Maybe we should change the title to Two Dead Brands At A Time Week. Topping yesterday’s triple knock-out of Rover and Sterling is going to be a challeng(er). But we’re in contention here with this twin name, twin stick, twin cars, twin wipers,...
Read the full story »
N.B. In anticipation of Saab’s (inevitable) demise, we’re going to have Dead Brands Week at CC. We’ll start off Dead Brands Week with a royal Rover triple bang, with this Sterling zombie corpse. When it comes to persistence (idiocy) in trying...
Read the full story »
Revivals are notoriously unsuccessful. But the lure of recapturing the magic of of the past perpetually goads men into futile pursuits, whether it be cars or women. The problem is that the changed circumstance of the times aren’t properly...
Read the full story »
Desperate times call for desperate measures; and sometimes the result is nothing short of spectacular. The Studebaker Gran Turismo coupe is gorgeous, despite having been cobbled together on a shoestring in six months. It’s also compromised and...
Read the full story »
I hate Christmas shopping. So when we walked down to the Holiday Market at the Lane Events Center, I told Stephanie I’d meander around the parking lot while she went inside to grab something. Forty-five minutes later, she had two presents and I...
Read the full story »
Why exactly does this car create such a powerful response (in me, anyway)? It projects such solidity, dignity, and self-assurance. It flew in the face of GM’s 1965 coke-bottle styling, and showed that hard-edged angularity still had some serious...
Read the full story »
The odds of seeing a cool car parked by a CA surfing beach is always a bit higher than average. We’ve been staying in a friend’s guest house on a hill overlooking Half Moon Bay, without cell phone reception or any internet; very relaxing to...
Read the full story »
I could spend three life-times finding Curbside Classics on the streets of San Francisco. Last time here, before I started this series, I found a running Fiat 600 Multipla parked on the street. Does that give you a fair idea of the potential? On the...
Read the full story »
Contrasts and extremes; it’s what keeps things (and this gig) from getting dull. Today I give you the ultimate contrast to yesterday’s Porsche 356A. Both were built at the same time, and were the pride and joy of their respective countries. A...
Read the full story »
Wow! History in the making here: my all-time favorite car and truck in the same week on Curbside Classic. I wouldn’t have guessed Edward would chose to do a Truck Thursday, but he’s the boss, so I’m pulling out all my stops. I’ve been...
Read the full story »
The visit to the yard of the Saab 99 owner was…stimulating, and…out of the ordinary. And a brief tour of his house furthered that impression; and the pirate ship in the front yard cemented it. So when I found my way to the curb, and saw two...
Read the full story »
The eighties were the decade when GM destroyed itself. There were some memorable screw-ups in the seventies, but merely warm-ups to GM’s main act of self-mutilation, when it managed its biggest market share drop ever. There’s enough fodder in...
Read the full story »
Despite everything we tell our kids, sometimes procrastinating and prevaricating actually pays off. Like this photograph, for instance. I’ve been wanting to do a Rabbit/Golf CC focusing on its role in succeeding the Beetle ever since I started...
Read the full story »
Is this the most reliable car ever built? There are at least two very different but highly reliable sources that suggest it may well be. One is of course its owner. And as we know all too well, one car does not make a proper sample size. But the...
Read the full story »
Enough with these pathetic little Briggs and Stratton powered sidewalk toys like the Rabbit and Starlet! We need us a real car to counterbalance these little CC Cozy Coupes. Hell, this Imperial weighs a half a ton more than both of them together....
Read the full story »
What is the source of American men’s latent and easily provoked disdain for the French (and their cars)? Umm, it doesn’t exactly take a study to prove what what we secretly suspect and obviously are a wee bit uncomfortable with: they’re having...
Read the full story »
The Datsun 240 was as a true revolutionary, smashing the long-stagnant sports car market of the sixties into smithereens. It was long overdue too; folks were getting cranky for the messiah: a truly modern sporty two seater with four-wheel...
Read the full story »
Walking around some blocks of the student neighborhood near the University of Oregon on a gray winter’s day can be as depressing as recalling much of GM’s decline and fall products from the seventies on. It’s a sea of dull and cheap apartments...
Read the full story »
I know some of you are getting tired of hearing about Eugene’s eccentricities. But where else can you order up a genuine Curbside Classic to deliver your pizza? That is, as an alternative to bicycle delivery, which is also on tap (oops, sorry)....
Read the full story »
I wasn’t going to do this car today. But venting my spleen on yesterday’s 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 and all the discussion it prompted forces the issue: what was the best of the big popular-priced big cars of the era? Having handily eliminated the...
Read the full story »
