1963 Ford Thunderbird

There's no car that says, "They sure don't make 'em like this any more" quite like the Thunderbird. I spotted it out on the Kitsap peninsula, land of huge estates and eccentric people who can afford museum-quality classic cars. No kidding, this car is absolutely flawless. Note the tilt-away steering wheel.

 

 

 

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1963 International Harvester Scout 80

This is the oldest Scout I've seen in Seattle. Here's one from the next generation, and another from the final series. Like an old Jeep CJ, this vehicle has 3 shift levers: One to change gears, one to shift in and out of 4-wheel drive, and one to change between high- and low-range gears.

 

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1963 Ford Falcon station wagon

Ford President Robert McNamara's, "personal triumph was the Ford Falcon, which an associate described as being just like McNamara, "He wore granny glasses and he built a granny car."" - Thomas E. Bonsall, from his book Disaster in Dearborn - The Story of the Edsel.

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1963 Chevrolet Impala

Chevrolet was on top of the world in 1963, selling more than 2.2 million cars. Fully one-third of those were the big, big Impala.

Observations:
* Cars don't rust much in Seattle, but this Chevy is in remarkable condition for an unrestored car.
* Chevy offered 4 engines in this car, and a different fender badge for each car:
     ** 6-cylinder: Shield with a number 6.
     ** 283 V-8: V with a small shield (as on this car).
     ** 327 V-8: As the 283 above, with Chevy and checkered flags.
     ** 409 V-8: As the 327 above, with '409' badge.
* That bumper sticker, 'Au-H2O-64'. That's a Goldwater for President sticker.

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1963 Rambler Ambassador 990 Cross Country

Top of the line. V-8, power steering and brakes. For the Kenosha Cadillac, this is as good as it gets. This Rambler is for sale, and the owner was good enough to let me examine it in detail.

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1963 and 1964 Studebaker Avanti

When equipped with a supercharger, (see last pic below), the Avanti was America's fatest car, with a top speed even higher than the fuel-injected Corvette. The square headlights of the car on the left denote it as a very rare '64. Studebaker closed its American plant on December 20, 1963.

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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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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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1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible

This Stingray is in flawless condition.
Observations:
* All Stingrays made between 1963 and 1967 are close to identical, but the '63 is easily identified by the odd metal grill inserts on the hood.
* The car has the "knock-off" rims. You just hit that big spinner in the center of the wheel with a rubber mallet and it spins right off allowing you to remove the wheel. No lug nuts.
* This car is a four-speed. Corvettes have always mostly been sold with automatic transmissions, an oddity in the sports car world, but very American.

 

 

 
 

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1963 Jaguar MkII 3.4 Saloon

Vintage Jaguars are the kind of cars that sit around waiting for restoration but never actually get restored. A full restoration on a car like this is going to cost something like $30,000. And then you've got a pretty cool car that is however difficult to drive, not very reliable and not very safe. Not to mention difficult to sell. Here's an immaculate MkII that just went for $18,750 American. Sorry buddy, but you should sell this for parts.

   

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1963 Dodge D300 truck

Four headlights are not enough I tell you!

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1963 Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter flatbed pickup

You might not associate political controversy with old Volkswagens, but there's a reason why there are many VW microbuses built between the 1970s and the 2000s on American roads, but the only air-cooled VW trucks you see date from the mid-60s or earlier.

From Wikipedia:

"Certain models of the Volkswagen Type 2 played a role in a historic episode during the early 1960s, known as the Chicken War. France and West Germany had placed tariffs on imports of U.S. chicken. Diplomacy failed, and in January 1964, two months after taking office, President Johnson imposed a 25% tax (almost ten times the average U.S. tariff) on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks. Officially, the tax targeted items imported from Europe as approximating the value of lost American chicken sales to Europe.

In retrospect, audio tapes from the Johnson White House, revealed a quid pro quo unrelated to chicken. In January 1964, President Johnson attempted to convince United Auto Workers' president Walter Reuther not to initiate a strike just before the 1964 election, and to support the president's civil rights platform. Reuther, in turn, wanted Johnson to respond to Volkswagen's increased shipments to the United States.

The Chicken Tax directly curtailed importation of German-built Type 2s in configurations that qualified them as light trucks – that is, commercial vans (panel vans) and pickups. In 1964, U.S. imports of automobile trucks from West Germany declined to a value of $5.7 million – about one-third the value imported in the previous year."

The Chicken Tax is still around. Ford has been importing its Transit Connect vans from Turkey in passenger vehicle configuration to get around the tax, then ripping out the extra seats to put the vans into cargo configuration.

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1963 Chevrolet Greenbrier Van

Volkswagen's first two vehicles were the Type 1 (Beetle) and the Type 2 (van). By 1960 Chevrolet also had a rear-drive car with an air-cooled rear engine in the form of the Corvair, so they decided that since those VW beatnik vans were so popular, they needed one just like it.

The Greenbrier got pretty good reviews from the car magazines, and copies in good condition command high prices today.
































    

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1963 Dodge 880

I wonder if the owner of this car has any idea how famous it is? It's already been featured on the car blogs thestreetpeep.com, seattlesclassic.blogspot.com, curbsideclassic.com, and seattlesparkedcars.blogspot.jp. Even in a city full of unusual vehicles it stands out, and not in a good way. It's not just an old, rusting example of a car that was not attractive in the first place. There's a true hideousness to it that makes you wonder whether you'll soon be seeing it in a nightmare.

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