Well, this looks very familiar to me. Take that as a (rare) hint, if you like. Time to recognize our winners of the last Clue, wich was a two-fer. tklockau was the first to guess both the Prelude and Colt. But let’s recognize hotdogmaki for the first Prelude ID; and Shoichiro B. Hara as the first Colt recognizer. Congratulations, and happy guessing.  Sorry about the lateness.

Since we’re hanging out in the seventies with Ford, I remembered this truck I shot a couple of weeks ago. It sports the Free Wheelin’ decor package, that was quite the hot item in 1978. The splashy graphics made their way across a whole palette of Fords. It’s been quite awhile since I saw one. You? Hey, let’s go free wheelin’… (Read More…)

Toyota was determined to get the momentum back in its sales with incentives, and it did the trick. Sales jumped 41% over last year. Both the Toyota brand and Lexus shared the gain equally: Toyota brand up 41%; Lexus up 42%. Those are raw unadjusted numbers, as TTAC prefers. Until I get my calculator humming, the highlights here are adjusted for DSR, which means they are lower than the raw ones: Camry: +35%; Corolla: +28%; Prius: +27%; Venza: +36%; Rav4: +108%; Highlander: +113%; 4Runner: +140%. Just like the good old days!

Lexus’ ES 350 was up 15%; the RX up 26%. Full chart after the jump: (Read More…)

Chrysler managed to buck the up market very successfully in March. And it’s missing its stated and essential sales targets. With 92k units sold in March, Marchionnes’ 1.1 million goal for 2010 is slipping further from reach by the month. The lowlights: HD Ram trucks are up 20%! Jeep eked out a 3% rise. Challenger is up 50%. And the Sebring is crawling back from the abyss with a 69% spike. Minivans are split: T&C up 30%; Caravan down 32%. The all-important Ram pickups are still sagging, down 8% in March, and -18% YTD. The full ugly details after the jump: (Read More…)

Powered By Ford. There’s something special about those words, something iconic, something that evokes nightmares of an uniquely American scope, from our first family cross-country trips in a 1954 Ford that perpetually overheated and stalled from vapor lock (when it actually started) to the last one, Mother’s craptastic 1981 Escort (replaced by a Civic)  that could barely do seventy wheezing unsteadily along the rain-soaked I-70 straight. Powered by Ford. It’s the peeling logo hastily slapped onto the valve covers of this five-liter Mustang II, but you won’t need to raise the hood to understand what it means. The first time this pathetic lump of an engine tries to suck air through its tiny two-barrel carburetor and wheezes its feeble exhaust through soda-straw sized tailpipes, it will be more than crystal clear. (Read More…)

This is not the car for those who suffer from either scopophobia (fear of being seen) or amaxophobia (fear of riding in a car), or God forbid you suffer from both. But if you do and get offered a ride in a 1968 Quasar Unipower, at least a grab bar is handily available for the afflicted passenger. (Read More…)

Why the endless questions and arguments about the origins of the Chrysler minivans? It’s the old story: “success has a thousand fathers”. You don’t see designers and execs fighting about the paternity of the Aztek. We stepped on some toes regarding the origins of the Espace, and heard from its father. And we took a wild (and disputed) stab at finding the maternal lineage of European minivans, but the American minivan paternity wars go on. Its origins clearly go back to the early seventies, when both Chrysler and Ford developers claim to have been working on “garageable vans”. Meanwhile, the commonly held story is that Hal Sperlich and Lee Iaccocca’s Minimax concept was spurned by Henry Ford II, and they took it with them to bring to fruition at Chrysler. And as usual, its not quite as simple as that.  (Read More…)

I always have an eye out for two-fers, especially when they share such a close range of age and manufacturer. We’ll do both of these significant cars justice in future Curbside Classics, so consider this a preview of coming attractions. Oh, but its not just the late eighties on this side of the street! (Read More…)

All this endless speculation as to whether Honda will someday build a real RWD pickup: they already did, in 1963. And in that inimitable Honda way, it stood the world on it ears: DOHC, four carbs, 30hp from 360cc at 8,600 rpm, 60 mph top speed. As an antidote to the mild-mannered Hondas sent our way in the seventies and early eighties, like the gen1 Prelude, the T360/T500 trucks were anything but boring. But the story of how this eminently practical little truck ended up with the engine from Honda’s crazy little S360 sports car is a wild tale only Honda could spin. (Read More…)

My only experience with Quaaludes was highly memorable. Yet I struggle to elicit any memories of my only drive in a Honda Quaalude. Or did I just dream that (the drive)? So just how did this Honda get that nickname anyway? Well, let’s just say that Quaaludes have more than one effect, and while the Prelude may well have induced sleep, its fairly unlikely that it was ever very successful as an aphrodisiac. I’ve certainly never heard it referred to as the Honda Viagra, despite its very close ties to the Honda Vigor. (Read More…)

Ok, today is a two-fer. Not by design, but this little gold car happened to pop up in the background as I was looking for my Clue. The CC is in the foreground, though. My goodness, what bulging taillights you have! A very hearty hurrah to SFO in training for the absolutely superb guess on the center headlight kit of the 1950 Ford. Awesome!

What are the defining characteristics of the modern mini-van? Front wheel drive? Transverse engine? Front wheels set forward of the passenger cabin? A one-box design with a short and sloping aerodynamic hood? A flat floor throughout, and flexible seating and transport accommodations? And which one was the first? Renault Espace or Dodge Caravan? How about the DKW Schnellaster (Rapid Transporter)? It had them all, in 1949. Time to give it a little overdue recognition. (Read More…)

In our recent 1984 Dodge Caravan Curbside Classic, we explored the origins of the minivan. The question as to who first penned the modern FWD people mover is a bit of thorny one, and one which has been argued endlessly. In that CC, I gave credit to Rootes (later Chrysler Europe) designer Fergus Pollock  for his work in developing a van project that eventually ended up at Renault as the 1984 Espace. I thought I made it pretty clear that his work was specifically on a one-box approach, and that I had given him due credit for that, whereas Ital Design’s Megagamma had the vestigial hood that ended up on the 1981 Nssan Prairie/Stanza Wagon and the Chrysler minivans. But designers are (rightfully) a sensitive and protective bunch, and I got a rather terse e-mail from Mr. Pollock setting the record (somewhat) straight(er). (Read More…)

To many today, the French automaker Panhard (pronounced panAR) may be unknown or rapidly slipping into obscurity. But the story of this once renowned firm, one of the very earliest pioneers of the automobile is remarkable and more relevant than ever. It developed a distinguished series of ultra-efficient two-cylinder cars in the post war era that culminated in this tasty 24TC of 1967, the very last Panhard. It reflected the French approach to automobile making perfectly: innovative, eccentric, stylish, and all to often, out of the mainstream and financial success. But Panhard’s efforts were always highly memorable, advanced, and foreshadowed the cars of today and the future. Before long, we may all be driving updated versions of small, ultra-light and super-efficient 850 cc two-cylinder cars like this.  And if this delightful and sporty coupe is anything to go by, it may be something to actually look forward too. (Read More…)

There’s not much doubt that this is the rarest find Curbside Classics, at least so far. And there it was, right under my nose, on Main Street. In fact, it’s so rare that I didn’t really recognize it at first. I’d caught a glimpse of it once before, in the back of a typical used car lot in Springfield, Eugene’s blue-collar neighbor. Given its location, size, shape, and paint job, I initially thought it was some kind of amusement park ride car, or a former Shriner-mobile. Or at best, some kind of garage-built sports car special from the fifties. I drove on, but made a mental note, and on my next sojourn to the inspiration for Homer Simpson’s hometown, I decided it was worth a quick stop and closer look. What I found totally blew me away: a Panhard Dyna Junior Roadster. (Read More…)