Rotting In Style - 1974 Pontiac Ventura

If you’ve been following this blog or YouTube videos recently, then you know the last two featured cars on Rotting in Style of been in Juneau, Alaska.  Well, now we are off to Ketchikan, Alaska, and if you look hard enough behind the trees, you may find this 1974 Pontiac Venture.  This car is hidden, and grungy, but I found it to show you guys.

This car is a mess though.  The metal is rusted, the chrome is corroded, the interior is torn, the dash is cracked, but even with all that, this car still looks badass!  There is something about an old American steel car with a V8 and grunge that is just so appealing to me.  I’m not a big ratrod fan, but this “style”, I am a fan of.  Since I doubt this car runs, it is a sad sight however.

Speaking of a V8, this car came with either a 250 cubic inch (4.1L) inline six, or a 307 cubic inch (5.0L) V8.  Now based off of what looks like a three speed automatic column shifter, I am going to guess this car has the 307 V8 which made around 200 horsepower.  Not much by today’s standards, and not even that great for 70s standards, but it’s a V8 in a two door car, so it has that “cool factor” going for it.

Now, when poking around here in places I shouldn’t be, I really took a close look at the interior and saw that it had about 74,000 miles on it.  I would assume those are all original miles, but there are some parts on the passenger seat.  I don’t know if it was being fixed, or rebuilt, or what, but for now it remains rotting in style.

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Rotting in Style - 1973 Jaguar XJ

I now would like to bring you another car from the capital of Alaska.  Now, for most cars I say something along the lines of, “this car has seen better days,” but this 1973 Jaguar XJ that I found in Juneau, Alaska actually looks like it was recently abandoned because it is in really nice shape.

I’m no expert on these cars, but based off of some research and deduction of the rear badges, I’d say that this car probably has the smallest engine of this generation of XJ’s, and that’s the 2.9L inline six.  This cars pumps out 140 horse power which may not sound like a lot, but to put things in perspective, Ford’s 1973 Mustang with a 302ci (4.9L) V8 also made 140 horse power.  However, this Jag weighs about 3,600 pounds.  So, it’s a pretty heavy car.  It still gets up to 60 from zero in 11.5 seconds.  Don’t get me wrong: that’s slow, but decent for what it is.

I have never been a big fan of cars with curves.  I like sharp (or sharpish) angles.  However, even with this car’s curves, I like it.  I picture someone like a spy or some person of royalty to be either behind the wheel, or being chauffeured around in the back.  It just has that “prim and proper” kind of look to it.

As I mentioned, the exterior is in really good shape, and from what I could see of the inside, it looked like it was in really good shape as well.  Even the moldy bread in the driver’s seat didn’t look like it was in that bad of shape.

Regardless, this car is still rotting.  Slowly, and in much better shape than most cars featured on here, but it’s rotting none the less.  

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Rotting in Style - 1965 Plymouth Valiant

It’s been a while since a new car has been posted in the Rotting in Style section.  In short, I have been away from stable internet for the past sixth months.  However, to look on the bright side, I have many more interesting cars to bring to you.  For example, let’s jump right into the car at hand: a 1965 Plymouth Valiant.

This car was found in Juneau, Alaska.  Well, what’s left of it has been found.  As you can see, it is more rust then paint.  This area of Alaska is part of the Tonguss National Rain Forest, so I guess that’s what’s expected.  Even new cars have quite a bit of rust in Alaska.  The interior of the car is partially bad, and partially not.  The seats are torn, but the dash is mostly in good shape.  Why is this?  Well what is usually the main harmful component to dashboards?  Sun light.  Well, there is not much of that here.  I guess that’s why is pretty decent.

Now, I am guessing that this car has the 273 cubic inch V8 under that hood based off the engine parts in the back seat.  I don’t know if it has the Commando 273, but it’s a 273 none the less.  An interesting fact is that this car was supposedly the cheapest V8 car in the world at the time.

I’m not sure what it was worth then, but I can tell you it’s probably not worth much now in its current condition.  I personally don’t even think this car is the best in terms of looks when it looks new, but in this current condition, it has a bit more appeal to me.  It has a cool grunge factor going for it.

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