History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek December 12. 1988 Every Italian with a hammer and a tree stump is a body man, and in Italy two tree stumps together is a carrozzeria turning out wild, wonderful and, sometimes, strange shapes. But in practical Switzerland, where one grows up making multijewel watches or pocket knives that […]
Oldsmobile XP-888GT: Oldsmobile’s stillborn sports car
History originally published in Automobile Quarterly Volume 36, Number 2; February 1997 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 more of the […]
Lotus 11 Le Mans: Made for Mulsanne
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 the fact that the Lotus’ non-adjustable pedals have forced me to slump low, while its […]
Datsun 2000: An English sports car from Yokohama-on-Thames
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 was every inch the equal to the MGB. In performance, it beats the B hands […]
Kaz’s DAFs
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 whole stable of them. “I take them in like lost kittens,” says Kazmier Wysocki about […]
1967 Dodge Dart GT convertible: Piece of Americana goes grand touring and topless
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” on the outside, there was probably a turbocharger on the inside. Unfortunately there was no […]
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