Instagram Jump Start: American cars trump everything this week

14 November 2016

It was quite an eventful week in the USA. Not only did we elect our 45th President, we celebrated veterans of the Armed Forces – and our Instagram posts reflected both events. It’s no wonder then that a presidential limousine used by both Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower made our top five, as did a 1943 Chevrolet C100 fire truck that served in WWII.

The entire list had an All-American flavor, in fact, as a Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac Tempest and Dodge Super Bee placed 1-2-4. Without further ado, here are the most-liked posts on HagertyClassicCars last week:

1959 Chevrolet Corvette (1,631 likes) – With its twin headlights and nine-tooth grille, the 1959 Chevrolet Corvette looked similar to the previous year’s model – minus the hood louvers and trunk spears on ’58s. The 1959 version carried a 283-cid V-8 under the hood with horsepower options ranging from 230 to 290.
1969 Pontiac Tempest convertible (1,234) – Original MSRP for a 1969 Pontiac Tempest convertible with 350-cid, 265-hp, two-barrel V-8 was $3,175. Adjusting for inflation, that’s equal to about $21,154 in today’s economy. This one has a GTO hood that was added later.
1950 Lincoln Presidential Limousine (1,165) – Happy Election Day, America! Harry S. Truman served in combat as an artillery officer in the National Guard during the last five months of World War I, and he became the 33rd President of the United States after Franklin Roosevelt died just weeks before Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, was a five-star general in the U.S. Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. This custom 1950 Lincoln convertible sedan at the Henry Ford Museum served as the official car for both.
1970 Dodge Super Bee (1,106) – Behind the distinctive front end of this 1970 Dodge Super Bee is a 335-hp, 383-cid Magnum V-8 engine. MSRP was $3,074 – equal to about $19,286 in today’s dollars. According to the Hagerty Price Guide, a ’70 Super Bee in No. 1 (concours) condition is worth $39,400.
1943 Chevrolet C100 / U.S. Army Fire Truck (1,080) – Used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this Buffalo-built 1943 Chevrolet 1.5-ton C100 Fire Truck is one of nearly 440,000 Chevy and GMC trucks produced during WWII. In a 1944 publication called “On the Job: Volume Production for the Nation’s Needs,” Chevrolet Motor Division General Manager M.E. Coyle applauded his employees’ wartime efforts. “Every member of the Chevrolet organization may be justly proud of his or her part in this record of achievement under difficult and trying conditions. Many of our people are serving in the armed forces of our country, and some have made the supreme sacrifice. We who remain will carry on until our job is finished and the war is won.”

One We Love But You Only Liked – Every week there’s a photo that we think deserved a lot more “likes” than it received. This one – a close-up shot of a smiling “Goddess of Speed” Packard hood ornament – is one of those.

Best of the Rest – Whether or not you love the Citroën 2CV as much as @cit.ron does, it’s difficult to resist his eye-catching interior photo of a 1976 model. Never experienced a 2CV before? Open the door, take a seat and enjoy “a sunny combination of white and orange.” The photo really shines. That’s why it’s our favorite auto-related Instagram post of the week.