Despite literally hundreds of letters requesting that Saab put the Sonett Super Sport and production, the company would have none of it. This frustrated Ralph Millet, president of Saab Motors, the US distributor. Millet figured the Sonett would be a…
It started with an Englishman named Wall and would lead to a pair of major league manufacturers, but at the moment it was bounding through the outfield grass of a ballpark in New Kensington, Pa. At the wheel was Jimmy…
Arriving fall 1996. That’s perhaps the best thing we can say about the Hyundai Tiburon. The Korean carmaker put a show car version on display at the New York auto show in April and, according to Jim Hossack, Hyundai’s vice…
War, product failure, even political upheaval couldn’t destroy Siata, but success of the innocuous little Siata Spring did. Both success and failure can be found wearing peculiar dress. However, none perhaps, is as strange as that of the Siata Spring….
When the Mazda Miata debuted in 1989 (as a 1990 model), the smart money would have been on, well, another horse. The day of the traditional British sports car had long past, according to conventional wisdom, and the Miata would…
An engine running so hot that it vaporizes its lubricating oil seems a prelude to catastrophe. But a group of researchers at Pennsylvania State University theorize that it is possible to lubricate an engine with oil vapor successfully, opening the…
Surely one of the most idiosyncratic automobiles to burst onto the automotive scene since, say, the cooling of the earth is the Audi TT. Shaped something like a snap beetle with wheels, it’s immediately disliked by some. If that’s you,…
No ifs, ands or buts, it was easy in 1957 to build yourself an over-the-counter racer. Visit your local Chevrolet dealer, put checkmarks next to the boxes for RPO 684 and RPO 579E, and get a checkered flag down at…
There’s only one problem with two seaters: there are only two seats. After all, when you have a two-seater, you want to take people out for a ride to show off your new toy. With a two-seater, you can take…
When a carmaker has a model that has been around for a while, it starts making special models, such as Porsche has done with the 2008 Boxster RS60 Spyder. But then, aren’t all Porsches special? Still, with a mid-cycle update…