Some days you go out looking for the cars, and other days they come to you. Like the day a few months ago when Mrs. RealRides came home and told me to look out the front window. This 1963 Chevy Impala SS was literally a hop, skip, and a jump from the front porch of the RealRidesmain offices in Tonawanda. And this is no plain ol’ Impala SS — paint, wheels, side pipes, skirts, flames, sp
As a roving billboard, you’ll definitely get noticed when you slap your company name on the sides of a 1964 Imperial LeBaron four-door. This was Chrysler’s crème de la crème automobile in the mid-1960s. How do I know this? Because on The Beverley Hillbillies, banker Milburn Drysdale was usually chauffeured around in a (presumably black — hard to tell in the black &a
Yes, Virginia, there really was a civilian version of the military HMMWV — or, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. (Government acronyms at their very worst!) Most people called them Humvees, but this 1994 AM General vehicle is often called a Hummer, or if you have more time, the Hummer H1. For all intents and purposes, the H1 replaced the venerable Jeep as the military’s vehicl
From the school of Go Big or Stay Home comes this 1992 Buick Roadmaster hearse conversion. Based on the big Buick station wagon, we can see that the roof was raised and a side-opening door was added to the rear “cargo” area for ease of loading/unloading. This example, seen just down the street from RealRides HQ in Tonawanda, has a huge addition to the hood, either for looks or to help
This 1963 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Coupe has a mere 64k showing on the odometer. Closer inspection seems to indicate that the Willow Mist green paint is original, as is most of the rest of the car, including the dealer plate on the trunklid from Pohanka Oldsmobile, a Washington, D.C. dealership which opened in 1923. Bill Baum, owner of this old Olds, didn’t have to drive quite that far
I’m not sure the category even really exists anymore, but back when this 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo was new it was one of the biggest sellers in the personal luxury coupe genre. This triple-black beauty was pretty typical for the day, equipped on the outside with Chevy’s optional Rally Wheels & vinyl roof cover. But tell me, how many of these first-gen Montes have you ever seen without
This 1960 Ford Thunderbird was seen a few years back parked in Tonawanda,fromwas the third and final year for the Square-Bird, so-called by many because of the styling of this, Ford’s first four-seat version of the personal luxury car. Outward changes throughout the 1958-60 models pretty much consisted of grille inserts, side trim, and taillight design; the 1960 model was the only one to hav
This 1968 Mercury Cougar XR-7 has been owned by Tonawanda’s Steve Schiefer since 1991, in which time he’s performed a total restoration. Under the hood is Ford’s 302 V8, connected to a Merc-O-Matic automatic transmission. This was Cougar’s second year, and the first for the XR-7, which Mercury touted as “The look of hand-tooled elegance.” Steve’s green har
Day 1 of Oldsmobile week…Found this 1987 Olds Toronado Troféo last Saturday while out for a very windy bike ride across from the Niagara River in Tonawanda. The Troféo wasn’t just any Toronado; according to Oldsmobile it was “the ultimate personal performance luxury coupe”. If you think it looks rather slippery… you’re right! Olds goes on to tell
This 1947 Chevrolet Stylemaster Sport Sedan is one of 88,534 produced, making it Chevy’s third biggest seller for the model year behind the top-selling Fleetline Aerosedan (159,407) and the number two-selling Fleetmaster Sport Sedan (91,440). The Stylemaster was Chevy’s entry-level series, while the Fleetline was the fanciest of the three. Saw this black example last summer in Tonawand