A 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe eight-passenger station wagon’s doors are big, so climbing in is easy. The bench seats are...
We had spent the previous evening at Justin Marshall and his wife Shirley’s spectacular hilltop home overlooking their winery in...
Years ago, a friend and I were in an old Dodge plumber’s van on our way to the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance, doing about 65 mph on Interstate five, when a magnificent, classic, close coupled sedan blew past us. We were surprised, because though it appeared to be stock, and...
Throughout history, French manufacturers have created some of the most unusual automotive designs ever made. Most will agree that many...
Back in 1982, I bought a 1940 Packard coupe and spent the next couple of years restoring it. Once I...
More Cylinders: Jessie Vincent and the Packard Twin Six engine “The greatest piece of machinery that ever went upon the highways,” proclaimed Henry B. Joy, Packard president in 1915, extoling the virtues of the recent release of his company’s new engineering marvel, the Twin Six. Jessie Vincent, the brainchild of...
When I moved to Tennessee a few years ago, one of the first things I did was look for a...
Charles Kettering, one time head of research at General Motors, once said: “People are very open-minded about new things –...
We met up with Gary Humecke in Thousand Oaks, California to see and drive his remarkably preserved 1937 Mercedes 170V W136 roadster that was custom built in Germany for export to Britain. This last detail is evident because it is right-hand drive, and is equipped with British lighting and signal...
Sensational French shapes and racing pedigree are part of what make Talbot-Lago automobiles exotic, beautiful, rare and sought after. Few...
Why an auto manufacture would choose a motto, “Le Juste Milieu,” that means “The Happy Mean,” will remain unanswered despite...
We spotted Don Murray’s gorgeous Iso Grifo coupe at his private collection in Irvine California, and wondered what it was. It was obviously Italian, based on its styling, and obviously a high-end touring car. In fact, it looked like a Bertone-designed Ferrrari, except for its unusual rectangular hood scoop called...
Beverly Rae Kimes has been called the “First Lady of Automotive History” for good reason. She has written histories of...
In the 1940s, Chrysler Corporation’s Dodge division had a reputation for building solid, dependable, conservatively styled cars. That was fine,...
Alex Bacon grew up a student of automobile design. He cut his teeth as a teenager with a ground up restoration on his father’s ’63 Ferrari 250 GTE and fell willing victim to the allure of its sexy design, exotic engineering and the quixotic addiction that comes from driving something...
We open the smallish front doors, typical of open cars of the 1920s, and climb in. Chris Kidd pulls down...
Pontiac had built a well-deserved reputation as General Motors performance division by 1967. Innovative performance enhancing engineering, matched with attractive...
“Bella figura” is Italian for “beautiful figure.” Winston Goodfellow uses the phrase in the title of the section of his book, “Ferrari – Road and Racing,” on the 250 GT/L, aka Berlinetta Lusso. Preston Lerner, in his book “Speed Read – Ferrari,” says about the 250 GT/L, “The reason it’s...
The Studebaker Corporation built some significant and beautiful vehicles during its more than a century in business. Their horse drawn...
China has contributed many great things to the world throughout the ages. Gunpowder, paper, printing, the umbrella and the compass...
Joe Ballengee was driving his ’65 Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato through the Santa Fe Arts District, during the Santa Fe Concorso’s Mountain Tour, when a woman at the curb, shouted, “WHAT ON EARTH?” A more knowledgeable car person, upon seeing a photo of the Lancia, commented that it was “rare...
At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, much of the world quietly celebrated the 100th anniversary...
Tony Valadez’ elegant 1939 Pontiac convertible is everything later Pontiac muscle cars are not. The later cars were brash, flashy...
There were many interesting and familiar cars parked at the 2018 Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance. Ferraris, Packards, Jaguars and some vintage racecars are what one hopes and expects to see at such a place. However, amongst the highly collectable and sought after vintage cars on the field this day, there was...
In May 1968, my former wife and I traveled by train, ferry and again by train from Pirmasens, Germany, to...
What is art? A shape, a form, an abstract collection of ideas, an image created by man to invoke thought,...
It was possibly the greatest automotive marketing slogan ever – “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” Packards were such high quality, reliable cars that asking someone who owned a Packard was sure to produce a very complimentary reply. Throughout much of the company’s history, its cars were considered among the...
If you visited a car show in 1963 or 1964, you would have seen concept cars on display from many...
1990 Ferrari F40 It has been 30 years since the last car ordered by Enzo Ferrari reached its first owners....
1930 Bentley Speed Six A bloke couldn’t think of anything more dissimilar if he tried. From a Boeing 737, to a modern Korean buzzbox, to a 1930 Bentley Speed Six. While both the jet and the Hyundai with its automatic transmission and power this-and-that were purely means of transport, the...
