Laurence Jones American Motors

(Found in) South of Market (San Francisco) – 1967 Mercury Cougar Coupe

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If there’s anything to be said about the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor company is that it seemingly was always the Bridesmaid, never the Bride of the medium price market. Routinely batted around by Dodge, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and even Ford at various stages in their history, they never garnered much in the way of big hits.

The one of possibly two times they stood up on their own two legs and offered a semi-unique product everyone wanted was this swanky coupe to the left. Indeed, the 1967 Mercury Cougar was a surprise out of the ballpark smash that Mercury was very rarely able to repeat again.

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Laurence Jones 1960s, General Motors, Oldsmobile

(Found In) The Bayview (San Francisco) – 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado

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Forward thinking while referencing the past, that’s what the Oldsmobile Toronado wished to do as a new concept in motoring for 1966.

Whether it was fully successful is a question left up to interpretation. As it stands it was a technological tour-de-force, and tempting dead end. Stylish, Suave and Sexy, it was a surprise image leader for Oldsmobile’s Where The Action Is years of the mid 1960’s.
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Laurence Jones 1960s, American Motors, Coupe, Rambler

(Found In) East Oakland – 1965 AMC Rambler Classic 770 2 Door Hardtop Coupe

image (30)American Motors most likely wished that the sun was shining down on their 1965 line of automobiles like it was on this Classic a few weeks ago.

In a booming automotive market during the 1960’s, American Motors decided to diversify away from being the choice of spinster librarians and penny pinchers. They decided to broaden the scope of their offerings away from mere economy champs that racked up multiple wins at the MobilGas Economy run and high resale values based on stout construction.

The goal became to take on the Big 3 manufacturers on their own individual turfs. All 3 low priced brands would begin to offer Compact, Intermediate and Full Sized offerings and AMC was determined to go to war with equivalent models in each size segment.

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Laurence Jones 1960s, General Motors, Pontiac

(Found In) West Oakland – 1964 Pontiac Bonneville 2 Door Hardtop Coupe

image (26) Pontiac was decidedly sitting pretty in a number of ways by 1964. When it came to standard American Cars, Pontiac was setting the standard most aspired to. The stacked headlamps and voluptuous hips adoring the rear fenders would be features copied either in part or in whole by brands throughout the automotive spectrum starting in 1965.

In a rosy automotive market Pontiac found itself sitting pretty in the #3 Spot, having dispensed with Rambler and Plymouth and closing in on the three quarters of a million mark of Arrowhead Army members shuttling down American Interstates during the 1964 model year.

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Laurence Jones 1960s, Chrysler, Dodge, Mopar, Sedan

(Found In) West Oakland – 1963 Dodge 330 Four Door Sedan

image (23) There’s something always a bit sinister about a car with flat black paint and “Baby Moon” hubcaps. Who knows what’s going on as the driver of this 1963 Dodge 330 Sedan pulled over on West Grand Boulevard to take a phone call? Will his mission report self destruct?

In a lot of ways, the 1963 offerings from Highland Park, Michigan reflected an attempt to make it back from the brink of disaster that their 1962 models had caused. The metaphor for pulling over and rethinking the strategy for success is clearly laid out in the styling morph these almost-Full Sized cars did in one model season.

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Laurence Jones 1960s, Chevrolet, General Motors, Impala

(Found In) West Berkeley, California – 1962 Chevrolet Impala SS 2 Door Hardtop

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50+ years later and The 1961-64 Impala (and the Full Sized Chevrolet cars in general) loom large in the collector car field. There’s a number of factors at hand that make them so omnipresent so many years later.They’re also a staple of low rider customization. Plentiful examples, plentiful parts and the aspirational nature of the top-tier Standard Chevrolet made it a badge of honor for many consumers of all backgrounds.

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Laurence Jones 1960s, Chrysler, Convertible, The Forward Look

(Found In) San Francisco, California – 1961 Chrysler Newport Convertible

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Though some parts of the country might be burrowing out of blizzards, it’ll be soon migration season for a particular type of bird. Spring equinox is less than a month away. Soon that special bird of automobile, the vintage convertible, will find its way back into ever-increasing sunlight. This seems like the perfect time to tell the story of a rather rare and odd bird.

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Laurence Jones Uncategorized

Why Dynamic Drives, Why Now?

Well Hello.

You might know me as Laurence Jones of Curbside Classic. It’s just appropriate time that I took a leap, and posted my own musings about Automobiles on the internet with my own control, my own pace, and my own style.

Sometimes when you write at a site geared towards straight white men, primarily baby boomers, you might not get a chance to really spread your wings and make those socio-critical connections you might hold dear when analyzing American Consumerism, and one of the proper spoils of it, the American Automobile.

So I find myself, finally, having faith that my own take on the world of automobilia with my own critical lens. I hope that you’ll enjoy coming along for the ride as well.