CARS-YDSE.com – Page 9 – Cars You Don't See Everyday

1956 Packard, It’s Almost Over

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Tens years after the war, the U.S. car market was more than the “Big Three” There were other manufactures trying to compete with GM, Ford and Chrysler. Kaiser Frasier, Willies, Studebaker, Packard, Crossly, Rambler and probably a few I don’t remember. This 1956 Packard was really the last of the big car models released by Packard. They did have 1957 models but only sold about 4700 cars in 1957. Packard had already merged with Studebaker by that time but Cadillac had really taken over the luxury car business and it was too late for Packard in 1956.

For 1956, Teague kept the basic 1955 design, and added more garish touches to the body. Headlamps were hooded in a more radical style in the front fenders, slight shuffling of tinward distinguished the ’56. “Electronic Push-button Ultramatic,” which located push buttons to control the automatic transmission on a stalk off the steering column, proved to be trouble-prone, adding to the car’s reputation as a lemon which would soon become an orphan. Model series remained the same, but the V8 was now enlarged to 374 cubic inches for Senior series. In the top-of-the-line Caribbean, that engine put out 310 horsepower. Clippers continued to use the 352 engine, however.

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Mystery Car, To Be Revealed In Time

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This time it is up to someone else to fill in the information on this car. If you guess the make, model and year, I will fill in the other data. Really, this will be amazing if someone does guess because I only get about 15-20 visitors each day, but we will give it a try. I’ll reveal more photos and clues as we go along.

I took this shot in 2005 near Monterrey California. It was a beautiful day and the driver of the car was smiling brightly.

My first clue is that this is an unusual car because it was produced as we entered World War Two.
This car was “Special”. In fact, this is the only one I’ve seen since I am in California. Here is a wider angle picture.
This brand of car was the sponsor for a TV variety show hosted by a woman in the 1950s.

Well, that clue gave it away. Peter said “Could it be a Chevy? “See the USA in a Chevrolet …” Dinah Shore.”

Have a look at the full spread. Click here to see the 1942 Chevrolet

1962 Studebaker Lark Station Wagon

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This car and the photos are a bit different than the others in this collection. I know the person who owns this car and he sent me these pictures in 1999. I believe this car to be a 1962 Studebaker Lark station wagon. Also, these photos are over 10 years old so please excuse the quality.

The 1962 and 1963 Studebaker Lark

Turning his attention to the upcoming 1962 and 1963 Studebaker Lark models, Stevens — sensing that the public had tired of the car’s stubby appearance — stretched the wheelbase of all four-door cars to 113 inches.

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Alfa Romeo Milano 75, 1985

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This blog has been going for about six months now and there are over fifty cars listed on the it. By far, the most popular car is the Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300. I really don’t know why, but the Giulia usually gets many hits every day. So I found another great looking Alfa in my collection. It is an Alfa Romeo Milano 75. I think it is a 1985. The 75 refers to the 75th anniversary of the Alfa motorcar.

Have a look at the original posting.
More Information on the Giulia, click here

I found this information about the Milano 75.

Introduced in May 1985, the Alfa 75 (or Milano in the USA), named to celebrate 75 years of Alfa Romeo, was developed as a successor to the Giulietta/Alfetta. A mid size saloon the Alfa 75 continued the unusual Alfa Romeo design of having the engine at the front and the gearbox at the rear to provide a good distribution of the weight.

At launch, the engines were as follows : 1600 (1570cc, 110 bhp), and 2000 (1962cc,148 bhp) four cylinder units with carburetors, and a 2.4 turbo diesel (1995cc, 110 bhp).

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1959 Sunbeam Alpine Series I

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From what I can tell, this is a very early Sunbeam Alpine British sports car. The car was manufactured from 1959 through 1968. For a production car it was fairy inexpensive compared to the Jaguar and Corvettes of the day and it was also an economical car to drive.

The Alpine name, previously used by Sunbeam on an earlier car, was revived for this all new sports car launched in 1959. Based on a Hillman Husky floorpan, and using the 1494cc 4-cylinder engine from the Sunbeam Rapier, this new medium sized and attractive sports car was welcomed by the buying public who were at the time were not spoilt for choice in this area of the market.

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1956 Cadillac Series 62

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The cost of chromium during the 1950s must have been really inexpensive. This 1956 Cadillac Series 62 two door sedan is verification. Cadillac in 1956, updated the same basic car it introduced in 1954 but used a lot of chrome in the grill and elsewhere. I found this car last week in lower Pacific Heights in San Francisco.

At his point in time (1956) Cadillac was selling a great deal of cars to the luxury audience.

Despite an all-new ’56 Lincoln and revitalized ’57 Imperial, Cadillac remained America’s luxury sales leader by far. Combined Lincoln/Imperial volume never exceeded 40,000 cars a year in this era; at Cadillac, that was good quarterly output.

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1974 BMW Bavaria

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OK, I’m going to use a cliche’, but it really isn’t. This car is a classic. It still looks great after over 30 years. The car was basically a 2500 sedan with a 2800 motor. The car was only made for export to the U.S.

The Most Famous BMW Bavaria

The late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ favorite car, a 1974 green BMW Bavaria, which shuttled Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr. from New York City to their New Jersey horse farm, was sold for $57,100 on eBay, December 11, 2000.

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1956 DeSoto Firedome Station Wagon

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I remember this car because Grocho Marks had DeSoto as a sponsor for his TV show, “You Bet Your Life”. One other point, again from memory, was that these cars had “Push Button Drive”, that used push buttons to change the gears for the automatic transmission. Other than these two pints, I can not find much on the Internet for this years DeSotos. Help me out and contribute some information as comments.

1967 Datsun 2000 (Fairlady)

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Yes, there were Datsun sports cars before the 240Z in 1969. This, I think, is a 1967 Datsun 2000 a.k.a. “Fairlady”. These cars helped bring the Japanese cars to the U.S. featuring performance and reliability, not just bargin pricing. In fact, there were dealer modifications on the 2000 that gave the car high performance stats that outstripped its competitors like M.G. and Jaguar.

The 2000 with the 135-hp, two-liter, SOHC unit was the one to have. It could surprise a TR6 or a BMW 2002, with 0-60 coming up in about ten seconds. Even more interesting was the factory-authorized, dealer-installed competition kit, consisting of twin, dual-choke side draft Solexes, a finned seven-quart sump, and a hot cam. Good for 150 hp, a 2000 so equipped would do 125 mph. And while the Brits were still making do with finicky Laycock de Normanville overdrive units, the Datsun 2000 had a five-speed, all-synchromesh gearbox with well-spaced ratios designed by Porsche..

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1951 Willys Station Wagon

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Shortly after WW2 the U.S. car market exploded. There was pent up demand due to the war diversion amd then the returning veterans coming home after the war needed cars. Willys did the minimal amount of re-design from the army jeeps and got the products out the door in 1946. This one, I think, is a 1951 but it is very similar to the Jeeps made from 1941-1945. The Willys-Overland Company built the product and became a part of Keiser.

The link below is to a page that briefly describes the car and its features.

After World War II, Willys released a series of Jeep-based vehicles, requiring a bare minimum of retooling. Notably, the two-door station wagon, introduced in 1946, was the first all-steel station wagon produced in the United States. Powered by a four-cylinder engine and priced from $1,495, this model sold strongly, and accounted for 21 per cent of total U.S. station wagon production by 1950.

1951 Willys Station Wagon

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