Chevy goes for the gold!

MUNCHY CONCOURS AND THE OLD SCHOOL COOL
The cold weather has settled in and you might be asking yourself why the trees seems so lush in these pics? I think I shot the following beasts in late Spring/early Summer. Pickings are getting slim out there these days!
First off, look at this munchy beater:

What we have here is a 1976 Chevrolet Concours in the original color Buckskin. The Nova was produced every year of the 1970s, but in '76 they renamed their higher-end luxury trim version Concours. The year before this one it was called the Nova LN. Both were meant to compete directly with the Ford Grenada (which was Ford's meager attempt to rip off Mercedes Benz styling of the day).

It might have been a well-born hoity toity chap in its day but recently Concours has been running its mouth and somebody obviously took exception. It looks like not only did it smash into something head-on, but it then tried to immediately reverse only to have the corner of the front bumper stuck to the wreckage. At one point there was a period-correct and utterly ridiculous square hood ornament on the front of that prow. I do love the surprised look on its face like a drunk who just lost a fight that they started. Unfortunately the signature feature of the Concours is mostly missing; it once sported a fancier, more heavily-chromed grill than the regular Nova. That top piece is all that remains.

Shame about the accident because this is otherwise a remarkably rust-free and straight old Chevy. The engine options for this model were the standard 250 6 Cylinder, the 305 V8 with 2 barrel carb, and the 350 V8 with a 4 barrel. You could still order a floor mounted stick shift with any of the engines but it's doubtful that a Concours would be outfitted as such. This was more of an aspirational faux-luxury car for the bank manager as opposed to the bank president.

From the back this is just another Nova with nothing to discern it as a Concours. Something about the well balanced proportions of this design made it work equally well as a 4 door and 2 door coupe. Even those massive '70s bumpers look justified on this beast.
From the back you can confirm the vintage as a '76 because there are only 2 taillight housings on either side of the car (assuming that you knew it was a Concours and not an LN). From '77 on there were 3.

That fat body side molding is listed as an option but probably came as part of a decor package. The chrome trim under the windshield, surrounding the wheel well, and along the rocker panel are all part of the Concours glitz. That front hubcap comes from an early '70s Chevy as the originals were probably lost in the collision. The rear hubcaps are correct for this ride.
Now on to something similar but much cooler:

What we have here is a 1970 Chevy Nova in Gobi Beige (though it looks gold to me!). This is the generation before the '76 and is noticeably trimmer and more athletic looking. It wasn't just looks either as this was the height of the muscle car craze and you could order this ride with a pretty souped-up 350 in it that was unencumbered by any of the emissions equipment that would strangle later models of their performance. This example is lacking any engine size emblem above the front side marker light though, so I'm assuming it's got the base 250 Straight 6 cylinder.

I love the looks of this car and this might be my favorite year out of all the Novas. The lines in the front are clean as a whistle with that plain grill and forward-leaning stance. The hubcaps are one of the many styles available that year. I would normally scoff at mud flaps on a car but whatever the owner's doing to keep this thing rust free is working so I'll shut up.

This ride is in perfect shape throughout! I see this car drive by my shop all the time. The owner has two that are identical and they both see tons of daily use. The other one has some now vintage Obama/Biden '08 bumper stickers on it.
It is extremely difficult to discern a '70 from a '69 Nova, but the surefire clue is on display here. The reverse lights were moved to the center of the taillight lenses for this year only. Another clue is that the front turn signals are ever-so-slightly larger than previous years, with the ones on this ride being more square than the rectangles of earlier years.

I dig the green interior color you can just glimpse in a few of these pics. There were 3 different green interiors (viva la '70s!) available so I'm not sure which it is.

This is the improbable scenery in which this beauty is driven and parked every day of the year, proving that it can be done if you're a dedicated owner. This is a warehouse block near the headwaters of the mighty Gowanus Canal just a block or 2 away from the projects.

Last but not least I'll leave this 3rd gold GM product I tried to snap as it rounded a corner; a mid-'80s Chevy Monte Carlo with a landau roof.

Show Car Sunday/Monday returns with an orphan!

ORPHANED AMERICAN RAMBLER

In the past 5 years we've seen many of the great automotive marquees go the way of the dodo bird; Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Plymouth, and Saab all became victims of the Great Recession. Before this recent stretch you had to go back decades when referencing defunct nameplates. Studebaker started all the way back in 1853 making wagons, but went quietly into the night in 1967. Packard built cars from 1899 through 1958 (the year of a relatively small recession that was the straw that broke that camels back). Others like DeSoto and Edsel were simply divisions of existing brands that underperformed. Then there's this little beauty:

What we have here is a 1968 American Motors Corporation (AMC) Rambler American. Technically this is known in the car world as an orphan since its parent company is no longer. In reality the AMC nameplate was one of many small fish swallowed up by the mighty Chrysler Corporation. Before being consumed themselves AMC absorbed Hudson, Nash, and the Jeep line from Kaiser-Frasier. I realize this is yawn-inducing stuff so let's continue!

I love this space-age A logo. This car was built during the very heart of the space race so even though it's more utilitarian than flash it still gets a styling cue of the era. The year after this logo was the same shape but it was divided into red, white, and blue thirds as opposed to a letter A.

AMC was a true independent in the auto world that built their cars 350 miles away from Detroit in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The American was their compact introduced in '58, and was actually sold under the moniker of Rambler as opposed to AMC. When production ended in '69 so did the name of Rambler. 

This smart little ride was roosting up in Greenpoint looking very sharp and serious in its factory color choice Classic Black. Part of what makes it so sleek is that this is the lower trim level; the upmarket American 440 had a chrome spear along each side. 

How about those original hubcaps though? As someone who's been writing the name Rick all my life I totally approve of that sweet R. We can see some scuffs and small dents on the lower inside of the wheel well in this shot but the overall condition is remarkable. I mean, this car is 46 years old and parts are extremely hard to come by, so this ride gets Show Car designation from me.

Believe it or not that rectangular lens on the side of the car was bright red when new.

This sedan is the basic small box on a big box design, but subtle cues are there to be found. That concave rear panel between the taillights is mirrored by the body lines running from the bottom of the door glass to the back corners of the trunk. 

AMC made yearly changes to their cars regardless of budget which was a bold move for the last of the independent automakers. The easiest was to discern the vintage of a Rambler American is to scrutinize the grill and taillights. However, in the years leading up to this one the rear window was a wrap-around model, and there was a chrome emblem on the drivers side of the trunk that spelled American in script.

Seeing this ride parked on the street today is charming because it's so old and squared-off, but the thing that's most surprising is its scale. This car is about the same size as 4 door cars of today which means that it was downright tiny in 1968! This was a true compact car when new when there were few domestic cars even close to this size. To enhance the frugality even further the price was lowered to a mere $200 above the VW Beetle in '67 after an AMC exec noticed the price disparity between U.S. and foreign compacts. 

I just like these snazzy door handles with their concave elliptical pushbuttons. 

Nothing says "base trim level" like those frumpy seat covers. Even though it looks like taxi or school bus upholstery its probably either correct or darn close.

Rubber floor covering instead of a carpet! Those 2 aftermarket gauges mounted under the dash are a good idea, and suggest that the owner is probably on top of the engine situation. That engine is most likely an inline 6 cylinder much like the ones that powered Jeep for decades. When shopping around for old cars I like to see signs of current upkeep such as extra gauges (if they work).

One more shot of the concave styling on the top of the front fender.

1969 brought about quite the last-hurrah for the American with the special edition S/C Rambler. Known as the Scrambler in the muscle car world it was a 2 door version of this ride with the mighty 390 V8 under the hood! It was not only terrifyingly fast (competing directly with Hemis) but easily the most outrageous looking muscle car of all time. The color scheme was red, white, and blue, with ridiculous details like the word AIR written huge on the hood with an arrow pointing into the scoop. No options were available for the Scrambler at all. If you see one of those let me know, otherwise consider yourself lucky should you run across any AMC these days!