I’m John Matras, and during a career of freelance auto writing, I’d heard that request too many times to ignore it, but rather than the hassle of a book I decided to start compiling a website with reprints of articles about classic and collector cars, as well as contemporary reviews of cars that are old enough to be classics, from AutoWeek, Road & Track Specials, Car and Driver, European Car, Collectible Automobile, Sport Compact Car, and more.

And that picture? That’s a classic, old enough for vintage plates, taken when many of the articles were being written. I’ve written automotive books, thousands of articles in probably several hundred publications, and been fired by the best. And I’m recipient of two major writing awards, the Washington Automotive Press Association’s Golden Quill, for the “best automotive journalism in 1995, and the 1995 Ken Purdy Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism from the International Motor Press Association.

A bit about the articles: They were written beginning in 1982, almost, well, a long time ago. I worked with original sources including an extensive personal library of books and comprehensive collection of magazines, a free run of the automotive section of the Philadelphia Free Library, the resources of Automobile Quarterly, deep dives into the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature (ask your dad), the assistance of a variety of sources including interviews with people who built the cars, worked with the cars, researched the cars and owned the cars. Still, the information may be incorrect or incomplete. I’ve decided to not re-research the articles but rather invite those who know more (or think they do) to sound off in the comments. We’ll all learn more.