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Two years after Saab introduced their 900, the quirky Swedish cars still hadn't exactly caught on with mainstream car buyers. In a somewhat misguided effort to resolve this issue the company decided to produce this bizarre commercial for the UK showing their 900 bouncing off trees and flying through the air while making horse noises. More »
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In 1965 Ford tried to sell potential LTD buyers on the fact it was quieter than a Rolls Royce because, as well all know, interior noise is a huge factor in car buying. 15 years later, even though the LTD's low decibel advantage had turned into a barely audible tie, Ford was still proud of that fact the LTD was as good as the Rolls at something. More »
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Even though the Triumph slant-four engine proved quite reliable after SAAB tinkered with it for a few decades, British Leyland never quite found the magic formula to make the TR7 hold together as well as the SAAB 99. More »
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It appears that GM's marketers recruited the actors from this ad from Synanon, if we go by the vacuous, zombified smiles and apparent belief that the '80 Regal was a sporty car. More »
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For some reason, American car shoppers in 1980 mostly chose Corollas, 810s, and RX-7s over Stradas, Bravas, and X1/9s, in spite of Fiat offering up to 400 bucks off the sticker price! More »
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Malaise Era engine power numbers always provide entertainment, especially when you consider that the 134-horse 302 engine was the 1980 Mercury Cougar's optional V8. The standard 255 made 119 horsepower. Meow! More »
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Can a 62-horsepower Rabbit really keep up with a perp standing on the gas pedal of a Barracuda? Hey, the Malaise Era demanded some suspension of disbelief! More »
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You know how it happens: the reliable old Civic finally blows the head gasket or busts its transmission, something that costs more than it's worth to get fixed. Next stop: junkyard! More »
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According to the Rover SD1's Wikipedia entry, only 800 of these fine examples of British Leyland craftsmanship- badged as the Rover 3500- were exported to the United States. Here's one that beat the odds for quite a while. 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. Finally, a Volvo 262C Bertone on the street in Alameda! More »
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In a way, I'm glad that I don't live in Southern California, because otherwise I'd probably own this Hell Project classic Cadillac right now! 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! Want an oddball European project, but you're living in a hobo jungle? Problem solved! More »
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Citroënet is one of the few marque-specific car websites that can measure up to the standard set by Allpar, and it doesn't take much digging there to unearth some jaw-dropping stuff. More »
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I was a huge fan of the original mid-70s Wacky Packages (particularly the car-themed cards), so I can't believe I totally missed their 1980 descendants: Weird Wheels! More »
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While some vintage Japanese machinery gets preserved and/or restored these days, the early Civic seems to be getting the cold shoulder. When such a car gets sick, the next stop is usually the glue factory. More »
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Welcome to Down On The Street Bonus Edition! We're back with more Tomsk photos from behind the Orange Curtain. 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. A few first- and second-gen Civics still roam the island nowadays.
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Here's what appears to be a late-night German infomercial for the 1980 Porsche 924 and 924 Turbo. Outdoorsy young Porsche owners, dedicated Porsche factory workers, and Porsche Le Mans racers all make appearances.
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With the $39,500 Renault R5 Turbo getting a Nice Price vote on Friday, we're going to see if French factory hot rods can get the nod from our readers twice in a row. More »
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Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. We've only seen one Alameda 280ZX in this series, so we're due!
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Back when Chrysler was getting bailed out by Uncle Sam and frantically readying their new K Car saviors, The General replied by re-blinging the Monte and adding a Malaise Grade 170-horsepower Buick V6. Nice redline! More »
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You know how most first-gen RX-7s got blown up, wrecked, or otherwise hooned to death, with the scattered survivors slowly fading into beaterness? Not this one! More »
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While most Fauxrraris tend to be based on the mid-engined Pontiac Fiero, you can also find Daytona replicas based on the good ol' C3 Corvette. Since the small-block Chevy can be made to churn out power well beyond anything ever put in a factory Daytona, a Corvettari can be very quick (though the Corvette suspension might make for some white-knuckle driving adventures at Ferrari-esque speeds). Here we've got a well-built Corvettari Daytona, built on a 1980 chassis with EFI 400 small-block and Tremec 5-speed. More »
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You Ferrari fanciers have no doubt been pointing and hooting at the Fauxborghinis of last week's Backyard Lambo Of The Day series. Not so fast, signore! We're going to follow up that series with some Fauxrraris, cars that offend the purists just as much as they impress the rest of us with their low-buck (and sometimes not-so-low-buck) ingenuity. Today's car is a sort of Mystery Fauxrrari out of Washington state… More »
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How about the Bauer family, with its ten Pintos in 1980? Hard to believe, but Pintos were once as common a sight as the Taurus is now. With 38 very optimistic highway MPG, these multi-Pinto families could thumb their nose at that damn Ayatollah and his gas-price-jacking hijinks! More »
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It's Nice Price Or Crack Pipe time again, which means you have another chance to pass judgment on a car seller's possibly overoptimistic price tag! Today's car is one you don't see every day in North America, no doubt about it; the seller brought this '80 Datsun Skyline over from the UK, so it's even weirder than the occasional JDM car you might encounter. It's in pretty good shape, other than a spot of quarterpanel rust-through; we're pretty sure the L28 engine was never installed by the factory in these cars, so either the seller has the engine wrong or it's been swapped. Regardless, many common-as-dirt 280ZX parts will fit. Thanks to Justin for the tip! More »
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In 1980 Japan, it was possible to get synthesizer keyboards with far more futuristic "whistling echo laser" effects than those used anywhere else in the Free World. Naturally, the Cresta was the machine most deserving of those keyboards. Somewhat similar in appearance to its American cousin, the Cressida, the Cresta was basically a luxury-enhanced Corona Mark II. Nice car, but we'd rather have a Crown Super Saloon. More »
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When you've got 66 mighty horsepower clattering under the hood, you know no chains can hold you! Does the Renault 18 chained up in a Roman amphitheater symbolize some sort of Italian-French automotive rivalry? And how many clutch discs were destroyed during the filming of this ad? More »
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Perhaps this ad is a bit lighter on the cocaine than the Hot Stuff '81 Mustang ad, but we're talking a few grams at most. Otherwise, it's all there: high heels, polyester, anorexia, miserable engine outputs... and the Ford Fox platform. The sad thing is that the Cougar's (claimed) 34 highway MPG would be pretty decent among the bloatmobiles that pass as "economy" cars today. More »
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North Americans knew the Fiat Ritmo as the Strada, but did they realize that the little built-by-robots Bertone-styled machine was possessed by Il Diavolo? Just watch as the happy Ritmo-equipped family gets tailgated by a menacing Jaguar (or maybe it's a Daimler)… but then Papa stands on the gas, all sixty rampaging Italian horses kick in, and the Fiat lunges ahead! More »
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Just when everyone figured British Leyland was going to surrender the British Isles to the hordes of low-priced imports pouring across the Channel, here comes the brand new Austin Metro! Good for 62 MPG (at a blistering 50 miles per hour) and bashed together by drunks with hammers built with pride right at home, there was no doubt the Germans, Italians, Japanese, and French trembled with fear at the sight of the Metro. 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 really wanted to call today's matchup Édition Débâcle, but the heads of our beloved Server Hamsters tend to explode when they're forced to deal with weird furrin letters in our headlines, and headless hamsters don't run on wheels. Never mind the English-only hamsters, though, because we've got to choose between two equally impossible desirable French cars. More »
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JanTheMan has found this 1980 Ford Capri that's been upgraded to full-on "Tuff Willys" status. We especially like the beautifully crafted custom fender flares, and the cowcatcher in front is a definite keeper. Stock up a few cases of akvavit to keep in the bed and you'll be ready to hoon your way through that long Scandinavian winter in style. If you don't speak Swedish, you can try the Google Language Tools version, which seems to indicate that a "well known rally driver" was involved in the construction of this fine customized motor vehicle. [Blocket.se] More »
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Looks like the Ferrari-versus-Lamborghini Hell Project score is now Enzo 1, Ferrucio 1, according to the results of Monday's Choose Your Eternity Poll. We'll see about reprising the epic battle of the kings of finicky and costly Italian machinery soon enough, but today we're going to tell the oil companies we've had enough of their crazy prices and look at Electric Car Hell. And we don't mean glorified golf carts or even plug-in hybrids- we mean rear-wheel-drive American cars with great big electric motors and racks of lead-acid batteries, from the era of the Second Energy Crisis! Thanks, and a PCH Tipster T-shirt to ShastaMcNasty for the tips! More »
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It's pretty tough to beat the most menacing assemblage of Lucas Electrics ever put in one $150,000 package when it comes to Hell Projects, and even a horrifically hooned Skyline GT-R couldn't come close to the Lagonda in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll. In hindsight, probably nothing short of a Citroën SM could have made a stand against the Aston Martin; lesson learned for next time! Today we're going to put on our W.I.N. buttons and our boogie shoes and check out some classic Turbo Malaise Hell Projects (not to be confused with Turbo Mullet Hell Projects)... More »
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The Malaise Era Japanese cars are just about all gone by now, and it's especially obvious with Datsuns. The Datsun-Nissan changeover happened during the early 80s, just as digital engine controls and less restrictive catalytic converters signaled the end of the Malaise Era and the beginning of the Turbo Mullet Era (feel free to start throwing that name around). Today we're going to look at one of the last of the rear-wheel-drive econo-Datsuns, sold during the crazy gasoline price spikes of the 1979 Energy Crisis. Yes, back when disco was king and the echoes of Jimmy Carter's Malaise Speech were still reminding us of the diminished expectations that lay ahead. More »
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So there's Molly, sporting a mane of the most intense Late Disco Era feathered hair imaginable, wielding a big ol' hammer in front of a pane of glass labeled "MUFFLER PRICES." The tension... it's just unbearable! Can you afford to have Sullen Sideburned Muffler Dude throw a shiny new silencer on your Starfire? Just like Marshal Lucky, Molly's gonna smash the living shit out of high prices. Yessir! More »
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You Chicago-area folks might remember Timmy of Long Chevrolet in Elmhurst, in which case you've already been inoculated against the effects of this stunning combo of Malaise Era machinery, bad suits, brain-scouringly bad UHF production values, and Timmy's shouts. Chevettes Chevettes Chevettes! More »
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While the 8-door '57 Chrysler limo almost beat out the stretched Ferrari 400i limo in our last Choose Your Eternity poll (and what an upset of reigning PCH Superpower, Italy, that would have been!), V12 power and Italian build quality seem to have triumphed over fins and rust. Today we need to see how Italy fares against its fellow PCH Superpower, Great Britain (with the winner moving on to take on France, of course). And, just to make things more fun, we're going with some serious Malaise machinery today, because Euro-Malaise is inherently cool-yet-hellish. More »
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Red-blooded Americans normally don't give a rat's ass about fuel economy in their vehicles, but certain events in Iran made gas sippers such as the Datsun 210 look quite appealing. Every time you pass a gas station, you'll want to kiss your 210 (unless you're angry at it because there's no place to set your Big Gulp and the lack of 400 pounds of sound deadener means you're forced to hear road noise). More »
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