1980 Jeep Wagoneer Limited

This was something that doesn't happen often. Myself and fellow Indy-area car spotter Jim Grey both caught this Russet Metallic 1979-1985 Jeep Wagoneer Limited, possibly the same day. Certainly we both saw it on College Avenue.

The plush "Limited" model of the AWD Wagoneer was introduced midway through the 1978 model year, and all Wagoneers, whether base or Limited, only came with the 360 V-8. Over fifteen feet long, with a two-and-a-quarter ton curb weight and boasting full-time Quadra-Trac four wheel drive, the V-8's torque was felt necessary.

Then came the '79 Energy Crisis, triggered by the Iranian Revolution, and so for '80, you could get your 4WD Wagoneer with either a 97bhp 258 cubic inch OHV inline six as a credit delete option, or with the standard 360cid American Motors V-8 fitted with a Motorcraft 2bbl carburetor and pumping out 127 SAE net horsepower.

The faux-woodie fad was starting to wane by the early Eighties, but it still signified the more luxurious version of most wagon models. I think those optional slotted forged aluminum wheels mark it as a 1980, but I'm no Jeep expert.

It was photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in April of 2024.

1986 BMW 325i Cabriolet

For the 1986 model year, thee second generation of BMW's 3-series, the E30, received a light styling upgrade. The top performance engine's displacement was bumped from the 2.3L M20B23 inline-six to the 2.5L M20B25, and the zoomy six was made available in North America for the first time. Finally, the convertible became a factory production offering. (The aluminum diving board bumpers wouldn't get replaced with more compact body-colored units until the major '87 mid-cycle refresh.)

In the go-go years of the mid-'80s, the 325i...especially the cabrio...was the "it" car for yuppies to have. If you were making a Brat Pack teen movie and wanted everyone to know the antagonist was a stuck up jerk of a rich kid, you'd have him drive a 325i. Its popularity even exceeded that of the 944 and the only reason that Miss Christina in the opening lyrics of David + David's smash hit "Welcome to the Boomtown" didn't drive one instead of a 944 is that "Cabriolet" doesn't rhyme with "pores".

They were zippy, responsive performers. Even the sluggards at Consumer Reports could granny-shift their way to a ten second zero to sixty time

The Cinnabar example seen here was photographed with a Hasselblad Lunar and a Sony PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS zoom lens in September of 2017.

1968 Ford F-250 Ranger Camper Special

1968 marked the second year model of the fifth generation of Ford's F-series pickup trucks. Available trim levels were the base truck, "Custom Cab", and the relatively deluxe "Ranger".

New to the engine lineup, and under the hood of this '68 Sky View Blue & Wimbledon White two-tone Ranger, was the FE big block 390 V-8. With a two-barrel carburetor and an 8.6:1 compression ratio, it was rated at 255 SAE gross horsepower.

This F-250 is a Camper Special, which came with a heavy-duty alternator, heavy-duty radiator, and wiring hookups in the bed for a camper.

It was photographed in September of 2021 using a Canon EOS 7D and an EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM zoom lens.

2004 Pontiac GTO

Few genuine car guys get as high up in the corporate hierarchy at the big automakers as Bob Lutz. After leaving Chrysler for GM, one of the projects he spurred along was importing the Holden VZ Monaro and re-badging it as a Pontiac.

With the F-body Firebird Trans Am having been discontinued after the '02 model year, the Excitement Division of General Motors was left with a lineup devoid of anything sportier than a Grand Am or Bonneville and, indeed, without any rear wheel drive cars at all.

The angst among Pontiac fans caused by the lack of the Firebird would hopefully be assuaged by labeling the Monaro as a reborn GTO, bringing back a legendary name in Detroit performance that had lain dormant for thirty years.

Under the hood would be the all-alloy 350 SAE net horsepower 5.7L LS1 V-8 swiped straight from the Corvette, backed with a 4-speed auto or a Tremec 6-speed manual. Car and Driver recorded a 5.3 second zero to sixty sprint and a fourteen flat quarter at 102 through the traps, noting that it was traction limited and would likely be quicker with beefier meats allowing harder launches.

Unfortunately, the reborn GTO had two strikes against it right out of the gate. First, the styling was criticized as tepid. The hood scoops were a late model-year dealer installed option, and while it had a true dual exhaust, both pipes exited on the same side due to the asymmetrical fuel tank location.

The styling complaints always struck me as odd, because the original GTO could not be told apart from a generic Tempest Le Mans coupe except by the badges and (fake) intake nostrils on the hood.

Probably more fatal was the fact that while the car was initially designed to go head-to-head against the Mustang GT, price-wise, a combination of cost overruns, the fluctuating exchange rate between the U.S. and AUS dollars, and good ol' dealer price-gouging for the RETURN OF THE GTO! meant that people wound up paying Corvette money for Mustang performance.

Sales of the the 2004, like the Barbados Blue one in the photo, were far weaker than hoped, leading to a scramble to revise the car for '05... But that's another post.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D3 and 24-85mm f/2.8-4D zoom lens in May of 2022.

2011 Saab 9-5 Aero

The 9000 started life as the least Saab-y Saab. Wanting an entry into what is referred to as the "Executive Car" market in Europe... "Midsize" to us Yanks ...the Swedes partnered up with Fiat and went in on something new for the the brand: A car with a transverse front engine layout.

Roomy and still having a distinctly Saab interior and powertrain, the 9000 sold here in the US from '85 through '97 before getting replaced by its successor, the all-new Saab 9-5. By this time the Swedish carmaker was half-owned by General Motors and so the new sedan relied heavily on a platform and mechanicals shared with both Opels and the US-market Saturn L-series sedans.

The first generation of the 9-5 remained in production for over a decade itself before being replaced for 2010 with the second, and final, generation of the model. By this time the auto manufacturing world was still reeling from the effects of the Great Recession and GM had been looking for a buyer for Saab for a while.

Spyker bought the company, and with it the new 9-5. The new car shared little of the essential quirkiness that made a Saab a Saab. Built on the same long wheelbase variant of the GM Epsilon II platform as rental fleet stalwarts like the Chevy Malibu and Buick LaCrosse, its Swede-ness was only badge-deep.

A 2011 Arctic White 9-5 Aero, like the one in the picture, had the 2.8L turbocharged General Motors LAU V-6 making 300hp. The crew at Car and Driver tested a 2011 9-5 Aero XWD and recorded a 6.3 second zero to sixty run and a 14.9 second quarter at 97mph. The fun continued until the governor kicked in at 158mph.

At the same time, the testers noted "Awfully expensive for a Buick LaCrosse, could use more power for the money." It didn't matter, though, because in a year, Spyker/Saab would stop paying vendors, declare bankruptcy, and Saab automobiles would be no more after 2012.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D7100 and the excellent 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens in July of 2022.

1998 Buick Park Avenue

The Park Avenue name originated as a trim level on the Buick Electra 225 toward the end of that car's days. When the "Deuce and a Quarter" was discontinued after the 1990 model year, Buick slapped the moniker on their full-size front wheel drive sedan for 1991, which shared the GM C-body platform with the large offerings from Caddy, Olds, and Pontiac.

The Regal Blue Metallic example in the photo is from the longer, heavier second generation of Park Avenues, which ran from the 1997 to 2005 model years before being discontinued and replaced with the Lucerne. They were powered by the ubiquitous GM corporate 3800 Series II V-6, which could be had in 240hp supercharged form if you sprung for the Park Avenue Ultra. The Ultra also got you some snazzy Ventiports on the front fenders, "Ultra" badges on the rear fenders, and a flush tri-shield logo badge on the snout instead of the stand-up hood ornament. By way of trivial knownledge, the base Park Avenues were the last Buicks sold in the US with stand-up hood ornaments.

Also by way of trivia, there was a third generation of Park Avenues, based on the Aussie Holden RWD platform that underpinned the Pontiac G8 and Chevy Caprice PPV, which were sold only in China.

It's interesting to me that they sold them under the "Park Avenue" name in China, although that name probably sounds as exotic in Shanghai or Beijing as naming a car "The Road", but in Spanish, does in Dubuque or Scranton.

This one was photographed in November of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1960 Chevrolet Corvette

1960 was the last model year for the old rounded tail on the first generation of Corvettes. The big identifying tell-tales for the model year are the fewer, heavier chrome "teeth" in the grille and the inset taillamps.

For '60, Corvette buyers had a choice of five different flavors of the Turbo Fire 283 cubic inch small block V-8. The base motor had a single 4-barrel carb, hydraulic lifters, 9.5:1 compression, and was rated at 230 SAE gross horsepower. Alternatively you could get the same motor with dual quads and 245 horsepower. Top of the heap of the lower-compression, juice lifter motors came with Ramjet Fuel Injection and put out 275 ponies.

If you didn't mind noisy valves that needed occasional lash adjustment, and a lumpy idle, there was a solid-lifter, Duntov-cammed, 270-horse 283 V-8 on the menu with dual 4-barrels, and if you wanted all that plus didn't mind shopping for premium gas, you could get the 11.0:1 compression fuelie motor rated at 315 SAE gross horsepower. Both of the high output motors came with aluminum radiators for weight savings.

Motor Trend tested a '60 Corvette with the 270-horse motor and 4-speed transmission and recorded a zero to sixty time of 8.4 seconds and a 16.1 quarter mile elapsed time at 89 mph through the traps.

This French Blue one with Ermine White coves was photographed in November of 2020 using an iPhone 7 Plus.

1975 Oldsmobile Toronado

The Toronado began life as something of an oddity in the General Motors lineup of the mid-Sixties. In price and plushness it was aimed at personal luxury coupes like Ford's Thunderbird. With a big block V-8 under the hood and swoopy styling, it was something of a high-performance grand tourer. The front-wheel drive setup and exotic instrument panel with a rotating drum speedometer marked it as something of a tech testbed.

Its first major restyling for the '71 model year moved it firmly into the "personal luxury coupe" camp, however, with the handwriting on the wall for hairy performance cars from Detroit.

By the '75 model year, like the Cameo White example in the photos, the Toronado now had all the latest NHTSA-mandated safety gear: front seat shoulder harnesses, 5-mph bumpers fore and aft, the works.

Under the hood was still a 455 cubic inch Olds Rocket V-8 driving the front wheels through a 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic 425 automatic transmission, but compression had been reduced to 8.5:1 to keep it able to run on the regular unleaded fuel required by the catalytic converter now corking the exhaust. Even with a 4-barrel Rochester carburetor, output was down to 210 SAE net horsepower.

In addition to being front wheel drive, this '75 Toronado hints at some other future trends, like auxiliary high-mounted tail lamps, and one of Detroit's first available airbag systems.

Another Malaise Era feature was a simple "fuel economy gauge"... actually just a vacuum gauge ...on the dash. It would have been necessary with a car that got 11mpg City and 16 Hwy, especially since gas averaged $0.57/gallon, which is $3.34 in today's dough.

This photo was taken in April of 2016 with an iPhone 6S.

1966 Oldsmobile 98 Convertible

It was only last year that I discovered the meaning behind the numbered Oldsmobile models.

Way back in the Thirties, Olds made two basic series of cars, the F-Series and the L-Series. The former were smaller and had an inline six engine, while the latter were larger and had a straight eight. By the early Forties, these were replaced by three models: the 60 Series, 70 Series, and 90 Series. The first digit would be the series number while the second signified the number of cylinders, so a 76 would be the middle series car with a six cylinder, while a 98 was the king of Oldsmobile hill, packed with every luxo feature they had plus an eight cylinder engine.

The car in the picture is from the second model year of the eighth generation of the Olds 98, being a 1966 convertible in Nocturne Mist. Power would come from the 425 cubic inch version of Oldsmobile's famed Rocket V-8 producing either 360 or 375 SAE gross horsepower, depending on the compression ratio.

"Step Out Front in '66 in a Rocket Action Oldsmobile!" boasted the marque's full-line brochure, and this convertible was as snazzy and out front an Olds as you could want that year. Base price was over $4400, or close to forty-five grand in current dollars.

This one was snapped in December of 2023 using a Pentax Q10 and the 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 02 Standard Zoom lens.

1962 Chevrolet Corvette

Since its debut for 1953, Chevrolet's sports car had received a steady series of styling and performance upgrades. The '56 model year saw styling "coves" sculpted in the car's previously smooth flanks, while the headlights were thrust forward pugnaciously. For 1958, the car went to quad headlamps, with separate high beams, following the trend at the time.

1961 saw the biggest styling change, as the rounded rump of the car was replaced by a creased ducktail with four round taillights, which were to become a perennial 'Vette styling trademark. The rear end resembled the tail of Bill Mitchell's Mako Shark show car and in fact was heralding the next generation of the Corvette, the Sting Ray. 

That next gen 'Vette was supposed to go on sale for 1962, but development work required pushing it back a year, so the C1 soldiered on for one more model year.

New under the hood for '62 was the Turbo Fire 327 small block V-8, created by boring and stroking the previous 283 V-8. It was available from the factory in four different states of tune. There was the single four-barrel base motor with a 10.5:1 compression ratio and hydraulic lifters, rated at 250 SAE gross horsepower. Optionally, a larger Carter four-barrel gave a 300hp rating. 

Then came the two fun motors, both of which had solid lifters, Duntov cams, and 11.25:1 compression ratio: a single four barrel motor rated at 340 horsepower motor, or one with Rochester fuel injection making 360 SAE gross bhp. Transmission choices were either the 2-speed Powerglide auto or a 4-speed manual.

The styling on the '62 cars had a lot of the "gingerbread" removed. Gone were the chrome strips surrounding the side coves as well as the option of having the coves painted a contrasting color. The inserts in the fender vents at the front of the coves were now matte alloy rather than bright chrome, and about the only brightwork left on the side of the cars was the ribbed rocker panel molding.

Car and Driver tested a pair of '62 Corvettes: A four-speed fuelie car and one with the base motor and the Powerglide slushbox. The base car made an 8.8 second zero-to-sixty run and put the quarter away in 16.8 seconds. The gnarly injected car, with 3.70 rear gears and no Posi, displayed wheel hop on the way to a quarter in fifteen flat at 95mph.

The Ermine White car with the Red interior was snapped with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens in October of 2024, while the Honduras Maroon car was photographed with an iPhone 7 Plus in April of 2016.

1989 Toyota Supra

Here's a Platinum Silver third generation (A70) Toyota Supra, which is maybe my favorite, appearance-wise. It also remains affordable relative to the increasingly-unobtainium 1990s-vintage A80 Supras. The color and wheels mark it as an '89-'91 model.

Normally-aspirated ones were reasonably quick for their time, with a DOHC 3-liter straight six putting out 200bhp. When Autoweek tested one back in 1986, it managed a zero-to-sixty time of 7.8 seconds.

The A70s were just a little on the plush side, and just a little too lardy to be considered sports cars, as though they were constantly reminding you of the "+2" part of "2+2". Think of it as a Japanese Camaro RS, with the Turbo version being a Tokyo-edition IROC-Z. (In fact, that was the subtitle for Car and Driver's initial test of the car: "Japan Aims at Corvette, Hits Camaro.")

This one was photographed in June of 2020 using a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens.

1977 Ford F-150 Ranger

Here's a 1977 Ford F-150 Ranger still out there puttin' in work. The '77 was in the latter half of the sixth generation of Ford's perennial best-selling F-series of pickup trucks. The F-100 was the most lightweight model, while the F-150 was a long-wheelbase truck with an eight-foot bed rated for 2,325 pounds of payload.

The Ranger came with flashier trim and a better appointed interior, putting it halfway between the base trucks and the Ranger XLT "cowboy Cadillac" trim level. For the F-150, engine choices were the 300 cubic inch inline six, or V-8s in 351, 400, or 460 cubic inch sizes.

Several varieties of Tu-Tone paint jobs were available. The Regular one painted a contrasting color on the roof, the Deluxe version put contrasting colors in the side panels, and the Combination, like this Light Blue & Midnight Blue Metallic example, had both the roof and side panels in the secondary color.

I don't know that it's strictly a daily driver, but I've seen it out and about in the neighborhood in every kind of weather but actual sticking snow, and at this point I can't say as I blame homie. It'd be a shame for it to get eaten by the rust monster at this point.

The upper photo was taken in October of 2022 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens, while the lower one was snapped with a Nikon D700 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in April of 2021.

1969 Chevrolet C10

1969 was the third model year for the Action Line, the second generation of Chevrolet's C/K series of light duty trucks.

The grille and side marker lights had changed from the previous year. The rear-view mirror in this Yuma Yellow long bed example has been replaced, since the factory one bolted to the headliner. It wasn't until '72 that Chevy started gluing truck mirrors to the windshield.

According to the fender badges, under the hood was the newest small block V-8 in Chevrolet's arsenal, the 350. In this case it's in the form of the 4-barrel LS9 rated at 250 SAE gross horsepower.

This one was photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1976 Buick Century Custom Coupe

For 1973, Buick brought the Century nameplate out of retirement, where it had been since last being used in the '58 model year, and applied it to their A-body midsize cars, which had formerly been known as Skylarks.

Available as coupes, sedans, and wagons, these were Buick's meat and potatoes models, filling the same market niche as Olds's Cutlass and Chevy's Chevelle.

For the 1976 model year, the Century received a light styling upgrade, with more sharply creased lines that matched the newly-legal rectangular headlamps. Sedans had their lamps stacked vertically flanking an upright formal chrome grille while the Century coupes had side-by-side headlamps in a more rakish and aero-looking prow.

To commemorate the Bicentennial year, Buick used special color names on '76 models, like Potomac Blue and Constitution Green. The Century Custom Coupe in the picture above is Judicial Black.

Standard equipment for the Century Custom Coupe was the 3.8L Buick OHV V-6 with a 2-barrel carb and a 3-speed manual transmission. Option motors included either a 2- or 4-barrel equipped Buick 350 V-8, and any engine could be paired with a TurboHydramatic 3-speed automatic transmission.

This photo was snapped in April of 2017 with a Leica D-Lux 3.

1997 Buick Riviera

The Buick Riviera as a distinct model (as opposed to a trim package name) debuted in the 1963 model year as personal luxury coupe intended to compete with Ford's Thunderbird.

It carried that banner alone for GM until it was joined a few years later by the Oldsmobile Toronado. By the late Sixties, the Riviera, Toronado, and Cadillac Eldorado shared a platform (although the Riv was distinguished from the other two by hanging on to rear wheel drive until the '79 model year.)

1995 saw the eighth and final generation of the Riviera, like this clean 1997 Medium Autumn Green example. The base engine was originally the 205hp GM 3800 corporate V6, with an optional 225-horse supercharged version of the same motor.

When Car and Driver tested a '95 with the blown V-6, it clocked a 7.2 second zero-to-sixty time and put the quarter mile away in 15.6 at 90mph. A governor shuts off the fun at 109, which is a shame in a coupe that looks to have the aero of a bullet train. This was pretty reasonable acceleration in those days for a luxury coupe that only weighed about an NFL linebacker short of two tons.

For the '98 model year, the supercharged 3800, now producing 240 SAE net horsepower, became the standard motor. The final Rivs were rowdier than anything seen since the old 455cid days of the late Sixties, and the ovoid styling and clean interior looked nice, but 1999 was the end of the road for the Riviera nameplate at Buick.

1996 Ford Mustang GT Convertible

The third year of the fourth generation of Ford Mustangs was a notable one. The 1996 model year saw the absence of the classic Windsor pushrod V-8 that, in one form or another, had always had a home under Mustang hoods ever since the start back in 1964. (Well, except for the cursed year of 1974, about which we do not speak.)

Instead of the classic 302cid "5.0" motor... which was actually 4.9 liters, but that doesn't look as cool on fender badges ...the '96 Mustang GT, like the Pacific Green convertible above, had a SOHC 2V version of Ford's new 4.6L Modular V8, rated at 215 SAE net horsepower. The power and torque outputs were pretty much the same as the 5.0L H.O. motor it replaced, but unavoidably came a few hundred RPM further along on the tachometer dial. The motor was also much smoother and helped improve the car's general NVH.

Performance was close enough that variations between individual cars were more likely to determine the outcome than whether the car was a '95 5.0 or a '96 4.6.

This one was photographed in December of 2023 using a Pentax Q7 and 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 02 Standard Zoom lens.

1990 Chrysler New Yorker Salon

The K-car front wheel drive platform arguably helped a moribund Chrysler battle its way back into the black from near-bankruptcy in the early Eighties, after it had been pulled from the brink by a government loan.

Other than trucks, the legacy RWD sedans, and the L-body compacts (Omni/Horizon/Charger/Turismo), pretty much every vehicle made by Mopar in the Eighties and Nineties was on a variant of the K-car chassis. The K-car platform was to Chrysler what the ground-beef patty is to McDonalds; shuffle a few basic ingredients around it and you can come up with a pretty good-size menu.

Need a sporty coupe? Shorten the K-car for the Daytona. Need a minivan? Stretch the K-car for the Caravan*. Need a largish sedan to replace the Diplomat & Fifth Avenue? Hey, check out the stretched K-car in the picture above!

That's a 1990-1993 Chrysler New Yorker Salon in Black Cherry Metallic. The Salon was a sort of base model New Yorker introduced in 1990, that deleted the hidden headlamps and the half-vinyl roof off a New Yorker Landau, had a simpler taillight treatment, and used a bluff chrome grille similar to the cheaper Dodge Dynasty. The corner of the car you can't see in the photo is all stove in, but it's in otherwise nice shape, including all four fake wire wheel hubcaps.

Power would have been provided by Chrysler's port fuel injected 3.3L 150bhp pushrod V-6, and sent to the front wheels via a 4-speed A604 Ultradrive automatic transmission made right up the road at the plant in Kokomo, Indiana.

When Car and Driver hung their test instruments off a regular '89 New Yorker, it turned in a 10.8 zero-to-sixty time and made it through the quarter one tenth under the eighteen second mark. Not any kind of race car, but enough power to merge safely.

Base MSRP on a New Yorker Salon was $16,342, which was several thousand cheaper than the Landau and came to $39,500 in current dollars.

This photo was snapped with an iPhone 13 Pro Max in December of 2023.

*To head off the tidal wave of ackshyually emails, the minivans didn't technically use the K-car chassis. They had their own platform...that used K-car drivelines and suspension.

1976 Chevrolet Nova

For the 1975 model year, the Nova was redesigned with a body that had more sharply creased lines to match the formal look that was in vogue in Seventies Detroit. It retained the 111" wheelbase and unibody-plus-front-subframe construction of the previous 3rd Generation Novas, and in fact carried over the rear axle and suspension of the older car. Up front, however, disc brakes were now standard equipment.

Available as a coupe, sedan, or a hatchback coupe it was a hit, and the brochures for the 1976 Nova lineup were prominently "Dedicated to the three million Novas before it."

Mechanically, the '76 model year was largely unchanged and could mostly be differentiated by a different pattern to the grille.

The Malaise Era was in full swing for 1976, and the engine choices were either a base 250 cubic inch inline six rated at 105 SAE net horsepower or one of two V-8s: the new-for-'67 two-barrel LG3 305, making 140 horsepower, or an LM1 350 V-8, which had an 8.5:1 compression ratio for compatibility with regular fuel and therefore put out 165 horses.

The standard transmission was a floor-shifted 3-speed manual, with an optional TurboHydramatic. If you ordered the 350 V-8, it unlocked the availability of a 4-on-the-floor. Either V-8 meant mandatory power brakes.

The stunningly well preserved Mahogany 1976 Nova hatchback in the photo was snapped with an iPhone 6s in April of 2017.

1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4

Mitsubishi launched its rakish Starion 2+2 grand touring sports coupe for '82 and at the time, it was fairly competitive with its domestic competition. The 280ZX 2+2 and Toyota Celica Supra both sported 2.8L inline sixes to the Starion's 2.6L turbo four, but the Mistu pretty much kept up, at least in the intercooled ESI-R variant. Within a couple years, though, the motors in the Supra and Z-car had swole up to three liters and the Starion was outclassed.

It was replaced in 1990 by an all-new car, sold as the Mitsubishi GTO in the home market and the 3000GT here in America. Replacing the longitudinal turbo four rear-wheel-drive setup of the previous car was a transverse three liter DOHC V-6.

In the base cars, this motor was naturally aspirated and sent 222 SAE net horsepower to the front wheels through either a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transaxle.

The performance version added a brace of intercooled turbos and was called the 3000GT VR4, signifying the "Viscous Realtime 4WD" system, sending power to all four wheels. It had active aerodynamics and four-wheel steering. All that gear came with a price, as the base MSRP for a 1993 VR4 was $38,492, or just shy of eighty five grand in today's money. 

With the 6G72 motor thumping out 300 (wink wink, nudge nudge, seriously underrated) horsepower, the 3000GT VR4 was plenty beastly for its time. While all that tech made for a chunky 3,860 curb weight, Car and Driver's 1993 test car managed a 5.6 second sprint to sixty, which would have been a supercar-only number just a decade earlier. The quarter mile was disposed of in 14.1 seconds at 99mph and the car barreled all the way to 155 before it couldn't push the air out of the way anymore. On top of that, the plushly-equipped, nearly-two-ton coupe circled the skidpad at 0.93g and stopped from seventy in just 161 feet.

3000GT VR4's like this Monza Red example are scarce sights in these parts these days, with most of them having been sucked into the black hole of the west coast import tuner scene. 

The one in the photo was snapped with a Canon EOS 7D and an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom lens in January of 2023.

1984 Dodge 600

Here's an unusually rust-free '83-'84 Dodge 600 sedan.

The 600 was the next step up in the '80s Dodge sedan hierarchy from the Dodge Aries. It rode on what Mopar called the "E-platform", which was the K-car platform with the wheelbase stretched three inches. This longer platform was not only used for the 600, but also the higher-zoot Chrysler New Yorker.

The numerical model name and angular styling was meant to give the car a vibe as being "Euro" and "Sporty" but there was only so much you could do to disguise the pedestrian underpinnings. The marketing materials introduced the new-for-'83 Dodge 600 as "America's Midsize Driving Machine", although the experience of driving one was definitely more Buick than BMW.

Looking at the sample here, the bright chrome moldings everywhere tell us it's not the sportier ES (which stood for "Euro/Sport") version, which would have all the brightwork blacked out, and the lack of vents in the hood tell us it's not a turbo car. The Garnet Red paint tells us it's an '84 model as the only red available in the launch year was the much darker Crimson Red.

Since it's not a turbo, power... such as it is ...comes from either the standard 2.2L Mopar SOHC EFI four cylinder, rated at 99bhp, or the optional Mitsubishi G54B "Silent Shaft" 2.6L four cylinder, which put out 101bhp. While the Mitsu unit was rated at almost the same power, it put out 140 ft-lb of torque at 2800 RPM, versus the 2.2's 121 ft-lb at 3200. Available transmissions were either an utterly banal 3-speed automatic, or a five-speed with a vague and rubbery cable-operated shift linkage. Torque steer was included at no charge, but fortunately the general lack of torque held it down to a dull roar in the normally aspirated cars. Early 2.2L Turbo Mopars would lunge enthusiastically for the nearest ditch if you got on the boost hard at launch.

Car & Driver tested a 1983 Dodge 600ES with the 5-speed and carbureted 2.2L and it wheezed its way to sixty in 11.4 seconds and through the quarter in 18.1 at 73mph. Their testers summed up the Dodge experience thusly:

Not liked for its driving environment, despite excellent seats, control relationships, and visibility. Very poor shifting, universally disliked instrument panel and interior decor, buzzing vibrations prejudiced all drivers against this otherwise promising upgrade of the K-car. Comfortable back seat, commodious trunk, but seems to lack tight fit and finish essential for quality "feel."

The one in the photo was snapped in February of 2017 using a Leica D-LUX 3.

1968 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible

A collaboration between Turin-based styling house Ghia, coachbuilder Karmann of Osnabrück, and Volkswagen in Stuttgart, the Karman Ghia gave VW a stylish 2+2 coupe to slot in above its sturdy little Beetle as postwar Germany became more prosperous in the mid-1950s.

While the underpinnings were pure Beetle, the voluptuous bodywork was old-fashioned coachbuilding. Rather than being bolted on, the fenders were hand shaped and manually butt-welded to the main shell. A convertible model was added to the lineup in the 1958 model year.

The round rear side marker lights, added for FMVSS compliance on US models, mark this Velour Red convertible as either a 1968 or 1969 model. The headrests, all in a unit with the seatbacks, say it's a '68, because the '69 and later models had theirs on struts.

The one in the photos is local and gets spotted fairly frequently. The upper photo, from August of 2021, was taken with a Nikon D3 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens, while the lower shot was with a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in October of 2023.

1967 Plymouth Barracuda Convertible

Ford's Mustang was one of the worst-kept secrets in Detroit as its April of 1964 launch date neared. The Falcon-based sporty coupe available in a wide range of performance and price levels threatened to upend the equilibrium of a car market where most Detroit companies only made two sizes of car.

In a crash program, Plymouth fitted a wraparound glass fastback and a 2+2 seating arrangement to their Valiant compact coupe and got the new Plymouth Barracuda into showrooms two weeks before the original pony car.

Both in terms of sales and performance, though, the Mustang trounced the original Barracuda, which had somewhat awkward styling and mechanically literally was a Valiant fastback coupe.

For 1967, a second generation Barracuda debuted, and while it still shared some mechanicals with the Dart/Valiant compacts, the sheet metal was all new and it was gorgeous. The coke bottle flanks and bobbed Kamm-esque tail were a one thousand percent improvement over the boxy, tail-heavy looks of the first ones.

The lack of side marker lights on the Bright Red ragtop in the photo mark it as a '67 model.

The base motor was that Mopar stalwart, the 225 cubic inch Slant Six. Optionally, buyers could spring for 2- or 4-barrel versions of Chrysler's 273 cid LA small block V-8, making either 180 or 235 SAE gross horsepower. Finally, if the shopper sprang for the Formula S package, they'd get cool badges, a suite of performance parts, and unlocked availability of the 383 cubic inch B-series Commando V-8. The engine bay had been widened enough to accommodate the big block, but there wasn't any room for a power steering pump, so not only did you get the quickest Barracuda, but also a tremendous upper body workout machine. The exhaust was more restrictive in the small car, too, so the 4-barrel Commando only made 280 horses, instead of the 325 it did in a Sport Fury.

When Car Life put a '67 hardtop coupe with the 145 horsepower Slant Six and three-speed TorqueFlite through its paces, they recorded a zero to sixty time of 13.6 seconds and a 19.4 second quarter mile at 70 miles per hour, and a 97mph top speed.

This one was photographed with a Nikon Coolpix S6500 in August of 2014.

1974 Lincoln Continental

The year was 1974, the dawn of the Malaise Era. The Hemi was gone, the Mustang was a Pinto, and all cars got a clunky 5-mph mandatory bumper hung off their ass end to match the one that had been disfiguring their proboscii since the previous model year. Next year would come catalytic converters and unleaded gas. Fuel injection was still uncommon and computers were things that took up whole rooms in college basements, so compliance with emissions and mileage rules was done via methods that look crude today and mostly involved miles of vacuum lines under the hood.

Into this world was born the '74 Continental above, appropriately painted a color called "Medium Beige", a soulless color for a soulless time. (Although when slathered over that much sheet metal it should be "Venti Beige".)

This was the fourth model year of the fifth generation of Lincoln's Continental, and it was enormous: 80" wide, roughly nineteen and a half feet long, riding on a 127.7" wheelbase, and weighing every bit of 5,362 pounds. Under the hood was exactly one powertrain configuration, Ford's 460 cubic inch big block V-8 with a four-barrel Motorcraft carb and rated at 215 SAE net horsepower, backed by a Ford C6 3-speed automatic.

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

1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe

By 1970 the performance wars of the Muscle Car Era had reached a crescendo and Detroit was starting to feel some pushback in the press as well as soaring insurance rates on higher horsepower vehicles. Pollution controls were already a thing and looked to only get tighter in the future. The leading edge of the Baby Boom generation was graduating college and entering the workforce & starting families.

The hot new vehicle was the "personal luxury coupe", which had been around in cars like the Thunderbird and Eldorado for a while, but was starting to spread downmarket. Mercury had a plusher Mustang in the shape of the Cougar. Olds and Buick had the Toronado and Riviera. Then came the workingman's personal luxury coupes: In 1969 Pontiac launched the Grand Prix based on the midsized GM A-body, but with a stretched snoot to give it those classic long-hood, short-deck proportions. For '70 it was joined by a Chevy platform sibling, the Monte Carlo, which had a successful first year, moving almost 160,000 cars despite a two-month labor strike at the Flint, Michigan plant where they were built.

Oldsmobile wanted some of that market share, but while Monte Carlos started at $3,100 and MSRP for a base Grand Prix squeaked a few bucks under four grand, the Olds Toronado was a plush, high-tech car with a Corvette-like over-$5,000 sticker.

The solution for 1970 was to take the A-body Cutlass Supreme and take a chunk out of its fastback profile, giving it a more formal roofline and the name "Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe". With a $3,100 base MSRP it could go right at the Monte Carlo and Cougar on price.

This Rally Red 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe has, at some point over the last half-century wound up with a Cutlass S badge on the nose, but the notchback roofline says it's a Supreme. All Cutlass S coupes had the fastback roofline.

The standard motor for the Cutlass Supreme was the 4-barrel 350 cube Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a single exhaust pipe, requiring premium fuel for its 10.25:1 compression ratio and rated at 310 SAE gross horsepower. Optionally, the buyer could get the SX performance package with either the L33 320 horsepower 2-barrel 455 or the 365 horsepower W32 four-barrel 455 Rocket V-8.

This one was photographed with a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS zoom lens in April of 2023.

1963 Pontiac LeMans

The first attempt at compact cars by General Motors devolved into something of a goat rope. Initially, everyone was going to share the unibody shell of Chevrolet's Corvair, but none of the other divisions were keen on the idea of an air-cooled rear engine car. Buick and Olds, further, were skeptical of trying to offer a vehicle on the short 108" Corvair wheelbase, which would make it cramped and out of step with their plusher catalogs, to say nothing of how much harder NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) would be to curb in a unit body car relative to a body-on-frame one.

So GM came up with a stretched 115"-wheelbase version for Buick & Oldsmobile, dubbed the Y-body, while Pontiac would try and shoehorn a front engine driveline into the Corvair envelope.

They did this by slicing the 389 cube V-8 in half to create a honking big 195cid slant four, mounting it in front, and then putting a transaxle derived from the Corvair's in the rear, with independent rear suspension, also cribbed from the rear-engine Chevy. The engine and transaxle were connected by a curved driveshaft only two thirds or three quarters of an inch in diameter, immediately dubbed the "rope drive" by the motoring press. Marisa Tomei's character explains all this to you in My Cousin Vinnie.

Most of that work, incidentally, was for nothing because at the eleventh hour GM headquarters relented and green-lighted Pontiac to use the longer Y-body platform.

The big four cylinder was the base motor, and optional was the Buick-designed alloy 215 V-8.

Initially there were no coupes when the Buick, Olds, and Pontiac compacts were launched for the '61 model year, only sedans and wagons, but, surprising everybody, the plusher, more powerful "Monza" model was the best-selling version of the Corvair, causing the other divisions to pile in with their own sporty two-doors. Pontiac's was called the LeMans. The coupe did have clean lines for the era.

1963 was the last year for the compact Y-bodies, as it was decided that for 1964 the Buick/Olds/Pontiac cars would move up to the midsize A-body used by the new Chevelle to fight against the midsize Ford Fairlane.

This LeMans (its own model for that year) had a new option for '63: The 326 V-8. It was essentially a de-bored 389 and weighed like a boat anchor, and it actually displaced 337 cubes but supposedly GM mandated that no compact car could boast a bigger motor than the Corvette's 327.

It was available in standard 2-barrel form, rated at 260 SAE gross horsepower, or a higher compression 4-barrel 326 H.O. variant with dual exhausts that made 280.  When Car Life tested a car with the 2-speed TempesTorque slushbox and the 2-barrel 326, they got a zero-to-sixty time of 9.5 seconds and a 17.0 second quarter at 81 mph, with a top speed of a buck fifteen. Price as tested was $2,953, or about $30,500 in 2024 currency.

There's an excellent, turbo-nerdy deep dive into the tale of the 1st Generation Tempest at Ate Up With Motor, by the way.

The car in the photos was snapped in September of 2021 using a Nikon 1 V2 and a 1 Nikkor 17.5mm f/1.8 lens.

1968 Pontiac LeMans Convertible "GTO Tribute"

Without a look at the VIN plate, this one is tough to call for certain at just a glance.

It certainly could be a de-badged 1968 Pontiac GTO ragtop.

Far more likely, though, someone has added an Endura nose, scooped hood, and GTO taillights to a 1968 Pontiac LeMans or Tempest. Ethical people who do this (especially if they go whole hog and add GTO badging) will call the resulting rides "GTO Tributes". Unethical people will try and pawn them off on unsuspecting buyers as real Goats.

I think the side marker lights in the rear fenders on this Aleutian Blue example are the giveaway. The Tempest & LeMans had the red side marker light lenses that were shaped like the Pontiac logo, while those on the GTO were shaped like a GTO badge. [EDIT: My bad. The GTO emblem shaped rear side marker lights were on the '69s.]

This one was photographed in June of 2023 with a Nikon D7100 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens, which is probably the best F-mount crop sensor zoom that Nikon's yet made.

1987 Ford Country Squire

The 1979-1991 Ford Country Squires were the end of the road for the full-size Ford station wagon with the classic woodgrain trim look.

By then, the "full size" Ford wagon had been moved to the new Panther platform, which meant it was on a wheelbase about the same size as that of a mid-Sixties Fairlane wagon and shorter than an early-Seventies Gran Torino's, both of which had been midsize cars for their eras.

The front end on this Midnight Canyon Red Metallic example marks it as a '79-'87 model, before the '88 styling refresh gave it a slightly more aero nose. Nosing around the internet and looking at year-to-year grille changes has me tentatively identifying it as a 1987 model, which would mean it has the 5.0L multi-port EFI V-8 rated at 150bhp (160 with the towing package).

This one was photographed with a Nikon D2X and 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR II zoom lens in October of 2023.

1980 Mercedes-Benz 300D

The W123 midsize sedans from Mercedes-Benz were the immediate forebears for what's now known as the "E-class" Benz. They were sober-sided, solid cars that broke sales records for the brand.

Launched in 1976, they were sold as coupes, sedans, and wagons, and came with an array of gas and diesel powerplants and both manual and automatic transmissions. These were found in roles as everything from taxicabs to junior executive cars all around the globe, but M-B North America only brought the higher-trim varieties into the U.S. market.

Stateside we could get either the 2.8L fuel-injected DOHC 12V inline-six rated at 142bhp or one of two diesels: the 62hp 2.4L four banger or the 77bhp 3.0L inline five-cylinder. After 1980, only the diesels remained, with the gasoline M110 I6 dropped to keep CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) numbers up.

The early-'80s (you can tell by the yellow lenses on the fog lamps; '76-'79 cars had clear ones) Mercedes-Benz 300D in English Red in these photos would be bog-slow, with a zero-to-sixty time that struggled to crack the twenty second barrier and a top speed of something like 90mph, but they got good mileage for their time and a well-maintained diesel Benz from this era is harder to kill than a cockroach. If you couldn't get 300k miles out of one, you weren't trying, and in an era when a car was considered completely knackered when its five-digit odometer rolled over, that was nothing short of miraculous.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D800 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in May of 2024.

1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible

Intended to have been replaced by the 3rd Generation Corvette, the Sting Ray stuck around for one last model year to allow the C3 to get debugged.

The lack of a hood bulge on this Sunfire Yellow ragtop indicates a small block V-8 lives under there, which in 1967 would be one of two flavors of 327. The base four-barrel motor had a 10.25:1 compression ratio and was rated at 300 SAE gross horsepower, while the L79 bumped the compression up to 11.0:1 and made 350 horses. Either one could be mated to a 3-speed automatic or 4-speed manual transmission.

You can tell it's a '67 by the four gills on the fender vents.

Road & Track tested a four-speed convertible Sting Ray with the base 300hp 327 and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 7.6 seconds and a quarter mile run of 16.0 flat at 86mph. Base price was $4,228, which is as close to forty grand in current money as makes no nevermind.

This example was photographed in August of 2021 using a Nikon D2X and 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens.

1972 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

Through the Fifties the Eldorado nameplate at Cadillac signified advanced design, sportier features, and could be found applied to coupes, convertibles, and even a couple sedans. For the '61 model year the Eldorado became a convertible coupe based on the DeVille series but with a more sporty mien.

In 1967, the convertible went away but, leaving just a hardtop coupe Eldorado, but even more significantly, the driven wheels moved to the front of the car, drawing on tech developed at sibling GM division Oldsmobile for the Toronado. The engine was still a big longitudinally-oriented V-8, but at the rear of the bellhousing was a massive roller chain shunting power to the Turbo-Hydramatic 425 3-speed automatic lying beside and below the engine block on the driver's side.

The Eldorado was completely restyled for the 1971 model year. The car's wheelbase had been stretched to a whopping 126.3" and the car itself was over eighteen and a half feet long. The sole powerplant was the 500 cubic inch version of Cadillac's V-8. An Eldorado exclusive at the time, the 500 was created by taking the 472 Caddy motor, which had been introduced for '68, and lengthening the stroke about a quarter inch. The enormous motor was proudly proclaimed by the "8.2 LITRE" badging on the Eldo's front fenders.

External changes for '72 were minimal. The "Eldorado" badging on the fenders and decklid was now in script rather than block lettering. Advertised horsepower was now given in SAE net rather than gross numbers, so while the engine itself remained unchanged (4-barrel carb, dual exhausts, 8.5:1 compression ratio) the output was adjusted from 365hp to 235hp.

This Palomino Firemist 1972 Eldorado convertible was snapped with a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS zoom lens in August of 2022.