O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Aug. 2

They all appear to be Canadian cars. Here are my best guesses as to specifics.

1. Canadian Pontiac, early 50's (maybe a 52?). 

2. Canadian Dodge, 1956

3. Canadian Mercury, 53 or 54

4. Canadian Pontiac, early 70's. Not sure of the model but it's basically a Chevelle.

The Canadian versions of American Big Three cars were generally re-badged American cars with minor styling changes and moved up one brand line - i.e. a Canadian Pontiac was a redecoated  Chevy, the Mercury was a Ford, and the Dodge was a Plymouth. This is most clearly visible on the Dodge, which is clearly a '56 Plymouth with a Dodge grille. They were assembled in Canada. 

First, I enjoy this thread along with the weekly photo fun and the Sunday scenery threads.

You snuck some Canadian ringers in on us.  First is a 54 Pontiac trunk trim on a 54 Chevy Bel-Air body, so possibly a Beauville.  I was at a car show recently where there was a post WW2 Canadian Pontiac; Pontiac front end and trim on a Chevy body.  Canadian Chevy windows were 3 inches shorter than an American Pontiac windows.

Next is a Dodge front end on a 56 Plymouth body, definitely Canadian.  I saw those growing up on the East Coast.

Third is a 54 Meteor Crown Victoria with sun (glass) roof.

Last, looks like an Olds front end on a Chevelle body, early to mid 70s.

Cool Canadian cars.  I grow up during this era very "car aware," but I'm always challenged by the strange combos and weird re-badging that went on then.

I had a good week as regards cars, getting the four below in one order that took over two weeks to arrive (the one downside of ModelCarsUSA).

Lee

You always have interesting posts.

That Ferrari likely would be worth 7 figures today.

In the mid '60s i had a chance to purchase a '53 Oldsmobile  Fiesta. They were a GM Motorama car and they built only 458 of them

You guys that guessed the answers are on the right track. I'll give full details next week.

My dad was an Oldsmobile guy, through and through.  I've never seen a '53 Fiesta.  It makes an interesting contrast to the '53 Buick Skylark convertible of the same year: not sure if they shared common chassis parts, etc., but they were both roughly the same size with that "GM" look for back then and intended to be upper-end glamour offerings.  I looked just now - I was sure that Buick Skylark was available with an optional Supercharged V8 but I could find nothing about that.  Regardless, I think I slightly prefer the Buick.

The Buick Skylark shared the larger Fisher C body with the Cadillac El Dorado. The same body used on Cadillacs and senior Buicks. The Olds Fiesta used the Fisher B body, used on all ’53 Oldsmobiles and Buick Specials. Both cars had extensive custom bodywork. The ’53 Corvette also was a GM Motorama car. I never heard that the Skylark was available supercharged, and I can’t find any reference to it, but the Buick V8 was new for 1953.

There are 1/43 models available for them all.

I fondly remember the '53 Buick Skylark because a wealthy woman in our town owned a silver one. It was interesting that Cadillac and Olds used their "top model" that year to introduce the "Panoramic" (wrap-around) windshield, but Buick did not. Rather, the Skylark had a "chopped top", and came standard with real wire wheels.

BTW, Lincoln was a hold-out in getting a wrap-around windshield. Other cars had them by 1955, but Lincoln waited until 1956. The first "regular" cars to have them were the 1954 Cadillac, Buick, and Olds.

My grandfather was doing well financially by the early '50s and bought his first Cadillac, a '53 Coupe De Ville, when the new model year cars came out in late '52.  I thought it was the most fantastic car I had ever seen.  But it was the last year of the "old style" windshields and a year later he bought a '54 because he just had to have the newer wrap around windshield.  I recall thinking it really didn't matter, but then I was five years old, so what did I know?

Studebaker started the 1955 model year with a regular windshield. Later that year they changed to a wrap around windshield on everything except the Lowey coupes. The coupes evolved into the Hawks and never received a wrap around windshield. At first they looked a little out of date, but by the early ‘60s everybody else drooped the wrap around windshield.

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk

The wrap-around windshield was a great way for Detroit to make your current car look "old". In general, between 1946 and 1955, cars changed their basic styling every 3 years. After 1955, styling could change year to year, up to the '60s.

Although I find many of today's cars "boring", its hard to say what year they were made. Could you  tell the difference between a 2000 Acura and a 2008? In fact, I like my wife's 2000 Acura, looks-wise, better than the new ones.

My grandfather ended up buying '53, '54, '56, '57, 58, '60, '62 and '66 Caddies.  He could afford them by then - he made a fortune in real estate, but in retrospect it seems like a lot of changing and fuss to go to.  GM certainly had him hooked with its forced styling obsolescence, but I will give them credit, the cars did get a lot better over the years - the '66 was worlds better than the '53, or even the '60.  In fact it really was a great car - he loved it and thought it specialand kept it for about for 12 years and put nearly 160K on it before finally parting with it - got a '78 Caddy then and always complained it was junk by comparison. 

I have two wonderful Caddy's with wrap around windshields on my layout.  The blue and white coupe is an excellent model (American Excellence I think) and among my most favorite cars on the layout.  The '59 limo has a higher greenhouse than a normal car and just doesn't look quite right to me - that what must have been a monstrous piece of glass to bend - but then I guess anyone who bought a limo could afford the cost. 

Lee, Who made your '59 Cadillac limo? I have the Motor City version in black. It was the first handbuilt "expensive" 1:43 I bought, and thought twice about the $120. cost. Now they sell on eBay for $200.-$300.+.

It was made by Truescale Miniatures.  I bought mine from Mint Models.  Here is a link to it.  About $90.

http://www.mintmodels.com/1959...n143ScalebyTrue.aspx