THE ULTIMATE RETRO CAR GALLERY
The Fabulous Hardtop Wagons
The glorious hardtop or ‘pillarless’ wagon was a short lived body style that lasted less than a decade - introduced in 1956 and petering out with a whimper in 1964. Between those years there were several magnificent, pillarless station wagons that were anything but utilitarian. The late 1950s was a time when a top of the range station wagon was a prestige car - something an owner would feel proud to pull up in front of the county club or expensive restaurant.
The hardtop wagons were so exclusive only a few marques even offered them - namely Buick, Oldsmobile, Mercury, Rambler, Chrysler and Dodge. They made the family car glamorous - think of the hardtop wagons as the top line SUV of their day. Expensive to make, expensive to buy - they weren’t around for long but they made an impression.
Read out article to find out more about the fabulous hardtop wagons
If you had to pick your ten favourite movie cars - what would they be? Even if your choices are different, we’re sure you’ll agree on one thing - we’ve chosen some iconic and ultra-cool cars that have featured in some of the best popular movies of the mid-to-late 20th century. It’s no easy task, but we whittled it down to ten (well - actually eleven) Read on to find out which cars made the cut, and why we chose them.
Discover our list of the top ten greatest movie cars of all time
Ford Mustang - the original pony car
Mustang - America’s most famous single model, the original pony car. Released in April 1964 with a massive and highly successful publicity blitz, Ford found themselves with a car so instantly desirable they could barely keep up with orders. Within a year over 400,000 Mustangs were sold, making it the most successful new car launch in history. By '65 buyers could choose between hardtop, convertible and fastback body styles, but the options didn’t stop there. Mustang was one of the first design-it-yourself cars. Mustang appealed to women as much as men not just because it was pretty, but because they could customise it to their taste and needs. As for young males - they could order up a high performance, tire-smoking V8 muscle car. Older buyers might order air-conditioning and power-steering. It really was the first all-things-to-everyone car, and as much for that as for it’s timeless good looks, the Mustang is as loved today as ever.
Visit the Mustang gallery to re-live the glory days of the first four generations of Mustang
The Chevy Impala - America’s most popular car of the 1960s
The Chevrolet Impala was the king of American cars for two decades from its introduction in 1958. In the mid 1960s it topped one millions annual sales not once, but twice. That record’s yet to be broken. Small wonder the Impala and its stable mates the Bel Air, Biscayne, Caprice and El Camino pickup were so popular. All models offered style in spades and myriad options to suit the fussiest buyer.
Best of all was the range of engines, from Chevy’s famous small block V8, to bad-boy heavyweights like the SS409 and later the 396, 427 and mighty (7.4ltr) 454.
Go to our new Chevrolet Impala gallery to see images of the first twenty years of Impala
The Fabulous Mako Shark II
In the early 1960s the head of General Motors Design division told his top designer that he wanted a car inspired by a fish. It also had to be colored just like the mako shark he had mounted in his office. The result was one of the greatest show cars of all time - the 1965 Mako Shark II. Bristling with innovations that have since become common, the Mako Shark II also became the inspiration for the third generation Corvette Stingray .
For lovers of James Bond movie cars we’ve put together CARS OF BOND - the authoritative history over sixty years of the famous franchise. Every Bond movie car in chronological order from Dr. No (1962) all the way up to 2021’s No Time To Die.
A ’69 Chevy with a 396 and Fuelie Heads?
Racing In The Street - Bruce Springsteen’s moving tribute to street racers of the ‘70s is among the finest and saddest songs abut life on the road. More than a road song, he describes a way of life, as portrayed in Monte Hellman’s cult road movie Two Lane Blacktop. Young men across America really did lead nomadic lives devoted to illegal street racing whether for money or thrills or both. Bruce breaks it down - the loneliness, the obsession, the single mindedness of devoting a life to being the fastest dude in town…any town.
One of Springsteen’s most loved songs, it’s also one that has stirred arguments and minor controversy going back forty years. Anyone familiar with Chevy V8 engines knows you can’t get fuelie heads for a 396 - so why did Bruce mention it in the opening words of the song? Read on to find out…
The Woody Wagon - pop culture icon
The iconic American woody (or woodie) wagon dates back to the very beginning of automobile manufacture when car frames were originally made of timber. As metal took over and timber content diminished throughout the 1920s - certain models stubbornly refused to go all-metal.
Woody Wagon Gallery
Glamor, Style & Power: America's Personal Luxury Cars
Though not strictly performance cars, the personal luxury car had serious horsepower. Whilst acceleration was always respectable, the personal luxury car's forté was effortless cruising – a long-distance mile-eater rather than stoplight dragster.
Mobile works of art - Italian supercars of the ‘60s & ‘70s
Is there anything more eye-catching in the automotive world than a late ‘60s Italian exotic? Every stylistic era has a high water mark and for supercars, it was half a century ago. Those who remember, and those who look back, will see mobile masterpieces sculpted by the hands of Pinin Farina, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Marcello Gandini and Nuccio Bertone. They designed cars for Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, De Tomaso and Iso among others. Cars with beautiful names to match their shapes - Miura, Espada, Khamsin, Pantera, Countach and Merak. Here then, we have galleries with original factory promotional images and advertising artwork - to remember the works of the masters. Enjoy our Italian galleries!
POPULAR GALLERIES
If you had to pick your ten favourite movie cars - what would they be? Even if your choices are different, we’re sure you’ll agree on one thing - we’ve chosen some iconic and ultra-cool cars that have featured in some of the best popular movies of the mid-to-late 20th century. It’s no easy task, but we whittled it down to ten (well - actually eleven) Read on to find out which cars made the cut, and why we chose them.