Affordable Classics

When it comes to bang for your buck — or purchasing your first classic car — the 1964½ through 1966 Ford Mustang should be on your radar. No other car on the planet is so universally recognized — and not just in the United States. You’ll see Mustangs on the road in the U.K., France,…

The year was 1990, and the venue was Laguna Seca raceway. I was there to get some open track time in an MGB. My run group that day included a deep crimson Maserati Biturbo, and I spent several hours studying every detail of the taillights and rear end. That happened because passing wasn’t allowed in…

A few years ago, while sitting in my cubicle at General Motors world headquarters in Detroit, MI, I began my search for a classic car — an affordable one. Despite my being in the Motor City, I determined I wanted something from Europe — preferably English or Italian — with a convertible soft top. With these…

Everyone has a Z-car story. If you didn’t own one yourself, you knew someone who did. Datsun (later Nissan) built an affordable 2-seat fastback sports car with respectable power and handling — and enthusiasts bought them in large numbers. However, the evolution of the Z-car is a cautionary tale for automakers because Nissan was too…

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…