What do you like?

What kind of cars do I like?

When people find out I am a car guy, they always ask me what kind of cars I like? It is a tough question to answer. My daily drivers are a Subaru Outback and a '94 Ford Taurus SHO. My classic cars are both '67 Mercurys (Cougar and Park Lane two-door). Am I a Ford guy? Yes, I am. But, I love all things Pontiac from the 60s and early 70s. I think that some of Chrysler's current lineup are awesome (Charger, 300C, Challenger). I also think Corvette's are some of the best bang for the buck versus any exotic car out there. So, how to answer that? I guess it's complicated.

I used to talk about my Top 5 to my buddy, Jim, with whom I do nearly everything car-related. On a trip to pick up one of our project cars, he made me list my top 5. It ended up being a top 100. We decided I needed to narrow it down...

I initially planned for this blog to be only about Classic Cars. Most of today's cars look like everything else on the road; very few new cars excite me like the "old cars" do. In fact, I even made no effort to go to the Chicago Auto Show this year because there was nothing I "had to" see. The soon to be released Dodge Challenger is GORGEOUS, but I have seen tons of pictures of it, and the crowd that would be around it made it seem not worth the effort.

There are some exceptions. I love the current Mustang and all of its variations (most recently the Shelby GT500KR), and the aforementioned Challenger. However, it is rare that a new car from Europe or Japan gets me excited.

Don't get me wrong. I love the lines of Mazda's RX8 and will mourn its passing when it dies due to slow sales. The Infiniti G37 has great lines, too. The Mazda 3 and VW GTI are cool looking and fun cars to drive. But few of these really make me crane my neck to see them after they pass...

That was until a week or so ago when I looked in the rearview mirror on Lakeshore Drive on the way home from work. The first thing that caught my eye was the illumination from the headlights. The LEDs along the bottom and up the inside edge really got my attention.

As it got closer, I noticed the front of the car looked like Audi's sensational new R8, which I have not even seen in person. The front fascia of the car looked really cool as it maneuvered around the Audi A4 behind me.

Then it passed me,... and I was in love.

The rear three-quartere view of the car was stunning; the cool shape of the taillights and the quad exhaust looked great and like almost nothing else on the road today. The roofline was the aspect that I remember most clearly although I cannot really describe what it is about it that I like... Is it a coupe that is almost a fastback? Or is it a fastback that is almost a coupe? Whatever it is, I love it!

I could not wait to get back to work the next day to talk to my buddy, Tony, about the S5. The next morning, I got an email from him that had a picture of the S5 and said, "Quite simply, the best looking car they've ever made... They obviously clearly used the 3 Series for inspiration, but I think it looks even better than the BMW." I agree wholeheartedly.

So, to answer my own question. What kind of cars do I like? Almost all of them. There may be some individual cars I do not like (the Buick Rendezvous/Pontiac Aztek come to mind), but I like all kinds of cars. New and old. Big and small. Fast and slow. Sleek and boxy.

Do I still need to narrow it down? Not really. I am a car guy.

To read more about the Audi S5, you can go to:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=121924#7

To see some video footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGC48TlcKnA

GMs Forgotten Front Drivers

It's funny how your tastes change over time. There are cars that I hated growing up that I now like, while there are others that I was indifferent to that I now am obssessed with. The 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado is one of the latter. When I was a little kid, we went to see my godparents, Ann and Chuck Swanson, and parked behind their house was a 66 or 67 Toronado. My memory of it seems to be that the car was kind of back in the bushes, but this had to be around 1968 so it could not have been more than 2 years old. Anyway, I noticed that the car was a neat shape, but it did not make much more of an impression on me than that.

My interest in these amazing cars was awakend a few years ago, when Jay Leno had a 66 Toronado converted from front wheel to rear wheel drive and added a 1,000+ horsepower engine. It is an amazing machine, and so beautiful. There is one story where Leno talks about encountering a Bentley Continental GT on the highway and then he proceeds to blow its doors off. I LOVE THAT!!!

To read more about this beautiful and amazing one-of-a-kind car, go to: http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/113_0502_1966_oldsmobile_tornado/index.html

More recently, my car buddy Jim and I were driving home from the hospital where Lorette (my friend and Jim's wife) works. There was a 66 Toro parked in the driveway on one of the side streets. I thought the car was gorgeous, so I went and researched them.

Oldsmobile introduced the Toronado for the 1966 model year. It was like nothing else on the street. The GM styling team responsible for the Toronado said they were going for the "feel" of the Cord 810 and 812 of the 1930s (see picture below).

For the first time since the 1930s, an American automaker used front wheel drive. How forward thinking was that? It wasn't until the 1980s that FWD became mainstream. In addition to this mechanical similarity, the Toro had a horizontal grille and hidden headlights. Looking at the cars together, you can see that the cars appear very different, unlike today's "heritage" cars which look very much like their spiritual forebears (think the current Mustang compared to the 67-68 Mustang; the upcoming Camaro and Challenger compared to their 1969 and 1970s predecessors). The Toronado captures the essence of that Cord but is definitely its own car. One must remember, however, that automotive design and manufacturing had changed so much more between the 1930s and 1960s versus the 1960s and 2000s.

The front drive Toronado was developed and built around the same time as Cadillac's front drive Eldorado (introduced in 1967); another of my favorite cars today. Both cars were the "sportiest" full-sized cars offered by their brands (if anything that weighs 4500+ pounds can be considered sporty), but the Toronado was tuned more for sport than the Eldorado which definitely leaned toward luxury. The pictures below show the Toronado's more sporting nature versus the Eldorado's more traditional interior. The Toronado's dash is really aggressive looking.



The speedometer in the Toronado (called a barrel speedometer) was somewhat controversial, but looked cool. The Eldo's speedo looks like any you'd see in a full-sized car.

Toronado "Barrel" Speedo

Eldorado Speedo

If there were any question of the different companys' intentions, let's talk about the engines in each. The Toronado came with a 425 cubic inch V8 with 385 horsepower, while the Eldorado came with a 345 horse 429 cubic inch V8. Add to that, the Toronado weighs almost 500 pounds less. This is not to say that the Eldo was slow; when Hemmings ran these cars in the nquarter mile, the Eldo beat the Toro by .22 seconds.

Toronado's 425 cubic inch V8 (385 hp)

Eldorado's 429 cubic inch V8 (340 hp)

While they had better than average performance and handling in their day (despite being FWD), their current value is much less than their muscle car counterparts. This amazes me. They are more rare than most of the muscle cars. They have big block V8s. They are fast and they handle better. Both cars are beautiful - the Toronado is curvaceous and sleek; the Eldorado is angular and sleek. So, why does their value lag behind? I do not know. Parts are not easy to find and there is no aftermarket source for them. However, I think their reasonable production numbers and the probability that they were mostly adult owned, combined with GMs excellent quality in the mid-1960s means that their should be enough left to support an aftermarket. Maybe someday.

One of the reasons I started this blog which I have only shown to a handful of friends, so far, is to highlight some of the cars that do not get the attention that the muscle cars do today. These cars are two of those and I hope that I can encourage some enthusiasts to restore something different.

Don't get me wrong. I love the muscle cars. However, I have seen so many Chevelles, GTOs and Hemi Cudas in the magazines that I do not feel like I have too much more to learn about them. Plus, they are all in the stratosphere, price-wise. However, when I get my saved search emails for the 66/67 Toronado and the 67/68 Eldorado with their affordable prices, I think to myself - "Maybe someday will be sooner than I expect."

What cars from the 50s/60s/70s do you like that you think need more press time? Email me at channing@greene-shipman.org.

Channing - 27 April 2008



Acknowledgements: Most photos displayed of the Eldorado and Toronado in this posting cam e from Hemmings Classic Cars magazine, December 2006 issue.



The photo of Jay Leno's awesome Toro was from hotrod.com - http://www.hotrod.com/index.html



The photo of the Cord is from John Malks' Cordnet - http://www.automaven.com/index.html

Autospotting

I have been a car guy for as long as I can remember. My mother gave me my first Matchbox car when I was two. I think she immediately regretted it because I started learning the year, make, and model of any car I saw and would recite them as we rode down the road.

I can still envision most of the cars on our court when we lived in Chesapeake, Virginia. Our next door neighbors, the Heafner's had a 1965 Olds Cutlass in Lucerne Mist Poly (Beverly) and a 1964 Ford Fairlane (Harold). Paul Midgette, my best friend's father, had a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville convertible in Marimba Red Poly with a white vinyl top. The Carando's (not sure if I am spelling their name right), whose steep driveway we would use for sledding when it snowed had a Vintage Burgundy Poly colored 1964 Ford Thunderbird.



1963 Ford Country Squire

Renault Dauphine (unsure what year)

The cars my parents drove when I was born were a 1963 Ford Country Squire and a Renault Dauphine. At the time, I hated the station wagon, but today I would love to own one. We later owned a Meadowlark Yellow, 10-passenger Ford Country Squire with a 429 Thunderjet. I initially did not think much of the Squire because it replaced my beloved 1967 Mercury Park Lane. That has changed. I think the lines of station wagons are more beautiful than their sedan counterparts. In fact, I am a now huge station wagon enthusiast and dream of owning a 1969 Country Squire like the one my parents owned. Of course, that is starting to appear less and less likely because a pristine example just sold on EBay this week for over $15,000.

1969 Country Squire

I like to think that station wagons are making a slow comeback, and I hope it continues. BMW and Mercedes make some pretty cool wagons that are way out of my price range, while the Mazda 6, VW Passat, and Saab 9-3 wagons have been catching my eye lately. I love my 1998 Subaru Outback, but am hoping that Subaru will come out with a Hybrid version that does not cost $40K. Today's wagons will never be the big beautiful beasts they were in the 1960s, but the sleek shapes they come in today are pretty cool and worth considering.

2006 Mazda 6 wagon



2006 VW Passat Wagon

I started this blog because I love to talk about cars. I am not sure if anyone will ever read it besides me (unless I decide to send the link to some of my many car buddies), but I thought this would give me and anyone else out there who just likes to talk about cars a place to post and talk about any car they want - not just muscle cars; not just super-exotics - any car. All opinions are welcome - I may not agree with everyone, but sometimes the debate is just as much fun.

Channing Greene
Chicago, Illinois
02/02/08