Big and Dumb

Lining up for gas, New York City, October 1973.

The North American auto industry had been asleep at the wheel for most of 20 years when the OPEC oil embargo jacked the price of fuel and made people think differently about the chrome-laden, badly-engineered, carelessly-built tanks parked in their driveway. There's not a single Japanese car in this photo--the only foreigners I see are three VWs---though the Datsun 510 had already been around a while, and the Toyota Corolla since 1968. 

We posted a 1980 Toyota Cressida wagon a while ago. And then there was Craig Manning's girl-in-a-red-dress story, featuring his Datsun pickup.

1967 Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia

 

Saw the car in Cambridge MA. Here's another Karmann-Ghia posted a while go from Montclair NJ. And a piece ("10 Things Everyone Forgot About the Karmann-Ghia") that posted on Hotcars

1956 Buick Century

 

And then there is Troy Trepannier's tuned edition of the '56 Buick. And this one, from the family archive.

Northwest Territories

 

      Alex Haley at Work Northwest Territories, Canada. Rosemary Gilliat photo ©Library and Archives Canada 

Thanks to Paul Seeseequasis for posting this amazing ongoing  series on Instagram

Chevrolet 2500 HD, and Outlier

 

Outlier is a 55-foot cold-molded custom yacht designed by Botin Partners of Spain and built by Brooklin Boatyard

1957 Series 1 Custom Land Rover: Grizzly Torque

 

We posted on Grizzly Torque, the artist Robert Bateman's 1957 round-the-world Series 1 Custom Land Rover, a while back. Grizzly Torque will be up for auction at Monterey in August. Details here. Thank to Alex Emond for the heads-up.

1967 Cadillac Eldorado.

Caught the sad Caddy in Cambridge MA. She's living large...but needs help. See the '76 Eldorado ragtop we posted from Maine. More on that car, here. And another Eldorado, also Maine. And the Eldorado we saw in Holland that we figured to be the largest car in the country.

1967 VW Beetle, Gettysburg.

Henry Behrens caught the warmed-up VW Type 1 in Gettysburg, PA.

 

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Ferocious.

Don't see many of these in Cambridge, not known as a street-racing town.

 

1962 Ford Falcon Ranchero

From Michael Moore, in the East Bay: "Just saw this 1962 [?] Falcon Ranchero on East H Street; still working. Those dual pipes might indicate some mods, though what might fit into that engine bay I can’t imagine."

Robert Strange McNamara, later Defense Secretary in the Kennedy and LBJ Administrations, was boss at Ford when the Falcon "compact" was developed,  first in a whole genre of such cars produced by the Big Three.

The Falcon Ranchero is an early example of a wheelbarrow truck.  On the other hand, most pickups in them days were wheelbarrows, i.e., practical useful and not gigantic. 

From Phil Patton's story in the NY Times: ...Mr. McNamara famously drew up the specs for the Falcon on the back of a church program during Sunday worship. It was 1957, the year Ford introduced its midsize Edsel line into the teeth of a recession. The Edsel sat on lots while smaller cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and the American Motors Rambler sold well....

Here's another AL post on McNamara and the Falcon. We posted a '62 Falcon Ranchero on the block at BaT a while ago. We caught another '62 Falcon (Ford sold a lot of these cars) in Biddeford, Maine. And a 1963 Ford Falcon Futura convertible in Montreal.

1985 VW Vanagon Westfalia

 

Michael Moore saw the critter for sale in the East Bay.

VANLIFE: 1985 CHEVROLET BEAUVILLE

 

AL caught the van in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. We posted the 4WD version from Portland ME a while back. Check out  Dodge's 4x4 van, posted from the Outer Banks. And here's a 1961 Chevrolet Greenbrier van.

1951 Mercury

 

Reid Cunningham caught the Mercury (for sale) in Londonderry, NH. We have posted Canadian edition Mercury Monarch of that era. And a '51 Lead Sled selling for over a million at Mecum a while back. One of AL's earliest post was Mercury Charlie. We posted a lead-free '49 Mercury for sale in Saskatchewan, a while back.

1967 Volkswagen Type 1, .Cambridge, MA

Henry Behrens  caught the Beetle on Broadway in Cambridge, Mass.