Favorite car of the 1960s?
Ducati Minor
The Swingin' Sixties gave rise to youth empowerment, psychadelic culture, the hippie, and a man on the moon. The decade also saw the birth of iconic names in motoring: the Ford Mustang, Chevy Corvette Sting Ray, and Porsche 911 to name a few. Which of many classic gems from the '60s is your favorite and why?
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cc
65 Buick Riviera GS. The styling was great. 69 Pontiac GTO Judge. 69 Pontiac Trans Am.
olmon
I'll never forget the Black on Black 57 Buick Roadmaster I had in the early 60's. The original owner had done some 'tuning' on it and it would fly. The State Police Plymouths couldn't catch or even keep up with it and it made the first 64 GTO in town look like part time help. The bad side was, it typically only got 5 to 7 MPG.
olmon
Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, the 60's car I had the most fun with was a 64 Chevy II that had a warmed up 327 & 3 speed planted in it in place of the original 283. It was a hairy ride. I finally sold it to a guy that wanted something that would beat his brother's Stang GT. He came by the next day with a big grin to let me know it did the job.
Bill Leavens
Ford GT40. Mark IB variants. Really. What else out there had the stunning performance capabilities and incredible visual appeal. And after it was written off as outmoded and outclassed, it still managed to win Le Mans in '68 and '69 against very formidable competition. And the SAME CAR won both events.
Warmed over Box stock passenger car engine and pure ingenuity won the day. The late wins were achieved by John Wyer without the massive Ford racing program (cubic dollars) that created the monstrouus 427 Mark II and IV.
Anonymous
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Marcos_GT.jpg/8... - the original Marcos GT is #1. Owned an XKE ('65 4.2 Roadster), great car when it ran. Fun cars of the era were ones you could flog all day, run up to redline and never get in trouble.. Volvo actually made a few of those - the 122S, 123GT and P1800's - fun and actually dependable, they thrived on being flogged.
The GT40 and 275GTB were out of my price range at that time - but were strangely cheap in the early '70's (there was a dealer of used Rolls-Royces in NJ who didn't like them as trade-in's and sold them off cheap. A GT40 would have set you back about $4,000, and the 275GTB was less - $3,500 IIRC.)
And one that was great for other reasons - the Chevy Impalla SS convertible. It wouldn't do much on corners, but top-down it sure attracted the opposite sex (and helped in getting their tops down.)
Dennis
1966 Corvette 427ci 425hp roadster. Maybe not the best cornering car of the 60s but one of the fastest!
Anonymous
I agree but had a '65 black conv. 427 with the 390 HP version motor (hydraulic lifters). What a fun car!!! Essentially the same car as the '66.
Dwayne
When I think of 1960's cars, I conclude that absolutely nothing outclassed the gorgeous Lincoln Continentals produced from 1961 through 1969. They moved us forward into a new decade with a sleekness previously unknown in the luxury car market, yet retained the stately elegance expected of a car in its price range. My favorite (and the purest form of the design) is the 1961. Sedan or convertible, it was simply magnificent.
Kevin
See my comment (I think I responded to Brad) above concerning the Lincoln I had. Great cars.
Eddie Z
Buicks were not too well known for speed.I bought a '65 Wildcat,brand new, and got all the performance goodies,the factory had,at the time.I know one guy who won't forget,when I blew the doors off his Corvett.And thats no lie.
Vair
Chevy Corvair Corsa!
Ralph was wrong...but I got his autograph on my copy of "Unsafe at Any Speed" anyway.
MOTORHEAD
I owned and drove every bodystyle of Corvair built for almost 40 years, until their age started to make them impractical to maintain, especially for cross-country trips. Fun to drive, economical, easy to maintain and repair. 2nd choice, Citroen DS19.
Timothy M Ricke
No mention of the Spyder. I have a black convt with metalic blue interior. When the blower kicked in.....WOW!
Grampa_Ess
My favorite car was a 69' Plymouth Road Runner. It had a 383 cid and could run in the 13's for the 1/4 mile.
It was black on black with no A/C.
T.O.
chevrolet impala
M.S.M
Why have no one mentioned the 62' Ferrari 250 GTO... It looks - and the sound of it, simply love it.
Else the Muira, the GT40 and the Shelby GT500 would be at the top of my list.
div bobo
Hi M.S.M
check second and third on August 21st
div
halfdime
Looking through the comments to date, I saw a number of cars I lusted after during the '60s and after (When I actually could afford some of them), as the '65 E-Type Jag, Olds 4-4-2 (Though I'd like a '64), 289 Cobra, Mini Cooper, and the like, but my all time favorite is the Morgan +4 Super Sports.
It sported the lower 4/4 body along with a breather-upon TR 4 engine putting out 150 bhp (And weighed under a ton). Closest I've gotten is a "garden variety" +4 that I've had thirty-seven years. The car has aged much better than I!
Morgan celebrates its centenary next year, may it go on for another hundred!!
Anonymous
Is this perchance the same Morgan that followed you to France and back ??
Anonymous
The 1962 Corvette is my all time favorite. The '62 had the ultimate refinement of the Corvette line before the sting ray. It was a gorgeous car in a size that was ideal for a true sports car. Later versions became large and boat like. Porsche 911 has always been a favorite and they have never seen the need to make it a large car.
Kevsr13
I all ways loved the Jag XKE, but in 73 I got a deal on a '69 stingray with a 427 stock tri-power That car was great it was sofast off the line that I put a stock intake with a 4b carb. The 67 GTO/Lemans had nice lines also but mopar was always pushing the limit. NASCAR should go back to its old rules then we will see some great cars on the road again who wouldn't want the chance to buy a winged roadrunner beep---beep
Tim Hallett
My favorites are all U.S. brands:
1960 Cadillac Eldorado
1964 1/2 Ford Mustang
1967 Dodge Charger
1969 AMC AMX
1969 Pontiac GTO Judge
Lee
My fave was (and still is) the 1962 fuelie Corvette (RPO 88)... pain in the but to maintain, but when it ran well it REALLY ran...did a spin @ Watkins Glen at more than 140 MPH (low ratio rear end) on a Sunday afternoon - you could do this as the track was not even locked up. It sometimes had telephone poles strewn all over the back straight, but not this Sunday...
Anonymous
If I could have one car from the '60s, it would be a '67 Corvette roadster. But the coolest thing about this list is that EVERY car named has great merit. Could we come up with this many nominations for any other decade? I doubt it. And what does THAT say?
Anonymous
Gosh, this was an era of cars that really struck a core.
Most beautiful - Jag E-type
My favorite - my Camaro Z-28 (69) bought new from Don Yenko in Cannonsburg. Lots of good bits (chambered exhaust, etc)
Bob
Squire
I had the pleasure of buying and owning some of the 60's best offerings;
including the 67 Vette - 435 hp/tri-power 427 roadster.
However.....
As an all around "Man's car" I would go with the 1965 Buick Riviera Grand Sport.
It was the final revision of the fabled nailhead; 425 cu. in. - dual quads - the latest
Turbo 400 trans, 3.42:1 posi, and those beautiful Buick Chrome "Road" wheels.
The body lines were hands down the best ever to come out of Detroit & the
interior/dash were just gorgeous.
It went like stink, handled darn well, and the ladies loved it!
Squire
d.ron
1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Berlinetta, or to the rest of the world the incomparable "Daytona." The last great V12 made without Fiat interference with Enzo involved. Brutishly fast, exquisite timeless design, race it, rally it, or drive it - just don't parallel park it!
Barry
I liked the Corvettes, '67 and '68 Ford Mustangs and AC Cobras, but the Porsches and Morgans really turned my crankshaft. I was a member of the U.S. Auto Race Marshals for a while, attending many sports car races and getting more than a few snorts of Castrol R racing oil up my nose. The 356 Speedster was the coolest of the sports car class other than the Morgan plus-4 Drophead. Unfortunately, the Speedster always seemed to be beyond my reach because I needed money for college, but I was able to scrape up enough to buy a Morgan, then had to sell it for...pre-dental college courses, after which I dropped down to a 1952 Chevy that ate a quart of oil per week and had the front seats so torn up that the springs nearly popped out. A good beach towel solved that problem...well, kind of. No matter, the car cost me only $100 and never failed to get me to any destination.
j.c.
i have four favorite cars from the 1960's. 1. ford mustang (19641/2 to 1967) 2. ford thunderbird (1962-65) 3. porsche (1965-69) 4. corvette.
Isleromaniac
Several people have mentioned the Lamborghini Miura, but without any explanation or context. This is definitely the car I think of as the pinnacle of 60's design (for a production car, at least). Tubular swiss-cheese space frame for stiffness yet light weight, a mid-engine transverse V12 with integrated transaxle (if you've never seen the casting for the engine block+transaxle, you simply won't believe it; it's an engineering marvel as well as a work of art), wrapped in one of the most gorgeous bodies ever penned (by Marcello Gandini) for a sports car, all from a company that was barely out of diapers, age-wise. The Miura was light-years ahead of anything from Ferrari or Maserati, let alone Detroit iron.
Watcher
Hands down, the 1969 Ford Bronco! It won the Baja 500 and 1000, and name another car of that era that performed as well on and off the road. Parnelli Jones knew what he was talking about when he said it was the toughest vehicle he ever drove. They are still winning offroad races today.
dburr
Volvo PV 544 Sport - 1st year w/disc brakes -
Anonymous
For me the ultimate 60s car is the AC Shelby Cobra.Why?
Because I have one and it is the best of the 60s
ratso
Unless you were a professional driver, you couldn't drive a GT40 or buy one but you could get your hands on either a 289 or 428 Cobra. Those two Shelby designs were the best of the 60's. I knew Carol Connors' brother Marshal who wrote "Hey Little Cobra" and Shelby gave Marshal a 289 Cobra only he wasn't old enough to drive it, so Carol got it. I got to ride in it once and there was nothing that compared to it, period. The 428, of course, was bigger and faster but the 289 in my opinion, was a lot more fun to drive, especially if you were just 16!
ratso
Oh, I almost forgot. The hottest and fastest of them all was the Sunbeam Tiger with a 289 Cam & roller kit. I raced one in a quarter mile down Fulton Street in North Hollywood one night and he blew the doors off my '56 Chevy 301 c.i. w/dual quads! Fastest car I think for the size and money...
Ric
I fell in love with the stang when my Dad gave me a '66 back around 1979 or 80, getting too old to remember now! Since then I've had a '67, a '68 that my Dad also gave me in '86 that I still have. I bought another '68 as a parts car. Had a sweet '98 SVT Cobra but totaled it a few years ago, miss that car! I'm ready for my Shelby GT 500KR but my bank acct says no!
I love so many cars that if I could I'd make Jay Leno jealous of my collection! Maybe in the next lifetime! Later car lovers! Ric
Oldsetter
Although I had a 275 GTB (brand new off the showroom floor $14,200) and loved it, my favorite is still the 1965 Pontiac GTO ragtop.
In fact it my be my alltime favorite car!
Grant
I love the 60's hybrids...
Italian Body, American Muscle
1967 Iso Griffo, sexy cruiser
doug johnson
What ? no mention of chrysler. It has to be hands down without question 1964 the reintroduction of the HEMI 426 style. That would be my pick anything from 64 with an elephant motor. But I have to say I was fortunate to have been only 13 in 1964 and have developed a true passion for so many 60's cars from all three makers for sure. I mean cmon where would this list be without mention of the GTOs from poncho corvettes and el caminos from the general, fords T Bolts! cyclones, mustangs, torinos, buicks riveys, Grand sports and not to leave any out of the many outstanding cars made in that era I should stop. I actually drove a big block push-button automatic plymouth and therin lies my true love 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda the King of quick!
Dave Sibrinsz
Hands down, as Enzo Ferrari stated, my first car, a 1966 black/black Jaguar
FHC Etype has to be the most beautiful road car ever built!! If Enzo says
it, then it has to be right! Other than a rare Ferrari, what else could do
160 mph, look so great with chromed wire wheels and sound so great when those
resonators purred at 3000 rpm!!
I did enjoy the occasional run in my friend's 427 Cobra as he slammed his
way to 130 on an entrance ramp to the Mass Pike!
For race cars, nothing compares to the Ferrari P4 (in fly yellow) or the
howl of one of Bruce McLaren's CanAm cars running full tilt around
Bridgehampton or Mt. Tremblant
Scott J.
My favorite is the 69 Camaro. A friend of mine had a blue 69 with 359ci 4bbl
and Appliance headers fitted with Thrush header mufflers and tailpipes all the way to the back. She sounded and ran so sweet! That car was probably the most beautifully designed car ever in the chevy line. Every line crease and curve just fitted in the right way. I also love the first few years of the GTO line, but hey who doesnt?
sarge
my favorite car of the 60's was my 1969 mustang mach 1 with 428 cobra jet.red with flat black hood 4 speed and gas was cheap.
Anonymous
!963-64 Studebaker Avanti. Outstnding styling and with the supercharged version,(R2-3) backed up the looks with performance. A true Milstone car!
Baja Joes
In my neck of the woods the SHELBY COBRA!! Any year, any engine.
We longed for but could never afford them.
And to think if not for someones heart, they would not have been.
Anonymous
The A C Cobra with the 289 engine.
It was a no frills performance machine that went stopped and handled extremely well.
SRT8Dave
...Hey,'Guys"...What about the '68-70 AMXs?!...Yup, ..The 'Runners of the era,..Goats Chevelles, SS Nova, Firebirds from the Futuristic OHC -6's to the 400 RAs -HO ..More Manly(?), as one foreign carNUT!!!..Said.., than the Camaros and "Stangs!!
SR8Dave
..Oh, Yeah, ..You Dum--s BMW 2002 freaks --Being from THE MotorCITY We saw everything first--And Didn't appreciate the first ''YPPy-mobiles like 2002 crap that an 6 cyl. Rambler could smoke!!..And don't go THERE about Handling;;what a line of CRAP..In the US ,'.. We don't need no stinkin' "HANDLING" we had(VE) our own Autobahns...The Interstates!!!.. The only people who even mentioned "handling" were Rich-Kiss--ss Car Magazines Like Car and Driver, Road and Track who catered to '50's College professors who actually believed that Mg's, et al., were better than cheaper T-Birds, 'Vettes, Mopars, all similarily priced!!...WE DID like The JAG' XKEs (purely style-wise)/...
jagdent
Jaguar E-type Ots 1967 WITH THE full syncroniced gearbox, a pleasure to the eye and sportscar of the century.
woody from aus
Glad to see minibins made a couple of mentions, revolutionary, fun and only needed a twisty bit to trounce any v8.All the current hot hatches evolved from the Issigonis genius.
Norm
Any 1960's mid or full size Pontiac was probably the domestic style-king of it's era. My favorite? 1967 GP two-door coupe with aluminium brake drums. Minimal chrome trim (for it's time), conservative (almost Italian) body shape, plus Yankee reliability, an extraordinary amount of room and more than adquate over-the-road performance. Find one in close to "as delivered" condition, add modern electronics, and enjoy driving as it was meant to be enjoyed.
Oh for a time machine!