May 2011 – CARS-YDSE.com

1946 Dodge Custom Club Coupe

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We traveling to Ashland Oregon earlier this year and we ran across this car near the ball field. It’s not the proper color scheme but the car looks to be in great shape. Have a look at the interior shot just below. That part looks very original.

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

Post-war years

Civilian production at Dodge was restarted by late 1945, in time for the 1946 model year. The “seller’s market” of the early postwar years, brought on by the lack of any new cars throughout the war, meant that every automaker found it easy to sell vehicles regardless of any drawbacks they might have. Like almost every other automaker, Dodge sold lightly facelifted revisions of its 1942 design through the 1948 season. As before, these were a single series of six-cylinder models with two trim levels (basic Deluxe or plusher Custom).

Click Here for a site that has more information on this Post War Dodge Cars

1955 Plymouth Belvedere With Baby Fins

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During the mid 1950s the US automakers got into a real race by dressing up their huge cars with fins and heavy chrome trim. This car was released in late 1954 just before the craze began and it shows two small fins at the rear. These would be enlarged in 1956 and dramatically expanded in 1957 ( Click Here for more information ) and would continue to grow for several years.

In 1957, Chrysler took a big risk and skipped the planned 1957 models and brought out the 1958 instead. This was the beginning of the “fins and chrome” race in Detroit.

Also, hi to my friend Richard Haber who drove one of these right after high school. His was a fancier model with black and white paint job, as I recall. Thinking back, his might have been a 1956.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEf_-7s065E]

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.