1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport

The '65 Impala was a great looking car, but I feel like it was all down hill from here. After that year, the Impala kept getting bigger. (Why? This car is huge!) It also started getting a more "formal" look. By 1971, forget it - that Impala was a land yacht.
* '65 was the last year for the round tail lights.
* The Super Sport package did not automatically mean a big V-8. Some Impala SS cars have a straight 6!

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1966 Avanti II

The Studebaker factory in Indiana closed in December, 1963. Soon a couple of guys got the idea to reopen a portion of the factory and continue making Studebaker's interesting fiberglass coupe, the Avanti. This business managed to run successfully into the 1980s, which is impressive when one considers that in a typical week they only sold two cars. The frames were built in the old factory, the bodies supplied by the same company that had made them for Studebaker, and the engines came from General Motors. Although an Avanti II made in the early-1980s is hardly distinguishable from one made in the mid-60s, I think this is one of the very early cars. I've never seen an Avanti II before that had the old Studebaker wheel covers. Most Avanti II were sold with Magnum 500 rims or similar newer wheels.

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1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V

First let me say that this can be a reasonably attractive car (in a disco sort of way), at least when painted blue with a matching top or some other color scheme that doesn't make your eyes burn. This Continental's color isn't pink exactly, nor would I call it salmon. It reminds me of the off-pink that Crayola crayons used to call, "flesh".

This car would have run you at least $14K in 1978, or $50K in 2020 dollars. Given the high price point, and the fact that in the late '70s America was in the midst of a crushing energy crisis, you might think that Ford had a hard time selling cars like this. Well that's where you'd be wrong. Ford sold 72,600 of these in 1978, and also sold a staggering 565,000 Ford Thunderbirds and Mercury Cougars; land yachts scarcely smaller than the behemoth pictured here. Who can explain anything from the '70s?

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1969 Datsun 2000

Another car I had never seen before I moved to the west coast. I've seen at least one more of these in the neighborhood, and they're popular at car shows. In the spring of 1970, Nissan retired this car in favor of the new 240Z as its sports model. In the 50 years since then, Nissan hasn't made another car anything like this.

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1980 Jeep DJ

From the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s, the DJ delivered most of America's mail.
* "DJ" stands for Dispatcher Jeep. The Jeep now called the Wrangler was sold for decades as the CJ, or Civilian Jeep.
* The vehicle is very different from CJs of the same era. It has a lighter frame, rear-wheel-only drive and a DJ-only 5-slot grill. A lot of them had transmissions from Chrysler, and they had engines from several sources.
* I have no idea what that extra radiator/cooler attached to the grill does.

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1969 Opel GT

Opel was General Motors' German brand from 1929 to 2017. These little cars were sometimes called "the poor man's Corvette." I've seen quite a few of them around over the years, so I guess they were pretty durable.
Note the headlights don't pop up - they roll over!

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Since 1897, it's Autocar!

I just noticed that our new garbage trucks in Seattle are made by Autocar, the oldest vehicle manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere. Founded in Pittsburgh, PA in 1897, Autocar now builds trucks in Alabama. Here's Jay Leno's 1916 Autocar.

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1970 EMPI Imp / Volkswagen dune buggy

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by dune buggies because, to me, they were so mysterious. Being from Iowa, I had never seen one except on TV.

* The EMPI Imp and the Meyers Manx are considered the most desirable classic dune buggies. Now you know.
* I really have no idea how old this is. The body looks new - it may be a replacement for a fiberglass body paired with an air-cooled VW engine 50 years ago.
* Street legal? In Washington state, you can license pretty much anything once it's 30 years old.

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1968 Ford Mustang convertible

This car is distinctive in that it appears to have nearly every factory option. V-8 with dual exhaust, center console, fog lamps, wire wheel covers, pop-open gas cap, luggage rack. Have you ever seen anyone actually use one of these luggage racks?

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1980 International (IHC) Scout II

Without a doubt, the nicest Scout I've ever seen. 1980 was the last year for the Scout, and it's too bad, because the market for this kind of vehicle really took off in the 80s. International had the next generation model ready to go, but financial troubles ended production.

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