Good morning! Today is Monday, which is already suspect, but even worse, it’s April 15, which means if you’re in the US and you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you’d better get a move on. It is also the 112th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Just all around not a great day. So today I’m not even going to ask you to pick which terrible car you want; I’m going to ask you which car’s photos you find more interesting.
Friday’s matchup between an Australian monster and an American widowmaker came out more evenly matched than I expected. The six-wheeled ute won, but it was kind of a close-ish vote. There are more daredevils in this crowd than I thought, apparently.
The correct answer is, of course, both, even though I didn’t give you that option. Put the Littlest Deuce Coupe in the back of Mad Max’s farm truck, and take it to a race track or dragstrip where you can unleash its potential safely, or at least in a place where there is medical help on standby already.
Now then: I don’t know how many of you share this fascination, but I love looking at photos of abandoned places, derelict machinery, and above all, junkyards. If done right, such photos have an eerie, dreamy quality to them and a texture that is just irresistible. I could look at them for hours. Usually, in the course of writing this column, I don’t get to see very many artsy photos; most people aren’t very good at photographing cars for sale, as it turns out. But once in a while, someone captures something special, usually when they’re trying to sell a complete wreck that no one in their right mind would pay good money for. These two cars certainly fit that description, but each ad contains at least one or two really compelling photos. Let’s check them out.
1960 Plymouth Savoy – $2,600
Engine/drivetrain: No engine, three-speed manual, RWD
Location: Tucson, AZ
Odometer reading: unknown
Operational status: Umm… how fast can you push?
The late 1950s and early 60s were a wild time for car design. Chrome and tailfins were in; restraint and subtlety were out. Automakers restyled their cars every year in an attempt to outdo one another. At Chrysler, the style boss was Virgil Exner, and even the entry-level Plymouth brand received his attention. Check out the tailfins on this bad boy.
This 1960 Savoy is believed to have been a police car originally, due to its spec and some holes drilled for lights. It’s a stripped-down model, originally equipped with a big V8 and a three-speed manual transmission. The engine is gone, and the rest of the car is in pretty sorry shape, but it is in the desert, so we should be looking at mainly surface rust. And the advantage to a base model car from this era is that there isn’t as much chrome to source.
The interior is utterly trashed, but there are some interesting details in there, like that pod on top of the dash that houses the cop-spec certified speedometer. The steering wheel is missing its horn button, which was a wide brushed stainless steel bar straight across the two spokes. The Furys of this year had a wild four-spoke steering wheel that was flattened on the top and the bottom and looked like something out of Syd Mead‘s dreams. No need for such flamboyance in a police cruiser, I guess; foot-tall tailfins were enough.
The doors appear to be held on by ratchet straps as well. The seller says it’s just the hinges that are rusty and that they’re replaceable; they don’t seem too worried about it. I guess with all the other issues this car has, door hinges are a minor consideration.
1962 Land Rover Series IIA – $2,000
Engine/drivetrain: 2.25 liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, part-time 4WD
Location: Atlanta, GA
Odometer reading: unknown
Operational status: Slowly returning to the earth
One of the problems I run into when writing this column is that I’m writing about cars for sale – which means that once in a while, one gets sold after I’ve downloaded the photos, but before I sit down to write. Usually, this occurrence is followed by some swear words and a mad dash to go find a new car to replace it. In this case, however, I’m just going to go ahead with it, and marvel at the fact that someone actually paid money for this.
This is the Series IIA Land Rover, made for ten years and used for transportation in some of the harshest environments around. The sight of this one slowly settling into a Georgia forest makes me wonder how many Land Rovers there are in similar condition rotting away in remote locations around the world. This one looks fairly intact, and with the reputation these things have, it may not be a completely lost cause. The one thing I remember from the ad is that the frame is “pretty rusty,” but with a welder and some patience, anything is possible, I guess.
With all the cobwebs, I also can’t help wondering how many generations of spiders have lived and died inside this truck while it’s been sitting here on three wheels. Kudos to whoever did buy it and dragged it out of the woods. You’d have to pay me to get inside this thing. I can’t stand spiders.
Old Land Rovers, of course, have bodies made of aluminum alloy, so there’s no worry about rust there. Leave them out in the elements, and you just get this cool sandblasted patina over most of the body. It looks like this truck has been at least a couple of different colors over the years. Personally, I think that if you could do the frame repair and get it going again, it should be left just how it is on the outside.
Yes, yes, I know – they’re both terrible, and you want nothing to do with either of them. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow and do a couple of good-running cars. But tell me there isn’t something fascinating about the photos of these two old relics. Which one do you find yourself more drawn to?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
The Savoy would make prettier lawn ornament.
Sure the Plymouth is called Christine, and just changed name from Fury when she entered witness protection. Do you have an S King as a subscriber….
I was prepared to vote for the Land Rover as a possible restoration candidate, but vehicles don’t sit in the ground that long without getting some rust in the frame. I don’t know if it’s worth it; maybe if you had one with a bad body but decent frame so you could swap them. I don’t know if the Savoy is worth doing anything with, either, but you could. That said, the photos of the Savoy are more artistic, so it took my vote.
You can buy a brand new galvanised frame in the UK, surprisingly cheaply (~£2000). Should be good for another 50+ years.
Land Rover. I’ve never found the styling of the Savoy attractive – it has features I like on other vehicles, but somehow it is less than the sum of its styling parts.
Land Rover at least looks like it could be fun to tool around in if it were restored.
Much of the remote areas of the world were first contacted by someone in a Land Rover.
But it’s the Land Cruisers that made it back home afterwards.
I’ve had a Land Rover for many’s the year
And I’ve spent all me money on upkeep and gear
But now it’s turning to earth and naught but a corpse
And I never will drive the Land Rover no more
And it’s no, nay, never
No, nay never no more
Will I drive the Land Rover
No never no more
Neither of these wrecks are worth what the sellers want IMO, but if I had to pick I would overpay for the Land Rover.
The Land rover is worth it just as a kids playhouse.
The Savoy. Put it on a lifted Ram 3500 dually chassis fitted with the Hemi. Put on some zoomie headers with flamethrowers and a big ol’ blower through the hood.
Then live out my Mad Max dreams.
That Plymouth hands down because A) I’m a sucker for giant tail fins and 2) it will definitely sneak out of the salvage yard and distribute retribution to my enemies under the cover of darkness.
I see a lot of comments about fearing the Savoy. That just makes me want it more. Paint it 2-tone vantablack and metallic crimson and stuff a hellcat crate engine in it. Terrorize everyone just by slowly cruising around.
I have faith, based on longevity, that the Rover can be put back to use again.
Honestly, this is a pretty compelling Shitbox Showdown,or what I like to call the This or That conundrum.
I would take the Rover in a heartbeat. Looks like it would be easier and cheaper to get close to road-worthy. I suspect finding a frame shouldn’t be to difficult if you aren’t in a rush.
I can completely understand someone buying the LR. Old LRs have quite a following and are dead simple built like old jeeps to be easily taken completely apart with hand tools and put back together again.
Get it in running shape, which may require a new frame and it is basically like a tractor offroad and when needed might be able to do 55 mph on the highway though that is outside of its intended use, much better for primarily off road of course
The rover as those things run forever, I feel you could put fresh fuel and tires on it then bet ready to go.
The Savoy looks like Christine’s sister and I am not going there.
The savoy with the skyline pics are compelling. The lr pics just remind me of growing up in small town Georgia. If you didn’t have at least 2 derelicts in the back yard, you weren’t trying. Savoy for the win.
If forced to purchase one, I’d go Land Rover, but I followed the instructions and voted Savoy because of the photos. Rusted out clunker in an industrial setting at sunset did it for me.
I voted for the Savoy truffle.
Fucking no. They are props for a scene in Fallout, and that’s it.
Jesus… I guess I’d take the one I can roll off a cliff easily when I came to my senses after realizing I’d just thrown my money away on a project I’d never finish. Plymouth it is.
That Plymouth is garbage. *Maybe* if it was a Fury and had most of the right parts, but that thing isn’t even a parts car. It’s worth scrap value and that is NOT $2600.
Split windshield, honest-to-bog fresh air vents, and nippled marker lights make for an easy vote for the Land Rover from me
Neither seems like worth the price. But I guess the rover? Parts should be easily obtained at least.
I arrived at the same place. Neither, but if I have to pick it’s the LR because parts availability.
I never saw “Christine,” but that Plymouth looks like it would murder me in my sleep, whereas the Landie looks like it would cheerfully dig me out of literally anything. Plus, I just got back from London, so I may be especially susceptible to the charms of British motor vehicles.
In any case, +1 vote for the LR.
In the book Christine was a 4 door fury vs the two door in the movie. Still looks like a relative so I would back away slowly.
Though in the Ready Player One race, Christine was one of the cars and the only one that scared me.