Rob was pre-ordained to accumulate strange collector cars after early exposure to his dad’s 1959 Hillman Minx. Sass served as Assistant Attorney General for the state of Missouri and then as a partner in a St. Louis law firm before deciding his billable hours requirement terminally interfered with his old car affliction.
His stable of affordable classics has included a TVR 280i, a Triumph TR 250, an early Porsche 911S, and a Daimler SP250. He currently owns a 1965 E-type coupe and a 1981 Porsche 911SC.
Rob is currently Editor-in-Chief of Porsche Panorama, the monthly magazine of the Porsche Club of America. He’s been a regular contributor to The New York Times since 2006, and has written for The Classic Cars Journal, Hagerty, and the Seattle Times.
Books
Articles in Sports Car Market
Here are the latest articles from Rob:
A Cheap, Fast, Fun Porsche with a Catch – The 996 is the pit bull of 911s — but not in a dispositional or aesthetic sense. However, like the odd pit bull that inexplicably snaps, the 996 can be a car that’s perfectly fine — until it’s not fine. An infamous bearing The source of the Porsche 996’s reputation is well known to readers… Read more
Is the TR8 Lemon Due for Some Sugar? – The last volume-produced traditional British roadster was the Triumph TR6. Even in 1969 when it was introduced, it was obsolete. Magazines such as Road & Track clamored for better, newer sports cars with modern engines, chassis and unibody construction—cars that would finally dispense with antiquated features like lever-action shocks and feeble heaters.In early 1975, Triumph… Read more
The Safety Car that Didn’t Sell – By 1973, things looked very bad indeed for the types of cars that most of us care about. Fuel shortages, insurance rates, nutty safety and bumper regulations—plus a hearty helping of general gloom and malaise—all but killed performance cars. Subaru importer Malcolm Bricklin thought he could exploit a niche for a sports car that nearly… Read moreA Well-Sorted MGB is a Great Start to Collecting – Much like Morgan fans remain to this day, the MG faithful of the 1950s were committed masochists. Fans of the T-Series cars were positively aghast when the envelope-bodied MGA replaced the TF. When the inevitable wheel of progress hit Abingdon-on-Thames once again in 1962, the faithful were horrified to find that the new MGB came… Read more
A Fiat or a Ferrari? – The foibles of “production” car racing and homologation rules have given rise to some rather interesting machinery over the years. Nutty Plymouth Superbirds and road-going Ford GT40s are at one end of the spectrum, and Ferrari’s first V6 engine is at the other. Alfredo “Dino” Ferrari envisioned the V6 as an ideal Formula 2 engine… Read more
James Bond’s Car of the 1970s – Some companies can lock one label into the consumer’s mind. This is especially true in the auto industry. Volvos are safe, Subarus are sensible, Saabs are odd and Lotuses are lightweights. Lotus mastermind Colin Chapman’s philosophy seemed to consist of omitting, thinning and paring—until the car collapsed on itself—and then put back the last thing… Read more
Monterey’s $2.3m Bargain – These cars, which are at home on the road or track, are very affordable in relation to Ferrari racers from the same era Normally my life revolves around cars that “ran when parked.” Volvo 122s with hardly any rust, Fiat 850 Spiders that are mostly complete, and even BMW 2002s that have potential to be… Read more
1982-85 Bentley Mulsanne Turbo – After reaching its zenith in the 1920s and 1930s, the Bentley began a long, slow decline in the 1950s. By the 1970s, the once-proud marque was reduced to a badge-engineered Rolls-Royce afterthought. Finally realizing that this was an atrocious squandering of the heritage of a storied brand, managers in Crewe decided that a few pounds… Read moreBMW M6: Still Hot After All These Years – {vsig}2010-9_2521{/vsig}For BMW enthusiasts, the E-24 generation 6-series is one of the marque’s most beloved models, introduced in 1976 to replace the outgoing 3.0 CS and CSL. In 1983, BMW unveiled the ultimate specification of the series, the M635CSi. Specially outfitted by the “M” division with the 3.4-liter DOCH six-cylinder engine of the legendary M1, this… Read more
1950-1967 Volkswagen Microbus – During the 1950s, the people charged with the task of selling imported cars were often more in tune with what the market wanted than the manufacturers. Witness the string of successes that U.S.-based BMW and Porsche importer Max Hoffman had with the Porsche Speedster, BMW 2002 and Bavaria. In the case of the VW Microbus,… Read more
On a Clear Day, You Can See DeLorean – Wealthy Type-A car guys can’t seem to resist starting their own companies (named, of course, after themselves). But for every Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari, there’s a Bricklin, Tucker, and. DeLorean. John Z. DeLorean, at least, seemed to have the automotive chops to make his company a long-term survivor. He was a thoroughly unconventional GM executive,… Read more
Aston Martin DBS, Unloved No More – Aston Martin was in trouble again. By the mid-1960s, it was clear that the DB6 was in dire need of modernization, based as it was on a design with its roots firmly in the now-archaic DB4, which was launched in 1958. William Towns, who would serve Aston well (if controversially at times) through the 1970s,… Read more
1955-57 Ford Thunderbird – The immediate post-war era saw sports cars enter the American consciousness for the first time since the days of the Mercer Raceabout and the Stutz Bearcat. By the early 1950s-in addition to foreigners like MG, Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Ferrari-Ford had to stomach American independents and upstarts dabbling in sports cars, most notably tiny manufacturers… Read more
Zoom Zoom: The Miata Turns 20 – The Mazda Miata might hold the record for inverse relationships in the automotive world. It’s difficult to think of a car more significant in the sports car pantheon that enjoys less respect from the masses. Often derided as a “chick car” by the clueless and insecure, the Miata is the only reason the two-seat roadster… Read more
1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Supersport Cabriolet – The 3.2 Carrera is revered as the ultimate development of the original 911 that first appeared in 1963, before being replaced by the more complicated 964 series. These final cars were the most flexible and usable of Butzi Porsche’s original design. The all-alloy flat-6 engine, which had been fuel injected since 1971, received a final… Read moreWhen MG Got an “A” – What most of us know about the immediate post-war history of MG is historical rather than experiential. The 1945-49 TC was the sports car of the WWII generation, now sadly passing to that great wrecking yard in the sky. The pre-war PAs, PBs, TAs, and TBs that GIs stationed in Britain saw were as glamorous… Read more
VW’s Rabbit Hole-in-One – After 1973, Americans had to get used to pressing their faces against the glass and watching the Europeans get all the good stuff, beginning with the Porsche 911 2.7 Carrera RS and BMW 3.0 CSL. Even entertaining cheap stuff like the MG B V8 and Triumph Dolomite were forbidden. It seemed destined to be no… Read more
Still at Sixes and Sevens – Although it’s hard to believe today, BMW nearly didn’t survive the late 1950s and 1960s. Thirsty and expensive Baroque sedans, the hard-to-find V8-powered 507 sports car (253 built), and the tiny egg-shaped Isetta wasn’t really a formula for success. The “New Class” 1,500-cc sedans of 1962, which led directly to the 2002 and a successful… Read more
When X1/9 Marked the Spot – By the early 1970s, some were predicting the demise of the inexpensive sports car. Modern small sedans like the Audi Fox and VW Rabbit were threatening to render sports cars redundant. It didn’t help that the standard-bearers for the under-$4,000 sports car class were the MG Midget and Triumph Spitfire. Both were ancient in comparison… Read morePlus 4 Plusses (and Minuses) – Factory support of older Morgans is incredible. With simply a serial number, the gang in Malvern Link can supply or make just about anything for a Plus 4There has always been an enthusiastic market (albeit a limited one) for anachronisms. Vinyl records and mechanical watches are in most respects inferior to CDs and quartz watches,… Read more
Beach Blanket Bimbos – Association with the glamour of the Riviera of the 1960s and people like Aristotle Onassis can make people do silly things at auctionBeach cars are frivolous, slow, and silly, but they’re cute as hell, and in the case of Fiat and Renault Jollys, the association with the glamour of the Riviera of the 1960s and… Read more
1980 BMW M1 Coupe – This was an extraordinary result, greater than the next highest street M1 sale on record by nearly 50%A proposed Group 5 “Silhouette Formula” for production-based cars triggered the M1 program in the mid-1970s, a mid-engined concept car designed in-house at BMW by Paul Bracq providing the basis. Ex-racing driver Jochen Neerpasch was responsible for initiating… Read more
Triumph’s Joan Rivers – When Karmann face-lifted the Triumph TR4 in 1968, there were still some arthritic old bones behind the TR6’s wide smile and smooth skinThe age of the biplane fighter lasted from roughly 1915 to 1941, by which time the last of the fabric-covered, fixed-gear aircraft like the Gloster Gladiator and Fiat CR42 were looking quite antique.… Read more
Ferrari 400: Sensible Italian Shoes? – Buy a Ferrari 400 with needs and you may as well start thinking about ways to improve on Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi schemeThe mid 1970s were cruel to the entire auto industry, and the Italian exotics were particularly hard hit. Punitive taxes, fuel shortages, and a general reluctance to consume conspicuously put Maserati and Lamborghini on… Read more
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 extensive… Read more1969-71 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… Read more
Major Charm, Minor Problems – It still conjures up Ealing Comedy images of Miss Marple meandering absent-mindedly through rustic English villages at 25 mphThe 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 it.… Read more
1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Speedster – This price is good news for anyone who wants to enjoy a very special example of the most bulletproof 911With the introduction of the 911 Speedster, Porsche revived a charismatic model from its past, the name previously applied to that most stylish of the many Type 356 variants. Based on the 911 Turbo Cabriolet, though… Read more
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 upIn 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 II… Read more
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-grandparentsThe 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 in… Read more
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 torqueLegend 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 1960.… Read more
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 bumper regulations,… Read more
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 Econo Lodge… Read more
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 in the… Read more
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Coupe – At about $10,000 below the auction company’s low estimate and a titanic $145,000 below the 2005 list price, those 4,500 miles were dear indeed {vsig}2008-10_2236{/vsig}The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren revives the glorious tradition of the 300SLR and marks the reawakening of Mercedes-Benz’s passion for super sports cars. It is a passion that can be traced throughout… Read more
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 more special… Read more
Ford’s Sleeping Beasty – 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 the DeTomaso… Read more
1944 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen – Schwimmwagen owners seem to be an enthusiastic crowd, often seen in the company of drastically less hip AmphicarsPorsche’s Type 60 (the Volkswagen prototype), with its strong backbone chassis and air-cooled engine, had been recognized as an ideal basis for the German army’s proposed Kübelwagen (“bucket car”)-a lightweight, open utility vehicle.A small number of Type 62… Read more
Zoom-Zoom, Slurp-Slurp – Early RX-7s rarely see 20 mpg highway and can be driven down into single digits; owners laugh at later claims of 30 mpgBy 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 of… Read more
Nash’s “Mini Me” for ’53 – 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… Read more
Too Late the Fiero. – 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.One sports car,… Read more
Good Value out of the Box (Its Own) – The 2-liter is really the car to have, as it transforms the 914 from an also-ran into a car capable of out-running a TR6{vsig}2008-3_2140{/vsig}By the late 1960s, it was apparent the 912 was no longer the answer to Porsche’s need for a lower-cost, higher-volume model. High production costs and currency issues had forced the 912… Read more
“Eldosaurus” Has Evolved into White Elephant – Cadillac had a tough task in replacing its first front-wheel-drive Eldorado, the Bill Mitchell-designed model of 1967-70. Although gigantic, this first-gen front-driver was, like its stablemate the Oldsmobile Toronado, quite beautiful. Its successor, built from 1971 to 1978, was simply large. But the second-gen did have one advantage over its predecessor- it was available as… Read more
1970 Lotus Elan Plus 2 Coupe – Most pretty British sports cars of the 1960s and ’70s have appreciated beyond the means of entry-level collectors{vsig}2008-2_2131{/vsig}The original Lotus Elan was introduced in 1962 as a roadster, although an optional hard top was offered in 1963 and a coupe version in 1965. It was the first Lotus road car to use the now-famous steel… Read more
1986–96 Chevrolet Corvette C4 Convertible – Nineteen eighty-three was the model year without a Corvette. The C4, which debuted as a 1984 model, was the first all-new Corvette since 1963, and like the first-year C3 in 1968, there were problems aplenty. The digital dash was failure-prone, the ride was punishing, and the carried-over-from 1982 twin throttle-body “Cross-fire” injection was inferior to… Read moreMorgan Brings a Sword to a Knife Fight – The Plus 8 offers something in the Allard J2 vein, with way too much power for its antediluvian chassis, but with a dash of British style{vsig}2008-1_2113{/vsig}If Scotchman William “Braveheart” Wallace had been alive in the late 20th century, he probably couldn’t have resisted the broadsword of sports cars, the Morgan Plus 8-even though it was… Read more
2CV: The Legend of the “Tin Snail” – Prior to WWII, the mostly rural population of France did not have a cheap and utilitarian vehicle that would allow them to embrace the automobile the way Americans had with the Model T. The 2CV was conceived as the car that would mechanize the French peasant class. Like the Volkswagen Beetle, the 2CV had its… Read more
Alfa GTV6: Best of the Bottom-Feeders – The Maratona edition was referred to as the “Marijuana” edition, in reference to what Alfa must have been smoking at the time{vsig}2007-11_2084{/vsig}For many Alfisti (our esteemed Publisher included), the saga of Alfa Romeo in the U.S. effectively ends after 1967, when emission controls began to sap their essential “Alfa-ness.” Having driven his ’65 Giulia Spider… Read more
1961-79 MG Midget – These are truly small cars. Anyone larger than 5’9″ driving one looks like a trained circus bear in a paradeThe early ’60s were the golden age of the British sports car. The British Motor Corporation (BMC) aimed to have a product for every possible driver. MG dealers were clamoring for a car smaller and cheaper… Read more
Beta Than You Think – Even rubber-bumper MG prices have left Betas in the dust, though its DOHC engine was designed by Aurelio Lampredi of Ferrari fame{vsig}2007-9_2063{/vsig}For most collectors, the Lancia story effectively ends if not with the Fiat takeover in 1969, then certainly with the end of Fulvia production in 1976. The Beta-introduced in Europe in 1972 and in… Read more
Hi-Tech English Electronics? Oh, Please – The first Lagondas used red LEDs that failed with alarming regularity, but the CRTs that replaced them cost a fortune to repair{vsig}2007-8_2026{/vsig}Every so often, British industry has an epiphany and produces something truly groundbreaking. While perhaps not as significant as the introduction of radar or disc brakes, the Aston Martin Lagonda-along with the Concorde-symbolizes Britain’s… Read more
Gone, and Forgotten as Well – How the mighty have fallen. In 25 years, most expensive cars depreciate, but few cars as significant as the original Audi Coupe Quattro (Ur-Quattro from the German for “original”) have so utterly disappeared both in value and visibility from the marketplace. Although Audi was not the first to offer an all-wheel-drive sport coupe-Jensen briefly offered… Read more
Jaguar’s XecrableJS – A bad XJS will rip at your wallet the way an actual Jaguar tears flesh from a gazelle{vsig}2007-6_2018{/vsig}Few automakers have had a more unenviable task than that facing Jaguar when it came time to replace the E-type. Instead of taking an evolutionary approach, as Porsche did when replacing the venerable 356 with the 911, Jaguar… Read more
When AMC Got the Point – Mechanically, the Javelin is closer to a catapult than a javelin-heavy duty and pretty much unbreakableSome people claim that AMC invented the muscle car with the Rambler Rebel of 1957. Even if we give them that, they certainly came late to the pony car craze of the mid-1960s. Plymouth and Ford were first with the… Read more
1958 Isetta 600-BMW’s “Eggsecutive” Limo – Germans in the 1950s weren’t concerned with having “the ultimate driving machine,” they were just happy not to be walking or pedaling. With a limited market for cars like the spectacular and expensive 507 roadster, BMW needed a volume model to survive. They understood the needs of the post-war European market and decided the best… Read more
Fiat’s Coupe de Grace – If your build is more simian than hominid, you’ll enjoy the angled wheel and long arms/short legs driving positionOne of the most engaging things about being an automotive bottom-feeder is figuring out where to target one’s attention when the object of first choice has appreciated beyond one’s immediate grasp.Previously in this column, I have suggested… Read more
Trophy Car Comes of a Certain Age – Sometime soon a lot of successful 50-something women may seek out the 450SL they couldn’t have in their teensSince the 1950s, the glamorous SL had been the Marlene Dietrich of the Daimler-Benz lineup. And like the old torch song, customers found themselves falling in love again with each new model. It was no different in… Read more
1964 Ford Lotus Cortina Special Equipment – Dynamically, the transformation wrought by Lotus was amazing. On a twisty road, the dumpy little Cortina could shame cars costing four times as muchOf the 2,894 Mk 1 Lotus Cortinas produced, only 64 were built by the factory as Special Equipment models. This rare version was upgraded with semi-race camshafts, larger valves, bigger diameter exhaust… Read more
The Last of the V8 Interceptors – The Interceptor fell from grace as quickly as fat sideburns, leisure suits, razor-cut hair, and other artifacts of the ’70sIn the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Jensen Interceptor cruised near the top of the food chain. It was an expensive, handmade gentleman’s express built to blast across Europe at triple-digit speeds, powered by a… Read more
Avanti II-The First Continuation Car – The hurdle many owners encounter is a big one-any money spent on a restoration is just being thrown down a rat holeThe Avanti may be one of the most polarizing designs ever created. Those who love it really love it and those who don’t appreciate it loathe it. But among the former, at least six… Read more
1974-77 Plastic (Not So) Fantastic ‘Vettes – 1975 was the nadir. The base motor was down to 165 hp-the lowest since Chevy abandoned the Blue Flame Six in 1955The 1970s included some great years for the Corvette-Corvette fans still get slightly dizzy at the mention of the L88 and L71 engine options. Unfortunately, those were the other ’70s, the pre-disco, Vietnam-era early… Read more
1973 BMW 3.0 CSL “Batmobile” – The BMW 3.0 CSL “Batmobile” was one of the most outrageously brutal road-going homologation specials ever conceived, designed to exploit several loopholes and bring to BMW a German Saloon Car Championship. In order to homologate a more competitive racing car, the monocoque was formed from thinner-gauge steel, and aluminum was employed to skin the hood… Read more
1976-81 Triumph TR7 – It had the misfortune of being built in British Leyland’s Liverpool plant, better known for producing continuous labor strife than automobilesThe Triumph TR7 was perhaps the ultimate product of the 1970s, a period referred to as “the decade that quality control forgot.” Abysmal production quality, labor strife, bad management and controversial styling all conspired to… Read more
1962-67 Triumph Spitfire MK I & MK II – When pushed, the back wheels on early cars go through wild camber changes and tuck under, resulting in an unscheduled trip into the weedsTriumph’s diminutive Spitfire sports car was named for the Battle of Britain-winning fighter plane the Supermarine Spitfire and showed up in the nick of time for another life-and-death struggle. By the late… Read more
1967-75 Lotus Europa – Europas seem to come two ways-completely done or completely done-in. There’s little point in messing with the latterColin Chapman and Lotus led the giant-slaying revolution of rear- and mid-engine race cars, so it’s not surprising that Lotus was among the first to bring a mid-engine production sports car to market in 1967. The car was… Read more
1966-70 Datsun 1600/2000 Sports – While the Brits were still making do with finicky overdrive units, the Datsun 2000 had a five-speed gearbox designed by Porsche For a long time after WWII, Japanese products were viewed by American consumers merely as cheap copies of Western goods. Conventional wisdom held that a Nikon was a cheap copy of a Leica,… Read more
1967-69 MGC – The MGC was the first in a string of half-baked ideas that turned the British motor industry into a historic-preservation trustFew cars have taken more of a beating right out of the box than the MGC. Already incensed by BMC’s premeditated murder of the Austin-Healey 3000 in favor of the C, journalists were out for… Read more
1966 Jaguar E-Type Series I 2+2 Coupe – The rear seats won’t accommodate anyone bigger than munchkins from “The Wizard of Oz” What was an E-type owner to do when little Nigel and Fiona came along? Grace, pace, and space was how the marketing blokes in Coventry described the new “family” E-type 2+2 coupe that bowed as a 1966 model. It was… Read more
1969-73 Opel GT – Over 70,000 GTs were peddled in the U.S. from 1968 to 1973.The history of captive imports is a tale of ill-starred orphans. If you recall the Plymouth Cricket (née Hillman Avenger), Plymouth Fire Arrow, (aka Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste), or the Ford Sierra sold here as the Merkur XR4ti (complete with pronunciation guide), you need to… Read more
1966-67 Oldsmobile Toronado – How can muscle car collectors overlook anything this big?The 1966 Toronado was America’s first front-wheel drive car since the Cord 810, 30 years earlier. It was certainly Oldsmobile’s (and possibly GM’s) last stylistic tour de force. The post-1967 years became increasingly unfriendly to this type of individuality as committees, legislators, and focus groups took over… Read more
1961-1972 Volvo 1800 – Enough pipe-smoking, record-keeping professors bought 1800s to assure a decent supply of well-maintained examplesIn 1961, Volvo was Swedish for “stodgy,” and a sports car from these practical folks in a cold climate seems about as likely as tailfins on a reindeer. But that’s what happened-right down to the fins.Volvo had attempted a sports car in… Read more
1964-1970 Maserati Mistral – If you decide to restore a Mistral, forget the scuba gear and go find Alvin, the Titanic submersible. You will be that far under waterThe cold wind that gave its name to Maserati’s 1964 Mistral spells the end of summer in the south of France. The model heralded an even colder and more inhospitable wind… Read more
1972-1976 Jensen-Healey – Rust is a concern, almost as if the factory took perverse pride in building the most horribly corrosion-prone bodies The 1970s have been called “the decade without quality control,” and alas, the Jensen-Healey was a product of that era. While it should have taken the sports car world by storm, much the same way that… Read more
1970-1977 Mercury Capri – With the exception of a few fake side vents and one character line too many, the Capri was handsome and looked the part of a 2/3-scale pony car”The Sexy European” was how FoMoCo billed the Capri for its U.S. launch in 1970, as if it was peddling Sophia Loren at Lincoln-Mercury dealers rather than a… Read more
1971-81 Alfa Romeo Spider – Two ways to view the Spica fuel injection system: “diabolical” or “misunderstood”Universally regarded as two of the best open sports cars of all time, Alfa Romeo’s 750-series Giulietta Spider and 101-series Giulia Spider of the late 1950s and early ’60s were a tough act to follow. To remain the perennial darling of the enthusiast press,… Read more
1968 Triumph TR250 – For parts support to be any better, Girl Scouts would have to give away TR250 distributor caps with their cookie ordersAmong all the great stories of British car industry ineptitude, the genesis of the Triumph TR250 must rank among the best.Triumph had planned to replace the TR4A in the summer of 1967 with the car… Read more
1968-76 BMW 2002 – Nearly every sports car enthusiast over 50 seems to have a 2002 story. Invariably, these end with “we drove it until the fenders rusted off”A favorite of enthusiasts from day one, the BMW 2002 was described by David E. Davis, Jr. in Car and Driver as “the best way to get somewhere sitting down.” The… Read more
1983-87 TVR 280i – Mine had a habit of popping its pop-up headlights when going over bumpsTVR was founded by Trevor Wilkinson in the late 1940s, and has since endured more receiverships, changes in ownership, and near-liquidations than probably any other car company-Lamborghini included. Yet no matter how close to financial ruin the Blackpool, England, firm has veered, TVR… Read more
1980-1981 Triumph TR8 Convertible – Like Earth shoes, pet rocks and other inexplicably dopey fads of the time, the TR8’s wedge styling was all the rage in the mid-1970sGood news from the other side… Just when we thought we’d never see another lusty, open-top British sports car, along comes the Triumph TR8.” That’s my recollection of how the buff books… Read more
1962 Daimler SP250 Dart Roadster – No less an authority on grace than Sir William Lyons was rumored to have tossed his scones on his first sight of a Dart{vsig}2005-1_1803{/vsig}Daimler of England startled the automotive world in 1959 with the Dart roadster, a swoopy sports car powered by an advanced 2.6-liter, hemi-head V8. With a chassis inspired by Triumph’s TR3A and… Read more