Old Car Magazines

When it comes to ugly it's hard to compete with the Leyland p76

 

Heh, I actually kinda like it. Has potential to do something cool with anyway.

 

Looks like a bad AMC/Soviet hybrid

 

I had saved that one for a while (a friend of my father was the publisher). But ultimately, it turned out to be an overrated issue.

 

...of an overrated magazine. Staffed with good writers who had nothing to say.

They desperately wanted to be the US equivalent to CAR Magazine.

 

Took a quick glance and I have a box of *Sports Car Illustrated* magazines from about 1951 through 1963 I'll have to give it a better looksy. Pretty cool though there's articles about the 24 Hr. Le Mans and cool pictures.

I also have a box of *Mechanix Illustrated* from the early 1900's through the 1960's again I'll have to give these a better look. Cool stuff though.

I also have a box of *Popular Mechanics* from the early 1900's through the 1950's

Lastly I've got a box of *Popular Science* not sure though if this fits this thread. But cool stuff still

 

Those otherwise desirable cars with smog choked or underspecified engines were like manna from heaven for hot rodders, who would buy them cheap when they were a few years old and rebuild them into fire eating monsters. Same with the Olds Diesels, they could be had in clean shape with nice interiors at scrap price and you either stuck a SBC in there or made a stout gas engine out of the Diesel block and crank. I had one of those converted Olds four doors for awhile.

 

The Model T was behind the times when the first one was built, but that's why Henry could turn them out so cheap while retaining quality materials and workmanship and why rural America could maintain and operate them.

The COBRA Crosley engine was actually pretty reliable if you used the proper anitfreeze and water mix, and it was very light. It was usually replaced with the CIBA cast block version, though, and although the Crosley was crude it made for a good second or third car in a time when most families could not afford two decent cars. The CIBA engine was made for years as a very good four stroke outboard after car production stopped.

 

Yeah, but for a daily driver it was really a decent car. You got the small block Chevy engine, a THM350 or 400 transmission, and the heavy duty suspension....or, let's say, if you did, it would run forever and parts were everywhere. If you didn't, those parts would fit, with factory mounts. Sure it was a fuel hog, but who really cared all that much?

The only really bad part of that era of GM cars was the interiors were a little cheesy and some got the abysmal 200 Metric transmission.

 

The Chrysler K cars were homely, but they were the first front wheel drive car Detroit made that really were a workhorse and would run forever. The GM X bodies were crap. The Vega was really, really bad, which is a shame since it was attractive and had potential with a little more build cost.

 

My grandfather owned nothing but Caprice's. I believe the last one, an '84, was the worst, with a blown engine at under 40K. Pretty sure GM had to replace that one.

Depends on what you mean by "comfort". If you are a child prone to car sickness and your grandparents live in the mountains, that boulevard ride ain't what you want. It's like sitting on a waterbed. To be fair, pretty much all rear wheel drive four door American sedans of the era rode like that.

 

Are there still places like this full of misplaced or forgotten cars?

Forgotten Corvette collection:

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/blogs/m...s-from-the-dust-after-25-years-162558587.html

 

I like to drive, but am no motorhead. But I went through every issue of Car and Driver in my school's library to read Jean Shepherd's columns.

 

Amazing magazines!! You know my grandfather was a mechanic and he had collected lots of Car Magazines in which you can get all the information regarding american motors and other equipments. I have kept all these magazines at my book shelf.

 

Yes there are still several places like that

 

I used to know where there was a Kaiser Darrin in a junk yard. But the car, and the whole junkyard, disappeared a few years ago.

It had been rifled through for its mechanical bits, but all the fiberglass was still there. Mechanicals, chassis and bumpers for the Darrin were shared with the Henry J, so a full restoration would still have been possible for this car. I hope it did not meet an unfortunate end.

 

Collectable Automobile is my favorite.

 

There was a chevy dealer a couple of years ago that had taken unsold cars for decades and parked them in warehouses and fields. So you had cars under 100 miles, but suffered from obvious weather damage. They had a big auction for them.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveon/2013/09/30/lambrecht-chevrolet-auction-nebraska/2894401/

 

The Model T certainly does not belong on this list.

The were cheap, relatively reliable, and easy to fix. They deserve every bit of praise they ever receive. We are talking 1909.

Were there much better cars? Certainly. Could the common man own those cars? Never.

 

A few years ago, I came across at an estate sale 2 complete subscriptions of Car & Driver and Motor Trend. I took every issue from 1966 through 1973. Absolute gold!