I was driving through town toward Dixon when I saw this rusty but complete lilac metallic ’76 Mark IV next to the highway. I love Mark IVs. My Grandpa Bob Klockau ordered a ’72 in triple dark green, I had the 1/64 scale Pocket Cars version as an impressionable yoot, so have had a soft spot for these Marks basically forever. And this was a pretty unusual color combination. I believe it was called the Red/Rose luxury group, one of several offered on Mark IVs in ’76.
This one just happens to be Rose Diamond Fire with a Dark Red landau roof and Dark Red side moldings. Certainly a nice find. But as I was looking around I saw another interesting old car further back. It was not a Detroit land yacht or anything even close to a Brougham-era luxury cruiser. Heck, it would’ve fit in the Mark’s trunk. Or glove box.
A Simca 1000, no less. Now, these things had to be scarce in rural Illinois when new, and I doubt there was a Simca dealer in nearby Oregon or Dixon, let alone a small town like Polo. Maybe Rockford? That’s what made this find all the more amazing. It’s rusty around the edges. Probably more rust is just waiting to pop up and say howdy in its nether regions, and I don’t think it’s a running vehicle, but the fact that it is still here in the metal is pretty impressive. Even as a static object, ha ha.
All in all, I’m pleased that my alternate route turned up these two very different cars. Which one do you like better? And you know which one I’d pick! The Mark, the Mark, and the Mark. Ha ha ha!