History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek February 1, 1999; republished by the author Like a persistent back-seat driver, the 2.0-liter V8 yammers incessantly. Sucking air and high test spritzed into the velocity stacks I can see in the rear-view mirror, it nags “Faster, faster,” and my right foot is all too ready to comply. The […]
1975 Toyota Corolla Deluxe: The first “new Beetle”
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek April 24, 1999; republished by the author Something amazing happened in 1975. For the first time in two decades, a company other than Volkswagen topped the U.S. imported car sales charts. Toyota, regardless of whose numbers you use and not including trucks, surged past the German carmaker to a […]
1975 Ferrari 308GT4: The new Ferrari designed for a new era
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek November 7, 1994; republished by the author I have a secret, but I’ll tell you because we’re old friends and I know I can trust you. Ready? O.K. The Ferrari 308GT4 is a great car. Really. Yeah, I know you’ve read otherwise, but bear with us and I’ll explain. […]
Ginetta Regeneration (Ginetta G4 and G12, Ginetta G 12 and Ginetta G 32)
News report originally published in Road & Track Exotic Cars Quarterly, spring 1991; republished by the author Ginetta, the tiny British firm that has been cottaging away at building cars since the late Fifties, is reviving a couple of its greatest hits as well. The company’s forte has been a variety of cars, virtually all […]
1976 Mazda Cosmo: A hit in Japan, but an energy-crisis miss in the States
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek April 11, 1994; republished by the author The Mazda Cosmo should have been a runaway success. After all, it was a car that Toyo Kogyo, as the Hiroshima-based Mazda was then known, specifically designed for the U.S. market and it arrived as car buyers were thinking “downsize.” Yet the […]
BMW 2002 Cabrio: Taking the lid off a beefier Bimmer
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek November 19, 1984; republished by the author Putting the top down. It’s a delight, it’s a fascination, it’s a ritual. It’s a compulsion so persistentthat it has bowled the safetycrats right off their swivel chairs, with a new ragtop appearing almost every week. It’s also cross-cultural. It’s not just […]
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