The round, Chrysler-inspired, 1950s-era regular Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a familiar sight in the USA, but there were actually three different Karmann Ghias in all. The original recipe Type 14, the 1970s-era Brazilian Type 145…
Browsing Category Junkyarding
Nissan Stanza T11: The Wallflower
First things first. 1. “Sport” is definitely a misnomer here. 2. No, you can’t save this yellow car, these are old photos and this car has long since shuffled off to beer-can land. Too bad…
Buick Opel Isuzu: All Dressed Up For Nobody
We love unusual badge-ups, and this one brings together a very odd trio. It looks like an Opel Kadett C, but it’s actually called the “Buick Opel Isuzu.” Confused? Well, all three brands were part…
1974 Buick Riviera: the Lost Generation
The 1974-76 Buick Riviera is essentially a forgotten car today, lingering in the deep shadow left by the famous ‘71-’73 Boattail cars and built in relatively small numbers. The car actually didn’t look bad at…
Buick Apollo: Stuck in the Middle
You’d think that a “smaller” car launched just before a fuel crisis would be almost a sure fire hit, but not so with the Buick Apollo. It might have been smaller but it wasn’t “small,”…
Too Little, Too Late: Austin Marina
Like so many vehicles created in changing or troubled times for their manufacturer, the Morris Marina was intended as a stopgap model. It was meant to last only four, maybe five, years and was aimed…
French Flathead: Simca Vedette Trianon
The Simca Vedette began life as the Ford Vedette – and its history is as complex as a Château Latour red. This Vedette Trianon, the base model at the time, dates from 1955, a period…
The Fancy Small Car: Nash Rambler
Later on, “Rambler” and AMC would become synonymous with “economy,” and it’s true that the original Nash Rambler was economical, but it was much more of a small premium Nash than a bare-bones economy car…
The Calm Before the Storm: 1951 Packard
In 1934, longtime Packard President Alvan Macauley watched as the depression destroyed Packard’s sales and rivals alike. For survival, radical change would be necessary – so he brought in New York area manager Max Gilman…
Rough and Rare: 1979 Ford Ranchero Squire
Ford’s Ranchero was the first modern North American “coupe utility,” but it never sold as well as anticipated – rarely more than 23K units a year through its early variations until it was tied to…
Coming to America: Mitsubishi Tredia
All but forgotten today, this nondescript little sedan is a Mitsubishi Tredia. This a late Tredia with flush aero lamps instead of sealed beams, but the Tredia, along with its coupe companions the Cordia and…
Detroit via Dagenham: The Ford Consul Capri
The Ford Capri is no stranger to these pages – but this is a very different type of Capri. Eight years before it’s famous successor Ford of Britian debuted the Ford Consul Capri, a more…