In 1967, Ford’s Mustang saw its first major redesign. For the first time since its launch, the car faced some serious competition. This resulted in Ford evaluating the Mustang’s strengths and weaknesses.
In addition to the Pontiac’s Firebird, Mercury’s Cougar, and Plymouth’s Barracuda, Chevrolet had plans to roll out their new Chevy Camaro muscle car. This resulted in Ford duking it out with its competition by creating a more muscular and powerful Ford Mustang.
I found this vintage gem on Capitol Hill over the weekend. While it could use some loving care, it all appeared original and that counts for a lot. I think it has some really great lines as well.
I also found the great ad below from a basic Web search (sorry I couldn’t get a larger image)
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I’ve frequently seen this car around the intersection of New Hampshire Ave. and Upshur Street, NW.
The Duster was introduced in 1970 to compete with Ford’s slightly smaller semi-fastback Maverick compact and Chevrolet’s slightly larger semi-fastback Nova. Unlike the Maverick and the Nova, however, the Duster only was available in a two door coupe.
1974 was a banner year for the Duster. Buyers continued to come into the Plymouth dealers in high volume, driving away every Duster that could be built. Style wise, the 1974 was a pass. No major changes at all, except under the hood. The 360 cubic inch V-8 was introduced to replace the 340.
You can read more Duster history here>>
I don’t know much about the Plymouth Valiant other than what I found on the brochure below which is from the Imperial Club Web site.
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I saw this vehicle over the weekend. It appears to be a 1978 or 1978 Chevrolet El Camino. In any event, it is no later than 1987 as this basic style was from 1978-1987. There’s actually some basic information about this generation on Wikipedia.
While I generally shy away from Modern Classics when possible, some of them are just so attractive I can’t turn my head.
Other than this being a 1937 Plymouth, I don’t know anything more specific. There is a lot of information here if you can figure out which data is relevant to this sedan.
I was surprised to see this car on the 400 block of Newton over the weekend. At first I thought maybe someone had driven in for the Caribbean Festival on Saturday, but then I saw it was still there on Sunday.
Either way, it was a beautiful car.
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I think this is a 1969 Buick Wildcat, but couldn’t quite get the year off the car. I know, I know, I should have looked at the tail lights to see if there was a date on them … like I did with the Cadillac deVille a while back.
Anyway, if you know what year this is for sure, or can tell me more about this model year, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Cadillac introduced its first deVille model in 1949 in the form of the Coupe de Ville, a two-door vehicle without B pillars helping to support its roof. The name eventually was used on four-door models as well. Beginning in 1965, deVille denoted Cadillac’s volume model slotted between the basic Calais series and the top-of-the-line Fleetwood.
The name for the deVille was derived from its body styling, with ‘deVille’ meaning ‘town’ in French. The design and features would change throughout the years and served the company well as an ultra-luxury and elegant automobile. (Excerpted from the writeup on Cadillac Coupe de Villes found here>>)
The “all new” 1955 Chevrolet was offered with “Motoramic” styling, improved handling and a new V8. Chevrolet matched smooth handling with it’s new performance by modifying the chassis to be longer, and added wider rear springs riding outside the frame rails, diagonally mounted shock absorbers to match, and an improved “Glide Ride” suspension. America took to the new 1955 Chevrolet 150, 210 and Bel Air (From OldRide.com, which has more information).
(Also, thanks to Wayan for initially tipping me of to this classic)
The Buick Wildcat began life in 1962 as an option of the Buick Invicta. From 1963 through 1970 the Buick Wildcat was its own series.
When the Wildcat became its own series, a convertible and four-door hardtop sedan was added to the model lineup, which included the original two-door hardtop coupe from the prior year. Bucket seats were standard in the coupe and convertible; a bench seat was standard in the four-door version. Under the hood was the 401 cubic-inch V8 engine which stayed as standard equipment until 1966. From 1964 through 1966 a 425 cubic-inch V8 was offered as optional equipment which raised horsepower to 340.
In 1965 all new styling was updated on the Wildcat. Sharing the same sheetmetal body as the LeSabre, the Wildcat continued to keep its same unique badging and grille. The Wildcat lineup was expanded to include a total of ten models, five coupes and five sedans.
Do you own or know of a vintage vehicle in the City that you’d like featured? Submit it to dckaleidoscope (at) gmail (dot) com or http://www.flickr.com/photos/dckaleidoscope/
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