1953 - Jalopnik

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1953 MG TD
DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
1953 Chevrolet Pickup Truck
1952 Dodge Pickup Truck
PCH, Superpower Rematch Edition: Jaguar Mark VII or Citroen DS?
Furious French Ford Flathead Facel: Comete!
1953 Packard Cavalier

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Paul Y. don't drive too fast.
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
Totally off-topic, but good news: my new next door neighbor drives a babyshit-green 71-76 Caprice sedan -- totally DOTSBE-worthy. I'll try to get some pictures to submit ASAP. Non-garaged iron that old is really, really rare in these parts, and it seems like a mostly unmolested car.

On-topic: needs more Hayabusa-swap, for extra death-potential.

I'd be proud to roll around in a rough-around-the-edges MG when it occasionally can be coerced into running.
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MushyHeirloom
08/29/09

@TV's Paul Y.: I shot a Buick of similar vintage (dark ocean water green with rust), and there's a Caprice wagon 'round here somewhere. Send 'er to murilee@jalopnik.com!
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MushyHeirloom
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
Oldest Street-Parked British Car In Alameda Down On The Street History

Save one.

I don't care. I love me some TD anyway.
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tonyola
08/29/09

@FP: Your Volvo is awesome! Anyway:: The Beardmore taxi is not really from 1937. It could have been built anywhere from the mid 1950s to around 1967, with the 1960s being most likely.
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MushyHeirloom
08/29/09

@tonyola: Ahh, I get it now. Murilee said the guy told him it was brought over here in the late '50s, but was a 1937... so now I'm officially confused!

One of the oldest, regardless.
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A strolling player
08/30/09

@FP: Your Volvo is awesome, but we all knew that already.

Anyway, reading that line made me feel rather accomplished. I've photographed, street-parked in New Orleans, two Rolls Royces circa 1930.
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FTGDWolverineEdition'09
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
Who is the douche in pic#6? Can someone photoshop the civic guy next to him? Would complete the pic.
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SeanKHotay
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
Cool find!

I gots to get me to Alameda...
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SeanKHotay
08/29/09

@SeanKHotay: BTW, you gots to know that the owner is probably some perfessor from Bezerkeley. :)
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KillerBee
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
I especially like the giant Fudge Stripe cookie on the back.
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Novaload
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
Character and style. Just LOOK at that dashboard. Why not have sexy curves and gauges/dials the size of dinner plates?

PS The guy never sold that pink 60 Mercury wagon? Or did the person in your neighborhood buy it? That's a very rare bird.
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flat_tar
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
Just wondering, if these cars are on the streets, why are many of them allowed to have expired plates?
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Tomsk welcomes the Jezebanned home promoted this comment flat_tar was starred flat_tar was unstarred

Six Flags Over Tomsk
08/29/09

@flat_tar: We get new stickers every year here in California to place on the top right corner of the back plate. The one on the MG is yellow and reads "2010," meaning it's registered for the next 12 months since the sticker on the top left corner reads "AUG."
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Edited by Six Flags Over Tomsk at 08/29/09 1:49 PM

Franzouse
08/29/09

In reply to 1953 MG TD
I wonder if a 22RE would fit in there...
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
08/29/09

@Franzouse: Volvo red-block?

No wait- Hyper Pak Slant six!
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Murilee Martin
08/29/09

@Franzouse: If they can put a man on the moon...
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Novaload
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
I'll buy Henry J

A drink any day.
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MushyHeirloom
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
Well, that's a pretty solid Allstate of affairs.
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
Well hey, the $1400 you plunked down for your Henry J Vagabond may not have gotten you things like a trunk, glovebox, radio, heater, blinkers, or reverse lights- but it did get you a Willys 4-cylinder (or a 6 in the 1500-buck Corsair), and best of all, faux-reptile upholstery!.

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Mad_Science
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
For all you guys ruminating on cheap cars with long options lists, Senor Baruth over at SpeedSportLife has an interesting writeup on how we got here from there:

[www.speedsportlife.com]
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Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing
04/19/09

@Mad_Science:

That article is well worth reading. Thanks for pointing it out.
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
Nice find. That wee beastie has a hell of an underbite.

When my Mom bought her rambler, the heater was an option. When she got her Nova, the cigarette lighter was an option. Kids these days, they got it easy I say.

BTW, I'm wonder if this car didn't supply a bit of design inspiration for the SAAB 96.
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A strolling player
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
This is excellent:

"Frank Zappa recalls in his autobiography the torment and horror of travelling cross-country sitting on the bench-like rear seat of a Henry J (he called it an "ironing board from hell") in the 1950's."

That front end looks like the perfect place in which to graft a faux Stude bulletnose. Bizarro baby-non-Stude, R3 powered, of course.

Okay, sorry, <threadjack>: I can't identify this car at all... it should be easy but I'm totally blanking!</threadjack>
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If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face
04/19/09

@Gutpunch McRodbender, a strolling player's understudy: Early '70s Plymouth Satellite. Probably a '74.
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Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face.
04/19/09

@FromaBuick6: With dogdishes from a 1980s Diplomat police car.
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mechimike
04/19/09

@Gutpunch McRodbender, a strolling player's understudy: That's either a 73 or 74 Plymouth Satellite. I've got one- the 74, last year of that body style. The roadrunner was basically the same car with hood nostrils.

If I'm not mistaken, this one is painted Petty Blue.
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Novaload
04/19/09

@Gutpunch McRodbender, a strolling player's understudy: I'm going to commit to 73, based on the rear.
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A strolling player
04/19/09

@Novaload Misses Murilee: Cool! You guys are awesome. '73 Satellite it is.

I don't know why this one gave me so much trouble, I've never had too much of it identifying any of the other cars I've shot, but as I'm a child of a different era I guess I'm not immune to a few toss-ups.
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MushyHeirloom
04/19/09

@Gutpunch McRodbender, a strolling player's understudy: When I identify cars I run all the possible models through Google Images until I get it right. This is especially fun when one's sense of scale and depth perception are less-than-stellar and you don't have a camera handy whenever you see the car. (It took me a few days' commuting past the '65-66 Buick to get it right.)

Some are easier, and you can tell about what they are at a glance - the full-size mid-late '60s Chevy two-door that I've never seen from closer than 10 yards turned out to be a '68 Biscayne/Bel Air, for example, and the '67 Ford wagon was a gimme.
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tonyola
04/19/09

In reply to DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, Rocky Mountain Edition: Henry J
Nasty little car that help to sink Kaiser as a viable automaker, but these were popular with hot-rodders in the later 1950s because of the size and light weight. This is one of the later ones - the early ones didn't have taillights on the fins - they had small round lights where the backup lights are on thus car.
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SmaartAasSaabr
04/19/09

@tonyola: these were the original bailout cars, Kaiser got money from the fed and had to make this :|
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tonyola
04/19/09

@SmaartAasSaabr: According to Dutch Darrin, he proposed a drastically-shortened but good-looking version of the standard 1951 Kaiser that would have fulfilled the loan requirements while leaving enough money to design a V8 engine - something that Kaiser desperately needed to stay competitive in the 1950s. He was overruled by Henry Kaiser, who thought he found a cheap design alternative from a third-party metal supplier (AMP). Darrin hated the AMP car but reluctantly improved the prototype styling the best he could on a very limited budget. It ended up costing tons of money to get the AMP car production-ready. High costs and ugly looks doomed the Henry J from the start. Darrin claimed that had his alternative been approved and the V8 developed, Kaiser could have stayed in the car business much longer.
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SmaartAasSaabr
04/19/09

@tonyola: sounds about right

At least they still made Manhattans in Argentina until what '62? ;)
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MushyHeirloom
04/19/09

@SmaartAasSaabr: Well, the Falcon survived until...

...oh, we don't talk about that, do we.
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