Tag: 1963

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray: Really Red!

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Some cars are just sexier. For all the boring, dull, sometimes willfully ugly modern combovers we see in Fleet Car White, Dark Black and I Have No Imagination Silver (all leased or on a 72-month note of course), the roads these days can be as depressing as a Toyota dealer lot. So, here we go! Time to dive deep into the beauty of the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, in what may be my personal ne plus ultra sporting Chevy–a ’63 Coupe in red/red. Perhaps not a particularly original choice, but I yam what I yam.

As the showroom brochure proclaimed, “Corvette steps out smartly with an exhilarating new look for ’63. A fresh look that promises to lift the spirits of any buff who takes the wheel.” Most of our eyes glaze over regarding such marketing fluff, but in the case of the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette, they may have actually been downplaying it.

7-22 thru 7-27-2013 029 (800x533)

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1962-63 Oldsmobile Jetfire: With Turbo Rocket Fluid!

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Note: Another one from Tony LaHood! The featured car was spotted by yours truly at the Oldsmobile Nationals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, back in 2015. Enjoy. -TK

Our youngish readers might find it hard to believe that in the early 1960s the idea of a turbocharged production car was only slightly less fantastic than that of a pocket-size wireless flip phone. But in 1962, General Motors (Yes, there was a time when GM was a real innovator) rolled out not one but two such production passenger vehicles: the Corvair Monza Spyder, and the Oldsmobile Jetfire, America’s first turbocharged volume-production cars.

The Jetfire was essentially a 1962 F-85 Cutlass hardtop coupe (Holiday Coupe, in Olds-speak) with specific interior and exterior trim and, of course, a big surprise under the hood.

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1963 Ambassador

1963 Rambler Classic 770 Cross Country: The New Shape Of Quality

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In Autumn of 1962, the high water mark of American Motors Corporation was arguably reached. Between 1958 and 1963, the Rambler lineup, in its frugal American, mid-priced, family-friendly Classic and deluxe Ambassador lines, hit a sweet spot in the domestic market that it never really recaptured.
1963 Classic
When the all-new 1963 Classic and Ambassador debuted, AMC was at the top of its game, with appealing, well-built, sensible cars. After that, save the brief spark of the AMX, Javelin, Hornet and Eagle, it was mostly downhill.

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1963 Cadillac Convertible – Luxury Jet

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Finding this fine Bill Mitchell-era Cadillac was all due to a battery failure. Not to get too deep into it, but I wear a cochlear implant, as I lost my “factory” hearing back in 1996. It uses rechargeable batteries, and when it goes out, I can’t hear. Really. You could fire a shotgun behind me, and I wouldn’t hear it. I’d probably feel the vibrations in the ground, but I’d perceive exactly zero sounds. So you can thank my forgetting a spare battery for this topless luxocruiser.

I was at my parents’ one weekend, and we decided to go see Lincoln (sorry, no Continentals in this flick; good, nonetheless). About ten minutes after we got to the theater, my battery went flat. I normally carry a spare at all times, but for some reason, I didn’t grab it when I left my place that day. Murphy’s Law, had to have happened after we got there, and not on the way! So, I borrowed my parents’ car, left them at the theater to get tickets and seats, and dashed back home for a fresh battery. But as I was returning to the theater, sitting at a red light, I spotted a 1963 Cadillac at a distance, parked at K-Mart. Movie or no movie, I had to stop.

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