We can thank Wimbles for getting these high-quality photos of a car not often found in nature these days, particularly in a town with 95% garage-equipped modern houses. Maybe there's an even nicer Minx inside the garage!

I was digging through my hard drive looking for DOTS candidates I've snapped in San Francisco and I remembered one I saw right in my own hometown of San Ramon, in the East Bay. It appears to be a 1961-63 Hillman Minx Series IIIC judging by the lack of chrome trim and the "1600" badging on the door which indicates the 1592cc OHV 4-cylinder engine. Beyond that I don't know anything about it. This car appeared in my area for about a week or two in March 2007 and I haven't seen it since.

We had our second-ever first-gen Camaro yesterday, and this Porsche- which happened to be parked less than a block away- is our second-ever 356 (after this '63 autocross veteran; this Speedster replica doesn't count, though it's still a cool car). What are the odds that both DOTS 356s would be green '63s?

Actually, I'm not 100% sure this is a '63; it's definitely a T6 Karmann-built 356B coupe, but it could be a '62 (though I'm pretty sure the engine lid badging on the Super didn't read "S" that year) or a '64-65 (but this car appears to have drum brakes, which were dumped after '63). Obviously, this is the sort of thing that must be correct, lest Porsche fanatics- who make Detroit muscle car worshipers seem like well-balanced, reasonable individuals, which is saying something- make me write "I WILL NOT ACCUSE FERDINAND PORSCHE OF RIPPING OFF HANS LEDWINKA EVER EVER AGAIN" 988 times (one for every year of the Thousand Year Reich that didn't happen) in every Porsche post I write in the future. Right. So, Porsche experts, is this really a '63?

Something that you Citroën fans might find disturbing is the fact that this car appears to have replaced the 1969 DS wagon; this Porsche lives at the same house and I haven't seen the Citroën for quite a while. Which would you prefer as your daily driver? Tough call for me, but I think I'm leaning more in the direction of the French wagon.

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Part II:


Part III:

By all accounts, it was the most exciting Index Of Effluency battle in LeMons history. The Corvair proved so reliable that Toyota teams were feeling envious- yeah, we sure as hell didn't expect that from the oldest car ever to run in LeMons- but its lap times were on the slow side and its funky handling characteristics resulted in frequent visits to the Penalty Box. In the end, however, the much faster Saab just couldn't stay in one piece for long, and the trophy that LeMons insiders consider to be the most prestigious goes to the team captained by our own UDMan. Well done, Team Trailing Throttle Oversteer, and may this serve as an inspiration for future LeMons teams trying to decide on the right car!
Image source: Ron Vickers, SmokeyBurnout

Now, don't go sending me a bunch of those "ZOMG where is this junkyard? I need them parts for my Rambler project!" emails, because I shot these photos a year ago and this proto-AMC long ago served as a tasty snack for the steel jaws of The Crusher, an appetizer for the main course of Tradesman vans and W126 Benzes. Instead, contemplate the temporary nature of life as you peruse this Server Hamster-Approved™ new-style gallery, which I'm hoping won't cause a blackout to descend upon the Eastern Seaboard the very first time a reader clicks on one of its images:

Holy crap! A Weather Eye!

SCROGGS!! (who, just like Yahoo!, uses exclamation points as part of his name) has found us a treasure trove of vintage European Rally videos on YouTube:

1963 Alpine Rally, Part 1

1963 Alpine Rally, Part 2

1965 Monte Carlo Rally

1968 Rally Of Sweden, Part 1

1968 Rally Of Sweden, Part 2

1971 RAC Rally Of Great Britain, Part 1

1971 RAC Rally Of Great Britain, Part 2

1971 RAC Rally Of Great Britain, Part 3

You got the 361-cubic-inch big-block engine as standard equipment when you bought the 880, and nobody has pulled this one. Does anyone want the 361 these days?

We've got a reasonably intact '62 Bel Air sedan, a beautifully battered '63 Biscayne sedan, and a diamond-in-rough '66 Biscayne sedan (I may be off by a year on the first two, so correct as needed). All three appear to be daily drivers; I think this group goes well with the Denver Ford Grab Bag we had last year.

We'll start off with an octet from Discontinuuity, who has a knack for finding some great machinery down on the streets of the home of Coors: Golden, Colorado. Discontinuuity brought us these eight Golden vehicles plus this dignified Golden Mercedes-Benz Ponton a while back, and now we've got another round for you:

Nova Station Wagon: I've got a couple of good DOTS cars here for you. First up is a 1962 (or maybe '63) Chevrolet Nova station wagon gasser. I talked to the owner, Mike, who also owns a 1946 Austin hot rod and takes both cars out to the local Bandimere Speedway for Wednesday night drag races. The Chevy sports a 327 small block, not the stock I6, and has a killer stance in my opinion. More photos of an IH Scout coming soon.
International Harvester Scout: About a block away from the Chevy was this International Harvester Scout in fairly good condition. All I know is that it's driven by a School of Mines student and that it was probably built between 1965 and 1970.
Subaru Leone: I finally got around to photographing this Subaru today. From what I can tell, it was made between 1975 and 1978 and has every Malaise-tastic tape stripe and chrome option checked off (along with "5 speeds" and "Front Wheel Drive"). It looks like a pretty competent little daily driver though. Now I just need pictures of the much rustier BRAT last spotted at Taco Bell.
Volkwsagen Beetle: I saw the Beetle you posted for DOTS a few days ago with the engine cover propped open, and it reminded me that I needed to photograph this flat-black Beetle. I'm not sure of the year; it's probably from the mid 70s. Whatever the vintage, I think it captures the spirit of a college car pretty well: the Libertarian party bumper stickers, subtle yet somewhat half-assed mods, and the pile of crap where the back seat used to be. You also might note that it's parked on Illinois St, right in front of the MG from the original DOTS Golden post.
Toyota Starlet: I saw this Starlet parked on the street while on my way to a friend's house, and knowing the love that many Jalops have for the little Toyota I had to snap a few pictures. From what Wikipedia tells me this is an 81-84 model, and from what the bumper sticker and rust can tell me this little car has been driven hard through Alaska and Colorado since the Reagan years.
Ford Model A: I hope I'm not sending you too many photos from Golden, but I couldn't pass up this great vintage-styled hot rod I saw in a parking lot today. It's a 1931 Ford Model A (although the owner wasn't sure exactly what year it is, the title is for '31) with a chopped top, a 302 Ford V8, and some sweet pinstriping, all sitting on a '32 Ford frame and bias plys. I love all of the little details like the structural wood and fabric in the roof, flat green paint, dropped axle with hairpins, and the lakes-style pipes. Probably one of the oldest cars I've seen around Golden this year, and definitely one of the coolest.
Ford Thunderbird: I've got a couple more DOTSBE cars here for ya. The first is a beat to hell old Thunderbird I caught being transported on a flatbed, parked in front of this creepy industrial building. Whether its destiny is a full restoration or The Crusher, we can only guess.
Volkswagen Transporter: The second car is a newer VW Bus with a wikkid flame paint job, photographed near where I found the MG previously. The paint and aftermarket exhaust give it cool points in my book; however it also looses a few points because of the PRNDL between the seats. From the stickers on the back window, I infer that the owner (or previous owner) is a Christian, works on power lines, and has been a student at the Colorado School of Mines for the last three years or so.

We've got representatives of each of the Big Three (sadly, no AMC products), from the days when Detroit ruled the automotive universe. Four from GM and one apiece from Ford and Chrysler. Tomsk writes:

1964 Buick Riviera: This second-year example of Buick's personal luxury coupe has arguably seen better days, but you've gotta admit, it looks positively menacing.

1963 Mercury Monterey: With Mercury having been against the ropes since...well...a long-ass time now, it's worth remembering just how rad their products once were. Take this 1963 Monterey Custom 2-door hardtop, complete with the "Breezeway" roll-down rear window and the accompanying oddball roofline.
Am I alone in having a burning desire to cruise this baby down the main drag on Saturday night with a certain J. Wagner snuggled up next to me on the big bench seat? Didn't think so.

1965 Chrysler: This majestic child of Ma Mopar, though clearly fallen on hard times (Dig the precision-engineered driver's window repair!), still has that certain presence about it. That certain GIGANTIC presence about it.

1956 Chevrolet: Considering how much coin Tri-Five Chevys command these days, you'd think a clean, stock looking '56 Bel Air 2-door sedan would at least be hidden under an industrial-strength car cover and parked in the driveway. Well, that isn't the case with this one, which apparently calls a Costa Mesa cul-de-sac home. I've always thought the '56 was the best looking of the three shoebox Bowties; how about the rest of the Commentariat?

1968 Pontiac Catalina: The current Pontiac advertising tagline is "Pontiac is Car." Unfortunately, the models other than those belonging to the G8 and Solstice families are not Car; they're things you use to cover the oil spots on your driveway.
However, there was apparently a time when all new Ponchos were indeed Car. Exhibit A: This 1968 Catalina ragtop. If Oprah had given these things away, she'd be President Winfrey now. Stick that hyperbole in your pipe and smoke it.

1962 Cadillac: This 1962 Cad (I'm fairly sure it's a Sedan deVille) has seen better days, but what state would the true Jalop rather have it in: An over-restored beauty you'd be scared to take out of its plastic bubble, or this property-value-sucking, pseudo rat rod form? Exactly.

This 1963 Chrysler 300 ad (go here if the ad disappears) belongs in the second category. It appears to be referring to the $595 Chrysler in this ad, and the differing writing style makes us suspect that the authors may not know each other. No matter, because we think this tirade deserves a Best Of Craigslist vote regardless of author. And, hey, note the LeMons-grade asking price for that big-block Mopar- you could never in a million years totally win the race with that beast. Thanks to Oskimba for the tip!

I believe the car originally belonged to my Aunt Betsy, who was born in Wisconsin in 1931, and later migrated to California in 1954, while engaged to my Uncle Talbert.
She had a Tabby cat named Blinky, who died in the spring of 57. Blinky had 6 kittens in 1955, all of whom she regrettably gave away at a fair in Modesto. The cats where never seen or heard from again. Betsy left Modesto in 1963, approximately at the time she allegedly helped purchase the car for her lover, Benson, whom Talbert was unaware of. Unbeknownst to Betsy at that period, a second Tabby cat, also named Blinky, gave birth to 8 kittens, who had made a home in the Chrysler, while it was parked in the garage of Bensons home, hidden from Uncle Talbert. Talbert took ill in 1966, quite suspiciously I was informed, and he later expired from the odd illness in 1967. Meanwhile the Chryslers interior had been moderately tattered from the matured cats, 3 of whom had made the car their permanent home.
Betsy and Benson seperated ways in 1971, and Betsy took the Chrysler, and the two remaining cats, Philby and Jessup, with her to Berkeley. It was then that Betsy unfortunately became addicted to pain-killers, and the Chrysler
was parked in a storage facility in Oakland for several years. Although Philby loyally stayed with Betsy, Jessup disappeared. Philby passed away in 1984, and Betsy was devastated.
For reasons unknown, Betsy became obsessed with the 2 barrel carburetor of the Chrysler, and took it off the engine, and carried in her purse for the next 12 years. She eerily named the carburetor Jessup, after her beloved missing cat, and she was finally admitted to a rehabilitation center in 1996. The Chrysler was removed from storage in Oakland, and later transported to Talberts sisters home in Richmond. While packing Betsys household items for storage, her
nephew, Melvin, found the beloved carburetor in the refrigerator of Betsys home, and he had the carburetor rebuilt. It had been placed inside a plastic bowl, and submersed in a green gelatin.
Melvin applied for lien-custody of the Chrysler in 1998, and was denied the lien by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
At that point, the distressed nephew abandoned the efforts to claim the Chrysler, and the car remained in the garage in Richmond, until Talberts sister died in 2004. For some odd reason, Talberts sister had willed the Chrysler to the deceased cat, and the car was restored to Betsys ownership once again in 2006, as the ownershp had been declared invalid.
Betsy died in Dec. 2008, and at that time the car was given to Melvin, as he had wished, and Melvin then traded the car to me, in exchange for a 50/unit of 1/2 inch 4 ft by 8 ft cdx exterior grade roof plywood sheathing.

I certainly hope that clears up the confusion.

VR6John caught this Ranchero- which I'm pretty sure is a '63 (I'm at Murilee Martin Field HQ in Denver at the moment, so I don't have my reference library handy) over the summer, and it's time everyone got a chance to check it out. Love the 260 emblems! Here's what VR6John has to say:

hey Murilee...

saw this ranchero outside my office in SF...might be good for a DOTS-SF

comes with a dog too...this is down the street from the the little italian job you nabbed.

I don't know my Jeeps well enough to determine whether this example is a '63 or '64 model. The '65s had "Kaiser-Jeep" badging, so this one is either a first- or second-year Wagoneer. With its Brooks Stevens design, the first-gen Wagoneer is definitely a good-looking truck, and quite rare nowadays.


The '63 International Harvester half-ton Travelall 4x4 sold for $3,011 (and was also a great-looking machine), while the 4x4 Wagoneer 4-door went for $3,332. Farm equipment or military truck heritage? Either way, you're looking at some pretty sturdy iron. And, while we're pricing 1963 vehicles to take you and many passengers to the woods, we can't forget Detroit. The '63 Dodge Power Wagon Town Wagon 4x4 would rumble off the showroom floor for $3,104. GMC could put you behind the wheel of a Suburban Carryall 4x4 for $3,489, while the Chevy version would set you back $3,305. Which would you choose?

Can a Ford Falcon ever hope to generate the kind of toxic sulfurous flames needed to make an ordinary garage into a Hell Garage? The early Falcon was simple and reliable, shared a lot of components with other Ford products, and served as the basis for the first-gen Mustang, which- as we all know- benefits from compre-goddamn-hensive aftermarket parts support. Sure it can, provided there's a backyard-built blow-through-carbureted twin-turbo setup slapped on its 289! Yes, you can buy such a car (go here if the ad disappears), though we can't say how much the seller will take for it. It's got a spool-equipped 8" Ford rear end, which should be a real barrel of death laughs on wet pavement, and all the hassle of the turbo plumbing has been done. The engine is fried, most likely with the custom ventilated pistons you often get with the funky fuel delivery of blow-through turbo systems- "DIALED BOOST UP AND NOW MOTOR HAS LOTS OF BLOW BY POSSIBLE BAD RING, BUT ENGINE STILL RUNS!!"- but the junkyard, with its legions of cheap 5.0s, beckons; you could just keep blowing up $200 engines until you got everything set up right. We'd probably ditch the carburetor and go with some form of fuel injection, then add some intercoolers… and then there'd be all the fun of broken- and increasingly costly- drivetrain components if the engine made the 300-600 horses such a setup is good for. Still, how hard could it be? Thanks to LTDScott for the tip!

While that Falcon would be fun if by some miracle you could get it running right, leaf springs and drum brakes don't make for an all-around pleasant driving experience, especially when you're making about five times the power the car's designers had in mind. If you're going to go fast, it's best to do so in a car designed for screaming performance as well as serious comfort, and that means you need to find yourself something French! The Peugeot 405 Mi16 is such a car, but it's so hard to find them over here in North America, and the prices! Fortunately, our own Matt Hardigree is searching for a personal Hell Project right now, and he's been scared to death by decided to share this Texas-sized Mi16 deal with us: Two 1989 Peugeot Mi16s (go here if ad disappears) for just $1,500! One of them doesn't run, because the timing belt went bye-bye and there were some personal-space-violation issues between the pistons and valves, but the engine in the quasi-beat-looking gray one works just fine (by the way, have you ever noticed that American Peugeot owners always have parts cars?). All you need to do is pick the best parts from each and make one good Mi16… well, that's assuming that the gray car- which sat for an alleged seven years before getting back on the road- can contribute anything meaningful beyond a not-yet-destroyed cylinder head. Anyway, you'll make it happen!

I spent a summer driving one of these when I was in high school, and I liked it quite a bit (once I got used to the three-on-the-tree gearshift). Bouncy, squeaky, and rattly, but not much to go wrong and plenty of style.


Back in '63, the base C10 Stepside cost $2,009. That got you the indestructo-grade 230-cubic-inch I6, which would get the truck up to highway speed even with several old refrigerators in the bed… eventually. The '63 Ford F100 Flareside was priced at a near-identical $2,002, but the real truck steal of 1963 was the Dodge D100 Sweptline, which could be had for just $1,823.


Here's another multiple-DOTS block; the '69 Skylark Custom is just down the block. The '84 Porsche 928 and '64 Dodge Dart wagon are just around the corner, too.

You could get your little Chevy wagon with a 153-cubic-inch four-cylinder- whoa, a four-cylinder in a 60s Detroit wagon? Call the HUAC! You could also get a 194-cube six-cylinder; sorry, V8 fans, you had to wait until '64 for an optional 283 in your Chevy II.


Even though this wagon's owner is clearly a salt-flat-crazed hot rod hoodlum, the single exhaust suggests that he or she has kept the four or six under the hood. Parts runnner? Daily driver?

[eBay Motors], and thanks to many, many of you for the tips on this one.

How many of these things were made? The Standard Catalog figures have a lot of confusing overlaps between all the model variations, but my calculations seem to indicate that an incredible 2,602,830 full-sized 1963 Chevrolets were sold, including station wagons. Of those, 354,100 were Bel Air sedans like the one we're looking at. So far in Alameda, though, I've found only today's car and this '60 Bel Air.


This one has some non-California rust and many dents, but it seems to drive just fine. There's no indication of engine type in this car; the factory choices spanned four different engine families: inline six, small-block V8, W-block V8, and big-block V8. You could get displacements of 230, 283, 327, 409, and 427 cubic inches from the factory, with horsepower ratings from 140 to 430. However, the best bet for a car like this nowadays is a junkyard-swapped 350.


This Bel Air started out as a Colorado car, which explains the medium-grade rust. Wonder how many miles are on the clock?