Classic Cars

A 1985 Dodge RamCharger Prospector is available at Barrett Jackson’s auction in Scottsdale, Arizona this weekend. Regarded as perhaps the best-kept secret in the world of vintage trucks and SUVs, the RamCharger Prospector’s status is expected to blow up as prices for old Broncos, Land Cruisers, and Wagoneers become unattainable. Fortunately, the RamCharger Prospector can be still had at affordable prices, including this fine 1985 model that only has 7,563 original miles under its belt. There’s no reserve price attached to this particular piece, so it’s going to be sold to the highest bidder regardless of the final price. If you can score this burgeoning collector’s item, you could be ahead of the game in the quest for 1985 RamCharger Prospectors that are still, at the very least, in good running condition.

The Lancia Aurelia was a car built in the 1950s before it was replaced by the more modern Flaminia. The most famous example is a racing version of the car that was based on the B20 two-door GT and competed in the Mille Miglia (where it came second overall in 1951), won its class at Le Mans the same year, and it was also raced in the Carrera Panamericana. Now, there’s a new model in the spotlight as it has been the subject of a rather extensive restomod.

The Lotus Cortina, or Ford Cortina Lotus as it has also become known, is the street-going version of the Group 2 touring car that became one of the most famous and successful models of its kind in the ’60s, routinely hitting above its weight and beating Mustangs, Falcons and even the odd Ford Galaxie in the British Saloon Car Championship, the European Touring Car Championship and beyond. Originally, only 1,000 Cortinas were built to meet homologation needs, and the car in the video is a genuine one.

The original Lotus Cortina, based on the Mark 1 Consul Cortina, was launched in 1963 and received comprehensive modifications by Lotus with its beating heart being a 1.5-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine designed by Harry Mundy. The example shown in this episode of Jay Leno’s Garage has been painstakingly restored to better-than-new condition by Jim Hall, Leno’s chief fabricator, after spending three decades neglected at the mercy of the elements.

The Renault-Alpine A110 is one of the most famous rally cars of the two-wheel-drive era. It reigned supreme in the days before the WRC became a thing and this, the 1800, built to Group 4 specifications, is the swansong of the A110 and ran in 1974 and 1975.

The original Alpine A110 was launched in 1961 as the successor of the A108 which shared parts with Renault’s Dauphine. This time by, Paul Redele and his men relied on parts from the compact Renault 8 sedan. The car had a similar design to the A108, again with a rounded nose and straight-cut rear as well as bulbous headlights.

The A110, in its later versions, claimed numerous rally wins which made Alpine the 1971 champions in the International Championship for Manufacturers. This A110 was built for the 1974 season as one of only nine works-supported cars that year. It managed a best finish of second in the Tour De Corse but proved to be overwhelmed by the newly-homologated Lancia Stratos with its mid-engine configuration.

The Mercedes-Benz 220SE Cabriolet, part of the W111 family of models, debuted in 1961 as a full-size executive open-top model that replaced the W128 220SE which was still based on the antiquated ’Ponton’ design. The new model featured a more sharp-cornered design that has endured as one of Mercedes’ finest over the years.

The W111 series debuted in 1959 at the Frankfurt Auto Show where Mercedes-Benz unveiled the four-door sedan body style which quickly gained the ’Heckflosse’ nickname, which stands for ’Fintail’ in English. The nickname emerged thanks to the car’s stylized fins that rose at the rear of the car, a design cue aimed at the American clientele.

The Cabriolet version followed a couple of years later after the production cycle of the Ponton-based W128 Cabriolet ended. The two-door car had a soft top and exuded a sort of refined beauty that has become almost synonym with ’60s Mercedes-Benz models. The W111 is considered part of the S-Class lineage along with the deluxe W112 that featured bigger engines and more amenities onboard.

The Pontiac GTO is widely regarded as one of the first muscle cars but, by 1970, even one of the stalwarts of the segment wasn’t able to sell as it once did. Still, The GTO of 1970 remains a cornerstone example of muscle cars at their absolute peak.

The Pontiac GTO was born as a sportier version of the Tempest, aimed at a younger clientele. The car debuted in 1964 and by-passed in the process GM’s policy that was limiting A-body intermediate models to a maximum engine capacity of 5.4-liters. As such, the original Tempest GTO came with the 6.4-liter V-8 that was also used by the larger Bonneville and Catalina models.

By 1970, the GTO had lost most of its chromed trim, instead sporting an Endura polyurethane nose and aggressively flared fenders. Of the 40,149, GTOs built in 1970, only 3,797 were ordered with the Judge trim level that had been introduced the year before. Sales kept plummeting from then on thanks to ever-increasing insurance costs, stringent pollution-related rules, and regulations and a general shift in the market’s interest from performance cars to economy cars just as the oil crisis hit.

Keep reading to learn more about the 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge

The Oldsmobile 442, or 4-4-2 as it was advertised and sold in period, was one of the first muscle cars to appear after Pontiac released the Tempest-based GTO. The 1967 model featured a 6.5-liter V-8 that pushed out 350 horsepower but lacked the styling to match its performance figures.

The 442 debuted in September of 1963 for the 1964 model year as the performance trim level of the Cutlass. As a consequence, it was equipped with the biggest engine that GM would allow on a mid-size car at the time, a 5.4-liter V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor that was rated at 310 horsepower. In fact, the 442 nameplate originally pointed out to the car’s setup: its quad-barrel carburetor, four-speed gearbox, and twin-pipe exhaust system.

Oldsmobile’s first muscle car was available as a two-door hardtop, a two-door convertible, and even a four-door sedan. Up until 1967, you could have the 442 trim level on either the F-85 or the Cutlass base. However, for the first generation’s final production year, the 442 was based on the ultimate version of the Cutlass Supreme, further proving the 442’s special status. It became a standalone model when the second generation debuted in 1968.

Keep reading to learn more about the 1967 Oldsmobile 442 Convertible

We all know that protecting your vehicle is of paramount importance. Especially if your car is a decades-old Porsche that you’ve acquired after years of hard work and dedication. Now, owning one of these rolling masterpieces has become a little less stressful with the launch of the Porsche Classic Vehicle Tracking system that allows owners to track their cars and be notified if the batter has been disconnected or if the car has left a certain area.

Porsche is working tirelessly to please the customers that are lining up to buy the new 992-generation Porsche 911. But that’s not the entire business Porsche’s in. The company from Stuttgart also caters towards the owners of vintage Porsche models and beyond parts and expert servicing, Porsche now offers a smartphone app that will allow you, the owner of such a car, to be on top of where your car is at all times.

When you think about famous car chases in movies, the classic footage of a dark green Mustang jumping up and down San Francisco’s hills in pursuit of a stoic, black Dodge Charger will most certainly roll in your memory. One of the two Mustangs used by the late Steve McQueen in that movie, ’Bullitt,’ has been found and it looks just as cool now as it did back in 1968.

Movie cars have always had a special aura surrounding them. Think about the DeLorean DMC-12 used in the ’Back To The Future’ trilogy. For all intents and purposes, John Z. DeLorean’s attempt at a supercar was laughable, although it did look the part. But, once it shone on the silver screen as a time-traveling machine, its place in history was forever assured. Same goes for the Dodge Monaco used by the Blues Brothers or Herbie, the cute Volkswagen Beetle that appeared in ’The Love Bug.’ Same goes for the Ford Mustang GT Fastback that was used by Steve McQueen’s character, Lt. Frank Bullitt, in the movie of the same name.

However, the Highland Green 2-door Fastback has become a cult classic also, in part, due to the mystique that shrouded it. There were, actually, two cars used during filming: one for all the action shots and one that was driven by McQueen during the more serene moments o the film. That car, chassis #8R02S125559, was thought to have been lost after McQueen failed to buy it in the late ’70s. Happily, now, both cars have been relocated, so the story does have a happy ending.

The Manasoo, a ship that sank back in 1928, was finally found this June and it revealed something unexpected: a 1927 Chevrolet Coupe inside the steamer’s hull. While it’s one of the thousands of shipwrecks lying at the bottom of the Great Lakes, it’s surely one of the few to feature a car onboard.

The nearly-intact wreckage of the ship was found this summer below Lake Huron in Canada and, beyond the unexpectedly good condition of the vessel itself, it also nestled a vintage car that survived through the disaster and was found practically undamaged.

The Dodge Charger was Chrysler Corporation’s more luxurious response to the Mustang, billed as a mid-size fastback coupe similar in size and shape to the AMC Marlin. It was based on the Coronet but shared none of its visuals and spawned a number of super quick versions that tortured just about any early Mustangs.

The year was 1966 when Dodge finally joined the fastback muscle car party with the Charger. It was based on the B-body platform and was previewed in an ad that ran during that year’s Rose Bowl which talked about the new "Leader of the Dodge Rebellion."

The original Charger was a more refined coupe sitting just under the personal luxury category dominated by Ford’s T-Bird. That’s why performance wasn’t paramount from the get-go although the 426 Hemi engine was duly available. Also, Dodge quickly put the Charger on the track in the Nascar series, the car winning the 1966 NASCAR Grand National championship with driver David Pearson.

The third generation of the Maserati Quattroporte debuted in 1979 while Maserati was under De Tomaso ownership. It was a return to the classic RWD setup and the V-8 engine which were trademarks of the original Quattroporte full-size sedan of the ’60s. The Quattroporte III was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign.

It’s widely considered that the niche class of the fast full-size sedans was created once Maserati unveiled its first Quattroporte - which means ’four doors’ - at the 1963 Turin Auto Show. With that being said, other manufacturers like Facel in France and Lagonda in the U.K. also built fast sedans in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

But Maserati was the only sports car manufacturer that stuck to the idea of building fast and luxurious sedans for more than just a few short years. As such, in 1979, the third generation of the Quattroporte finally went into production, three years after it was first shown at the 1976 Turin Auto Show. It featured Italdesign styling and was revigorated as it got a V-8 again, compared to the second generation model which was only available with power coming from a lousy V-6.

The 1968 Dodge Dart GTS is considered a compact muscle car, one that solidified Dodge’s performance-oriented image among the young buyers of the ’60s. It featured a boxy look by ’68, which was carried all the way to the end of the car’s lifespan, but what it didn’t gain in looks it more than backed up in performance.

The Dodge Dart was originally introduced as a smaller full-size model in 1960 as Dodge’s entry-level car. Back then, the Dodge brand was the meat in Chrysler Corporation’s sandwich that placed Plymouth as the budget brand and Chrysler at the top of the pile. However, the Dart went on to become the model that bridged the gap in luxury between Dodge and Plymouth.

The Dart never got anywhere near the area of the market governed by Dodge’s Charger, but that’s also what saw it gather a different kind of fanbase that wanted enjoyable performance for a reduced MSRP. In 1967, the fourth-generation Dart was introduced and, by 1968, the biggest engine you can get on a two-door Dart was the 383 cubic-inch, 6.3-liter V-8, aside from the Hurst-installed 426 cubic-inch, 7.0-liter, Hemi V-8.

The Lamborghini Jarama made its way into production in 1970 as a replacement for the Islero and proved to be the Italian supercar manufacturer’s last front-engined V-12 grand tourer. While shorter than the Espada, the Jarama still offered seating for four and had the same engine.

By the late ’60s, Lamborghini was a bivalent company: it was both offering an out-and-out supercar, the tremendous Miura, and a couple laid-back grand tourers built with comfort, luxury, and practicality in mind. When it came time to replace the smaller of the two tourers, namely the Islero, Lamborghini decided to turn from Carrozzeria Marazzi, who’d been behind the Islero, to Bertone.

The car that resulted was a strange thing: it sat low and wide but was also quite short. It came with Miura-style magnesium wheels but it was way heavier than the mid-engined supercar due to its all-steel construction. The first batch of cars was dodgy at best, in typical Italian fashion, but the Jarama S turned out to be an enjoyable highway runner.

The Urraco heralded Lamborghini’s entry in the budget supercar niche. It was available in a number of guises, the P200, P250, and P300. Less than 800 units of this sleek V-8 mid-engined Italian beauty were sold before production ceased back in 1979. In spite of its rarity, the Urraco still fails to command the kind of prices you’ll see early Dinos being sold for.

Presented at the 1970 Turin Auto Show, the Urraco hit the market two years later as an affordable 2+2 supercar that wasn’t really a supercar and stood in either the Miura’s or the Countach’s shadow throughout its lifespan. Its design, penned by Marcello Gandini during his stint at Bertone, leaves something to be desired as far as dramatism goes with the more dedicated 2-seater Merak from Maserati being clearly the best-looking budget supercar at the time.

For all its shortcomings, many of which were mocked during a Top Gear episode which centered around the Merak, the Dino 308 GT4 and the Urraco, the Urraco was considered a brilliant car by Lamborghini engineers as it incorporated a number of industry firsts and other novel ideas for the early ’70s, many of which have been forgotten as time wore on and the scissor doors of the Countach turned the heads of just about any automotive aficionado.

The 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle was the windup of the first generation of this American classic. It came with a facelift compared to 1966 and, just like before, numerous body styles were available as well as a wide palette of trim levels to appeal to every GM buyer. This one, a 2-door SS, was the boldest of all Chevelles.

It was back in 1964 that Chevrolet introduced the Chevelle as a mid-size as a direct response to Ford’s Fairlane and AMC’s Classic models that were at the top of their game in the intermediate class. The production-ready Chevelle wasn’t conceived as a unibody model. Instead, GM decided to put the only new American car of 1964 on the A-body platform which was quite a novelty at the time.

By 1967, the Chevelle was reaching the end of the first generation’s production run and, before a new car was introduced for 1968, the restyled first-generation model soldiered on and, by now, the Super Sport (SS) model was standalone. Meanwhile, the Malibu remained the top trim level option for the Chevelle and actually went on to replace the Chevelle nameplate altogether 11 years later.

The Thunderbird lived its last days as a two-seater sports car in 1957 which is when Ford introduced the 312 5.1-liter V-8 engine. That’s how the E-Code Thunderbird was born, the beefiest of them all and the closest alternative to the Corvette that Ford ever offered.

Ford debuted the Thunderbird at the Detroit Auto Show in February of 1954 and quickly dubbed it "personal car" so as to suggest it wasn’t a direct answer to GM’s Corvette. What it was, in all fairness, was a luxury sports car tailor-made for the kind of people that were looking for a more refined 2-seater model than the Corvette.

The 1957 Thunderbird was the last which retained the original two-passenger layout before Ford decided that their clientele would much rather go for a 4-seater sports car with added amenities and weight. So, for 1957, Ford made the most powerful T-Bird ever by introducing the 5.1-liter V-8 engine, in a number of guises. The twin quad-barrel carburetor ones were distinguishable by the letter E in the car’s VIN code - the source of the ’E-Bird’ nickname.

Keep reading to learn more about the 1957 Ford Thunderbird E-Code

The Chevrolet El Camino coupe utility vehicle was classified as an SUV at the time. It was based on the chassis of a sedan but offered a sizeable bed behind the seats. The third generation El Camino was the second to last to be based on the Chevelle platform.

The El Camino was GM’s answer to the Ford Ranchero. Apparently, GM’s Harley Earl had thought about introducing a coupe utility vehicle a full five years before Ford debuted the Ranchero but internal decision-making delayed the concept which was only green-lighted after GM noticed that the Ranchero had a market.

The El Camino became, arguably, the most practical muscle car by 1970 as a response to the Ranchero which was, by now, based on the Ford Falcon. That’s why you could get an El Camino with the Super Sport package and an almighty engine under the hood. This particular example comes with the 7.0-liter 550 horsepower V-8 engine which wasn’t available on the El Camino at the time.

Keep reading to learn more about the 1970 Chevrolet El Camino SS

The Chevrolet Impala was rejuvenated again for 1961, officially the year when the third generation rolled into production. Chevy’s flagship full-size model was now entirely modern and, more importantly, an SS version became available.

The Impala debuted in 1958 as the top trim level for the Bel Air known as the Bel Air Impala. 1958 was the year of GM’s 50th anniversary, and the Bel Air Impala was the anniversary Chevrolet model. It featured different styling compared to lesser Bel Airs and people bought into it. So much so that, only one year later, the Impala became a model of its own - which is now considered the second generation Impala.

The 1961 Impala was still based on the B-body platform and sat on an X-frame chassis without side rails that were said to improve rigidity and lower the center of gravity. It had already been in use for two years on the previous Impala iteration. The new car came as a Hardtop 2-door Coupe, a Convertible, a 2-door Sedan, a 4-door Sedan, and a 4-door Station Wagon.