1964 Mercury Montclair Marauder

Mercury just couldn't win with the public, but it was not for lack of trying. They substantially updated their full-size models every year, and their standard 390 c.i. V-8 was quite powerful. Yet in 1964 Mercury sold just over 100,000 full-size cars while Chevrolet sold 1.6 million.

Mercury offered three cars in its full-size lineup, the Monterey, the Montclair and the Park Lane. All three lines were available in two different body styles. The "regular" car was called Marauder, while the Breezeway had a electric rear-window. Mercury offered at least one Breezeway model every year from 1957 to 1965.

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1966 Ford Mustang fastback

This car has the "Pony" interior option - little horses etched into the seat backs. The headrests are not original. 1968 was the last year cars could be sold with low-back seats.

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1969 Dodge Charger

This Charger is in pretty good shape for an unrestored car. Even the vinyl top has held up, for the most part.
* I like the dog dish hub caps.
* Those are vintage Washington state license plates.

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2004 Saturn Ion

"I was astounded by how bad it was in every way. I said, 'I think this is the worst car I've ever driven and GM should be embarrassed,'" he recalls. "And history has proven me correct."

"Shockingly incompetent to drive and with a stupid interior to match. Kick it and your foot could get stuck in the gaps between the plastic body panels. Easily the second worst car of the 21st century."

These are reactions of Edmunds.com Editor-in-Chief Scott Oldham upon driving one of the first Saturn Ions in 2003, and fellow Edmunds writer John Pearley Huffman regarding that same model.

I drove a Saturn Ion about 1,000 miles in 2006 as a rental, and frankly I'm still not completely over the experience. Among the car's many non-virtues, the seats were rock hard and every pothole sent a shock straight up my spinal cord. This vehicle felt less like a car than it did a toy built on 1:1 scale.

Still, I see these things everywhere even though they are fifteen years old now. I guess some people like them and apparently they're fairly easy to keep running.

As a car enthusiast, historian and business person I'm fascinated by the rise and fall of Saturn and plan to write about the company in more detail as I spot more cars.

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1978 Datsun 200SX

This is not the first unrestored Datsun I've seen in Seattle that looks almost new. The 200SX looks sporty, but beneath the skin it's the same pokey little car as the B210. Still, it's not a bad choice if it's the 70s, and people are waiting hours to buy gas.

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1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 convertible

A dying breed: Chrysler built its last convertible in 1971; Ford in 1973. GM held on longer, building about 25,000 copies per year of the car pictured through 1975. It was sold as the Chevy Caprice, Olds 88, Pontiac Grand Ville and Buick Le Sabre. The Cadillac Eldorado convertible held on until '76.

Imported convertibles faded away too. MG and Triumph went of out business. Fiat gave up on the US. Regulation killed the VW Beetle convertible. The only imported convertibles to hang on in significant numbers were the VW Rabbit and Alfra Romeo Spider.

By the mid-80s, American convertibles were back in the form of the Chrysler LeBaron and Ford Mustang. Unfortunately, those cars were built as coupes and then sent to third-party builders who cut off the tops and transformed them into open-top models. In other words, they were pretty much junk despite costing about twice as much as their hardtop brothers.

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1981 Volkswagen Rabbit convertible - with ski rack!

Ski rack on a convertible. Gotta love the west coast.

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