2009 Mercedes-Benz SL550

The R230, which was the fifth generation of Mercedes-Benz's sporty luxo-roadsters, went on sale for the 2001 model year and got a mild facelift in 2006. To extend its service life it got a much more radical makeover in 2008 for the '09 model year.

For that year the American market was offered the V-8 powered SL550 and the SL600, which had a twin-turbo V-12. (There were also much snarlier AMG versions on the menu.)

This is not to say that the SL550 wasn't plenty snarly in its own right. It was powered by the 5.5L E55 version of the M273 V-8. This was an all-alloy DOHC 32V motor which made use of variable valve timing and a variable length intake manifold to belt out 382 SAE net horsepower, plenty for even the big 4,233 pound droptop.

When Car and Driver tested the R230 SL550 in 2010, it cracked off 4.8 second zero-to-sixty runs and blistered the quarter in 13.5 seconds at 105 mph, roaring up to 157 on the top end before the governor cut off the fun. Price as tested was $114,175 in 2010 dollars, or $169k in current dollars.

This one was photographed in August of 2025 using a Sony a700 and a 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens.

2010 Pontiac G6

The G6 was introduced by Pontiac for the 2006 model year as its midsize car, replacing the outgoing Grand Am. The alphanumeric designation, I guess, was supposed to make it sound more modern and sporty.

Whereas the '05 Grand Am had been on the N-body chassis, shared with the Olds Alero and Chevy Malibu, the new car was on GM's global Epsilon platform, used on everything from the Fiat Croma to the Saab 9-3.

The G6 received a slight styling refresh midway through the 2009 model year, which this Summit White sedan has, creating a "2009½" model, however that was to be the final model year for all coupes and convertibles.

The basic sedan, a big seller to rental fleets, carried on through 2010, among the last Pontiacs made or sold, as the entire brand was a goner for 2011. This particular hooptie is almost certainly an ex-rental, with the normally-aspirated LE5 ECOTEC 2.4L under the hood, flailing out 164 SAE net horsepower.

This one was snapped with a Sony a700 and 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens in May of 2025.

1999 Mitsubishi Galant ES

The eighth generation of Mitsubishi's Galant sedan reached the American market for the 1999 model year, a couple years behind the domestic market.

In some ways it was a bit of a downgrade from its predecessor. The snout was a little more formal and retro and while the previous model had been touted for having multilink suspension at each corner, a novelty for a front wheel drive passenger bus, this generation reverted to a strut-type front suspension.

While a snarly 195hp SOHC 3.0L V-6 was on the menu, the base engine for the ES trim level was a 2.4L SOHC four-banger rated at 145 SAE net ponies. That's what's under the hood of this slightly rumpled Monarch Green Pearl one, backed by the optional 4-speed automatic.

This photo was taken using a Pentax K20D and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens in August of 2025.

1972 Oldsmobile 442 Convertible

By 1972 the lights were going out on the Muscle Car Era. Surging insurance rates were causing manufacturers to downplay power, and now Detroit manufacturers were advertising everything in SAE net horsepower anyway. Emissions controls had gotten stricter and compression ratios had dropped across the board.

The 442 was no longer a separate model, as it had briefly been, but an optional trim level of the Cutlass and Cutlass S coupes or the Cutlass Supreme convertible. So, to be absolutely technical, the car in these photos is a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Convertible 442, but nobody would call it that.

The 442 could be had with the L32 Rocket 350 V-8 with a two-barrel carburetor or the L34 four-barrel Rocket 350 V-8. On the menu were also the L75 Rocket 455 V-8, with a four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts, and... if you ordered the top of the line W-30 performance package ...the L77 Rocket 455.

1972 would be the last year for the W-30 and its snarling 300hp L77 455. The package was not available with air conditioning and came with a mandatory limited-slip diff with a 3.42:1 ratio (3.73:1 was optional.) Oldsmobile made it plain that the high performance motor, with its special alloy intake manifold, heavy duty cooling system, would not be able to match the forthcoming emissions controls in 1973.

In a sign of the times, Oldsmobile brochures for '72 didn't even mention power outputs at all (in '71 they only gave torque figures and no horsepower numbers) and dedicated a page in the full line catalog to how safe and low-emission the new Oldsmobiles for 1972 were.

The twin pipes on this one suggest it's got the optional L75 455. 

Hi-Performance Cars Magazine tested a 1972 Cutlass 442 coupe with the W-30 package and pronounced it a shadow of its former self. Even so, the torquey big block meant it needed to be babied off the line lest everything end up in a cloud of tire smoke. At Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, zero-to-sixty was accomplished in 7.1 seconds, with the quarter mile taking 14.4 seconds at 98 mph. The 3.42 rear gears meant the fun ran out at a buck fifteen. Price of the test car was $5,255, or about $40,600 in current dollars. That was a 60% price increase over the base $3,087 Cutlass coupe.

The one in the photos was snapped in June of 2025 using a Sony a700 and a 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens. 

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

The mid-Fifties was before Chevrolet offered a range of subcompact, compact, mid-size, and full-size cars. If you walked into a Chevy dealership in 1957, there were two basic cars: The 2-seat Corvette sports car, and the full-size Chevrolet.

The latter, however, was available in a bewildering variety of configurations. There were three basic trim levels: the 150, the 210, and the top-of-the-line Bel Air. Further, each of the three trim levels could be had in a number of coupe, sedan, and wagon configurations; see this '55 Sedan Delivery as an example. 

In the photo above is a 1957 Bel Air 4-door sedan (there was also a pillarless hardtop Sport Sedan as well as the pillared 2-door sedan), in Tropical Turquoise and India Ivory, classically hot-rodded on mag wheels and fat raised white letter tires.

Under the hood, buyers could opt for the 235 cubic inch Blue Flame inline six rated at 140 horsepower, the 265 cubic inch Turbo-Fire V-8 making 160 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor, and no less than six varieties of the 283 cube Turbo-Fire small block V-8 ranging from mild (185hp two barrel) to wild (283hp Corvette V-8 with Rochester mechanical fuel injection).

Transmissions on the menu were the single-speed Turboglide and two-speed Powerglide transmissions (the latter available with an optional manually-engaged overdrive) as well as standard and close-ratio three-speed all-Synchromesh manuals.

Motor Trend tested a '57 Bel Air sedan with the 270 horsepower dual-quad 283 Corvette V-8 and 3-speed manual and reported a 9.9 second zero-to-sixty time and a 17.5 quarter at 78 mph.

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

1991 Saab 900 Turbo Convertible

Saab's 99 evolved into the 900 for the 1978 model year. Like its predecessor, it had a longitudinally-mounted four cylinder motor up front, driving the front wheels.

The 1987 Saab 900's got a facelift, with integrated bumpers and a more aerodynamic nose.

The 1991 900 Turbo, like this Beryl Green Metallic convertible, had a 2.0L 16V turbo inline four, while the normally-aspirated models had a slightly larger 2.1L displacement. Now rated at 160 SAE net, the 900 Turbo was actually a fairly sprightly car for its era, with zero-to-sixty timer in the low/mid eight second range. The convertibles were burdened by an almost 300 pound weight penalty over the coupes bumping the 0-60 time to about nine seconds with a manual.

This one was photographed in June of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH zoom lens.

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1948 Ford Deluxe Tudor

The 1948 Fords were the last year of a body style and chassis that dated back to 1941, before civilian production had ceased for the duration of the war.

When civilian auto sales resumed after VJ Day with the '46 model year, Ford basically replaced the grille on the '42 models with one featuring heavy horizontal chrome bars and launched them as the new 1946 Fords.

While design work was happening behind the scenes for an all-new 1949 Ford, the 1947 and 1948 model years saw only minor cosmetic changes to the old prewar design.

Under the hood of the Tudor two-door (get it?) sedan you could get either a 226 cubic inch flathead inline six rated at 95 ponies or Ford's famed 239 cube flathead V-8 putting out a claimed 100 SAE gross horsepower. Both were backed by a column-shifted three-speed manual transmission.

The one in the picture, wearing a year-of-manufacture 1948 Indiana license plate, has obviously had the traditional hot rod treatment and is almost certainly sporting something beefier under the hood.

It was photographed in June of 2025 using a Pentax K20D and an SMC DA 16-45mm f/4 ED zoom lens.

2006 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx LT

For the 2004 model year, the Chevrolet Malibu nameplate was migrated over to the midsize GM Epsilon platform, which had debuted as the '02 Opel Vectra. This made it a cousin under the skin to an array of cars running from the Fiat Croma through the Pontiac G6 to the Saab 9-3.

The four-door sedan was joined by this funky five-door wagon, called the Malibu Maxx. It had a glass moonroof over the rear seating area like an old Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. While the sedan had a four-cylinder as the base motor in the value-leader LS model, the Maxx came in LT and LTZ trim with the GM High Value LX9 3500 V6, a pushrod motor displacing (as you might guess) 3.5 liters, and rated at 201bhp. There was even an SS version with a 240 horse 3.9L V-6. 

For a dull rental car looking transportation module, the Maxx was reasonably quick. Car and Driver's test car in the June, 2004 issue, an LT made the dash to sixty in 7.8 seconds and ran the quarter in 16.1 at 86 mph. Price as tested in LT trim was 

This Medium Gray Metallic example has the styling of the '06 mid-cycle refresh. It is starting to show nibbles from the rust monster around the rear wheel arches, and the driver's side fender looks a bit rumpled, but it's overall pretty straight. They only made the Maxx for four years, discontinuing it after the 2007 model year.

This one was snapped with a Nikon 1 J1 and the 1 Nikkor 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens in December of 2023.

1973 Porsche 911T

The 1972 model year saw the Porsche 911 get a displacement bump from 2,195cc to 2,341cc. Although the new displacement rounded off to 2.3 liters, the badging on the decklids of the new models proclaimed "2.4" in a little bit of stolen valor.

The 911T was the bottom of the 911 model range, and rode on 5.5" steel wheels instead of the wider light alloy ones of its more expensive siblings. It also had a lower output variant of the 2.4, putting out 157 SAE gross horsepower on 91 octane regular gas.

Car and Driver tested a '72 911T 2.4 and managed a 6.9 second zero-to-sixty time and a 15.1 quarter mile at 92 mph. Price as tested was $8,804, or $68k in constant dollars. I think the chonky rubber bumper blocks on this Aubergine 911T make it a '73.

This one parked across the street from me while I was dining al fresco in August of 2020, and I scooped my Nikon D7000 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens off the table at Byrne's Grilled Pizza and jogged over to get some photos.

2023 BMW M2

Middle age bloat, it seems, can come for the best of us. Subaru's Forester started as a scrappy little tall wagon and now it's the size of an early Ford Explorer, the Ford Thunderbird began life as a close-coupled two seater on a wheelbase very deliberately the same length as the Corvette's and in twenty years was a bloated 5,000lb hardtop on the platform of the Lincoln Continental Mk.IV, and the Honda Accord's wheelbase has grown almost twenty inches since the mid 1970s.

Similarly, the BMW 3-series has gone from a compact little sports sedan to a plush near-midsize car, and this means the sporting cars spun off from it, the M3 and M4 have ballooned in size, weight, and price.

The 2-series coupe and convertible that showed up in 2014 was something of an antidote to that. Size-wise, it harked back to the now-classic E36 3-series coupes.

Like those coupes, there was an M-version and 2013 saw the second generation of the M2. The original North American market E36 M3 coupe of 1994 was powered by the S50B30US, a 240hp 3.0L DOHC straight six. The 2023 version of the M2 is also powered by a 3.0L DOHC straight six, but this one, the S55, has a pair of intercooled turbos bolted to it and belts out 453 ponies.

The result is eye-watering acceleration: in Car and Driver's testing of the 6-speed manual version, 3.9 seconds was all it took to sprint from a standstill to sixty and the quarter mile flashed past in 12.2 seconds at 118mph through the traps. The eight-speed automatic was even quicker. (The E36 M3 performed those same feats in 5.6 and 14.3 seconds, with a 98mph trap speed, for comparison's sake.)

Alas, the 2023 second generation of the M2 is following the seemingly inevitable trajectory of all things automotive, having gained an inch of wheelbase and a hundred pounds of avoirdupois over the outgoing generation.

This Alpine White one was photographed in August of 2024 using a Pentax K20D and a DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED zoom lens. 

1965 Ford Mustang

The 1965 model year, which went into production in August of '64, marked the first full year of production for the Ford Mustang and the slogan was Total Performance.

The base engine gained thirty cubes, as the 200 cubic inch Thriftpower OHV inline six replaced the 170 cubic inch version, bumping horsepower by fifteen, to 120 SAE gross. Gone was the 260 cubic inch Fairlane V-8, replaced as the entry level eight cylinder by a 200hp two-barrel Challenger 289 cube small block.

Performance options were two different four-barrel 289 small blocks: The 225hp Challenger Special or the 271hp "K-code" Challenger High Performance V-8 with solid lifters and a 10.5:1 compression ratio. All engines except the Hi-Po 289 could be had with three- or four-speed manuals or the three-speed Cruise-O-Matic. The K-code came only with the four-on-the-floor.

Also new for '65 were an alternator to replace the generator found on the '64½ cars, and optional front disc brakes. The fastback 2+2 body style also appeared this year. The Wimbledon White hardtop coupe in the photos has tried-bar fender emblems with the "289" at the top, but no 289 "V" badge up by the nose, so it's hard to be sure what was originally going on under the hood.

Car Life tested a coupe with the 225hp Challenger Special 289 and Cruise-O-Matic and managed an 8.5 second zero-to-sixty time with a 16.8 second quarter mile run at 84 mph on the way to a top speed of a buck ten. Price as tested was $3,152 in 1965 dollars, or about $32,275 in 2025 money.

The one in the pics was snapped with a Nikon D7100 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens in June of 2022.

1967 Ford Mustang

The 1967 model year brought the first redesign of the original pony car, Ford's wildly successful Mustang. It was a subtle update. Wheelbase remained the same at 108", but a couple inches were added in length and width. Notably, room was added under the hood to allow installation of Ford's FE big block motors.

Body styles on offer remained the same: a notchback or fastback coupe, and a convertible.

The base motor remained the 200 cubic inch Thriftpower OHV inline six, rated at 120 SAE gross horsepower. The 289 V-8 was on the menu in three flavors: a two-barrel Challenger making 200 horsepower, a four-barrel Challenger Special rated at 225 ponies, and the snarling "K-code" Cobra hi-po variant that swung 10.5:1 pistons and slurped high octane fuel to belt out 271 horses. Finally, the 390 cubic inch Thunderbird V-8 topped the options list with a rated 320 SAE gross horsepower.

This Lime Gold 1967 coupe would have had the two-barrel Challenger 289 small block. Motor Trend tested a '67 coupe with the four-barrel Challenger Special and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 9.5 seconds and a quarter mile run of 17 seconds flat at 81mph through the traps, while noting a tested fuel economy of 15 miles per gallon.

This one was photographed in November of 2018 in Los Alamos, New Mexico using a Fujifilm X-E1 and a Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 lens.

1990 Porsche 944 S2 Cabriolet

The only open-air variant of the Porsche 944 sold in North America, the 944 S2 Cabriolet was not an entirely in-house effort from Porsche. As with many convertibles of the era, its life began with a unibody shipped to American Sunroof Corporation, better known as ASC. In this case the work was done at ASC's plant in Heilbronn, West Germany.

The cars were given a roofectomy by ASC, as well as having reinforcing plates welded in to preserve chassis stiffness and crashworthiness. After all that structural work, the bodies, still in the white, went back to the Audi plant in Neckarsulm where the drivetrains and suspension bits were installed. Finally, the largely-completed vehicles were sent to ASC again for the installation of the decklid, windshield, and other bits that were unique to the cabrio version.

Under the hood was the 3.0L DOHC 16V version of the Porsche inline four that had debuted almost a decade earlier in 2.5L SOHC form. The extra valves and displacement had bumped output from 143 to 208 SAE net horsepower. It could be backed with a 5-speed manual or three-gear slushbox, mounted at the aft end of the car to improve weight distribution.

In a Car and Driver test, the 944 S2 Cabriolet sprinted to sixty in 6.2 seconds and managed a 14.7 quarter mile at 97mph. It circled a skidpad at 0.84g and ran all the way to an honest 145mph. The price as tested was $52,295 ($129k in 2025 dollars), so you were paying rather a lot of money to look at Corvette taillights, but the build quality and structural rigidity of the droptop 944 was noted.

The upper photo was taken in September of 2024 using a Nikon D7100 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens, while the lower one was taken with an iPhone 6S in May of 2017.

1973 Dodge Charger

The Charger began in 1966 as a sporty specialty vehicle at Dodge that was intended to split the difference between Ford's compact-based Mustang and the Thunderbird personal luxury coupe. It was a swoopy-looking four seat fastback coupe based on the midsize Coronet (so as not to steal sales from the Plymouth Barracuda) available with a wide range of performance and luxury options.

The second generation Chargers that appeared for 1968 put a heavier emphasis on sporty and toned down the plushness, but the third generation 1971 Chargers, with their bold new "fuselage" styling, veered back toward plushness and toned down the performance message, with lower emissions and greater safety and fuel economy becoming increasingly important. 

The third generation of Chargers received a mid-cycle refresh for the '73 model year, becoming wider and slightly taller. Long gone were performance models like the R/T and 500, as well as fire-breathing Street Hemis and Six-Packs. You could get a base Charger in regular coupe or hardtop form like the one in the picture. There was also the plush Charger SE and the slightly sportier Charger Rallye. One notable difference from the previous year is that in 1973 hidden headlights were no longer available, even as an option.

Base Chargers had either the 105-horsepower 225 cubic inch Slant Six or the 150hp 318 two-barrel LA V-8 as the standard engine, backed with either a three-speed manual or Torqueflite automatic transmission. Order a Rallye or SE and the 318 was the smallest engine available.

Optionally, buyers could order the 340 four-barrel small block, now de-tuned with 8.5:1 compression ratio and smaller valves, but still rated at 240 SAE net horsepower. There were also two- and four-barrel versions of the 400 cubic inch big block V-8, making 175 and 260 horses, or the 440 cubic inch four-barrel that put out 275 ponies. The '73 440 Magnum RB block was a shadow of its former glory, but it was about as badass a motor as you could get out of Detroit in the closing months of the Muscle Car Era.

Speed & Supercar magazine tested a 440-cube '73 Charger and managed a 14.8 quarter at 92mph, while Consumer Guide reported a 10.0 second zero-to-sixty time from a Charger test car with the two-barrel, single-exhaust 175 horsepower 400.

The hardtop in the picture has been repainted and has an aftermarket hood, so it may have begun life as a Rallye, but who knows? It was photographed with a Nikon D7100 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens in June of 2022.

2015 Mercedes-Benz SL400

The 2013 model year saw the launch of the sixth generation of Mercedes-Benz's SL-class of two seat sporting luxo convertibles. (Well, most were convertibles. And most were 2-seaters, although the R107 could be had with a sort of vestigial back seat-ette which could accommodate pets, small children, double lower-extremity amputees, Peter Dinklage, or people you hated.)

Styling-wise, the new R231 was a little less overwrought than the outgoing refreshed R230, which had gotten a little carried away in the vents and strakes department.

Structure-wise, it featured extensive use of aluminum alloy, which helped counter the increasing weight bloat of all the bling expected in a $100k+ luxury sporter. Still, the SL400 in the photo would have tipped the scales at less than a couple hundred pounds shy of two tons.

The SL400 was the junior partner to the SL550. Instead of the latter's V-8, the SL400 had the first six-cylinder motor offered in an SL on the North American market since importation of the R129 SL320 stopped after the 1998 model year. Instead of the classic inline six of the 320, though, the 400 sported a DOHC twin-turbo 3.0L V-6, rated at 329 horsepower.

In a test by Car and Driver, the 2015 SL400 sprinted to sixty in 4.6 seconds and blistered the quarter in 13.1 seconds at 109mph. Price for the well-optioned test car was $106,335 in 2015 dollars, or $144,221 in current bucks.

This one was photographed in July of 2025 using a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens.