1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The big bulge in the center of the domed fresh air induction 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 L88 which, despite having the same triple-deuce carburetor setup and solid lifters as the L71 as well as a 12.0:1 compression ratio 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.