1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Convertible

The Cutlass Supreme line was introduced for 1966 as a more upscale version of the midsize Olds, above the budget-priced F-85 and the regular Cutlass. For 1967, the last year for the second generation of Cutlasses, a light styling refresh on the snout brought its aesthetics into line with the larger Delta 88.

Available as a hardtop Holiday Sedan or a pillared Town Sedan, a pillared Sport Coupe or a hardtop Holiday Coupe, or a convertible like this Provincial White example with Strato Bucket seats upholstered in Blue "Morrocceen" vinyl.

Unlike cheaper Cutlasses, the base motor in the Supreme was the 330 cubic inch Jetfire Rocket V-8 with a Quadrajet carburetor and a 10.25:1 compression ratio. Olds touted the "Ultra High Compression Ratio" as being a key part of the claimed 310 horsepower output. Base price on this beauty in 1967 would have been  $3,026 before you started going crazy with the option book. That's about $29,600 in current dollars.

This one was photographed using a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens in March of 2026.

2006 Ford Mustang Convertible

The fifth generation of the Mustang, known as the S197, debuted for 2005 on a new platform. On the upside, the new D2C platform shed the last vestiges of the old late-Seventies Fox body architecture that had lingered through the preceding SN95 generation. 

It shared much of its front end with the new DEW98 rear wheel drive platform that underpinned the Lincoln LS, new Ford Thunderbird, and Jaguar S-type. On the downside, for reasons of cost and weight, it had a live rear axle, unlike the independent rear suspension of those DEW98 cars.

Base cars had the latest 4.0L SOHC version of Ford's Cologne V-6, the basic lump of which dated back to the early Sixties. The GT came with a 3-valve-per-cylinder variant of the 4.6L Modular V-8.

While the GT versions made 300 horses, even the base V6 cars, like this V6 Deluxe Convertible in Vista Blue Metallic, put out 210 SAE net horsepower, which is almost as much as the 5.0L GT of the Eighties and Nineties.

Motor Trend tested a 2006 V6 convertible with the automatic transmission and recorded a 7.3 second zero-to-sixty run and a quarter mile time of 15.5 seconds at 90mph through the traps.

This car has the Sport Appearance Package, with the spoiler and rocker panel stripes, and someone's retrofitted a GT grille with the fog lamps. 

This one was photographed with a Nikon Df and a 24-85mm f/2.8-4D zoom lens in March of 2026.

1960 Austin-Healey 3000

In the beginning there was the Austin-Healey 100. A two-seat sports car thus named by its designer, Donald Healey, for the fact that its 2,660cc inline four could push it to the then-magical velocity of one hundred miles per hour. When Austin quit making the big, undersquare 2.5L four (sourced, like most of the rest of the 100's mechanicals, from the A90 Atlantic), Healey had to find a replacement powerplant.

He settled on BMC's C-series inline six, a 2,639cc lump that required stretching the wheelbase two inches, with the resulting car being dubbed the Austin-Healey 100-6.

For the 1960 model year, the car received disc brakes up front and a new 3.0L engine (actually 2,912cc, but who's counting?) that resulted in the Austin-Healey 3000, like the one in the photos.

Breathing through a brace of SU carbs and sporting a then-racy 9.1:1 compression ratio, the big Healey's three liter OHV inline six put out a claimed 124 horsepower and could power the car through the quarter mile in a couple ticks over 17 seconds on its way to a maximum speed of 115mph.

This one was photographed in March of 2025 using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.  

1988 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

The downsized Mercury Grand Marquis of 1979 shared its Panther platform with Ford's LTD Crown Victoria and Lincoln's Town Car. It only received minor updates until it was replaced with newer, more aerodynamic version for 1991.

The mid-Eighties Grand Marquis was in a weird place for traditional RWD body-on-frame sedans. FoMoCo and General Motors retained the LTD Crown Victoria and Caprice Classic for the low end fleet vehicle market, as well as the Lincoln Town Car and Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham for the livery and professional car industries. But while GM had downsized all its mid/upscale full-size sedans like the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight and Buick Electra Park Avenue onto smaller FWD platforms, the Grand Marquis soldiered on using the Panther RWD architecture.

The combination of a third brake light, the slightly aero-blended grille and snout corners, and the taillight lenses mark this Silver Metallic one with a Light Charcoal vinyl top as a 1988 or 1989 model.

The original buyer did not stint with the options menu, as this car's got the optional cornering lamps and the cast aluminum "turbine spoke" wheels. Judging by that sag at the back, it looks like they sprang for the self-leveling air suspension and it's gotten tired after almost forty years.

Under the hood would have been the trusty Ford 5.0L multiport fuel injected small block, making 150 SAE net horsepower, or 160 if the buyer ordered the towing package, which included a dual exhaust setup. It was backed with a four-speed automatic with lockup torque convertor.

This one was photographed using a Canon EOS R and 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens in March of 2026. 

1990 Toyota Starlet GT Turbo

Here's an interesting sight. It's a Toyota Starlet GT Turbo. The only model of Starlet sold here was the rear-wheel drive second generation car from '81-'84, when gas was expensive* and its 39 City/54 Highway MPG rating made it popular.

The one in the pics, as you may surmise from the location of the steering wheel, is a Japanese market Starlet. It's a fourth generation car, by which time the Starlet platform had become front-wheel drive. As a '90-'91 GT Turbo model, it has a 1.3L intercooled turbo inline 4-cylinder making 135hp, which must feel pretty spicy in a car weighing only 1,962 pounds.

This one was photographed in May of 2025 using a Sony a700 and a 16-50mm f/2.8 SSM zoom lens.

*In 1981 the average gas price in the US was $1.35/gal, which works out to $4.78/gal in current dollars.

2021 BMW 440i xDrive

Oh, hey, look! It's a G22-series BMW M440i! Hey, that's a pretty slick-looking ride from the side.

Let's walk around to the front of the car and see what's shakin' up there...

YIKES! It looks, to steal a line from my friend TC, like a Mustang had sex with a naked mole rat. That, or some sort of angry cyborg attack beaver. That snout is going to take some getting used to, not gonna lie. I realize that, thanks to Audi and Lexus, great gaping maws of grille up front are the style of the time (the latest iteration of the Genesis sedans look like they might accidentally inhale a Smart or Scion iQ) but BMW's traditional split grille does the look no favors aesthetically.

I get that all the new BMW's got to be rolled over to some variation of the giant beaver-toothed snout. It's the marque's new design language and will be with us for the next 5-8 model years in some variation or another. But Mercedes finally gave up on even the faintest hint of a faux radiator shell decades ago and Lincoln Continentals lost the vestigial fake spare tire hump about the time they lost rear wheel drive, yet BMW is going to find a way to keep the now meaningless kidney blobs on the front end from now 'til doomsday.

I'd say I was never going to get used to it, but I also have to acknowledge that I used to say that about the Bangle era and now, with the right wheels, the E60 5-series is among my favorite Bimmers.

At least the numbers on this thing are solid. The 382hp turbocharged and intercooled 3.0L inline six gets a little nudge from the 48v mild hybrid motor to push the car to sixty in 3.8 seconds according to Car and Driver, and blitzes the quarter in 12.3 at 112mph. Still, between the AWD and the hybrid gear it weighs about a load of groceries short of two tons, which feels like a lot for the successor of the 2002ti.

This one was photographed using a Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR zoom lens in April of 2021.

1966 Ford Mustang

There have been two '66 Mustangs on these pages before, a Dynasty Green convertible and a Nightmist Blue GT convertible, but this Signal Flare Red car is the first 1966 Mustang coupe to grace the blog.

1966 was the last year for the original, svelte lines of the first generation 'Stangs. For '67 the car would be widened over two inches so as to accommodate big block V-8s under the hood.

You can see the tiny "289" atop the red, white, and blue tri-bar fender badges, as well as the little 289 V-badge up by the nose. That could be the regular two-barrel 289 Challenger V-8 with a 9.3:1 compression ratio making 200 gross horsepower or the four-barrel 289 Challenger Special V-8, which had a 10.0:1 squeeze and put out 225 ponies.

Other than that, it's a pretty standard Mustang, with basic hubcaps and no glamorous "K-code" Hi-Po solid lifter Cobra V-8. It's a super nice car, and almost certainly restored to this condition.

It was photographed in October of 2025 using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

1997 Lincoln Town Car Executive Series

The Lincoln Town Car was nearing the sunset of its second generation in the mid-1990s, with the body given a serious refresh for 1995, making it more aerodynamic and keeping it viable for another few model years until the next generation was ready. The grille became smaller and better blended with the snout, flanked by composite headlamps with clear lenses and above a sleeker front bumper, while the mirrors were more aero and now in body-colored housings. It still shared its body-on-frame platform with the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis.

It was available in three levels of trim: Lowest on the luxo ladder was the Executive Series, like the Black example in the photos. Above that were the Signature Series and the Cartier Series.

The Executive and Signature cars came with the 4.6L SOHC Ford Modular V-8 in a single-exhaust configuration, rated at 190 SAE net horsepower, backed by the four-speed 4R70W automatic transmission. Cartier Series cars had dual exhausts which bumped output to 210 horses.

The "Y-spoke" fifteen-inch alloy wheels were stock on the Executive Series cars, while the Signature Series had a sort of BBS-looking wheel as standard and Cartier cars got distinctive shiny sixteen-inchers. The dealer-installed padded top on this one is covering the rear quarter windows.

Base price on this entry-level luxobarge was $37,280, which is about $75k in current dollars.

This one was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in October of 2025.

1982 Toyota Celica Supra

We've had a second generation Toyota Celica Supra on these pages before, but it was an '83 model. The lack of mud flaps makes me think this (formerly) Gloss Black example is an original 1982 car, the first year of the A60 series.

There weren't a lot of differences. For '82 the 5M-GE 2.8 liter DOHC 12V inline six made 145 SAE net horsepower, which was five less than it did in 1983.

Car and Driver tested the 1982 Celica Supra and got a 9.8 second zero-to-sixty time and an elapsed time of 17.2 seconds in the quarter at 80mph through the traps.

This one was photographed back in October of 2015 in Los Alamos, New Mexico using a Nikon Coolpix P7000.

1970 Ford Ranchero

Ford's Ranchero began life as a 1957 full-size Ford two-door wagon with an open bed where the wagon's cargo compartment would have been; sort of a Sedan Delivery on the half shell.

For 1960 the nameplate was moved to the compact Falcon line before settling on the midsize Fairlane in '66. The 1970 model year marked the fifth generation of the Ranchero, which was now a Torino-based ute.

There was now a new Ranchero Squire, which had a personal luxury coupe style interior and faux woodgrain paneling on the sides and tailgate. Continuing over from the previous model year were the performance-oriented Ranchero GT, the midline Ranchero 500, and the bottom-of-the-lineup base Ranchero, like the Candyapple Red one in the pictures.

The basic Torino was very basic, with clean-it-out-with-a-garden-hose vinyl interior and rubber floor mats. The base powerplant was Ford's undersquare 250 cubic inch inline six, rated at 150 gross horsepower, and it came stock with a three-on-the-tree manual.

This one was photographed in July of 2015 using a Nikon D1X and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

1966 Cadillac DeVille Convertible

Cadillac’s DeVille line was the middle of its lineup, above the Calais but beneath the deluxe cars with bodies from the Fleetwood plant, which were the top of the line for 1966. If you were driving a Cadillac convertible, whether a Fleetwood Eldorado or a DeVille, you were letting everyone know that you'd made it in life.

The base price for a droptop Eldo was $6,631 in great big 1966 dollars, while a DeVille Convertible started at $5,555. This works out to something close to $65,900 and $55,200 in current tiny inflation bucks.

Almost everything that would be a luxury option on lesser cars came standard on the Fleetwood; power-operated everything and they still had real wood in the cockpit in those days. Every seating position had its own ashtray, and the front ones were lighted, while each rear seat had its own cigarette lighter. DeVilles were only slightly less luxuriously appointed.

Power was provided by the 429 cubic inch version of Cadillac's 390 Series V-8. With a four-barrel carburetor and a 10.5:1 compression ratio, it was rated at 340 gross horsepower. 

This Cape Ivory example was photographed in September of 2015 using a Nikon Coolpix P7000.