The RealRidesstaff (me) loves going to car shows and cruise nights and coming across something like this 1979 Dodge Aspen, which we saw last Sunday at the Buffalo History Museum’s Antique and Classic Car Showin — yes — Buffalo. The Aspen was introduced for 1976 as a replacement for the Dart… but the Dart was just too popular to kill at that point, and soldiered on for one
“It’s functional. It’s spacious. It’s sensible.”Yes, it wasall three of these things, but the brochure copywriters nevertheless failed to address the elephant in the room. The Checker Marathonwas — how shall we put this mildly? — not exactly easy on the eyes. But, forthousands of cab drivers and millions of fares, that was probably the farthest thing from
On the Road in New York City…Back in 2014 I took in the New York International Auto Showat the Javits Center, and one of my favorite parts was a basement exhibit of old NYPD police cars. This 1959 Ford Custom 300is sporting the NYPD’s famously unique livery of the time: a green, black, and white paint scheme that left no doubt as to the car's owner. This look began back in the 1930s,
In an automotive model year which saw General Motors downsize its full-sized cars, the copywriters who were publicizing this 1977 Mercury Marquis Broughamhad a little fun at the General’s expense:And as big and luxurious as this car is (not to mention how very Lincolnesque it appears from the front), it’s not even the plushiest big Merc. That would fall to the top o’the line Gran
Yes, in the 1950s, American automobile manufacturers were known for offering some very colorful factory paintjobs. But, I don’t think this 1951 Ford Customis necessarily wearing one of them. Ford offered three different greens for 1951: Sea Island, Sportsman, and Greenbrier. Today’s RealRidelooks more like the Skyhaze Green which was available in 1955. Looks sharp, though, especially w
Now that summer is in full swing, it seems as good a time as any to take a look at this 1990 Cadillac Seville, which I found in a Murdo, S.D.truck stop parking lot this past December, as my daughter Katie and I made our way back to Buffalo/Niagara from Seattle, Washington. As you can see by the tall shadows, it was a pretty early bright and sunny morning; what you can’t see, is that it was a
While trying to figure out if the green-on-green-on-green paint job on this 1962 Studebaker Larkis original or not, I came up blank. You’d be hard-pressed to find a photo of a ’62 Lark with anykind of two-tone combination (let alone this dark-light-dark scheme) on the internet or in Studebaker’s advertising literature. Nonetheless, it’s pretty sharp! The ’62 Larks sti
Today we visit the You Don’t See One of Those Every Day Dept., and the 1959 Edsel Corsairowned by area resident and car aficionado Joseph Galvin. One of four Edsels in his stable (as this is written, Lol) the ’59 is from the marque’s second — as well as second-to-last — year of production. The Corsair was the top o’the pared-down line for 1959, and was available
Almost 93,000 of the base model 1966 Ford Falconleft the factory (41,432 two-doors, 34,685 four-doors, and 16,653 wagons), but where are they all now? This one was spotted a few weeks ago on Buffalo’s West Side; but most of the rest of them, or so it seems, have been scattered to the wind. And I’ll bet that not too many of them (if any at all) had a hood ornament like this one, which c
I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that not too many people who were wandering around at yesterday’s monthly Cruise-N-Cuts(at the Eras Gone By: Unisex PIN UP Salonin Tonawanda) would have guessed that 19-year-old Gasport resident Nick Andersonwas the proud owner of the black 1996 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eightsedan parked off to the side. (Always nice to see an owner at one o