Affordable Classics

As a rule, it’s the overlooked cars that make the best Affordable Classics. That’s certainly the case with the Porsche 924. The more-developed 944 that came along later has completely overshadowed Porsche’s first water-cooled car. It’s well past time to take another look and find the appeal and the value in one of the last…

Ihad a friend who was cursed with the nickname “Swamp Gas.” Folks called him that because “swamp gas was the only explanation for something that weird.” Which brings me to the Citroën 2CV. Yup, that odd little French car that also answers to “deux chevaux.” From the land of stinky cheese, the 2CV had a…

Any car is a rolling exercise in compromise: horsepower vs. economy, stability vs. agility, interior space vs. exterior volume, bilge capacity vs. sinkability. Whoa. What? That last is only a problem with the most glaring example of compromise in automotive design ever — the Amphicar 770. It has been called the “fastest car on the…

No window of opportunity stays open forever, but in the case of the Triumph TR6, it has been open a long time. Long thought to be undervalued amaong those who expected it would follow the Big Healey’s valuation path upwards over the past decade and a half, TR6 prices haven’t moved nearly as much. The…

Aman named Rob Van Winkle once sang, “Rollin’ in my five-point-oh, with my ragtop down so my hair can blow.” Although Vanilla Ice was a self-proclaimed lyrical poet, the pop song “Ice, Ice Baby” doesn’t quite reach the poetic depths of say, Bob Dylan. The irony is that Ice had so much product in that…

Muscle cars dominated my Southern California high-school parking lot at the end of the 1960s. There were Mustangs, Camaros and even the odd Road Runner. Then there were my friends, tweed caps and all, with our Sprites, TR3s and MGAs. There was even a Mini. We were too young for briar pipes, but we could…

The auto industry has always been about newer and better, mostly because they want to sell everyone a new car every year. However, the Volkswagen Beetle stands in stark defiance of that idea. With only comparatively minor changes, the original Beetle was produced and loved worldwide for 57 years. With production of the new Beetle…

When is a Ferrari not a Ferrari? Generally speaking, when it’s a Dino. These vehicles were created because Ferrari needed to build a production V6 in sufficient numbers to homologate the engine for racing in the mid-1960s. However, Ferrari didn’t want to offer a downsized engine in its own road-going cars, so another solution had…

Subaru changed their thinking in the early 1990s — away from funky econobox subcompacts and towards performance and comfort. In so doing, the company ushered itself into a period of commercial and enthusiast success that continues to this day. Now that 25 years have gone by, Subarus of the early 1990s are moving into collectible…

The Lotus Esprit was launched in 1976 as a replacement for the Europa. The Esprit had a similar backbone chassis, but it was larger and more luxurious, as Lotus founder Colin Chapman forever wanted to push the company’s output upmarket to maximize profits — which is what was largely propping up the racing team. A…