Thanks. I searched different years and found many that have the Dodge Ram type grill with the crossed bars (Chrysler 300?). And the grill on the car on the street didn't match up with 63 or 64. So the New Yorker had a different grill than the Newport.
The blue in some areas seems to be from the colorizing. The chrome strips on the cars in the foreground have a blue tinge. The dash in the Oldsmobile appears to be black.
Today is the 68th Anniversary of the first appearance of the Corvette at the GM Motorama held at the Waldorf-Astoria. My 10y/o self was most impressed by the strength of the fiberglass which you could hit with an electrically controlled hammer.
Many yrs later I learned that '53-'54 Corvettes were so poorly built that British cars were more reliable. It was not until Ford entered the sports car market with the T-Bird did GM address the obvious flaws in the original C1. I've always felt that the '55-'62 V8 powered Vettes were the real C2 being so much improved over the crappy 6-cyl cars.
First in a series of pics over the next few days from the Americar group on FB. This one is a suitably dreary wintertime pic. You can almost hear the road salt munching on the body metal.
Is that a very large person in the distance sitting on an armchair behind the nearest lamppost on the left? He looks like he's got his feet out towards us
Anyway - 1960 Ford leading a 59 Chevrolet wagon and alongside a 62 Country Squire.
Yeah, back when all-season (hah!) tires had yet to become a thing, you would buy a pair of snows and put them on the drive wheels, usually the rear ones back in those days, although the FWD Austins my older brothers had in the early '70s got them on the front wheels only in the winter.
Hino Contessa, another early 60s car with Corvair-derived styling.
Re: snow tires, I remember at my mom's insistence, my dad would put chains on her T-Bird whenever snow covered the road. Then when she got the FWD Tempo, she didn't worry.
Re winter tyres, they don't really apply here except in wilder bits of the North or Scotland.
My first car - a Morris1000 Traveller - had previously been used by a building contractor and had heavy duty rear tyres on it with treads like work boots - they were Dunlop "Town & Country " brand, and you had to fit them only on the rear - they were illegal if fitted on the front. It sounded like an army truck but was useful getting out of grass verges in Wales although we didn't get snow most years even in the part of Wales I lived in except on a few odd days.
Here you couldn't fit tyres like that on FWD cars like Minis - it would fail a safety test if you did.
One thing different about our roads though is that until fairly recently we have always had a higher percentage of manual transmission and automatics are perceived as unsafe on snow - certainly when we had a really icy night in London about ten years ago the traffic on our street - which has about a 10% gradient - was not coping with the slope at all - my neighbour with a 5 series auto BMW was spinning the wheels without going anywhere, while I was going off steadily in my then car a FWD Alfa Mito without any drama in second gear.
Pulling away in 2nd gear makes me think of traditional MB automatics, which defaulted to second gear when pulling away from a stop. The fintail has such a unit, and I drove it in the snow many times when I was younger - never had an issue. Lowish torque application combined with 2nd gear helps with stability and maybe even throttle modulation. First gear on that car is a stump puller, and can only be engaged via a button under the gas pedal.
I find myself this winter driving with all-season tires on my RWD BMW335i cabrio. We planned to fly to AZ as we usually do but they are having a particularly bad outbreak of the Covid19. We've been hoping it would ease up but so far it has only a little while NH, ME and VT have some of the lowest per capita cases.
This uncertainty has led me to keep driving with my all-seasons. Fortunately my little rocket sled has turned out to be an excellent snow car that works as long as the snow isn't very deep (>3"). My snow plow contractor is good and I generally have the ability to stay home if conditions look bad. So far the local roads have been cleared well, even after the recent storm that left 2 feet in some areas.
My 150' driveway has a right hook before you reach the road and so far we've been able to make it with judicious aplication of throttle and an excellent traction control.
The 335i like most smaller Bimmers has 50% of the weight in the rear which helps as doest the fact that Ihave lots ofexperience with all sorts of configurations:
RWD w summer tires only/RWD w 2 snows/RWD with 4 snows/FWD w front snows FWD w 4snows/AWD w summer tires/AWD w 4 snows.
FWIW, the best set up for real snow IMO is AWD w 4snows but my worst experience was trying to get up a long hill with six inches of fresh snow in an A4 Quattro with summer tires.
We haven't had any real snow since the early Jan storm. Fingers crossed.
I noted today that one full month into the winter season, the ground is bare of any snow at all here and generally has been most of the time so far this winter. I can't remember that being the case ever before. We had a couple of nuisance snowfalls but they didn't stick around long. I'm not complaining, because we still have 2 months to go on the calendar plus a few weeks of early spring that are always winter-like here, so I'm sure we'll get out share of the hated snow.
I only use second gear on the Magnette to pull away - first has no synchromesh and has a really low ratio so apart from double-declutching it would also only go up to about ten miles per hour.
What it is useful for is manoeuvring - there is no synchro on reverse either but as the ratio is similar you can go from reverse to first and vice-versa without effort
When I was a kid we had severe snow in Wales 1963 which was on the ground for over a month - in lowland areas - not just the mountains. That happened there only about once more in the 60's for over a week and once in the mid - 70's and I think since living in London which is obviously warmer than Wales I have only had to drive in snow for a maximum of four days in any year and two or three years can pass between snowfalls.
I spent $1700 on snow tires/wheels, so of course we are having a mild winter. We have a snow day here and there, but it doesn't stick around for long, and the arterial streets are clear immediately - we seem to be in a rut where 5 days after it snows, temps are 10F above normal and it is raining. Winters in the Columbia Basin when I was a kid (lower elevation, generally warmer than Spokane) seemed much snowier than this, but I think the 80s were a cold cycle in this region.
First gear in the fintail sounds like the Magnette, 10 mph might be about tops for it too, and it is jarring to engage, I simply don't do it.
We are however experiencing more storms with high winds and rain than we used to get - the back of the house currently sounds like we are in a car wash...
Another pic from the FB Americar group. No idea where this was taken. If you zoom in on this there are some interesting finds towards the back half in particular.
Big roller coming down the hill. And looks like a little Triumph cresting the hill going up. Blue with white top 60 Ford behind the yellow cab toward the front.
Lots to see, indeed. First off, the obvious, behind the yellow taxi at foreground right, everyone's friend, a 60 Ford - maybe a 4 door HT? A ways back, left oncoming lane, behind a ~65 Cadillac and in front of a Camelot style Continental, a MB, apparently a W110 fintail. And straight across to the rightmost oncoming lane and back a couple cars, behind a Beetle, a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III.
Another pic from the FB Americar group. No idea where this was taken. If you zoom in on this there are some interesting finds towards the back half in particular.
Lots of Mid 60s from the glory days of Pontiac, a tan'64 in midlane and a cream color convertible in front. Further back a '63 and a little further back to the right a red '63 or '64
Oldest car might be the little Brit roadster top left, It's either a gen 1 Sprite or a TR2/3.
I agree 60 Fords are common in these pictures - I even posted one in a contemporary British picture last year.
This long line approaching cars is interesting - the RR is a Silver Cloud III but you have a much less famous Brit in the lane to the left and about two cars further back - that grey coloured car following a red car and leading another...
We also have a 105 Anglia with a white roof ahead of that Triumph disappearing over the hill
A black 53 or 54 Mercury is to the right of that white Pontiac in the middle oncoming lane
And I see a 64/5 Studebaker following the two cabs with the Diamond shaped roof lights
2nd row from right, about halfway up, a Harvester Scout/white over red. Third row from left towards rear, a dark (BRG?) MG-BGT. Fourth row from left, barely visible 2 cars behind split window VW Bus, a Porsche 356!
@fintail That is indeed a Riley (Farina) - either a 4/68 or the 4/72 which is more likely.
Nearest one I could find with similar colour ;-
They also actually built these in Argentina under licence including some similar MG ones (MkIII or IV Magnette) and were known there as the Siam DeTella 1500 based on the 4/68 model
In your latest picture - to the left of the International Scout and two cars ahead of the white one in the sun, is a shaded 57/58 DeSoto following (I think) a 60 Chevrolet
Since nobody else mentioned it, the ‘67 Dodge Dart 2-door hardtop up front. I have a thing for ‘67 Darts with the rectangular turn signals in the grille. Don’t care so much for later model years.
Comments
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
there's a car hiding behind the coral 55 Buick.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
1959 Rambler wagon in front of the 52/53 Buick.
The blue in some areas seems to be from the colorizing. The chrome strips on the cars in the foreground have a blue tinge. The dash in the Oldsmobile appears to be black.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Many yrs later I learned that '53-'54 Corvettes were so poorly built that British cars were more reliable. It was not until Ford entered the sports car market with the T-Bird did GM address the obvious flaws in the original C1. I've always felt that the '55-'62 V8 powered Vettes were the real C2 being so much improved over the crappy 6-cyl cars.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Anyway - 1960 Ford leading a 59 Chevrolet wagon and alongside a 62 Country Squire.
So where is the Vauxhall or Hillman ?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
63 Galaxie fastback in the oncoming right lane, second car back. 61 Country Squire beside the 60 Ford.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
That was an interesting winter..
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2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Re: snow tires, I remember at my mom's insistence, my dad would put chains on her T-Bird whenever snow covered the road. Then when she got the FWD Tempo, she didn't worry.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
My first car - a Morris1000 Traveller - had previously been used by a building contractor and had heavy duty rear tyres on it with treads like work boots - they were Dunlop "Town & Country " brand, and you had to fit them only on the rear - they were illegal if fitted on the front. It sounded like an army truck but was useful getting out of grass verges in Wales although we didn't get snow most years even in the part of Wales I lived in except on a few odd days.
Here you couldn't fit tyres like that on FWD cars like Minis - it would fail a safety test if you did.
One thing different about our roads though is that until fairly recently we have always had a higher percentage of manual transmission and automatics are perceived as unsafe on snow - certainly when we had a really icy night in London about ten years ago the traffic on our street - which has about a 10% gradient - was not coping with the slope at all - my neighbour with a 5 series auto BMW was spinning the wheels without going anywhere, while I was going off steadily in my then car a FWD Alfa Mito without any drama in second gear.
This uncertainty has led me to keep driving with my all-seasons. Fortunately my little rocket sled has turned out to be an excellent snow car that works as long as the snow isn't very deep (>3"). My snow plow contractor is good and I generally have the ability to stay home if conditions look bad. So far the local roads have been cleared well, even after the recent storm that left 2 feet in some areas.
My 150' driveway has a right hook before you reach the road and so far we've been able to make it with judicious aplication of throttle and an excellent traction control.
The 335i like most smaller Bimmers has 50% of the weight in the rear which helps as doest the fact that Ihave lots ofexperience with all sorts of configurations:
RWD w summer tires only/RWD w 2 snows/RWD with 4 snows/FWD w front snows
FWD w 4snows/AWD w summer tires/AWD w 4 snows.
FWIW, the best set up for real snow IMO is AWD w 4snows but my worst experience was trying to get up a long hill with six inches of fresh snow in an A4 Quattro with summer tires.
We haven't had any real snow since the early Jan storm. Fingers crossed.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
What it is useful for is manoeuvring - there is no synchro on reverse either but as the ratio is similar you can go from reverse to first and vice-versa without effort
When I was a kid we had severe snow in Wales 1963 which was on the ground for over a month - in lowland areas - not just the mountains. That happened there only about once more in the 60's for over a week and once in the mid - 70's and I think since living in London which is obviously warmer than Wales I have only had to drive in snow for a maximum of four days in any year and two or three years can pass between snowfalls.
First gear in the fintail sounds like the Magnette, 10 mph might be about tops for it too, and it is jarring to engage, I simply don't do it.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Oldest car might be the little Brit roadster top left, It's either a gen 1 Sprite or a TR2/3.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
with the big hills on that stretch, no surprise they salt heavily.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
This long line approaching cars is interesting - the RR is a Silver Cloud III but you have a much less famous Brit in the lane to the left and about two cars further back - that grey coloured car following a red car and leading another...
We also have a 105 Anglia with a white roof ahead of that Triumph disappearing over the hill
A black 53 or 54 Mercury is to the right of that white Pontiac in the middle oncoming lane
And I see a 64/5 Studebaker following the two cabs with the Diamond shaped roof lights
I also see the less fancy British car, in front of a Pontiac. Riley or Wolseley, Farina style?
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
towards rear, a dark (BRG?) MG-BGT. Fourth row from left, barely visible 2 cars behind split window VW Bus, a Porsche 356!
No 60 fords that I see
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
man, how odd it is to see so few pickups and SUVs in a sea of cars.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
Nearest one I could find with similar colour ;-
They also actually built these in Argentina under licence including some similar MG ones (MkIII or IV Magnette) and were known there as the Siam DeTella 1500 based on the 4/68 model
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6