Background By the late 1950s, sports racing cars were becoming increasingly sophisticated, transitioning from traditional front-engine production-based cars to a...
Vintage Roadcar Columns
If you had to pick one of the most misunderstood European automotive brands imported to the United States, chances are...
When Porsche first unveiled the 911, we lived in steady but gently progressive times. The 1960s was a turning point in many ways. Nearly everything was changing, and cars were becoming an exciting way for middle-class enthusiasts to express their desire for both performance and style. Manufacturers were embracing new...
Photo credits courtesy of Fantasy Junction Automotive history offers a bounty of well-made sportscars. Tracing back to the earliest years...
Ferrari has always been a leader in high-performance engineering and design. Although many of their most innovative ideas were often...
Though not well-known in North America for performance cars, Renault has always been a leader in clever engineering, leveraging platforms for a wide range of uses and innovating mechanical features with cost-conscious production methodologies. This methodology continues to make Renault one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. Largely...
Very few machines are more engaging than an Italian automobile built during the post war era. Literally every Italian manufacturer...
Imagine running a car company with manufacturing technology limited by only 15-20 years of recovery from one of the most...
If you had to pick the most challenging era of sports cars development, it would have to be the late 1970s. Automobile manufacturing was struggling for new directions, fuel consumption and regulations robbed cars of horsepower, and build quality was among the worst seen worldwide. The level of malaise was...
Credit – BarnFinds.com I saw my first Bricklin in 1974. Lit up under the Southern California sun, a local specialty...
If you’ve never seen a Lancia Stratos in person, you owe it to yourself to seek one out. The Stratos...
It’s tough being British. The lackluster cuisine and stoic monarchy don’t help. Though they did give us the Beatles, Fish and Chips, and the James Bond franchise. For the most part, it’s rare to get a British moment of passionate engagement, especially for the average person. But there is one...
If you had to pick a singular, quintessential Ferrari to represent the pinnacle of their ascendance to the best in...
The Shelby Daytona Coupe is the best American car ever built. Maybe even the best in the world. I can...
History lauds volumes of praise to those who are first. Thinking back to 1964, many will recall a short wheelbase, two-seater with British origins delivered to the U.S. where a 289 high output engine was installed and it sold worldwide – the Shelby Cobra. But there was another car that...
Long before books were sold online, before you could shop for anything and have it delivered to your door, or...
In the 1980s, the idea of a Japanese Luxury Sedan was a radical concept. Most North American perceptions around Japanese cars were still very much attached to frugality, economy, and base-model offerings. There were exceptions, of course, as higher trim Japanese cars began sporting comfort features, but most of those...
After suffering what must be called the worst five years of American car design 1974-1979, the 1980s ushered in the...
The modern startup gets a lot of attention these days. Investors hoping to ensnare the illusive “unicorn” status that might...
I’ve been revisiting a series of cars recently from the period of my youth. There’s something to be said about the cars we saw everyday while young. Even if they were part of our general visual landscape some of them captivated us in a strangely endearing way. The Saab 900...
We purchased a 1964 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL in the early 1980s. The car came out of Dekalb, Georgia, so it...
In the mid 1990s, I had the pleasure of spending the day with Carroll Shelby. After walking through his LA...
The Steelers Wheel 1973 pop tune “Stuck in the Middle with You” could very well have been the theme song for the Porsche 914. Though the 914 was originally released in 1969, four years before the song would top the pop charts, by 1973 the 914 found just the right...
The end of the century was a big deal. Now that more than two decades have passed, it’s quaint to...
It’s that time of year. When we celebrate that hallmark of Americana, Father’s Day. Get out the smoker, grill some...
I graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1987. MTV was in full swing, Compact Disc players were the rage, a cartoon snippet called “The Simpsons” saw its debut, and Rap music was coming on strong. Staring at the screen of my bulky desktop computer, floppy disc at the...
Toyota has been around a long time. They know what they are doing, and they make more cars than any...
More than half a century ago, Porsche shocked the world with a brand-new sports car design. The now iconic 911...
There are a number of cars that are better known by their nicknames, than their original designation, like the Alfa Romeo Montreal, or the Ferrari Daytona. But probably the most iconic and well-known nickname is Mercedes’ Gullwing. The 300SL was a road car based on Mercedes’ 1952 W194 racecar. The...
