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 and Aston Martins offered similar…
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 stories attached to this seldom-seen…
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 been rising on almost all…
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 Carmel-by-the-Sea would present the “Concours…
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 miles under their classic wheels,…
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 respect for its performance, why…
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 definition of “icon” is a…
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 haven’t been legally imported since…
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 significant was the motor vehicle…
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 group of high school students…