Please Save Me: 1955-56 Powell Sport Wagon Pickup Truck

The Powell Sport Wagon was one of the most unusual post-WWII independent-make American vehicles. The use of remanufactured 1940-41 Plymouth car chassis, Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler Industrial or war-surplus Dodge military flathead six engines and parts-bin sourcing elsewhere was odd, but made for a very serviceable, dependable and inexpensive to build light truck. 

This truck looks to have lots of surface rust, quite a bit of denting, missing glass and most trim missing, but all the Powell-specific bits other than the front badge and grille bar supports are there, and all the missing Powell-specific stuff can be gotten or helped with through the Powell Registry, which the buyer of this truck should join. Some items are off-the-shelf pieces like 1942-47 Ford truck headlight rings, utility trailer lighting for taillights & turn signals, 1950 Ford 4-door sedan rear-door trim strips for the grille bar chrome, 1940-41 Plymouth or Kaiser Henry-J steering wheels and 1940-41 Plymouth instruments, eBay will be the best place to find those. Using auto parts store-derived license plate mounting & lighting pieces will not be frowned upon, and in fact may well be accurate.

Here is an excellent article on the Powell.

Find this Powell here, near Seneca, Missouri, for $950 (or go here if ad disappears)

This Powell has no title, but will legally have to be sold on a bill of sale, so either a lost-title application with the Missouri DMV, or going through Broadway Title are your best ways to get a title.

Early 60s Fiat 2100 Station Wagon Project

This Fiat 2100 station wagon needs a complete restoration, has some rust and body damage, is largely complete, but it does not come with the vintage Oregon plates seen on it and it is being sold on a lost-title form and bill of sale.

This is an ambitious project, or use it as a parts car for another 2100.

Find it here for $750 south of Portland, Oregon

Oddball On The Cheap: 1990 Isuzu Impulse RS Project

The second-generation Isuzu Impulse is an underrated sporty car and is a great driver's car for a front-wheel-drive design. Considering that many of its components were used in the M100 Lotus Elan and that the second-generation Impulse's suspension was engineered by Lotus, that is even more remarkable.

While its styling is polarizing and many people will confuse it for the much more common and related Geo Storm, these cars are still very much worthy of saving, and this is a very worthy project. The car needs a clutch and valve work, some very minor bodywork, removal of bumper stickers and a detail job, possibly backdating the stereo to a Geo Storm or Impulse stock head unit if you're a purist, but at $900 for a rare 5-speed Japanese sporty car that's an excellent alternative to a 240SX, MX-6, Prelude or Celica, plus a little bit of work done, you can't go wrong.

Find it here on Whidbey Island in Washington State for $900, or go here if ad disappears.

Orphan in Need: 1951 Frazer, $750

Normally when one thinks about an "orphan marque" classic car, they think Nash, Hudson, Studebaker or Packard... few people muster up thoughts of a Frazer. The marque was built alongside Kaiser cars by well-known industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, and all cars that he produced were very ordinary in engineering, using parts derived from other companies or that were inherited by Kaiser Industries' purchase of Graham-Paige's vehicle business in 1946.

Frazer was ostensibly a competitor to firmly entrenched favorite higher-end cars such as Packard, Cadillac, Lincoln, Chrysler and Hudson; it also duked it out with imported upstarts like the Citroen 11CV, Rover P4, Jowett Javelin, Sunbeam-Talbot 90 and Mercedes-Benz 170V. 

The company originally had high sales in the years immediately following World War II, but with the other American brands producing a superior car at a similar price, with more attractive styling by 1949, Frazer sales plummeted quickly. Even the elegant taillights that had hints of Cadillac to them, dramatic chromed grille piece and opulent interiors wouldn't save Frazer's bacon, and the marque was quietly withdrawn. Its sister marque Kaiser only lasted a few more years in the US before moving production of Kaiser passenger cars to Argentina.

Few Frazers survived into the 21st century, especially 1951 models, and this very restorable 1951 sedan  can be yours for only $750 in Topeka, Kansas. (go here if page disappears).