>looks like a couple of Ferrari 250GT series cars at left.
Yep, the maroon car on the left is a 250GT SWB and the black Spider is a 250GT California
The Masers are both variations on the A6GS Spider of the 1950s. On the right is a Zagato-bodied special built for Argentine dictator Juan Peron. The gray/red one has Frua-bodywork.
I tend to like old cars that aren't commonplace...but I love the '55 Chevy. That throws my theory right out the window! Chevy had the highest owner loyalty for a lonnnggg time, and the trade-ins there seem to bear that out for the most part.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
hard not to like the '55 Chevy--fast revving short stroke V-8, absolutely clean styling, no fussiness or goo-gaws, simple, sturdy, 12V electrics, nice visibility, not too big, not too small, not too low, not too high (well maybe a little too high), not too fat.....jusssst right!
The '55, maybe the '56 but for sure the '57 Chevy's are the oldest I'll go for liking cars. Don't particularly care for the mid-ta-late 50's Buick's, either. Now, when the glorious 60's rolled along, that changed history for me forever. There are a lot of rigs built in the 60's that I'd make Jay Leno purchases of and put in a large outbuilding, eh?
Garage queen. Typical Michigan setup - everyone is always on the lookout for an empty space to park their summer driver and this is the one that landed in our friend's empty garage here in Port Huron. Click the pic to blow it up.
@Stever@Edmunds said:
Garage queen. Typical Michigan setup - everyone is always on the lookout for an empty space to park their summer driver and this is the one that landed in our friend's empty garage here in Port Huron. Click the pic to blow it up
1963 or '64 Buick Riviera , unusual color. perhaps not factory original.
That Riviera is a 1964. 63's didn't have that stand up hood ornament.
Those were wonderful cars. I've owned two 65's but I think I like the 64's even more.
The 63's and 65's used the 401 engine with 325 H.P. The 64's came with a 425 340 H.P.
engine as standard but you could upgrade to 360 H.P. and get two 4BBL carbs.
In '65 that engine came in the Gran Sports along with badging and better suspension.
These would get around 7 MPG if you were lucky!
The 65's looked a bit nicer but they had those clamshell headlight doors that were SO FUSSY and never seemed to work right.
I heard that even when they were new, the mechanics in the Buick Dealerships just hated them!
And, no that red paint looks like Maaco or Earl Sheib did the work!
According to the sister, the Rivera is a 1964 model, and I did wonder about the paint because it almost looks "shaved". There's a few Rivera script logos, but seems like there should be a "Buick" one on the hood. Here's another shot.
I LOVE Midgets and Sprites, but not the rubber bumper ones. Simple, tough, easy to work on, easy to get parts for, affordable (except the bug-eye sprite) and what other car feels like 85 mph when you're going 35? Definitely a summer-fun car.
Downside? May god have mercy on your soul if something hits you. These cars are pretty tiny. Just sitting in traffic next to a semi or monster diesel pickup truck makes you feel like a candidate for a Mayan sacrifice.
I remember the first time I took my Miata on the highway, and ended up in the middle lane between 2 semis. Pretty much eye level to the bottom lugnuts. with the top down, felt just a tad exposed. And if I remember the one test drive I took in a Midget, it made the miata feel huge.
fun little car. Pretty sure I didn't fit very well, but I was more focused on the fact that it seemed to have no brakes to worry about that.
I LOVE Midgets and Sprites, but not the rubber bumper ones. Simple, tough, easy to work on, easy to get parts for, affordable (except the bug-eye sprite) and what other car feels like 85 mph when you're going 35? Definitely a summer-fun car._Downside? May god have mercy on your soul if something hits you. These cars are pretty tiny. Just sitting in traffic next to a semi or monster diesel pickup truck makes you feel like a candidate for a Mayan sacrifice.
Thanks for the info., shifty. I sort of realized the other day looking at 60's cars online on Hemming's that I really like this old sports car. I didn't realize MG built the rubber bumper ones well in to the 70's. The local Ford dealer has a '78 MG Midget in mustard yellow for about $8,900 bucks. I may even prefer this old car over the 60's VW Bugs. I agree, though, I also don't like the rubber bumper MG Midget's, either. Gotta have the chrome bumpers on it. And no, one would certainly not want to get hit by any car on the road in one of these. Even an AMC Gremlin!
The upside to this side pursuit (meaning it'll probably never happen) is that there are a lot of these being sold online for around $3,500 - $5,000. Not always with much over 45,000 miles on rebuilt motors, either. And their bodies are straight and their paint jobs are not always perfect but they're not nasty or oxidized.
So I remain somewhat interested in getting one of these in the future sometime. Owners online selling them are saying that they are "classic" sports cars and I guess maybe they are, eh? Meaning they'll hold their value. Granted, the MG Midget is a tad lower in value and cost than the MGB. I just like the look of the MG Midget so much more. And shifting through the 4 speeds on the floor like that in that little rig has just got ta be a veritable blast!
No they aren't classic but they are very traditional British sports cars, which means, noisy, drafty and leaky, the way a proper sports car should be! Actually the early 70s ones are fairly comfy--get this, the heater valve is a knob you turn when you lift the hood---always loved that.
No one over 5 ft 9" need apply to drive an MG Midget.
All right, then. I'm 5'9". We have the '08 Lancer GTS with 121,433 miles on it and it's running like a champ. I like the new 2015 Mazda 2 and it of course will be sold as a stick. It's the big decision of "should I run the Lancer GTS another 4 or 5 years and buy a cool old sports car and have two cars? Or just trade the '08 Lancer GTS in on a new '15 Mazda 2 in a year or so?"
I have a feeling that grabbing a test drive in a MG Midget might help me make that decision easier, huh? Yeah, $6,000 would buy a good example of one of these beauties, indeed.
The MG Midget/A-H Sprite are the pure essentials of motoring with almost nothing else, unless you count things like lights, instruments and wipers as non-essential. They are a blast to drive for the same reason motorcycles are--they're incredibly responsive.
I'm going to throw these out there and be wrong on several.
Left to right, 58 Mercury, 56 Buick convertible, 56 Chrysler, 55 Oldsmobile, 57 Lincoln, 56 Cadillac.
2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
@explorerx4 said:
I'm going to throw these out there and be wrong on several.
Left to right, 58 Mercury, 56 Buick convertible, 56 Chrysler, 55 Oldsmobile, 57 Lincoln, 56 Cadillac.
I'll go with 1957 on the Buick convertible and a Pontiac instead of the 55 Oldsmobile. I'm not sure of the year on the Pontiac but it has the raised bumps on the rear fender ahead of the taillights.
The 58 Mercury had to be differentiated from the 58 Ford. They really botched it up. Sort of like Packard did with the PackardBakers near the end of the company's life after buying Studebaker.
The stillborn Packard prototypes look much like the '58 Merc, I've always thought. Ironically, Packard's president, James Nance, went on to manage the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division, then just the Edsel division. It was similar to Packard in that it had both a 'junior' and 'senior' line. He was let go and in 1960 moved to Cleveland to run a bank. Meanwhile, Studebaker scored its greatest one-year profit ever in 1959 which sadly was short-lived. Matter of fact, today (March 17) is the day the last Studebaker in the world was built, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It's a '66, and has 19K miles and is in the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. It has disc brakes, transistorized ignition, A/C, white vinyl top, and 50/50 split front seats.
That pic was taken in the old Studebaker National Museum, which was the former Freeman-Spicer Studebaker dealership in downtown South Bend. The building's gone now. The newly-built museum opened in the fall of 2005. That pic was taken in the old Service Dept. area.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
>
I'll go with 1957 on the Buick convertible and a Pontiac instead of the 55 Oldsmobile. I'm not sure of the year on the Pontiac but it has the raised bumps on the rear fender ahead of the taillights.
I agree on both. I can see the little finlets on the Poncho which I believe is a '56. Boy that '58 Merc really was a mess, even compared to the other cars of that wretched year. Interestingly the photo was taken in 1960 so the newest car is in fact that awful Mercury.
Those frugal Vermonters didn't run out and buy the new models very much. Of course the same gas station today would be all pickups and SUVs with an occasional Subaru or Volvo. The pic is from Route 2 (East Williston VT, near Burlington.
My Dad moved with Nance over to Mercury when Packard went belly up, and then, like Nance, bailed in 1960 and joined Renault, which was having a spectacular and short-lived success like Studebaker.
I remember as a kid only knowing Packards as the family car. The Mercury Dad got as his field car was quite a blow to me. I pretty much scorned it. Maybe a Lincoln would have worked.
@uplanderguy said:
The stillborn Packard prototypes look much like the '58 Merc, I've always thought. Ironically, Packard's president, James Nance, went on to manage the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division, then just the Edsel division. It was similar to Packard in that it had both a 'junior' and 'senior' line. He was let go and in 1960 moved to Cleveland to run a bank. Meanwhile, Studebaker scored its greatest one-year profit ever in 1959 which sadly was short-lived. Matter of fact, today (March 17) is the day the last Studebaker in the world was built, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It's a '66, and has 19K miles and is in the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. It has disc brakes, transistorized ignition, A/C, white vinyl top, and 50/50 split front seats.
55 Chrysler - 55 Pontiac - 56 Lincoln - 55 Cadillac.
The two white dots on the highly shined Pontiac are a reflection of, perhaps, the overhead lights at the pumps.
@MrShift@Edmunds said:
I remember as a kid only knowing Packards as the family car.
Must have been tough. The car my parents owned when I became old enough to be sentient was a '55 VW. It was followed (briefly) by a '58 Chevy, then a '60 Falcon (oh the humanity) and a '64 Rambler (which was the car they had when I became old enough to drive. At least it was a V-8. However, they still had the Falcon and it got fobbed off on me. Did I mention 'oh the humanity'?).
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
'56 Chevy Bel Air in front; from right: ''66 Chevy Impala, '66 or '67 Lincoln Continental, '65 Dodge Coronet, '63 Pontiac Catalina or Star Chief; '61 Chevy Bel Air, I think a '66 Olds Dynamic 88, a '63 or '64 Cadillac, and I think a '65 or '66 full-size Ford wagon.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Comments
I don't know the Maserati models, but looks like a couple of Ferrari 250GT series cars at left.
>looks like a couple of Ferrari 250GT series cars at left.
Yep, the maroon car on the left is a 250GT SWB and the black Spider is a 250GT California
The Masers are both variations on the A6GS Spider of the 1950s. On the right is a Zagato-bodied special built for Argentine dictator Juan Peron. The gray/red one has Frua-bodywork.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I'm thinking BMW 503. Is it just me or did they steal those headlight surrounds off a mid-'50s Studebaker?
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Yup it's a 1954 BMW 503.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
In the foreground a 55 Bel Air 2 door post coupe.
There is a Mirak Chevrolet dealership in Arlington, Mass.
I love old photos like that!
In the back is a W.T. Grant store. they used to be everywhere until they folded about 40 years ago.
52 Chevy - 51 Merc - 53 Chevy - 53 Chevy - 53 Chevy
Yup, that's the very same Mirak Chevy in Arlington MA, now in their 75th year and that sure is a '55 Bel Air.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I tend to like old cars that aren't commonplace...but I love the '55 Chevy. That throws my theory right out the window! Chevy had the highest owner loyalty for a lonnnggg time, and the trade-ins there seem to bear that out for the most part.
hard not to like the '55 Chevy--fast revving short stroke V-8, absolutely clean styling, no fussiness or goo-gaws, simple, sturdy, 12V electrics, nice visibility, not too big, not too small, not too low, not too high (well maybe a little too high), not too fat.....jusssst right!
The '55, maybe the '56 but for sure the '57 Chevy's are the oldest I'll go for liking cars. Don't particularly care for the mid-ta-late 50's Buick's, either. Now, when the glorious 60's rolled along, that changed history for me forever. There are a lot of rigs built in the 60's that I'd make Jay Leno purchases of and put in a large outbuilding, eh?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
60s cars are more capable on modern roads and their styling has a lot of vitality.
Hey, shifty, what is your overall impression of the MG Midget? Cheap and unreliable? Built like a tank but small and dangerous? Bad electrical getups?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Garage queen. Typical Michigan setup - everyone is always on the lookout for an empty space to park their summer driver and this is the one that landed in our friend's empty garage here in Port Huron. Click the pic to blow it up.
1963 or '64 Buick Riviera , unusual color. perhaps not factory original.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
That Riviera is a 1964. 63's didn't have that stand up hood ornament.
Those were wonderful cars. I've owned two 65's but I think I like the 64's even more.
The 63's and 65's used the 401 engine with 325 H.P. The 64's came with a 425 340 H.P.
engine as standard but you could upgrade to 360 H.P. and get two 4BBL carbs.
In '65 that engine came in the Gran Sports along with badging and better suspension.
These would get around 7 MPG if you were lucky!
The 65's looked a bit nicer but they had those clamshell headlight doors that were SO FUSSY and never seemed to work right.
I heard that even when they were new, the mechanics in the Buick Dealerships just hated them!
And, no that red paint looks like Maaco or Earl Sheib did the work!
And, on the other side of the coin, their darn time clocks.
'Vert>
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
'67 Plymouth Barracuda
According to the sister, the Rivera is a 1964 model, and I did wonder about the paint because it almost looks "shaved". There's a few Rivera script logos, but seems like there should be a "Buick" one on the hood. Here's another shot.
I LOVE Midgets and Sprites, but not the rubber bumper ones. Simple, tough, easy to work on, easy to get parts for, affordable (except the bug-eye sprite) and what other car feels like 85 mph when you're going 35? Definitely a summer-fun car.
Downside? May god have mercy on your soul if something hits you. These cars are pretty tiny. Just sitting in traffic next to a semi or monster diesel pickup truck makes you feel like a candidate for a Mayan sacrifice.
I remember the first time I took my Miata on the highway, and ended up in the middle lane between 2 semis. Pretty much eye level to the bottom lugnuts. with the top down, felt just a tad exposed. And if I remember the one test drive I took in a Midget, it made the miata feel huge.
fun little car. Pretty sure I didn't fit very well, but I was more focused on the fact that it seemed to have no brakes to worry about that.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Yup, it's a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda. '67 was the first year for a 'Cuda convertible IIRC.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I LOVE Midgets and Sprites, but not the rubber bumper ones. Simple, tough, easy to work on, easy to get parts for, affordable (except the bug-eye sprite) and what other car feels like 85 mph when you're going 35? Definitely a summer-fun car._Downside? May god have mercy on your soul if something hits you. These cars are pretty tiny. Just sitting in traffic next to a semi or monster diesel pickup truck makes you feel like a candidate for a Mayan sacrifice.
Thanks for the info., shifty. I sort of realized the other day looking at 60's cars online on Hemming's that I really like this old sports car. I didn't realize MG built the rubber bumper ones well in to the 70's. The local Ford dealer has a '78 MG Midget in mustard yellow for about $8,900 bucks. I may even prefer this old car over the 60's VW Bugs. I agree, though, I also don't like the rubber bumper MG Midget's, either. Gotta have the chrome bumpers on it. And no, one would certainly not want to get hit by any car on the road in one of these. Even an AMC Gremlin!
The upside to this side pursuit (meaning it'll probably never happen) is that there are a lot of these being sold online for around $3,500 - $5,000. Not always with much over 45,000 miles on rebuilt motors, either. And their bodies are straight and their paint jobs are not always perfect but they're not nasty or oxidized.
So I remain somewhat interested in getting one of these in the future sometime. Owners online selling them are saying that they are "classic" sports cars and I guess maybe they are, eh? Meaning they'll hold their value. Granted, the MG Midget is a tad lower in value and cost than the MGB. I just like the look of the MG Midget so much more. And shifting through the 4 speeds on the floor like that in that little rig has just got ta be a veritable blast!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
No they aren't classic but they are very traditional British sports cars, which means, noisy, drafty and leaky, the way a proper sports car should be! Actually the early 70s ones are fairly comfy--get this, the heater valve is a knob you turn when you lift the hood---always loved that.
No one over 5 ft 9" need apply to drive an MG Midget.
$6000 should buy you a very decent example.
All right, then. I'm 5'9". We have the '08 Lancer GTS with 121,433 miles on it and it's running like a champ. I like the new 2015 Mazda 2 and it of course will be sold as a stick. It's the big decision of "should I run the Lancer GTS another 4 or 5 years and buy a cool old sports car and have two cars? Or just trade the '08 Lancer GTS in on a new '15 Mazda 2 in a year or so?"
I have a feeling that grabbing a test drive in a MG Midget might help me make that decision easier, huh?
Yeah, $6,000 would buy a good example of one of these beauties, indeed.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I remember squeezing into a Midget in late high school. I had moment of panic that I thought wasn't going to be able to get out.
The MG Midget/A-H Sprite are the pure essentials of motoring with almost nothing else, unless you count things like lights, instruments and wipers as non-essential. They are a blast to drive for the same reason motorcycles are--they're incredibly responsive.
I hope you can find a nice one.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Chevron>
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I'm going to throw these out there and be wrong on several.
Left to right, 58 Mercury, 56 Buick convertible, 56 Chrysler, 55 Oldsmobile, 57 Lincoln, 56 Cadillac.
Forgot how bizarre and chaotic in styling the '58 Mercury was.
I remember 29 cent a gallon gas.
I'll go with 1957 on the Buick convertible and a Pontiac instead of the 55 Oldsmobile. I'm not sure of the year on the Pontiac but it has the raised bumps on the rear fender ahead of the taillights.
The 58 Mercury had to be differentiated from the 58 Ford. They really botched it up. Sort of like Packard did with the PackardBakers near the end of the company's life after buying Studebaker.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The stillborn Packard prototypes look much like the '58 Merc, I've always thought. Ironically, Packard's president, James Nance, went on to manage the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division, then just the Edsel division. It was similar to Packard in that it had both a 'junior' and 'senior' line. He was let go and in 1960 moved to Cleveland to run a bank. Meanwhile, Studebaker scored its greatest one-year profit ever in 1959 which sadly was short-lived. Matter of fact, today (March 17) is the day the last Studebaker in the world was built, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It's a '66, and has 19K miles and is in the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. It has disc brakes, transistorized ignition, A/C, white vinyl top, and 50/50 split front seats.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Last_Studebaker_1.JPG
That pic was taken in the old Studebaker National Museum, which was the former Freeman-Spicer Studebaker dealership in downtown South Bend. The building's gone now. The newly-built museum opened in the fall of 2005. That pic was taken in the old Service Dept. area.
>
I'll go with 1957 on the Buick convertible and a Pontiac instead of the 55 Oldsmobile. I'm not sure of the year on the Pontiac but it has the raised bumps on the rear fender ahead of the taillights.
I agree on both. I can see the little finlets on the Poncho which I believe is a '56. Boy that '58 Merc really was a mess, even compared to the other cars of that wretched year. Interestingly the photo was taken in 1960 so the newest car is in fact that awful Mercury.
Those frugal Vermonters didn't run out and buy the new models very much. Of course the same gas station today would be all pickups and SUVs with an occasional Subaru or Volvo. The pic is from Route 2 (East Williston VT, near Burlington.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
My Dad moved with Nance over to Mercury when Packard went belly up, and then, like Nance, bailed in 1960 and joined Renault, which was having a spectacular and short-lived success like Studebaker.
I remember as a kid only knowing Packards as the family car. The Mercury Dad got as his field car was quite a blow to me. I pretty much scorned it. Maybe a Lincoln would have worked.
I remember $0.29/gallon a good 8 years after those models came out...
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55 Chrysler - 55 Pontiac - 56 Lincoln - 55 Cadillac.
The two white dots on the highly shined Pontiac are a reflection of, perhaps, the overhead lights at the pumps.
Must have been tough. The car my parents owned when I became old enough to be sentient was a '55 VW. It was followed (briefly) by a '58 Chevy, then a '60 Falcon (oh the humanity) and a '64 Rambler (which was the car they had when I became old enough to drive. At least it was a V-8. However, they still had the Falcon and it got fobbed off on me. Did I mention 'oh the humanity'?).
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
There must have been the occasional price war, but .29 is the lowest I remember, and it seems like it stayed at .29 forever.
Ok, sports fans, my brother spotted this in Florida recently and wonders what it is:
a 2CV vanlet variant?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Sounds good to me and he'll never know the difference anyway, LOL.
I remember my father had an International Travelall in 1971. Drank gas, but in NC at the time it was .25 a gallon.
At Wikipedia they call it a Fourgonette . I've also seen the term "camionette" (generally any "little truck" in French.)
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
'56 Chevy Bel Air in front; from right: ''66 Chevy Impala, '66 or '67 Lincoln Continental, '65 Dodge Coronet, '63 Pontiac Catalina or Star Chief; '61 Chevy Bel Air, I think a '66 Olds Dynamic 88, a '63 or '64 Cadillac, and I think a '65 or '66 full-size Ford wagon.
How odd, not a single imported car in this mid-60s shot.
The Poncho is a'63 but the chrome band across the rear suggests a Bonneville>
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93