Topless Americana

TOPLESS AMERICANA

Robin from Omaha sent in these pics over a year ago. I don't remember exactly but I think he might have been visiting some friends along the southern shore of Long Island. Regardless, look at this all-American beauty!

This is a 1966 Chevy Corvette convertible in some aftermarket blue (the closest factory color I could find was Marina Blue but that's not as dark). These mid-'60s 'vettes are some the of the quintessential years of the brand.

Dig this long nose with the hideaway headlights. The engine would originally have been a 327 V8. There was a 427 available as well but the hood would have a prominent bulge just to fit it.

This is one athletic, sexy ride. As with all Corvettes the body is fiberglass, engine up front, and drive wheels in the rear. The big wheel wells and rounded fenders make this thing look like it's going to pounce at any second. Those rims are from a late '70s 'vette.

Behold one of the worst gas cap placements for paint jobs ever - right in the middle of the trunk! This flip-up fuel door looks super cool, but dripping on the body is pretty much guaranteed.
That body-width line above the gas cap is the hinge side of a lid covering the space where the convertible top lives when you lower it. To access that hidden well you simply lift up on the rear edge of the top which will disengage and swing forward. Then there is a button under the front of the lid behind the seats to unlock the lid. It opens to the rear, allowing for the entire top to fold back into the space behind the seats. When you close it again the look is sleek as the top is completely hidden.

1965 and 1966 Corvettes were almost identical from the outside but there is one telltale clue: the Corvette script on the front driver's side of the hood means it is a '66. The '67 looked similar but those 3 big gills on the side would be 5 smaller ones. If this were a 1964 'vette there would be two indentations on the hood on either side of that middle spear. 

This is a perfect example of "if it ain't broke don't fix it". The 1965 Corvette sold like crazy. Then this 1966 comes along with basically zero changes and it continues to sell like nobody's business. The combination of lightweight, sexy body and enormous motor proved irresistible to the public. The next generation would come along in 1968 looking like a mako shark. It would continue all the way up into the '80s, proving that Chevy had a real winner on their hands for decades. 

This is the tuned car.

This is the tuned car.

My friends have been outpacing me drastically with the automotive finds and today is no different! Robin of Omaha recently stumbled upon a brace of beautiful Buicks:

This is a 1966 Buick Riviera in what seems to be an aftermarket two-tone graphite over black with a fearsome red stripe dividing the colors. The reason we know this is a '66 as opposed to the almost-identical '67 is the fact that those angled square lenses on the sides do not have a horizontal bar going down the middle of them. Even though they're large those are just the turn signals on the sides. This ride has 4 headlights hidden concealed in the grill. When they're open they look a bit crowded in there to me.

This ride is largely the same as the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado of the same year. However unlike the others the Riviera is a traditional rear wheel drive car. This is the final year for the venerable Buick Nailhead motor, this one a 425 V8.

Obviously the lines on this ride are fantastic and dramatic! The rear roofline swooping down to frame the trunk makes this beast seem like it's moving while standing still.
*Notice the lack of little vent windows! This is the first year since the '30s that a Buick didn't have them.

This is an evil ride with the black bumpers (something I usually frown upon). The vents beneath the back window are where the air exits the cabin as a part of the fresh air system.

Right next to the '66 is this 1967 Riviera with its tell tale horizontal turn signal bars. This is a mild custom like its brethren so the chrome hood trim has been shaved. 

I couldn't find any proof of two-tone Rivieras from the factory but this is a pretty common restoration choice. The mirrors on this ride are later replacements (the other ride has the correct driver-only chrome unit). 

I dig this roofline without the vinyl roof too. The wheels on both rides work really well. Both of these have the optional bucket seat interior essentially making them 4 seaters.

Somebody added a little pin striping to this ride.

1967 saw a new engine for Buick; the 430 V8 good for 360 horsepower and a whopping 475lbs of torque! Even at a weight of over 2 tons it was enough to move this beast around with alacrity. 

Buick (and indeed all of GM) was riding high through the '60s and they were understandably proud of the Riviera. It was touted as the "Tuned car" in their literature. In fact the entire opening paragraph is so assured that I'm going to close it out with this quote:
"We regret to destroy (again) the old theory that great road machines always come from Europe. But this one comes from exotic, far away Flint, Michigan - home of Buick, home of the Tuned car."

F for Fantastic, 85 for the temperature

F FOR FANTASTIC, 85 FOR THE TEMPERATURE

I was lucky enough to find myself out at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways recently for some beach time when I spotted a glint of hot fire in the distance:

Yes! Roosting next to those poseur cars trying to share some limelight is a 1966 Oldsmobile F85 Holiday Coupe in Target Red. This car is 51 years old but looks like it just came from the dealership.

The F85 was the base trim level of the Cutlass line in '66. Above this ride were the Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme in the hierarchy (the 442 was still an option package and wouldn't be its own model until 1968).

This was considered an intermediate car as the full size rides of this year were truly colossal.
I love this generation which is very similar to the '67 442 I had. The sharp fender edges continuing on the bumpers looks mean.

In 1967 the headlights were spaced slightly apart with the turn signal nestled between each set in a barbell design. From this angle you can see the chrome hood trim is more of a blade than a hood ornament.
This was the most beautiful setting for such a ride. If I find myself needing to sell a car in the future I'm bringing it here to snap pics.

The hardtops such as this ride were known as the Holiday Coupe. If it had a pillar between the front and rear side glass it would be the Sport. The overall look is mid-'60s clean with the only side trim being down along the rocker panels and lower quarter.

This little emblem tells us the engine is the awesomely named Jetfire Rocket 330 V8. When I was a kid my favorite Transformer was Jetfire! The base engine choice was the Action Line 250 straight 6 cylinder. When equipped with an automatic transmission it was the Jetaway 2 speed. Gotta love those marketing names of the '60s rides!

While the dash and general layout are the same as the 442 there's a bench seat filling up the cabin. A column shift Jetaway auto trans is visible as is a radio. No air conditioning means these black seats will tear the skin off your legs on a Summer day if you're wearing shorts.

f-85!

There is the slightest separation on the vinyl roof otherwise this car is absolutely perfect! The matte finish on the rear bumper makes me believe it's a recent replacement.

Each letter of OLDSMOBILE gets its own square! The reverse lights are subtle, small rectangles flanking the license plate. 1967 would bring a much different taillight pattern with 2 squares on the body and 2 square set into the bumper itself.

The rear window is set deep into those sail panels for the first time this year. Other GM coupes such as the Tempest/Le Mans/GTO sported this look as well. 

Well there we have it; a smashing ride on a smashing day. Whoever drove this to the beach is the winner of the Kicking the Most Ass in Summer award. The only thing that would make it better is if it were a convertible. I loved my 442 with its bucket seats but really; if you're going to shuttle the crew somewhere in cruising fashion those big bench seats rule.

A fish somehow caught between larva and pupa stage

A FISH CAUGHT BETWEEN LARVA AND PUPA STAGE

Contributor Max stumbled upon a record shattering 3 Ramblers over a 2 day span recently. All are rare by definition but this one takes the cake:

This is a vary late 1965 or very early 1966 Rambler Marlin in two-tone Caballero Medium Tan Poly with Frost White accents. The colors and wheels weren't around until '66 but the word RAMBLER was only on the Marlin for '65. There are no hard and fast rules when regarding the independent Rambler/AMC company from Kenosha, Wisconsin so the vintage blurring isn't terribly rare.
*While we're up front dig the body color spanning the center horizontal grill bar.

Behold the optional and rare Turbo Cast wheels painted in the body colors.
Rambler/AMC launched the Marlin in '65 as a mid size fastback personal luxury car to compete with the Mustang and Barracuda. Styling was unique as with all AMC products.

Here is the awesome and odd body on full display. Those massive rear side windows roll down making this a true hardtop. In an arrangement I don't remember seeing before the accent color wraps around the window opening in a boomerang shape. The corrugated chrome rocker panel seems to have only been added to a percentage of '66 Marlins.

The Marlin is weird! That center panel is all the trunk lid you get even though the trunk capacity includes the space behind the taillights. The incredible sexist copy in the sales brochure brags about the trunk space as something sure to calm "wives in a dither". They actually go through step-by-step instructions on how to manipulate your wife into accepting such a sporty looking car using imagery like protection for her patent leather heels while she's ferrying cub scouts around. It's worth a read as a period piece on relaxed everyday misogyny in the mid '60s.
That word RAMBLER under the trunk lid disappeared officially for 1966 as Rambler became AMC fully. This ride straddles the fence.

Check out this awesome Marlin emblem!

The Marlin was only around for 3 years. The final year of 1967 saw a much larger Marlin, then based on the full size Ambassador series with stacked quad headlights. While all Marlins are rare the '67 saw only 2,545 total built.
I love the Marlin and have only seen a couple over the years. For me this is the beginning of AMC going bonkers in their styling. Just a few years after this car was built legends like the Gremlin and Matador X would arrive, bringing with them Levis interiors. AMC released a special line of station wagons in 1967 that were like nothing from the other automakers. Here is a link to an article describing them in detail. Sales material featured a model holding a pistol and wearing an eye patch!
Given the chance I would own a Marlin in a flash. If you see one grab it!

Show Car Sunday returns with a very unique Pontiac!

FLASHY WELTERWEIGHT CHAMP

I found myself on the back roads of Long Island City recently when this improbable vision appeared: 

Yowza! This is a 1966 Pontiac Tempest Custom convertible in Burgundy Poly. To encounter any '66 Pontiac is cool, but this one boasts the single strangest collection of options I have ever seen!

Pontiac nailed it in the '60s with their aggressive split grill styling. The stacked headlights were introduced in 1965 and would continue until a major restyling in '68. The hood scoop is correct for the year though you usually see it on the upmarket GTO.

The Tempest convertible wasn't massively popular with only 5,557 produced in '66. Almost every time you do see a '66 Pontiac ragtop it's a Le Mans or GTO. The "Sprint" stripe placement between the wheel wells was a one year only option.

This is one of the most iconic muscle car body styles in history with the '67 GTO being identical. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement is that the same basic body was shared by the Oldsmobile F-85/Cutlass/442, Chevrolet Chevelle, and Buick Special. With the only differences being the front and rear facias the cars look totally distinct from one another.

Brand new for '66 was the single overhead cam *Sprint 6 engine. When this was introduced it was the only automobile engine of its kind in the United States. The block was visibly similar to the Chevrolet inline 6 with the exception of a large valve and camshaft cover. A fiberglass reinforced rubber timing belt replaced the traditional timing chain on this new engine.
*The Sprint was the high performance version of the new OVC6. It had a larger 4 barrel carburetor, hotter cam, higher compression pistons, dual valve springs, split/dual exhaust manifold, and a stronger coil than the base model.

Pontiac had one of the more audacious muscle car options with this hood mounted tachometer! The thought was that you could keep your eyes dead ahead while speed shifting in drag races. From what I can tell the first iteration of this option was with the 1967 Pontiacs as a dealer installed option. Perhaps this '66 sat on the lot until the '67 options were available? Who knows?

If beautiful chrome emblems came back the automotive world would be a better place. The CUSTOM designation was mid-tier above the base model but below the Le Mans and GTO.

The '66 and '67 Tempests were almost identical but the taillights can pinpoint it for you. '67 had larger horizontal taillights as opposed to these outer Vertical units.

The round lenses in the lower bumper are reverse lights. Believe it or not they were not yet required by law when this ride was built. Cars from 1969 through today need to have them but these were either an option or a part of the Custom trim level. My '67 Oldsmobile 442 had them from the factory but the base F-85 and Cutlass didn't.

To me this body lends itself to being a convertible better than most. Rollover protection wasn't worried about so when the top is down only the windshield rises up from the hood level.

At first glance I though this had three pedals which would mean a 3 speed manual transmission on the column. Then I noticed that there's a little chrome fixture on the top of the steering column which would normally mean an automatic. Another mystery!
A bench seat is great in a convertible because you can easily pile 6 people into this thing and cruise to the beach. You can't see from this pic but there was an optional reverb switch available to add some psychedelic sounds to the stereo in this era.

In '66 this was a midsize car! Take a look at the scale of that trunk. Even with the top folded down into the interior there is room galore. 

Well there we have it; a rare collection of options in one lovely set of wheels. We've got the muscle car body in an odd color with a white convertible roof and accent stripe, GTO hood with external tach, and the highest performance version of the smaller engine. When this was new you could walk into the dealership and order any bonkers combination of options you desired as long as you were willing to wait for the factory to produce and deliver the car. It seems that this is what happened here and I'm psyched somebody saw fit to restore a 6 cylinder.

A Valiant effort (groan)

POSSESSING OR SHOWING COURAGE AND DETERMINATION

I was way out in the hinterlands of either Brooklyn or Queens when I passed by this dirty little ride. At 50 years old it holds up nicely!

This is a 1966 Plymouth Valiant 200 in White. There is a Plymouth Beige that's not far off from this but the color chips I could find from this year show a White that's not super bright so I think this is it.

Plymouth in the '60s was an exercise in doing a lot with a little. Each year brought frugal changes that drastically altered the appearance. For instance the grill and taillights changed each year making essentially the same car seem fresh with each vintage. However behind this grill is an identical opening to the years before and after this ride.

This little Plymouth looks like it's cowering and dejected with that one dead eye. It's a shame because overall it's in great shape. The windshield looks like it was replaced hastily with that thick black rubber all over the surround.

These Valiants and their siblings the Darts were considered compact cars in their day. The lines are clean as a whistle and the dimensions are nicely balanced. I love the no nonsense approach to Mopar in the '60s.

These cars remain very usable today. The compact dimensions are about the same as a modern Accord, the performance of the Slant-6 or small 273 V8 engines is adequate, and the miles per gallon can easily be in the mid to upper 20s.

Plastics were in heavy use in the interior with the cool off-center speedometer and gauge cluster sporting faux chrome. A missing radio and lack of air conditioner means this is basic transportation.

This ride is fitted with the legendary Torqueflite automatic transmission. The Torqueflite (written some years as TorqueFlite) was introduced in 1956 and continued in production all the way through 2015! This is fantastic news when you own one of these cars and need a replacement. I had a '72 Plymouth Duster with a slant-6 and the Torqueflite. After delivering pizzas with it for a couple months it needed to be replaced. I found a rebuilt unit for $300 with a 1 year warranty!

The taillights are different for each year in the '60s but I find this year to be exceptionally tidy. The top lens is the brake/turn signal, the center a reflector, and the lower are nicely incorporated reverse lights. I believe '66 was the first year where reverse lights were federally mandated.

I'm not buying that single out of state plate on the back. I've said it before but all you need to do to park with impunity in the outer boroughs is to tack an out of state plate on your ride and every cop will walk by it forever. I've seen several cars roosting on side streets for years with a sketchy plate.

The 200 was the mid-tier trim level in '66. The base model 100 had no chrome trim whatsoever and could be ordered in a very frugal package; small 6 cylinder with a three on the tree manual, radio delete, and even heater delete for the warm climate penny pincher. The highest trim level was the Signet series which offered the only convertible in the lineup.

I love this detail so I always point it out on '60s Mopars. This little Pentastar logo can only be found on the passenger side fender. The thought process is that when it is parked passersby will see it from the sidewalk.

The name Mopar covers all of the Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth lines. It stands for Motor Parts which is the official name of the company parts manufacturer. As a result there are Mopar car clubs and the like.

Well that's where we'll leave this smart little Plymouth. I highly recommend any '60s (and most '70s) Mopars for people looking to buy a classic car as a daily driver. I've had both the aforementioned Duster as well as a '74 Dart and both were totally reliable. These cars never want to die, especially with the slant-6 engine. Aside from the fragile plastic dashboard components parts are widely available. Hats off Valiant!