Car Parts 2011

Photo from Moore's Mopars

Chrysler as a company has historically marched to the beat of its own drum. When they hit, they hit big boy Babe Ruth grand slams. See the original 30 or any of their muscle cars and their Hemi motors. But when they miss, and they've missed very often, it's so devastating that it has put the company under multiple times.

In the the late 60's and early 70's they were in the midst of a hot streak. The success of their staple muscle cars like the Dart, Challenger, and Cuda shot them to the top of the heap, outshining their mediocre at best full size lineup. They were not shy about taking chances, offering their full lineup of high impact colors like Green Go and Top Banana. But in 1969, they went over the top. Literally.

Someone must have taken the flower child moniker a bit too far as they began offering not only flowered interiors but even flowered vinyl tops in yellow, blue, and green patterns for the Cuda, Satellite, Dart, Coronet, and Superbee, and possibly the Challenger as well. These were certainly unique but even by Chrysler standards they were epically ugly and only lasted two years. The short run of the Mod Tops make them pretty rare birds. Flowered interior were a bit more common than the full top cars. If you show up rockin' one of these Mopars you may get some sideways looks and you will surely be the odd man out.

I dub thee king of the fin, ruler of the winged, dictator of the decadent... For me the height of the finned era that began in 1949 with the Cadillac ended in 1961 with the Chrysler Imperial. It is a land yacht of epic proportions with more doo-dads than a swiss army knife. From the head lights that are pods set into a cutout to the squared steering wheel, its just over the top... and I love it. I can just imagine the conversation that lead to the tail lights...

- The designer is doing the final massage on the prototype, in walks the engineer -

E - Uh, that's a sweet three foot fin and all but didn't you forget something?
D - No! Of course not, it's design perfection symbolizing our march into the future!
E - Yes you did, the only future this thing will have is the wrecking yard if you don't put some tail lights on it
D - SHITTTTTTTTTTT, uh run down to Quality Farm and Fleet and pick up some tractor lights, we'll just stick them on there somewhere

TWO HOURS LATER...

D - Perfect! It looks like it was meant to be
E - That looks like absolute shit
D - I'm the designer and I say it's aesthetically pleasing
E - It looks like a tractor light bolted to a fin
D - Shut up...

I would love to cruise in one of these beasts, of course I would need an extra long garage to keep it in but oh well I still want one. The king of fin is another odd man out.

Before there was the El Camino there was the coupe pickup. Simply remove the trunk lid and slide in a bed and you've got a truck. Beginning as a business coupe which had a shorter roof length and no back seat (so you can put all the shit you intended to sell in it) there was an optional model where you could also convert it temporarily to a truck. Now there were Utes at the time as well but with this style you could have a car or a truck, how awesome is that? Now I've seen Utes but I have yet to see one of these rare beasts with a bed in all my hot rodding years. It is truly a unique, funky, and cool vehicle. It was ahead of its time and a real odd man out...

Here's my New Years resolution, throughout the year I intend to post 52 old, funky, odd cars that I love. These won't be your Gullwing Mercedes, racing Ferrari, or generic Corvette but rather the odd ball, long forgotten, and sometimes failed vehicles that have just enough quirks to peak my interests.

This particular car is exactly the type of car I'm looking for. Its an easy one to forget, just less than 70,000 examples were made from 1959 to 1968. It's an odd car, in particular the Tiger version. Who would have thought to shoehorn an American V8 into a little British car? The poor man's Cobra of the day. And while it's not a particularly failed car having such a long run, the parent company Rootes was bought by Chrysler and its days were sadly over.

I was reminded of the Alpine while flipping through the January edition of Automobile magazine where it was featured in a 60's small sports car road trip to Watkins Glen. The aesthetic is good, a little Thunderbird with some 50's fin shrunk into a classic British roadster size. It's not a fast car in its usual non-Tiger form with under 100 hp and topping out just under 100 miles per hour but its not about the speed, its about the style. Just looking at it makes me want to go ride through the countryside. I am particularly partial to the removable hardtops which I feel look much nicer than a typical convertible top. While I don't mind MG's, and Triumphs of the day, I prefer the Sunbeam Alpine, the odd man out...

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