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With Saab's official passing this past week it seems only appropriate to look back at the reflections of the quirky Swedes from a literary great and one time Saab salesman. Kurt Vonnegut owned and operated Saab of Cape Cod until it closed in 1961 in West Barnstable, Ma giving him plenty of time to reflect on the one of a kind nature of an old Saab. More »
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Ford introduced the Econoline to the world in 1961 as the truck with a new shape, new design and new name. Based on Ford's compact Falcon, the Econoline was available as a "panel truck" work loving, fun loving "station bus" and our personal favorite, the pickup truck. 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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We can't imagine anyone in their right mind expected their money back when they began the process of restoring this four door 1961 Dodge Dart Seneca to such a high standard, but for whatever reason they decided to do it anyways. This oddball is currently listed on Ebay looking for another well financed (and slightly crazy) car enthusiast who just can't live without the nicest restored four door '61 Dodge we've ever seen. More »
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After being somewhat unappreciated in the collector car world for decades Alfa Romeo Sprint Speciales have skyrocketed in value over the past few years. One look at this beautiful red example currently on Ebay and it isn't hard to see why. More »
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The Corvette's iconic double round tail lights first appeared on the 1961 models and has been a signature feature of the Corvette design ever since. The double tail lights are shown here on a second generation 'Vette, arguably the most beautiful car the ever to feature the classic design element. More »
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This 1961 Porsche 356 was captured during a Sportscar Vintage Racing Association event held on what looks like a dark and wet day. Regardless of the weather an old Porsche on back roads looks like fun to us. (Photo Credit: Nathan Bittinger) 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 1961 Chevrolet Suburban. 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. It's time we got caught up on the DOTS Beetle Backlog. More »
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This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. Digging into my vast backlog of DOTSBE cars for more interesting Brits. Howzabout a Minx? More »
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I'm back at the motel for some internet access and maybe a few Zs while tireless Judge Lieberman works the radios at Penalty HQ, so here's your LeMons Fleetwood Update. More »
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The Lamest Day takes place at Nelson Ledges next weekend, and it will feature the best all-time Index Of Effluency matchup in 24 Hours Of LeMons history: a Soviet car taking on a finned Caddy! More »
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Would you believe that the same junkyard with matching white Volvo Amazons also boasts a pair of matching white Ford Falcon Rancheros? More »
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Not long ago, one of the 24 Hours Of LeMons perpetrators gave me a big box of Autocar magazines from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Talk about your great British print car ads! More »
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Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's coolest... and most hellish! Look how well the trio of Alfas did at Lemons New England- great cars, obviously! More »
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The ringleader drives a T-bucket with six pots, and the gang earns their bread strippin' the squares' sleds. Welcome to 1961's The Choppers! 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. How about we follow up one vintage Chevy wagon with another? More »
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Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. This Greenbrier created quite a stir when it appeared on the island. More »
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Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! After seeing the Johnson Messenger CB Telephone, we're saying 10-4 to custom van projects! More »
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Here we've got a seriously avant-garde animated ad for the '61 Renault Dauphine, with artwork by Alexandre Alexieff and an electronic music soundtrack by the enigmatic Van Thienen. We're reminded of the Louis Barron soundtrack to What's The Big Hurry, but in this case a car is being born rather than being crushed. More »
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Since we had a DOTS Traction-Avant this morning, let's stay in a Citroën state of mind by checking out this ID19 I found in an East Bay self-service junkyard over the weekend. Belvedere Adrian ran across this 47-year-old French wagon while scavenging for parts for the race car and figured I'd be interested. Interested? I was on the Nimitz Freeway about 45 seconds later! More »
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Say it's 1982. Would you buy a '61 Studebaker Lark wagon with "family rust" and "factory air in the tires" from this man? By comparison, Dominion Motors in Winnipeg could give you a better buy on that car, and all with 6.25% interest! Actually, we'd really love to have that very wagon right now, but it's probably just a reddish stain in a Canadian field at this point. 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. Today we're returning to a block that's given us quite a few DOTS favorites, including the '46 Chevy truck, the Fieroborghini, and the '62 Corvair van. Just around the corner are a couple more: the '87 560SL and the '65 Thunderbird. I see this Valiant all over town, and it's obviously its owner's primary means of transportation. You can't say that about most 47-year-old cars!
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The Cressida took the win over the Maxima in our Rear-Drive Japanese Sedan Hoonage Edition poll on Wednesday, though not by a decisive margin. Perhaps that's because the Cressida and Maxima are so similar to each other, but we're not going to have that issue today! 57Sweptside has found some hell projects that, while cool, don't have much more in common than the year of manufacture; 57Sweptside gets a coveted PCH Tipster T-shirt for his role in filling some lucky soul's garage with eternal damnation happiness! More »
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Tomsk sends in these photos of a very, very nice '61 Pontiac Bonneville, which he shot in- you guessed it!- Orange County. Yes, we're back in Costa Mesa, where just $4,200 will buy you this seriously original sedan (well, it would have bought it a couple months ago, when Tomsk shot these photos). 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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We had another nail-biter yesterday, with the Subaru XT6 edging out the BRAT by a 234 to 228 vote count in the Choose Your Eternity poll. We're going to declare that one a tie, and that's a good thing; after all, what's Hell without difficult choices? Today we're going to park a pair of European machines just inside the gates of Hades, where they will beckon enticingly to you with their only-one-in-town obscurity and double-take-inspiring appearance. It's lots of fun having an oddball car whose mere presence makes onlookers question your sanity respect your taste in fine automobiles, and either of these two could be a life sentence highly fulfilling project. Thanks to HotRodElectric and Franzouse for the tips! More »
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I've shot a few of Alameda's street-parked 60s Thunderbirds, but for some reason haven't yet posted any of them for this series. But today the Thunderbird drought ends, with this '61 that's a real survivor. Yes, that's the word for this beautifully wretched Ford, which is owned by the same guy who owns the equally wretched 1970 Chevy Impala we saw a while back. This Thunderbird has been a fixture on one of Alameda's main east-west thoroughfares for as long as I can remember; at its current rate of decay, it should be ready for The Crusher by about the year 2094. More »
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I'm going to go with a fine patriotic machine this Fourth of July, a car literally named American. This little Kenosha coupe lives in Alameda's West End. More »
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