Affordable Classics

If one bought cars by the pound, Jensen Interceptors would be the best value in the marketplace. Produced in Great Britain during the death throes of the Jensen company and following the time-honored traditions of British companies installing big American engines into Italian-designed bodies, these cars are large, heavy and dirt-cheap. With space for a…

The Avanti was an automotive Hail Mary, a last-ditch effort to bring excitement and warm bodies to Studebaker showrooms. In 1961 Studebaker president Sherwood Egbert made the decision to build a sports car-and to do it as fast as possible. He called upon one of the best-known industrial designers in the world, Raymond Loewy, who…

Veterans of the ’60s remember the Dart for plenty of reasons, most of them related to its economy-car status. The 225-c.i. “slant six” motor, named for its pronounced lean to the port side of the car, was known as the motor that thrived on abuse-it never seemed to need any attention to keep it running.…

The least expensive car listed in SCM’s Price Guide is the Fiat X1/9. The scrap value of its aluminum bumpers alone might be almost equal to the price of the whole car.Introduced in 1974, its Bertone styling was revolutionary at the time. Nowadays, however, people often mistake its straight lines, which taper to a point…

Call it the poor man’s Cobra; you wouldn’t be challenged in many quarters. It had an English body and chassis, and was originally produced to have a relatively anemic four-cylinder engine. The hybrid was powered first by a 260-c.i. Ford V8 and then for a short time by the Ford 289. And the original prototype…

Pontiac’s Tempest went through a major transition in 1964. No longer a shirttail relative of the Chevrolet Corvair, it was fattened up and marketed as a family car. The “sporty” LeMans model featured standard bucket seats and unique trim moldings, but had the same engine combinations as all other Tempests.To enhance their image, the product…

In 1973 Ferrari replaced the Dino 246 GT V6 with the Dino 308 GT4 V8. Unusually, they did not choose Pininfarina to style the car, instead opting for Bertone, where a young Marcello Gandini did the actual design. In typical Ferrari practice, construction was done at the Scaglietti works. Oddly, Ferrari asked Bertone to make…

If you are looking for a practical roadster with style, fine handling, comfort, reliability and high build quality, the Mercedes-Benz 380SL is the answer. For less than $15,000, nothing touches it in terms of an overall package. The 380SL is part of the fourth generation of the Mercedes-Benz SLs. Designated the type R107 chassis, it…

If it hadn’t been for the success of the Mini-Cooper S as driven by Paddy Hopkirk in the Monte Carlo Rally and similar challenging long-distance races in the mid-’60s, the Mini probably never would have achieved the worldwide recognition it has enjoyed. And there certainly never would have been a BMW Mini in showrooms in…

It was either love or hate at first sight when the 914 was introduced in 1970. Three decades later, the situation is pretty much the same.To appreciate the 914, you have to understand its design brief: to recreate the 356 Speedster. That is, produce a simple, reliable, tossable, two-seat sports car with an immediately identifiable…