Los Angeles Street Sighting - 1964 Dodge 880

The Dodge Custom 880 is one of those strange parts-bin special, stop-gap solution, forgotten footnote cars that just confuses me. It's also one of the few vehicles I can see on the street - when and if I ever do see one - that can leave me completely clueless as to what it is. Case in point, this 1964 example. I was down in L.A. with my friend to go check on his '79 Lincoln Continental Mark V which was being repaired. A few blocks away sat a well-used sedan that looked like nothing I had ever seen before. What the heck was it? I wondered as we drove past for the first time. A Mercury? A large Rambler? On second glance the greenhouse and door handles looked familiar, and something clicked.

El Segundo Street Sighting - 1962 Ford Falcon Ranchero

Avid readers will already know that I love the Ford Falcon in almost all of its forms. Australian friends, that includes many of the Falcons sold down under as well. And speaking of Australia, the car-based coupe utility pickup, or 'ute', is virtually a way of life in that country. Here in the states, it's more of a novelty, but the Ford Ranchero is one of America's best known and most popular utes. I featured a 1968 Ranchero years ago, a larger version based on the redesigned Fairlane and new Torino. That version was more akin to the Ranchero's roots as a large Fairlane-based pickup from 1957 to 1959. For most of the 1960s, though, the Ranchero existed as a compact Falcon variant, and again as a Fairlane for 1967.