pinball2k – Page 4 – CARS-YDSE.com

1965 Buick Skylark Gran Sport

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This was Buick’s first “Muscle Car”. It had a 401 CI engine and all of the convertibles and hardtop convertibles had a stiffer frame for added stability. I recently saw an Ebay auction that was bidding up a rich looking version of this car. At the time, the bidding was at $17,600 with a day to go before completion. I’ll check and see where the auction ended.

This car is not yet ready for the car show; but it’s close. A little body work and a new paint job will do this car a lot of good.

I found this information on the net. It was interesting.

Click Here for a site that has more information on this model

How About A 1968 Jaguar 420G?

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I just got out of the train in Millbrae just south of the San Francisco Airport and I caught this old Jag at the light. I did have my camera but by the time I got rerady to shoot it was almost too late. Then came the fun of finding out what model and year the car was.

I found information on Wikipedia that tagged this as a 420G. Apparently, the earlier model of this car was called the Mark X. The distinguishing features that make this a 420G are the chrome separator in the front grill and the addition of a chrome side modeling running the length of the car.

Apparently, this car was not very popular and was discontinued in 1970.

Wikipedia Information On The Car, Click Here

This was a luxury car that was also available with a glass panel between the front and back seat.

The Jag Lovers Website, Click Here

1959 Edsel. A Truely “New Car”

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The 1959 Edsel Ranger was built in the middle of the three years of Edsel automobiles production. The car was introduced in the 1958 model year and the 1959 models were slightly restyled and downsized in terms of power and performance. This particular car is a 1959 Edsel Ranger. I only saw this car once and had to shoot the front grill without much clearance.

This car was a huge mistake for Ford in terms of its size, (too big) its timing, ( a big recession started in 1958), styling (unique but not well liked), and name (Edsel became synonymous with failure). Ford cut its losses in 1960 when it stopped producing the car.

Wikipedia article (picture above is from this article)

One of the unique parts of the car was its dashboard and steering wheel. The center of the steering wheel had push-buttons for selecting or changing gears. Some issues were reported where people accidentally changed gears while trying to honk the horn. Also the speedometer would change to red when a preset speed was exceeded. One handy feature was the incorporation of a remote switch to open the trunk/boot of the car. None of these, however sold cars.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfJ-3oMQsn8&NR=1;Sales Tool Video]
© Fred Winograd copyright 2011

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1963 Rambler 4 Door Classic

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I was just a sophomore in college when this car hit the market. Gas was about $0.49/gal and all except the Vietnam War was going well.

George Romney, later Governor of Michigan was the CEO of what became the American Motors Company. He completed a strategy in 1962 that brought all of the numerous car models together under the Rambler name. Romney also publicly chided the leaders of the “Big Three” automakers as “gas-guzzling dinosaurs”. When he left to become Governor, Roy Abernethy, his successor change the strategy and began the process of undoing Romney’s plan.

AIn 1963, the entire Rambler line received the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. However, Romney’s departure to become Michigan governor opened the door for his successor, Roy Abernethy, to redirect the company towards a strategy of competing head to head with the Big Three (General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, and Ford Motor Company) with a variety of bodies and automobile platforms. This new plan also included marketing the various models apart from the Rambler brand name, which Abernethy felt would be a hindrance in the market segments he hoped to pursue.

More Information, click here

A great video was posted showcasing the Motor Trend article as a great sales tool, watch it below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QOa4vXHLIM”>Sales Tool Video]
© Fred Winograd copyright 2011

55 – Old Enough To Retire (1956 VW)

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I was on the way to the bank last week and saw this car at my local gas station. It was obviously recently restored and I go to talk to the owner. The owner seemed a bit distracted but it became apparent a bit later as to why.When I was a kid in high school VW was the cute little car that did not change its appearance year over year just for the sake of change. The big advertising pitch really concentrated on this as well as the price. I think the car sold for $1895 in 1961 and the major advertising was in print and on TV. I found this TV add on-line and it states that it is from the 1949 auto show. I think this was produced in the mid 1960s because I doubt the TV audience was big enough in 1949 to warrant this big a budget on this advertisement.View This Classic VideoThe next picture is of the rear window. This is one way to tell the approximate age of the VW Bug. From 1945-1953 the Bugs had a split oval rear window. This car has an oval rear window which was introduced in 1954. Sometime in the early 1960s, VW changed the rear window and enlarged it quite a bit.Click on pictures to Z O O M in.The next two shots are of the interior and of the car hitched up to a tow truck. The first shows how “Bare Bones” the interior of the car really was. The second shot with the tow truck would explain why the owner was not really in a mood to talk. Its kind of a bummer to talk about your recently restored car while it’s being towed away to the repair shop.Click on pictures to Z O O Min.

196? VW Truck

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I’m going to guess at the year of this truck. I think it’s a 1966 or so. I can not locate any production figures but, rest assured, this is a car you don’t see everyday. When I was just out of college, my girlfriends’ father had a 1962 VW bus that we sometimes drove from New Jersey to Gloucester Massachusetts in the winter time. We nearly froze to death on many of those rides but we were young.

This truck belongs to an re-upholstery business a few blocks from our house. Hopefully, they spend their time finishing the various coaches and chairs and have little time to look after the truck.

I’ve seen some other notable versions of the VW bus out there. Here are a few links.

1960 Double Cab

This is an early 1960 Double Cab, that grew up right here in Northern California. It is a very DRY D/C. Has some minor front cab floor rust, and needs a battery tray. Other than that, the Outriggers, Crossmembers, jackpoints, Inner and Outer Rockers, Inner fender wells are all Super nice. Like i said, it is a “DRY” Truck. rear floor is super nice as well.

More Information, click here

1965 Volkswagen Ziegler Feuerwehr Type T8F-T Fire Truck

The most noticeable of this changes or additions, is the installation of a 36hp flat-four Volkswagen engine acting as a water pump for fire extinguishing purposes. The engine rests on a special set of rails that permit the operators to literally pull-out the engine to the side of the right hand doors, for ease of operation and maintenance.

More Information, click here

Little Car From A Big Company

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This car was first designed and built in Italy by Iso SpA in the mid 1950’s. There were about 20,000 produced in Italy. In 1954 BMW made a deal that not only licensed them to produce the cars but also took over all of the tooling from Iso SpA. BMW later re-engineered the car and produced well over 160,000 cars from 1956-1962.

BMW Isetta

BMW made the Isetta its own. They redesigned the powerplant around a BMW one-cylinder, four-stroke, 247 cc motorcycle engine which generated 10 kW (13 hp). Although the major elements of the Italian design remained intact, BMW re-engineered much of the car, so much so that none of the parts between a BMW Isetta Moto Coupe and an Iso Isetta are interchangeable. The first BMW Isetta appeared in April 1955.
1955 BMW Isetta 250, BMW Museum, Munich, Germany.In May 1962, three years after launching the conventionally modern-looking BMW 700, BMW ceased production of Isettas. A total of 161,728 units had been built.

More Information, click here

This car was seen just around the corner from my house, what a rare find. If you know more about these cars or know the year, please leave a comment, I would appreciate it.

1954 Cadillac 62 Sedan

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The ’54 Cadillac was a major body style change from the 1953 and represented a physical change as well. The wheelbase was increased by 3 inches and the car sat lower on the road.

THIS IS A BIG CAR.

For several years this particular car often parked around and near Deboce Street in San Francisco. I have not seen it lately.

The car had many other features as indicated in this article.

Many appearance improvements marked the 1954 Cadillacs. They included

* a lower, sleeker body,
* a new cellular grille insert,
* inverted gull-wing front bumpers
* tapered dagmar style bumper guards.

Round, jet-style dual exhaust outlets were incorporated into the vertical bumper extensions and the rear bumper was entirely redesigned.

More Information, click here

1959 Rambler American Wagon

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This car was spotted on a drive from San Francisco to Napa California in 2006. When Nash and Hudson merged in 1954, it was the largest corporate merger in history. American Motors was the odd car company when I grew up because of it’s styling and size. GM, Ford and Chrysler were all making larger cars and the styling was quite different. The “little round thing” was what we called my aunt’s Nash convertible.

Now, at least to me, this car looks fine and is right up to date with some of the cars on the road today.

American Motors was formed from the merger of Hudson Motors and Nash-Kelvinator. The deal was the largest corporate merger up to that point – worth $197,793,366 – but was just one phase of a planned megamerger of Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, and Packard. The combined company would cover all segments of the market, and their size and ability to share engineering would amortize costs nicely; at least, that was the plan of Kelvinator’s George Mason, whose company owned Nash. The name “American Motors” originated with Mason, who started working on the plan just after World War II (thanks, Dan Minick.)

More Information, click here