Parking Lot Photo Shoot: 1950 Chevrolet Fleetline DeLuxe Fastback

Rust In Peace: 1939 Buick Limited in Springfield, Oregon

 (excuse the arty edits, photos were taken with intent of selling on my deviantART account)

This Fisher-bodied (back when "Body By Fisher" really meant something) 1939 Buick Limited, once a Pikes Peak taxi in Colorado according to the junkyard owner, has sat so long in gross decay that it has its own ecosystem and I could hear it rotting away.

It is a huge shame for such a majestic old car to end up this way, but we can't save them all.

Classic Ads: 1973 Chevrolet Camaro Type LT

The seventies were not kind to the muscle car. Emissions laws and the fuel crisis led to a focus more on personal luxury than outright performance. Reflecting the changing times and taste of customers, Chevy introduced the Type LT (Luxury & Touring) trim level on the Camaro. If that trim name sounds familiar, it's still used on Chevys from the Cruze to the Suburban. And it pretty much means nothing now except "mid-level".

This ad ran in the December 8, 1972 issue of Life magazine.

Parking Lot Photo Shoot: 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302

Insomniac Garage Presents: Blues Brothers Dixie Square Mall Car Chase

At Insomniac Garage, hooning and car chases are always appreciated, and this is one of the best Hollywood car chases. Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and a slew of Chicago and Illinois State police officers going through the Dixie Square Mall at high speed while destroying merchandise and risking lives. The Malaise Era cars in the Dixie Square parking lot and the mocked-up Oldsmobile dealership are remarkable, as are the stunt driving, the filming and the audacity of using a disused commercial space that parts of were being used as a school at the time of filming.

Diecast Car Review: Corgi "Kojak" 1970s Buick Regal (1999 issue)

   

This casting was a 1999 partial retool of a classic 1970s Corgi casting, with added details, and manufactured for collectors. It originally retailed for $36.99, but has been on markdown status at my local hobby store, Eugene Toy & Hobby, for at least two years and was purchased on January 9, 2013 for $18.59. 

Onto the review... proportions are nearly spot-on except for a highly arched roof with no rear vent windows. Tampo details and cast-in details are as much as one could want, save for no detail to the bumper guard rubber and no detail on the stamped rear taillight trim. There is also no glass in the left rear door. But it is a retool of a 1970s Corgi toy car, not a Franklin Mint or other high-end collector diecast, so that is excusable. 8/10.

Interior leaves a lot to be desired, but again... par for the course on 1970s Corgis. The seat and seat upholstery designs are reasonably accurate, the cast-in door panels on the opening front doors are accurate, but the dashboard is quite crude, the steering wheel the typical 70s Corgi four-spoke black plastic piece, and no door panel detail at all for the rear seat area. 6/10.

Fit and finish are first-class and are everything expected of a Corgi diecast. 10/10.

The less said about the included hand-painted white-metal figure of Detective Theo Kojak, the better. Homies minifigures are well-suited to this scale of Malaise Era American diecast and are fairly easy to find (I bought a huge bag of them for 99 cents at Goodwill just before Christmas 2012)

All in all, a decent little casting, and just about the only medium-scale casting of a Colonnade-body GM car available, but be prepared to pay big money for one online, these are not normally available in stores over 10 years after they were issued. 

Death Of The Studebaker Factory: Urban Exploration of the Abandoned Studebaker/Avanti Factory in South Bend, Indiana

A very interesting video featuring an exploration of the abandoned Studebaker automobile factory.

Project For The Brave: Hurricane Sandy Casualty 1989 Aston Martin Lagonda

(all pics from seller)

This ultra-rare 1989 Aston Martin Lagonda appears to be a casualty of Hurricane Sandy and is said in this Hooniverse article to be the last car imported to the US and a former Greenwich Concours entrant.

Considering the rarity and beauty of the car, it may be worth bringing back to life by a devotee of the marque, but is probably best suited to be a parts car. If one could get it cheap enough and import a tatty or wrecked running Lagonda from overseas as a donor, then it would be a great project, but in any case but parting out, deep pockets will be necessary. 

If the Insomniac Garage staff and their friends were to rebuild this car, then all of the digital dash components, wiring and electrical/electronic parts would be swapped out for items used in the street rod aftermarket, the interior retrimmed in an approximation of the original by a Mexican upholstery shop, the most likely hydrolocked engine/transmission swapped out for a Roush-equipped Ford "Coyote" V8 and a Lincoln Town Car automatic transmission, and all of the rust damage treated with POR15. 

Find this car here at Insurance Auto Auctions, with sale date to be announced.

Second Junkyard Photo Feature

All photos by Chris Garza and Creative Commons Attribution licensed.
Prints will be made available on Chris' deviantART page.

Old walk-in vans, truck parts and a steel building.

1955 Pontiac station wagon and Fiat 850 Spider hardtop

1963 Dodge Dart

Malaise Era bustleback Cadillac Seville

Aluminum Intensive Vehicle: 1996 Panoz AIV Roadster Prototype Chassis #002

(all pictures from seller)

While the Panoz AIV lost quite a bit of its original beauty compared to its predecessor, the later AIV Roadster is still a very pure sports car and is as good or better a performer. 

The car featured here is the only Panoz ever painted Toreador Red, was custom-built for the parents of company founder Danny Panoz, was used in the factory promotional video "Drive and You Shall Fly" that was distributed to potential customers in 1996 and 1997, and was featured in the AIV debut at Chateau Elan Winery in September 1996, where the likes of Pete Brock, Adrian Reynard and Jack Roush drove it. It was then taken to Detroit to become the EPA certification car, then was parked in the back of a shop at the Panoz factory and rarely used. 

This car has 4,900 original miles, has Roush alloy wheels, is one of 4 prototype cars built in 1996, features a Panoz-designed 4-wheel independent suspension, a 305-horsepower, 4.2-liter, 32-valve aluminum-block Ford Mustang Cobra V8 and a Tremec T45 5-speed manual transmission, and is made of aluminum with fiberglass-composite fenders. 

Factory specifications follow:

   Panoz AIV Roadster specs:

• Transmission: 5-Speed Manual

• Engine 4600cc (Ford)DOHC V-8

• Power (bhp) 305 @ 5800 rpm

• Torque 300 lb-ft @ 4800 rpm

• Redline: 6800 rpm

• Miles Per Gallon: 17/23 mpg

• Curb Weight: 2570 lbs

• Performance (0-60mph) 4.3sec

• Performance (0-100mph) 11.7 sec

• Top Speed (mph) 140

• Braking, 0-60 mph: 119 ft 

• Place Of Manufacture: Braselton, Georgia (USA)

Find it here for $32,900 USD at WireWheel, and enjoy this video of a production Panoz AIV: