called the Diplomat, which was a Plymouth with DeSoto badging and trim. I'm not sure what timespan they ran, but my stepdad's uncle had a 1941. I've seen pics of the '56 model, and pics of a '58 convertible, but never a '57.
That DeSoto grille never did mate up very well to the '57-58 Dodge/Plymouth fenders, so it juts out further than it should. The 1957 DeSoto Firesweep was an early attempt at downsizing, going to the shorter 122" Dodge wheelbase. A regular DeSoto that year was 126" and 218" long, while the Dodge was 214". With the way the grille stuck out, the Firesweep ended up being 216". It was about 200-250 pounds lighter than a "real" DeSoto, but 100 pounds of that was probably engine. I wonder if it was really worth the trouble. Seems to me they could've just offered a cheaper version of the "real" DeSoto instead of moving to the Dodge wheelbase.
As for the DeSoto Diplomat though, it did kinda make sense, as names like Chrysler, Dodge, and especially Plymouth meant very little outside of the United States market. DeSoto is a Spanish name, so it would work well in Europe and South America. However, American DeSotos were way too big to really make sense in most other countries, so they just used the Plymouth body as the basis for it.
I think the 1956 Diplomat is a rather handsome car. And I think the 1958 is kinda cool, although it looks like the grille sticks out a bit too far on either side. Odd, considering that by that time a Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, and Chrysler were all the same width. I wonder if the Plymouth front-end tapered just a bit? I think this is also one rare case where more clutter is actually an advantage. The "real" 1957 DeSoto, and Chrysler, were somewhat of a "grille-less" design, much like the 1986 Taurus, or even a Honda Civic or Dodge Intrepid where they don't have so much of a grille as they do a big air intake at the bumper level. It's an incredibly clean design. However, the Plymouth/Dodge front-end is more "traditional" for that era, and almost demands a more intricate grille. The '57 grille was almost TOO clean and plain, where I thik the fussier '58 grille works better. I think the quad headlights help alot too though. 1957 Plymouths and Dodges had an oversized turn signal that gave the car a quad headlight look, but the Diplomat and Firesweep just had a single headlight that wasn't enough to fill in that big area. The chrome "eyebrows" were a bit odd, too. I've always wondered what it would look like if you took them off of a Dodge, Plymouth, Firesweep, or Diplomat?
I can't find a picture of a real one, but here's a toy 1959 Diplomat. In 1959, the DeSoto Firesweep finally got its own fenders, instead of having to use Dodge fenders, so it looked much more like a "real" DeSoto. Looks like they were able to use the Firesweep front clip on the Diplomat.
The 1960-61 DeSoto Diplomats were essentially Dodge Darts with a few minor trim changes. They didn't bother to try grafting a DeSoto grille onto them, but that might make sense because by 1960-61, the Plymouth/Dart/big Dodge and DeSoto/Chrysler front-ends were drastically different from each other, and probably would not have swapped easily.
Here's a 1961 DeSoto Diplomat. There was a 1962 Diplomat, offered only in South Africa. I can't find a pic of one, but it was based on the 1962 Dart
The DeSoto name persisted on trucks after that though, and I hear that in Turkey and India, you can still get a DeSoto truck!
At the Bengals game... you see just about everything in the parking lot..
A local BB player... went to college locally, then was a journeyman in the NBA for 7-8 years... Has the big Mercedes coupe with the V-12.. It looks early-mid '90s.. With custom bodywork in the rear.. Instead of a spoiler, has had it re-done so the the trunk lid sweeps up into a little ducktail.. weird.. Oh, and spinners with carbon-fiber inserts.
Actually, none of it looks as bad as it sounds... tastefully done :surprise: , for what it is.. And, in perfect shape.. it looks brand new..
At Thomson-MacDonnell Cadillac, I used to see a few custom Cadillacs where they took the rooflines up 4-6 inches. I was told that they had some athletes as customers.
Maybe a relic of his glory days. Those V12 MB were quite the status symbol when new, now can be picked up for a pittance...probably a 600SEC or if newer, an S600 coupe. Nice car, but maintenance will be brutal.
Some of the period bodywork isn't bad, maybe it was an old Brabus kit or something. But spinners, I can't approve of those.
I have a late cousin who was a mechanic in Germany that bought nothing but new American cars. There are 3 I recall: A 1974-8 (?) Mustang II and a 2000 Pontiac Trans Am. Cost him a fortune to own them too. Extra taxes, gas, parking etc. His last car was a IIRC a '05 Opal Astra.
Quite a few American cars make it to Europe via servicemen stationed there. Fairly common in England, and ebay Germany usually has some oddities (once a Celebrity Eurosport was listed in Germany - I bet they loved that one)
I spotted what I think was a 1962 Pontiac Parisienne convertible in the Target parking lot today. The car was in presentable driver shape and was left with the top down.
This isn't the one that I actually saw. Mine was a little rougher and red. I never knew that there were Parisienne's before the late 80s.
an older (looked like the 50's) soft top land rover, outside the CHerry Hill dealership. Looked new. Pretty similar to the one the Brit man posted pictures of.
A Yenko SC Nova outside a gas station. COuld be a clone, but looked legit and "patina'd"
a few blocks from me, in the garage, a nice looking mid-60's Vette convertible. It was in one of those inflatible plastic bubbles, parked in the garage. Made it look like George Jetson's car!
a 1950's Ford (56 maybe), 2 door, red/white 2 tone, with a mild hot-rodding (nice burble) drove down my block a couple times Sunday. Must live nearby.
that was a name used on Canadian Pontiacs, and it roughly equated to a U.S. Bonneville in their model lineup. However, Canadian Pontiacs were actually a bit different from their U.S. counterparts, at least up through 1970 I believe. They rode shorter Chevy wheelbases, 119" through the 60's. Catalinas were, IIRC, 122" in 1960, 119" in 1961, 121" in 1962-68, and 122" in 1969-70. Bonnevilles and Star Chief/Executives were 124" in 1960-68 and 125" in in 1969-70.
The Canadian Pontiacs also used Chevy engines and transmissions, but Pontiac interiors and sheetmetal. They would have had to have modified the sheetmetal somewhere to put it on the shorter Chevy wheelbase though, and I'm not sure where they took out the length on a Chevy versus a Catalina. I know on a Catalina versus a Bonneville in that era, they took it out between the door and the rear wheel opening. It's more obvious on 4-door models, where the space between the back door and the wheel opening is much smaller.
I think in 1971 Canadian Pontiacs used the same wheelbase/body as the U.S. Pontiacs, but most of them still had Chevy engines. They did start importing Bonnevilles to Canada at some point though, and they were identical to the U.S. spec one.
By 1976 they were offering Catalinas in Canada as well. It must have made for a confusing lineup by then. The hierarchy went something like Laurentian-Catalina-Parisienne Brougham-Bonneville-Bonneville Brougham. Big Pontiacs weren't popular in the United States after 1972. I can't imagine them being that popular in Canada, which has a much smaller car buying base to begin with.
Also, through most of the 60's, Pontiac was considered an equal to Chevy, not a step up as it was here in the U.S. By the time they started importing Bonnevilles and Catalinas though, I guess they were trying to move Pontiac up a notch or two.
As for why we ultimately got the Parisienne here in the States, well Pontiac quit making big cars after 1981. They dropped the Catalina and moved the Bonneville nameplate to what had been the midsized LeMans, and tried to pass it off as a second wave of downsizing for big cars. Then they trotted out the smaller, lighter, FWD 6000, which ostensibly replaced the LeMans as Pontiac's midsizer.
Once big cars started selling again, Pontiac badge-engineered the Chevy Impala/Caprice (an '81 Bonneville was much more different than an '81 Caprice), and slapped the Parisienne nameplate on it in mid-1983. It sold through 1986, although the wagon, labeled simply Safari, was offered through 1989.
there was a Dodge Diplomat that was offered around 1950. It wasn't a separate model though, but rather what Dodge called their hardtop model. Back then, the various divisions usually gave different names to their hardtops, such as Bel Air, Catalina, Riviera, Holiday, etc. I think Plymouth's was called Cranbrook. DeSoto's hardtop was called Sportsman. I think Chrysler used circulated like Newport, Nassau, and St. Regis for their hardtops for a few years.
Dodge only used the Diplomat name for a few years though, and then replaced it with Lancer.
how about that little red mustang from the '64 world's fair? the only other things i remember are the red traveler's umbrella and the huge metal globe. one day saw a late model mgb red/black top. also, red/black mazda rx-7 convertible with bbs style sliver rims. a red honda del sol in a garage at the same house. at church, a white '58(?) cadillac 'vert with red leather interior. car seat in the back. i could have fit in the car seat when the car was new. some kind of better than new looking early/mid 60's white small rambler. while filling up, a beautiful yellow/black top 65 galaxie drove by. no ripples in the fenders or mis-fitting door on the side i saw.
2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
making a sacrifice to Mother Nature er, I mean, throwing leftovers into the woods down by the Dart for the critters, when I saw an AMC Eagle wagon drive by. Kind of a brownish-orange color. It didn't look bad from a distance, but that's not saying much, as I was about 150 feet away. Many junkyard cars look good from 150 feet away. It was moving under its own power, though.
I saw the oddest load on a car carrier today. It was a double decker. On top was a blue 67-69 Firebird, a lovely red ca. 66 Mustang convertible, and a yellow Ferrari 328. On bottom was an early 90s Mazda 323, a red 67-69 Camaro, and a silver RAV4.
I saw what appeared to be a '92+ Eldorado convertible. At first I thought it just had one of those fake carriage roofs, but on closer inspection, the whole roofline was a bit different, more closely coupled, the quarter window was shaped kinda funny, and there was no B-pillar. I didn't realize that any of these were turned into convertibles, but I guess if you have enough money, anything can lose its top!
Oh, I also saw one of those Rabbit/Cabriolet convertibles. Nothing to write home about, but I hadn't seen one in ages.
There's a Rabbit/Cabriolet for sale on the route of my morning commute. It's been parked on a corner with a for sale sign in the window for a LONG time.
Not nearly as long though as the Jaguar XJS just up the road. The owner (wisely) moved the car away from the street and into the carport. He now has a semi-permanent printed sign posted by the street. It's been there for at least a year... could be many more. :P
Across the street from the Jag, sits a late 60s Chrysler in a lovely shade of avocado that no one in their right mind would look twice at (except Andre!). It's been there for at least a couple of years. The sign in the window has faded to the point that the print is all but invisible.
By contrast, there was a mid-90s Corolla for sale on the same route that disappeared after 3 days.
Seems like his only proof is that he still has the MSO. I know currently at least for our state that we get the MSO for new cars and then when those cars are sold the MSO is sent to the State as part of the title application process. The customer never gets the MSO.
No idea if that was the case when and where this vehicle was bought.
Even if it's true, the only value is to let it sit in a museum or collection... Once you drive it, it is just an old VW Bug convertible... Plus, you'd probably have to replace a hundred different parts, since it has been sitting so long...
Yeah kind of a waste and even a vehicle that is never titled can have miles put on it.
It would just have to be driven on private property. Lay Leno has a fire engine that was owned by Warner Bros., at least I think it was Warner Bros. might have been Universal Studios, and was never titled. It has thousands of miles on it from driving around the Warner Bros./Universal lot but it was never registered.
but I don't think the factory offered a convertible version of the Capri. I remember the Mustang could be had as a 2-door sedan, 2-door hatchback, or convertible, but I think the Capri only came as a hatchback with that odd bubble rear window.
That one works. I wonder if it would have been easier to chop a Mustang coupe and put the Capri parts on that, rather than try to fabricate a rear deck to replace the Capri hatch?
I spotted a Lark Convertible on a lot full of Porsches, Bimmers and the like :confuse:.
The Lark was a brick red and appeared to be in good condition, I'm guessing it was a "late" one from '64 or '65.
I also saw a trio of Street Rods traveling together, they were all well turned out. Two were based on cars that are typicaly converted to street rods, a 37-38 Ford Fordoor and a Duece coupe.
The third believe it or not was based on a 1950s Mercedes coupe (Ponton). Fintail might not be pleased to hear it looked really cool (to me) with a dropped front end, side pipes and cycle fenders. :shades:
Whoa...I can't even imagine. Cycle fenders on a ponton?
Well, if the car was too far gone to save (and a ponton coupe is a very expensive car to restore correctly), I'm sure it's better than sending it to the crusher anyway,
Whoa...I can't even imagine. Cycle fenders on a ponton?
The best way I can explain it is that the only thing forward of the cowl that was from Mercedes was the grille (and Tri-star). The hood could've come off a deuce Ford or something similar but it was artfully integrated and everything was painted glossy black.
boy if you want to own the crappiest car ever built, buy a 50s era British economy sedan!
Oh man I'd LOVE to have that Detroit Electric, but with a 25 mile range, it would be to the post office and back, at best.
Peugeot Diesel wagon is very cool---they ARE good cars. That might be worth a bid.
Packard Woody Wagon -- I think 50 years is optimistic. I always have to smirk at people who tackle these things thinking they can "make" the wood in their woodshop. Think again, unless you are an expert shipbuilder. Compound curves on hardwood and no two pieces ever the same. Good luck!
but I think that '41 Buick actually has some kind of Godawful seat covers on it. The door panel trim looks like it's actually a pretty nice fabric, so I'm sure that the seats would have something to coordinate. I've seen that kind of seat cover on other old cars though. I think it's some kind of woven vinyl, roughly the texture and quality of outdoor lawn furniture.
That '78 Delta 88 is actually a nice color combo...that medium blue metallic with the white top and white vinyl. Too bad they pimped it up with those rims. And I have no idea what's up with those door panels. They look like just slabs of white vinyl. Kinda funny that the dude would blow all that money on those stupid wheels, and then put them on a car that it appears you can open up with a screwdriver.
You're probably right about the seat covers. I was trying to remember when vinyl was new and trendy and was sold as something higher line than cloth, but I think that was postwar. Those seats in that car really do look like lawn furniture, just an unpleasant texture for a long drive.
really made it big in 1955. They touted it as a new wonder material, because it was easier to wipe clean than cloth was, and also allowed for brighter colors that made the interiors seem much more airy and less stuffy.
Now there were vinyls around prior to that, but it seems like 1955 was when the stuff became really popular. Also, those older vinyls seemed a bit different in texture. Thinner somehow, and stuff that would get kind of crunchy and brittle as it aged. By 1957 though, at least in the case of my DeSoto, the vinyls were pretty much like the modern stuff we saw in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. It would still fade and tear, but didn't seem to get hard and brittle.
And there was some kind of fake stuff that they used way back in the old days that I always called vinyl, but I guess it wasn't petroleum-based. I guess that was naugahyde or something like that?
Comments
Interesting color.
What's the dumpy little car in the driveway behind it?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Yeah that's a Renault R4...most memorable in it being the car Danny DeVito drove over a waterfall in 'Romancing the Stone'.
That DeSoto grille never did mate up very well to the '57-58 Dodge/Plymouth fenders, so it juts out further than it should. The 1957 DeSoto Firesweep was an early attempt at downsizing, going to the shorter 122" Dodge wheelbase. A regular DeSoto that year was 126" and 218" long, while the Dodge was 214". With the way the grille stuck out, the Firesweep ended up being 216". It was about 200-250 pounds lighter than a "real" DeSoto, but 100 pounds of that was probably engine. I wonder if it was really worth the trouble. Seems to me they could've just offered a cheaper version of the "real" DeSoto instead of moving to the Dodge wheelbase.
As for the DeSoto Diplomat though, it did kinda make sense, as names like Chrysler, Dodge, and especially Plymouth meant very little outside of the United States market. DeSoto is a Spanish name, so it would work well in Europe and South America. However, American DeSotos were way too big to really make sense in most other countries, so they just used the Plymouth body as the basis for it.
I think the 1956 Diplomat is a rather handsome car. And I think the 1958 is kinda cool, although it looks like the grille sticks out a bit too far on either side. Odd, considering that by that time a Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, and Chrysler were all the same width. I wonder if the Plymouth front-end tapered just a bit? I think this is also one rare case where more clutter is actually an advantage. The "real" 1957 DeSoto, and Chrysler, were somewhat of a "grille-less" design, much like the 1986 Taurus, or even a Honda Civic or Dodge Intrepid where they don't have so much of a grille as they do a big air intake at the bumper level. It's an incredibly clean design. However, the Plymouth/Dodge front-end is more "traditional" for that era, and almost demands a more intricate grille. The '57 grille was almost TOO clean and plain, where I thik the fussier '58 grille works better. I think the quad headlights help alot too though. 1957 Plymouths and Dodges had an oversized turn signal that gave the car a quad headlight look, but the Diplomat and Firesweep just had a single headlight that wasn't enough to fill in that big area. The chrome "eyebrows" were a bit odd, too. I've always wondered what it would look like if you took them off of a Dodge, Plymouth, Firesweep, or Diplomat?
I can't find a picture of a real one, but here's a toy 1959 Diplomat. In 1959, the DeSoto Firesweep finally got its own fenders, instead of having to use Dodge fenders, so it looked much more like a "real" DeSoto. Looks like they were able to use the Firesweep front clip on the Diplomat.
The 1960-61 DeSoto Diplomats were essentially Dodge Darts with a few minor trim changes. They didn't bother to try grafting a DeSoto grille onto them, but that might make sense because by 1960-61, the Plymouth/Dart/big Dodge and DeSoto/Chrysler front-ends were drastically different from each other, and probably would not have swapped easily.
Here's a 1961 DeSoto Diplomat. There was a 1962 Diplomat, offered only in South Africa. I can't find a pic of one, but it was based on the 1962 Dart
The DeSoto name persisted on trucks after that though, and I hear that in Turkey and India, you can still get a DeSoto truck!
A local BB player... went to college locally, then was a journeyman in the NBA for 7-8 years... Has the big Mercedes coupe with the V-12.. It looks early-mid '90s.. With custom bodywork in the rear.. Instead of a spoiler, has had it re-done so the the trunk lid sweeps up into a little ducktail.. weird.. Oh, and spinners with carbon-fiber inserts.
Actually, none of it looks as bad as it sounds... tastefully done :surprise: , for what it is.. And, in perfect shape.. it looks brand new..
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Slick, elegant looking vehicles.
Some of the period bodywork isn't bad, maybe it was an old Brabus kit or something. But spinners, I can't approve of those.
Funny how there was at least a limited export market for traditional American cars at one time...the brands still had cachet.
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Quite a few American cars make it to Europe via servicemen stationed there. Fairly common in England, and ebay Germany usually has some oddities (once a Celebrity Eurosport was listed in Germany - I bet they loved that one)
This isn't the one that I actually saw. Mine was a little rougher and red. I never knew that there were Parisienne's before the late 80s.
an older (looked like the 50's) soft top land rover, outside the CHerry Hill dealership. Looked new. Pretty similar to the one the Brit man posted pictures of.
A Yenko SC Nova outside a gas station. COuld be a clone, but looked legit and "patina'd"
a few blocks from me, in the garage, a nice looking mid-60's Vette convertible. It was in one of those inflatible plastic bubbles, parked in the garage. Made it look like George Jetson's car!
a 1950's Ford (56 maybe), 2 door, red/white 2 tone, with a mild hot-rodding (nice burble) drove down my block a couple times Sunday. Must live nearby.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The Canadian Pontiacs also used Chevy engines and transmissions, but Pontiac interiors and sheetmetal. They would have had to have modified the sheetmetal somewhere to put it on the shorter Chevy wheelbase though, and I'm not sure where they took out the length on a Chevy versus a Catalina. I know on a Catalina versus a Bonneville in that era, they took it out between the door and the rear wheel opening. It's more obvious on 4-door models, where the space between the back door and the wheel opening is much smaller.
I think in 1971 Canadian Pontiacs used the same wheelbase/body as the U.S. Pontiacs, but most of them still had Chevy engines. They did start importing Bonnevilles to Canada at some point though, and they were identical to the U.S. spec one.
By 1976 they were offering Catalinas in Canada as well. It must have made for a confusing lineup by then. The hierarchy went something like Laurentian-Catalina-Parisienne Brougham-Bonneville-Bonneville Brougham. Big Pontiacs weren't popular in the United States after 1972. I can't imagine them being that popular in Canada, which has a much smaller car buying base to begin with.
Also, through most of the 60's, Pontiac was considered an equal to Chevy, not a step up as it was here in the U.S. By the time they started importing Bonnevilles and Catalinas though, I guess they were trying to move Pontiac up a notch or two.
As for why we ultimately got the Parisienne here in the States, well Pontiac quit making big cars after 1981. They dropped the Catalina and moved the Bonneville nameplate to what had been the midsized LeMans, and tried to pass it off as a second wave of downsizing for big cars. Then they trotted out the smaller, lighter, FWD 6000, which ostensibly replaced the LeMans as Pontiac's midsizer.
Once big cars started selling again, Pontiac badge-engineered the Chevy Impala/Caprice (an '81 Bonneville was much more different than an '81 Caprice), and slapped the Parisienne nameplate on it in mid-1983. It sold through 1986, although the wagon, labeled simply Safari, was offered through 1989.
Dodge only used the Diplomat name for a few years though, and then replaced it with Lancer.
one day saw a late model mgb red/black top. also, red/black mazda rx-7 convertible with bbs style sliver rims. a red honda del sol in a garage at the same house.
at church, a white '58(?) cadillac 'vert with red leather interior. car seat in the back. i could have fit in the car seat when the car was new.
some kind of better than new looking early/mid 60's white small rambler.
while filling up, a beautiful yellow/black top 65 galaxie drove by. no ripples in the fenders or mis-fitting door on the side i saw.
Oh, I also saw one of those Rabbit/Cabriolet convertibles. Nothing to write home about, but I hadn't seen one in ages.
Not nearly as long though as the Jaguar XJS just up the road. The owner (wisely) moved the car away from the street and into the carport. He now has a semi-permanent printed sign posted by the street. It's been there for at least a year... could be many more. :P
Across the street from the Jag, sits a late 60s Chrysler in a lovely shade of avocado that no one in their right mind would look twice at (except Andre!). It's been there for at least a couple of years. The sign in the window has faded to the point that the print is all but invisible.
By contrast, there was a mid-90s Corolla for sale on the same route that disappeared after 3 days.
james
Low Miles
And secondly, he thinks it's worth $50,000. What do you think? I think between $15K-20K tops tops.
No idea if that was the case when and where this vehicle was bought.
I just don't get collectors...
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What a waste. I mean, it's just a VW...low miles high miles, so what?
It would just have to be driven on private property. Lay Leno has a fire engine that was owned by Warner Bros., at least I think it was Warner Bros. might have been Universal Studios, and was never titled. It has thousands of miles on it from driving around the Warner Bros./Universal lot but it was never registered.
Here's a pic of one that was done by ASC.
I know these Capris weren't that popular compared to the Mustang, but I kinda like them. I think the more squared-off front end looks more muscular.
The Lark was a brick red and appeared to be in good condition, I'm guessing it was a "late" one from '64 or '65.
I also saw a trio of Street Rods traveling together, they were all well turned out. Two were based on cars that are typicaly converted to street rods, a 37-38 Ford Fordoor and a Duece coupe.
The third believe it or not was based on a 1950s Mercedes coupe (Ponton). Fintail might not be pleased to hear it looked really cool (to me) with a dropped front end, side pipes and cycle fenders. :shades:
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Well, if the car was too far gone to save (and a ponton coupe is a very expensive car to restore correctly), I'm sure it's better than sending it to the crusher anyway,
The best way I can explain it is that the only thing forward of the cowl that was from Mercedes was the grille (and Tri-star). The hood could've come off a deuce Ford or something similar but it was artfully integrated and everything was painted glossy black.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
This kinda stuff is coming out of the woodwork...4/5 scale 52 Chevy anyone?
Early "green" car
This old beast has some character
These seem to really have a following
Known ownership = big bucks in the eyes of the seller
Uncommon, interesting ephemera on the walls
Project with maybe a 40-50 year turnaround time
Perhaps the Frenchiest car ever
I like the patina, but wow, that upholstery is just painful
When a "Buick" meant something
Cheaper than a new one I suppose
Resto-rod...I hope the donor car was a wreck before it was modded...couldn't they have at least put a hemi in it?
Bluesmobile
Interesting W126
Fairly decent looking late injected fintail - headrest is extremely rare
I just don't get it
Oh yeah, and that little deuce ponton coupe must have been quite a sight. Get a pic of it if you ever see it again!
Oh man I'd LOVE to have that Detroit Electric, but with a 25 mile range, it would be to the post office and back, at best.
Peugeot Diesel wagon is very cool---they ARE good cars. That might be worth a bid.
Packard Woody Wagon -- I think 50 years is optimistic. I always have to smirk at people who tackle these things thinking they can "make" the wood in their woodshop. Think again, unless you are an expert shipbuilder. Compound curves on hardwood and no two pieces ever the same. Good luck!
That '78 Delta 88 is actually a nice color combo...that medium blue metallic with the white top and white vinyl. Too bad they pimped it up with those rims. And I have no idea what's up with those door panels. They look like just slabs of white vinyl. Kinda funny that the dude would blow all that money on those stupid wheels, and then put them on a car that it appears you can open up with a screwdriver.
Now there were vinyls around prior to that, but it seems like 1955 was when the stuff became really popular. Also, those older vinyls seemed a bit different in texture. Thinner somehow, and stuff that would get kind of crunchy and brittle as it aged. By 1957 though, at least in the case of my DeSoto, the vinyls were pretty much like the modern stuff we saw in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. It would still fade and tear, but didn't seem to get hard and brittle.
And there was some kind of fake stuff that they used way back in the old days that I always called vinyl, but I guess it wasn't petroleum-based. I guess that was naugahyde or something like that?