I liked the Lancia Thema - the Dino engined version is really a fast car, and so understated - what we call a Q car here -nogo-fast stripes or wide wheels, but plenty of go. Not so sure about the DAF - the 600 was the Daffodil by another name, I think, and became the 33 later. I hadn't heard of an electric one though - the petrol ones were slow enough. I saw one three weeks ago, at a car show. Never seen a 1960 Edsel - they were rare from new and I would imagine virtually none were exported - come to think of it I've only seen about three Edsels in total. The real star of this batch has to be the Tatra, though. There is a thriving owners club here and quite a few have been brought over as Eastern Europe joins the EU - mostly the later 603 though, not the Tatraplan.
I'd love to have a Tatra 77, but of course I'd have to live in CZR to get any support for it. Could be cool...
I doubt any 60 Edsels were exported. I look through my 1960-1966 copies of Autocar, and I see no Edsels in the classifieds at all. Quite a few normal American/Canadian Fords though.
I guess most of you have heard the story of the Tatra being called "the [non-permissible content removed] killer", since a fair number of German officers were injured or killed driving them in occupied CZ during WWII. An official order had to be issued to forbid use of this car by German officers. You know, you hang a big engine way out in back on a 1940s car and you're gonna have trouble.
I've only driven the 3.0 liter four cylinder (!!) model and it was fine---but of course we didn't push it.
There's a Lancia Thema (kinda looks like an Italian SAAB 9000CD, no?) sitting at our local high-zoot Euro car repair place (anyone from Chicago, it's on Lincoln just south of Wrightwood/Sheffield), and I've seen the car there on other occasions (the lot is visible from the 'L', it's always interesting to see what's sitting there). There's almost always a 911 or two, quite often a Silver Shadow, older Ferraris, maybe an X/19, '60s Mercedes....you get the idea, nothing that can be fixed at any 'normal' repair facility.
in a rare moment, I spotted this beast outside of the garage. Yup, after God-only-knows-how-long, I finally dug it out. Probably a miracle it started up!
While it was outside, I took the opportunity to clean out the garage to a degree. A line of rainstorms started formnig off int he distance and naturally, the thing wouldn't start to come back in! :mad: Funny how they get like that. Then, once it really started pouring down, it started up just fine. Maybe that was its way of telling me it was overdue for a bath?
I went to a (very) small Mercedes W202 themed gathering today. It was only advertised on one forum and not everyone showed, so we had a grand total of 7 cars - and not all were 202s. There was a 500E and a 190E 2.3-16. There was another C43, which was cool to see. All the cars were modified save for mine - some relatively heavily. I am amazed to see that a MB has this kind of following, people really trick these cars out according to what I've seen online. Here are a couple pics of 4 of the 202s. Mine is the car on the far right, the only one completely stock.
...yellow Triumph Spitfire with a left rear wheel showing a lot of excessive toe-out and a red Triumph TR-250. Also spotted red and white Austin-Healeys from a distance.
driving down a street that I don't go down to often, which goes past a little strip mall area with a used car lot, an abandoned Tastee-Freez, a pet supply store, a VW specialist, and a few other shops, I spotted three old heaps with their rear-ends facing the street.
One was a 1973 or so fuselage era Chrysler 4-door. It's been there for awhile, but I never really notice it until I'm practically passing it. I think it's a Newport, as it has taillights that are a bit more vertical and Oldsmobile-ish, whereas I think the NYer's were horizontal. It's pretty ratty, but looks like it might serve as a beater.
Well, a couple others have joined it. I saw the rump of a Buick Riviera, a 1970 I think, poking out. It was covered in rusty scale, the type that forms when your paint gets worn down to the bare metal. And there was also a 1972 Pontiac Catalina 2-door hardtop, blue with a white top, that didn't seem like it was in bad shape from a quick glance at least.
while taking my '76 LeMans to the mechanic to have the brakes worked on, we passed by an older shop that had a white '67-69 Dart hardtop up on a lift and a white '64-66 Imperial convertible parked out in front.
I guess if I end up getting a problem with one of my old cars that my mechanic can't fix, I know where to go!
Yeah I've seen manual versions of the first ES, the boxy JDM looking thing made up through 91. Don't think I've ever seen a 92+ as a manual, as those seemed to go to people who found a Camry to be just a bit too wild.
You have your old copies of Autocar, I had a look in Motor (actually then it was still "the Motor") and they don't list Edsel either, although I think they showed one at the London show in 1958 or 59. I have shelved out what was the pantry of this house to store my old copies of Motor, going back to the 40's (that's quite a lot of magazines, 'cos it was weekly, like Autocar, with which it merged in the late 80's). Since the merger I have collected every issue, but the further back I go the more gaps - almost all the 70s/80s, about half the 60's, and late 50's, and perhaps 30% of the late 40s, early 50s. I had to store them in the old pantry as it has a concrete floor - the floor loading would be too much for the beams on the rest of the floors. Upstairs its just the Automobile, Classic & Sportscar and Thoroughbred & Classic Car, which are all monthly so a bit more manageable ! My girlfriend says she thinks she lives in a library, but it could be worse - one of my colleagues collects football programmes, and has thousands stacked everywhere.
I found a few dozen old Autocars at a flea market (I don't know what you'd call that there - swap meet? like an autojumble but with all kinds of junk) maybe 10 years ago...I think I paid $10 for the lot. I bought them all and have read them all...I was thrilled. So interesting. I have the issue from where fintails came in 1-2-3 at Monte Carlo...that one is especially cool to me. One also had a road test of a 300SE LWB, and lots of fintail ads. And the classifieds are fascinating...gullwings and 300SCs and Ferraris and Bugattis...wow.
I have kept all the copies of CAR and other British magazines since I discovered them when I was about 12- 1989. I never subscribed though, so it's just random issues.
Once at a garage sale I bought several boxes of complete years of American popular car magazines, for $10 for the lot. These ranged from about 1979-1987. But when I moved, my mother sold them when she had a garage sale! And when I was younger, maybe 10 years old, I found a large lot of 1950s era American hot rod and normal car magazines. I ended up selling those when I was in school...the money was needed, and they brought a pretty penny on ebay, the hot rod material sometimes $20+ per issue.
I love the classifieds - "1938 Cord roadster, good condition, engine and gearbox just overhauled, £595" "1938 Delage saloon £595" "1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Windover sedanca saloon wih division £895" "1937 Buick Viceroy Saloon, six excellent tyres £350"
all from 19th Dec 1951 issue of "the Motor" which incidentally has a road test of a 1912 Ford T as an Xmas special (max speed 42mph, 0-40 35.8secs), and Willys had just announced the Aero-Wing. Oh, and there is an analysis of the 4.5litre GrandPrix Ferrari....
Not bad for a shilling !
I started buying car magazines fairly regularly in the mid 60's, although I had some even earlier (I'm fifty but have always been a car fanatic). At car shows, junk shops, etc I have picked up loads of old back numbers usually concentrating on Motor, -a typical issue like this one is probably a couple of pounds (it costs £2.70 every week for the current Autocar, so things haven't changed).
I haven't really got into Car, I bought odd copies, but with the regular pile of Motor/Autocar there would be too much duplicaton. I used to buy MotorSport, too, but swapped those for some other mags, (Motor I think).
My worst extravagance is car books, though. I can't go into central London without dropping in to Motor Books off StMartins Lane, and staggering out with an armfull ...
Hmhh I thought I replied to this but I guess my computer errored and did not post it.
The two door freelander was the SE-3 and it was only made for like two years I think. It was very, very unpopular and I think we only sold three or four the entire time it was out.
The funny thing is that those Freelanders were some of the better ones to drive. They were much lighter then the five door so they finally had enough horsepower and they handled much better to.
I'm too young to have been able to get the good stuff new - I'm 28 - but I've always loved reading the old magazines. Every time I go to a thrift/second hand store I look through their books and magazines. Now and then I'll find an old issue, but it's rare. I wish I wouldn't have sold off some of that stuff, but school does that to you.
I've just pulled out Autocar from 19 Feb 1960 - in it I spot:
1937 Bentley 4 1/2 litre Park Ward foursome drophead coupe, dark green with biscuit interior, radio heater, spot and fog lamps, a brilliant example - £495
1959 Corvette, fuel injected, 4-seed all syncromesh, 5,000 miles, £2950 (mind you this was almost new)
1949 Hotchkiss cabriolet , in splendid order - £295
Jaguar C-type, 1952, exceptional condition - £965
Mercedes 300S fixed head coupe, Nov 1956, tremendous - £2500
Aston Martin DB2, 1953, midnight blue, Vantage engine, tremendous performance and supreme condition - £995
1938 Frazer-Nash BMW 328 sports 2-seater - £289
And this was all repeated every week! Each issue seems to be new material.
My library of car books is pretty insiginificant, maybe 25 volumes. Heck, I have probably 60 books on ice hockey. It seems only make-specific car books have interested me. I have several MB books, several old 1950s-1960s books on veteran cars that I got when I was a kid, and some general books - Automobile Year, Encyclopedia of American Cars, etc.
I can't say I've ever had a book on ice hockey. I seem to get books on the most obscure cars, but among my favorites are the Beaulieu Encyclopedia, which pretty well covers everything to 1999, and Standard Catalog(ue) of American Cars, which is so detailed - even if the title looks like it's spelt wrong, on this side of the pond. How about Microcars, (I'm a member of the British Register for those, although I've never owned one - great quarterly magazine though and their car shows are something else..). I also get the Veteran Car Club magazine,as I'm an associate member of that too, although I'm never ever going to be able to afford one of those.. Also Kitcars - we have a lot of those on the market in UK and there are a few books about them. Perhaps the worst sign of obsession are books in foreign languages I can't even read - German, French, Japanese, Italian, even one in Czech...
Great selection of classifieds from Feb 1960 - there always seems to be a Hotchkiss - I noticed one in the 1951 ads - perhaps it was the same one !? I wouldn't mind that C-type Jag although £965 then would be about the price of a new MGA at that time, so it wasn't a giveaway when wages were presumably equally low. That 59 Corvette wasn't cheap - my parents bought a brand new three bedroom house in Wales in 1961, for less than £3500, with a garage....
I'll admit I like books with many illustrations. I think I only have a couple that aren't filled with pics. Nothing in any foreign languages.
I pulled up a more interesting Autocar...this being the 8 April 1960 issue, the Sports & Racing Cars number. Lots of great ads and a few articles on new period sports cars. There are some winners in the classifieds:
1926 Bentley Red Label Speed Model, open VDP 4-seater, full equipment, concours condition - £550
Bugatti Bresica, 1923, 2-seater body, very good condition - £270
Bugatti Racing Type 55, ex Jim Berry - £1500
1955 Lancia Gran Turismo 2500, superb condition - £1375
1937 Delage D6/70 drophead coupe, red and cream, Cotal box, hydraulic brakes - £165
Lancia GT Spyder, 1956, red, unmarked - £1685
Lancia 2500GT Aurelia, 1954, unblemished pale green - £1185
Ferrari 4.1 V12 America, 1952, immensely fast, black with silver top - £1685
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, known history, immaculate - £2065
1955 (late) 300SL coupe, red, tartan upholstery, as new - £2250
(yes, 3 gullwings in this issue)
I notice resale seems strong on Rolls and VWs. You have those cars above, and you'll find many 1956 model Clouds for £4000+ and 1958s for over £6000. Must have been the thing to have.
Lots of big American cars in this issue too. I can't imagine owning something like a 56 Coupe deVille, 58 New Yorker, 58 T-Bird etc in 1960 England. I bet they simply couldn't fit in many areas.
And of course, as many in NA might not know, those pounds were the old 20-shilling pounds, so they were worth a bit more than those today.
on the highway, putting along at about 50 in the RH lane, an old Studebaker. I think one of hte late 50's/early 60's models. Probably a hawk, but I can't remember the diff. between a hawk and a lark. Looked to be in primer, with some body work in progress, but straight enough.
Oddly small looking, especially narrow.
Oh, and the driver looked like he could easily be the original owner!
A guy pulled up to our radio stations this AM in a '67 Pontiac GTO. He drew quite a crowd in a short time. The car was a nice white over metallic blue coupe with a four speed and white upholstery. A 400cid/4bbl lived under the hood. Period correct chromed Cragar five spokers filled the wheel wells.
The guy who owned claims the very nice interior is original, the body has been repainted and the vinyl roof redone. It wasn't perfect, showing ripples in various places on the body and what might have been a small rust blister on a rear fender.
Neat car but not worth the six figures they get for 'em now, at least not to me.
are '67 GTO hardtops really up to 6 figures now?! :surprise: My uncle had a '67 hardtop back in the day, that he only paid $500 for. But it was an automatic, and this was back in the early 70's!
I don't think they'd bring 6 figures without some amazing ownership/competition provenance. The really oddball hemi mopars and spceial Chevys (Yenko etc) bring the real money.
Nah, they aren't worth 6 figures, especially not rats with sloppy bodywork. And they have to be thoroughly documented cars to make sure they aren't clones or non-original motors and there is an intricate pecking order of value related to equipment year and body style and even color. The cars you see on TV for big bucks are so far removed from the ones you see on the street, it's like night and day. Decoding and evaluating muscle cars is turning into a science that the amateur best not mess with. A person could be wrong by 80% in value!!
At lunch, I saw that guys brother. A 1966ish Implae 4 door. Black, looked all original (and well used), driven by another old dude that might be the original owner.
Not a small car, but it reminded me how skinny and inset tires used to be. It looked like it was driving on 4 temp spares compared to a modern car.
Nope, it wasn't the boxy style ES250, it was the jellybean ES300. I circled the thing twice to make sure that it wasn't a rebadged Camry, but everything was as you would expect in an ES300 - except that handshaker.
Not a small car, but it reminded me how skinny and inset tires used to be. It looked like it was driving on 4 temp spares compared to a modern car.
Just to show ya how small tires could be back then, here's a pic I took the other day of my '67 Catalina and '79 NYer, nose-to-nose. The tires on the Catalina are 215/75/R14's. I dunno what the stock size was, but Coker tire lists 825-14, G78-14 and H78-14 as choices in bias-ply, with an 855-14 being optional. The NYer has 235/70/R15 tires on it which are a bit oversized. Stock on this car was something stupid like a 195/75/R15, and a 225/70/R15 was optional.
Here's another pic I took. It's weird, but I don't think the tires on the Catalina look TOO under-sized by themselves, and part of it might be due to perspective and having the NYer in the pic, but here I think the tires look downright wussy! Actually in this pic, I think the angle actually makes the whole car look kinda small!
The Catalina desperately needs new tires and at this point I'm torn between just taking the cheap way out and putting on some 225/75/R14's (they should fit; I've seen other '67-68 full-sized Pontiacs sporting them) or getting a set of 15" Rally 2 wheels and putting something a bit larger on them.
There's a Studebaker Hawk for sale near my house. $1500. it's flat black with some old slotted mags. I haven't looked at it close up, but nobody seems to be snapping it up too quick.
2012 Mustang Premium, 2013 Lincoln MKX Elite, 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander.
Sorry I didn't reply to this message earlier, but it was nearly midnight here when I sent the earlier one, so I wasn't awake to see your reply..
I think that American cars were pretty rare in Britain at the time, but the only ones that were here would have been in London ( apart from the areas around US air bases etc ie in East Anglia), and I suppose the only place they would have been advertised would have been in the (limited) motoring press of the time, so it would have been disproportionate. Having said that I like looking at cars in the background in photos of the time, and it is surprising just how often, in a typical street scene, there is a Chevy or a Buick, or something - although I can't remember seeing many American cars when I was growing up in Wales, in the early sixties - the only ones were in flashy parts of London, or were really old (ie prewar).
I see the perennial Hotchkiss was on sale in 1960, a different model again, but I can't remember seeing a Hotchkiss in my life outside a car show or museum, so I really don't know where they all went - or they never got sold...
A nice range of classics though, esp. the gullwings - although I would have gone for the Bugattis I think - or that 52 Ferrari...
How about this lot from Classified Ads in " the Motor ", 23 Oct 57 (the London Motor Show edition, so about twice as thick). (It's a bit like prehistoric E-Bay, I suppose)
1912 Belsize 2-seater, restored, original lamps etc £475
1935 Bentley 3 1/2 litre sports saloon, two tone black/beige, all new tyres £450
1955 Bond Minicar Family Four (3 wheeler) £229 (UK had suffered petrol rationing for the previous twelve months due to our recent Middle East policy - invading Suez with France and Israel - funny how things go round)
1953 Delahaye 135m drophead, £795
1949 Hotchkiss Cabriolet - actual Show car - offers invited
1956 M-Benz 300sl £3300 - oh, and someone offering to pay £1000 for a 540K roadster ( I wonder if he got one ?)
or some trade-ins from Camden, perhaps?
"Pre-War Knock-Out bargains" - 1938 Wolseley 25hp d/h coupe £65; 1936 Vauxhall 14 £50; 1935 Austin 7 saloon £35. ( in 1960 the Govt brought in compulsory testing for cars over ten years old, later dropped to three years old - still with us - and all those bargains would have gone into scrapyards).
Pounds were indeed worth a great deal more than today, this particular issue of the magazine, with its Motorshow extra pages was still only 1 shilling (0.05pounds).
The actual magazine had a full page advert for M-Benz, with the 220s convertible retailing at £3976,and 7/- inc tax. Also there is a picture of an Edsel on the Lincoln stand so they must have thought about selling it here.
The new cars were the Vauxhall Victor and Cresta, Humber Hawk, Fiat 500, Lotus Elite, and the XK150.
They also reviewed the previous 12 months roadtests - slowest was the Heinkel Cabin Cruiser (175cc) at 41 mph, fastest the Jag 3.4 (MkI) at 119.8.
Anyway, midnight approaches again, so I'd better sign off.
Comments
Not so sure about the DAF - the 600 was the Daffodil by another name, I think, and became the 33 later. I hadn't heard of an electric one though - the petrol ones were slow enough. I saw one three weeks ago, at a car show.
Never seen a 1960 Edsel - they were rare from new and I would imagine virtually none were exported - come to think of it I've only seen about three Edsels in total.
The real star of this batch has to be the Tatra, though. There is a thriving owners club here and quite a few have been brought over as Eastern Europe joins the EU - mostly the later 603 though, not the Tatraplan.
I doubt any 60 Edsels were exported. I look through my 1960-1966 copies of Autocar, and I see no Edsels in the classifieds at all. Quite a few normal American/Canadian Fords though.
I've only driven the 3.0 liter four cylinder (!!) model and it was fine---but of course we didn't push it.
Here's a shot of it from the rear. And frontal shot of its big grin.
While it was outside, I took the opportunity to clean out the garage to a degree. A line of rainstorms started formnig off int he distance and naturally, the thing wouldn't start to come back in! :mad: Funny how they get like that. Then, once it really started pouring down, it started up just fine. Maybe that was its way of telling me it was overdue for a bath?
Yup, same chassis as used on the Saab 9000 (and the FIAT Chroma).
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
I'm thinking 604s? The later, big sedan. Pakred side by side in a driveway, pointing out, and actually looked to be in nice shape.
having 1 is hard to undrstand, but 2?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
And while standing around and chatting, I spotted a pretty blue W108 280SE, a black 63 Impala convertible, and a red 57 TBird.
One was a 1973 or so fuselage era Chrysler 4-door. It's been there for awhile, but I never really notice it until I'm practically passing it. I think it's a Newport, as it has taillights that are a bit more vertical and Oldsmobile-ish, whereas I think the NYer's were horizontal. It's pretty ratty, but looks like it might serve as a beater.
Well, a couple others have joined it. I saw the rump of a Buick Riviera, a 1970 I think, poking out. It was covered in rusty scale, the type that forms when your paint gets worn down to the bare metal. And there was also a 1972 Pontiac Catalina 2-door hardtop, blue with a white top, that didn't seem like it was in bad shape from a quick glance at least.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
-An Acura Legend sedan in good driver shape
-A Pontiac Fiero GT in good shape.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Then a blue 71-72 Olds Cutlass convertible, white top, very pretty.
Then a "Great Divide" Range Rover, the classic old pre-1996 type, with a roof rack and big spotlights. Rare?
http://www.rangerovers.net/modelspecs/1991.html
Just scroll down 2/3s of the way.
Holland&Holland
Only 400 of these were made for the entire world and most of them were RHD. Only 125 came to the US.
Scroll down just past halfway here.
http://www.rangerovers.net/modelspecs/2000.html
This is the Range Rover I would want to buy.
Right now there are three for sale in the US.
another one and it has part of the matching luggage visible in one pic
And another but stupid high miles.
I guess if I end up getting a problem with one of my old cars that my mechanic can't fix, I know where to go!
It had a 5-speed manual transmission. I was floored - I'd have bet money that Lexus never made a manual ES. Bet that thing sat on the lot for a while.
-Jason
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
I have shelved out what was the pantry of this house to store my old copies of Motor, going back to the 40's (that's quite a lot of magazines, 'cos it was weekly, like Autocar, with which it merged in the late 80's). Since the merger I have collected every issue, but the further back I go the more gaps - almost all the 70s/80s, about half the 60's, and late 50's, and perhaps 30% of the late 40s, early 50s. I had to store them in the old pantry as it has a concrete floor - the floor loading would be too much for the beams on the rest of the floors. Upstairs its just the Automobile, Classic & Sportscar and Thoroughbred & Classic Car, which are all monthly so a bit more manageable ! My girlfriend says she thinks she lives in a library, but it could be worse - one of my colleagues collects football programmes, and has thousands stacked everywhere.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
The two-door model with the cloth top in the rear..(SE-3?) Only one I've seen, except on the dealer's lot..
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
I found a few dozen old Autocars at a flea market (I don't know what you'd call that there - swap meet? like an autojumble but with all kinds of junk) maybe 10 years ago...I think I paid $10 for the lot. I bought them all and have read them all...I was thrilled. So interesting. I have the issue from where fintails came in 1-2-3 at Monte Carlo...that one is especially cool to me. One also had a road test of a 300SE LWB, and lots of fintail ads. And the classifieds are fascinating...gullwings and 300SCs and Ferraris and Bugattis...wow.
I have kept all the copies of CAR and other British magazines since I discovered them when I was about 12- 1989. I never subscribed though, so it's just random issues.
Once at a garage sale I bought several boxes of complete years of American popular car magazines, for $10 for the lot. These ranged from about 1979-1987. But when I moved, my mother sold them when she had a garage sale! And when I was younger, maybe 10 years old, I found a large lot of 1950s era American hot rod and normal car magazines. I ended up selling those when I was in school...the money was needed, and they brought a pretty penny on ebay, the hot rod material sometimes $20+ per issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_ES
Thanks!!
EDIT: Don't start with the grammar.
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
"1938 Cord roadster, good condition, engine and gearbox just overhauled, £595"
"1938 Delage saloon £595"
"1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Windover sedanca saloon wih division £895"
"1937 Buick Viceroy Saloon, six excellent tyres £350"
all from 19th Dec 1951 issue of "the Motor" which incidentally has a road test of a 1912 Ford T as an Xmas special (max speed 42mph, 0-40 35.8secs), and Willys had just announced the Aero-Wing. Oh, and there is an analysis of the 4.5litre GrandPrix Ferrari....
Not bad for a shilling !
I started buying car magazines fairly regularly in the mid 60's, although I had some even earlier (I'm fifty but have always been a car fanatic). At car shows, junk shops, etc I have picked up loads of old back numbers usually concentrating on Motor, -a typical issue like this one is probably a couple of pounds (it costs £2.70 every week for the current Autocar, so things haven't changed).
I haven't really got into Car, I bought odd copies, but with the regular pile of Motor/Autocar there would be too much duplicaton. I used to buy MotorSport, too, but swapped those for some other mags, (Motor I think).
My worst extravagance is car books, though. I can't go into central London without dropping in to Motor Books off StMartins Lane, and staggering out with an armfull ...
The two door freelander was the SE-3 and it was only made for like two years I think. It was very, very unpopular and I think we only sold three or four the entire time it was out.
The funny thing is that those Freelanders were some of the better ones to drive. They were much lighter then the five door so they finally had enough horsepower and they handled much better to.
I've just pulled out Autocar from 19 Feb 1960 - in it I spot:
1937 Bentley 4 1/2 litre Park Ward foursome drophead coupe, dark green with biscuit interior, radio heater, spot and fog lamps, a brilliant example - £495
1935 Bentley 3 1/2 litre fixed head coupe, exceptionally pretty - £395
1935 Bentley 3 1/2 litre Vanden Plas pillarless saloon, guaranteed - £160
1940 Cadillac deluxe saloon, V8, magnificent condition - £198
1959 Corvette, fuel injected, 4-seed all syncromesh, 5,000 miles, £2950 (mind you this was almost new)
1949 Hotchkiss cabriolet , in splendid order - £295
Jaguar C-type, 1952, exceptional condition - £965
Mercedes 300S fixed head coupe, Nov 1956, tremendous - £2500
Aston Martin DB2, 1953, midnight blue, Vantage engine, tremendous performance and supreme condition - £995
1938 Frazer-Nash BMW 328 sports 2-seater - £289
And this was all repeated every week! Each issue seems to be new material.
My library of car books is pretty insiginificant, maybe 25 volumes. Heck, I have probably 60 books on ice hockey. It seems only make-specific car books have interested me. I have several MB books, several old 1950s-1960s books on veteran cars that I got when I was a kid, and some general books - Automobile Year, Encyclopedia of American Cars, etc.
I seem to get books on the most obscure cars, but among my favorites are the Beaulieu Encyclopedia, which pretty well covers everything to 1999, and Standard Catalog(ue) of American Cars, which is so detailed - even if the title looks like it's spelt wrong, on this side of the pond.
How about Microcars, (I'm a member of the British Register for those, although I've never owned one - great quarterly magazine though and their car shows are something else..). I also get the Veteran Car Club magazine,as I'm an associate member of that too, although I'm never ever going to be able to afford one of those..
Also Kitcars - we have a lot of those on the market in UK and there are a few books about them. Perhaps the worst sign of obsession are books in foreign languages I can't even read - German, French, Japanese, Italian, even one in Czech...
Great selection of classifieds from Feb 1960 - there always seems to be a Hotchkiss - I noticed one in the 1951 ads - perhaps it was the same one !?
I wouldn't mind that C-type Jag although £965 then would be about the price of a new MGA at that time, so it wasn't a giveaway when wages were presumably equally low. That 59 Corvette wasn't cheap - my parents bought a brand new three bedroom house in Wales in 1961, for less than £3500, with a garage....
I pulled up a more interesting Autocar...this being the 8 April 1960 issue, the Sports & Racing Cars number. Lots of great ads and a few articles on new period sports cars. There are some winners in the classifieds:
1926 Bentley Red Label Speed Model, open VDP 4-seater, full equipment, concours condition - £550
Bugatti Bresica, 1923, 2-seater body, very good condition - £270
Bugatti Racing Type 55, ex Jim Berry - £1500
1955 Lancia Gran Turismo 2500, superb condition - £1375
1937 Delage D6/70 drophead coupe, red and cream, Cotal box, hydraulic brakes - £165
Lancia GT Spyder, 1956, red, unmarked - £1685
Lancia 2500GT Aurelia, 1954, unblemished pale green - £1185
Ferrari 4.1 V12 America, 1952, immensely fast, black with silver top - £1685
Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint, 1956, midnight blue, superb - £1865
Maserati 2 litre Farina coupe, 1954, unblemished - £1185
(those 5 cars were offered by "The Chequered Flag" which I am pretty sure is still in business)
Hotchkiss Paris-Nice saloon, 1950, grey on blue, 41000 miles, immaculate in every way - £625
1940 V12 Lagonda saloon, immaculate - £450
1953 Lancia B21 Aurelia, good condition - £675
1955 300SL coupe, low mileage, carefully maintained - £2385
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, known history, immaculate - £2065
1955 (late) 300SL coupe, red, tartan upholstery, as new - £2250
(yes, 3 gullwings in this issue)
I notice resale seems strong on Rolls and VWs. You have those cars above, and you'll find many 1956 model Clouds for £4000+ and 1958s for over £6000. Must have been the thing to have.
Lots of big American cars in this issue too. I can't imagine owning something like a 56 Coupe deVille, 58 New Yorker, 58 T-Bird etc in 1960 England. I bet they simply couldn't fit in many areas.
And of course, as many in NA might not know, those pounds were the old 20-shilling pounds, so they were worth a bit more than those today.
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0
Oddly small looking, especially narrow.
Oh, and the driver looked like he could easily be the original owner!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
or
like this earlier Studebaker?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The guy who owned claims the very nice interior is original, the body has been repainted and the vinyl roof redone. It wasn't perfect, showing ripples in various places on the body and what might have been a small rust blister on a rear fender.
Neat car but not worth the six figures they get for 'em now,
at least not to me.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
At lunch, I saw that guys brother. A 1966ish Implae 4 door. Black, looked all original (and well used), driven by another old dude that might be the original owner.
Not a small car, but it reminded me how skinny and inset tires used to be. It looked like it was driving on 4 temp spares compared to a modern car.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
-Jason
Just to show ya how small tires could be back then, here's a pic I took the other day of my '67 Catalina and '79 NYer, nose-to-nose. The tires on the Catalina are 215/75/R14's. I dunno what the stock size was, but Coker tire lists 825-14, G78-14 and H78-14 as choices in bias-ply, with an 855-14 being optional. The NYer has 235/70/R15 tires on it which are a bit oversized. Stock on this car was something stupid like a 195/75/R15, and a 225/70/R15 was optional.
Here's another pic I took. It's weird, but I don't think the tires on the Catalina look TOO under-sized by themselves, and part of it might be due to perspective and having the NYer in the pic, but here I think the tires look downright wussy! Actually in this pic, I think the angle actually makes the whole car look kinda small!
The Catalina desperately needs new tires and at this point I'm torn between just taking the cheap way out and putting on some 225/75/R14's (they should fit; I've seen other '67-68 full-sized Pontiacs sporting them) or getting a set of 15" Rally 2 wheels and putting something a bit larger on them.
I think that American cars were pretty rare in Britain at the time, but the only ones that were here would have been in London ( apart from the areas around US air bases etc ie in East Anglia), and I suppose the only place they would have been advertised would have been in the (limited) motoring press of the time, so it would have been disproportionate. Having said that I like looking at cars in the background in photos of the time, and it is surprising just how often, in a typical street scene, there is a Chevy or a Buick, or something - although I can't remember seeing many American cars when I was growing up in Wales, in the early sixties - the only ones were in flashy parts of London, or were really old (ie prewar).
I see the perennial Hotchkiss was on sale in 1960, a different model again, but I can't remember seeing a Hotchkiss in my life outside a car show or museum, so I really don't know where they all went - or they never got sold...
A nice range of classics though, esp. the gullwings - although I would have gone for the Bugattis I think - or that 52 Ferrari...
How about this lot from Classified Ads in " the Motor ", 23 Oct 57 (the London Motor Show edition, so about twice as thick). (It's a bit like prehistoric E-Bay, I suppose)
1912 Belsize 2-seater, restored, original lamps etc £475
1935 Bentley 3 1/2 litre sports saloon, two tone black/beige, all new tyres £450
1955 Bond Minicar Family Four (3 wheeler) £229 (UK had suffered petrol rationing for the previous twelve months due to our recent Middle East policy - invading Suez with France and Israel - funny how things go round)
1953 Delahaye 135m drophead, £795
1949 Hotchkiss Cabriolet - actual Show car - offers invited
1956 M-Benz 300sl £3300 - oh, and someone offering to pay £1000 for a 540K roadster ( I wonder if he got one ?)
or some trade-ins from Camden, perhaps?
"Pre-War Knock-Out bargains" - 1938 Wolseley 25hp d/h coupe £65; 1936 Vauxhall 14 £50; 1935 Austin 7 saloon £35. ( in 1960 the Govt brought in compulsory testing for cars over ten years old, later dropped to three years old - still with us - and all those bargains would have gone into scrapyards).
Pounds were indeed worth a great deal more than today, this particular issue of the magazine, with its Motorshow extra pages was still only 1 shilling (0.05pounds).
The actual magazine had a full page advert for M-Benz, with the 220s convertible retailing at £3976,and 7/- inc tax. Also there is a picture of an Edsel on the Lincoln stand so they must have thought about selling it here.
The new cars were the Vauxhall Victor and Cresta, Humber Hawk, Fiat 500, Lotus Elite, and the XK150.
They also reviewed the previous 12 months roadtests - slowest was the Heinkel Cabin Cruiser (175cc) at 41 mph, fastest the Jag 3.4 (MkI) at 119.8.
Anyway, midnight approaches again, so I'd better sign off.