Photo: Peter Collins Things were bad. There had been difficulties before for Lancia, but on both occasions the good guys...
1964 Imperial Crown Coupe It was clear that this would be the start of something big just by opening the...
Singer-songwriter Carol Connors once bet Carroll Shelby that if she wrote him a hit song, he’d give her a Cobra. Historian Bob Walker untangles the complicated tale of the 289 Cobra that Shelby gave her to honor that bet. The original engine installed in CSX 2067 was reported by the...
Today, the words failure and BMW are an anathema: the Munich company is a model of success. But, it wasn’t...
Billed as “The Aristocrat of the Automobiles,” the vehicles produced by the Fabbrica Automobili Isotta Fraschini were owned by some...
In the 1940s, Chrysler Corporation’s Dodge division had a reputation for building solid, dependable, conservatively styled cars. That was fine, however, Chrysler wanted to add some glamour and excitement to their cars. The American public was fascinated with the new jet-age technology that had developed after the war and car...
1932 Jordan Playboy We spotted the Playboy at a “Cruisin’ For a Cure” meet at the Los Angeles Fairgrounds a...
A few miles north of Paso Robles we come up over a rise on a rolling two-lane road through Central California’s...
Photo: Steve Oom With just over 600 produced between 1954 and 1962 it can t be said that the Jensen 541 was built in huge numbers. In my 45-plus years of older car enthusiasm, I can say that I have seen four Jensen 541s, and with pleasure have driven two...
If you visited a car show in 1963 or 1964, you would have seen concept cars on display from many...
Photo: Steve Oom I had heard about them for years, but had never seen one in the metal. Sure, actually...
Photo: David Newhardt Photo: David Newhardt The year 1909 was an eventful period; the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened, the first Lincoln Head pennies were minted, and the Great White Fleet returned to Norfolk, Virginia, after circumnavigating the globe. Closer to home, automobile manufacturer Locomobile continued to offer superbly built road...
The history of Automobili Lamborghini is one that almost parallels the success of post-World War II Italy itself, and is...
Photo: David Gooley I know the engine is running only when I rev it. I pull the gearshift lever into...
Photo: J. Michael Hemsley When you have the only one ever built, you might have trouble convincing people that it is real. It’s a particular problem when what it looks like really isn’t what it is. That’s what Brian and Samantha Styles face every time they take their 1967 GT...
I was out walking the other day, and tripped on a grate in the pavement and fell hard… down hill....
Beverly Rae Kimes has been called the “First Lady of Automotive History” for good reason. She has written histories of...
The People The two people critical to the development of Tatra’s most significant automobiles, including the subject of this profile, were Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray. Ludwinka, born in Austria near Vienna, started his career as a mechanic, studied in Vienna, and was hired by Nesselsdorfer Waganbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft to work on...
It’s rather ironic that both the birth of the “Pony Car” movement in the mid-1960s, and its eventual death in...
Photo: J. Michael Hemsley After he had finished the restoration of his 1936 Stout Scarab, Ron Schneider took it to...
A 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe eight-passenger station wagon’s doors are big, so climbing in is easy. The bench seats are covered in leatherette, a leather-like plastic-coated fabric designed to be tough and long lasting. The interior is roomy and handsome, though somewhat curious in that – though rich real wood...
1936 De Soto Airflow The story of De Soto begins with a record for first year sales that stood for...
1930 Austin Seven “Chummy ” The Austin Motor Company was in trouble. The “War to End All Wars” had been...
Back in 1982, I bought a 1940 Packard coupe and spent the next couple of years restoring it. Once I had the engine extracted, I decided, upon sober reflection, to have a pro do the rebuild. The guys at the parts house referred me to classic car expert Paul Schinnerer...
1912 Pope Hartford Model 27 The invention of the automobile probably had more to do with the invention of the...
When Jim Gehkre returned from his tour in Vietnam, in January of 1970, the first thing he needed was a...
How would you, as a recent college graduate, like to have a job that allowed you to drive a very limited production vehicle around the United States and Canada displaying the products your employer makes? Today, you could do that in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, but, in 1934, six young...
China has contributed many great things to the world throughout the ages. Gunpowder, paper, printing, the umbrella and the compass...
Henry Ford was truly one of a kind: egotistical yet compassionate; rich yet thrifty; genius yet ignorant. No man— industrialist,...
The beautiful Stork of Lorraine on the radiator cap makes the Hispano-Suiza easily identifiable. It is one of the most admired marques of the era. Most industrialized countries produced automobiles at some time. Even countries not usually associated with auto production built home-grown cars, especially in the early part of...
