Car Stuff: Basic Black

I saw the '72 Grand Prix again yesterday, parked in the same spot where I found it in January (which is making me wonder if its owner happens to live nearby). It was wearing its new coat of paint, so now we know what color its owner decided on:

I'll admit I was hoping for something more interesting than black, but I also have to be honest and say that huge 1970s cars tend to look good in black. The lack of its original vinyl roof or any other exterior ornamentation is giving it a sinister look (probably what the owner was going for) and making me think of that terrible '70s movie The Car.

Car Stuff: Off Limits

I still have a few car photos on my phone that I haven't gotten around to posting. This one is from last summer, which is kind of discernible from the bright sunshine and greenery.

That's a 1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible sitting way back in that driveway. (The photo would be sharper if I hadn't had to crop out so much.) I spotted it in Somerville, not far from Union Square. It caught my eye because of the color, which I would be inclined to call turquoise but Ford chose to call "aquamarine." I couldn't quite tell what it was from where I was standing, so I got out my phone, took a shot, and zoomed in.

It appears to be in very decent, driveable condition. It's clean, there are no flat tires, and it looks like it hasn't even been in that spot for long. Maybe it will make an appearance at a car show somewhere. The second-generation Thunderbird is one of the better designs from the otherwise overwrought late 1950s period.

I was about to head back into the yard to take more pictures when I noticed a "No Trespassing" sign on the fence, and thought better of it. I prefer finding cars parked on the street or in motion, but cars parked in driveways or yards are fair game as long as I remain standing on the sidewalk, which is generally not considered a part of one's private property. If there hadn't been a sign, I probably would have ventured closer, but the place looked run-down in general and I didn't need any trouble.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #42

Since I am working at home I don't have to deal with a commute, which means I can get up a bit later. But I don't sleep in too long; I try to allow enough pre-work time to tidy up the kitchen, eat breakfast, and take care of any small tasks before I start my workday. I realized that with proper time management, I can probably squeeze in some early-morning blog posts.

I have definitely neglected the car category. Back in September when I was commuting to Harvard Square daily, I was looking out the window of the bus one morning as we passed the garage where I had spotted a couple of cars about a year earlier. I wasn't able to get my phone out in enough time to get any pictures, and then on at least one subsequent day I forgot to sit on the correct side of the bus, and then one day it was raining, and so on. It took a while for all the conditions to line up properly to get these shots.

The modern Dodge Challenger isn't that uncommon a sight, but examples of the original 1970-74 variety are not seen much outside of car shows. Initially I noticed the car because it was red, and tucked up against the building like this, it wasn't so easy to get good photos of it. I happened to pass this spot on weekends during this time, but the car was never around when the garage was closed, so I had to make do with these shots.

The Challenger was Dodge's version of the Plymouth Barracuda, which was Chrysler Corporation's attempt to offer a competitor to the Mustang and Camaro (and a car I have talked about before). But the Barracuda was never a strong seller, and by the time the Challenger arrived as a 1970 model, the muscle-car era was already in decline, and personal-luxury cars were the hot new category. Both Barracuda and Challenger were dropped after 1974. This appears to be a '70, and while I thought it might have been a higher-performance R/T model, it lacks the correct hood.

Car Stuff: Base Coat

Last Friday morning I was seized with the urge for an egg, cheese, and bacon breakfast sandwich. When I last worked full-time outside my home (not this past summer, but back a few years ago) I got one every Friday morning. I alternated between bacon and sausage, because I think to get the exact same thing each and every week is just a little too boring of a routine.

Fortunately there's a little diner joint within walking distance. I tend to forget about it, but a month or so ago I was on my way back home from an early-morning medical appointment and stopped for some sustenance. It was then that I discovered they also have bagels, and pretty good ones at that. I don't know if they make them; I neglected to ask, but they have the "everything" variety that I prefer, and they have bacon and scallion cream cheese, so that day I ended up getting both the breakfast sandwich and a bagel for "second breakfast," and last Friday I did the same thing.

On my way back home I saw a car I'd featured a while back, this 1972 Pontiac Grand Prix. It was parked on a side street behind a bank, but without its distinctive yellow paint. The primer is presumably in preparation for a repaint. I knew it was the same vehicle due to those strange, unfortunate wheels. (Surely there must be a set of Rally II's on eBay?) It has also lost its vinyl roof, but perhaps that's also going to be replaced.

I am looking forward to seeing this car around again after its repaint has been completed. I don't even care if it gets redone in the same color, I'm just glad to see someone putting effort into caring for it.

Car Stuff: Where Are They Now?

The days keep getting away from me, making it difficult to get as much accomplished as I'd like. That includes blogging. But we persevere, as we must.

I spotted today's entry on my way home from work one day at the end of August, sitting on the bus just outside Sullivan Square station, waiting for traffic to move and thinking about how the bus part of the T could work so much better if buses were able to enter and exit stations with some sort of priority... but that's a digression. I looked out the window and saw a spot of bright red.

Hey, it's a fourth-generation (1988-91) Honda Civic! And it might even be an Si model (the sunroof suggests this), but it's difficult to tell from just this glimpse. Also, sorry it's blurry but my on-the-fly photography is often not great.

When these cars were new they were ubiquitous, at least around here. People wanted (and still want) a car that was practical, economical, reliable, and manageable in city streets and traffic. In fact, the Mrs. had one, a four-door with a five-speed manual transmission. But a while back I realized that they've vanished; unlike some older economy cars, you just never see these anymore. (The same is true for the generation that followed, which many people, including myself, think was the best Civic ever made.)

That's really why I wanted to get a pic of this car, even a fuzzy one: it's just such an uncommon sight these days.

Car Stuff: Unabashedly Basic

On my last day working in Harvard Square, a week before Halloween, I was out at lunchtime and spotted this dark green Chevrolet Nova on Church Street, next to the First Parish Unitarian Church. (It's kind of blurry because I had to crop out quite a lot.)

From the other side of the street, at first I wasn't quite sure of what I was seeing. Chevrolet made millions of Novas, but they are a rare sight today. This design was made for model years 1968 to 1972, and hardly anything changed during that time, but the orange turn signal lenses in the front bumper identify this car as a '72. And those wheel covers appear in the brochure for that year, but there's no way to know if these are original to the car.

What I love about cars like this, from this time period, is that they were practical, simple, basic transportation, relatively economical to own and operate. But Detroit was already in the throes of Broughamification, an obsession with dressing up every vehicle that would end up working against it.

Car Stuff: Random Sighting #41

(Looking back at the last several months of car posts, I now realize that the Fiero should have been RS #40, so even though I gave that post a different title, I'm proceeding as though I did include it in the numbers...)

What we have here is a rather uncommon 1980s artifact, a second-generation Volkswagen Scirocco. This car has been hanging out along the stretch of College Avenue between Powder House Square (which is, in fact, a circle) and the Tufts campus. I spotted it during the summer when I was taking the bus into Harvard Square.

Actually, I spotted it from the car one Saturday evening when we were on our way to get burritos in Davis Square, and then I saw it soon after from the bus. I kept seeing it, and tried on several occasions to snap a decent photo as I rode past it, but none of those worked out.

Finally, during the week after I finished the Harvard Square temp job, I was out doing a few things and was on my way back home via the same bus route. I saw the car again from the bus, and decided to get off at the next stop so I could take as many pictures as I wanted.

The Scirocco first appeared in the mid-1970s, based on the Rabbit platform but with a decidedly more sporting character. The second generation appeared in 1982 and was sold in the US through 1989. (After a long hiatus, VW revived the model and introduced a third generation in 2008, but it has never been offered for sale in North America.)

Curbside Classic has excellent writeups on both generations; you can find the first one here, and the second one here.

Car Stuff: Out of Context

Working in Harvard Square this summer, I spotted a few interesting cars, like the MGB I posted a while back. Some vehicles were a bit more unusual, like this Jeep Cherokee.

Two-door versions of this generation Cherokee are very rare; this could be as old as the mid-1980s, and I think no newer than early '90s. It certainly stands out in the Square. It appeared ready to set off on a safari; perhaps it belongs to a globe-trotting relic hunter, a modern-day Indiana Jones?

My big regret is that earlier in the summer I saw it with its doors removed, like a classic open-top Jeep Wrangler, but by the time I figured out that I should be taking pictures of it, the doors had been put back on.

Car Stuff: Employee Parking

On the far side of the inbound Orange Line tracks at Wellington station, there is a repair facility for Orange Line train cars. Along the outside of that building is an access road where MBTA employees can park. The majority of the cars parked there on any given day tends to be pretty ordinary, but this one stood out.

It's a Porsche, probably 1980s vintage, and probably a 944, though I'm not terribly knowledgeable about identifying Porsche models. I know that cars with this basic body were first sold as the 924, starting as a 1976 model ('77 in the USA), and that the 944, which arrived in 1982, was an evolution of the original design. The blistered fenders are the biggest giveaway that this is a 944 and not a 924, though there are other small visual differences. (There was also a later car, the 968, also using the same basic body but with higher front fenders.)

Car Stuff: On the Way to Work

During my summer commutes I noticed some interesting old cars, all along the route of the 86 bus between Union Square and Harvard Square, and with a bit of effort I was able to get photos of them.

The first one I spotted was nothing more than a bumper and tail lights in a driveway; I had to wait until I passed the house again to get a better look. Eventually I ended up getting off the bus in order to get better pictures.

It turned out to be an early '70s Dodge Dart two-door hardtop. This rear bumper/light design was used for model years 1971-73, but the '73 did not have vent windows so this one must be either a '71 or '72. Since I've already established that I want one of these (or its Plymouth cousin) in the Fantasy Garage, I was pretty excited to see it.

A few blocks away I spotted this parked in another driveway:

After a couple more mornings I figured out it was a Lincoln Continental, also from around the early 1970s. I needed to consult the online car brochure sites in order to pin down the exact year of this one.

It's a 1973 with a Mark IV-style grille surround added on. The '72 had the same body panels, but the bumper guards were used for '73 before larger bumpers were added the following year.

While passing the Cambridge fire station just outside the Harvard Square "tunnel," I spotted something orange-ish in the parking lot:

I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't get a better shot, but I was sitting by the aisle, not the window, so I was lucky I got this. I thought it was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible until I took a closer look at the bumper and marker light, and realized it's a Buick Skylark convertible, with some sweet vintage Keystone wheels that might go back to when this car was new.

I looked for the Buick most every day I passed the fire station on the way home, but I never saw it again. The Lincoln was around for a while, but was gone by mid-September. The Dart is still in the same place.

Car Stuff: Rough, Needs Work

This rough beast appeared in a driveway not too far from my house. I hadn't been over that way in a while, but I came upon it because I was coming home via the reverse of the route I've been taking to work lately.

What we have here is the carcass of a 1967 Pontiac LeMans convertible. I saw the hardtop sibling of this car last year, and posted it back in the spring. (By "sibling" I don't mean they have the same owner, just that they are both the same make and model, but different body styles.)

Actually, this car isn't as bad as it may appear. I don't see any serious rust along the bottom of the panels on this side, except maybe one or two small holes near the back. There are a few spots where the paint appears to be gone down to bare metal, which naturally rusted, and that area next to the tail light looks like a candidate for some filler compound. This is likely a project car that I happened to catch outside. I'd seen it once in the driveway with a cover, but I suspect it lives in the garage in front of it. Maybe by next spring it will have a new top...

Car Stuff: You, in the Back...

A few weeks ago, on the bus on my way to work one morning, I caught a glimpse of something parked in the back lot of an auto place in Somerville's Union Square. By the time it had registered we had already gone past it, so on my way home that evening I made sure to sit where I could see the lot. It was metallic orange and I was pretty sure it was from the 1970s, but it was a little too far away for me to get a clear sense of what car it might be.

The next morning I looked again, and I was pretty sure it was a Ford Granada. I haven't seen one of those, parked or on the road, in more than 20 years, so it would be an interesting find. Next time I was able, I took a photo as we were passing by. By zooming I could discern the car, but it wasn't a Granada.

It's a Buick Regal, quite possibly the one that I featured back in June. Maybe it needs work, or maybe its owner works here. It hasn't moved and is there every day, including today.

(And speaking of old or unusual cars, that Saab 9-5 wagon looks pretty good in red. What happened to Saab is a shame, and I'm still hopeful that the company might be able to start making cars again.)

Car Stuff: More Diesels

No, we're not getting into the Volkswagen thing; at least, not tonight. I'm referring to the Mercedes-Benz diesels I posted a while back. There was one that I had seen but wasn't able to photograph for that post, but fortunately that car remained in the same spot each time I passed, until one recent morning when I was riding past on the bus and I got a shot. (Sorry about the sun flare.)

As it turned out, it was joined that day by a friend. The silver car toward the back is the one I'd seen in front of this house several times. Maybe the yellow one was visiting, or maybe this person is a buyer and seller of these cars (there is a robust secondary market for them because of their durability). I'm glad I finally saw a yellow one, because back in the 1980s it seemed like all of them were that color.

And then last weekend we were at a friend's house and went for a walk, where I found this one parked on the street. It has California plates, so maybe it came all the way across the country.

Car Stuff: A Quiet Friday Morning

Several weeks ago I got to Harvard Square fairly early on a Friday. I had enough time to walk over to Darwin's on Mount Auburn Street for a breakfast sandwich, so I took a quiet street to cut over from Brattle Street.

Near the end I came upon this MGB (technically, an MG MGB) sitting in the stone driveway of a house. The whole scene was so attractive that I didn't crop the photo as much as I usually would. (The car is dark green, by the way; it's difficult to tell because the car is in shadow.)

I'd say the large gigantic rubber bumper guards put this at the early 1970s, because these cars got redesigned bumpers for 1975 to they complied with US regulations. Wikipedia informs me that these were fitted to 1974 models, and the heavier, full-width rubber bumpers began appearing midway through the '74 model year, so we may be looking at something a bit rarer than a typical MGB.

The MGB was produced from 1962 to 1980, with incremental changes along the way. They are fun cars, but they require some effort to keep tuned and running well. This is a fine example and I'm inclined to think it's someone's "summer car."

Car Stuff: Back Bay Vintage

This week, another contribution from my roving Back Bay correspondent A Proper Bostonian, who spotted this very old pickup truck a couple of months ago.

I admit to being sort of stumped by this one. I think it's a Ford from the early 1950s, the period before the first F-100, when it was just called the F-1. Admittedly, it's a little hard to be sure without seeing the front, but I think that's a F-1 badge just behind the fender.

Car Stuff: Chasing One Down

A couple of months ago, I was making a quick run to the liquor store on a Friday evening. I was at the bus stop when a very vintage, black Cadillac convertible went past, too quickly for me to get a photo. The bus arrived a few moments later, and I wondered if we might catch up to the car, but I could not see it ahead of us.

When the bus got to Wellington Circle, where I needed to get out, I looked across the traffic waiting for the light, which can get pretty thick on Friday evenings, and I saw the Cadillac in the left lane. I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures while I was walking toward the crosswalk (which is why this one's blurry).

When I got to where I needed to cross, the car was still there, so I kept pushing the shutter.

I crossed behind the car and now I was on the median next to the driver. I asked him if I could take a couple of shots and he obliged, telling me that the car was a '53. The light changed and he went on his way, and I had an interesting anecdote to share along with these pics. (The guy has good taste in hats, too.)

Car Stuff: Oh, a Fiero

I feel like I'm slipping further behind with these posts, and I have some good stuff I'm eager to share. I's hard to get motivated to work on them at the end of a long day, but I'm trying.

Back in the spring, this well-worn Pontiac Fiero showed up in the parking lot of the apartment building on the corner where our street meets the Fellsway. If the owner had happened to have one of the spaces down in the back of the lot, it's unlikely I would have been aware of it, since I used to walk the dog back there but we have not ventured through that area in some time.

The Fiero was General Motors's attempt to create a moderately-priced, mid-engine, two-seat sports car in the vein of the Porsche 914. It was sold from 1984-88, and this car is the rarer fastback body style that was available in the final three years of production—about 40,000 cars, or 25% of total Fiero production over those three years.

The Fiero's biggest problem was that it was kind of a beta version of the car Pontiac originally intended to build. Forced to compromise to cut costs, the car was saddled with a weak four-cylinder engine and suspension components from GM's economy cars, leading to disappointed buyers. Eventually a V6 engine became optional, and the suspension was improved for '88, but it was too late.

Car Stuff: Sometimes They Get Away

About a month ago the Mrs. and I were returning from a late-afternoon wedding reception and were driving through Revere, a few miles northeast of where we live. In the next lane over I spotted something red with a general shape that suggested it might be older. Eventually we got close enough that I could recognize it as a Dodge Lancer, a four-door hatchback introduced in 1985.

Oh, but wait a minute. When I got a better look I realized this car was in fact a Shelby Lancer, a limited-production, higher-performance version of the Lancer produced for Dodge by Shelby Automobiles, an aftermarket tuning house that had been responsible for a series of high-performance Mustangs in the 1960s that are now worth ridiculous amounts of money.

These things are rare: they were produced for only a few model years, at only a few hundred cars per year. We were driving along next to it and I had my phone out, but I don't like people to see when I'm taking photos of their cars, especially while they're moving, because I worry that it might distract the other driver. So unfortunately this was the only usable shot I was able to get.

Conveniently, someone else took pics of this car last year and posted them to the Curbside Classic Cohort, and one of the CC writers did a piece on it. (I know it's the same car because the license plate matched.) I'm glad to see that the car is very well kept, but I'm also glad to see it's being driven and enjoyed.

Car Stuff: A Cluster of Benzes

I haven't done one of these in a while, because I didn't have any new material for one. Then I started seeing these various 1980s vintage Mercedes-Benz E-Class models around. Most of them were diesels, and they were built to last, so it's not surprising they're still running around.

This one was the first one I saw, a couple of months ago at the traffic lights at Wellington Circle. I thought this one was the brown that a lot of them were, but it looks more like burgundy.

I spotted this station wagon after I'd been working in Harvard Square just a few days. The black paint is a little less common, and it looks like it's had window tint added on as well. I don't remember if this one was in fact a diesel, but it probably was. Yeah, there's a little dent on top of the fender, but it's still a sweet ride.

These cars do need service sometimes, and this one sits in front of a garage on Washington Street in Somerville. I passed it on the bus a couple of times before thinking ahead enough to get a seat on the correct side to take a pic as the bus passed it. (Just this morning I saw a fourth one, on College Avenue in Somerville, but we passed it too quickly.)

These cars weren't status symbols like Mercedes-Benz cars are today; in fact, the diesel E-Class was sort of an anti-status symbol. It's true that they were more expensive than many comparable cars, but people bought them willingly at those higher prices, because they understood that they were making an investment in a car that would run for decades. These pictures are proof of their wisdom.

(I can't say with certainty that the second and third cars were in fact diesels, but they were more common than their gasoline-powered siblings.) Update, 8/23: I saw the black wagon again two days ago, parked in the same spot, and it's a turbodiesel!

Car Stuff: Green Bird

I feel like I need to post something car-related. I'm sure I'm overdue for a Fantasy Garage installment, but that isn't going to happen on my current schedule. I'll probably have to spend the time to prepare it over a weekend. So meanwhile I looked through the photos on my phone and have something to share...

I was running an errand in Brookline about two months ago and spotted this car just as I got off the trolley on Beacon Street. It's a 1979 Ford Thunderbird, the final year of a very successful three-year run of the first downsized 'Bird. As I've mentioned previously, personal luxury was the big car trend of the '70s, which happened to coincide well with the need to make cars at least a little smaller.

This car was considered a stylish ride when new, and this particular one has some nice options: the jade green paint and interior, the wire wheel covers, and look, those are T-tops! Not common on T-birds, that's for sure. (It is a little odd that the rear half of the roof isn't covered in vinyl.) I only wish I'd been able to get a shot with the entire car in it. The car was in the left-turn lane, so I turned to my left and waited for it to make the turn so I could attempt more shots, but it never turned. I have no idea where it went. Maybe it wasn't even real...

As a partial consolation, here's what the front end looks like.