I’m still sort of recovering from the Galpin Car Show which happened yesterday, under skies that were mercifully clear of rain, despite the Cassandra-like claims of the meteorologists. Sure, for a while the looming threat of falling sky-water kept away some of the more timid elements, but soon people overcame their fears of possibly being damp and showed up in large, boisterous numbers. There were, as usual, so many incredible cars, but this year I think the turnout to the Autopian corner specifically was remarkable, for cars and people.
But we’re mostly going to talk about the cars; if you want people, go to our sister site, Anthrotopian, I’m sure they have all that covered. But here? We’re talking about the cars. Most specifically, I want to highlight the cars that our intrepid Autopians brought to the show because, holy crap, what a fantastic array of unexpected cars.
I’m not kidding, the collection of cars that our readers brought and parked in our corner of the show is one of those wildly improbable assemblages of cars that you’re unlikely to encounter anywhere else, so when you do, it’s worth really drinking in and appreciating the glorious improbability of it all. Let’s take a look at what showed up!
One of the first cars to show up was this stunning 1963 Corvair Monza. It was immaculate, like your favorite conceptions, and was a great reminder of how, when they decide to, GM can do some shockingly good engineering.
Look at this clean engine bay! You could eat off it, and I would have, if David didn’t pull me away and take my bowl of clam chowder I was planning to decant onto that horizontal cooling fan. 150 horsepower in a mass-market car in 1963 was no joke! The first real production turbocharged engine!
When was the last time you saw a Saturn race car? I suspect it’s been a while, but here’s a 2007 Saturn Ion that is used extensively for, well, fun. And that’s what we like to see.
Speaking of fun, look at this Nissan S-Cargo, in brilliant purple-pink! Those are some optimistic wheels on this thing. Is anyone not delighted by the sight of an S-Cargo? And if they’re not, are they receiving the proper medical attention?
They’re so roomy inside, too!
And look at this! A 1969 Citroën Mehari, brought by none other than the proprietor of the legendary Autobooks-Aerobooks automotive bookstore in Burbank. This is a quite uncommon US-spec version because, incredibly, Citroën once imported these plastic-bodied jeepified 2CVs for the American market. You can spot the US versions by their larger headlamps, side marker reflectors, and a MPH speedometer:
I have the same basic instruments in my 2CV, so seeing one calibrated in MPH instead of KPH is deeply strange.
At the other end of the automotive spectrum is this impeccable BMW M3. It’s just stunning, with paint you look deep into and the whole thing feeling like it rolled out of some poster over a kid’s bed in the early ’90s.
Here’s another fascinating thing you hardly ever see: a Ford M151 MUTT. This replaced the Willys Jeeps for military use around the Vietnam era, and was possibly the first unibody SUV/offroader vehicle made in any real numbers. These weren’t great; in fact, most were cut in half because they’re pretty unsafe, and the government didn’t want them getting into public hands. A few, as you can see here, did.
These also had some of the most complicated heater controls I’ve ever seen; maybe they’re not really that much worse than most heater controls of the era, but seeing it all written out like this in full, numbered lists really makes it seem like a process.
Want to see another incredible rarity? A Renualt Fuego that actually rolled in under its own power! It may have been literally decades since I’ve seen such an event happen!
The HW Racetrack team, who sets up Hot Wheels tracks at events like these, shows up in this beautifully maintained, ’80s-era Toyota Van, one of the fantastic mid-engined ones. This thing has so much character, it’s ideal for a use like this.
Oh, and in case you were laboring under the illusion that Autopians don’t contain multitudes, look what else appeared in our section: a TVR Tuscan! This thing was clearly designed by aliens. Everything inside this car feels like it was adapted to hand-and-finger use after first being designed for tentacles.
Just a stunning machine, especially in that color-shifting paint that dances between blue, purple, and green. There are some kinds of violations of the laws of electromagnetism or something to make that happen.
Then there were the cars that we brought, like this strangely congruent pair: a genuine, early-production Peel P50 and the incredible Aston Martin Cygnet. We’ll have a bigger video about the Cygnet coming up soon, so stay tuned!
We also brought over this amazing Zagato electric car, also known as an Elcar, which looks like it should be whisking people around a Mars colony in a late ’70s movie.
The dashboard on that thing makes a handy Rosetta Stone for translating Italian into English.
Here, we shot a little roundup of our section you can – and should – enjoy:
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Of course, the Galpin Car Show was way, way more than just our corner; there’s so much more, and we will have more videos and content about some of the incredible cars that showed up soon; until then, enjoy this little sampler plate.
Like this amazing steampunk wonder, named Trinity:
So much work seems to have gone into this thing, which started with a 1936 Ford front clip and someone wondering what a motorized stagecoach might look like.
It’s full of hammered brass and incredible details and may be the car I’d least like to get in a wreck in at the show, as you can see here:
In much the same color palette but vastly different was this extremely rare machine:
A Datsun 200SX roadster. A company called American Custom Coachworks made 11 of these things to a surprisingly high level of refinement; I can’t believe one showed up to the show. You’re more likely to encounter a hoagie that once spent a weekend in Vail with Donna Summer.
We took a quick video of it, too:
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Of course, the Volkswagen section was full of great stuff, like this incredible survivor pre-’61 Karmann-Ghia:
The patina on that thing is just perfect, if you like patina. Similarly, I was charmed by this unrestored 1970 Beetle that seems to be someone’s daily driver, which is just incredible:
There was also the requisite Herbie replica, and this one was especially good:
I go into some of the reasons why I think this one was so nicely done here in yet another reel:
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Also incredible was this Mexican Beetle Coca-Cola van, of which Coca-Cola actually ordered a whole fleet. These had a fiberglass van conversion that was surprisingly roomy inside:
I got to speak with the owner and poke all around in this fascinating thing:
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Amazing! I had no idea Coke was using fleets of modified Beetle vans!
This is some manner of VW-based dune buggy I’d never seen before; it was oddly modern-seeming.
One of the most incredible cars I saw was this ’51 Ford that was re-done as though it was from an alternate universe where Ford was doing a lot of European racing.
It’s like the Ford design rewritten and translated into the vocabulary of mid-century Porsches, sort of. The level of craftsmanship and detailing of this car is just spectacular, and we have a larger video of it coming up soon, too.
Oh, and there was the Lowrider Hop, of course. We’ll have a video about that soon, because still images don’t really capture the madness of it all. The hopping cars feel like colossal feral animals, and seeing 4000 pounds of leaping car-beast is one of those things you just need to experience.
There was more, because of course there was more, but I have to end this before I get stabbed for having Cold Start come in so late. I want to thank all the Autopians who showed up, either bringing cars or just coming to experience all the wonderment of the cars, and I couldn’t be happier with what a success the whole thing turned out to be. Thanks so much to everyone, and see you next year!
Top graphic image: author
My dad’s 80 (or 81?) Datsun 200SX was the first car I remember he had that the seat belt reminder was a gentle DING ding, vs mechanically loud BBBBBZZZZZZZZZ!
That TVR wooof, so damn good looking.
No El Caminos?
I should have brought mine. But 2200+ miles one way would have been a long trip. (66 hours round trip)
I love how the Citroen’s shift patter indicates reverse with the letters “AR” – which I assumed stands for “Ah, how-you-say, Reverse?”
ahRIERRE, how it’s spoken in the old rural Quebec accent of my great-uncle whose farm I visited as a kid. Of course since he exclusively owned North American vehicles with reverse marked as R and had zero formal French lessons at that point…