FEBRUARY 4 STAR OF THE WEEK:1959 FORD COUNTRY SEDAN STATION WAGON-COOLEST RIDE IN 53 YEARS
FEBRUARY 4 STAR OF THE WEEK:1959 FORD COUNTRY SEDAN STATION WAGON-COOLEST RIDE IN 53 YEARS
There was a day when a 1959 Ford station wagon wasn't cool-that was 1959. This was the ultimate anchor car if you were out to impress the babes.
Show up at the local teen hangout in your Dad's Ford wagon in 1959 and the phrase "nerd takes beating from the local hoodlums" takes on a new and very painful reality.
That was then-now this 1959 Ford Country Sedan wagon is the ultimate in cool.
Star of the Day-a decades long trip from nerd-dom to stardom.
FEBRUARY 3 STAR OF THE DAY:STUDEBAKER'S HAIL MARY CAR-THE 1963 STUDEBAKER AVANTI
Studebaker was in serious financial whitewater by 1963. In fact they were on life support with a guy hovering around ready to pull the breathing tubes on the once proud car maker.
They had one Hail Mary left in the playbook and it came in the form of the Avanti. This was a classic sports car with disc brakes and a great power to weight with the supercharger option.
It wasn't enough to save Studebaker but that last Hail Mary pass they took left a car for the ages.,,
and an mscc Star of the Day from the Summer of 2011.
FEBRUARY 2 STAR OF THE DAY: BACK TO NATURE WITH OLD IRON
One of MyStarCollectorCar's most popular monthly features is the Fallen Stars section. This is old iron in less than pristine condition.
Typically the vehicles are simply weathered, but there are places where the old iron is going back to nature.
The best shots are found in the past-before the hunt for rare projects thinned the herd to the point of extinction.
This picture was taken several years ago so there's a good chance this old iron is now part of the soil.
Star of the Day...vanishing old iron.
FEBRUARY 1 STAR OF THE DAY: 1967 PLYMOUTH BELVEDERE 4 DOOR SEDAN-THE UNLOVED WORKING COUSIN OF THE GTX
In most car circles, the 1967 Plymouth came in only one form-the GTX. That's a distortion of history because for every GTX, there were literally thousands of Belvederes produced by Plymouth factory workers.
The GTX grabbed all the glory but the Belvedere did all the heavy lifting. These unloved 4 door boxes carried drunks home as taxicabs and drunks to jail as police cars.
Either way it wasn't a pretty life for these cars and when they were done they had an instant future as a new stove.
Fortunately, this Star of the Day was at a show last summer and it looked great simply because it was still a car and not big cube of recycled metal.
JANUARY 31 STAR OF THE DAY: BUICK ROADMASTER ESTATE STATION WAGON-THE LAST OF THE CLASSIC STATION WAGONS
General Motors hung in with the full-sized station wagon until 1996. This Buick Roadmaster Estate is a great example of the last denizen of a bygone era.
This was a real station wagon-wood paneling and enough room to transport the starting lineup of a high school football team.
The minivan effectively killed the station wagon and in the process something was lost. The minivan made more sense but the station wagon offered a kiddie buffer zone that worked for both parties.
Mom and Dad could put a football sized amount of room between the front seat and the brats in the back recesses of a wagon and pretend they're childless again.
And the kids were well out of range of Dad's cuff in the head range.
Star of the Day-the late lamented real station wagon from Buick.
JANUARY 30 STAR OF THE DAY: A POST WAR CHEVY-THE PERFECT FRAMEWORK FOR A CLASSIC RIDE
Students of North American automotive history know that post war cars were almost a decade behind in style and technology because of a little adventure called World War II.
The plans were on the table but factories spun into war production so the 1946 models looked a lot like 1940-41 models.
That didn't matter because pent up demand far exceeded supply so there were tens of thousands of used 46-48 Chevys available a few years later when the new look came out in the form of the 49 Ford and Mercury.
Hot rodders embraced these outdated 46-48 post war cars from the Big 3..so much that James Dean put one over a cliff in Rebel Without a Cause.
Today post war iron is alive and well in the form of cars like this Star of the Day Chevy from a Summer 2011 car show.
JANUARY 29 STAR OF THE DAY-A PAIR OF BEATLEMANIA ERA DODGE AND PLYMOUTH B BODIES
In 1964 everyone in the free world knew what the Beatles were-love 'em or hate 'em.
In 1964 everyone on the car world knew what the Mopar B-bodies were-love 'em or hate 'em.
These Dodges and Plymouths were newly equipped with the race version of the 426 Hemi so guys like Richard Petty on the track and the Ramchargers in the strip took the B-body to new, very dominant levels.
This was one of those fleeting moments at a show in 2010 when two rare, but related cars came together in the form of a 1964 Plymouth Fury and a 1964 Dodge Polara-both were convertibles.
They represent a time and a place...1964, Beatle music and serious Mopar muscle.
Star of the Day-the 64 B-bodies...
For past Stars of the Day please click here-http://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/2-features/star-car-tunes/1406-january-22-star-of-the-day-1959-plymouth-fury-qfuryus-1q-a-classic-fin-car-takes-one-for-the-team.html
