1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

This Cameo White Trans Am is a little bit of a puzzle. The rectangular grille indicates a 1973 model year, as does the hood scoop, which  says "455" rather than "455 H.O.".

For most Trans Ams, though, 1973 was the first year of the huge screaming chicken decal that covered the whole hood, while this one has the smaller bird on the nose cone plus the Admiralty Blue centerline stripe, like a '72 car. A '72 would also have an elongated honeycomb grille.

The 455 cubic inch engine in the Firebirds happened in response to a corporate edict from GM, that capped the compression ratio of all their divisions' cars at 8.5:1 so as to run on low-lead fuel. Pontiac decided that a 400 small journal V-8, thus neutered, wouldn't keep the Firebird competitive in the horsepower wars still raging, so they did the only thing they could do: Stuffed a 455 under the hood.

By 1973, the 455 Trans Am could be had in two flavors. The "455" on the hood scoop lets us know it that this one has the base engine for the Trans Am package, the 250bhp L75, rather than the optional 290-horse Super Duty LS2, which would have added another $550* to the MSRP and an "SD-" prefix to the decal on the shaker scoop. '73 was the first year that emissions regs began taking a really noticeable bite out of the Trans Am's output, with most previous reductions being a result of shifting from SAE Gross to SAE Net power measurement and some fiddling with numbers in the marketing department.

It's too bad it's not an SD-455, because the 1973 Super Duty Trans Am sent the Muscle Car Era out with a bang. Car and Driver tested one with a 3-speed automatic and the 3.42:1 Safe-T Track Limited Slip performance axle, and it cranked off a 5.6 second zero-to-sixty time and a 13.8 quarter at 104 miles per hour, with a top speed of 132 mph. It'd be the mid-1980s before TPI Corvettes and turbo Buick Grand Nationals would put up those kinds of numbers again. All this for $5,295... or about $37,500 in today's money.

The top two photos were taken with a Nikon D7100 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens in August of 2022, while the lower one was snapped in March of 2024 with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens.

*$550 was a steep option in 1973, when $2500 would buy you a whole Pontiac Ventura coupe.

1939 Packard Twelve Formal Sedan

Packard, like most producers of luxury goods, was hit hard by the Great Depression that started in 1929. They only managed to sell something like 15,000 cars of all models in '33 and '34. As the economy rebounded, however, so did Packard sales and soon enough they were back into the horsepower war with rivals Cadillac and Lincoln.

Packard had introduced the V12-powered Twin Six back in the 'Teens, but renamed it the Packard Twelve for 1933, aiming it right at the Cadillac V-16 and the V12-powered Lincoln K-series. The '33 Packard Twelve boasted a 446 cubic inch flathead V12 rated at 160 SAE gross horsepower.

By 1939, the Packard Twelve's powerplant had swollen to 473 cubic inches. Fed with a single Stromberg carb, it put out 175 horsepower, easily outmuscling the 150-horse 414 cubic inch Lincoln V12 and nearly equaling the mighty 7.1L Cadillac V16's 185 horsepower.

For 1939, the 17th Series Packard Twelves could be had in one of two basic flavors: the 1707 on a 134.4" wheelbase, or the 1708 on a longer 139.4" one. The 1707 could be had in eight different flavors ranging from a convertible coupe to a touring sedan. The one in the photos is one of thirty Model 1707 Formal Sedans built for 1939. 

Weighing 5,745 pounds, as a formal sedan it had seating for five, with three in the back and two up front (separated by a glass divider from the rear), plus a jump seat that folded down from the rear of the front seat for any friends you might run into at the opera who wanted to accompany you to the club afterward.

Price for this coachbuilt beauty at the time would have been $4,865, which comes to something like $110,000 in current-year money. A little bit of internet sleuthing shows that this particular 1939 Packard Twelve Formal Sedan once belonged to American Formula One champ Phil Hill.

It was photographed in June of 2023, using a Nikon D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.

1969 Jaguar XK-E Coupe

If the Jaguar XK-E, properly referred to as the "E-Type" in the land of its birth, isn't the best looking car ever, it's close enough that it's not worth having a big argument about.

Launched in 1961 as a replacement for the increasingly archaic-looking XK150, the XK-E used an aerodynamic body envelope drawn from the design of Jag's successful D-type race cars, rather than the old narrow hood and separate fenders of earlier roadgoing Jaguar sports cars.

Under the hood was the XK inline six from the XK150, with dual overhead cams, and cylinder heads with hemispherical combustion chambers and two valves per cylinder. In addition to the DOHC head, the E-type featured other technologies that were still pretty exotic for the time, including independent suspension and disc brakes at all four corners.

The 3.8L XK engine was bored out to 4.2L starting in October of 1964 for the '65 model year, upping performance even more. At the same time, a 2+2 was added to the lineup to complement the FHC (fixed head coupe) and OTS (open two seater).

The Series 2 XK-E, exemplified by the Cream colored Fixed Head Coupe in these photos, debuted for the 1969 model year with a slew of changes, most (but not all) of which were to accommodate increasingly stringent US emissions and safety requirements.

Dash controls were redesigned to be less likely to cause injury in crashes and front seat headrests were added. The ignition switch was moved to the steering column, now collapsable for safety. Externally, the plexiglass covers came off the headlamps, side marker lights were added, and the enlarged wraparound rear bumper required the taillights to be relocated lower, beneath the bumper.

The grille opening was enlarged for improved cooling from a pair of electric fans. Under the hood, the triple SU carbs found on the home market E-Type were replaced by a pair of 2-barrel Strombergs, causing rated horsepower to drop from 265 to 246 SAE gross on U.S. market cars.

Road & Track tested a '69 XK-E FHC against a Corvette, Mercedes 280SL, and Porsche 911T in June of 1969. With a base price of $5,775, the magazine's test car added wire wheels, tinted windows, A/C, and an AM/FM radio, bringing the as-tested price to $6,495 and curb weight to 3,020 pounds.

The Jag managed a zero-to-sixty time of 8.0 seconds and a best quarter mile of 15.7 at 86 mph on the way to a top speed of 119.

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.

1992 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

I know we just did the 1990 Corvette ZR-1, and the 1992 is basically mechanically identical, so this is just more of an exercise in 'Vette spotting cues than anything else.

For 1991, the C4 Corvette got a new, more aero nose, the molded "vents" in the front fenders switched from two vertical gills to four horizontal slots, and all 'Vettes received the convex rear and squarish taillamps of the ZR-1, so the only way to tell a '91 ZR-1 was a small ZR-1 badge on the rear fascia and the fact that its Center High-Mounted Stop Lamp was still externally mounted atop the hatch, while more pedestrian Corvettes had theirs integrated into the top center of the rear fascia.

The four-slot fender gills ran from '91-'96, so they don't narrow it down much. However this one has ZR-1 badges on the front fenders, also, and those were added in 1992. For 1993, the fortieth anniversary year of the Corvette, the 17" "sawblade" or "turbine" wheels received a shinier machined finish, replacing the matte cast finish on the '91-'92 cars, and then in 1994 the ZR-1 went to distinctive five-spoke wheels.

All that points to this Bright Red ZR-1 being a 1992 model.

It 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.

1975 Pontiac Grand Safari

In the mid-Seventies, Pontiac's wagons were positively enormous cars. For 1975, you could get the Safari, based on the Catalina sedan, and the Grand Safari, which was derived from the plusher Grand Ville Brougham and distinguished by its woodgrain flanks and deluxe interior appointments.

Both rode on 127" wheelbases, and cast shadows over 19 feet long on pavement that groaned under their 5100-plus pound curb weights. This Pinemist Green Grand Safari has rectangular sealed-beam headlamps, first allowed in the US for '75, and the Grand Safari model was discontinued for '76, so that narrows down the date range pretty well.

With a station wagon of this length, unloading the 105.7 cubic foot cargo bay in a small garage or other confined space could be tricky, so GM engineered a clever two-piece power-operated clamshell tailgate arrangement. The upper glass half and the lower metal tailgate would slide into the roof and floor, respectively, at the touch of a switch.

Under the hood, the base motor was 185 horsepower 400 cubic inch small journal Pontiac V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor. Optionally, a buyer who needed more towing oomph could spring for a large journal 455 4-barrel, boasting 200 SAE net horsepower and 315 lb-ft of trailer-yanking torque.

After the '76 model year, Pontiac's big wagons got downsized, and a 1977 Pontiac Grand Safari rode on a 115.9"wheelbase, shared with the Chevy Impala/Caprice B-bodies. No longer needed, the complex, bulky, and heavy Glide-Away tailgate was axed, along with the 455 V-8*, fourteen inches of overall length, and half a ton of curb weight.

This one was photographed in June of 2023 using a Nikon D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.

*Well, technically the 400 was axed, too. You could get a "6.6 Litre" V-8 in a '77 Grand Safari, but it was an Oldsmobile 403; GM engine consolidation was underway by the latter half of the '70s.

1979 Chevrolet Corvette

In 1979 disco was showing signs of its impending demise, and so, by all indications, was automotive performance.

The big block American V-8, already strangled by lowered compression ratios and emissions reduction systems, had all but disappeared from most American performance cars, with the 6.6 liter in the '79 Trans Am being one of the final holdouts. The fuel crisis sparked by the Iranian revolution, as well as increasingly stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy mandates would come for it, too.

Into this world came the 1979 Corvette, distinguishable from the '78 model mostly by its lack of 25th Anniversary badging. Under the hood, a less restrictive exhaust gave both the base L48 and optional L82 engines a 5-horsepower performance bump over the previous year.

That base L48 350 small block had an 8.2:1 compression ratio and was rated at 195 SAE net horsepower, while the L82 gave the buyer an alloy intake manifold, higher-lift cam, 8.9:1 compression, and 225 horsepower. Both could be had with either a three-speed auto or four-speed manual, and an L82 customer could also opt for a close-ratio 4-speed.

While the Corvette was still one of the quickest and fastest cars you could buy in America, that was damning with faint praise in the depths of the Malaise Era. Car and Driver tested an L82 'Vette with the 4-speed and optional 3.70:1 rear end and only managed a 6.6 zero-to-sixty time, while the quarter mile took 15.3 seconds at 95 mph. The car would pull all the way to redline in top gear, which resulted in a maximum velocity of 127 miles per hour.

All this could be yours for only $11,951 dollars in 1979 money, or roughly fifty-two grand in today's terms. The Stingray name was gone from the fenders and the sting was gone from under the hood.

The Black 1979 Corvette in the photos, with the Red interior, was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

1981 Lincoln Continental Mark VI

Ford went through the Oil Crisis of '73-'74 with the Lincoln Continental Mark IV as its flagship car, a nineteen foot long coupe weighing most of two and three quarters tons, powered by a 460cid V8 and which struggled to top 8 miles per gallon. It was replaced with the even-longer-but-lighter Mark V.

When the next oil crunch, triggered by the Iranian revolution, hit in late 1979 however, it arrived at the same time as a newer, smaller Continental Mark at the top of the Ford heap.

Debuting in autumn of 1979 as a 1980 model, the new Lincoln Continental Mark VI was almost a foot shorter and a quarter ton lighter than the car it replaced.

Where the final year of the Mark V had been powered by a 2bbl 400 cube V8, the newer car came with either a throttle-body injected 302 or a 351 Windsor with a 2-barrel Motorcraft carb. Since both motors were rated at 140 net horsepower (the 351 gave a slightly higher torque output at lower revs) and it was the middle of a gas crisis, few 351 cars were sold and it was dropped after the 1980 model year. Incidentally, this was the debut of fuel injection on Ford's 5.0L small block.

Motor Trend tested a 1980 Continental Mark VI coupe with the 351 V-8 and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of  11.1 seconds and an 18.1second quarter mile at 76 miles per hour. Observed fuel economy was a hair shy of 23 MPG.

Ford had intended to downsize the Mark more radically than they did by moving it to the Fox compact sedan platform used by the Fairmont and Mustang, but financial constraints meant that the Mark VI would be built on the new full-size Panther platform along with the regular Continental and the Town Car (as well as more pedestrian FoMoCo products like the LTD), which is why there was a Mark sedan for the first time since the label's revival in 1969. The Fox-platform Lincoln didn't happen until the Mark VII debuted for the '84 model year.

The car in the photo is an '80-'83 Lincoln Continental Mark VI sedan in Bright Red.

The top photo was shot in November of 2023 using a Nikon 1 V2 and the 1 Nikkor 32mm f/1.2 lens, while the bottom photo was taken in September 2023 with a Canon EOS 7D and an EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens.

1990 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

Chevrolet's fourth generation of Corvette debuted in January of 1983 as an '84 model, replacing the C3 'Vette, a.k.a. the Stingray, which had enjoyed an uninterrupted fifteen model year run.

With the introduction of the Tuned-Port Injection L98 350 Small Block V-8 in 1985, it brought performance back to the model line, after the dismal 200hp "Cross-Fire" dual throttle body injected 350 of the '82-'84 models. In '89 the clunky Doug Nash "4+3" transmission, needed because the Borg Warner T5 of the era wasn't up to the torque of the L98, was replaced with a proper ZF 6-speed manual.

Finally for the 1990 model year came the ultimate factory C4 Corvette option, the ZR-1.

GM had acquired Lotus in '86, and they proceeded to design a new 5.7L V-8 that shared nothing but its displacement and the spacing of its bore centers with the existing Chevy Small Block. An all-alloy DOHC 32V motor, it was largely built by Mercury Marine before final assembly and installation at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Known as the LT5, it was rated at 375 SAE net horsepower and 370 lb-ft of torque.

Car and Driver's test ZR-1 bolted to sixty in only 4.5 seconds, which was legit supercar territory in 1990 and still not too shabby today. It dispatched the quarter in 12.8 seconds at 111 miles per hour and topped out at a buck seventy-five. These wwer Ferrari and Lamborghini performance numbers, but with a GM warranty and a $51,500 price tag, roughly $124k in today's coin. Only 3,049 ZR-1s were produced that first model year, one of which is this Bright Red example.

They were subtle, too. The only external cues that this wasn't a regular 'Vette were those super meaty 17" rear skins (315/35-ZR17s mounted on 11"-wide rims) and a convex, rather than concave, rear end that had four squarish tail lamps rather than the traditional round 'Vette units. Of course, since most other cars would only be viewing it from the rear, maybe it wasn't that hard to spot...

(For 1991, all Corvettes got the convex rear, but the nose and fender vents mark this as a 1990 car, so it's a ZR-1.)

It was photographed in March of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1970 Buick GS 455 Convertible

1970 was probably the pinnacle of the Muscle Car era, and the GS 455 from Buick has a parking spot near the pinnacle of Detroit muscle cars.

For the 1970 model year, GM finally relaxed its corporate prohibition on engines larger than 400 cubic inches in midsize cars, and so the motor under the hood of the Skylark-derived Gran Sport swole up from '69's 400cid size to a massive 455 cube torque monster. The base version of the 455 was (under)rated at 350 SAE gross horsepower and 510 foot-pounds of torque. Order the Stage 1 package and horsepower was bumped to 360.

It had a Rochester Quadrajet 4-barrel carb, a 10.0:1 compression ratio, a lumpy cam, a pair of functional cold-air intakes on the hood, and drank premium gasoline at a 12.5 mpg clip. In a test, Hot Rod Magazine referred to this as "acceptable fuel mileage". Truly the past was another country.

Hot Rod Magazine's test car, a '70 hardtop coupe with a 3-speed TurboHydramatic auto and a 3.64:1 limited slip rear end (also part of the Stage 1 package), cracked off zero-to-sixty runs in 6.4 seconds and managed a 14.4 second quarter at 96 mph. With a four-speed and the right rear end, '70 GS 455's were among the few cars of the era that would legit run in the 13s on street tires right off the showroom floor.

The Diplomat Blue '70 GS 455 convertible in the photos lacks the Stage 1 badging, meaning it's got the garden variety 350-horse big block. It was photographed in March of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and EF 24-105mm f/4L zoom lens.

1985 Honda Civic Wagon

The third generation of Honda's Civic subcompact debuted for the 1984 model year here in the United States. Available as a hatchback coupe or a conventional notchback sedan, it could also be had as a five-door wagonette.

The wagon was a frugal little hauler. Base MSRP for the '85 model was only $6,999, which comes to about $20,500 in 2024 dollars. It was easy on gas, too, with EPA City and Highway mileage ratings of 34 and 45 miles per gallon, respectively.

Under the hood was a 1.5L (91 cubic inch) SOHC 12V inline four with a single 3-barrel carburetor, rated at 76 SAE net horsepower. Since the car only weighed a few cases of beer more than a ton, this was adequate for a normal person's propulsion needs.

Car and Driver tested a 5-speed manual '85 wagon and managed an 11.4 second time to sixty. The quarter took 17.8 seconds at 75 miles per hour, and the car would doggedly continue all the way to 95mph before running out of steam. (With the steep 4.27:1 final drive ratio, top speed was actually achieved in fourth.)

This Avignon Blue example was snapped in June of 2023, using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

2007 Jaguar XK Convertible

Automotive aesthetics can be an extremely subjective topic, but one opinion that's rarely controversial is when a car looks... a little long in the tooth. Jaguar's XJS (née XJ-S) coupe, introduced to supplant the classic XK-E back in 1975, was decidedly dated looking by its twentieth model year. It was supplanted by the more clean and modern-looking XK8 in 1996.

The XK8 itself soldiered on for a decade before being supplanted by a new XK for the 2006 model year.

The new XK, known internally as the X150, was more modern in every way than the car it replaced and, thanks to extensive use of aluminum, was several hundred pounds lighter in the bargain. You wouldn't guess it from looking at the cars, though.

While the XK8 had a lithe appearance intended to evoke the E-Type, the X150 went for a more brawny style. Instead of looking like it had muscular haunches, though, it looks to me more like it has cellulite hips, especially in the ragtop version with the lid raised.

Under the hood was a 4.2L version of the AJ-8 DOHC V-8 that had been powering Jags for the last decade, now putting out 300 SAE net horsepower.

Car and Driver tested a 2006 XK convertible with the six-speed auto and recorded a 6.0 second zero-to-sixty sprint and a 14.7 quarter at 98 miles per hour. This was definitely "relaxed grand tourer" performance for the era, leaving the big numbers to the supercharged XKR variants. The "leaper" on the hood of the '07 Liquid Silver convertible in the photos is an owner-added mod, looking somewhat out of place on the low snout of the X150.

The photo of the car parked in the rain was snapped in November of 2020 using a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens, while the action shot was from September of 2023, using a Nikon D7100 and the same lens.