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Posts Tagged “

Malaise Era

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down on the street

1977 Chevrolet Camaro

There's just something right about a primer second-gen Camaro, isn't there? Add the obligatory GM rust around the rear window, hang a pair of handcuffs from the rear-view, stop by the 7-11 to grab a pack of Marlboro Reds and a sixer of Mickey's Big Mouths and you're set! Now, we don't know for sure whether the owner of this '77 fits the Ideal Camaro Demographic- hey, maybe this car is owned by a 68-year-old veterinarian who favors those three-dimensional sequined sweaters- but it's more fun for us to assume we're looking at an ICD car here.
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9:00 AM on Thu May 15 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,339 views, 52 comments

Latest by FuzzyPlushroom: @Dr.Danger's got it all: Well, I just put on Def Leppard's Rocket... in honor of this heap, because God damn, it wants to break some laws. Hell, its existence is probably sufficient. more »

classic ad watch

The Amazing Flying '79 Tercel: Even Better Than An Omni!

What's the best way to show that your car is better than the competition? Slap a huge Malaise decal bearing your car's name on the side, set up the ramps, and jump the competition! It's even got more headroom than the Rabbit, which we all know is roomy enough for Wilt Chamberlain! Then it kicks Honda's ass by having a longitudinally-mounted engine, though we're not sure quite how that's an advantage in a front-wheel-drive car.

3:20 PM on Wed May 14 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,602 views, 44 comments

Latest by bugattatra: My mom's first (of many) Tercel was a '79 hatch. All but 1st gear died after 450K on the original everything, in a car that's oil was changed perhaps every 50K or so and never washed in Chicago winters. It went to more »

down on the street bonus edition

Definitely Not Jeffrey Lebowski's Torino: Welcome To Chile!

This DOTS Bonus Edition thing has really taken off, with photos coming in faster than I can post them (be patient- my jumble of files rigorously organized system will result in everyone's shots appearing sooner or later). We've seen North American cars and a few in Europe, and now it's South America's turn. Chilean reader Felipe sees this '74 Torino parked in his neighborhood (I forgot to ask which city), and he's gone out and interviewed the owner for us. ¡Gracias, Felipe! Make the jump for the car's story... but before that, let's look at a Malaise Torino that's not quite as nice as this one!

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2:00 PM on Wed May 14 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,147 views, 27 comments

Latest by CptSevere: @Novaload: I'm ten years or so behind you. This is weak compared to the sixties boats that were being made in your day. When I was a kid this is what we were riding in with Mom driving, at least more »

choose your eternity

Project Car Hell: Porsche 928 or '58 Lincoln Continental?

What with all the racin' madness lately, I haven't had a chance to descend into the lake of burning 90-weight that is Project Car Hell for a few days. In our last matchup, we almost had an upset for the ages, with a Japanese car nearly beating a French car in the Dangel Peugeot Wagon versus V8 Fairlady poll. And that Peugeot was a tough one, too! You fans of Japanese Car Hell can feel proud... or ashamed, depending on how you look at it. Today we're getting away from the PCH Superpowers and mixing it up a bit, with a perennial German Choose Your Eternity favorite going up against a proud Detroit native.
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5:20 PM on Tue May 13 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,109 views, 48 comments

Latest by DucatiChuck: i like that the porsche guy notes in the ad that the car was stored inside. yeah, because you wouldn't want anything to happen to it. more »

down on the street bonus edition

1976 Audi Fox Wagon: Choice Of Discerning Pit Crew Members!

The cars driven by the team members and audience at the 24 Hours of LeMons race tended to be more interesting than what you'd see in your typical East Bay parking lot. I saw an AMC Hornet with a trunk-mounted computer, a small-block XJ6 with a wicked-looking hood scoop, and this very clean Fox wagon... which turned out to be owned by Shawn, a helluva good mechanic who showed up as a last-minute crew addition and proved incredibly useful in the Black Metal V8olvo pit action. That's Shawn fueling our car in the gallery below. I can't recall the last time I saw an Audi Fox in any condition, much less one this nice.

4:20 PM on Tue May 13 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,013 views, 35 comments

Latest by Lightning-Lazz: Thanks for the mention of my 1969 XJ-6. Yes, the hood scoop is funtional. Car runs with a 400 ci Chevy. Big juice can, highrise, Holley and Pete Jackson gear drive give it a serious sound. What can you expect more »

down on the street

1977 International Harvester Scout II Traveler

I probably shouldn't have tried to write a DOTS post a couple hours after coming home from a crazy weekend of racing, but I did... and totally spaced on the Truck Monday tradition. Not that the Datsun 1200 isn't a great car, but we're supposed to have a truck here to start our week, dammit! To make up for that screwup, I'm going with a truck I've been saving for a special occasion: a rusty, crusty survivor straight from the Alaskan bush!
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9:00 AM on Tue May 13 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,172 views, 34 comments

Latest by Smells_Homeless: Oh man. My dad worked for IH at the body plant in Ohio from the sixties until it stopped being IH in the early eighties. (And it was a Kaiser-Frasier plant before then, making refrigerators, but that's a more »

classic ad watch

1981 Ford Escort SS: Built To Take On The World, And Doin' It!

It's hard to believe there was ever a time without Ford Escorts in North America, but the '81 was the very first (and, miserable as those early Escorts were, they were much better cars than the Pintos they replaced). The SS was the top-of-the-line Escort for '81, with a whopping 65 horsepower driving the front wheels. Thanks to a short flash of a baseball score (and super-obsessed baseball geeks), we know this advertisement was aired on May 23, 1981.

11:00 AM on Fri May 9 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,081 views, 39 comments

Latest by Leofan7: The woman driving this bucket must have been on Vicodin or twenty Benadryls when shifting. I just got a '97 Escort LX wagon (the parents decided the T100 was too bad on gas), my first stickshift, and I shift like a more »

down on the street

1975 Dodge Dart Swinger

The '65 Barracuda won our Favorite DOTS Chrysler A-Body Poll back in March, but since that time I've found this '75 Dart Swinger. Would the Swinger, with its name conjuring up images of Malaise Era key parties, have triumphed over the Barracuda? Perhaps I'll have another A-body poll, once we've seen a few more of them; until then, we can only speculate.
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9:00 AM on Thu May 8 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,823 views, 56 comments

Latest by stephdumas: I just dust-off the thread a bit, I saw these bunches of old Dodge Dart/Swinger commercials on Youtube a 1969 Swinger 340 + Watch video a 1967 ad + Watch video and 2 1971 Swinger ads with the Sheriff Joe Higgens + more »

classic ad watch

Big-Bumper Spitfire Saves The Day!

Try to imagine a not-so-hot pursuit between a Malaise Triumph Spitfire and a smog-motored mid-70s cop Mopar Ford. Will the single-digit gas mileage of the police car result in a drained fuel tank before the British Leyland build quality of the Spitfire sends it coughing to a halt on the shoulder in a cloud of wire-insulation smoke? We'll never know, because it turns out the Triumph wasn't running from the cops after all. Whew!

11:20 AM on Wed May 7 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,218 views, 30 comments

Latest by daegon: Two MG Midgets in the garage, neither runs, of course. Thinking of transplanting my Toyota 22RE into it, a la that PCH a while back. more »