We all know the Chevy Cavalier. You may also remember Toyota sold a badge-engineered platform prostitute version in the Japanese Domestic Market that was built by GM. But — did you know you could actually buy a Toyota emblem from a GM dealership with a valid GM part number? We assumed we could. But intrepid souls at Automobile actually went and did it. What they found was the Toyota logo comes in a beautiful plastic poly bag. Feel free to keep it as a collector's item. Oh, they also found the same logo from a Toyota dealership costs between $2 and $10 more. Hmm. Maybe they add magic super number one best automaker from the land of the rising sun pixie dust to it or something. [Automobile]

Imagine my excitement, driving to Lee Johnson Chevrolet's 75th Anniversary Car Show, coming around the bend and laying eyes upon a confusing yet rousing and mystical sight. They lined the cars up on the front row by the street?? That's more then I expected! 30's to late 60's Chevys braving the elements (rain in Seattle? NEVER!) and showing off their wax jobs. Not by the usual standard of bling and shine, but here it's a measure of your water beads! There were about 32 cars in all, members of the three North Western chapters of the VCCA (Vintage Chevrolet Club of America).

Most were unhappy about the rain but as a conversation went:
Me: "I'm amazed and excited that the cars are still out! In SoCal, it clouds up and everyone scatters like cockroaches!!"
VCCA member: "Well if we did that, there wouldn't be any cars shows!"

Thanks for the bravery!

Car notes:
Nova 400 Conv. sadly no 400 in it... BOO!! flat 6 with 180HP I believe
75 Caprice had a real 400 with a Malaise 150HP.... HOW was that all the power it had? Sad, but the car looked so cruisable!
53 Vette is number 125 of only 300 made

Xargs sent in some "before" photos of the car- does that look like a dominating race car?


It turns out that a torquey V6 and front-wheel drive do pretty well at the racetrack; this car was contending at Altamont, too, but a tractor tire-versus-oil pan conflict knocked it out of the running at that race. Team Two Wheels Too Many relocated the radiator to the rear of the car, but otherwise it's pretty close to stock.

Today we'll be looking at one of several Packards that still roam Alameda's streets. I'm not sure what it is about Packards in this town, but up until a the early 90s there was a shop downtown that specialized in Packard repair and referred to itself as a Packard dealer, so apparently there's a hard core of Packardheads on the island.

And why not? This is a helluva good-looking car.

The Cavalier for '53 came with a 327-cube straight-8 that purred out a respectable 180 horses. This one packs the two-speed Ultramatic automatic. Now there's a good transmission name!

As has happened with a couple of other cars I've photographed for this series, the owner (in this case, the owner's daughter) came out and offered to sell me the car, which drives just fine. Tempting... very tempting!

The interior is still in pretty good shape.

I'm pretty sure nobody is going to confuse this car with the 80s GM product with the same name.

The list price of the '53 Cavalier was $3234. For comparison's sake, the entry-level '53 Ford sedan sold for $1743 and a '53 Jaguar Mark VII went for $4170.

The trim details are just gorgeous; the Cavalier was a respectably high-end car in its day.

Packard was pretty much done after the '56 model year, although some rebadged Studebakers were sold as Packards for the '57 and '58 model years. It's a shame they joined the long list of American carmakers to downward-spiral into oblivion in the postwar era. – Murilee Martin

Related:
What Will Become of Detroit's Packard Plant? [internal]

Brought to you by the same Canadian hoons who built the amazing Platform Pontiac, this creek-jumping Chevy Cavalier pulls off some pretty decent hoonage. But it's what these hoons do to the car after they break the rear suspension that really gets them HOTD honors. Remember when you'd stuff M80s in your model cars? Crack open a bottle of your favorite Canadian brew and make the jump...

Ahh, nothing like having your own farm and (apparently) a permit to buy serious explosives. We can only look on with envy. – Murilee Martin

Related:
Short-Lived GM Car of the Day: Chevrolet Celebrity [internal]

Related:
Brava Firenza! Vauxhall's Ponycar [internal]