Affordable Classics
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Worth the Weight
The Lotus Elan will forever be remembered as the ride of latex catsuit-wearing Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in the BBC spy show “The Avengers” Colin Chapman’s fanaticism about keeping weight off makes the average supermodel’s interest in the same subject seem merely casual. The results he achieved without materials like carbon fiber and the…
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1969-71 Jaguar E-type Series II
Series II E-types aren’t quite the stylistic betrayal we’ve been led to believe. And they are an affordable way into the Jaguar mystique If the Series I E-type is the prom queen, the Marcia Brady of E-types, then the Series II is Jan Brady-less glamorous and forever living in the shadow of her older…
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Major Charm, Minor Problems
It still conjures up Ealing Comedy images of Miss Marple meandering absent-mindedly through rustic English villages at 25 mph The whole “people’s car” thing never went over particularly well in the upwardly mobile post-war U.S. Cars like the Crosley, Citroën 2CV, and VW Beetle screamed austerity at a time when the U.S. was sick of…
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The Last Real Jaguar Sedan
The DOHC six was proven technology, and even the collection of boobs and Marxists assembling cars for British Leyland in the 1970s couldn’t screw it up In the opinion of many, the Series I E-type of 1961-67 was the high-water mark for Jaguar. Thereafter, the company irretrievably jumped the shark in 1968 with the Series…
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Tin Lizzie: 100 and Counting
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, the U.S. auto industry was…
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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 Mitchell took to Europe in…
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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 addition to U.S. emission and…
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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 in August, even the meanest…
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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 saucer landing in Washington, DC…
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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 Volkswagen began to consider something…