Posts Tagged ‘coupe’

Cool Graphics – 1974 Ford Capri

April 17, 2014

The 1960s through the 1980s could arguably be called a golden age for sports coupes. Everything from the tiny DAF 55 coupe, to the iconic Ford Mustang, and the mile-swallowing Lamborghini Espada. Relatively speaking, we have very few options now, and most are either top-end luxury cars, based on sedans like the BMW 4-series, or just plain boring (hello, Altima). Of course, vehicle types like hot hatches and sports sedans have jumped in to take their place, but that ignores the aesthetics you just don’t get with a hopped up sedan or econobox. So it’s nice to look back at cars like the Ford Capri – an accessible, sporting and fun to drive sporty car in which you can take your friends along for the ride. Check out this 1974 Ford Capri, for sale for $3500 in Los Gatos, CA.

1974 Ford Capri right front

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The Other Mirage – 1977 Chevrolet Monza Mirage

April 8, 2014

Just this past weekend at the CSRG season opening historic races, there was a flared and spoilered, Italian-looking sports coupe with racy paint and wide wheels. In the interest of spotting and possibly documenting the find, closer inspection was required, and it turned out to be a Chevrolet Monza Mirage. Internet research revealed it was a stickers-and-body-kit package applied to fully built Monzas by Michigan Automotive Techniques Corporation, designed to resemble the IMSA racing Monza GT. The Monza itself was based on the Vega, and yet sold alongside it, which must have been interesting on the sales floor. It was originally intended to be powered by the Wankel rotary engine GM was developing. You can find this 1977 Chevrolet Monza Mirage for sale for $3500 in Buford, GA.

1977 Chevrolet Monza Mirage right front

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Goat’s Big Brother – 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix

April 7, 2014

If you like the styling of post-war European cars, you definitely owe it to yourself to take a closer look at American cars of the 1960s. Their simple, clean styling is very mid-century modern, in stark contrast to the garish designs of the 1950s and many of the dated and/or cliched designs of the 1970s. Among the design icons of that period, people might quickly come up with a list including the Lincoln Continental, Buick Riviera, and Oldsmobile Toronado (and get angry with you for leaving out the Mustang and the Impala, which, while successful cars in their own right, were not design icons). In that shortlist, however, they’d be forgetting Pontiac’s Grand Prix, which had equal measures of innovation and style. Check out this 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix, for sale for $3000 in Jay, FL (just north of Pensacola).

1964 Pontiac Grand Prix right front

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