1961 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Rampside Pickup

Too many people either love or hate Chevy Corvair cars for them to ever be forgotten, but Corvair trucks and vans have mostly faded from memory. These odd vehicles got pretty good reviews from the car magazines, and copies in good condition command high prices today.

Tweet

1982 Volkswagen Rabbit

It took 30 years for Volkswagen the rethink its basic car. Up to the mid 70s, it was all Beetles and variations on the Beetle. The Golf ("Gulf" in German), called the Rabbit in the US, was one of the first small front-wheel drive cars you could buy.
* In the 80s these were made in Pennsylvania.
* I understand that in the 70s, if you wanted a Rabbit you had to order it at the dealership and take whatever color of car showed up.
* General Motors responded to the front-wheel drive small car challenge by cynically warming-over one of its German models, creating the rear-drive Chevy Chevette; a car with mechanics mostly out of the dark ages. In the 80s GM didn't even try and sold imports to small-car buyers.

Tweet

1986 Chrysler LeBaron

In 1974, Chrysler made an Imperial LeBaron that weighed two and half tons and returned single-digit gas mileage. Times change. The K-car, introduced in 1982, is said to have saved Chrysler. There was a lot right about those cars, and a lot wrong too.

This LeBaron weighs half as much as a '74 Imperial. I guess the adorable thing about it is the way Chrysler tried to retain the styling cues of a big luxury car on a tiny compact. The upright grill with hood ornament. The padded half-roof. Rest in peace, Lee Iacocca.

Tweet

1959 Nash Metropolitan convertible

A favorite of both collectors and Weird Al Yankovic, the Metropolitan was the only really small car you could buy from an American brand in the 1950s. Every single car (except for the Corvette) made by General Motors in 1959 qualified as "full-size". Sure, American Motors sold "compact cars", but they were actually pretty big vehicles.

Tweet