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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Since it's DOTS Truck Monday , let's have an old Ford! I found this '60 parked just across the street from the '70 Dodge Challenger and the '57 Cadillac , and it's one sharp-looking work truck. This truck is clearly a work truck, one of several associated with a Victorian under serious renovation, but it also appears to be in mid-restoration. Let's hope it doesn't stop going to work once it's fixed up. Check out this beautiful dash layout, with its Space Age decorative touches! The column-shift manual! I'm pretty sure this is an F-100, but the body emblems appear to have been removed for the new paint job. galleryPost('DOTS60FordTruck', 16, '1960 Ford Truck Down On The Street'); DOTS FAQ
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While you might not be able to afford Jerry Lundegaard's Olds Ciera , Fargo wasn't the only downward-spiral Minnesota crime movie made in the 90s! That's right, the '66 Volvo 122S wagon driven by Bill Paxton's character in A Simple Plan is up for sale on Craigslist! It's not running, so it's more of a Project Movie Car Hell machine than a daily driver, but: fame! galleryPost('SimplePlanAmazon', 3, 'Simple Plan Amazon For Sale'); Thanks to Thunder for the tip! [Craigslist Minneapolis]
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Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! In our last foray into the Burning Garage O'Pain™, the Buick Reatta beat the Olds Troféo by a 53% to 47% poll split. We've had unifying vehicular themes for most of our Hell Challenges recently, but sometimes you need to choose between two totally different eternities- say, one in which St. Helena earwig s colonize your bile ducts, and another in which you are stuck in an Amway PowerPoint presentation 24/7. And, just for fun, we're going Warsaw Pact versus NATO, with one machine from the hottest period of the Cold War and the other from the wild and crazy endgame. Back when we were gearing up for some toe-to-toe nuclear combat with the Rooskies, a man could walk into his friendly Dodge dealership and order him up a Town Wagon, to haul six or eight passengers reliably (if not comfortably), or he could opt for the military-truck-based four-wheel...
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Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Yesterday, we saw the "Bentley" (actually a Rolls with Bentley grille) beat the "Rolls-Royce" (actually a Vanden Plas Princess with a Rolls grille) in the Choose Your Eternity poll in a 59/41 vote. Today we're going to contemplate the concept of fame . Now, none of us can afford to buy JFK's Continental or the Gremlin from Wayne's World , but that doesn't mean we don't have a shot at a famous car- we just need to aim lower! And today… well, we're aiming really low! When you want to drive a car that was once owned by a famous actor, you can expect to pay big bucks, and when the car is a vintage Italian machine with suicide doors? Forget it! Hold on, though, because we work miracles here at Project Car Hell… and we can put you behind the wheel of this 1960 Lancia Appia (sorry, the ad got pulled from Craigslist, so...
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This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition , where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot . It's been a while since we've seen one of Denver's many cool street-parked cars, and what better place to look for one than right in the heart of the Democratic National Convention madness downtown? That's what Kitt thought, so she braved the protesters and riot-ready cops to shoot this '61 Lancer. Now, we can't say for sure, but speculation (well, my speculation, anyway) has it that Barack Obama plans to drive this car for the rest of the campaign, to show that he's a man of the people! Make the jump for more of my crackbrained theory political insight (and the rest of the photos of this fine automobile). galleryPost('DOTSBEDenverLancer', 3, '1961 Dodge Lancer Joins The Democratic National Convention'); See, the Lancer was Dodge's innovative compact car for '61, based on the new Valiant...
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While I was looking for information about the Peugeot 403 I found parked in Alameda last week, I ran across this US-market sales brochure for the '60 403. The 403 was bursting at the seams with technological wizardry, including an electromechanical engine fan coupling and Jaeger electromagnetic crypto-automatic transmission. Better hope none of it breaks! And look, a three-row limousine version, with folding bed! Jump to get the full gallery. [Moby302] galleryPost('60Pug403Broch', 3, '1960 Peugeot 403 Brochure');
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The other day I caught a glimpse of a dark blue Volvo Amazon parked just down the street from the '42 Pontiac Torpedo . I didn't have time to photograph it, but since we've had only one Amazon so far in this series, I made a mental note to get back and shoot this rare Swedish gem as soon as I could. Today I returned with my camera, and... holy crap! That's not an Amazon- it's a Peugeot 403! Yes, mere weeks after providing a Citroën GS for us, Alameda has produced another vintage French car for our enjoyment. My research indicates that 1960 was the last year for this style of hood emblem on the 403, and the turn signal lights suggest that it's a 1958-1960 car. Of course, this could be a rare Tahiti- or Ivory Coast-built car, in which case all bets are off (though the yellow-on-black plate and early letter combo indicates 1963 or 1964 as the first year this car was registered in California). You Peugeot experts are invited to help us out here. The California sun has...
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For the first time, a single car part beat an entire car in a Project Car Hell matchup, according to the results of our most recent Choose Your Eternity poll . Today we're going to celebrate the Fourth of July, but not by getting all liquored up and firing large-caliber handguns into the sky. No, we're going to celebrate our freedoms by sentencing ourselves to years of thankless labor in the garage, on vehicles so patriotic that they're literally named after America. You superpatriots might be screaming about the inclusion of a British car in this matchup- especially on a holiday celebrating the day we told our cruel colonial masters to hit the road (thanks for the backup, France!)- but Britain gave us our language, the basis for our legal system, and Top Gear . And come on, how can you not love a car named for its target market? What if Chrysler had made a version of the Dart called the Dodge Deutschland and sold it in Germany? OK, we admit that argument isn't so compelling...
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We can just hear the conversation that took place prior to shooting these photos: "Look, just sit on the hood and look sexy- this thing's as good as sold, baby! We'll be able to buy something that runs every day!" "But... the hood is all icky! And why is there smoke pouring out from under the dash?" Doing the pinup thing in a desert setting, maybe throw a little sepia on some of the shots- hey, the car is getting bids, so there's no arguing with success! Some of the shots may be mildly NSFW (if you work in an extremely prudish office). [eBay Motors] galleryPost('PinupMorrisMinor', 9, '1960 Morris Minor 1000 For Sale');
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The jaw-droppingly steep price tag, automatic transmission, and ARBOUR GREEN paint of the '56 Jag made it an unassailable Hell Project fortress, giving the XK140 an easy win over the '58 Mercedes-Benz 190 in our last Choose Your Eternity poll. Was it fair to force a Benz to go toe-to-toe with the product of a PCH Superpower? Maybe not... so today we're going to give Germany another shot at unseating a Superpower. And not just any PCH Superpower- we're having another Franco-Prussian rematch! You've got your Simcas and your Peugeots, your Renaults and even your Matras... but when you're talking serious French Project Car Hell, you're talking Citröen. When you're Citröen shopping in North America, you need to ask yourself: Do I want a car that was imported by Citröen, or do I want a crazy gray-market car with zero parts availability and questionable street-legality? Do I even need to answer that question? What any Project Car Hell masochist aficionado worth...
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Was it fair to pit a stock Mercury Lynx against a Chevette diesel-powered RX-7 in yesterday's Diesel Dilemma Edition Choose Your Eternity poll? Probably not, as the diesel Mazda pounded the daylights out of the badge-engineered Escort. Today we're going to move away from cars that you might consider using as everyday transportation and head into the realm of cars that stick their voracious snouts into your wallet every time they detect the proximity of a race track. That's right, it's Vintage Racing Hell today! Naturally, we'll need to go with PCH Superpowers Britain and Italy for this one, and the decade of the 1960s seems about right to sucker you into believing that these cars aren't so old that parts obtainment will be impossible. Hey, what's 40 or 50 years, right? You want to get into some serious GT Touring action at the next vintage racing event in your area? Good thinking! Of course, you'll need to roll up in some Italian steel, and said steel needs...
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One thing that's hard about this series is the glut of air-cooled Volkswagens on the island; I could easily do nothing but 60s Beetles and Transporters for a month straight and still not run out. These VWs are survivors and fully deserving of recognition, of course, but it wouldn't do to have them shove aside all the other cool machinery in this series. Rationing has been necessary, but it's been a while since our last Transporter (so far we've seen a '56 , a '57 , a '62 , a '63 , a '67 , and a '70 ), so let's look at a very nice 48-year-old example today. And, what the heck- let's have a poll! This '60 parks very close to the 1960 Studebaker Lark and the 1955 Plymouth Savoy . Vintage VW Type 2 owners will spend the rest of eternity screaming about how they're not hippies. Hell, real hippies haven't been able to afford these things for many years- they're driving 20-year-old Tercels now. These vintage travel stickers are great...
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Once again, Kitt finds us another cool car parked on the streets of Denver; this time she's persuaded the owner to open the doors and engine cover, in an obvious attempt to knock the DOTS crown from Alameda's dome. This time the car is a 1960 Chevy Corvair convertible, which, judging from its showroom-floor condition, doesn't live on the street all the time. Rudy Giuliani must be envious! Make the jump for many, many more photos. galleryPost('DOTSBEDenverCorvairTop', 6, 'Corvair Down On The Denver Street Part 1'); galleryPost('DOTSBEDenverCorvairJump', 48, 'Corvair Down On The Denver Street Part 2');
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What's better than a regular station wagon? Why, a pink four-door hardtop station wagon with about 800 pounds of chrome, of course! I'm actually pretty familiar with this car, because I've known the owner for many years (and in fact was with him on the day a few years back when he bought it from the original owner). This Commuter was bought new at a dealership in Oakland and has lived its entire life in Alameda; I'm pretty sure it's only been off the island a handful of times in the last 48 years. This wagon is insanely ornate even by 1960 standards. Fins, emblems, wraparound glass, the works. And, of course, the four-door hardtopness is the icing on the cake. The word "original" might be a bit mild when describing this wagon; it's a freakin' time capsule . The original receipts from the dealer are still in the glovebox. Of course, it wouldn't win any shows in its current condition, for two reasons: A) Nobody knows what the hell a Mercury Commuter...
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Since I couldn't find a DOTS car in Christmas-centric red and green, here's a solid red car to admire on our hard-earned day off from The Man's salt mines. We saw a somewhat rougher '60 Cadillac a while back, so I've been saving this car for a special occasion. Not only is it in excellent condition, it's the extra-slick two-door hardtop. Some folks like the convertible better, but I prefer the smoother lines of the hardtop; in fact, since 1960 is my favorite year for Cadillacs, the '60 2-door hardtop is my all-time favorite Cadillac (though I might select a more subdued color, were I shopping for my own). This car doesn't always park on the street, but it definitely lives on the island. It's so big and red that I figured I'd be able to see it from space; sure enough, when the Google Maps satellite passed overhead... parked outside that day! And, while we're in space, you can also see the gold '60 Cad from low earth orbit! Sometimes my favorite...
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