Throwback: Cruisin\’ Downtown Christiansburg 2018

Dodge Lil\’ Red Express

Near the end of the Seventies, personal luxury dominated the space once held by muscle cars for a number of reasons. However, it wasn\’t going to stop Dodge from casting tire smoke and rubber in the face of the Malaise Era. Thus, in 1978 and 1979, the Lil\’ Red Express.

Based on the third-gen Dodge D series pickup, the red rider rocked tall, chromed exhaust stacks, a stepside bed with real wood trim, and a 360 V8 good for 190 horsepower (it was still the Malaise Era, after all). The low power rating doesn\’t matter, though. Not when it pulls in smiles for miles.

Jaguar E-Type Series 1

There\’s nothing like a Jaguar E-Type. When one pulls up, the Union Jack flies in the air, the Queen is in the driver\’s seat, and the Rolling Stones is blasting out of the stereo. If there was anything that best represented England, the E-Type is it.

The Series 1 packed an inline-six under its long hood, originally 3.8-liters before its bump to 4.2-liters in 1964. This fixed-head coupe looks outstanding in British racing green with chrome wire wheels.

Buick Grand National

Today, Buick\’s lineup is a handful of crossovers of various sizes. Back in the Eighties, though, the premium GM brand had a few shots of power left in its pistol, including the Grand National.

Based on the G-body Regal, the Grand National dropped the V8 in favor of a turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 good for as much as 235 horsepower by its end in 1987. A handful of these black stallions were sent off to ASC McLaren in that year to receive the ultimate upgrade, each becoming one of the 547 GNXs to leave Corvettes and Ferraris in their wake.