I wasn't a fan of the 1960 Dodges when they were around but now I enjoy seeing them. The styling really emphasizes the fins giving the car a really Futuristic look.
The passing car in the pic must be a four door h/t. The 2dr had a different C-post>
60-62 Mopars can certainly be topics of conversation, This one looks like "meet George Jetson" ...and his transport. But I agree that they are interesting because you don't see many and they are certainly unique. This one looks like a top of the line model because I believe there was a lower line Phoenix that was a "relatively" bit more subdued.
I like the dark blue Mystery Corvette on the right. Those are not hubcaps! And Chevy didn't offer the knock off wheels until the next gen Sting Ray years. The side cove is body color with no bright trim around it. The inner side cove trim is not the unique 1961 "grill" type. And no trunk irons visible so scratch 1958. So my guess is '59 or '60 Corvette. With some interesting mystery wheels!
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
I like the dark blue Mystery Corvette on the right. Those are not hubcaps! And Chevy didn't offer the knock off wheels until the next gen Sting Ray years. The side cove is body color with no bright trim around it. The inner side cove trim is not the unique 1961 "grill" type. And no trunk irons visible so scratch 1958. So my guess is '59 or '60 Corvette. With some interesting mystery wheels!
A good analysis Omarman. From that angle, I don't think there's any way of telling if it's a '59 or '60. The lack of cove trim is perplexing, that was eliminated on the last C1 (1962 MY). Perhaps the owner of the black car had seen the new '62s and liked it and had his removed.
The wire wheels are unusual but not unheard of. The 1961 'Vette in TVs Route 66 wore a set of wire wheels with knockoff spinners>
Two outfits Dayton and Kelsey Hayes made wires for various 1950s/60s cars which were actually standard on certain models (1953-54 Buick Skylark, Caddy Eldorado) and optional on others. They were expensive and not often seen back in the day but they seem to be on a lot of restored cars.
Besides being heavy and requiring mods to the wheel hubs, wires were marginal for cars with big torque-y V8s. At Shelby American they quickly found out that the Dunlop wires on Cobras wouldn't do for cars in racing trim.
The Corvette on the left has fake wire trim rigs fitted on with white wall tires. The white car is a '53/'54. These had 6 cylinder power and Powerglide automatics but are lumped in with the '55-'62 as C1 models. That has never seemed right to me but that's how they are classified.
I wish they would start a cable channel with old shows like Route 66 or 77 Sunset Strip. Neat old cars and they actually had show writers who could write without having to rely on extreme situations.
I know a lot of the online streaming TV services like Roku and Amazon Prime have some of those old series. I thought there was such a cable channel in the USA already? I seem to recall @andre1969 mentioning something like that.
I have an app on my fire stick called Tubi that has a lot of old shows. It has commercials, but to make it free, I can deal. It has the entire series of Dennis the Menace.
speaking of fire stick, my son is home so he just finished helping me set up the one I got for Christmas. Currently watching the first episode of Grand Tour!
I saw a Buick just like that at an area car show two summers ago. The seats were white and were not in best of shape, but it would be welcome in my garage.
It's a '72 Buick GS 350. I owned a 1970 Pontiac GTO 'vert that was a similar color but it was a repaintfrom the original color. Buick called it Fire Orange. It's not the sort of color you usually associate with Buicks but, hey, it was the 70s. I miss the variety and drama of colors like that.
The wheels are stamped steel Magnum 500s which were optional on a wide variety of sporty cars.
Olds silhouette. Mid 2000s someplace. Before the reverse nose job (extended beak). I saw the Saturn version of this last week. That must be a rare bird.
In the early '90s, I was driving through the Smoky Mountains on I-40, from Tennessee to North Carolina. In a Porsche 911, doing 80 mph in a 55 mph. It's pretty curvy through the mountains, with a few tunnels.
Dustbuster passed me, doing about 90... on a curve.. completely over on the suspension stops. Scary.
I saw a Pontiac Montana the other day. It reminded me that once there were a number of GM-badged Minivans and not a lot of survivors. I think the Buick was called a Terranza. There was a post-Dustbuster Chevy, I've forgotten the model name.
What I never understood is how Ford, for years America's wagon master, totally blew it in minivans. Kind of like Sears blowing the Internet despite its catalog expertise.
What I never understood is how Ford, for years America's wagon master, totally blew it in minivans. Kind of like Sears blowing the Internet despite its catalog expertise.
The odd thing was that up here at least, Sears did a good job 12-15 years ago with online ordering. They were the first place I used and trusted to order stuff online. Real time size/colour inventory and the like, worked great. Then a year or two before they went bust they changed it to something utterly unusable.
What I never understood is how Ford, for years America's wagon master, totally blew it in minivans. Kind of like Sears blowing the Internet despite its catalog expertise.
Lee Iacocca championed the idea of a minivan when he was at Ford, but Henry the Deuce got into a snit and fired him. So he went over to Chrysler and developed it for them. The rest is history.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Aerostar was too tall and trucky for the market at the time I think, was allowed to wither on the vine. Windstar, well, you barely even see those on the road anymore, and after that it was too late.
What I never understood is how Ford, for years America's wagon master, totally blew it in minivans. Kind of like Sears blowing the Internet despite its catalog expertise.
Ford and GM stumbled for the same reason. The demand for the Chrysler vans exploded right out of the gate. Ford and GM rushed to get to the market and share in the feeding frenzy but had no suitable platform, so they tried to do it off an existing platform. Didn't work.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Maybe the smartest move by Iacocca was to buy Jeep which is still a great seller for FCA now and previously for Chrysler Group, DCX, Chrysler Corporation, AMC, Kaiser and Willys-Overland in Toledo.
But even a popular long-lived vehicle can't keep a sinking boat floating for long. Ford and GM had record profits in the 80's without a viable minivan or the Jeep nameplate either. Published examples:
You're off by a coupla yrs but I don't think they changed much, it's a 1991 Lotus Elan M100., powered by an Isuzu twin-cam four. Only 559 were sold in the US, possibly because it had the misfortune of being introduced around the same time as the Mazda Miata MX5 which was cheaper, had styling that aped the original 1960s Elan, and was driven by the rear wheels as per sports car orthodoxy.
The FWD M100 supposedly drove quite well for a FWD design (the only FWD Lotus ever). I have a half baked theory as to why this could be so. Lightweight FWDs like the M100, Mini-Cooper, VW GTI etc. can be fun to drive because there just isn't much weight to mess up the cornering but once you get to more than 2 liters there's enough poundage in the front to induce a lot of push (understeer) in hard cornering.
In 1991, when I had a 911, a customer on my route had an Elan. I thought it was an '89 model, but I could be wrong. He had owned an original Elan, and said the handling on the new one was amazing, considering the FWD. He was of the opinion that Lotus could suspension-tune, anything.
However, he may have been wrong, or over-confident, as soon after, he slid off a country road, [non-permissible content removed]-end first, and did over $20K damage.
It was definitely a striking automobile, for the time.
You're off by a coupla yrs but I don't think they changed much, it's a 1991 Lotus Elan M100., powered by an Isuzu twin-cam four. Only 559 were sold in the US, possibly because it had the misfortune of being introduced around the same time as the Mazda Miata MX5 which was cheaper, had styling that aped the original 1960s Elan, and was driven by the rear wheels as per sports car orthodoxy.
The FWD M100 supposedly drove quite well for a FWD design (the only FWD Lotus ever). I have a half baked theory as to why this could be so. Lightweight FWDs like the M100, Mini-Cooper, VW GTI etc. can be fun to drive because there just isn't much weight to mess up the cornering but once you get to more than 2 liters there's enough poundage in the front to induce a lot of push (understeer) in hard cornering.
That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. :@
That's pretty sound as a theory but you forgot the part about a light front end on a FWD contributing to vicious torque steer--especially on older FWD cars. Not sure how that guy ended up backwards--maybe he let up on the gas when he should have romped on it?
That new Suzuki Jimny is getting a really good press here - there is apparently a waiting list of a couple of years at the moment - we have a Suzuki dealers a few miles away and I noticed a demonstrator on the forecourt when we drove past a week or so ago.
The old version is of course from a much earlier time and there are still a lot of those around. Small Suzukis are actually quite sensible for our country roads being narrow, good ground clearance and tough enough to cope with our now badly maintained roads. If we ever move away from London - it will happen one day if the country ever regains its sanity (no sign of that lately) and a little Jimny or similar as a runabout in say Devon or somewhere else with winding lanes would be great.
Comments
The styling really emphasizes the fins giving the car a really Futuristic look.
The passing car in the pic must be a four door h/t. The 2dr had a different C-post>
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I'll take it. Where do I sign?
Perhaps the owner of the black car had seen the new '62s and liked it and had his removed.
The wire wheels are unusual but not unheard of. The 1961 'Vette in TVs Route 66 wore
a set of wire wheels with knockoff spinners>
Two outfits Dayton and Kelsey Hayes made wires for various 1950s/60s cars which were actually standard on certain models (1953-54 Buick Skylark, Caddy Eldorado) and optional on others. They were expensive and not often seen back in the day but they seem to be on a lot of restored cars.
Besides being heavy and requiring mods to the wheel hubs, wires were marginal for cars with big torque-y V8s. At Shelby American they quickly found out that the Dunlop wires on Cobras wouldn't do for cars in racing trim.
The Corvette on the left has fake wire trim rigs fitted on with white wall tires. The white car is a '53/'54. These had 6 cylinder power and Powerglide automatics but are lumped in with the '55-'62 as C1 models.
That has never seemed right to me but that's how they are classified.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The wheels are stamped steel Magnum 500s which were optional on a wide variety of sporty cars.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
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nah, the dustbuster was the first generation from the early 90's. My neighbor had one of them. and odd, plastic beast.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Dustbuster passed me, doing about 90... on a curve.. completely over on the suspension stops. Scary.
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BTW-the Silhouette is 2004 MY.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
But even a popular long-lived vehicle can't keep a sinking boat floating for long. Ford and GM had record profits in the 80's without a viable minivan or the Jeep nameplate either. Published examples:
For all of 1988, GM said it earned $4.86 billion, or $7.17 per share, up 37% from 1987 earnings of $3.55 billion, or $5.03 a share. GM's previous annual earnings record was $4.5 billion in 1984.
The Ford Motor Company today reported a profit of $4.6 billion for 1987, an increase of 39.4 percent from $3.3 billion in 1986 and the best earnings ever for an automobile company.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
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Mazda Miata MX5 which was cheaper, had styling that aped the original 1960s Elan, and was driven by the rear wheels as per sports car orthodoxy.
The FWD M100 supposedly drove quite well for a FWD design (the only FWD Lotus ever). I have a half baked theory as to why this could be so. Lightweight FWDs like the M100, Mini-Cooper, VW GTI etc. can be fun to drive because there just isn't much weight to mess up the cornering but once you get to more than 2 liters there's enough poundage in the front to induce a lot of push (understeer) in hard cornering.
That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. :@
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
He had owned an original Elan, and said the handling on the new one was amazing, considering the FWD. He was of the opinion that Lotus could suspension-tune, anything.
However, he may have been wrong, or over-confident, as soon after, he slid off a country road, [non-permissible content removed]-end first, and did over $20K damage.
It was definitely a striking automobile, for the time.
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The old version is of course from a much earlier time and there are still a lot of those around. Small Suzukis are actually quite sensible for our country roads being narrow, good ground clearance and tough enough to cope with our now badly maintained roads. If we ever move away from London - it will happen one day if the country ever regains its sanity (no sign of that lately) and a little Jimny or similar as a runabout in say Devon or somewhere else with winding lanes would be great.