Rare, Non Stock, or Odd vehicles you have owned or driven

Owned 68 cougar xr7, put the engine into a ranchero, lost out due to financing on buying a 68 mgbgt with a 6 cyl engine.

One of my best buddies had a 1968 cougar XR7. It was a nice car. In 1975 I had a smoking hot read head girlfriend with a 1968 MGB-GT 6 cylinder. Now days I miss the MG more than the girlfriend.

Before I describe my second “odd” car I am going to interject another (1970). There was a used car lot called 500 motors. No vehicle over $500. They had a 1960 Chevrolet sedan delivery. I had checked it out. Bright red with white top. 235 cu.in. inline 6 cylinder, 3 speed column shift. Very basic with rubber mats instead of carpet. It was in like new condition. Not a scratch or dent. About 20,000 miles on the odometer. It ran and drove perfectly with about 70% tread on the tires. They were asking $500. Three Months later it was still there so I bought it for $400. A couple of months later I came out of the grocery store to find a note under the windshield wiper offering $1,000. OK for me. I wish I had it now.

Ok I’m ready to post my other odd car. I went back to 500 motors to see what they had(1971). There was a 1963 Ford Galaxie 2 door hardtop in perfect condition inside and out. Off white with red interior. I discovered it was a Super High performance 406 cu. in. 405 hp. Aluminum intake with 3X 300 cfm Holley 2bbls. They were asking $500. I offered $450. I should have offered $400 as they jumped on the $450. As it was a 1963 it had the rare cross bolt main bearings like a 427, a Borg Warner aluminum case super T-10 4 speed transmission with a factory Hurst shifter (The same transmission Carrol Shelby used in the 1965 GT-350 Mustang). It was completely “bullet proof”. 11-1/2 inch clutch. 9 inch 2.75 rear end. Oversize brakes with finned drums. Oversized front and rear sway bars. A couple of years later when I replaced the cam the original instead of having a 15 or so alpha numerical part number was stamped with the Ford logo followed by X-8A. It was factory experimental! I drove the car (beast) until 1976.

“I had a friend that had a late 50s Vauxall Victor. Yes they were imported here in the us for a few years”

Yup!
During the same time period that Opels were sold at Buick dealerships, you could find Vauxhalls at some Pontiac dealerships. IIRC, this was circa 1958-59, and was a stop-gap measure to try to compete with VW before the Detroit automakers were able to develop their own American-design compacts.

During the same time period, some Chrysler dealers sold Simcas, as Chrysler had purchased Simca from Ford a couple of years earlier. Some Ford dealers carried English Fords, and some even sold German-made Fords for a few years.

Most exotic car I have driven was a 1966 Jensen Interceptor, a specialty British sports car with a Chrysler 383 and Torqueflite power train. Got it up to 125 mph before I chickened out since I was on a 2 lane blacktop road.

I used to drive a 1963 Buick Invicta Wagon. Only Station Wagon I have ever seen with bucket seats and a full console, with a 401 Nailvalve engine and a Dynaflo transmission.
My other ride is a 1964 Corvair Monza Spyder Turbo Convertible.

My brother had a 1963 Buick LeSabre with a manual transmission, no power steering or brakes. I have never seen another stripped Buick Lesabre. He got a very good price on it as a used car because even 50 years ago people wanted air conditioning, automatic, power steering and brakes on an upscale car. He sold that Buick in 1970 and bought a Buick Gran Sport. It has a bench seat, but a Stage 1 engine and 4 speed manual transmission. It does not have power steering. It is fun to drive, but you put effort into it.
I owned a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon coupe with the 4-4-2 trim package. It was sort of the opposite of my brother[s Gran Sport. By 1978, the 4-4-2 was just a trim package. The engine was a 260 cubic inch V-8, the transmission was automatic, it only had a 2 barrel carburetor and a single exhaust. I got it new in October of 1978-the dealer had had the car since April and couldn’t move it so I got it at a very good price.

@sgtrock, I envy that '63 Ford Galaxie 2 DR you owned. Just my 2 cents, but I think the lines of the '63 and 1/2 Galaxie makes it the prettiest Ford ever built.

I know several people who owned similar Galaxies back in the day but they were more generic cars. Both with 390s, one with an automatic and the other a 4-speed manual.

Too bad you don’t have that thing now. The value would probably be into the 6 digits.

@ok4450 Thanks. My Galaxie was not a fastback but still looked good.

I’m certainly not knocking any of the 63s. Way back when, a local used car dealer (who used to be the AMC dealer here) had an early 63 Galaxie on his showroom. It belonged to a local go-fast guy and not for sale. It was more of a showroom display draw than anything else.

It was fire engine red, 406, dual 4 barrels on a tunnel ram, long tube headers, and clean enough to eat off of. It was also radio delete, no back seat, and no heater.
This dealer also had a '37 Cord on the floor which most people fawned over but I liked the Ford better… :slight_smile:

The owner of this car has a younger brother who owned a Mustang CJ428 that was pretty slick.