The problem for me is that the only versions of these cars I would want are the rare, hi-perf versions and they still command big money.   I've been noticing 50s cars plunging for several years unless they are special for some reason.  And the biggest plunger seems to me to be the 1955-57 Thunderbirds.    And no I don't think Thunderbird is a cooler name than Corvette. ... View more

Amen on Ed Cole! ... View more

How does ceramic coating compare to jet hot coating both endurance-wise and price-wise? ... View more

My favorite weirdo would be the Fiat Multipla from the 50s.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/autohistorian/31567237552 ... View more

@GoFast I agree with you totally.  I've been using Mobil 1 since 1976 in every single engine I've owned including lawn mowers.  It was called Synthesized Engine Lubricant back then. I occasionally purchased Castrol SynTec if it was on sale but those are the only two I've used.    And I have had no problems engine-wise from any of them.   ... View more

I think you are either born a car guy or you aren't.  My dad cared nothing at all and knew nothing about cars.  And didn't want to.  But from the time I was old enough to know what a car was, I LOVED CARS!   I was born in the early 50s so I got to see the golden age of when cars really were restyled each year.  Because of that, I prided myself at a young age of being able to identify the make and year of each car I saw.  I apparently paid attention to commercials to gain my knowledge of the various models, because my parents told me I could identify cars in traffic at a time before I could even read.  And the first words I learned to spell were names of cars.  Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Lincoln, Chrysler, Thunderbird etc. are impressive words for a first grader to be spelling but I could do it.  Yes, I was a car guy.    I also have always given my dad so much credit for helping me develop this love and knowledge.  Though he cared nothing about it, he took me to see the new cars each fall as they were unveiled.  He took me to each dealer till we had covered them all.  He also took me to see drag races and after we moved to North Carolina, he took me to the local oval short track quite often.     I realize now what all he sacrificed for me in doing that.     Then when I had my own son, he was exposed to my personal vehicles which included Corvettes, street rods and muscle cars.  He seemed to love them but I noticed he never really connected with them like I had.  So I didn't try to force it on him.   Well, I'm guessing that maybe the "car guy gene" skips a generation each time.  And if that's the case, then my two young grandsons will be true car guys!  I sure hope so. ... View more

And then there are times when all your valiant efforts won't get a car running again.  In 1977 at the age of 25, a friend and I headed from our homes in North Carolina to Little Rock, Arkansas.  I was going there to look at and possibly purchase a 1975 Corvette convertible.  This was a 700-mile trek but we were excited to go.   I had recently purchased a 1969 Chevrolet Caprice coupe that had been the demonstrator for the owner of our local Chevy dealer.  And loaded it was!  427, PS, PB, PW, PDL, P Seat, P Trunk, tilt, cruise, rosewood steering wheel, fender skirts, light monitor system, hideaway headlights, Comfortron climate control, and more including the ultra-rare Liquid Tire Chain option which would squirt a chemical substance onto the rear tires to aid traction in icy/snowy weather.  This beast was a true pleasure on a trip like this.   I viewed the Corvette which had been totally mis-represented to me and declined its purchase.  We left immediately on our return trip to NC.  On the way out of Little Rock, I decided to fill up the Caprice.  That 427 loved fuel.  As we rolled up to the pump, the car cut off but just as I was at the pump.  So I fueled up before trying to start her again.  But when I did try, it was  not going to start.  This was Memorial Day weekend and it was Friday and they were packed at this station.  So my friend and I pushed the car off to the side.  Oh, by the way, a '69 Caprice is a VERY heavy car.   After trying several more times, I gave up.  I looked under the hood but saw nothing that looked wrong.  I finally asked the attendant at the service station (this was when they pumped your gas and worked on cars!) to look at it but he said they were so busy he wouldn't have time.  But he offered to call a garage near there to have them come look at it.    The garage arrived with their tow truck.  He tried several things but never got her started.   So, he said he would need to tow it to their facility.  So, there we went.   After a while, he came into the waiting area and gave me the bad news.  My top timing gear (which was nylon) had stripped off.   So, he would need to replace the timing chain and gears to get me going.  Then he said it would be the next day before he could do it though.  So he took us to a nearby motel and we checked in for the night.    He called the next day to say he had gotten it running (the good news).  BUT there was a problem.  When the timing gear stripped off, the valves which were open at that moment were bent by piston interference.    And so it was missing badly.  He asked how far we had to get home.  When I said 700 miles, he said there was no way it would make it that far.  Then he offered to absorb the garage bill and give me $300 cash to get home with.  I was incensed at that and absolutely refused.   By the way, my friend liked his idea, naturally.   He brought her to the motel and she was running rough!   So I paid him for his work and he wished us good luck going home.  I had that nagging feeling as we headed out that we weren't going to make it so I even decided not to turn the car off.   We drove the whole 700 miles straight through and when we stopped for gas, I left her running.  And miracle of miracles, we made the whole trip with no problems.   I ended up having a rebuild done on the 427 after that and once again she ran like new.  Oh, and my mechanic put a steel top timing gear back in there.       ... View more

I love these Grand Prixs too.  In the late 70s I had a neighbor who had a '69 Grand Prix SJ with the 428 engine.  I told him way back then that I believed that particular car would be a valuable collector item someday, partially because of the first year version but mostly because of being an SJ and having the 428 engine.  When the gas crunch hit again in the early 80s he traded that car in on a Ford Escort.  Oh well, I guess he put no faith in my prediction for his car's future value.   On another note, in that same neighborhood, I had an older neighbor who had been "bought out" by GM to take early retirement at age 58.  He was a territorial accounts manager.  As a result of that, he was with a lot of the big shots at GM.  He and I discussed DeLorean (the man) once and he told me he had had traveled extensively with DeLorean on airplane flights and knew him on a first-name basis.  And my neighbor said to me about DeLorean and these are his words, not mine, "That was the most arrogant **bleep** I ever met in my life".   ... View more

All of these cars are great until something goes wrong with them.  Nobody now knows how to diagnose their problems and even if they do, the parts can be difficult if not almost impossible to find.   And EXPENSIVE! I sold a 1991 Cadillac Allante and a '93 Cadillac Sixty Special for just those reasons. ... View more

Although I do love the 1942 DeSoto with its hidden headlights, it definitely was not the first to do so.   What about the 1937 Cord 810/812?  And I'm not even sure it was the first.     http://www.stahlsauto.com/automobiles/1937-cord-812-sportsman/   And a little-known fact about those clam shell headlight doors on the 1965 Buick Riviera is that this whole car was designed as a tribute  to the classic coachbuilders' designs of the 1930s.  And the headlight doors are to mimic the grille of  the '39 LaSalle.    http://hotrodbuildingblocks.blogspot.com/2012/09/1939-lasalle-grill.html https://www.idealclassiccars.net/vehicles/249/1965-buick-riviera                     ... View more

I was amazed when I looked at the window sticker for this GS Stage 1.  The car was sold new in the town next to where I live now.  In fact, the place where it sold new is only about 5 miles from my house.  The dealership has closed down now but the building is still there.    Now, I wonder who in this area bought the car new.  As Arte Johnson used to say, "Verrrrrrry interesting." ... View more

I thought of a couple more reasons myself.  One, of course, should be fuel mileage.  Just be realistic about what you expect from a mechanically fuel injected, solid-lifter cammed 327 with 375 HP.  And gearing in the rear ends was for the most part, lower in the 60s cars.   And of course overdrive transmissions were thought of as old technology.     And I'll just say that I also got sick and tired of the sneers and jeers I got from so many other drivers on the road.      The percentage of people who look  up to vintage cars they see nowadays is dwindling like crazy.  Most people don't even give them a second look anymore.  Times have changed unfortunately.   ... View more

@Pepperalls You wrote:  "57 Chev weren't the best seller (Ford was) and yet 57 Bel Air became a super-aspirational vehicle that arose from the masses rather than being elite to start with"   I always remember what a savvy car collector told me one time.  If it's hot when it's new, it'll be hot when it's old.  Part of the proof there is a used car lot in our area back in the late 50s and thru the mid-60s whose whole front row of cars was all '57 Chevrolets all the time.  All colors, body styles and series.  He bought every one he could get his hands on.  He did this, as I said, for around 10 years.  That should have told people something.  Later on, he did the same thing with '67-72 Chevrolet short-bed pickups. ... View more

So many people love '55, '56 and '57 Chevys.  I always loved '58s, '59s and '60s. ... View more

I have owned Corvettes since 1971.  I have many Corvette friends and acquaintances.  So many of them were negative toward the C8 until they saw it.  One friend sent me a pic of one at a car show and said, "I was wrong about this car before.  Now that I've seen it in person, I LOVE it!"  And I think that speaks for a lot of people.   I've told them all this is the car Chevrolet had to build.  It is intended for a new generation of buyer.  If the traditional Corvette buyers buy it, that's great.  But there are only so many of them who are buying cars like that now.  If the Corvette brand is to survive, it had to evolve.  And whether everyone likes it or not, this is the evolution of one of the greatest cars ever made.   I am proud to say I've owned Corvettes for 49 years.  I hope there is a generation 49 years from now who will say the same thing. ... View more

There is a man in our town who owned the local Buick-Pontiac dealership back in the years when Reattas were in production.  He eventually bought five of them in various years and body styles and kept them, driving each occasionally.   I'm not sure how many he still owns but I see him driving a red convertible and a silver coupe with a black top every now and then.   I sure hope he didn't buy them as investments but I'll bet he did. ... View more

I've had a bunch of different kinds of cars but one I never did get and it still bothers me at age 68 is a '69 Z/28 especially the RS version.  I still love their looks and the sound of that lopey lope 302 solid-lifter camshaft. ... View more

The Dodge Viper! ... View more

I am guilty of quite a few youthful transgressions that my parents would NOT have been happy about IF they had known about them.  But they never did.  Years later, when I was in my 40s I told my mom one day that she would really be surprised to hear some of the things I did in my younger years.  And she replied for me not to tell her.  She didn't want to know. ... View more

This was always my favorite Pontiac advertisement!    https://www.google.com/search?q=1959+PONTIAC+ADVERTISEMENT+SPREAD+YOUR+LEGS&sxsrf=ALeKk03bq8N_g-xrMFu5fLxesXnvkcUNgA:1587508361080&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=yGIztLUZ-a62YM%253A%252CfNg6lPcPF_entM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRN_11SYkbVJgSDlyc2tizbbiEy8w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivm8K_yfroAhUFhOAKHbOSCiIQ9QEwBHoECAoQBQ&biw=1920&bih=937#imgrc=rAgDrG0i-lM51M&imgdii=4GCUFxXIhcTleM   ... View more

My all-time favorite in the full-size cars is the 1967 Chevrolet SS 427 which was the Z24 option.  By the way, it is NOT an Impala.  You will not find the word Impala anywhere on one of these.             ... View more

I agree about the '70 Thunderbird.  I have never understood why there is so little love for the 4-seat Thunderbirds of ANY year.  It seems as though people just turned their backs on them after 1957.  I love the Square Birds, the Rocket (or Bullet) Birds, the Flair Birds, the Big Birds and all that followed.  I can't believe how little most of these cars sell for at auction.   And that's not because I'm a Ford man.  Because I'm not but I am an admirer of great automotive design and so many 4-seat T-Birds were just that! ... View more

One error you made in the 1966 Corvette is the N14 Off Road Exhaust System as you called it.  The Off Road Exhaust System was RPO N11 and was routed under the car.  N14 was called the Side Mount Exhaust System and obviously ran down each side of the car.  This is a common mistake many people make. ... View more

Ford made the 292 CI Y-block V8 and Chevrolet made the 292 CI 6-cylinder. ... View more

Buick made a 300 CI V8 and Ford made a 300 CI 6-cylinder. ... View more

303 was shared by Oldsmobile and Pontiac.  The latter was the displacement Pontiac made for the actual race cars they ran in Trans Am racing in 1969 due to the 305 CI 5-Liter limit.  It was not in the production cars. ... View more

430 was shared by Ford and Buick. ... View more

Your article states the 401 was the largest size of Buick Nailhead engine.  This is incorrect.  In 1965 and 66 the final year for the nailhead, a 425 CI version was available.     Which brings up another displacement match.  Oldsmobile also had a 425 CI V8 from 1965 thru 67. ... View more