Ever wondered what a bespoke shooting brake might look like if its donor vehicle were a long-wheelbase convertible? Wonder no more, for today’s Rare Ride is just such a vehicle, and is also an Aston Martin. The car which would become Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage model began with the (relatively) lower performance Virage, which debuted […]
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Today’s Rare Ride is a Nissan Be-1 from 1987. As the first of four Pike cars, it set the stage for the upcoming Pike cars and commanded immediate attention from consumers. Come along as we check out this hatchback cheerful economy car. We’ve seen one of the Be-1’s brethren previously — when we learned about the industrial […]
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Today’s Rare Ride is a fairly elaborate concept. A project that came a long way but was not to be, in a case of much ventured and little gained. It’s the Jaguar C-X75, from 2015. Jaguar debuted the C-X75 concept in 2010 at the Paris Motor Show. Looking to the future, Jaguar’s concept was a […]
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What’s Datsun, Nissan, and Sunny all over? It’s this pristine Nissan Sentra wagon, hailing from 1982. The Sunny line started back in 1966 as a compact car which touted fuel efficiency and economical motoring as its most important qualities. Intended as a competitor to the Toyota Corolla, it was introduced the very same year. A […]
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Tell me — do you enjoy luxury, power, and a high level of standard equipment, all wrapped in a family-friendly sedan package? If so, it sounds like today’s Rare Ride might be for you. It’s a well-preserved Ford Taurus SHO from 1990. Ford modernized the American sedan market with the introduction of its slick, aero-friendly […]
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Long before Opel became a donor for the badge-engineered Cadillac Catera and Buick Regal, the then GM-owned company shifted its own cars on North American soil. Today’s Rare Ride is a very early example of such a North American offering: It’s a two-door Rekord sedan from 1960. The first Opels arrived on North American shores […]
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Three luxurious convertibles of six-cylinder and rear-drive persuasion. Which one is worth over 40,000 of your hard-earned dollars? Infiniti G37 Infiniti followed up its very popular third-generation G sedan and coupe with a fourth version in 2007. The car was larger, the engine was larger, and new corporate styling modernized its appearance over the old […]
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Saab was always a fan of the number nine, and it proved its dedication to the special digit by using two nines for their pre-900 era compact executive car. Let’s take a look at a little blue Saab 99. In the early Sixties, executives at Saab headquarters were desirous of a larger car to extend […]
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The occasionally sane group of people known as Car Twitter elevated the new Suzuki Jimny to superstar status recently, as soon as it debuted in its home market of Japan. Immediately, it received the Forbidden Fruit Award, followed by the Why Can’t We Have blue ribbon. It’s not coming here, though, and that’s really all […]
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You’ve seen all of today’s contenders before on the roads, likely more times than you can count. Forgettable because of how middling they were, hundreds of thousands were sold. Which one would you actually buy with your own money? The year is 1996 and you’re a family sedan customer. You don’t want to spend a […]
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Imagine you’re an American auto executive in the 1980s, looking on in desperation as all the youthful and wealthy customers head almost solely to BMW showrooms for their sports-oriented sedans and coupes. Now imagine you work at Ford, and you’ve decided to do something about it. By the way, you’re Bob Lutz right now. It’s […]
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Yesterday’s QOTD post by youthful scribe Steph Willems got me thinking about the cars of my youth, as intended. But the thoughts weren’t about the cars I would’ve had on my (non-existent) posters, but rather those I fully ignored in those days. Little did I know. First, I’ll explain the lack of posters in my […]
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The recent news of the potential alliance brewing between Ford and Volkswagen seems like a novel idea. But what if I told you it was already tried long ago? Come along, we’re taking a trip to Versailles. Ford likes to use Versailles as a model name. It used Versailles in the 1950s in Europe, where […]
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Roughly a year ago, Lamborghini customized a Huracán RWD for Pope Francis. This was not a commissioned job but a gift from the automaker to the Vatican. Tragically, His Holiness wasn’t interested in holding onto it so he could more easily cruise for babes and Catholic Church decided the best course of action would be to auction […]
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Today’s Rare Ride is what happens when you take the generally British idea of a shooting brake and combine it with some designers in Michigan who had big ideas. It’s the 1985 Trans Am Kammback Concept. It’s real, and it is spectacular. The Trans Am name first appeared as a performance trim package for Pontiac’s […]
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Rare Rides has featured a couple of Peugeot vehicles before, like this 106 from Canada or this 405 from The America. But both of those were sporty cars from the Nineties. Today we have a look at a Peugeot from the Seventies which is most definitely not sporty. It’s a stunning 504 with a diesel […]
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On the Junkyard Find post at the start of this week, conversation turned to vehicle models which resisted change from the designer’s pen (or ruler) and the engineer’s… tools. Today we talk about the good old days, and how sometimes things stay the same. The very subject of the Junkyard Find is my example for […]
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Today’s Rare Ride fits squarely in the I Didn’t Know About This file. It’s a military-grade Volvo from the 1950s, which the company transformed into a civilian vehicle nearly three decades later. Presenting the C202 Laplander. The Laplander range of vehicles began development in the early part of the 1950s. The Swedish Army, in need […]
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By a wide margin, the most important automotive-related news this week has been General Motors’ impending closure of five manufacturing facilities across North America. Accompanying the closures are losses of thousands of jobs and the discontinuation of six passenger car models over the next year or so. Who’s to blame here? Commentary on the enlightened […]
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What do you get when you combine the sporty personality of Porsche with all the comfort and luxury of a Mercedes-Benz sedan? The answer is this E500. In the late 1980s Mercedes found itself riding a wave of popularity. Building quality automobiles of restrained and tasteful luxury had served the company well for quite some […]
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