#UsedCars

Last time on Rare Rides we introduced Mitsubishi’s Debonair, which began its tenure as Mitsubishi’s flagship luxury sedan in 1963 and remained the same for a very long time. Upon the model’s second generation in 1986, the Debonair made the switch to front-drive and adopted more modern looks in an attempt to appeal beyond very conservative large sedan buyers in Japan.

But the changes still weren’t enough, as we’ll see today.

Today’s Rare Ride is the second attempt Mitsubishi made to build its own full-size executive car for the Japanese Domestic Market. Debonair never moved outside its home market, and always played third fiddle to competition from the likes of Toyota Crown and Nissan Gloria (then a Prince model). Today’s example goes slightly further and adds AMG flavor to the front-drive mix.

There’s a lot of information to cover here, and today we talk about the model’s beginnings.

Today’s Rare Ride hails from a brand your author hadn’t heard of before this writing. A preeminent luxury car firm in its day, Locomobiles were built for power, longevity, and reliability.

Let’s check out a very rare 90 Sportif.

Though a current model at the brand, Alfa Romeo’s Giulia originated in the 1960s as a long-running middle-market sedan. Today’s example is one of the rarest made, with a performance-oriented drivetrain and a family wagon body. It’s even a lovely color.

Rare Rides has touched on Monte Carlo once before, in a well-past-its-prime NASCAR / Jeff Gordon edition from 2000. Monte Carlo surfaced again more recently, as its Nineties iteration was effectively a renamed second-generation Lumina coupe. But we’ve never covered the Eighties Monte Carlo, which was a very popular car in the midsize segment at a time when the personal luxury coupe was alive and well.

And someone kept today’s 1987 example in as-new condition.

Yesterday, used-car giant CarMax announced it finalized a deal to acquire automotive consumer advice site Edmunds, in a deal worth just over $400 million.

CarMax promises it’s magnanimous, and that Edmunds and its advice will operate independently of CarMax and its sales.

Today’s Rare Ride is largely forgotten. Some call it a “super car,” while others argue over whether it was a kit car or a production vehicle. It seems to be the latter, not that it makes much of a difference 25 years later when so few were made.

Come along and learn about Tojan, a very special take on a Pontiac.

Today’s Rare Ride is the last entrant in a set of four cars introduced to the series back in November 2018. Tiny, retro, and a convertible, Nissan’s Figaro is by far the most popular of the four Pike cars. It’s also the one you can always find for sale in the United States.

Let’s take a look.

Years from now, there’s a distinct chance that humanity will look at blank check firms, better known as special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), with disdain. Today is not that day, however. Cazoo Ltd, which has often been called the British Carvana, is reportedly selling itself to Ajax Holdings for a breezy $7 billion USD.

While the used-vehicle retailer initially planned on an initial public offering in London, merging with Ajax Holdings means it’s to be listed on the NYSE and probably at an astronomical price if the history of SPACs are anything to go by. This one happens to be owned by American billionaire and career hedge fund manager Dan Och, who said he would like to join the company’s board once the deal has gone through.

Today’s Rare Ride is one of just 100 Hornet hatchbacks turned into the AMX for 1977 to feature a Levi’s interior.

I hope you’re prepared for lots of trim.

We’ve been talking about Thunderbird often lately, whether it’s in a Buy/Drive/Burn, or a recent Rare Rides on the 007 Edition Thunderbird of 2003.

And earlier today the Internets served up a random ad for a teal 10th-generation T-bird in fantastic condition. Seems like a perfect opportunity to add it to our coverage of the long-lived personal luxury nameplate.

We’ve featured exactly two Rolls-Royce creations previously at Rare Rides. The first was the completely bespoke mega-buck Sweptail in 2017, and more recently the Silver Spectre, a shooting brake based upon the Wraith coupe.

Today’s Rare Ride falls somewhere between those two on the cost spectrum. It’s a one-off creation from famed design house Pininfarina.

Today’s Rare Ride was a part of a very limited run of Thunderbirds that coincided with the release of the last Pierce Brosnan era Bond film, Die Another Day.

It’s a car so special it’s probably almost priceless, and should be stored in a heated garage next to a Plymouth Prowler and/or Chevy SSR.

Rare Rides has featured exactly one Jensen vehicle previously, in a fairly fancy and exclusive Interceptor convertible made in left-hand drive for the US market.

Today’s GT was made the very same year as the Interceptor, just before Jensen went bust.

Today’s Rare Ride was sort of off the radar as a present day vehicular category until your author was presented with one in an ad. It’s the sort of luxurious conversion van people bought to take their grandkids on vacation in the Nineties and early 2000s, but updated for today.

Presenting the Ford Transit Explorer Conversion. It’s quite large.