Archive for July, 2014

Ur-Minivan – 1961 Austin Mini Van

July 23, 2014

Another thing that adds to the interest factor for cars is if they’re unusually small (unusually big is cool too, but since the size of the average North American car is pretty big anyways, that becomes impractical pretty quickly), or if they’re in a rarely-seen utilitarian version. Think of station wagons, half-cars/utes, and panel vans based on wagons – what isn’t cool about those? Okay, outward vision isn’t… anyhow, here’s a vehicle that covers a trifecta of cool-car criteria. It’s unusually small, it’s a wagon-based panel van, and it’s fun around the corners – check out this 1961 Austin Mini van for sale for $2500 in Chino Hills, CA.

1961 Austin Mini van left rear

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It’s a Sedan – 1973 VW Squareback Type 3

July 22, 2014

VW was justly famous for its advertising campaigns back in the days of the air-cooled cars, though they still seem to live in the shadow of those successful commercials today. Most were self-deprecatingly funny, or poked fun at the folly of driving a larger car, but in advertising the Type 3 Squareback, VW could be considered a little vain – clearly they were trying to avoid the uncool “station wagon” designation by referring to their long-roof car with extra side windows and a rear hatch as a “Squareback sedan”. Hmm. Today, we’ll settle for saying these are a cool little two-door wagon – an extinct species in the genus “station wagon”. Check out this 1973 VW Squareback Type 3 for sale for $2000 in Tukwila, WA.

1973 VW Type 3 Squareback left front

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19 Cents per Pound – 1968 Imperial Crown

July 22, 2014

Sometimes the mind boggles at how much stuff you can get – junk or not – for $900. Originally listed at $5653 for the pillared sedan, or about $38,000 in 2014 dollars, this was a car designed to compete with Cadillac for the billing of top American luxury car. And if you weren’t busy doing stupid hippie things in 1968 like protesting against wars, for freedom, or for efficiency, you could seal yourself off from all the racket in a 5000-ish pound cocoon gliding along courtesy of Chrysler’s 350hp 440 V8, which gave a monstrous 480 lb.-ft. of torque. Check out this 1968 Imperial Crown for sale for $900 in Centralia, WA.

1968 Imperial Crown left front

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