By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

It might seem that since I bought my 1965 Corvair Corsa back in August that there’s been a lot Corvair content on Automotive Traveler and you would be right. But this listing for our “Not Found on eBay” segment was brought to my attention by a reader in the Phoenix area who saw this car listed on Craigslist. It is one of just 6000 cars produced in the Corvair’s final year of production. The two-door 500 Sport Coupe was the most popular model outselling by 55 units the up-market Monza model (2,717) in addition to the 521 Monza convertibles. There’s an interesting back story to this Corvair. It seems that this 1969 Chevrolet Corvair 500 Series Coupe was purchased new from General Motors by Pellini Chevrolet of Sebastopol, California. It was never registered and it remained part of the dealership’s private collection until it was sold in December 2008. Read more about this fascinating Corvair at Automotive Traveler.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Featured in two magazines and in the Hemmings 2007 Classic Car Calendar, this might well be the best compact Dodge A100 pickup on the planet.

It’s no secret that I call Cars and Coffee my private hunting ground for feature vehicles for the many magazines I contribute to. Every Saturday morning more than 300 interesting cars and trucks vie for a coveted parking spot in the lot between the Ford and Mazda buildings. Several years ago I shot this eye-catching Dodge A100 and it was ultimately featured in the January 2008 issue of Cars & Parts. (It’s now featured in the September issue of Hemmings Motor News as well.) Look closely at this truck and you’ll see why. It’s a near-perfect example of the breed of compact pickups that were the domestic response to the sales success of the wide selection of the versatile yet under-powered Volkswagen trucks that were popular in the late fifties and early sixties. Besides the Dodge A100, Ford responded with its Falcon-based Econoline while Chevrolet’s initial response was the short-lived (1961 to 1964) Corvair-based Loadside pickup which featured an innovative side ramp making it exceptionally easy to load cargo.

But this truck is equipped with a Mopar V-8! Read more at Automotive Traveler.

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Traveling from Albany NY, on my way to Burlington VT, I was looking forward to a beautiful late spring day. You see, after a couple of weeks of on again off again rain, the weather finally started to break, with warmer temperatures, and some much needed sunshine. Motoring down Vermont State Route 7, I spotted a truly unique and somewhat rare Swedish beauty, with more than a hint of an Italian accent, a 1978 Volvo 262C by Bertone.

Volvo’s first luxury coupe, the V-6-powered 262C, had an unusual genesis, because it has been reported that the 262C Bertone Coupé was actually influenced by Lincoln’s full-sized mid-1970s personal coupe, the Mark IV. It seems that the Swedes were smitten by the new Lincoln Mark IV, and they wanted to build a car like that. It would have to be done off-line because the production numbers would be low, and the tooling costs would be too much. So there was a partnership formed between Volvo and Carrozzeria Bertone to produce the car. Continue reading at Automotive Traveler