Fading Glory

Fading Glory, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

So, I've bored a number of you with photos of this old rusting Cadillac sedan, parked picturesquely in front of a barn in rural Illinois. It sat there for at least five years, probably longer, occasionally moving around a bit as the owner moved his boat in and out of the barn. I've literally shot thousands of photos of this car, stopping whenever I happened to drive past, sometimes testing out some new gadget or technique I picked up. Seriously, though, four digits.

Anyway, long story slightly longer, I found out earlier this evening that the old Caddy's gone, leaving behind a rectangle of bare dirt in the lawn. I can only hope that the owner finally got around to restoring it, but most likely he sold it on.

What's to become of Fading Glory? I've no idea, but I leave you with this, the last photo I took of her, back in May.

AMX/3

AMX, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

The perennial small fry in the US auto market, the American Motors Corporation was always trying new things to garner attention. From unusual styling cues to wild paint jobs, AMC usually marched to a different drum, often out of necessity. The last of the independent American auto manufacturers, AMC was often underfunded and kept models in production far longer than the Big Three did. But, when they splurged, they did it right as evidenced at the '70 Chicago Auto Show.

The AMX was AMC's sports model, a two seater muscle car with lean good looks and big block power. But a lesser-known car was the AMX/3 show car, a mid-engined exotic that clearly aimed higher than AMC's usual competition. Originally an engineless fiberglass show car, American Motors placed an order for 30 runners, contracting with Italian sports car manufacturer Bizzarrini. Using AMC's 390 V-8 and an OTO/Melara four speed transaxle, the running AMX/3's featured steel bodywork and a few detail changes to the styling, but remained true to the show car's Italianesque exotic looks. Road testing was done by none other than BMW, which declared the 3's platform to be one of the stiffest they'd tested, with neutral handling and plenty of power.

Sadly, costs escalated and the 30 car run was ended after a mere five examples left the Bizzarrini factory. They are rare, highly prized, and absolutely gorgeous.

Farm Fresh

Chevrolet, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

The term "barn find" has come to mean some sort of old car that's been sitting, forgotten, for a number of years, to the point where nobody's sure where it is or how long it's been sitting. But they're not always in barns anymore-garages, warehouses, old gas stations, and garden sheds are all typical hiding places.

Sometimes, though, you get a literal barn find. This '62-ish Chevrolet coupe has been sitting for a good long time, in a ramshackle grain crib in rural Illinois. I have no idea if this is a rare car, with a big block and a four speed or something, but the skinny tires sort of make me think it's packing a straight six and a three on the tree. Nevertheless, this would be a neat car, restored. Whether it could be I don't know.

Valiant

Plymouth Valiant #1, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Originally it's own make within Chrysler, the Plymouth Valiant was the company's entry level range, and had a full range of models. Originally available only with a six cylinder engine, the Valiant was Chrysler's first unit-construction car since the pre-war Airflow.

I spotted this one on a side street in Chicago a few years ago. It was clearly still in regular use-I only saw it the one time in my neighborhood-and I never did get a decent shot of the whole car.

Hydra-Matic

Hydra-Matic, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Dreamy, rusty, stately, vintage-y, Olds Hydra-Matic.

Ten Thousand Lakes

Ten Thousand Lakes, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Another edition of Out Of State Plates! This is a vintage Minnesota plate, originally issued in 1965, and currently screwed to the back of a Shelby Cobra. Note the vintage '67 registration sticker in the corner.

Swindler II

Swindler II, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

We've talked about gassers once before, I think, so this week I'm just going to share a couple of shots of one of the most famous gassers of all time. The Stone-Woods-Cook team, along with "Ohio George" Montgomery and "Big John" Mazmanian, eventually came to both rule and define what made the perfect Willys gasser.

Owned by Fred Stone and Leonard Woods, Jr., and driven by Doug "Cookie" Cook, this car set numerous records in period, and won hundreds races during it's career. The team also was a rarity in the mid sixties, being one of the few racially integrated teams in racing. Owner Tim Woods (it was his son Leonard's name on the door, added to help keep young Lenny interested in the sport and out of trouble) was a succesful African-American businessman in the Los Angeles area, and formed a drag racing team with Fred Stone, a manager at his construction firm. Plenty of competitors had no idea that Woods was black, and in the end it really didn't matter as the team's results so often spoke for themselves.

Cadillac Dreamland

Cadillac Dreamland, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A new(ish) picture of an old friend.

Out of State Plates

Corvette, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Part of an occasional sub-series for our occasional Motorcar Monday series. This is, obviously, a 1963 license plate from Washington state, with a sticker showing it's last current registration from being just three years later. It's also obviously attached to an old Chevrolet Corvette.

However, that's not the whole story. This is an early, first generation 'Vette, a '54 if I'm not mistaken. It was sold originally in the Spokane area, and lived there most of it's life. There's even a dealer sticker on the back for Century Motors, "The Corvette Center". It's stunningly original and in the rare Corvette Copper color, of which a mere 15 were made.

Way Out Of State Plate

Way Out Of State Plate, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

This is the only one of these I've ever seen. I wonder how common overseas forces plates are-I always thought they had to be returned when one left their overseas post, either leaving the car behind or importing it to the States.

Anyway, this one's appended to an old Porsche.

Faux Retro

Fading Glory, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

It's that Cadillac again. I pass it fairly frequently when I'm out in the countryside, and I often stop and shoot a couple of frames, just for kicks. This despite having literally hundreds of different photos of it, taken over the last couple of years. I like to use it to test out new toys or techniques, but also, I've learned that you never know when something you like will disappear. So shoot it when you see it.

Rusty Gold

Rusty Gold, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

We've visited this well-seasoned '53 Chevy sedan delivery once before. I first saw it two years ago, parked in front of a repair shop in rural Illinois. It's still there, getting a little more rusty and listing a bit further to the right as the tires deflate.

Monterey

Monterey, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Mercury's Monterey was the company's jack of all trades, at various times being the entry level, mid-level, and top of the line full-sized offering. Introduced in 1950 as an upscale coupe in the Mercury Eight line, the Monterey became it's own model line two years later, with coupe, convertible, and sedans on offer.

This taillight is from a '61 coupe.

Hemi

Chrysler Fire Power, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Some engines are known by their numbers-289, 350, 427, 3.8 litre (that's a Jaguar). Some by their name-Flathead, Commando, Twin-Spark (that's an Alfa Romeo). But one seems to always tower above all the rest-Hemi.

In the broadest terms, a "hemi engine" is just an internal combustion engine with hemispherical combustion chambers at the top. This puts the intake and exhaust valves on opposite sides, providing a direct path for the gases to flow across the combustion chamber. It's an old design, dating to the early twentieth century, and plenty of illustrious manufacturers used the design. Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Ford, BMW, Bristol, and the wonderful racing engines of Harry Miller all used this design. However, when you say the word "Hemi", one other word usually pops into your head-Chrysler (or maybe Dodge. Or Plymouth. Or DeSoto if you're weird).

Chrysler has been the largest, and arguably most famous, proponent of the hemi-head design. Best known in it's mid sixties 426 version, Chrysler's earliest hemis were introduced in 1951, to power the company's big luxury cruisers. Hot rodders and drag racers soon learned that these engines were quite a bit more powerful than the Ford flathead V-8, and they were easy to tune and able to take serious amounts of forced induction. In fact, these early engines were popular well into the sixties, after they ceased production-plenty of top flight drag racers were using them, running huge blowers and nitromethane on junkyard blocks.

This one's a Fire Power that I saw in a hot rod-I was told it came out of a '54 New Yorker.

The Great One

GTO, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Considered to be the first real muscle car, Pontiac's GTO started out as an option package on the midsized Tempest, and was available in coupe, hardtop, and convertibles. But, instead of a fancy stereo or two tone paint, the GTO delivered a 389 cubic inch mill and a stick shift, and a useful bump in performance. Further options included a Hurst shifter, a three-carb induction system, and a heavy duty ride and handling package.

The big engine/smaller car recipe is a classic one, but one that almost didn't get made. Since the fifties, there had been a "gentlemen's agreement" among the big three to not formally go automobile racing, and to further this, General Motors had a corporate policy limiting engine sizes in their mid-sized cars. Shoehorning the big 389 into the Tempest was against this policy, but Pontiac executives okayed a limited run of cars, fearing it wouldn't find a market.

They were wrong-the GTO went on to sell 10,000 units in it's introductory year, and went on further success on the sales floor as well as on the drag strip.

Ask The Man Who Owns One-Pt. 3

Packard, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

I've shown you some later Packards a couple of times in the past, but they were usually pretty beat up. I spotted this one at a car show a few weeks ago. It's a '55 Patrician sedan, the first year of the Richard Teague-styled cars. The last of the real Packards, they're some of my favorite cars.

Fairlane 500

Fairlane, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner. If that sounds complicated it's cause it is-the Skyliner is the one with the retractable hardtop. This is a full sized car, by the way, with room for actual grown ups in the back seat. The rear deck is enormous, to accommodate that long roof-you can practically land a helicopter on it. And it's a fascinating thing to watch-the owner of this car kept running the top up and down every so often, and people always stopped to watch.

Eagle eyed readers will note the vintage ex-CTA "Green Hornet" trolley car trundling past in the background.

Shoebox

Shoebox, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A great little '50 Ford convertible, which contrasts nicely with the Southern Pacific 1518, an early EMD SD7 locomotive dating from 1951.

Farm Fresh '53.

Chevy, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

I saw this Chevy coupe at the nostalgia drag races, competing in one of the stock classes. As I was shooting it the driver said "So, do you have a filter that makes it look better?". I told him that I called cars like this "farm fresh", and he told me it was exactly that. His father (also racing that weekend) found it in a barn the week before, and they'd been pulling all nighters to get it the old girl up and running again.

Still packing the original straight six, the old Chevy ran faultlessly-if a bit slowly-all weekend.

Spirit of '65

Spirit of '65, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Spent the weekend channeling my inner Bob McClurg*. This '55 Chevy gasser was shot at Byron Dragway in rural Byron, Illinois, during a nostalgia drag race weekend. All old cars, nothing newer than 1965, no modern engines or billet wheels, no modern graphics, just classics and raw horsepower.

*famous drag racing photographer of the sixties and seventies.