How about fitted luggage, a child seat that mounted over the center armrest, and leopard-skin seat covers? {vsig}2008-2_2130{/vsig} “Comes equipped with clock, luggage rack, driving lights, detachable hard top, AM/FM radio, and air conditioning.” That’s pretty typical equipment for any new sports car today, and in the 1960s, high-end Jaguars […]
Author: Gary Anderson
Gary is also Editor in Chief of The Star, the magazine for the Mercedes-Benz Club of America. He has been active for many years in the Austin-Healey Club USA and is co-author of MBI’s best-selling Austin-Healey Restoration Guide, as well as editor of the Austin-Healey Magazine. An avid vintage race driver, he ran his 1960 MGA in three Monterey Historics, four Wine Country Classics, and the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. He is the author of Motoring: Getting the Maximum from Your New Mini, a comprehensive guide to the new MINI Cooper, available through Amazon.com.
Sunbeam Style over Substance
Grace Kelly reached into her picnic basket and asked Cary Grant, innocently enough, “Do you want a leg or a breast?” {vsig}2008-1_2116{/vsig} Before the 1960s Sunbeam Alpine that we all remember as the basis for the Tiger, there was another Alpine, made from 1953 to 1955. For my money, the […]
Four Reasons to Buy That Sports Car Now
The number of British cars available to sentimental Baby Boomers is fixed at the total produced between 1948 and 1981 {vsig}2007-12_2101{/vsig} Any basic economics course teaches that price is determined by supply and demand. That principle is vividly illustrated in the current market for collectible British cars, where prices have […]
Concours on the Avenue
By contrast to other weekend concours, the classes here were oriented toward production cars to which the spectators could relate {vsig}2007-11_2086{/vsig} “Monterey needs another event like it needs a hole in the head,” was a typical comment on the enthusiast blogs when the announcement was made earlier this year that […]
Traveling Healey-Hopefully
Constant attention is part of the experience of English cars. When you arrive at your destination, you have achieved something {vsig}2007-10_2073{/vsig} Most gearheads agree that a classic car doesn’t come to life until it’s driven on the open road. Highly organized thousand-mile tours have allowed many owners to put some […]
Sunbeam’s Snakebit Tiger
I asked a group of gearheads why Tigers can be bought so cheaply, and almost in unison they said: “Because of the styling” The story of the Sunbeam Tiger remains a frustrating one to aficionados, who struggle with a version of the Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome. If the car can win […]
REALLY Basic British Fords
The Ford Popular was happy only on the crown of the road, and steering one was likened to stirring jam with a rubber spoon {vsig}2007-8_2041{/vsig} The British must truly love their Fords, since the models produced after the end of World War II appear so frequently in popular media. One […]
Strangers on the Shore
If the Mini you’re looking at has roll-up windows and no visible door hinges, it was made after 1969.no matter what the owner or the title claims The success of the new Mini has meant that classic Minis are starting to reappear in the United States, despite the fact they […]
Three Wheels on My Wagon.
The Scootacar was promoted as having room for a driver and groceries, but in practice, it was one or the other Sometimes I wonder how the British ever managed to produce distinguished automobiles when the government threw so many obstacles in the path of the motor industry. Perhaps the most […]
1958 Austin-Healey “Bugeye” Sprite
In careful hands a Sprite could return 40 mpg-but not many did. Healthy survivors are scarce The meticulous restoration of the 1958 “Bugeye” Sprite offered here has been the subject of newspaper and magazine articles in the U.S. and the U.K. “Here’s a new twist to a timeless tale. A […]