Model Ts can be quite fun in an agricultural way; simply knowing how to start and run one is a tribute to our great-grandparents The difference between the world today and the world into which the Ford Model T was born 100 years ago couldn’t be more stark. In 1908, […]
Affordable Classics
When Buick Went South
In GS form, with two four-barrel Carter carburetors, the Riviera put out a mighty 360 hp and generated an equally hefty 475 ft-lb of torque Legend has it that the 1963 Riviera (originally supposed to be a revival of the LaSalle marque) was the result of a trip that Bill […]
A Ferrari for Everyman (or Woman)
The Lamborghini Countach may have had the dorm room poster market, but the 308 got screen time with “Magnum, P.I.” {vsig}2008-12_2255{/vsig} The great automotive die-off of the 1970s claimed muscle cars, full-sized American convertibles, and traditional British sports cars. Italian exotics came perilously close to being on that list. In […]
Credit-Card Specials in Monterey
The DB7 led directly to the current top-notch Astons, and it’s a huge amount of swagger and eyeball for $50,000 {vsig}2008-11_2242{/vsig} Finding an affordable classic in Monterey seems about as likely as grabbing the “early-bird special” at Alain Ducasse’s newest restaurant. This is after all Monterey, and for five days […]
The Unaffordable Classic
A dead DS that has settled to the bottom of the suspension travel is likely to become part of the fossil record at precisely the spot where it died {vsig}2008-10_2230{/vsig} The introduction of the Citroën DS19 at the Paris Motor Show in 1955 had all the drama of Klaatu’s flying […]
A Beetle in a Lovely Italian Suit
The real bug with any Karmann-Ghia is rust. It’s claimed nearly all of the early cars, and it can appear anywhere on the body {vsig}2008-9_2217{/vsig} By the mid-1950s, it appeared certain that the West German economic miracle would be sustained. Luxury models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz began to reappear. Even […]
Ford’s Sleeping Beasty
The Pantera was legendary for either killing famous owners or inciting them to violence-Elvis pumped a .38 caliber slug into his {vsig}2008-8_2204{/vsig} By the late 1960s, Ford seemed to be concentrating more on holding grudges than building cars. Still smarting from its failure to acquire Ferrari, Ford grabbed a weak […]
Zoom-Zoom, Slurp-Slurp
Early RX-7s rarely see 20 mpg highway and can be driven down into single digits; owners laugh at later claims of 30 mpg By the late 1970s, the sports car world was looking bleak indeed. A 1975 Road & Track comparison test of the Maserati Merak, Lamborghini Urraco, and Ferrari […]
Nash’s “Mini Me” for ’53
The American automotive scene is littered with the tiny carcasses of small cars that U.S. manufacturers have tried to foist on a largely unwilling and disinterested market. American Bantam, Playboy, Crosley and Nash with the Metropolitan all tried, with varying degrees of success. But in the end, the American market’s […]
Too Late the Fiero.
The transformation was astonishing. The 1988 car had performance, braking, and handling to go with the good looks {vsig}2008-5_2166{/vsig} The manner in which the Pontiac Fiero was sold to the unimaginative Roger B. Smith-era GM management (now thankfully long gone)-a generation of inbred, know-nothing dullards, who nearly killed GM-speaks volumes […]