All the truck issues I fixed with a 1955 F-100. Stepside- SO EASY to get things in and out even at the cab end of the bed. Low floor. At cars & coffee type events, those in the know ask why I have not replaced the wood bed. Answer: 99.8% of those dudes will NEVER even put a gas can in their queen. Or mulch. Or brush. Or recycling. Etc. (OK the tailgate latch and chains are fiddly-what is your hurry?) You meet more people to chat with running this around town in Ol Blue than your every-one-on-every-block RamAnali1500SQX Off Track 9.3L 4barn door Punybed peekumup. This is supposed to be a classic car forum- when the hell did it turn into Cars.com? ... View more

Looks fresh and balanced - outstanding. Had the same impact as my first look at the Ford GT. SO glad to see independent thinking from Swedes again: not another Audi-clone whale-shark feeding face. Hear that Lexus, Kia, Nissan, etc....... ... View more

Nothing seems to light up 'mericans more than using 'truck' to describe anything less than a full frame, V8, 3-foot-high floor, 5000#++ badass dino fuel burner. Lighten up. Ford sold out these with a whisper of advertising because the cheap compact truck space was wide open. Okay they could not blast these out like paper clips because of low production capacity and supply issues. So what were they supposed to do, hold back? (but I don't understand de-contenting below no cruise control either). Lots of folks will see value here well beyond the 1st year pop. This is no PT cruiser folks. I roll my '55 F-100 around regularly- and marvel what a perfect mid size it really is. Reaching right into the bed without hiking over a wall of usually dusty sheetmetal is damn convenient. ... View more

Drove Saabs from 1973 to 1988. A sweet '70 99 surprised family and friends with its nimble handling, comfort and engineering way ahead of malaise era compacts. A '75 99 Wagonback went almost 200k miles until the 80 Turbo- a hot ride in its time. A 84 Turbo was my last-by the time it needed to get replaced, GM had watered it into a weird Opel. Designed by an aircraft company, they were wonderful ... View more

70 Saab 99- first car I put on the road, bought from a Swede in NJ who took euro delivery every other year on a new ride when he went back to see the fam. For Maverick money, this car had warm cloth seats, side defrosters, rear seat heat vents, rear window defroster vents, THE FIRST HEATED SEATS, FWD, & freewheeling trans. Four snows and this buggy went every where. Followed by a '75 Wagonback, 80 Turbo, 84 Turbo- never a problem getting to the slopes. Really miss them! ... View more

Not to rain on the barbecue, but for this kind of coin, we would all really like to see significant body panel differences from "lesser" Shelbys. Modify some tail lights or something where you don't need to be filming with a high speed cam and playing it back later to spot some badging or slightly adjusted stripe........ I vividly remember my first encounter with a '68 KR back in that very year- the cut of the fastback, the spoiler and front end were stunners ... View more

Great story, but for most of us, this is in that strange space of ex-race cars, cut up and modified in the heat of competitive adrenaline then almost always bunted into a corner when they dump their bottom end or can't keep up with their class. Racing $ure is alway$ ca$h for $peed. Hard for the average home car mechanic to love the empty husks left over. Now see how many smiles you can manufacture with even a 6 pot, 3 speed Gremlin rolling down Main............ ... View more

'75 and later Pintos you could opt up to the Cologne V-6, a damn nice little motor. There is where the opportunity for legit duals shows up, but it will take a Pintohead to tidy up which years had the 'twice pipes'. ... View more

A few minutes ago I posted crusty old man comments about the top value auction at B-J. That those vehicles were doomed to be retired from actual use. So this well crafted article on the experience of watching multi-million dollar machines in one edge of their performance envelopes piloted by our nation's finest is JUST what I needed! ... View more

Like following an art auction... with tires. Pretty and interesting cars that will live like a ship in a bottle, someday to get resold, create another story, and disappear into a collection again. 80 miles on a wonderful road car is a crime in my mind. Many of us I think are less interested in what the speculators and .0000001% buy than the cars owners DRIVE. ... View more

Loved my 89 SHO hugely. The Taurus-derived Windstar we had was fine but for the 3.8L. Once a head gasket blown. Post-repair recurrence=connecting rod scramble. Lovliest of the breed has to be the Merc Sable Wagon- sleek, agile, right-sized and comfy. ... View more

Woof! As a Blue Oval guy and 89 SHO original owner, I still burn my eyes on the second gen Taurus.Man, this thing would only survive in a world full of Aztecs........... ... View more

This made sense for Chevy to really have a shot at younger buyers. Track cred, fresh layout and look. Debating styling details will always go on, but a supercar configuration at a great price, will get more "sportys" ready to buy a USA made machine. Even though I am a blue oval guy. ... View more

Sorry, the Eclipse and Talon ain't hot hatches in my book- more the hot coupes ala Celica. Absolutely insert the GLH right here. Too bad Ford never brought the right Escort over here to play........   ... View more

'66 Olds Toranado '68 Lincoln Continental MkIII ... View more

Lets cut the manufacturers some slack-even a Chevy Spark is $14,500. More realistic to see a truck for $18-22k. Feds want all kinds of compliance- emission and safety- that was never thought of as necessary for the trucks in the article (it is necessary). At this price point the small truck will need to come in from "elsewhere". I agree with the tech specs and the market need for sure. ... View more

Great that you shared your metrics for what is and IS NOT worth the time. I am going through this process right now on a far smaller scale. I was 'blessed' with a crate of random '66 Mustang and ' 69 Shelby GT350 parts from brother and father rebuilds that " you might need for the 64.5 resto". Now I want that crate for the originals I will hoard for the next gen owner of my project. Lots of forensic part ID work and pix and listing to do, but this article will give me more guts to toss things ahead of time (maybe 50% I hope) ... View more

At fourteen Dad commented that I 'ought to buy a $50 car and tear it apart' if I really wanted to learn: two weeks later I found one in the paper. Four door Fairlane 500 with the same "T-Bird" 292. Without enough cash or tools or space to do much about the significant rust rot everywhere- my friends and I had a blast pulling the front clip and rebuilding the top of the motor, brakes and exhaust. Once back together, we tortured the bald snow tires with long burnouts up our cul-de-sac when the parents were out. Even though we probably didn't go further than a mile around our neighborhood, we had a rush from un-registerd un-licensed motoring ... View more

DeTomaso Pantera. Probably the best powerplant the Blue Oval made in the 70s for power and weight, in a killler knife edge Italian body. But since they tend toward rusting tube frames, flaky utilities and workmanship, the 'care and feeding' is daunting................. ... View more