Affordable Classics

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 Mitchell took to Europe in…

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 addition to U.S. emission and…

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 in August, even the meanest…

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 saucer landing in Washington, DC…

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 Volkswagen began to consider something…

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 consolation prize when it acquired…

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 Dino 308 GT4 showed none…

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 love for large cars would…

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 about how obtuse they were.…