevrolet and making Ford the number one seller for the first time in many years. But take a look at the Skyliner hardtop convertible, another short-lived project into which Ford sank a lot of money. From Wikipedia:

"The Skyliner top has seven reversible electric motors, four lift jacks, a series of relays, ten limit switches, ten solenoids, four locking mechanisms for the roof and two locking mechanisms for the trunk lid, and a total of 610 ft (185.9 m) of wiring."

Potential buyers asked the obvious questions: What happens when one of those electric motors rusts? Or one of the ten solenoids wears out? How long can this car last? And Ford had anticipated these questions. So guess what? They completely over-engineered the whole system so as to guarantee long-term reliability resulting in, again, a car on which Ford lost money on every copy.

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1931 Ford Model A pickup truck

I've seen this truck on the street and from the sound of its engine, it's definitely all original. That's all the more remarkable given that the early to mid 30s Ford is the most popular vehicle of all time for building hot rods.

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1977 Isuzu 117

In the late 70s, Detroit was about to get crushed by Japanese cars but hadn't realized it yet. And not just because Americans were shifting to smaller cars. The technology in this Isuzu makes American cars built at the same time look positively Stone Age. As early as 1970, the 117 was available with a DOHC 4-cylinder engine; by 1977 it produced 135 hp. Compare that to a Ford 302 V-8 made that same year which eked out a meager 122 hp.

Observations:
* The 117 looks like an Italian car because it is, being designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
* That logo on the grill is a lion.
* Looking at the interior, I love the huge metal ashtray mounted on the door sill.
* Unlike most of the vintage right-hand Japanese cars I've seen, this 117 has an automatic transmission.

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1979 Peugeot 504

A very popular car in many parts of the world, the 504 offered an efficient fuel-injected engine as early as 1968. At that time of course Americans couldn't have cared less about fuel-efficiency, but by the late '70s this kind of car had more appeal on this side of the Atlantic. And the 504 cost only $7,500 (about $28,000 in 2018) compared to the similar Mercedes 240 which cost $19,000 (about $70,000 in 2018).

    

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1974 Ford Maverick

If you had visited my high school parking lot in 1989, you would have seen half a dozen copies each of two old Fords:
1. First generation Mustangs. I had two classmates who drove restored '65s. And I knew three other kids who, like myself, drove '67s; not restored and of dubious reliability.
2. Mavericks.

Of course there was a difference between the young Mustang driver and the Maverick driver. A Mustang said, "I have a cool car I like." By contrast, the Maverick said, "This is the only car to which I have access; it's better than walking." One friend of mine had a Maverick with a three-speed column shifter that he boasted had 200K miles on it. His grandfather and uncle had overhauled the engine themselves. Maverick wasn't the car you wanted, but it was hard to kill.

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1969 Plymouth Road Runner convertible

The Road Runner is the purest muscle car ever made. Chrysler dropped the finest engines and transmissions ever made up to that time... into what was otherwise the cheapest car they could build.

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1956 Packard Four Hundred

"It's better to burn out than to fade away." - Neil Young

The last cars to roll off the line for a car company that's about to go about of business are usually pretty sad. The 1954 Hudson, the 1966 Studebaker, the 1987 AMC Eagle - these were all models that were long out of date because the companies that built them were out of money.

Packard Motors of Detroit, Michigan built its last car in 1956. A car of superb quality that was better looking than rival Cadillac, the final Packards built 1955-6 featured a new V-8 engine, power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, and power windows.

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1989 Buick Skylark

What do people remember about General Motors' small cars from the 80s? Not much that's good. Most conversations about GM cars of that era take the form of, "Here's another car that made more Americans switch to imports and never look back." This Skylark is not remembered as a particularly bad car. By the time it was introduced GM has cured most of the faults common to its early front-wheel drive vehicles. I'm more curious as to why this car is still enjoying regular use in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. What person living in a area where the homes are over $1 million would be seen driving this car?

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1966 Ford Mustang convertible

Ah, the miracle of west coast living. You can drive a car and park it outdoors for decades and it still looks great. The original owner of this Mustang ordered automatic transmission and the center console, but was content with the straight-6 motor. Here's another pristine '66 Mustang photographed nearby.

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1933 Ford V-8

In the mid 1920s, Ford's refusal to replace the ancient Model T had made the once-dominant brand's customers easy pickings for General Motors and other car makers. But the introduction of the Ford V-8 in 1932 made the company an industry leader again. Powerful and affordable, there had never been anything like the 221 c.i. flathead V-8. In the worst year of the Depression, this car was still in great demand. While Chevy would remain Ford's arch-rival, that car did not get an 8-cylinder engine until 1955.
* The grill on the '33 Ford has been called the most beautiful ever made.
* Arch-criminals Bonnie and Clyde wrote a letter to Henry Ford praising the ability of their '34 V-8's ability to help them evade the law. "While I still have got breath in my lungs I will tell you what a dandy car you make. I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed and freedom from trouble the Ford has got every other car skinned, and even if my business hasen’t been strickly legal it don’t hurt anything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V8."

 

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1963 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova

For decades, market forces tried to get General Motors to build a simple, inexpensive compact car. Nope, nothing doing. In the mid-20th century, the General could sell all the full-size cars (with full-size profit margins) it could build, thank you very much.

After World War II, GM invested millions in a compact Chevy, then abandoned the project. Not profitable enough. In 1960 Chevy introduced the compact Corvair, but that was merely a niche vehicle designed to blunt the invasion of Volkswagen Beetles. But when Ford introduced the compact Falcon and Mercury Comet, then GM had to act. Whatever Ford did, Chevy had to do it too, and vice versa. And Ford sold 660,000 Falcons and Comets in 1961 alone, the year before the introduction of the Chevy II.

I can't tell what engine this car has, as some of the trim is missing. But the Nova is interesting in that it was available with Chevy's six and eight cylinder engines, and also the first Chevy four cylinder since the 1920s. GM dropped the 153 c.i. engine in 1970. I've heard it remarked that it's unfortunate that Chevy didn't keep that rock-simple motor and put it in the Vega. It might have kept the Vega, with its disastrous aluminum-block engine, from getting the reputation as the worst car Detroit ever built.

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1993 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon

The Delica is the only vehicle designed for use in Japan that's developing a cult following in the US. I have seen several in Seattle. It's as if someone designed a vehicle for the zombie apocalypse. Enormous push-bar on the front, serious off-road capability, high clearance, diesel powered (a fuel you can make at home). Of course you'll need someone to ride shotgun (literally) when the undead hit the highways as you'll be steering with your right hand while shifting through five forward gears with your left.

Generally speaking, this is not an appropriate vehicle for Americans, who love to buy monster SUVs and then drive them only on suburban expressways. The Delica has an 85 horsepower engine (mounted under the driver) that doesn't cruise very well above 60 mph.

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1969 AMC Hurst SC/Rambler

AMC President George Romney was insistent that his company match the Big Three in every market segment rather than just producing dull compact cars. So when Detroit went all in for muscle cars, Kenosha (that's where AMCs were built) did the same. The ordinary two-door Rambler Rogue (called simply the AMC Rambler in 1969) was certainly America's cheapest and most basic transportation. But the Hurst SC/Rambler included a 315 hp V-8, functional hood scoop, Hurst shifter, heavy-duty shocks, anti-sway bar, anti-hop rear links to fortify the suspension and heavy-duty brakes with front discs.

Most of the 1,512 SC/Ramblers that were built had a red, white and blue paint scheme much wilder than the car pictured. Note that this car may be what's called a "clone" or "tribute"; in other words not the real thing. It doesn't have the correct Magnum 500 wheels or the blackout grill correct to the SC/Rambler. It's still cool.

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