Container Find: 1952 Packard 300

In the early 1950s, Packard played the numbers game in naming its product offerings. There were the 200, 250, 300, and 400, with the 300 being the mid-range model. It was offered only in 1951 and 1952 and was… more»

1 of 319 Special Edition: 1976 Pontiac Trans Am

The Trans Am began as a performance version of the Pontiac Firebird in 1969. Sales moved up slowly year after year until the first Smokey and the Bandit movie was released in 1977. After that, demand exploded, and Pontiac… more»

Special Edition: 1964 Chrysler New Yorker Salon

Other than the Imperial, the New Yorker was Chrysler’s most opulent automobile in the 1960s. And in 1963 and 1964, they went one step further by offering the New Yorker Salon, a 4-door hardtop that had all the marbles…. more»

Tri-Five V8! 1955 Chevrolet 210

The 210 (aka Two-Ten) was a midrange entry from Chevrolet that was sold between 1953 and 1957. Not exactly a stroke of marketing genius, it took its name by shortening the production series number 2100 by one digit to… more»

Oddball Styling: 1976 AMC Gremlin

For many, the AMC Gremlin will go down as one of the strangest-looking cars of all time. But looks aren’t everything, and maybe they even attracted people to the odd car as the company would build 671,000 of them… more»

East Meets West: 1965 Mercedes-Benz 190

Of all the cars I’d think about hopping up, a mid-1960s Mercedes-Benz 190 sedan wouldn’t make the cut. But it did make someone’s hit parade who decided to put in a “western” made 350 cubic inch V8, an updated… more»

1 of 1,528: 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier

In its second year of production, the Chevrolet Corvair gained a van model called the Greenbrier. It was part of a series of utilitarian vehicles the Corvan 95, which shared the air-cooled engine of the new compact automobile. The… more»

Moldy Project: 1965 Oldsmobile 4-4-2

Seeing the success that Pontiac was having with its new mid-size performance car, the GTO, Oldsmobile got into the game as well in 1964. But unlike the GTO, the 442 was a slow seller in its first year –… more»

Partial Restoration: 1966 Chevrolet Impala

After a record-breaking sales year in 1965, it was no surprise that demand would be off a bit for the full-size 1966 Chevrolets. 20% fewer Impalas were produced in the second year of the fourth-generation Impala, but the numbers… more»

Body by Cantrell: 1950 Dodge B-108 Woodie

Wood-bodied station wagons gained in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s but became cost-prohibitive to build in the 1950s and were replaced by all steel-bodied coaches. J.T. Cantrell & Co. was one of the more prolific builders and was… more»

Ragged Ragtop: 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS

While Ford was making lots of sales noise in 1965 with its new Mustang pony car, Chevrolet was having a banner year, too. For the first time, they produced more than one million full-size automobiles with the Impala representing… more»

Ambuvertible: 1959 Buick Commercial Chassis LaSabre

Ambulances, hearses, and other specialized coaches are produced by custom vehicle builders. And those builders rely on mainstream manufacturers like General Motors for chassis and body components. Such was the case with this 1959 Buick ambulance that was built… more»

Drive While You Restore: 1965 Dodge Coronet

Chrysler made a blunder in 1962 by downsizing their Dodge and Plymouth full-size cars, thinking that General Motors had the same thing in mind. They didn’t. And sales would suffer until they could regroup and fashion some bigger cars… more»

Low Ride Or Not? 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS

Chevrolet introduced the Super Sport as a performance car in 1961 and sold just 453 copies. They revised their strategy in 1962 to make it more about style than muscle and sold more than 99,000 units. It was popular… more»

Not a Taxi! 1967 Checker Marathon Wagon

When most folks think of the Checker automobile brand, a yellow taxicab comes to mind. And they would become quite prolific in the 1960s and 1970s in big cities like Chicago and New York. But Checker also sold a… more»

Last Model Year: 1974 AMC Javelin

The 1974 model year was a tough one on the “pony car” market segment. Three competitors had their last hurrah in 1974 (the Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Challenger, and AMC Javelin) and a fourth became a subcompact (the Ford Mustang)…. more»

Barn Finds