Affordable Classics
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Zoom Zoom: The Miata Turns 20
The Mazda Miata might hold the record for inverse relationships in the automotive world. It’s difficult to think of a car more significant in the sports car pantheon that enjoys less respect from the masses. Often derided as a “chick car” by the clueless and insecure, the Miata is the only reason the two-seat roadster…
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Unaffordable Classic: The Purchase Price is Just the Beginning
A look at the photos of the rusty 1953 Lancia Aurelia GT, sold by Bonhams at Olympia, in London, on December 7, 2009, for $26,082, sent a rush of emotions through my head. The first was admiration for the brave soul who would commit to such an ambitious project. Let’s hope he is well versed…
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When MG Got an “A”
What most of us know about the immediate post-war history of MG is historical rather than experiential. The 1945-49 TC was the sports car of the WWII generation, now sadly passing to that great wrecking yard in the sky. The pre-war PAs, PBs, TAs, and TBs that GIs stationed in Britain saw were as glamorous…
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VW’s Rabbit Hole-in-One
After 1973, Americans had to get used to pressing their faces against the glass and watching the Europeans get all the good stuff, beginning with the Porsche 911 2.7 Carrera RS and BMW 3.0 CSL. Even entertaining cheap stuff like the MG B V8 and Triumph Dolomite were forbidden. It seemed destined to be no…
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Still at Sixes and Sevens
Although it’s hard to believe today, BMW nearly didn’t survive the late 1950s and 1960s. Thirsty and expensive Baroque sedans, the hard-to-find V8-powered 507 sports car (253 built), and the tiny egg-shaped Isetta wasn’t really a formula for success. The “New Class” 1,500-cc sedans of 1962, which led directly to the 2002 and a successful…
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When X1/9 Marked the Spot
By the early 1970s, some were predicting the demise of the inexpensive sports car. Modern small sedans like the Audi Fox and VW Rabbit were threatening to render sports cars redundant. It didn’t help that the standard-bearers for the under-$4,000 sports car class were the MG Midget and Triumph Spitfire. Both were ancient in comparison…
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Plus 4 Plusses (and Minuses)
Factory support of older Morgans is incredible. With simply a serial number, the gang in Malvern Link can supply or make just about anything for a Plus 4 There has always been an enthusiastic market (albeit a limited one) for anachronisms. Vinyl records and mechanical watches are in most respects inferior to CDs and quartz…
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Beach Blanket Bimbos
Association with the glamour of the Riviera of the 1960s and people like Aristotle Onassis can make people do silly things at auction Beach cars are frivolous, slow, and silly, but they’re cute as hell, and in the case of Fiat and Renault Jollys, the association with the glamour of the Riviera of the 1960s…
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Triumph’s Joan Rivers
When Karmann face-lifted the Triumph TR4 in 1968, there were still some arthritic old bones behind the TR6’s wide smile and smooth skin The age of the biplane fighter lasted from roughly 1915 to 1941, by which time the last of the fabric-covered, fixed-gear aircraft like the Gloster Gladiator and Fiat CR42 were looking quite…
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Ferrari 400: Sensible Italian Shoes?
Buy a Ferrari 400 with needs and you may as well start thinking about ways to improve on Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme The mid 1970s were cruel to the entire auto industry, and the Italian exotics were particularly hard hit. Punitive taxes, fuel shortages, and a general reluctance to consume conspicuously put Maserati and Lamborghini…