2025 Greenwood Car Show: Ford

  

From 1954 to 56, Ford would sell you a car with a transparent plastic top, like this 1955 Crown Victoria. Not for Arizonans I think.

 

  

You're looking at about $200K these days to purchase a 1968 Shelby GT500 Mustang in top condition. Many of the factory Mustang body parts were replaced with fiberglass.

 

 

This 1940 convertible is one of the best-looking cars Ford ever made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original Ford F-100 made between 1953 and 1956 is the classic truck everyone wants. This 1953 has the last of Ford's old-fashioned flathead V-8 engines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very rare 1966 Ford Fairlane GT 390. Ford sold only 4,200 Fairlane GT's that year. They sold 607,000 Mustangs.

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1968 Chevrolet Chevy Van 90

GM introduced the first Chevy vans in 1961. That van was the Greenbrier: rear-engine, and air-cooled like a Volkswagen. 1964 was the first year for a front-engine design. For a Chevy product, I sure don't see these very often. I guess most were just driven to death. I like the five windows on the side. This is the one Chevrolet product with "Chevy" as part of the model name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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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1968 Chevrolet C10 Pickup Truck

 This post is a reader submission, and not actually in Seattle. But it's my blog and I'm making an exception. Note the wood bed. My father's '77 Chevy pickup had one. Apparently they were available as late as 1987.

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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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1968 Pontiac GTO convertible

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1968 Chevrolet Camaro

This particular Camaro is a curious car. It's the bare bones model - 6 cylinder engine, 3-speed stick, dog dish hubcaps. Yet it was apparently ordered with paint stripes and a spoiler. It also appears to be an unrestored daily driver in very good condition. Yet it's filled with junk and its California registration expired six years ago.

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1968 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu

End of an era. 1968 was the first year for the 307 V-8, the last new Chevy engine in the rock-simple days before pollution control and various tweaks designed to improve gas mileage. 68 was also the last year you could buy a car with low-back seats. Beginning in 1969 all cars were required to have high-back seats or headrests.

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1968 Pontiac Firebird convertible

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1968 Volkswagen Beetle

Unlike the '59 we spotted in Georgetown, this Beetle has a speedometer and a gas gauge.

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1968 dodge Charger 383

   

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1968 Pontiac Firebird 'Tiger Super Tuned' 428 Ram Air

This car is so rare that enthusiasts debate whether it actually exists. There is no such thing as a factory-built Firebird with 428 engine. But this was the 1960s, a time when it was normal to have your local dealer or mechanic sell or build you a race car which you could then drive on the track, on the street, or both. If you don't believe me, watch the movie Two-Lane Blacktop.
The Firebird 428 was a 'conversion' offered by a dealership called Royal Pontiac. The car got enough attention that it was featured in Motor Trend, and at least one other dealer copied the idea. That black thing on the hood is Pontiac's hood tachometer, because when driving a car like this you need to have your eyes on the road, not the dashboard.

Update 6/30/18: I met the owner of this car today, and this is NOT a true 428 Firebird; it has the engine and 428 badges from a '69 Bonneville.

    

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1968 Ford Mustang

Two million Mustangs were produced between 1964 and 1968. They are a piece of cake to keep running, and trashing them just makes them look cooler. For those who love neck injuries, 1968 was the last year you could buy a car with low-back bucket seats. '68 was also the year Ford introduced the 302 engine which remained in production until the 2001 model year.

This 289 V-8 with dual exhaust seems to get plenty of drive time. It's parked in a different spot in the U District every time I see it.

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1969 AMC Javelin SST

Over the course of seven decades, American Motors produced a lot of surprising cars and reinvented itself several times. After World War II, Nash Rambler models virtually cornered the market in the compact car segment in America. In the 1970s, AMC sold huge numbers of cheap, dull-but-durable fleet models popular with police departments and other government buyers. In the 80s, the Jeep Cherokee and Eagle wagon 4X4s anticipated the SUV and crossover vehicles that everybody drives today. 

The Javelin, like the Chevy Carmaro, was designed to compete with Ford's wildly popular Mustang. Thought not sold in large numbers, the Javelin received good reviews from the car magazines, and, quite surprisingly, was very successful in Trans-Am Series racing. Most memorably, the state of Alabama purchased '71 and '72 second-generation Javelins and put them on the road as the most terrifying highway patrol cars of all time.

This particular Javelin is the deluxe SST model with optional 290 c.i. V8. It appears to be an untouched original apart from having a replacement hood from a different color car. It's been parked in this same spot during the ten years I've lived in Seattle. I thought it never moved, but the other day I saw it driving around.

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