Land of the Giants: 1962 and 1973 Lincoln Continental in the Central District

There's plenty of parking in Seattle's Central District, and it's where I spot a lot of vintage Detroit iron. The older car pictured here appears to be a daily driver, but it looks like the later Lincoln hasn't moved in a year or three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Merry Christmas! 1949 Studebaker 2R Pickup Truck

This truck arrived in 1948 as Studebaker's first new post-war design. Well, the cab and bed were new but the solid-axle chassis and flathead motor were already very old. This design lasted through 1953, then was actually brought back for 1958-9 as the Scotsman. This same truck finally got a new cab in 1960 and new ohv 6-cylinder engines and a new bed in 1961, but the old-fashioned chassis was made all the way until Studebaker closed operations in Indiana at the end of 1963.

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1959 Crown Supercoach School Bus

School bus? Cool bus! Designed for school districts that could afford the very best, the Supercoach pictured was built virtually unchanged from 1949 all the way to 1991. From curbsideclassic.com: "What made Crowns so special?  In a word – toughness – these buses were legendary for their strength, robust construction, and longevity.  While most of Crown’s competitors used 45,000 psi steel, Crown’s floorpan and framework were constructed of 90,000 psi ultra high tensile steel sheathed with heat-treated aluminum bodywork.  The Super Coach’s double-walled steel body structure was both bolted and welded to outriggers on the main chassis which was built using nested channel frame rails and cross-members."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1968 Ford Galaxie 390

Big Fords just don't draw the same interest from collectors that cars from GM and Chrysler do. I'll probably spot ten Chevy Impalas before I spot another Galaxie like this one.
* This car was available in two distinct body styles: this fastback as well as a "formal" coupe.
* The Galaxie was available with hidden headlights, but this car doesn't have them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1968 Ford Mustang GT convertible

"LFS GOOD" reads the license plate. Yes, life is good when you own a Mustang GT convertible, well-optioned with a center-console and fog lamps. This car has the 289 V-8. Late in the model year the 289 was replaced with the 302. The 302 was made all way up to December, 2000.

Hmm... I think this is not an authentic GT. I think it's a regular Mustang with GT wheels.

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1962 Studebaker Champ pickup truck

 

From Hemmings.com: "Faced with certain extinction near the end of the 1950s, Studebaker clung to solvency by building new cars and trucks out of the stuff already in its parts bins."

"Without the resources to design an all-new truck, Studebaker passed the ball to the Lark. Using the front half of a Lark sedan body with a unique grille and bumper, South Bend created a pickup cab that fit remarkably well with the edgy styling direction Detroit had taken. Inside, the Lark's dash added a civilized touch to the workaday hauler. Unfortunately, almost everything else about the truck was still very much a rolling representation of a bygone era.

While Detroit's haulers rode on independent front ends, two-wheel-drive Champs used straight front axles with leaf springs as well as leaf springs in the rear. In 1960, Studebaker's six-cylinder truck engines were still flathead designs dating back to the 1930s. The Champ's box, too, was a throwback to the previous model, and those pontoon rear fenders that looked so right on the 2R in 1949 didn't blend well with the Lark-derived Champ cab. Even the Champ's brake and clutch pedals seemed old fashioned poking up out of the floor, as swing-style pedals had become so common everywhere else. 

For 1961, Studebaker did its best to bring the Champ into the modern age. The flathead six-cylinder engines were discontinued and the smaller 170-cu.in. six was brought back with overhead valves. (Both V-8 engines remained in the lineup, the 259 as well as the 289.)

The most visible change was the addition of smooth bedsides, but rather than design and build its own bedsides for the Champ, Studebaker purchased tooling that had been used to make Dodge's "Sweptline" boxes. Studebaker's Dodge-derived "Spaceside" box was more modern looking than the old fender box, but it was disproportionately big for the Champ's cab. The body creases in the Champ's doors didn't jibe with the Dodge's bedsides either, further making the combination look cobbled together.

If the Champ had an advantage in the light-truck marketplace, it was its low price. In 1962, the Champ half-ton, with a 6.5-foot box and six-cylinder engine, was the most inexpensive hauler in its class, weighing in with a base price of $1,870.

The Champ soldiered on, more or less a footnote in South Bend's proud history, until December 27, 1963, when Studebaker pulled the plug on civilian truck production."

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1985 Toyota Supra

There's an old joke among car enthusiasts that the shortest book in the world is "The Book of Collectable Japanese Cars." That isn't true any more, if it ever was. This Supra is a fun, easily-maintained classic. And it looks brand new; someone has been taking great care with it for the past 35 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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