1950-1975
This next car follows along with the theme of the MG Midget with Toyota power that we featured the other day…except that this one has the exhaust routing figured out. Classic British motoring style with reliable Japanese power…sounds like an MX-5 Miata without the reliable electrics. Find this 1972 Triumph TR6 with Toyota 20R power offered for $8500 in Santa Cruz, CA via craigslist.
The Ford Maverick was released into the wild for the 1970 model year as a replacement for the compact pony car known as the Mustang that was being blown up into a fully fledged (from the zoology, a bird develops its plumage or fledge at maturity) muscle car (see 1971 Mustang). Anyway, the basic Maverick is interesting and I like it, but show me the corporate badged Mercury version known as the Comet and I’ll swoon like a teenage girl at an Elvis concert. Find this 1974 Mercury Comet offered for $7000 in Sacramento, CA via craigslist.
The Goggomobil was a microcar built by Hans Glas GmbH out of Bavarian town of Dingolfing with an aircooled V-twin mounted out back. If Dingolfing rings a bell, it’s because BMW acquired the substantial Glas factory (and the patent for belt driven overhead cam engine) located in that city. Today, production of BMW’s cars in Dingolfing is huge with a plant that employs 13,000 workers to assemble 1600 BMWs (and Rolls-Royce bodies) per day. Anyway, I still can’t imagine how the seller of this next car was able to occupy not one, but two, parking spots with the little Gogo. Find this 1962 Glas Goggomobil T400 offered for $9800 plus shipping from Spain via ebay. Tip from Hugh.
The first generation (Mark I) MG Midget was a pint sized little runabout from Morris Garage that shared mechanical parts with the Sprite from Austin-Healey from 1961-1964. The Midget shared basically every part of its bill-of-materials (except the badge) with the Sprite, but today’s example has a bigport 2T-C 4-cylinder 1.6-liter engine borrowed from an early 70s Toyota Celica or Corona. Find this 1964 MG Midget offered for $1900 in Olympia, WA via craigslist. Tip from JB1025.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. The Yenko Stinger was a Corvair based custom built in the late 60s, but hold your pitchforks…Don Yenko also built a few hundred Yenko Stingers in the early 70s on the Vega chassis. This next car is offered as a “tribute” to the actual Stinger, but it has a 3.8 liter Buick V6 instead of the original turbo-4 2.3 liter that Yenko offered. Find this 1973 Chevrolet Vega GT Kammback bidding for $6,500 in Bakersfield, CA via ebay with 1 day to go.
The second generation Camaro was first sold in 1970 as an upgrade in length, width, power, and price over the outgoing model. Buyers had favored the classic looks of the first generation models for decades, but in the past few years the prices of the 1970-1981 models have gone up. This next example is an original numbers matching survivor that has a high asking price, but could be worth it if the paint is original and still good. Find this 1975 Chevrolet Camaro LT offered for $18,000 in Mobile, AL via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
This next car isn’t a museum piece or a rusty barn find…no, it is neither — it lives somewhere in the seedy underworld of automotive purgatory. This half-fixed classic needs someone to expunge its past sins and prepare it for automotive Valhalla or sell it for scrap. But for $1500, you could go either way and break even. Find this 1972 MG Midget offered for $1500 in Cuero, TX via craigslist.
This next car sounds too good to be true. It is a 65 Mustang sold by the seller’s mother (who is unfortunately too sick to drive, so the car sat) and it looks straight and intact. Unfortunately, it is a low spec inline-6 with an automatic, but it’ll be faster than any Volkswagen from 1965 and it is certainly worth more than the asking price with a wash/wax and some elbow grease. This is 1999 pricing for a “barn find” ’65 Mustang, so it is probably already gone. Find this 1965 Ford Mustang offered for $5000 in Woodstock, NY via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
Fairthorpe Cars out of Buckinghamshire England started making cars in 1954 using motorcycle engines mounted on steel backbones with fiberglass body panels. By the 1970s the company was almost extinct, but not before they released the TX Tripper (possibly through a side venture called Technical Exponents run by the son of the founder), which put dune buggy-ish styling on a Triumph GT6 chassis. It is a hand-built car produced in handfuls and now it is offered for pennies. Find this 1974 Fairthorpe TX Tripper offered for $4,800 in Austin, TX via craigslist.
This next car comes as a tip from Zach Z who writes; Eight (wheels) is great. 17 (horsepower) is more than twice as good, if my math is correct. More than two horsepower per wheel – what trails would you blaze? Find this 1970 ASV Sur-Trek offered for $2500 in the North Pole via craigslist.