Vintage & Sportscars


I'm probably guilty of improper use of the word "vintage" for the cars here, because I think it may be that the term applies to really old, 1910-era cars. But I'm using it for anything older than 1970 or so, because I figure that car styles have changed so much since then that anything pre-1970 is clearly different than today's models.

But so what. Most importantly, enjoy.

LEAD EAST 2008


I'm a little disappointed with my haul of pictures from this event, which was over Labor Day weekend 2008, but I was also caught unaware, as the only reason I knew about it was when I was taking pictures of Dick DiLaura's Crown Victoria (seen below) and he let me know of the show, and I was only up in New Jersey for Justine Rosenberg's wedding. Sometimes things just come together, and next year I will schedule this on my calendar for a visit and I'll be better prepared to take pictures. But I did get some good ones here.

I love the Pontiac GTO of the late 60s. And I had not seen a convertible version until this show, so I became obsessed immediately.


The owner of this car, Ed, filled me in on some of the finer points of the GTO, and his brother drove up with a green one while we were standing there.


I found this beauty just down the row (there were about 15 GTOs in this part of the show). Magnificent paint job.


Here are some other nice cars I saw that day. Like this Ford Fairlane.



This one is for sale, actually, but I have not heard back from the owner yet, so I can't tell you anything else.


Seen one of these lately?


I love fins. And these fins are gorgeous!


Horizontal fins are cool too, although I think they only lasted a couple of years. The fin era was coming to a close by the time Kennedy became president, which also ushered in the end of the hat era.


Packard Clipper. Not something you see every day. I was disappointed that I did not see any Hudsons or Cords or Tuckers, although I don't think the latter two are seen outside of museums very often these days.


I did, however, see this: a mid-60s AMC Marlin. As I had not been prepared, I didn't realize that I needed to shoot the car from the rear because the read design was what made it such a revelation at the time. Next year I'll know. Note: I did not see any AMC AMXs at the show.


This is the Marlin hood ornament. I like it.


I was thrilled to find a Bel Air in this color. This is a beautiful car. Unfortunately the owner was nowhere around, so I didn't get any good information about it, but wow. What a vehicle.








That was it for the event, but in honor of the man who directed me to the show, here is the 1956 Crown Imperial that eventually led me to the promised land.







Here are some pictures I took from other shows:


A 1956 turqouise Corvette. Gorgeous.


This was another beautiful car, but I don't know the year. I liked the way the sidevents looked with the shade of blue on this one, so that's what I got.


In case I hadn't mentioned it, I went to a Corvette showing at Lime Rock Park over 4th of July weekend. Before I discovered Ferrari, Corvettes were my favorite car (1967 Stingray to be exact). So here's one of them REALLY close up.


A 1965 Corvette that once belonged to Doc Severinson of the Tonight Show. Check out the cool vintage NY plates!


Another view of this cool car.


This picture is indeed up on the Alaska page as well, but I thought it merited inclusion here also. It's a 1955 Packard Clipper Super.


Here are three shots of a Lotus Elise that was in the parking lot for the New England Grand Prix. Believe it or not, this car sells for under $50k. It also weighs less than 2000 pounds, making it one of the lightest cars on the road.




This car is awesome.


Another unidentified year, but just look at that interior red against the white body color!


The grill of a red 1954 that I put in here to add some color.


I like racing stripes on cars, like the old Cobras, and this Vette had a cool purple paintjob to go with it.


This may actually correspond with the picture above of the grill, but I'm not sure. In any case, I forgot to write down the year of this model, so if you know, drop me a line for me to fix the mistake.


Another old-school blue Corvette. Another one which I forgot to get the year of the model. Dunce.


Speaking of blue, how about these tires! They just don't make cars the way they used to, do they?


When in Germany, we saw this BMW 645ci parked right on the street in the Grosser Stern. It's good for $80k in this country, and looks great. Beautiful car.


Sweden is, of course, known for Volvo, and sure enough, right by the harbor in Goteborg I saw this Volvo 444. I'm not clear as to the year, but they didn't make them after 1958. But the license plate might be trying to tell us 1947.



And what would have the 80s and its excesses have been without the car made by John DeLorean? Used in Back To The Future, and actually not uncommon in my hometown of Santa Barbara at the time, I always liked these. The first one ever produced was colored gold and driven by DeLorean himself, who passed away in early 2005.


Making their second appearance on the website is Maserati; this one is a Bora, which was a model evidently produced in the early 70s. Sleek design, great lines,and I can only imagine what the top speed on this is. Remember Joe Walsh's line in Life's Been Good: My Maserati does 185. I lost my license, now I don't drive.




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