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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. Today's car is one I'm quite familiar with, since it's now sitting in my back yard. No, it isn't my current Personal Hell Project; I'm helping Czech automotive journalist Bobash realize his dream of terrorizing quaint Central European villages with an ocean-liner-scale Fuselage Look Mopar. You may recall the '81 Corvette I inspected for BobAsh a while back; that car is now roaring around the Czech Republic in all its Late Malaise glory. This car was a one-owner, estate-sale find. The late owner was a San Francisco chiropractor who garaged it, had it serviced on the dot, and (apparently) never allowed anyone to sit inside. It's got a few minor dings and dents, but almost everything works and the (purple whorehouse-esque) interior is the nicest I've ever seen on an unrestored 90,000-mile car. It's not what you would...
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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 yesterday's matchup, we saw the rear-wheel-drive hot-rod Corolla beat the front-wheel-drive hot-rod Corolla in the Choose Your Eternity poll . And that's great, only we got a bunch of static from readers who thought those two cars weren't punitive enough. Fine, we'll remedy that situation ASAP, with a couple of weapons-grade Hell Projects for you. The initial cost won't be all that high, but you'll have the chance to repent at leisure with either half of this PCH Superpower matchup! Ahhh, the Triumph Stag. It may well be the king of British Hell Projects, combining British Leyland build quality, Prince Of Darkness electricals , and a half-baked SOHC V8 engine that was flaky even by Triumph's incredibly generous standards. Shockingly, the last one we saw in the Hell Garage was beaten by a Porsche , so today we're giving the...
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newVideoPlayer("/71_Chrysler_Royal_476.flv", 506, 423,""); The Newport Royal was priced a couple hundred bucks lower than the regular Newport; it came with less gingerbread and a 360 instead of the 383 engine, but was otherwise the same car. See, that's to get you hooked on Chryslers; the guy who buys the Royal now will go on to buy a Corboba a few years later, and by now he's in a Cirrus. Just like eating peanuts!
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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. In all this time, we've had just one Volvo 140 in this series (though this Volvo 164 is pretty much the same car). Given that the East Bay has been a Volvo epicenter for many decades now, what's up with that? Today we're going to add another, this one a sporty coupe with a lot of travel to its credit. Back in '71, you could buy a new Volvo 142S for $3,020. With the base '71 Chevy Nova 2-door priced at $2,176 and the Datsun 510 coupe going for just $1,990, the purchase of a new 142 showed that you were a sensible car buyer, willing to pay a premium for safety, European build quality, and longevity… although- now that we think about it- the Datsun 510 sure was a helluva deal! Judging by the old Navy base parking stickers and the not-often-seen-on-Bay-Area-Volvos George Bush decal, it's a safe bet that this car is owned by a current...
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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. Today we're going to check out one of my all-time favorite Japanese cars, the one that started the whole hot-rodded Japanese machinery thing here in the US of A: Datsun 510! Sometimes I get asked whether irate car owners come running after me with a shotgun when they see me shooting their cars, but my experience with this Datsun was more typical; the owner came out to see what was going on, was glad that someone appreciated his car, and opened the hood and trunk so I could get better photos. It's funny that the car known as the "Poor Man's BMW 2002" is now worth more than a 2002. In 1971, you could buy a brand-new 2002 for $3,275… or a Datsun 510 for $1,990. Both cars had IRS, disc brakes, etc., but the BMW had the power edge, with 114 horses versus 96. With the money the Datsun buyer saved, however, another 50 horsepower could...
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Did Ford really build a twin-turbocharged pickup truck based on the Pinto in 1971? The seller of this "sweet rust free 1 of 1 factory built pinto race truck twin turbo 4 cyl bumper dragging beast" says they did, and that "ford picked me over bob glidden to drive cause he couldnt handle this monster." If it's for real and there's documentation to prove it, $15,000 is a pretty good deal. If not... well the going rate on Pintocheros might be a few notches below 15K. Cast your vote and we'll see how this sorts out. Thanks to LTDScott for the tip! [Mautofied] Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.
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The low-miles AMC beat the NASA-built Fairmont in the Electrocutioner Edition Choose Your Eternity poll , though the Fairmont did make a respectable showing. Today we're jumping back into a pool of flaming gasoline, because there's no telling how much longer the smell of incompletely burned hydrocarbons will hover around our garages. After seeing a Datsun 610 in the junkyard and then the '78 Toyota brochures over at Japanese Nostalgic Car (thanks, SOS10 ), we decided to find a couple of Japanese cars built before they'd discovered focus groups (and airtight quality control) over there. Datsun 280Zs are a dime a (rusty) dozen, but you don't see many mid-70s Fairladies in North America; it seems that those willing to go through the hassle of importing a classic JDM Nissan tend to go for the earlier models. Right-hand-drive, weird badges, and the utter impossibility of passing any sort of emissions test- sign us up! They're tough to find over here, but if you've...
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newVideoPlayer("71_Toyota_Crown_JDM_476.flv", 506, 423,""); The old Toyota Crown was all about the luxury , and it's pretty clear from this classic ad who the Crown's target market was back in 1971 Japan: stoic businessmen who wished to take their giggly young mistresses to the beach. We're disappointed that the Crown in this ad lacks the Super Saloon's curtains and trunk-mounted Cool Box, but you can see that it wafts along in utter silence. Well, except for the caterwauling of the schmaltzy singer.
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Many, many cars have passed through my hands since I first picked up a '69 Toyota Corona for 50 bucks , but only a few really make me feel a twinge of regret when I think about letting them go. One such car is the British Racing Green '73 MGB-GT I owned for a few years in my early 20s; it was slow, handled like a garbage truck, went through $40 carburetor floats like other cars go through oil changes, and proved that all those Joe Lucas jokes are based on painful reality... but I still loved it. Perhaps this is the evil lure of the British Car, but I was finally able to heed the rule posted on a huge sign at the only British-car wrecking yard in Northern California: IF IT RUNS, SELL IT. This beat-to-hell MGB-GT, which could be a '71, '72, or '73, might be my old car , after a couple of decades of neglect. Sure, mine was pretty nice when I sold it, but a lot can happen in 20 years! I spotted this B parked while going out to dinner a few weeks back (on the same commercial...
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Since helping our Czech friend BobAsh get a Malaise Corvette from California to his homeland was so easy, I agreed to keep an eye open for a nice Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for him. After all, roaring through the streets of Prague in a genuine California cop car would be almost as much fun as roaring through the streets of San Francisco in a genuine Tatra 603. Last weekend I stopped by the auction yard at which I bought my Crown Vic a few years back, and found that the inventory included quite a few early 70s Ford Thunderbirds. In fact, the inventory was almost entirely 1970 and 1971 T-Birds. Make the jump for more photos and the rest of the story. galleryPost('ThunderbirdAuctionTop', 6, 'Time For Deals On Early 70s Thunderbirds'); It turns out that I was looking at the estate of a recently deceased collector of '70 and '71 Thunderbirds, with at least 35 examples going under the auctioneer's gavel. Some two-doors, some suicide-doors, all with 429 engines...
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I've found quite a few early-70s big Chryslers on the island, including this '71 Newport 4-door , so it's time to get another one of of these Detroit survivors its day of fame. I found this '71 Newport Royal 2-door hardtop in the same neighborhood as the '42 Pontiac Torpedo , and it parks on the street every day- no garage coddling for this C-body! The Newport Royal was the entry-level big Chrysler for '71 (yes, the Royal was cheaper than the regular Newport). The real high rollers (those who didn't go for the Imperial) bought New Yorkers. The standard engine in the Newport Royal was the 360 small-block , but the 383 and 440 big-blocks were reasonably inexpensive options. At 4,060 pounds, this brute was even heavier than the new Challenger, so the bigger engine was worth getting. I've always thought the C-body coupes of this era were great-looking cars, and someday I want to build my own '70 Hurst 300H clone (with a 4-speed, to remedy Chrysler's slushbox...
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Now that we've got two photographers out shooting Denver DOTSBE cars while out walking their respective dogs, we can expect to see plenty of vintage machinery from the streets of the Mile High City. Today we're going to look at a solid-looking 1970 or 1971 Datsun 240Z (Z experts, please help out on the exact year here) shot by Ejacobs , who brought us the late-40s International Harvester KB-3 last week. galleryPost('DOTSBEDenver240Z', 9, '1970 Datsun 240Z Down On The Denver Street');
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There was a time, maybe a decade ago, when Cadillac Eldorados with high-compression 500-cubic-inch engines were plentiful in self-service junkyards. These days, months can go by between sightings of non-Malaise 500s. As I learned when I helped a friend pull a 500 one sweltering, bloody-knuckled day, the Eldo's front-wheel-drive setup makes engine removal approximately 50 times harder than your typical Detroit rear-driver, but so what? Five hundred cubic inches! Power was a little down in '71, but this car's engine was still rated at 365 horses... and an 18-wheeler-esque 535 foot-pounds of torque. galleryPost('Junk71Eldo', 9, '1971 Cadillac Eldorado Down On The Junkyard');
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Sometimes months can go by between my photographing of a DOTS car and posting those photographs. Today's car is a good example; I shot the original photos last August, but the island is overflowing with air-cooled Beetles and I have a glut of photos of such cars (yes, Beetle fans, I know I should be posting more of them... and I will, promise). But this particular exposed-engine Beetle, which I'm arbitrarily calling a '69 (though it could be from any year during the 68-72 span), got in some sort of messy collision in the meantime and then moved across town. At first, I thought I was looking at a different car, but checking plate numbers told the whole story. So what we have here is your standard mildly hot-rodded late-60s/early-70s Beetle, with exposed engine but retaining the factory wheels and hubcaps. This could easily be the original engine, or the 15th, and the displacement could be anything from 1200cc all the way up to a stroked "How much money you got?" mill...
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We've seen an early Bronco in this series, so it's only fair that we have a DOTS Truck Monday featuring the Bronco's competitor from The General. This '71 Blazer parks on one of Alameda's major thoroughfares, not far from the Unimog and the '63 VW Transporter , and it's clearly someone's daily driver. I can't tell for sure whether this is an incredibly well-preserved original driver or a restoration, but I suspect the former is the case. Well, most likely the upholstery has been redone; there's no way it could be that nice after 37 years in the California sun. You see, a late-60s-vintage Oakland A's sticker means the vehicle is likely an Alameda native, which means there's a good chance its owner takes obsessive care of a vehicle bought new and considered irreplaceable. They don't make 'em like this no more , etc. The A's connection is somewhat interesting in the case of this truck, because the favored post-game watering hole for...
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