Saturday, November 30, 2024

1977 Cadillac Seville


Here's an interesting find: A first generation Cadillac Seville, perhaps a 1977.

This was the very first downsized Caddy, a response to the first fuel crisis and the Silent Generation hitting their peak earning years and leading edge of the Baby Boomers fixing to get into their thirties and start making real money. Its base DNA was derived from the Nova, and the final result was a Cadillac that was half a ton lighter & more than two feet shorter than the deVille and much nimbler and easier to navigate in tight quarters.

It featured the rear suspension from the previous generation ('68-'74') Nova and 11-in rear drums from the Nova police package, a 350 Olds Rocket V8 with Bosch/Bendix fuel injection (still a rarity back then) rated at 180 SAE net horsepower, and the first optional digital dash & trip computer in a Detroit car.

Road & Track managed a 13.3 second zero-to-sixty run and a 19.0 second quarter at 73 mph with a top speed of 105mph, which was pretty typical Malaise Era sedan performance in the days of the 55 mile per hour national maximum speed limit. It did circle a skidpad at 0.66g, which was downright racecar-like compared to the other supertankers in the Cadillac catalog.

With a base price of $12,479 (about $69,229 in current dollars), they actually stickered for more than any of the bigger Caddies on the lot at the time, except the limos, and were intended to bring younger buyers back from Benz and BMW (a recurring theme with Caddy, seen later in the Catera and CTS).

This Sable Black one was photographed in December of 2019 using a Nikon D700 and a 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens.

Friday, November 29, 2024

1974 BMW 2002tii


The final iteration of the compact BMW 02 Series was the sportiest, and its timing couldn't have been better.

Preceded in the US market by the 1602, the 2002 was at least partly in response to importer Max Hoffman's pleas for a bigger-engined version of the 02 series that would sell well in America. In the late Sixties and early Seventies it was mostly the province of the sort of motoring nerds who also fancied British roadsters and had read the earnest paeans to the 2002 written by Car and Driver editor David E. Davis:
Down at the club, Piggy Tremalion and Bucko Penoyer and all their twit friends buy shrieking little 2-seaters with rag tops and skinny wire wheels, unaware that somewhere, someday, some guy in a BMW 2002 is going to blow them off so bad that they'll henceforth leave every stoplight in second gear and never drive on a winding road again as long as they live.

In the suburbs, Biff Everykid and Kevin Acne and Marvin Sweatsock will press their fathers to buy HO Firebirds with tachometers mounted out near the horizon somewhere and enough power to light the city of Seattle, totally indifferent to the fact that they could fit more friends into a BMW in greater comfort and stop better and go around corners better and get about 29 times better gas mileage.

Mr. and Mrs. America will paste a "Support Your Local Police" sticker on the back bumper of their new T-Bird and run Old Glory up the radio antenna and never know that for about 2500 bucks less they could have gotten a car with more leg room, more head room, more luggage space, good brakes, decent tires, independent rear suspension, a glove box finished like the inside of an expensive overcoat and an ashtray that slides out like it was on the end of a butler's arm—not to mention a lot of other good stuff they didn't even know they could get on an automobile, like doors that fit and seats that don't make you tired when you sit in them.
But the 2002 really came into its own when the dual-carb ti was replaced with the fuel injected tii. This bumped output from 118 to 128 SAE net horsepower. This might not sound like a lot, but consider a few things related to the car in the picture above: The bumpers indicate that it's a 1974 model. That means it was in the country just in time for the Oil Embargo of 1973. Meanwhile, domestic cars were having compression ratios lowered, emissions controls added, and advertising was changing from SAE gross to SAE net numbers.

All that means that for the '74 model year the base 302 2-barrel V-8 in a Mercury Montego MX was rated at 140 horsepower, and the Chevelle Laguna S-3 came with a 145hp 2-barrel 350 small block. Suddenly 128 horsies in a gnarly little sports coupe doesn't sound too shabby.

The '72 2002tii tested by Car and Driver managed a 9.0 second zero-to-sixty performance and put the quarter away in 16.8 seconds at 81 mph with a top speed of 115mph. Not only would it outhandle most anything from Detroit, but it would keep up with the more vanilla variants of even the sportiest cars. Remember that for every Super Duty 455 Trans Am and 460-4V Gran Torino, there were a bunch of lesser 350-engined Firebirds and 302-motored Torinos, all set to be surprised by this zingy little Bavarian.

This one was photographed in April of 2022 using a Fujifilm X-E1 and XF 23mm f/2 R WR lens.

Thursday, November 28, 2024

1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS Convertible


All new for '64 was the midsize Chevelle model from Chevrolet. Riding on a 115" wheelbase that split the difference between the compact Chevy II and the full-size Chevys, it was mostly aimed at younger buyers who didn't want the stigma of a "penalty box" frugal compact but wanted fresh styling and better handling than the big cars.

Just like the full-size Chevrolets, they came in three basic tiers: The stripped-down Chevelle 300, the better-optioned Chevelle Malibu, and for the super sporty buyer, the Chevelle Malibu Super Sport.

With distinctive "Malibu SS" badging on the rear fenders, the SS was only available as a hardtop coupe or convertible. The base engine was the 283 Turbo-Fire small block V-8 with a 2-barrel carb, rated at 195 SAE gross horsepower. A buyer could upgrade to the 4-barrel 283 with dual exhausts and get 220 horses. The Hi-Thrift 194cid and Turbo-Thrift 230cid inline sixes were also available as credit delete options for buyers who wanted to look baller on a budget.

All Super Sport Malibus had a floor shifter for the the 2-speed PowerGlide, or buyers of V-8 cars could opt for an all-synchromesh four-on-the-floor.

Motor Trend tested a Malibu SS hardtop with the 220-horse 283 and 4-speed combo and managed a 9.7 zero-to-sixty time and a 17.4 quarter at 80mph through the traps. Base price on the Tuxedo Black convertible in the photo would have been $2,857.

It was photographed in May of 2022 using a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS zoom lens.

1966 Cadillac Calais


For the 1965 model year, someone at Cadillac decided that referring to cars by numbered series names might be a little too fuddy-duddy and old-fashioned for the Space Age, at least on the cars in the lower end of the lineup. So the Series Sixty-Two, the closest thing there was to an "entry level" Caddy, got re-dubbed as the Calais.

Essentially a de-contended DeVille with less chromed bling on the outside, you could still option a Calais up to be every bit as plush as its more expensive sibling. (Power windows, power seats, AM/FM radio, et cetera were all standard on the DeVille but had to be purchased separately on the Calais.)

It could be had as a pillared sedan, a hardtop sedan, or a hardtop coupe. Unlike the DeVille, there was no convertible offering

The horizontal bar in the grille marks this Cascade Green Calais Coupe as a 1966 model. Under the hood was the Cadillac V-8, which in 1966 displaced 429 cubic inches, sported a four-barrel carb, and was rated at 340 SAE gross horsepower. The 10.5:1 compression ratio would have demanded premium fuel, but presumably that didn't matter to the Cadillac Man, who wouldn't balk at needing to spend as much as nine whole bucks to fill the 26-gallon tank on his Calais.

According to Car Life at the time, the motor was healthy enough to shove the 4760-lb coupe to sixty in 9.4 seconds and through the quarter in seventeen flat at 83mph. The car would float down the interstate at up to 115 with the optional 3.21:1 performance rear axle ratio, maybe a little faster with the standard 2.94:1, although acceleration would suffer a bit.


Base price was $4,955 (or $48,275 in current dollars) but by the time you added air conditioning, power seats & windows, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, and an AM radio, as well as a few other bits and bobs, you were looking at six grand. But hey, it was still the most reasonable entree to driving the Standard of the World.

This one was photographed using a Nikon D7000 and 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens in July of 2020 in Speedway, Indiana.

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

1988 BMW 325i Touring


Take the most acclaimed sports sedan of its day, with a zingy-yet-bulletproof inline six and a slick 5-speed manual gearbox, and then make a wagon version... but never officially import it to the USA.

This gray market E30 wagon makes me go weak in the knees every time I see it.

Apparently the origins of the 3 Series Touring came from a BMW engineer making a home-brewed conversion on an existing sedan.


Incidentally, this was the first wagon BMW ever offered for sale. The Black (or Schwarz if you want to sound like a fanboi) one was snapped in the top photo with a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens in November of 2022, and the bottom photo was also taken in that month, but with an Olympus E-5 wearing a Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 ED SWD. 

1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Impala Convertible


William Durant, a wagon maker who had just acquired Buick, founded General Motors in 1908 as a holding company with the intent to purchase more automobile manufacturers (he got the idea for the name from General Electric). To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, all the divisions got to build a new, special, extra-deluxe version of their top of the line car.

Chevrolet's anniversary car was an even higher-zoot version of their Bel Air that they dubbed the Impala.


Available as either a Sport Coupe or a convertible, the Impala was available with a variety of powerplants. The most vanilla was the 235 cubic inch Blue Flame six, the latest iteration of the by-then long in the tooth Chevy Stovebolt, rated at 145 SAE gross horsepower.

But why would you get a swoopy Impala with such a dull grocery-getter of a motor? Moving up the option list came three variations of the 283 Turbo Fire small block V-8: a single two-barrel carb version with 185 horsepower, a 230-horse 4-barrel, and the Ramjet fuel-injected 250 horsepower version. (The latter two were down a few ponies from the previous year because they now had 9.5:1 compression and hydraulic lifters to civilize them a bit.)

The real news, though, was the debut of the new Turbo Thrust 348 cubic inch big block V-8. In single four-barrel trim the 348 was rated at 250 horsepower, while the triple-two-barrel Super Turbo Thrust put out 280.

The Honey Beige ragtop in the photos was snapped in July of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

2017 Mercedes-Benz S550 Cabrio


There have been coupe versions of the big Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans since the C126 380SEC debuted back in the late 1981. They didn't hit US shores officially, though, until the 1984 model year, when the 500SEC went on sale here.

However, apparently leery of poaching sales away from the halo SL-class, there was never a convertible S-class coupe until the C217 cabrio made its appearance for the 2015 Benz lineup.

The S550 coupe and cabriolet replaced the luxo C216 CL coupes. Priced at a bougie $132 grand even before you get jiggy wit' the option sheet, the two-and-a-third ton ragtop was powered by a twin-turbo intercooled 32V DOHC direct-injection 5.5L V-8 putting out 449 SAE net horsepower through a 9-speed auto.

The example tested by Car and Driver (with the optional $5900 Sport Package) launched to sixty in 4.4 seconds and dispatched the quarter in thirteen seconds flat at 110mph. The engine's governor ensures you won't get a ticket for more than 132 in a 55. Impressively, all that heft went 'round a skidpad at 0.88g and stopped from seventy in 164 feet.

The example in the photo was snapped with a Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-80mm f/4 R WR OIS zoom lens in October of 2024.

Monday, November 25, 2024

1990 Honda Accord


By its fourth generation, the Honda Accord was all grown up, in more ways than one.

Road & Track had already done a comparison test of the third generation Accord sedan with the Mercedes-Benz 190E and the Honda more than held its own, such that the photo spread to open the article was a closeup of the car's snouts with their hood emblems switched.


The 1990 fourth generation sedan, like this Frost White example, was ten inches longer and seven hundred pounds heavier than the first Accord sedans to hit these shores in our bicentennial year as 1977 models. Back in the mid-Seventies "made in Japan" was still synonymous with cheap and shoddy, and the Accord did as much as anything to turn that rep on its head.

Those first Accords had 72 horsepower 1.8L CVCC carbureted four cylinders, while the 1990 Accord EX sedan Car & Driver tested had a 2.2L SOHC 8V motor with port fuel injection and 130 horsies. Backed with a 5-speed manual, this was enough to get the car to sixty in 9.7 seconds and through the quarter in 17.1 at 80mph. Sprightly performance for a 4-cylinder midsize sedan of the era. It'd run all the way up to 119mph and circle a skidpad at 0.79g, too.

While rumpled around the edges and showing some hints of rust, this thirty-year-old Honda is still plugging along.

It was photographed with a Canon EOS 7D and 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens in December of 2023.

1985 Toyota Celica GT-S Convertible


Debuting for the 1982 model year, the third generation of the Celica, the A60, was the last to sport the traditional front-engine, rear-wheel-drive chassis layout.

All convertible Third Generation Celicas were done here in the U.S. by ASC of California; 200 in the '84 model year and a few thousand for the '85 model year, which was the end of the line for the angular A60 3rd Gen body style. They were imported from Japan as notchback coupes and handed over to ASC for the roof-ectomy.

The coupe bodies had been specially reinforced on the production line in Japan, and the conversion work wasn't cheap. Base MSRP was a $6500 price bump over the $11k sticker on the hardtop GT-S.

This was a bunch of dough for the time; you could check every option box you wanted on a Mustang GT or Camaro IROC-Z and have a hard time hitting the $17k mark, and you'd get V8 power to boot, rather than the Celica GT-S's 2.4L 22R-E EFI SOHC four cylinder.

The U.S. market was hungry for convertibles in the mid-'80s, having gone through a serious convertible drought for the last decade or so, largely due to stringent rollover standards. The American Sunroof Corporation handled factory convertible conversions on everything from Pontiacs to Porsches. They didn't have any problem selling them


That angular look is so very mid-80s Japanese sports coupe. Celica/Supra, Subaru XT, Mitsubishi Starion, Honda Prelude...they all had that crisply edged style about them. It's also notable that back then you could still market a car as having sporting pretensions with a 116bhp 2.4L four-banger under the hood and a zero-to-sixty time north of ten seconds.


With only 4500 ever built, it's kinda cool that I've spotted three in the neighborhood (these two, plus another red one.)

The Super Red car was photographed in July of 2022 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and EF 28-70mm f/2.8L zoom lens, while the Gloss Black one was snapped with a Nikon D7000 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR lens in August of 2020.

Sunday, November 24, 2024

1961 Ford Thunderbird


The 1961 model year saw the debut of the third generation of Ford's Thunderbird coupe. The baroque rolling Wurlitzer look of the second generation cars was replaced with a sleek new shape styled by original Thunderbird design honcho, Bill Boyer.

With the second generation T-Birds having abandoned any tenuous sports car pretensions held by the original 2-seater cars by adding rear seats and a hardtop model, the third generation cars continued to carve out the "personal luxury coupe" niche that the Thunderbird had basically invented.

Just about the ritziest offering you could find in a Ford showroom and boasting a price tag in the neighborhood of four grand (over $40k in today's coin) before any options, the T-Bird came with standard features that were pricey extras on lesser models. All Thunderbirds had power steering, power brakes, automatic transmissions, and a neat new steering wheel that could be slid out of the way when the column-mounted shifter was in "Park" allowing the driver to enter and exit with grace and ease.


The only motor was available for '61, a four-barrel version of Ford's 390 cubic inch FE big block V-8, rated at 300 SAE gross horsepower. Car Life tested a ragtop and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 9.7 seconds and a 17.6 second quarter mile at 78mph. The Honey Beige hardtop in the photos would likely have been somewhat quicker.


This one was photographed in March of 2021 using a Fujifilm X-T2 and an XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R OIS zoom lens.

Saturday, November 23, 2024

1978 Pontiac Bonneville


Parked out in front of The Jazz Kitchen one summer Sunday afternoon a few years back was this super-straight '77-'81 Pontiac Bonneville coupe. It's a boat of a car by modern standards, but it's actually downsized from the Peak Boat era of GM B-bodies, 1971-'76, when the Bonneville would have stretched most of nineteen feet from stem to stern and sported a wheelbase long enough to park a pair of Smart ForTwos side-by-side between the axles with inches to spare.

I think this one's a '78 (in which case the two-tone colors are Desert Sand and Burnished Gold) or a '79 (which renames the colors Mission Beige and Sierra Copper), which would mean the base engine was Pontiac's 301 c.i.d. V-8 smog motor, putting out 135 net hp, with optional 350-, 400-, and 403-cubic inch motors. The latter was a 4-barrel Oldsmobile engine rated at 185 horsepower. Not a ton of grunt by the standards of the '60s-'70s muscle car years, to say nothing of the modern era, but it'd still get out of its own way.

In 1980, the increasingly strict CAFE regs caused GM to downgrade the base motor to Buick's 231 cubic inch V-6. The optional V-8s shrunk to 265- and 301-c.i.d. motors, plus the dire Olds 350 diesel V-8, which helped put an entire generation of Americans off the very idea of diesel power.

The late Seventies B-body coupes had really good lines, and made better looking by the fact that their 2-door full-size counterparts from FoMoCo got beaten badly with the ugly stick in their '79 downsizing.

This one was photographed in June of 2019 using a Nikon D700 and a 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens.

1996 Jaguar XJS Convertible


A 1996 Jaguar XJS convertible in Signal Red.

The basic lines on this grand tourer were twenty years old by '96, with the car having been introduced as the XJ-S in 1975. The hyphen went away with the light styling refresh of 1991 that followed Jag's purchase by FoMoCo.

Like my '94 Mustang GT, this is a design that predates the Euro pedestrian-protection standards that went into effect around the turn of the millennium. As a result, the sixteen-inch wheels and tall sidewalls of the 55-series rubber look oddly quaint after a couple decades of grocery-getter sedans and secretarymobile sporty coupes flaunting 18+" rims and 45-series (or lower) rubber.

They sure make a lot more sense on the bomb-crater pavement of Indianapolis, though.

The owner flashing both the Leaper and Growler on the hood is a mite busy for my tastes, but it's his Barbie doll and he can dress it how he pleases.


This '96 is from the last model year for the XJS. I was personally a huge fan of them... it was my dream car as a young teen ...but the XK8 that replaced it was a lot closer in style to the revered E-Type.

It was photographed in September of 2023 using a Nikon 1 V1 and a 1 Nikkor 32mm f/1.2 lens.

Friday, November 22, 2024

2009 Bentley Brooklands Coupé


The Bentley Brooklands Coupé is certainly one of the most bougie production automobiles of the current century, although referring to this largely handbuilt 1-of-550 monster coupe as a "production" car is stretching the definition of the word until it makes appalling creaking and groaning noises of the sort you would likely never hear behind the wheel of this luxobullet.


Made by literally welding a fixed roof to a Bentley Azure convertible by hand, the Brooklands Coupé is propelled by the ultimate iteration of the old Rolls Royce pushrod V-8, transformed by a brace of intercooled turbos into a 6.75L beast pumping out 535 SAE net horsepower and a tyre-melting (if you defeat the traction control) 774 lb-ft of torque, which Bentley pointed out was the most ever from a gasoline-fueled V-8 auto engine.

Tested by Car and Driver as though it were just some plebeian car, rather than an automobile, the big Bentley launched itself to sixty in five seconds flat and torched the quarter in 13.3, acceleration numbers made all the more impressive by the fact that this thing weighs every bit of three tons once the driver's climbed aboard.

All this power and exclusivity came with a base price of $348, 085, but it didn't take much playing around with options...like the nearly $30k carbon-ceramic brakes...to shove the bill over $400 grand.

The upper photo was snapped in October of 2020 using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens, while the lower was taken in March of 2023 with an Olympus E-5 and Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom.  

Thursday, November 21, 2024

1970 Buick LeSabre Convertible


Bobbi and I were having a late lunch at Twenty Tap back in July of 2021 when this Fire Red '70 Buick LeSabre ragtop rolled past. Fortunately I was able to stand up and grab a shot before the light turned green. I had the EF-S 18-135mm IS travel zoom on the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, and that let me take a shot that didn't require trying to crop a bunch of diners out of the picture.

The LeSabre nameplate denoted the most basic of Buick's full-size cars, originally beneath the Invicta and Electra. The Invicta eventually got subsumed by the Wildcat (which was in turn replaced in '71 by the Centurion.) Now that I know to look for the "Sweepspear" on Buicks, I can't not see it.

Also note the three vestigial chrome "Ventiports" on the fender behind the front wheel well. If it were the more upmarket Electra, it would have had four.

The base engine would have been a 260bhp 350 with a 2bbl carburetor. There were two optional 4bbl 350s; a low-compression one that would run on regular gas that was rated at 280 SAE gross horsepower, and a premium-fuel-only 10.25:1 compression version rated at 315. Top of the line was the then-new 370bhp Buick 455cid V-8, which was also a high-compression engine that required premium gas. The dual exhausts on this car mean it's most likely either the 455 or the higher output 350.

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

2017 Fiat 500e


Here's an unusual sighting this far east. The original U.S. market Fiat 500e battery electric vehicles were solely developed for to meet California mandates for zero-emissions vehicles and were only ever offered for sale in California and Oregon, the two states with the largest percentage of electric vehicle sales. They weren't even advertised outside of those two states, probably because Fiat supposedly lost more than ten grand on each sale.

The front wheels are turned by a 111 horsepower electric motor, powered by a 24-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. With an EPA claimed range of 84 miles, one can assume that the car wasn't driven here to Indianapolis from the west coast, or if it was, the driver had a lot of time on their hands and a heck of an extension cord.


Car and Driver tested a 2013 500e and noted an 8.4 second zero-to-sixty time and an elapsed time of 16.7 seconds in the quarter and an 80mph trap speed. Sticker price for 2017 was nudging $34,000 which is a lot for such a narrow focus car, if you ask me. It's sure adorable, though.

This one was photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in November of 2024. 

Monday, November 18, 2024

1977 Mercury Grand Marquis


Here's the less pretentious cousin of Lincoln's Continental, a Mercury Grand Marquis from 1977 in Dove Grey. It's hard to pick the year because they hardly changed between '75 and '77, but the Dove Grey color only showed up in '77, replacing Silver Metallic in the Marquis palette. Its current owner wants you to know it's packing the 460 V-8 with a bit of aftermarket badge work. 

You can tell it's a Grand Marquis from the wide bodyside rub strip that runs across the rear fender skirts. A Marquis Brougham would have had fender skirts but no rub strip, and a vanilla Marquis wouldn't have fender skirts at all, nor a vinyl roof. The Marquis and Marquis Brougham came with a 400 V-8 and the 460 as an option, but the big motor was standard in the Grand Marquis. Of course, by 1977 we were well into the Malaise Era and even the massive 460 (that's 7.5L if you prefer metric) only put out 197 SAE net horsepower.

This was the pinnacle of size for FoMoCo sedans, and among the very longest postwar autos. The mid-'70s Continental, Marquis, and LTD were enormous cars. The final year before the downsizing, a '78 Grand Marquis with the 460cid mill stretched 229 inches between the bumpers and tipped the scales at over 4600 pounds. That's nearly two feet longer than a current base F-150.

In the early '80s my mom's trusty Malibu wagon gasped its last and my folks bought the Mercury Colony Park station wagon the neighbors across the street were selling, basically a Grand Marquis that could transport a whole soccer team. Us kids thought it was cool because it had every plush-bottomed luxo feature in Ford's arsenal at the time. Alas, that experiment lasted only a week or so, if I recall correctly, before mom refused to continue trying to negotiate parking lots and narrow streets with that four-wheeled supertanker.

This one was photographed in August of 2023 using an iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Friday, November 15, 2024

1930 Chrysler Six Series CJ Royal Sedan


Chrysler's Six was thoroughly revamped for 1930 with the CJ series cars. Smaller than the full-size Chryslers and Imperials, the CJ sat lower to the ground and featured hydraulic brakes and suspension dampers.

Under the hood was the same trusty Chrysler flathead inline six, now displacing 196 cubic inches and rated at 62 SAE gross horsepower. Unlike the previous year's model, the new 1930 Series CJ sported a pressurized fuel system with a mechanically-driven fuel pump driven by the engine's camshaft, rather than relying on gravity feed from the tank to the carburetor float bowls.

With its combination of updated mechanical systems and wooden spoke wheels, the 1930 CJ was straddling the line between antique and more recognizably modern auto designs. In fact, Chrysler was a bare handful of years away from introducing the Airstream.

This example was spotted in Rochester, Indiana in September of 2013 and photographed with a Samsung Galaxy SII cell phone.

1979 GMC Caballero


While the Chevrolet El Camino dates all the way back to 1959, when they added an open bed to the 2-door full size Chevy Brookwood station wagon, it wasn't until the 1971 model year that GMC began offering their own version of it.

Christened the GMC Sprint, it shared the platform of the Chevelle sedan & wagon, just like its Chevy sibling.

For the 1978 model year, the Sprint name was changed to Caballero, Spanish for "gentleman" (literally "horseman") possibly to reflect the Spanish themed name of the Chevrolet original.

Riding on the Malibu chassis with the wheelbase stretched nine inches (to 117"), the Caballero had a bed that was a bit over six and a half feet long, capable of swallowing the standard 4'x8' sheet of plywood, if you didn't mind some of it sticking up over the tailgate.

The original '78 Caballero had an eggcrate type grille, while the horizontal bars and single headlamps on either side of the one in the photo identify this Beige-and-Camel Metallic two-tone example as a 1979 model. 

Standard under the hood would have been the L26 3.3L pushrod V-6 with a 2-barrel carb, rated at 95 SAE net horsepower. A buyer dismayed at the thought of trying to drive a pickup loaded with up to 1,250 pounds of cargo using such a dismal little motor could instead opt for either the 2-barrel 4.4L L39 V-8, which put out 120 horsepower, or the LG4 305 V-8, which made 160 horsepower with a Rochester Quadrajet carb.

This one was photographed using a Hasselblad Lunar and a Sony Zeiss T* 16-70mm f/4 OSS zoom lens in August of 2021.

Thursday, November 14, 2024

1966 Ford Mustang GT Convertible


The "corralled pony" in the middle of the grille with a horizontal crossbar but no corresponding vertical crossbar tells us this Mustang convertible is a 1966 GT model. Other GT tells are the fog lights, rocker panel stripes, and the (duh) GT fender badges.

The chrome accents make the styled steel wheels pop and the Nightmist Blue is such an attractive color on these clean-looking early First Generation 'Stangs.

The fender badges tell us there's a 289 Ford Small Block V-8 under the hood, and the fact that it's a GT means that it's either the 225 horsepower four-barrel motor or the gnarly K-code 289, rated at 271 SAE gross horsepower. Statistically speaking, it's almost certainly the 225-horse, or "A-code" motor. Of the slightly less than 5,500 K-code Mustangs sold in 1966, something like six percent went into convertibles. A GT convertible is something of a rarity in itself, representing only 12,520 of the over 607,000 Mustangs that sold that year.

This one was photographed in June of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

1955 Ford F-250


Ford's F-series of pickup trucks started with the 1948 model year. Called the "Bonus-Built" line, they were all-new designs, replacing the prewar carryovers that had resumed civilian sales after VJ day. They offered a stronger frame, V-8 engines were available at every level of the lineup, including the light-duty ½-ton F-1, and were the first domestic pickups to offer telescoping hydraulic shock absorbers, which were marketed as "Aircraft-Type" shocks.

The Bonus-Built trucks were replaced for '53 with the new "Triple Economy" series of trucks. This was when Ford went to the triple-digit nomenclature that has hung on to this day. The half-ton F-1 became the F-100, while the ¾-ton F-2 was transmogrified into the F-250.

The F-250 had a wheelbase eight inches longer than the F-100, at 118", and had a heavier duty suspension, rear axle, and 8-lug wheels. The wheels make it an unusual choice for hot-rodding, as disc brake conversions aren't really available, so the driver of the '55 F-250 in the picture is something of an iconoclast.

Engine choices for 1955 were either Ford's 223 cubic inch Mileage Maker  OHV inline six, rated at 115 SAE gross horsepower, or the Y-Block 239cid OHV V-8, which put out 130 horses.

This one was photographed in October of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

Monday, November 11, 2024

1994 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale


A few models in Detroit have enjoyed unusual longevity. The Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang, for example, celebrated their 71st and 60th birthdays, respectively, in 2024. Almost no other model name has had such an enduring run.

In the photo above is one of the closest: Oldsmobile introduced the 88 in 1949. Its predecessor, the 1948 Olds 78, was powered by a 257cid straight eight rated at 112 horsepower, but while it carried over the Futuramic postwar Olds styling of its predecessor, the 88 featured Oldsmobile's brand new Rocket V8. The 303 cubic inch Rocket had overhead valves, a 7.5:1 compression ratio, and put out 135 SAE gross horsepower.

The 88 nameplate remained in production through ten whole generations, and the Bright White 1994-'95 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale is an example of that final generation. (Its grille was slightly different to the '92-'93 models, and the car received a mid-cycle refresh that gave it a more rakish snout for '96, which is how we can pin down the model year.)

The tenth generation of the 88 was the second one after the car had gone to a front wheel drive platform in 1986, and this '94 Royale would be powered by the GM corporate 3800 V6. This was a Buick-derived port fuel injected pushrod 3.8L motor rated at 170bhp SAE net. When Car and Driver tested a '92 Eighty Eight Royale LS, they recorded an 8.8 second zero-to-sixty and a 107mph top speed.

Oldsmobile axed the 88 name after the 1999 model, finishing a fifty year run, among Detroit's longest.

This one was photographed in November of 2023 using a Canon EOS 7D and the excellent EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens. 

Saturday, November 9, 2024

1996 Buick Skylark Custom


Buick used the Skylark name on its midsize cars from 1964 through 1972. These were on the same GM A-body platform as the Chevrolet Chevelle and Oldsmobile Cutlass. After a brief hiatus, the nameplate returned on the smaller 1975 Skylark, which rode on the Chevy Nova/Pontiac Ventura X-body platform.

It made the jump to front-wheel drive in 1980 as the Buick flavor of the Chevy Citation and then spent the final years of the Eighties as an N-body compact, along with the Pontiac Grand Am and Olds Cutlass Calais.

For 1992, the fifth generation Skylark appeared, riding on a stretched and widened N-body. It had a weird sort of "beaked" chrome grille and came with either a SOHC version of the Olds Quad4 motor or the 3.3L GM corporate V6. The styling was weird and somewhat off-putting to Buick's normally stodgy buying demographic and so for 1996 it received a mid-cycle styling refresh with a more conventional snout, like the Bright White 1996-'98 Skylark Custom sedan in the picture above.

Available in two trim levels, Custom and Limited (the slow-selling Gran Sport got the ax), the refreshed Skylark had a more conventional dashboard, shared with its Olds Achieva stablemate, to match the more conventional nose. The base motor was now the 150bhp DOHC 2.3L balance shaft equipped GM corporate version of the Quad4, and either trim level could be had with a 160bhp GM 3100 pushrod V-6.

The Skylark name was retired after the 1998 model year, as was the entire idea of a compact sedan offering from Buick, unless you count the short-lived Verano model of the 2010s.

This one was photographed with a Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-80mm f/4 R WR OIS zoom lens in May of 2024.

Friday, November 8, 2024

1969 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ


Since its debut in the early Sixties, the Grand Prix nameplate had been used for Pontiacs large sporty coupes on the GM B-platform, analogous to the Buick Wildcat and Chevy Impala SS. For the '69 model year, however, Pontiac boss John Z. DeLorean commissioned an all-new Grand Prix.

This one rode on a stretched version of the midsize A-body platform, called the G-body, and was Pontiac's entry into the soon-to-blossom "personal luxury coupe" market. (The next model year, Chevy would launch the Monte Carlo on the same chassis.)

With front bucket seats, a console with a floor shifter, and a cockpit-like instrument panel that oriented the gauges and controls toward the driver, it fit in with the sporty image that DeLorean wanted Pontiac portraying.


Available in base or sportier "SJ" trim levels, powerplants ranged from a 2-barrel 265 horsepower 400cid V-8 to a snarling 390 horsepower 428 H.O. V-8 with a four barrel and dual exhausts.

The Castilian Bronze 1969 Grand Prix SJ in the photos has the 428 H.O. and was actually an original example with less than 14,000 miles on the clock being sold at the Mecum auction ony a mile or two down the road.

Car and Driver tested a 1969 Grand Prix with the regular, non-H.O. 428, which developed 370 SAE gross horsepower. Their test car had a 3-speed automatic and a 3.23:1 rear end and managed a 6.9 second zero-to-sixty time and a 15.3 second quarter mile at 91 miles per hour, topping out at a buck twenty. Price as tested was $5,674, which was pretty spendy for the era, more than you'd pay for a contemporary Hemi Charger.

This one was photographed in May of 2022 using a Nikon D7100 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

2001 Aston Martin Vanquish


Launched in the early Nineties when FoMoCo owned both Jaguar and Aston Martin, the DB7 actually began life as a replacement for the Jag XJS.

Canceled, then revived as an Aston, the big 2+2 grand tourer actually rode on a chassis derived from the one that underpinned the the V-12 coupe from Coventry. The first ones to hit dealerships for the 1994 model year were powered by a supercharged version of Jaguar's AJ6 3.2L inline six, rated at 335 SAE net horsepower.

For 1999, the coupe got its styling zhuzhed up a bit, the Vantage tag appended to its name, and a honking big 5.9L DOHC 48-valve Aston Martin V-12 shoehorned into the engine bay. This motor belted out 420 horsepower and made the DB7 Vantage a seriously fast car, even if its two-ton curb weight kept it from being blindingly quick.

In 2001, Aston launched its new halo car, the Vanquish, which looked for all the world like a steroid-enhanced DB7 V12 Vantage, distinguished externally mostly by the bulging haunches needed to enclose the monstrous 285/40 ZR 19 rear tires, but under the skin had a completely unique aluminum chassis with a central carbon fiber backbone, developed with input from Lotus.

Intended to go head-to-head against the Ferrari 550 Maranello, the Vanquish was a limited production (300 cars/yr) vehicle with an astronomical price tag and performance to match.

The V12 in the Vanquish was bumped up to 460bhp and zero-to-sixty times were in the mid fours with an honest 180mph top speed.

New, that Bowland Black coupe in the photo would have set the buyer back an eye-watering $235,600, or more than four hundred long in today's coinage. It was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens in October of 2024.


Tuesday, November 5, 2024

1973 Jaguar XK-E Roadster


For 1971 Jaguar introduced the Series 3 E-Types (known as the XK-E over here). Standard power steering, an optional slushbox in all models, and improved disc brakes at each corner were among the changes, but they weren't the ones that set tongues to wagging.

Externally the car sprouted newer, uglier bumpers with rubber overriders. To comply with US impact standards, cars sold in North America had grotesque, chunky rubber blocks affixed, to the front end in 1973 and both fore and aft for '74 and on.

While a few were still sold with the 4.2L DOHC inline six, the big news under the hood was Jaguar's new V-12. This was a 5.3L (326 cubic inch) DOHC motor that was initially intended to be fuel injected but debuted with four Zenith-Stromberg sidedraft carburetors instead. Stateside, this '73 Pale Primrose drophead two-seater would have had a 7.8:1 compression ratio and been rated at 241 SAE net horsepower.


Road & Track tested a 1973 convertible with a 4-speed manual, and the V-12 pushed the 3,450 pound ragtop to a top speed of 138 miles per hour. Acceleration was reasonable for the dawn of the Malaise Era, with a zero-to-sixty time of eight seconds and a 16.2 quarter at 89 miles per hour, and the big cat circled the skidpad at 0.73g, comparable to the contemporary Corvette or 911. (R&T lamented that the loss of compression ratio made the '73 noticeably slower than the '72.)

Base price back in '73 was $8,475 and the total for the magazine's test car, including $521 for air conditioning, was $9,665. That's $68,635 in constant dollars, but at the time it was a Corvette and a half, or half a Ferrari Dino.

This example was photographed with a Canon EOS M and EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM zoom lens in May of 2019.


Monday, November 4, 2024

1985 Chevrolet Corvette


The fourth generation of the Corvette appeared as a 1984 model (after a Corvetteless '83 MY at Chevy) and it was long overdue. The outgoing C3 'Vette, which had been around since 1968, was itself riding on a platform that was essentially a heavily refreshed C2 Sting Ray, which dated back to 1963.

The C4 was all-new for '84, except it carried over the L83 Cross-Fire Injection 350 small block V-8 from its 1982 predecessor, so named because it had twin diagonally-opposite throttle body fuel injectors mounted to the intake manifold. The chassis, brakes, and big 16" rims and Goodyear Gatorback tires promised big performance, but the 205hp L83 had a hard time delivering.

It fell to the 1985 model year, like this Bright Red example, to bring back performance and put an end to the Malaise Era, and it did it with a bang.

Under the hood of the '85 Corvette was the L98 350 small block, fitted with Chevy's new Tuned Port Injection setup, which featured equal-length runners sprouting from a central plenum and individual fuel squirters for each intake port.

The new intake setup raised the output of the 5.7L small block Chevy to 230 SAE net horsepower and 330 lb-ft of torque, which pushed Corvette performance numbers to levels that hadn't been seen since the demise of the big blocks in 1973.

Car and Driver tested a brace of '85 Corvettes, a base coupe with the 4-speed automatic and a car with the Z51 suspension package and the 4+3 speed Doug Nash gearbox. (The funky four-speed manual with an overdrive unit bolted to its ass end was because Chevy didn't have a 5-speed transmission that would hold up to the L98's torque output.)

The manual car ran zero to sixty in six seconds flat and did the quarter in 14.4 at 95 mph, while the automatic car cracked off a 5.7 second 0-60 and flirted with the thirteens in the quarter, smoking it in 14.1 seconds at 97 miles per hour. Both 'Vettes ran to an honest 150, too. C/D hadn't recorded Corvette acceleration numbers like that since the last time they tested a 454 Stingray back in 1972.

On top of that, the optional 3.07 rear end let the motor get closer to the meat of the powerband in top gear, enabling that 150mph top speed while still giving EPA Highway numbers in the low 20s. The new Corvettes also cornered at 0.84g and stopped from 70 in 182 feet.

These new TPI Corvettes out-accelerated the Porsche 928 or Ferrari 308 at a fraction of the price. The Malaise Era was over.

The one in the photo was captured with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in September of 2024.

Sunday, November 3, 2024

2001 Jaguar S-Type 3.0


Reaction to the FoMoCo era at Jaguar sure seems to be mixed among enthusiasts. On the one hand, it's undeniable that the infusion of cash in tooling and engineering plus the pooling of engineering know-how with Ford resulted in some much-needed updating of powerplants and reliability at the old British marque.

On the other, the addition of some lower-tier cars to the Jag lineup, ones which shared mechanical underpinnings with lesser FoMoCo products at that, does cause serious Jaaaag fans to cock a serious snook.

Still, sales of cars like the Carnival Red S-Type in the photo above helped pad profits and finance the halo cars farther up the Coventry hierarchy.

The S-type rode on Ford's rear wheel drive DEW98 platform, which also formed the basis for the Lincoln LS and the reborn eleventh generation Ford Thunderbird.


For the S-type in the U.S. market, available powerplants were the Jaguar AJ 4.2L DOHC V-8, one of the last in-house Jag motor designs prior to the purchase by Ford. Most, however, seem to have the base motor, which is the 240 horsepower AJ30 3.0L V-6, Jaguar's name for the Ford Duratec six.

This one was photographed in August of 2024, using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

1978 Chevrolet Camaro Z28


When I was younger, there was a sociocultural demarcating line between urban/suburban and exurban/rural America that I took to calling the "Camaro Line" after something that happened in my mid-twenties

In 1994 I was driving a 1979 Datsun 280ZX 2+2 and, though I'd grown up in the near-side 'burbs of Atlanta, Georgia, I'd gotten a job working at a pawn shop in the city of Cumming, in then-semi-rural Forsyth County. When a cool in-dash CD head unit came off pawn at the shop, I scarfed it up and called the local car stereo joint to get the bits I needed to put it in my car, which I told them was a "'79 Z-car."

I showed up and found a kit waiting for me..for a '79 Z28. Lesson learned: "Z-car" means different things in different places.

The regular production option code known as "RPO Z28", which defined performance Chevrolet Camaros in the early Seventies, had been discontinued for the 1975 model year in the wake of the first gas crisis.

After a two year hiatus, it returned as its own sub-model of the Camaro for 1977. The '77 Camaro Z28 was differentiated cosmetically from the base Camaro Sport Coupe by tape stripes and decals, but for 1978 the design got a thorough refresh, as seen on the Dark Camel Metallic example in the photo.

A sleek urethane nose cone of the type that its sister F-body, the Pontiac Firebird, had been using for years replaced the painted metal bumpers of the earlier car. The hood got a prominent NACA duct (fake) and the front fenders sprouted heat extraction gills (functional) and it all added up to a businesslike look.

Under the hood scoop was the trusty Chevrolet LM1 4-barrel 350 cubic inch small block V-8, which in various states of tune powered half everything in Chevy's '70s lineup. In the '78 Z28 is had a hotter cam and an 8.2:1 compression ratio and was rated at 185 SAE net horsepower.

In a period test of a 4-speed Z28 with a 3.73:1 Positraction rear end in the March '78 issue, Car and Driver extracted a respectable-for-the-Malaise-Era 7.3 second zero-to-sixty and a best quarter mile run of sixteen seconds flat at 91 mph. Top speed was measured at 123 miles per hour, and the power front discs and rear drums hauled the 3,560 pound Camaro to a halt from 70 in 181 feet.

Base price for a '78 Z28 was $5,604, and C/D's test car added optional 15" alloy wheels, the Posi rear, a heavy duty radiator, and some cosmetic and comfort stuff to bring the as-tested price to $6,819, which comes to about thirty-three grand in today's coin.

The one in the photo was snapped with a Nikon Coolpix S6500 in August of 2014.

Saturday, November 2, 2024

1970 Buick Electra 225


We've already peeped a 1970 Buick Electra Deuce and a Quarter, but it was a Burnished Saddle Iridescent ragtop, while this Sherwood Green Metallic example is a hardtop coupe.

As noted, 1970 marked the final year for the third generation of the Electra and the first year for the 455 cubic inch version of Buick's V-8.


That big motor would move the car with relative alacrity. Motor Trend tested a '72 Electra coupe, whose 455 made only 315 gross horsepower (250 net) due to having the compression ratio reduced to 8.5:1 so as to run on regular gas, and it still managed a 9.5 second zero-to-sixty and a 16.6 quarter at 86 mph. This 1970 would have had  370 hp motor with a 10.0:1 squeeze demanding premium leaded gas and been correspondingly a few ticks quicker.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D800 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in November of 2021. 

1966 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe


The 1966 model year was the second one for the fourth generation of Chevrolet's Impala nameplate, and some notable exterior styling differences set it apart from the previous year's model.

The lower opening of the grille was shrink and the pattern of the grille itself was changed. Around back, the six circular taillights, which had been a hallmark of full-size Chevys for most of a decade by that point, were replaced with six rectangular ones.

The '66 Impala also had chrome side molding to protect from door dings but at some point this hardtop coupe has had that removed and the mounting holes filled.


Mechanically, full synchromesh finally trickled down to even the base three-speed column-shifted gearbox. The base motor remained the Turbo-Fire 283 small block V-8 with a two-barrel carb, rated at 195 SAE gross horsepower, with the 155 horsepower 250 cubic inch Turbo-Thrift inline six as a credit delete option. 

Optional V-8s included the 220 horsepower 4-barrel version of the 283 as well as the 275-horse Turbo-Fire 327. For real fun, the buyer could opt for big block Turbo-Jet V-8s in the form of the 396, which was rated at 325 SAE gross horsepower, or one of two flavors of the new Chevy 427: the 390-hp L36, with hydraulic lifters and a 10.25:1 compression ratio, or the raucous solid-lifter L72, rated at 425 horses.

In a period test of a 1966 Caprice hardtop with the L36 427 and a 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic and a 2.73:1 rear end, essentially the same car with plusher trim and a different roofline, Motor Trend recorded a 7.9 second zero-to-sixty run and a best quarter mile performance of 16.3 seconds at 88 miles per hour.


The car in the photos was snapped in January of 2020 using a Sony Cyber-shot RX100 point-and-shoot camera.

Friday, November 1, 2024

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray


The big bulge in the center of the domed hood on an early third generation Corvette serves the same purpose as black and yellow stripes or rattly tail scales do in the animal kingdom; it's a warning that this is a car with which one should not trifle.

The one-word cursive "Stingray" script on the fenders and the all-black grille inserts tell us that this is a 1969 'Vette, and the "427" on the hood bulge and sewer-pipe-sized side pipes tell us that it is down to party.

For 1969 the absolute tamest 427 that could lurk in the engine bay of this Le Mans Blue coupe with a Bright Blue interior is the L36, with a single four-barrel Rochester Quadrajet, hydraulic lifters, and a 10.25:1 compression ratio, rated at 390 SAE gross horsepower. Opting for the L68 427 got you basically the same juice-lifter engine but with three two-barrel Holley carbs and 400 horsepower.

Next rung up the performance ladder was the solid-lifter, 11.0:1 compression Tri-Power L71, which made 435 ponies, and then there was the gnarly 4-barrel L88 which, despite having the same solid lifters as the L71 as well as a 12.0:1 compression ratio and fresh air induction to boot, mysteriously was only rated at a (completely fabricated) 430 horsepower. 

There was also the semi-mythical all-aluminum ZL1 427, of which only two were sold, and which was also rated at "430" hp. Like the L88, it required 103 octane Sunoco racing gas.

Of the big block '69 Corvettes, something like 10,500 were fitted with the L36, while there were only a couple thousand each of the L68 and L71. Only 116 L88 cars made it off showroom floors and into the wild.


In October of 1968, Car and Driver tested a 1969 Corvette coupe with the L71 Tri-Power motor, Muncie M-22 four-speed close ratio gearbox, side pipes (a $146.70 option!), and optional 3.70:1 Positraction rear end.

The car ripped off a 5.3 second zero-to-sixty run and a 13.8 second quarter mile at 107 mph. Price as tested was $6,573 (or $56,471 in today's dough), which price included almost two grand's worth of options. 

This one was photographed in September of 2021 using a Hasselblad Lunar and Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 OSS zoom lens. 

1952 Plymouth Cranbrook


Plymouth's initial postwar lineup consisted of the Deluxe, available in short or long wheelbases, topped by the long wheelbase Special Deluxe. For the 1951 model year, refreshed sheet metal and refreshed naming heralded what ad copy called "The New Plymouth".

The short wheelbase Deluxe was replaced with the entry-level Concord while its long wheelbase brother morphed into the Champion. The top of the Plymouth hierarchy was now occupied by the Cranbrook.

While other automakers were starting into their "longer, lower, wider" years, Mopar styling in the early Fifties was still resolutely upright, with tall greenhouses, largely due to the insistence of Chrysler's then chairman, K.T. Keller, that a gentleman should be able to operate a motor vehicle while wearing his hat.
K.T. Keller had a lot to do with the design of Chrysler's vehicles from the time he became president in 1935 until he retired from the presidency in 1950. Whenever mock-ups of new cars were displayed Keller would show up with a hat and two dairy containers in tow. As well, Keller was not a thin man, although not as hefty as George Mason at Nash. Keller would climb into the front seat of each car wearing his hat and jounce around. The stylists would be standing at the sides, watching Keller's hat. For if his hat hit the ceiling, the car's roof line would have to be raised. And he would do the same in the rear. Once that was done, he would open the trunk and put his dairy tanks in and close the lid. If the lid closed, the stylists breathed a sigh of relief. If not, work would begin to raise the trunk line. And now you know why Chrysler's trunks and rooflines were so high through 1954. The 1955 models were the first since the 1937 models not done under Keller.
The '51 and '52 Cranbrooks were powered by Chrysler's 218 cubic inch flathead straight-six, the basic architecture of which dated back to 1924. Installed in the 1952 Cranbrooks, like the Lido Green sedan in the photos, it was rated at 97 SAE gross horsepower, and backed with a column-shifted three-speed manual transmission.


This one was photographed with a Fujifilm X-T2 and an XF 16-80mm f/4 R WR OIS zoom lens in April of 2022.

1969 Chevrolet Impala Convertible

The fourth generation of Chevrolet's Impala launched for the 1965 model year and received a heavy styling refresh for 1969. More sharpl...