Speaking of not coming back, I've considered axing the entire Down On The Junkyard series. Why? Because dudes will find an 18-month-old DOTJ post with a car they're looking for via Google (for example, a search for "Renault 16" will show a DOTJ post as the 3rd result), and then start pestering me to sell them the parts from "my" car. When I tell them that the junkyards I frequent turn over their entire inventory every few months and that the car was crushed long ago (not to mention the fact that I'm not in the parts-selling business), they refuse to believe me. Look, the pictures are right there! Sell me parts! It was tolerable the first few hundred times, but now I'm getting so damn many of these demands for parts from long-ago-crushed cars that I'm approaching Clueless Internet Incomprehension Burnout. So, let's say it's 2012 and you're looking for parts for your Squareback and you've found this post: THIS CAR IS GONE! CRUSHED! RENDERED INTO CHEAP WASHING MACHINES IN GUANGZHOU!


Where were we? Oh yes, this '71 Squareback. Look, it's the carbureted engine, and the twin Solexes are still there! In fact, everything is still there. Fresh junkyard finds are fun!

The interior is pretty well thrashed, but a few usable bits remain.

Those of you who come to 24 Hours Of LeMons races already know Jeff; he's the guy who makes the LeMons carnival function correctly when it clanks into your town. A former pro racer who got his start in his early teens with a hooned-out autocross MGB, Jeff now prefers Italian iron. Remember his DOTS '65 Giulia SS?

When he first obtained the Cortina, it was powered by a semi-hot Fiat Twin Cam engine. After the punishment of quite a few rallies, the ol' Fiat gave up. What next? Hmmm... you can get wrecked Honda S2000s pretty cheap these days!




My crappy photographs don't really convey the super-slick setup of this Anglo-Japanese monster; Jeff was a fabricatin' demon to get this Hell Project together. All the Honda wiring and ECMs are in use, and it runs fine; all that remains is a bit of brake work and a couple of thousand little details. 1,800 pounds and 247 horsepower is a combination that sounds pretty good to us! And with legendary wheelman Jeff at the controls, it's gonna be terrifying a blast! Anyone who has ridden with this guy in a rental car on a race track can vouch for that. Did you know that a Honda CR-V can do 110+ at Carolina Motorsports Park? Neither did I!

And that's just the beginning of the fun stuff to be found under Jeff's house. The entire footprint of Chez Jeff's Oakland abode is taken up by an 1,800 square foot garage. For starters, here's Mrs. Jeff's ride: a lowered 1966 VW Transporter with a built-to-the-hilt 2,000cc engine.

Just inside, you'll find this 1971 Fiat 850 Sport Coupe, also belonging to Jeff's SO; don't those Alfa wheels look good on it?

When she doesn't feel like driving the bus or the Fiat, there's always her '69 Alfa Romeo Duetto.

Sometimes Jeff needs to change things up with this 1971 BMW 2002Tii with "lots of mods."

Tired of four wheels? Hop on one of the Lambrettas!

Tired of internal combustion? Hop on a Bianchi!

Once again, the amazing Scroggs has come through with some excellent vintage racing footage, and he's also found this highly interesting article about AMG's early racing efforts for us. That's good news, because I'm off judging the Lamest Day 24 Hours Of LeMons in Ohio at the moment and may not have internet access to provide live coverage; this way you still get to see an improbable race car going for the win in a punishing endurance race:

What great-looking scoops, and who would have expected them on such a cheap car? The Grabber package was available on the Maverick two-doors; in addition to the Dual Domes, Grabber buyers got a 210-horsepower 302. That didn't sound like much, but keep in mind that the car only weighed 2,700 pounds- check the option box for the 4-speed manual and you'd give those 3,000-pound-plus Mustangs a hard time. Of course, by 1975 the Grabber had become completely Malaise-ified, and the Dual Domes were gone by the first Malaise year of 1973.
We're itching to do a European hood scoop for next week. Any suggestions?
Image sources: Flickr, Mustangs And More

I hadn't thought about this fine game- a staple in the Martin family during the mid-1970s- for years, until I spotted one at a yard sale not long ago. The goal is to lie your ass off about the value of the clunkers on your lot, while avoiding getting caught in those lies. Definitely worth a buck to the yard-sale seller! While this game didn't get as much play as Touring (some of you may know it better as Mille Bornes), it still made the heavy rotation in our game schedule. You might need to watch Marshal Lucky to get in the right mood for what's to follow…

The lid of the plastic card holder shows the cigar-chomping, Purina-checkerboard-wearing car salesman taking the little old lady for a test drive in the Stingray. Nice burnout!
Of course, that's the "after" picture; here's the "before" shot on the game's box. Note the lot full of big Detroit iron. Technically, this game was published the year before the Malaise Era began, but it fits so well with the general Nixonian grimness of the ensuing decade that I'm granting it honorary Malaise status.
The game's money was your classic 70s deal. How many Parker Bros games got the exact same currency back in the day?
The game featured a deck of 24 cards, each representing a different used car. Each player would get some cars for his or her lot, and each player held a different list of values for each of the cars. The goal was to sell your junkers for top cash, while busting your competition for their lying ways.
Since the game was released in 1972, the most valuable cars tend to be 1971 models.
Here's one of the 8 value listings, which you kept secret from the competition. Great entertainment value to be had in matching them with the cars!
You can also buy insurance for your used car lot, but sometimes you'd get burned. Woe be unto the player who thinks he has fire insurance when a rival has hired thugs torch his lot, only to find out he's got Fly By Night Insurance Co. protection against roving bands of chickens!
Let's look at some of the cars now. Here's one I wouldn't mind owning now!

So far, the glass appears to be bone dry and covered with leeches half full, as the ABJ team performs what appears to be major surgery on the rear suspension and/or axle and/or fuel tank. But plenty of racing remains, so we expect to see this fine example of Swedish steel dropping components on roaring around the track soon.

Thanks to Christine The Arc Angel for the great photos!

The Gawker Server Hamsters have decreed that new galleries shall no longer function, so we're going back, back in time, back to a day when you had to wait for a bunch of full-sized images to load. Apologies to those of you with slow internet connections, but we must do as the Hamsters decree!

This is a type of vehicle that was once as common as the minivan is today: the midsize station wagon. The Concours was one of the lower-level trim levels for the ubiquitous-in-its-day Chevelle station wagon.

This one has the 350-cubic-inch small-block Chevrolet engine, the favored engine of Camaro hoons the world over. Of course, this wagon may well be on its 7th small-block by now, but odds are it still has the original 350.

The alley next to Lee Auto Supply is technically a street (it has a name), so it's fair DOTS game when a Lee employee buys a parts car while on the job and leaves it in the alley for the day.

I'm positive that this is a Cutlass, and I'm 90% sure it's a '71. It appears to have been hit pretty hard on the right front, prior to being gutted, but it might yet be the basis for a project Olds. We've been so short on Cutlasses in this series (so far just this '69 convertible and this '67 Vista Cruiser) that even one as rough as this makes the DOTS cut!

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

We get ads for the 1966 (410), 1967 (510), and 1971 (610) Bluebirds here. The last one, for the '71 Bluebird-U, is a masterpiece of bewildering Japanese salaciousness and makes me want to offer the owner of the DOTS 610 too many dollars for his car. Thanks to LTDScott for the tip!

As Davey Johnson has made very clear, there's something special about brown cars, and as for a brown British Leyland product... well, it's very much of its time. For reasons we have a hard time understanding, May's woman
lacked enthusiasm for the gift, so now the Triumph is part of his own fleet.
That brings up the question: What Detroit vehicle is the counterpart to the brown Triumph 2000 MkII? The vehicle the well-intentioned American or Canadian car geek would buy his or her S.O. in order to share not-quite-ironic-enough appreciation for such things? Perhaps a two-tone 1975 Mercury Cougar XR7?
Telegraph.co.uk

You know you're not like The Others, yes? Do your relatives discuss you using sentences beginning with "Let's face it…" and stop talking when you enter the room? Of course they do, and you don't want to disappoint in your selection of project car! That's why an easy project- say, a rusted-out Studebaker Commander- isn't for you; skip on past the boring stuff, because you've got to go French or go electric!

Citroën didn't sell many CXs in North America, so the successor to the DS is quite a rare sight on these shores. When you go with a CX, you get many of the nerve-shatteringly complex technologically advanced features of the mighty SM, including the speed-variable power steering and- this should go without saying- the super-smooth suspension hydropneumatique. You also got build quality backed by those masters of administration and harmonious labor negotiations, the French and Italian governments; what more could a car owner ask for? Well, a potential CX owner knows all that stuff, but he or she also knows that these cars don't come cheap… but Bearddevil has found us a deal for the ages: this "77-78" Citroën CX Pallas 2400, priced at- holy shit!- just 500 bucks! Normally, we'd suggest making a 24 Hours Of LeMons car here, but that would be too easy. No, you need to restore this beauty, and you'll need to start by heading over to France to pick up some glass (three windows missing) and all some of the interior components (seller describes the once-luxurious interior as "way crispy"). Does it run? It should run, since it has only been sitting for centuries "years and years." People win the lottery, right? It will never oughta fire right up!

That dinosaur juice is running out, folks! If you go with a fossil-fuel-burner for your Hell Project, you're liable to find that internal-combustion vehicles cost about $900/mile to operate by the time you get it running (of course, at that point you'll be 94 years old and getting around in a jetpack walker, so it won't really matter). Best to be on the safe side and go electric! You'll want to use Plasma Boy's White Zombie Datsun as your role model here, so what you need is a small, light, rear-drive machine with room for plenty of batteries… such as this electric 1971 Dodge Colt (thanks to Belvedere Adrian for the tip). This little Mitsubishi was converted to electric drive by "the old man that built it," no doubt during the Arab oil embargo, or maybe the Iranian Revolution. Yes, it has been sitting for a while, but that's what gives it that super-cheap $500 price tag. Well, that plus the fact that it's a total basket case held together with crumbling Bondo little bit rough… but don't focus on that when you should be imagining those super-rad electric burnouts you'll be doing once it's running. It "ran at one time," according to the seller, who believes that a simple transistor swap might make everything hunky-dory, and that 86-volt motor should have no problem withstanding the 880 volts you'll be juicing it with!

I'm disappointed that I haven't managed to find a Type 3 Fastback on the island, and I don't think I've seen a 411 or 412 on the street for 15 years. For some reason, however, the good ol' sky-blue Squareback is still with us. I found this example parked by the beach, being used to store and/or transport large quantities of household items.


These cars manage to rust pretty well even in California, so I assume they've all evaporated into nothingness elsewhere in the country.

I've got well over 100 sets of Down On The Street Bonus Edition photos, sent in by readers all over the world, and the ones from San Francisco outnumber those from any other city. Today we're going to reduce the backlog a bit, with a San Francisco edition of DOTS-O-Rama Sunday. In honor of the V6-powered Opular Dependence Opel GT, we'll start off with this '71 Opel GT, photographed by V6-powered LeMons TR7-driving Superasiaone. Come back later for more DOTS-O-Rama action!

You can find intra-corporate engine swaps all over the place, but even a 350-powered Chevy Vega or a 4A-GZE-motivated Toyota Starlet is a bit of a snore after you've seen a few. The real engine-swap fun starts happening when you do a mashup involving totally unrelated drivetrain and chassis; that way you get maddening challenging technical hassles and enraged purists thirsting for your heretical blood. It's a lose-lose win-win!

Sure, you can get all manner of potent Nissan powerplants for a 510, but what if you want completely absurd engine revs and all the engine weight behind the front wheels? You could spend crazy downtown money on a wild SR, and then chop a hole in the firewall and move it back… but why not just take a tip from Herr Doktor Wankel and eschew reciprocating mass? That's what the seller of this 1971 Datsun 510 with 1988 RX-7 Turbo engine (go here if the ad disappears) has done, and all you need to do is wrap up damn near everything a few loose ends to get it fully streetworthy! It's got a Frankensteined custom oil pan, some suspension mods, wheel flares, etc. It starts and drives, doesn't have much rust, and the interior is totally stripped ready for restoration. That engine put out 182 horses from the factory, and you'll be able to blow it up get much, much more with the usual turbo tweaks.

182 horsepower in a 2,000-pound car? Why, you might as well be driving a garbage truck powered by a 50cc Honda Cub motor! You need to get the power-to-weight down from 11 pounds per horse to something more stupid sensible, like 500 horsepower in a 1,000-pound car! You get to two pounds per horsepower and you'll have plenty of hill-climbing and passing power, because it's all about the safety! We all know that the cheapest route to 500 horsepower is the good ol' Small-Block Chevrolet V8; you can put together 500 reliable Chevy horses using off-the-shelf parts, no sweat… but what car best suits such an engine? We suggest this 1965 Austin-Healey Sprite (go here if the ad disappears), which is already set up for a small-block Chevy engine. By "set up," we're not sure if that means "Austin engine torn out, space now available for Chevy" or "engine mounts in place, firewall modified," but you'll learn more as you try to negotiate the price down from the $3,000 starting point. It has a "professionally built" chassis and wheel tubs- hey, you need steamroller rubber to propel you into the nearest concrete abutment get all those horses to the pavement- but the planned 4-link rear suspension, she is not finished yet. Does it come with the body and trim parts not shown in the photo? Is there rust? We can't say! Don't worry about that stuff, though, because we can think of plenty of cars with tougher parts availability than the Sprite. Thanks to Radiohound for the tip!

Who would have thought, back in the early 70s, that GM's most profitable vehicles- and the focus of its best stylists and engineers- a few decades later would be body-on-frame trucks? That more Americans would be commuting in them than hauling stuff in them? This Custom Deluxe might not be a great choice for a comfy, bounce-and-rattle-free commute, but it's got more luxury touches than did the plain ol' Custom. That's right, the base 1/2-ton Chevy pickup in '71 was named the Custom, which should have meant that a team of pinstripe and airbrush artists made gave each one unique custom touches after it rolled off the line… but in practice was just marketing magic.


This truck lives just across the street from the 1919 Ford Model T Touring. This isn't the first of The General's 1971 trucks we've seen in this series; this big-block Chevy pickup, this super-clean '71 Blazer, and this '71 GMC pickup may also be found on the island.

We had our first Nice Price vote in quite a while yesterday, with the $11,000 1988 Celica All-Trac just barely squeaking by with 51% of the vote. When you're talking about something as amazing as the Mercedes-Benz 600, it's hard to be truly rational about stuff like dollar figures, but 105 grand does tend to get one's attention. It's got 62,000 miles on the clock, 18,000 of them since getting a total restoration in Germany. It's a Concours d'Elegance winner. It includes the original Mercedes-Benz electric shaver- no doubt just the thing for the hirsute dictator who has everything. It appears to be perfect. It was for sale at $109,000 until recently, so Motorcar Investments is practically givin' this thing away! No credit, bad credit? No problem! Come on down! Right. So, $105,000 for this jewel. What do you think?
[Craigslist Raleigh, go here if ad disappears]

Back in high school and middle school the wedgie (or as we called it, the wedge) was something you most certainly didn't want, under any circumstance and you definitely didn't appreciate it when it came along. But in car design, the wedge is something you can appreciate.

The beautiful and technical shape was used by many of the top design houses of the seventies and was a signal the future had officially arrived. While not the most aerodynamic form in practice, it certainly looked the part and helped usher in a new era of automotive design. Italian design houses ItalDesign, Bertone and Pininfarina were at the forefront of the movement, but the Japanese, Germans and the U.S. jumped on the bandwagon shortly thereafter

10) 1972 Lotus Esprit M70

First displayed at the Turin Motor Show in 1972, the Lotus Esprit M70 was designed by Giugiaro at Ital Design and was built on a widened and lengthened Europa chassis. After positive reviews from the public Colin Chapman decided to put the Esprit into production. The final design was completed in 1973 with many of the concept cues intact and when the then GM owned Lotus decided to build Peter Stevens redesign in 1987, many of those original cues remained.

Fun fact: that you couldn't call yourself a car guy without knowing already: Roger Moore drove a submersible version in the 1977 James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me.

9) 1989 Vector W8

In 1989, after nearly two decades of development, Gerald Wiegert revealed his Vector W8 to the public. Extensive use of aeronautical building techniques were to be W8s selling point, but shoddy quality and a lack of funding eventually brought down the U.S.-built Lamborghini competitor in the mid-nineties. The W8 drew its inspiration from the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo and many other wedge cars in our list and is still a beautiful car today and you can pick up one of the few examples for a steal; nearly 20 percent of the original $685,000 asking price.

Fun fact: The Vector W8 was featured briefly in the 1993 movie, Rising Sun.

8) 1972 E25 BMW Turbo

The E25 BMW Turbo was initially built to celebrate the upcoming 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, but was later used as the inspiration for the M1, 8-Series, Z1 and the new M1 Homage concept. BMW built the Turbo concept as a rolling display for new safety and engineering technologies as well as showing that BMW had officially left the difficult 60's behind. Penned by BMW's French head of design, Paul Bracq, the Turbo concept was styled after the most dramatic Italian supercars of the day and featured an advanced radar system that warned the driver of close objects such as curbs and cars.

Fun fact: The Turbo featured two BMW badges on the rear – symbolizing BMW's exceptional quality – a cue that made it onto the production M1 and M1 Homage concept.

7) 1978 Dome Zero

Dome was and still is a race car manufacturer in Japan and in 1978 they gave the world the Dome Zero concept at the Geneva Motor Show. Intended to show Dome's intention of building a homologation special for a new line of sportscars; it was unable to pass Japanese homologation. In 1979, Dome debuted a revised Zero, dubbed the P2, with U.S. market bumpers and safety equipment added to the design. In the same year, a racing effort was launched at Le Mans but the ‘Zero RL' failed to finish the race. Shortly after, investors pulled their funds and the Dome Zero was officially dead.

Fun fact: The Dome Zero was featured in Gran Turismo 4, Auto Modellista on the PS2 and Sega GT on the XBOX.

6) 1970 Lancia Stratos Zero

At the 1970 Turin Motor Show, Bertone showed off a styling exercise called the Lancia Stratos Zero. The Lancia Stratos HF roadcar was based very loosely off of this concept though the similarities are few and far between. The futuristic Zero stood 838mm tall and was so low that conventional doors could not be used and to gain access, drivers would have to raise the windshield and walk into the car.

Fun fact: The Stratos Zero appeared in Michael Jackson's 1988 film, Moonwalker.

5) 1972 Maserati Boomerang

In 1971 the Maserati Boomerang was shown at the Turin Motor Show as a mockup and then in 1972 the Geneva Motor Show saw the debut of the fully realized Maserati Boomerang concept. It sat next to the Lotus Esprit M70 as both were designed by Giugiaro at ItalDesign. At 1070mm high, it's not the shortest wedge in the list, but it did have a 15 degree windshield rake – the steepest rake you could achieve while maintaining visibility, albeit very little. ItalDesign used the Boomerang as inspiration when designing the DMC Delorean (most noticeable in the rear view) in the eighties.

Fun fact: Intended as a showcar, the Boomerang was registered as a roadcar and was actually sold in 1974 to a private collector which brings us to 2005 when it was auctioned at Christie's for a cool $1,000,000.

4) 1969 Holden Hurricane RD001

The Holden Hurricane was an experimental concept built in 1969 and was the first product of the GM Holden Research and Development group. The Hurricane's ultra low 990mm stance would have made ingress and egress difficult with traditional doors, so an electro-mechanical powered canopy was used and swung forward over the front wheels. Also included were power elevated seats that both rose up and out of the way along with the steering column to make exiting the Hurricane easier. When climbing into the car the seats would lower to a semi-reclined position and the roof would close overhead.

Fun fact: A similar canopy design was used on both the Saab Aero X and the Batmobile from the Tim Burton Batman movies.

3) 1970 Ferrari PF Modulo

Painted black for the 1970 Geneva Motor Show and then re-sprayed white for its debut at the 1970 Turin Motor Show; the Paulo Martin penned Pininfarina-Ferrari Modulo concept gained quite a reputation and won numerous international design awards – 22 of them – for a car that almost wasn't produced. The cars release was held for over a year because of an apprehensive Sergio Pininfarina. Developed using the Ferrari 512-S racer as a basis, the 935mm high PF Modulo was built to explore new construction technologies and to show off the raw passion of the Italian design house.

Fun fact: Paulo Martin was sketching a Rolls-Royce Camargue dashboard when the idea struck him to make the first sketch of the Modulo. You could say he was more than a little bored with the Rolls.

2) 1971 Lamborghini Countach

Designed by Gandini for Bertone in 1971, the original Lamborghini Countach concept was the most pure version the public would ever see of this car. The wild scissor doors were first seen on another car in our list (the Alfa Romeo Carabo concept) and were used primarily because of the extremely wide chassis, but we think the real reason is because Gandini knew every rice boy would want them on their econo-hatch some day. The Countach name was derived from the dialect of the Piedmont region in northern Italy, literally meaning astonishment and amazement. The pure design of the concept translated loosely into the production LP400 though it was short lived when splitters, wings and U.S. bumper requirements were added to the mix in the LP400S, LP500 and QV models.

Fun fact: The Countach was featured in the 1981 movie, The Cannonball Run, and is one of the most replicated cars to date.

1) 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo

The 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo is the most significant wedge car and paved the way for many of the cars on this list. Designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone fame, it was revealed at Porte de Versailles in Paris in 1968 to an absolutely stunned crowd. The Lamborghini Countach concept that arrived 3 years later drew inspiration from the Carabo in its wedge form, wheel house openings and its notoriously cool scissor-doors, though the Countach wasn't the only car that took inspiration from the Carabo. You can see inspired cues from many sports cars and supercars like the Diablo, 4th gen Camaro and Vector. Vector took the inspiration quite literally by duplicating many of the shapes of the front and side profile in its W8. Many wealthy individuals tried to purchase the Carabo including an Arab prince or two, but thankfully Bertone decided to hold on to it and now the Carabo spends its days relaxing inside the Alfa Romeo museum in Arese, Italy.

Fun fact: The unique name "Carabo" and its green paint were derived from the small green beetle, Carabus Olympiae.

Honorable Mentions

Narrowing down our search for the top ten wedge cars was difficult and we couldn't let this list pass without mention of a few other notable wedges. The DMC DeLorean was the hardest to leave off the list based on its cult follow from the Back to the Future films. Another difficult car to omit was the popular Triumph TR7/TR8 which was produced from 1974 to 1981. In the gallery below you'll find the rest of the cars that we thought were worth mentioning. Enjoy!

[via Lotus Esprit Turbo]

We've seen numerous representatives of the Plymouth Valiant family in this series, including this '61, this '61, this '65, this '65, this '71, and this '73. Only the last one was a Scamp, and we have yet to see a Duster.


In 1971, the Scamp was the top-of-the-line, two-door hardtop Valiant. You'd pay more for a Duster 340- and rightfully so- but the 318-equipped Scamp was priced at $2,685. Compare that to the $2,476 V8 Dodge Dart Demon, which was mechanically identical… or the 302-powered $2,523 Ford Maverick Grabber. Meanwhile, the Datsun 510 coupe sold for only $1,990.


Here's another location with two DOTS cars located within sight of one another; that's the white '60 Cadillac Coupe de Ville across the street.

Once again, VW's reluctance to mess with Type 1 design means I can't be 100% sure I have the year right on this one (though it's obviously not a Super Beetle). The vents behind the rear side windows means it's a '71 or later, and the taillights and bumpers say it's non-Malaise. I'm pretty sure it's a 1971 or 1972.


The Japanese (not to mention the Pinto and the Vega) were starting to squeeze the Beetle in the marketplace by the early 1970s, but the price tag on these cars was still quite appealing for penny-pinchers. In 1971, you'd pay just $1,845 for a new (non-Super) Beetle, which was 74 bucks cheaper than a new Pinto. However, the Pinto's OHC engine made a mighty 100 horsepower, while the Beetle's lawnmower boxer engine wheezed out a mere 60 horses. Tough choice?