Carmakers usually keep a shroud of secrecy over future products, as it’s unwise to tip your hand in the poker game of the automobile market. Why let the other guy know what you have in hand? Whether smashingly bold or…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek March 31, 1986 Tears are streaming back into my ears. The 1100cc Coventry Climax engine is bellowing angrily as I try to maintain a steady speed, a futile effort anyway but more difficult by…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek March 17, 1986 One of the best traditional British sports cars was the Datsun 2000 Sports. British, perhaps, as sushi and chips, but British nonetheless. Not in manufacture, of course, but in spirit it…
Vintage Stuff feature originally published in Automobile August 1992 The electronic continuously variable transmission (ECVT) on today’s Subarus first appeared in the Sixties on Dutch cars made by a company called DAF. We talked to a man who owns a…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek February 9, 1989 Certainly “turbo” was the most overused automotive term of the 1980s, misapplied to everything from computers to washing machines. But at least when it came to automobiles, if it said “turbo”…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek August 23, 1993 Whirring like an Evinrude, the little Saab gathers up velocity hand over hand. There’s no tachometer, so shift points come by ear. The column-mounted lever moves with typical reluctance, shafts and…
Review originally published in CarBuzzard 2005 One would like to think that the Mercedes-Benz AMG C55 is the fast and the furious for grownups. Sorta grownups, anyway, but with that corner office, a couple of kids in private school and…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek July 14, 1986 Have you ever held a steering wheel of solid ivory? Have you ever sat in bucket seats finished in mink? Have you ever looked out on the road over a bumper…
I was told to look for the Urraco. The airport at Savannah, Ga., is small and, sure enough, Don White’s little Lamborghini, a ‘74 P250, was the only one at the curb. Don was standing nearby, and, after introducing ourselves…
Review originally published in Road & Track Car Buyer’s Guide 1997 Once destined to replace the Mustang as a properly down-sized, front-drive import-pretender, the Ford Probe instead became an in-house alternative to the rear-drive ponycar. Where the Mustang is bold,…