Willys Aero. Just what I would have bought while it was in production. Second the IKA Torino. Same reason. But I do not think either Willys or Kaiser offered a V8 at the time, so there was nothing to cut. Perhaps "cut 'potential 'V8s from the line up " would be more accurate because I have read the design Kaiser was working on or had contracted for went to AMC after Kaiser stopped building passenger cars. ... View more

That investment angle always makes me laugh. The $$$$ I have put into a $500 car because I loved the car.  Satisfaction and happiness is a far better return on my investment than flipping a car for profit. Great if you can do it, but the cars I like....well... my dream car is a 1960 Comet ..... good luck with retiring on the money made on one of those . ... View more

True, mine works hard, but it could do it. I would love a 4th gear. And on the column with the other three. ... View more

Excellent.  My own 63 Valiant has been ridden in, worked on and pushed by everyone I have ever loved over the last nearly 40 years. It truly is a reminder of where I have been. It's a time machine as well as on the two lane roads outside of town..."Suddenly it's 1963 and Rt. 66". Wide open spaces and winding roads Not far off as when I was a kid we traveled those same roads in a 63 Dart 270 wagon.  As far as safety, I have never felt unsafe in it, but have lap belts which are always used. It's a three speed manual, un-boosted steering and brakes. It takes conscious effort to drive: no texting, talking on the phone, eating or drinking. Though I did see some fool enter the Hollywood 101 in a VW Beetle with one hand shifting and the other blapping on the phone. And an idiot in a late model car pull out from a space in the morning with a bowl of cereal in his hands. WTF ? Human stupidity will over-ride any safety features even on a modern car.  So, yes: less passive safety in an old car. But... old cars require that one drives them differently. They don't perform like newer cars and demand more attention when driving. And mechanically.  Mine love my wallet, but this Valiant has never left me stranded when it stopped or developed a problem. I have always been just a short distance from home or a short push into my parking space when things go haywire. The car has instincts: It knows it's going to sit if something gives, so it makes it as close to home as possible. Strange but true. And I can't stop trying to bring my 86 Olds Calais back to where it was when I bought it in 1994. Cha Ching both. But the trip to Salt Lake and back [1800 miles]in it was worth every cent. Besides, that's just my booze, tobacco, nudie bar, vape, designer clothes, romance chasing and fine dining [as if] money going for a mechanical friend instead. It's a win all around. Loved this piece, thanks. ... View more

No mention of the deep dip rustproofing used by Nash/AMC for years to combat this very problem. Chrysler did the same when it went to uni-body in 60.   By the early '80s AMC was using two sided galvanized steel and Zeibart rustproofing. That's not exactly " It took almost a century for the auto industry to move from a total disinterest in the prospect of rust protection to a dedicated effort to make good on the multi-year perforation warranties that became commonplace by the time the ’90s rolled around."   Galvanized steel was around in the '60s. Some makers bragged about two sided galvanization so the suggestion that the industry just looked the other way for 100 years is hyperbole.   All the points are well taken, and, yes, I learned all about bondo as a teenager in the midwest in the '70s. I hated seeing our 66 Mercury Montclair begin to rust within 3 years .   It is also why I loved the concept of the polymer panels on Saturn products. A direct response to the quick rust out of Japanese cars and a selling advantage. That all four fenders could be removed for easy replacement just like Checkers and Studebaker Larks was an added perk only a geek who had done rust "repair" every spring on that beautiful 66 Mercury could appreciate. Good article. Doesn't go far enough and paints a picture that's true..... to a point.    Chrysler's notorious Aspen and Volare were rushed into production, part of the reason they rusted so quickly. Cut costs, sloppy assembly.   The Vega, same thing: a weapons grade corporate cluster hump. I saw those things rusting the front fenders within two years of intro. More bad design, cost cutting and sloppy build quality.   Of all of them I'd say Ford was the least interested in investing $$$ in rust resistance tech and had a couple of class action suits lobbed at them because of it.   I guess I was sort of hoping for more details about industry attempts at rust proofing. That's probably too wide a scope to expect.    But as is, it makes the US industry look like ignorant boobs while the Europeans and Japanese ride to save the knuckle draggers  in the US once again, the hapless fools.   Not the full story by a long shot       ... View more

Nice drawing. Not an improvement. He's very talented but he made the Pacer look like a Pinto. Adding a ridiculous blind spot to a design that gave superior visibility is just ignorant. ... View more

Modern Chrysler's best recent ad was the one featuring their old '50s cars and the new ones "arriving" at posh locations.    Exactly what good ads do: create a mystique, desire, an image.    Especially good was Jaguar's ad with Etta James singing "At Last" in the background. Mystique. ... View more

56Tiger: the walls of my bedroom were covered in old car ads. I always wanted my life to be like what I saw in them. Happy people, sunny places, everything perfect in the world. So much for a 10 year old's fantasy..... ... View more

I had never seen the last three from the 70s. I recognized the style from the Pontiac ads in my Dad's old National Geographics [ a car ad lover's dream, BTW ].   Mercury copied this for it's 65 and 66 models "In The Lincoln Continental Tradition": glamorous places, action, sleek expensive looking settings and of course Mercury out front. A blatant imitation but more fun for lovers of car ads who get amped by advertising hype and the "selling of the dream". Great piece. ... View more

All interaction has been co-opted on new cars: boosted steering, brakes, windows, locks, doors, automatic transmissions, lane departure, ABS, traction control, rear view cameras.    Hearing someone claim that having a manual in a modern car lets them feel like they're more in control makes me shake my head a little. Yes, it's true up to a point. The rest has been taken out of the driver's hands.   Not dismissing them so much as thinking it's a shame they don't know what they've lost and what they've missed. And a little sad that sort of engagement is nearly extinct.   I have a 63 Valiant: 3 speed on the column, no power assist anywhere. It takes deliberate action and engagement to drive it and for that I love it. Like driving a truck in comparison to newer cars. Probably even full sized '60s fare.   The more I see and read of new cars, the more I like what I have: 57, 34 and 15 years old the three of them. Something happens to the newest one, I'll go backward when I look to replace it.   What drives me ? The smells, sounds, the comfortable old shoe feel of older cars. Even a well used newer one. A little character from miles and years. The cars everyone loved to then and loves to now hate on.    Yes, some quirky personal preferences, but the same enthusiasm. Especially for the inhabitants of the Isle Of Misfit Cars.    Motor on Y'all. Let's Terraplane !   ... View more

Sajeev. Baruth. Is this the new version of TTAC ? ... View more

Michael Lamm. I used to look forward to his "Used Cars" columns in Motor Trend when I was 12 years old. I learned to keep a record book in my car to record gas and repairs from my first car to my current three.   It was a treat to meet him at AeroBooks/AutoBooks in Burbank where he was signing his book about the 1955 Chevrolet. He is definitely an unsung hero of automotive writing. ... View more