As soon as fully-enclosed bodies became safe and affordable, buyers flocked to them. Essex, a part of Hudson, launched the first affordable closed car in 1922, and by 1930, Tourers (traditional open cars with a…
Browsing Category American Cars
Chevrolet Nova Concours: The Baby Brougham
Some cars seem to be everywhere—road furniture—until suddenly you notice their absence. Once as common as RAV4s are today, it’s been a while since the fourth-gen (1975-79) Chevy Nova suddenly became rare, but in rust-free…
1936 Dodge: Origin Of The Ram
In 1920, just six years after John and Horace Dodge started building their own cars, “Dodge Brothers” was second only to Ford in sales in the USA. But both brothers fell victim to the Influenza…
1948 Buick Super: Last Of The Streamliners
It’s impossible to know for sure if it’s true, but it is a good story. In the 1970s, Ex-GM designer Richard Stout once said that the 1948 Buick lineup continued on their pre-war bodies because…
1987-89 Mercury Tracer: Hecho En Mexico
Sometimes a car is less significant for what it is than what it represents, and the original Mercury Tracer definitely falls into this category. Although it had a Ford sibling, the Asia-Pacific market Laser, both…
Flashback: Vega Kammback Wagons
Today, we’re flashing back to the summer of 1978 with a pair of Chevrolet Vega Kammback wagons. Look closely, and you’ll see two matching green versions of this tiny hauler, an early 1971-73 model in…
1967 International Travelall: The Proto Overlander
The Scout gets most of the ink today when people talk about International Harvester SUVs, but it actually appeared several years after the company’s first SUV, the jumbo-sized International Travelall. Yes, General Motors built an…
1971 Plymouth GTX: The Heat Of The Moment
The Plymouth GTX lasted just five years as a stand-alone model, and the car was a resounding sales dud, but they were five glorious, bonkers years. The 1971 GTX seen here was the slowest seller…
Lincoln Continental Mark VI: Unlucky Numbers
Technically, it’s not the only four-door “Mark” ever made, but the 1980-83 Lincoln Continental Mark VI sedan is probably the most famously misunderstood variation of this long line. It is, of course, the brainchild of…
Chevrolet 454SS: Old School Truck, New School Shape
Muscle pickups, briefly popular in the 1970s in the form of trucks like Dodge’s “L’il Red Express,” made a comeback in the early 1990s and the first manufacturer to really unleash them was GM. In…
1979 Chevrolet Caprice Wagon: Yorkshire Yank Tank
We post many examples of global cars that have come to American roads, but today it’s the opposite. These old GM wagons were once as familiar as sunrise and sunset in America, and usually seen…
1982-87 Lincoln Continental: The Bustle
Sometimes you lead, and sometimes circumstances dictate that you follow. In the case of the mid-eighties Lincoln Continental, the first downsized car to wear that name, Lincoln was definitely a follower. In 1975, Cadillac’s “internationally…