Classic Cars

Should of Ford taken the T-bird away?

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Today we feature another clip from the fantastic PBS series Great Cars. The Ford Thunderbird was launched in 1955 as a response to Chev’s 1953 Corvette. The first model was kinda sporty looking and cool but something went wrong along the way with Ford calling the car a personal luxury car rather than a sports coupe the car grew into some what of a hideous beast. The first few restyles saw them grow but still retain their cool but by the 70s, 80s and 90s they were just plain ugly and awful. Ford saw some sense and killed it off in 1997, the name returned in 2002 on a cool retro T-bird that was reminiscent of the 1955 model, unfortunately it didn’t sell well and was killed off by 2005. So what went wrong? did the 70s ugly stink up the name or was the retro model the wrong place at the wrong time? let us know what you recon in our comment form below.

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It’s a doozie

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While stumbling around youtube we come across a few good clips from the PBS series great cars, so we thought we feature a few of them by starting out with the Duesenberg. Duesenberg was a US car company started by two German brothers and originally operated between 1913 to 1937. The cars at the time were the best and most expensive cars on the market with people from Clark Gable to the Duke of Winsor owning a Duesey. Apparently about 60% of them still survive, something that is a rare for a 80 year old production car. A few failed attempts have been made in the past to revive the name with a new car to go into production this year as well. Will the new one be a doozie or are we better off dreaming about times gone by instead of reviving the classics name. 

Cars of the Stars

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Keswick is a small town in the lakes district in the North West corner of England and is home to the Cars of the Stars Museum. They have an interesting collection of classic cars which have appeared in film and television all displayed in specially themed panoramas and many of them are very well known. Some of their vehicles include Mr Bean’s Mini, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a De Lorean from Back to the Future, the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Mad Max’s XB GT Falcon, the Munster’s Koach and a even a Batmobile. Opening in 1989 after the museum’s founder was approached by a film studio to use one of his vehicles the museum is one of the more popular in the top end of England. The museum features a good little souvenir shop which sells cards, models and other movie and car memorabilia.

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Jaguar E Type

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The E Type Jaguar revolutionised sports car design when it was first launched in 1961. It had magnificent performance, handling and looks and was way ahead of its time. Enzo Ferrari is quoted as saying it was” The most beautiful car ever made”. and has headed many lists of the 60’s best sportscar.

This lovely 1967 example was photographed at the Toyota Megaweb classic car collection in Odaiba, Tokyo. The Toyota History Garage is part of Toyota’s Megaweb car fun park. The History Garage contains all the cars that shaped car history from this Jag to the Delorean and Huge Caddys to microcars. All the cars are really well presented, there is also a huge Toyota showroom displaying everything from Toyota Japan’s Range.

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Nissan Gallery Ginza

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 Right in the heart of Tokyo‘s prestige shopping strip- Ginza is the Nissan Ginza Gallery. In a shopping district home to the world’s finest fashion, jewelry and style the Nissan Gallery has a small showcase of vehicles which look like expensive gems or jewels. The showroom is open to the public and free, it is only small but usually houses a few classic vehicle like this lovely Datsun sports car, some futuristic vehicle straight out of the latest motorshow and a few of the company’s new models. There are some lovely artwork and small displays along with a Nissan merchandise counter.  The centre also has a play area for the young one, with colouring and block building. The Nissan Tokyo head office is above the display centre. Well worth a visit for anyone visiting Tokyo.

Ford Discovery Centre – Australia

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Back in 1925 Ford started their Australian production in Geelong Australia and today the city is still home to their Stamping facilities and Research and Development centre. Within a few metres of their original works near Geelong’s waterfront the Ford Discovery Centre now stands. Offering visitors an extensive showcase of vehicles that the Marquee has become famous for from the Model T to the latest model Falcon. The centre is much more than a car museum it is a hand’s on technology centre where people especially the young can come face to face with production robots, vehicle cutaways and visit a mock up of Ford Australia’s top secret design studio where full size real clay model vehicles are on display. The center fun and education and is a very popular learning centre for many of the states primary schools. The center has many one off concept vehicles and show cars, historic vehicles including the world’s first utility vehicle the 1932 Ford Ute and some of the latest iconic vehicles in it’s ever changing display.

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The Mazda R360 Coupe

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Today Mazda is one of the leading car manufacturing companies in the world but it wasn’t until 1960 when the manufacturer was taken seriously as a car producer with its beautiful R360 coupe. This little vehicle was powered by a rear mounted and air cooled 356 cc engine which put out a whopping 16 hp with top speeds of about 52mph and weighed only 380 kg. The wheelbase was only 69 inches and as the photo taken at the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima shows it was very cute. Production lasted about 6 years, and in that time they did a few major upgrades and even produced a convertible version of the R360 from 1964 and also transformed the vehicle into a light pickup truck, the B360.

Back to the future with the De Lorean

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The De Lorean would have to be the most famous of the whacky cars which went into production. Maybe it was because of it’s starring role in the hit movies Back to the Future or maybe just because of what it was. Built in 1981 for 3 years in of all places Northern Ireland the DMC-12 featured gull wing doors, a fiberglass underbody and brushed stainless steel panels. About 9000 of the of the cars were produced at the Dunmurray Factory it is believed over 6000 still exist in the hands of collectors and are cemented as a icon of the 80’s. The car has become so popular in recent years DNC Houston announced a few months ago it would bring the vehicle back into production with about 20 being built each year, the first one rolls of the assembly line this year. They will sell for just under $60,000 us and have a few modern touches but all the 80’s design cues that people have come to love. This vehicle was photographed at the Toyota Mega Web classic car collection in Tokyo Japan