The 1967 Pontiac Firebird H.O.used the same basic body shell as Chevy’s also-new-for-1967 Camaro. Visually, the biggest differences were the very Pontiac-ish nose, and the taillight panel. But Pontiac had some other aces up its sleeve to differentiate the two. Or rather, some aces under the hood. One model was named Firebird 326, which used (surprise) their 326cid V8 — which was basica
No that headline isn’t a typo. There really is such a thing as a 1989 Laforza— we had the RealRidesAMC Spirit parked right next to it last Tuesday on Queen Street in Niagara Falls, Ontarioat a weekly Cruising on the Qcruise night. The Laforza is an SUV which was manufactured in Italy (Laforza is Italian for “the force”) by Rayston-Fissore. The relative few that were exporte
The 1969 Ford Mustang SportsRoofwas still a pretty manageable size — bigger than the original models, but nothing like what was to come in a couple more years. Saw this very unmolested example a couple of nights ago at a weekly Cruising on the Qcruise night on Queen Street in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Standard engine was still a straight six — pretty much the same 200cid unit that had be
A quick glance at this bottom-of-the-heap 1961 Chevrolet Biscaynetwo-door sedan might evince the comment “Nice to see that one of these original, low-budget cars survived intact.” Then, you look closer and see just a bit of a header poking out beneath the door. Not likely that this was Joe Salesman’s company car back in the day — at least not as it sits today. Standard engi
A couple of days ago on this page we mentioned how General Motors cars of 1958 were a bit, ahem, heavy-looking and chrome-laden. This 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Specialpretty well puts that in perspective. Cadillac called it “…a culmination of the refined techniques and styling genius of Fleetwood craftsmen.”Well, that doessound better than heavy-looking and chrome-laden. I h
Saw this Ford Coupe, c1948, a couple of weeks ago at a Cruising on the Qcar show on Queen Street in Niagara Falls, Ontario. There wasn’t much of a difference between the ’47 and the ’48 Fords — designers & engineers were busy gearing up for the all-new 1949 models. Ads for the ‘48s claimed that “… Ford’s the only car with your choice of V-8 or S
Day 5 of Compacts Week…This 1965 Plymouth Valiant Signetwas seen in 2017 in Niagara Falls, Ontarioat a Cruising on the Qweekly car show. The Valiant started out life for model year 1960 as a stand-alone nameplate. It was sold at Chrysler-Plymouth dealers in the U.S., where it would gain a Plymouth nameplate for 1961. In Canada however, the Valiant was marketed as the Valiant by Chryslerand
Day 2 of Compacts Week…Before American compacts from Detroit started showing up in the late 1950s, there were a few others which tried (and failed) to get buyers to drive smaller, American-made cars. This Henry J, c1953, is one of them. Named after aluminum and real estate magnate/automotive executive Henry J. Kaiser, the Henry J was produced by Kaiser Motors as a companion to its larger Ka
Day 3 of Wagon Week…Is this 1960 GMC Custom Suburbanreally a station wagon? Well, a full complement of side windows and three rows of seats would seem to say, yes. (It was also available as a panel van, sans all the windows save those in the doors.) Based on the GMC pickup, the Suburban (or Model 1001) was available with a choice of two different rear door configurations: the typical statio
Day 1 of Discontinued Marques Week…This 1967 Mercury Cougarwas found last June at a weekly Cruising on the QTuesday night event on Queen Street in Niagara Falls, Ontario. This was the Cougar’s first year, and it was based on Ford’s popular Mustang. Bigger, more posh, and costlier than its Ford cousin, the Cougar helped spawn the upper crust pony car category, along with Dodge&rs