Triumph and BMW both seem like a pricey upkeep recommendation for an entry-level (first-time/novice) enthusiast to get onto. Specialized dealership & service and parts availability in more places than not.   Really any truck could be an entry level collector not just special editions. Just depends what you want your collector vehicle to be able to do. In stock form most trucks might not be the best weekend cruise vehicle for most.   Miata and Mustangs are kind of the obvious recommendation for the newbie. Camaro or Challenger if that flavor suits you more.   Even various VW (bug, Golf, Jetta, etc.) would all be better for a entry-level person than a Triumph or BMW. But VW isn't necessarily cheap either, but at least they are plentiful. ... View more

Pick one?   I can't do it (after thinking about this for a few minutes). I like too many varied things that suit certain moments or uses.   Forced to answer I guess the 69 GMC truck I foolishly sold years ago.   I wonder what Jay Leno would answer to this? ... View more

Foose is a talented genius. I dislike crossover intensely but this one looks fun.   Pontiacs should be fun. (and should still exist, but that is another matter).   OEM's need to hire him and actually build what he draws. Granted that is true for many designers they already have. ... View more

Canadian Pontiacs 50s into 60s were Chevy frames & drivelines with Pontiac skins on them. Look at photos of 59 Pontiacs (first wide tracks) and you can see the difference in where the USA Bonneville wheels are vs. the Laurentian and such from Canada.   Engine wise... this means all Pontiac base inline 6's from this era are Chevy engines. Maybe they did some goofy little things to differentiate (i.e., truck engine with a head you couldn't get in USA as some say for some years). This also holds true for the GMC trucks of this era in Canada --we didn't get the V6 as per USA.   So it depends... a 261 might be tricky to get, but inline sixes are getting replaced with V8/LS in the vast majority of projects and while not that many 50s Pontiacs are getting rebuilt (or sitting around in junkyards) you are talking nearly 20 years of trucks as donors.   If it doesn't have to be a 261, but does have to be that generation of inline 6 (i.e., not the 62 and later design) I have seen more examples running in old grain trucks and such than anywhere else and you could buy the running truck cheaper than getting your engine sleeved, take out the engine and sell the grain truck...   Sleeves aren't all evil by the way. My dad hates them but has run a few in his work truck fleet for many miles with no issue related to the sleeve. Nobody knows it's sleeved but you and the machinist... ... View more

Sajeev has covered the bases.   I know some old-timers that swear by "let it soak in a bucket of diesel". In some cases this was a bucket of diesel in the corner of the shop for months or years till they bothered to get around to the item again. Just clean the part off real well, especially if going at it with a torch for heat...   If budget isn't an issue... I concur with the new heads + headers. Then you can shelf (or diesel bucket!) the old heads until you need them --which might be as an item in the trunk if you ever sell the car. ... View more

I like survivors and derelict but am not fussy on fake ratty.   There has been some terrible fake patina "barn fresh" overpriced flips in my area the past few years.   I concede that if you have a 95% survivor that needs a rocker or quarter panel to be allowed to drive it you get that fixed and may choose to get it painted to match the worn paint. I lean towards fixing the minimum properly and letting that age into the story myself.   The bike in the article has a great look. My tastes would lose the windscreen thing. But then I like worn-in leather jackets and jeans vs. shiny new. ... View more

1969 Shelby de Mexico ... View more

Such a wild looking design. Modern car companies please take note. ... View more

Ironically it's the "New Look" buses that do it for me and were present in my youth --but I am younger than the RTS design. I would guess that my area couldn't afford newer model buses for decades and that I was riding/seeing New Looks at the very end of their use in North America city fleets. Neat article. ... View more

I view the unibody designs as the compact coupe utilities aka baby El Camino/Rancheros. Subara Baha, Honda Ridgeline, the rumoured Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz are the successors to this.   Where I live we didn't really see the first gen compact trucks (or they didn't last 10 winters). 80s to early 90s S10, Rangers, B2200, McFly Toyotas, Nissan Hardbodies and such were everywhere until they weren't. Only thing I have seen that kind of felt the same in recent decades was the first-gen Chev Colorado but they might have been bigger (never had one side by side with a 92 Mazda).   My two best friends in high school drove 87 and 92 Mazdas respectively, and they were great trucks (though the fold-down cushion wasn't much of a back seat). I'd happily buy a new version of that exact same truck today. ... View more

I dream of Rolls making a model... the "Archaic" with as many re-used 1930s parts as possible including a real Merlin engine. Think Cruella DeVille meets Mad Max. Minimal modern tech... but insane catalytic system that makes it legal everywhere. It's a Rolls... who cares if the exhaust is worth $30000?   Then put a few of them in the hands of notorious Hot Rodders/racers and go do stuff like Pike's Peak, Bonneville, Roadkill Nights, Power Tour, get Marty and Moog to road trip it across the U.K., etc.   That would be a Rolls Royce Hot Rod with street cred. ... View more

"Hack Mechanic" Rob Siegel knows about this BMW stuff... ... View more

It gets more interesting when stock-holder investment hype isn't the driving force and actual suitable (and desirable) product to market factors in (i.e., profits of actual vehicles sold is a large part of the valuation rather than vaporware promises). Investors want the next Tesla stock  --they don't actually care about EV, it's just that EV is seen as the money.   In the real world... I think "engine in hub" is a terrible idea for fleet driving anything but smooth highway delivery vehicles. Potholes and construction site trucks I don't see this working too well. ... View more

Electric-rotary hybrid RX9... I love that idea. Bring back the zoom-zoom kid while they are at it. ... View more

I seem to need my tire pressure gauge fairly often. ... View more

  if you google "convert Lincoln vacuum headlights to electric" there are some videos and a bunch of the top results point to the same eBay seller. People with other hideaway headlights seem to get directed to try adapting the available Lincoln kits as oddball Mercuries and such don't have as much support apparently.   I spent a little bit of time reading about it, and a few people at least suggest really going over the vacuum system (i.e., change all lines) first as that is relatively cheap to do and might fix it good enough to make you happy.   I can understand wanting to be free of vacuum however.   Good luck either way! ... View more

Do whatever makes you happy no matter what the rest of us may say.   If you think it may be flipped sooner than later (i.e., to seed the next project) then you may want to really define how much of a survivor the car actually is. Survivors can command strong prices in many cases including more than a restored example of some models. (and you aren't paying to respray --even DiY you have to buy the paint products, adds up for your recoup of investment).   If it is more valuable as a survivor, then only do what you need to do mechanically to make it safe an enjoyable. But remember the first point at the top too. ... View more

No mention of the refrigerant change (due to CFCs) that according to some sources has cost us 10 degrees of cooling in some vehicles. Ice cold AC in a 74 Monte Carlo... anything 90s plus I have been in not so much.   I get why the refrigerant change, just seems odd that no progress has been made on a next-gen refrigerant to get us colder again. Would be a selling feature I would think? ... View more

Put a double opera window in that rear side window to really give us that 70s vibe.   Padded vinyl top too, it would have been a special order to not have one likely.     Good job on this. I do think some of the earlier 60s Cadillac front end styling ideas would actually work better. This front end looks like some of the custom vans of the era that rather obviously just jammed something on there. ... View more

Build the car the way it will make you happy for a long time. Most people that give someone a car want that person to love it as much as them. You might not love it the exact same way (wild custom). You can always fully document it (i.e., if you fully restore it and take it to car shows it would be neat to see the customized era of the car too, like in a photo album). ... View more

There is logic in any multi-brand alliance (at least for cars) taking the global market and divvying it up to whichever name has the most brand equity in that particular region. Very silly that some companies still compete with themselves or allies on some turfs...   But serve the full market too. Yes you are going to have SUV and crossovers of 27 minor distinctions along a spectrum from small to mammoth.   But have a midsize and small truck too. Have a ute not just for Australia...   Surely you can develop a few actual cars too. Even if only 5% of the production is destined to be badged as Nissan for North America. So many cool cars in Japan and other places the last 30 years that we never got a sniff of in NA.   Personally I think a Nissan Evo would sell...     In contrast to what some companies are doing (i.e., GM) which is retreating to so few markets and product lines that they really just look like they are getting themselves set up for a merger (in name sale in reality) to benefit stockholders. ... View more

Hmm... Turnpike Cruisers came out in 1957 (more than 50 years ago) and 55 speed limit wasn't a thing until 1973? in USA. You don't promote a 55 speed limit unless it was higher somewhere...   Granted, I'm not sure many states had roads over 65mph back then (quite a few have over 70mph roads now). But it raises an interesting question of what speeds did the 50s and 60s designers have in mind? I'm not saying it is prudent to drive a 57 Mercury at 70mph in traffic, but on a 70 mph (or higher) road with little or no traffic I don't think that car lets you down or feels scary. A 1930s car... yeah probably scary. I'd be interested in others posting that have actually driven stock-spec cars at speed from these vintages.   As an aside, many offramps and such in my area were built to specs for speeds nearly double the usual posted limits. You can tell by the banking if you get out and walk them (not necessarily safe to do). It's a stark contrast to some of the newer ones that a person going slightly over the limit feels on the edge (or about to go off the edge of the road). ... View more

Utes have sold well in Australia for decades. The one pictured in the article is not even close to the ugliest of the breed. ... View more

I'd be surprised if Falcon convertibles differed greatly in tech from any Ford of that era.   Redthundervert posted this on a T-bird forum:   "Intermittent Top Operation - About two weeks ago the top operation became intermittent. If I held the top control switch and let the operation go through its complete opening or closing cycle it worked fine, although sometimes nothing would happen when I pushed the control switch to start the operation. If I stopped the operation in mid-cycle it often wouldn’t start again. It would always eventually work again if I turned the ignition off and on and kept trying over a period of several minutes. After doing many checks and tests, I finally decided to check all the relays starting with the top control safety relay (fortunately before I had taken the back seat out again). I tried to jumper the relay plug to bypass the relay coil and discovered that the jumper connectors fit very loosely in the relay plug and would fall right out. Once I tightened up the relay plug connectors using pliers the jumper wire stayed securely in the plug and the top operation worked smoothly again. I plugged the relay plug back into the safety relay and everything works fine again, at least for now until the next gremlin strikes! This winter I’ll be going through all the relay plug connectors to make sure each connector in each plug has a snug fit"   some other tips (i.e., one suggestion is neutral safety switch issues can impact top????) on the forum: https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=17248     Good luck! ... View more

If the front end looks like an Escape it will suffer the same ignored fate as the Honda Ridgeline  --a perfectly capable vehicle for what most people actually do with their full sized trucks.   If it has a Bronco-ish front end it has a chance. If it comes in more than 4 colours of grey, black and white it has a better chance. If it isn't crazy money (most current midsize trucks, and the Ridgelines cost out the same as the heavily discounted full-sized around here) it will sell.   I don't mind the Maverick name recycle here by the way even though they are totally different types of vehicle. Courier is not the right kind of name to bring back... whereas I could see a Dodge (Peugeot/Fiat/whatever) bringing a Rampage to market.   Having learned the story of where Chevy got the trailblazer name (Vic Hickey) it's more embarrassing than I thought what they have done with Blazer... ... View more

Looking at it again...   -Isn't there a tiny spear of a hood ornament?   -is that adhesive register marks and/or mount clips outside of the areas contained by the braces, that is to say: this hood had a one-piece style insulation? ... View more

When Pat Ganahl revived Rod & Custom magazine the careful restoration-as-was-customized of this car by Jim McNeil was an ongoing feature. He (Jim) had owned it for a long time then, and I am talking about 1990s car magazines. Very cool that he still has the car today. ... View more

Spoom, I totally see Riviera too from the top-side view.   However, when I look up Riviera hood insulation the asymmetrical bracing doesn't match anything I looked at.   By the 70s many (GM at least) had gone to the one-piece insulation. Some Thunderbirds used 7 piece in 60s --but searching "7 piece hood insulation" didn't solve the riddle for me. But then I am assuming this hood didn't have a one-piece covering everything.   I looked up some AMC, Plymouth and so on... front lip of hood goes over the grill is tricky to visualize (i.e., 69 Chevelle has a panel in front of the hood, 70 doesn't) and you can't just say "oh that was only cars in 63-65" although that may be the best range.   The hood dimensions would help a bit (i.e., it kind of looks like 66 Corvair too, but then that wouldn't need hood insulation).   Watch... it will be from a 70s Japanese car. Fun topic. ... View more

Shot in the dark here... but Mike Wolfe of American pickers fame has fan-boyed out about similar machines on the show. Not saying he knows how to use your machine, but wouldn't be surprised if he knows a person that might. Even the audience of the show may be a good resource.   So maybe there is a facebook/instagram way to get this question to the fans of the show at least? ... View more

I'm thinking there would be less angst over the Mach-E if the widebody look was what we were getting. Or make it a no-cost option (hah... that will never happen). Make it a style choice, not a checkbook choice.   Reminds me of the Ford Explorer Sportrac which didn't look quite right, then at the very end they turn a prototype version into the Adrenalin model and you look at it and think "Why wasn't that what these things looked like all along?". ... View more

I enjoyed reading this. Stories can make a car so much more interesting than it otherwise should be. Now I want to know about Olivia's Fox in ten years.     Love the kangaroo stripes on the car by the way. ... View more

This story could be put together as a Super-bowl level Ford commercial.   Passing the tools, passing the passion. Bronco. ... View more

Not being negative, just throwing some realistic caution into the discussion: $3500 seems low to me. If I imagine your car as a squarebody truck (A language I speak better) and use reproduction panels (available and cheap for said truck) I am going to be well over $1000 for the front end stuff alone and that is using the cheap stuff. That isn't painted or put on. That isn't fixing trim, mirrors, bumper or the wheel. Windshields aren't cheap either... Not sure if this site is a good one or not... but MG prices seem to vary and some are scary: https://mossmotors.com/exterior-body-panels ... View more

Cool tip. I've never seen "stubby" sockets like this before (and I spend a bit of time digging through old tool piles  --love the vintage tools).   Look up "crow foot wrench" for another neat thing to help with hard-to-reach ... View more

I live in the middle of Ontario, Canada.   The select few that love the Monarchs, Meteors, Fargo trucks and such are mostly restoration purists. These cars are not popular, but the fanbase is deeply passionate (cool car + patriotic wrapped in one, some like the oddballness,  usually family tie as well).   When people go to sell a nice one of these cars they seem to price them the same as the most desirable similar car. Doesn't matter if it isn't quite an equal comparison so a base model 55 Meteor will have the asking price of a top of the line Ford Crown Vic. Not sure if these sellers get their coin, but almost always the ask is high.   You can probably post your driver-quality hood ornament at least at the price of a quality reproduction of 50s hood ornament which seems to be in the $70-150USD range. You could also post it at $500USD and like a patient fisherman wait for the one "gotta have it" person to come along. Since they don't make these... somebody in theory will eventually have to have it. Just make sure you post it on some Canadian sites (i.e., Kijiji) and/or look into some of the Facebook groups centered around Monarchs. ... View more

Wildcat auto wrecking comes with a pretty strong endorsement   https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/wildcat-auto-wrecking-mopar-slinging-salvage-yard/     I have heard good things about Flatla in Canadian Hot Rod Magazine... https://www.flatlaautowrecking.ca/     The Graveyard Carz should know, but do they answer? The actual business was  Welby's Car Care in Springfield, Ore owned by Mark Worman but 10 years of TV who knows? ... View more

Enjoyable article.   This is the Thunderbird the 2000s reboot should have done. Tidy this up to modern standards without the modern gimmicks (i.e., toss bumps and more grill on everything) and keep the back seat usable with headroom  --and sell it at a price that not just retired professionals can afford.    ---aka be to BMW, Mercedes and such what Corvette has always been to GTs and supercars: the democratized option for the masses. ... View more

Fun article. Glad some posters mentioned the influential 1953 Studebaker.   E-series Studebaker trucks begat 2nd Gen Dodge Ram   Shelby Daytona (more than Cobra if you really look at them) begat Dodge Viper       ---Lutz involved in both by the way.   Not a direct doppler... but so many design cues introduced (or at least seen in North America on a volume-selling car) on the first Buick Riviera became standard design language for decades after. ... View more

EV1 engineers started Tesla to my understanding. Big leaps of faith in battery tech improving is a reasonable short answer for GM getting cold feet and killing the program.  Elon came in after with money and hype (which a start-up needs).   Tesla Roadster innovative sure... Model 3 looks like every other jellybean since Ford Taurus went that route. ... View more

Thoughts this article spurs:   -We don't need to excuse these automaker decisions. History has shown them to be wrong about many things, many times. GM and Ford both had well-developed minivan concepts in the 70s  "it won't sell"...   -not developing a new platform I can see. If the Fit (and Fusion for that matter) still meet safety standards then the reason for not making them is cutting autoworker jobs as you already paid for the platform so keep using it. "Free up the line to make crossovers" is a funny excuse I don't buy. Many, many lines have been closed in North America in the last 15 years.   -Honda makes generally great and/or perceived as great vehicles. But they have gotten out of touch on price-point. If Ridgelines were 10k cheaper and came in a few actual colours so they didn't blend in with all the Pilots you could probably sell enough to make up the difference in mark up. Fit could sell like gangbusters if it was actually affordable like the entry-level Hondas of 30-40 years ago.   There was no market for a British sports car. Mazda proved us wrong on that one. Honda could have been the last one standing on the stick-shift mid-size family sedan (Accord) and built a pillar of identity on that. Someone is going to sell a vehicle to these niches, especially if the masses ever wake up to how boring conformity crossovers are. Conceding that doesn't mean we need 6 companies selling a stick-shift midsize family sedan. But boy, it's going to be ironic when the only car you can buy in North America is a Jetta or Subaru and they "bizarrely" are profitable. ... View more

Tesla pushed the electric trend with hype and high-end aspirational models. So this is exactly the kind of elite car the hydrogen niche needs.   From what I have read in the past, it sounds like the hydrogen cell/conversion tech has big potential in non-automotive non-transportation applications. I have said in the past "I don't think Toyota is dumb. They tend to know what they are doing". So if they are still into hydrogen I think it is something to watch.   Politically, hydrogen is much easier to control and have as a "Made in USA" thing  --for those that care about things like that and don't want rare-earth metal cartels replacing oil cartels. ... View more

Glad to hear you are okay.   Anything can be fixed, but we all don't have Jay Leno's budget.   I see front clip, bumper, one rim, windshield frame, a ding in quarter panel?, mirror and trim show the door took some force, possibly damage beyond the bumper horns which is a problem as MGB are unibody and getting a frame straightened can be a hassle  --getting  a unibody done is another level. [Done well and legal and safe for your jurisdiction all come into play].   If the unibody is intact you might be lucky again in just swapping out a bunch of panels. Do your doors still open and shut properly and look lined up? Is that left front wheel located correctly still? That is to say, are the 4 corners of the suspension geometry still in the right places?   If the answer is yes to the above questions you might not be that badly off. However, if having an MGB is more important to you than having THIS MGB you are possibly better off finding a replacement car like Sajeev suggested.   Good luck whatever you decide to do! ... View more

While not fussy on the Stellantis choice (more indifferent than disliking) this isn't a bad idea.   PSA makes me think Public Service Announcement and calling it PeugotFiatChryslerCitroenVauxhallOpelDodgeRamJeepEagle...etc. is a bit unwieldy.   I probably  would have called it Euro-American Motor Corp. and re-used the late 60-70s AMC iconography including dealership branding/building styles, etc. in North America. Just as EMC. ... View more

But it worked. We just read an article about it. More Bronco in the news cycle over something nobody should actually care about. ... View more

I think you are still a "purist" if the mod can be unbolted and undone with no harm. If such a mod allows you to drive more (or carefree) then have at it. Most people aren't entering judged concours with their car. It's hard to argue against more safety as well.   I have no problem with someone not being a purist. It's a bit of a shame when a really good original or restored car gets radically (irreversibly) customized but ownership comes with the privilege to do whatever makes you happy as owner.   For me it depends on the vehicle (rarity, condition, value) and the intended use. I wouldn't put fins on a VW Bug, but if you want to and you're going to drive the car  --props to you. ... View more

I thought Mercedes was the most musical appearance brand? Pretty sure rap put Mercedes over the edge by a wide margin...   If all future Cadillacs are going to be ick that is a bad foreshadowing.   I can concede the point of not rehashing old names, unless you are living up to that iconic name with a product that is still truly an Eldorado, etc. (follow the Charger name for example... I think modern ones do follow it well enough, but the in between years not so much).   Anyways... the people responsible for this iq madness should be fired and replaced with an autogenerating computer program that uses French and Spanish words for exotic locales and fancy things.  In fact, fancy in Spanish is "Lujoso" according to google and that sounds a lot better than Lyriq. ... View more

I hate bland boring cars... Until they are 20+ years old and almost extinct and some oddball one in weird colours (i.e., 90s teal Ford Tempo) comes up in decent if not creampuff shape  --then I want it. Or am at least amused by the idea of wanting it.   "Bronco it" --sure why not? The style of cars is mostly fascia anyways, the cost is in the platforms. Why GM doesn't drop a Firebird body (even for a few years then drop a refreshed Camaro body back on it) on the current Camaro platform (for example) continues to boggle me.   As far as Hagerty Media: The magazine is one of the best, certainly the most consistently great wide-interest (not just one make of car) magazines out there now. More long-form in the magazine is a great idea. That is to say, the magazine being lots of the content you don't find in little tidbits all over the internet.   I think the forum-base is still adjusting to the change as many articles/etc. that should be getting lots of comments are getting few to none. I'm not sure what to suggest on this except people reading this: you can post too! ... View more

Same platform as Escape but different wrapper is a win... everything else is same body as Escape on each brand's individual platform. This segment was greatly in need of some things that look different.   Kind of holds true in the large SUV segments too, you either look the same or are Jeep (and in some cases the Jeeps look the same but have that grill treatment).   I hope Ford succeeds with this and we get more variety moving forward. How about a big Blazer that looks and acts like a Blazer from GM? Bring back the Suzuki SUV family to North America while we are at it. ... View more

I keep showing my wife a 4-door late 70s Lincoln that is for sale near us. She isn't convinced yet lol.   The guitar in the contest (if an actual American Standard Telecaster) is probably worth more than this particular example I mention. Good luck to all trying to win it. ... View more