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These days vintage Porsches are high dollar collector items, but in Bavaria in 1955 they were merely tow vehicles for some crazy skiers. This vintage video takes a look at "the world's most dangerous sport" which evidently involved being towed around a track by motorcycles, Volkswagen Bugs, Porsche 356s and even a Porsche 550 Spyder. More »
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When gasser style cars started appearing at drag strips in the late 50s, they were like nothing anyone had ever seen. They were stripped down hot rods with big engines, wild paint jobs and a weird stance—thanks to the straight front axles that were installed up front to improve traction off the line. More »
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In 1955 Volkswagen Transporters were nothing more than commercial vehicles, albeit strange and relatively rare commercial vehicles—at least in the US. Volkswagen hadn't yet captured American hearts with their clever advertising and few people even knew what they were. Even so, a few Volkswagens did make it over to this country that year, like this Panel Bus currently listed on Ebay. More »
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They may have just been used cars back in 1962, but the lineup in front of Lancaster Lincoln Mercury has certainly aged well. Given the opportunity, the chances of us leaving Lancaster Lincoln Mercury without at least the red '58 Desoto and the '57 Plymouth wagon shown here would have been slim to none. More »
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The 1955 Cadillac Series 75 Fleetwood limousine that Elvis Presley used to transport his band to shows all over the Southern United States will go up for auction at Bonham's Classic California sale on November 12. More »
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It's well known the original Corvette based Chevrolet Nomad was destroyed sometime after it was featured in the 1954 GM Motorama. Since you can't own the original this masterfully crafted replica is about as close as you can get to owning the real thing. This replica took the car's owner and creator over 7 years and almost $400,000 to build and now the amazing result is listed for sale on Ebay. More »
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It may still have it's trademark bubble car shape, but there isn't a whole lot else on this Fiat 600 that is the same as when it left the factory in 1955. Where there was once a backseat is now a 170hp engine from a Honda 1000rr. Finding a mid engine 1955 Fiat for sale is anything but a common occurrence, but it comes as no surprise when it we do find one it's for sale on Ebay. More »
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As part of their 100 year celebration Chevrolet set up a weird bracket style voting system in an attempt to pick the best car the company ever produced. After 124,368 votes were cast the 1969 Camaro came out victorious. Second place went to the 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS. More »
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It may be tired and weathered, but this 1955 Chevrolet 4400 still looks fairly complete. Unfortunately large commercial trucks such as these are not nearly as desirable as smaller trucks of the same era, which means it's unlikely this old truck will ever see the road again. More »
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Welcome to Found Off The Street, our look at cars found on the cape that rust liked so much it decided to summer there; Cape Cod, MA. Today we have a 1955 Ford Fairlane. More »
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One of the estimated 60,000 old American cars or "Yank Tanks" still on the road in Cuba, this 1955 Desoto appears to have weathered years of regular use fairly well. The trade embargo that limited new American cars being brought to Cuba makes it nearly impossible to get parts for old ones. Often soviet parts are fit to old American cars out of necessity. We wonder what strange combination of parts has kept this Desoto going for so many years. More »
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Imperials first featured stand alone taillights in 1955 and 1956. Although the taillights were integrated into the fins of the newly designed 57 models, separate taillights made a brief return for the 1961 and 1962 model years. (Photo Credit:bsabarnowl) More »
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The 722 in the Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Roadster's name is the number of the 300 SLR that Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson drove to victory in the historic 1955 Mille Miglia. What a tribute. (Photo Credit: EdCallow) More »
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Welcome to Found Off The Street, our new look at cars found on the cape that rust liked so much it decided to summer there; Cape Cod, MA. Today we have a 1955 Pontiac Chieftain. More »
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Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the City That Rust Sorta Ignored: Denver, Colorado. 55 years old and still at work! More »
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Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! I haven't been able to do as many PCH posts as I'd like, so let's have a 4-fer-1 today! More »
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What if James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder had missed that Ford Custom at the intersection of State Routes 46 and 41? According to South Africa's Allan Gray Investments, Things Would Have Been Different. More »
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Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Sooner or later, I knew I'd find one of these!
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When was the last time you saw a car ad with some geeky intellectual explaining how the styling builds the "feeling of motion" into the shape of the car? It's impossible to imagine a present-day Ford being pitched with the line "When the design of a car expresses its function forcefully and imaginatively, of course we derive more pleasure from owning and using it!" The '55 Ford really was a good-looking car, and it sold in greater numbers than its Chevrolet rival... but which one starred in Two Lane Blacktop? More »
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The $10,000 Acura NSX ran away with 62% of the votes in Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll, though the Corvette put in a good showing (and it's unfortunate that the late-in-day timing of PCH made it impossible to give Graverobber Commenter of the Day recognition for this methtastic Inland Empire tale, because he totally deserved it). Today we're going to look at some projects that, if by some miracle you ever managed to get finished, would give you the highly coveted "weirdest car in town" status that true Hell Project aficionados seek. There's no common theme, other than misery obscurity and slippery slope leading straight to the abyss low price of admission, so let's see how a single Bavarian stacks up against a threesome of Brits! More »
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Most 1950s car ads are full of gibberish and nonsensical feature names, so it's understandable that we tend to tune out most of the hype and focus on the great styling when we see such ads today. However, the 1955 Chevrolet really was an important milestone for Detroit, with the first of millions of cheap, reliable small-block Chevrolet V8s and a profile that even non-car geeks can recognize today. Here's a series of what appear to be dealer promo ads for the '55- quick, in addition to "Motoramic™" and "Glide Ride™," how many trademarked features can you name from these ads? More »
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Next up in the 2008 Detroit Autorama Great 8 parade is this very vibrant, very slick 1955 Chrysler 2 Door Hard Top Wagon. Even though the car looks like it was designed this way, a ton of heavy duty work went into this one. The car has been shortened 8", chopped 2", the windshield laid by by 15 degrees, the dash was hand formed out of steel, custom floor pans throughout, custom wood deck in the back, and on and on. The motivation comes courtesy of a Hemi with a one off Hillborn injection system and power is delivered to a set of 24" Foose wheels out back. More »
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Many of you have been kind enough to send DOTS Bonus Edition photos my way, and you're all very good about not raking me over the coals for taking so damn long to get to some of them. Reader Vance, who dwells behind the Orange Curtain, shot this very clean 1955 Ford Fairlane on the streets of Tustin back in October. Now, most houses down in SoCal have garages, so you don't see quite as much old iron on the street... but that desert climate means you just don't get rust. When you're done checking out the Fairlane, make the jump to see the Bonus LTD, with commentary by Vance. More »
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Believe it or not, the last time we saw a 50s Detroit car in this series was the '57 Cadillac, way back in November. I've got quite a few of them photographed, but it seems that my recent focus on the Malaise Era has come at the expense of other decades. So, let's take a look at an extra-nice example of the Major Chrome Era: this '55 Mercury Monterey sedan. More »
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Let's face it: an engine that was in front-line service for 50 years, with more than ninety million built, reliable, cheap to build, and easy to modify for performance... well, do we even need to mention the small-block Chevy in this series, given that we all know it pretty much sets the Workhorse Engine standard? Sure we do! Yes, yes, we admit it had an oil-leakage problem (mostly solved by the valve-cover/rear main seal redesign of '87), but oil's cheap! So here's how we'll honor our old friend: GM made so many variations of the SBC that we now have the opportunity to name our favorite and most disappointing small-blocks on this fine Thursday afternoon. Myself, I dig the smaller-displacement powerhouses, so I'm torn between the the 385-horse L84 327 of '64 and the high-revving/zero-torque 302 of '67-'69 for my favorite; as for my least favorite, it's hard to sink lower than the late-70s/early-80s 267, equipped with suck-o-matic computer Q-Jet and general air of Malaise. And you? [Wikipedia] More »
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As much ass as 50s Italian race cars may kick, there's something about the British racing machinery of of the era that really hypnotizes us. Fortunately, we were able to function sufficiently in the presence of this '55 DB3S (see worship page here) to haul out the cameras. Our only regret is that we didn't get a chance to see this beast run. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=292068&view=rss&microfeed=true Apparently, Walt Disney had a deal with American Motors back in '55, allowing them to use a crypto-Mickey Mouse character in their ads. While this Nash ad isn't quite as twisted as the Disembodied Mickey Head Mitsubishi ad, it's still a bit strange to see a family of animated mice shilling for the Pacer's ancestor. More »
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We've seen 61 of Alameda's street-parked cars so far in this series, but only seven have been from the 1950s. Since I have a fair number of Alameda cars from that decade already photographed, it's time to break one out. This '55 Plymouth lives in the East End, a block or so from the '72 El Camino we saw earlier in the month, and I'd been meaning to shoot some photos of it for quite some time. More »
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Since I'm already scouring Craigslist every day for my next project (having come dangerously close to taking a shot at the 20R Austin-Healey) and running across all sorts of potential Choose Your Eternity project cars, we might as well keep the series going for another day (looks like the Biscayne hearse edged out the Rover 2000 yesterday). Today we have a couple of classics from now-defunct marques vying for your votes... More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=281636&view=rss&microfeed=true "In me is power. Churning power, turning power, burning power, in eight busy breathing cylinders! I am Chevrolet's new Turbo-Fire V8, an engine that keeps car wheels rolling!" Judging by the scenery-chewing hyperdramatic delivery of the narrator (coupled with war-movie background music) in this ad for Chevy's new-for-1955 overhead-valve 265, you'd think that GM felt their new engine design would turn out to be somewhat successful for them in the long run. – Murilee Martin More »
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