Posts from ‘Classic Cars’
Compact Cars of 1969
1969 Plymouth Valiant 100 4-door Sedan (with 200 Decor Group)
Sadly, our official home-office archive of Consumer Guide new-car-test magazines is pretty thin before 1970. We do have a digest-size magazine from 1967, but it’s most prices and such—no photos, no specs, and no test-drive evaluations.
1959 Cadillac
We apologize in advance. There’s a pretty good chance your favorite Cadillac isn’t included in the gallery below. As it turns out, though a luxury brand, General Motors’ luxury division has made available a surprising number of models and body styles over the years–more than we could cover in this gallery of vintage Cadillac ads.
1941 Dodge WC-18 Ambulance
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2012 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
Of the many things Chrysler Corporation manufactured for American and Allied military services during World War II, perhaps the ones most likely to be still seen today are four-wheel-drive trucks produced by Dodge. They were manufactured in an array of body types for myriad battlefield tasks, and military-vehicle collectors still covet and preserve examples that have survived the ravages of war and time.
Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast
Whether you drive a car, need a car, or just occasionally bum a ride with friends, you’ve come to the right place. Join the editors of Consumer Guide Automotive as they break down everything that’s going on in the auto world. New-car reviews, shopping tips, driving green, electric cars, classic cars, and plenty of great guests. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast.
1974 Renault 17 Gordini
I’ll be frank: I collect car ads in different folders with the intention of finding a sufficient number of similar ads to create a blog-post gallery. The ads shared here? Well, I’m having the blog-post equivalent of a fire sale. I love these ads, but I can’t really see them becoming part of any article with anything like a coherent theme.
2000 Isuzu Hombre
The year 2000 resonates for me, because it was the year in which I became a dad. Automotively, this meant selling my beloved Acura Integra and buying something more practical, in this case a Nissan Maxima SE. Nice car, the Maxima.
1955 Chevrolet Corvette “Duntov Mule”
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2012 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
As the Chevrolet Corvette’s 60th birthday approaches, it’s easy to forget the two-seater wasn’t a muscular, race-winning sports car from the start. Rushed into production with a “Blue-Flame” six and Chevy’s Powerglide automatic transmission, the car that wowwed Motorama crowds in New York in early ’53 was a tough sell little more than a year later. The addition of Chevy’s new V8 engine in 1955 really didn’t help Corvette sales.
1989 Eagle Premier ES Limited
There were Eagle cars because the folks at Chrysler didn’t think the Jeep brand could stand on its own. Of course, this decision was made in the late Eighties. No one today would question Jeep’s viability as a stand-alone brand today.
1955 Studebaker E7
Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2018 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
Studebaker got off to a good start in the postwar truck market with the 1949 R-series trucks that had fresh styling by Robert E. Bourke. While running boards were still prominently displayed on the competing new designs from the Big Three brands, Bourke’s truck cab looked more modern with the running boards concealed under the doors.
I can’t track down the first person to predict that only cockroaches would survive the next world war, but the would-be truism is well known at this point. Kudos to the comedian who would later add Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards to the short list of life forms expected to live through a nuclear apocalypse; his continued existence remains an inspiration to those of us who have only occasionally drank to excess and have largely passed on injected opioids. Though not a life form, I would like to add another icon of longevity and fortitude to the nukeproof list: the Pontiac Vibe.
