Who Is In the Market for Early ABodies These Days?

[BillGrissom]

Jay Leno is always on the lookout for cars. Styles change and early A's are actually beginning to look more modern than 1967+ A's. Even the earliest "toads" and later "beaks" may become fad. The early A's are smaller and lighter so have long been favored by drag racers, especially the toads.

Ditto for paint colors. The fab bright colors of ~2010 have already faded from favor faster than many early 1970's Mopar colors (Al Bundy's Gold Duster). Today, subdued colors like dirty-blue, mud-green, and cow-poo brown are fad. After decades striving for flat shiny panels on show cars, flat-black with chrome-delete is de-rigeur today. Same with homes. Rather than the round-square-round car body style changes, houses have gone thru steep-flat-steep roofs and high ceiling - low sunken living - high ceiling again style changes. I cringed when "This Old House" show chose subdued dark-green and black to paint the first classic Boston home they restored, but that grew in favor. In the same vein, somebody should inform Zucker that his FB won't always be the popular night spot, so might cash-in half while he can.

 

[64longroof]

My 64 dart wagon gets a lot of attention from people over 50, I'd say. And women love it! I think the big headlight bezels make it look a little like a bug or a frog. And its Ford Maverick green. Sorry about that. I can't compare the attratction this gets to any other old car I had, the 65 300 didn't seem to garner much attention, but that was 20 years ago.
I like it because I wanted an A body wagon to use for camping, fishing. Later darts, Scamps, 69 cudas are nicer looking in their own way. But to me the early A's borrowed a good bit of their looks from their European contemporaries. This first car looks a little like a corvair. Note the windshield wx stripping on the second car, and the headlight bezels. Looks like my dart.

 

[B-i-n-g-o]

I agree, the early As look very European. Part of the attraction for the 63. My wife said if she had a motorcycle, it'd be an old Vespa, and the Valiant is the car equivalent...her *dream car* is an Aston Martin DB4, but that ain't happening!