The Renault Alliance was dull. Born in France as the Renault 9 in 1981 and built beginning in 1982 in Kenosha, Wis. by American Motors during that company’s, well, alliance with the French automaker, the Alliance was powered by a…
It doesn’t take more than one look the love or hate the Suzuki X-90. Appearance is the vehicle’s primary reason for being. After all, under the ski-boot styling is the chassis, engine and drivetrain of a 2-door Sidekick. Mechanically the…
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…
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 of which…
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…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek October 17, 1994; republished by author “Je me suis inspire d’un oiseau aquatique.” Well, it does look a little like a duck. For a car, that is. A sculptor name Bertoni – no relation…
History originally published in Sport Compact Car November 1998; republished by the author Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Sure, Bill, but would it sell? When Renault began importing its new econobox in 1976,…
History originally published in AutoWeek March 13, 1989; republished by the author Zinn – Eugene “Huey” Zinn, that is – doesn’t exactly spring to mind when the great names of racing are mentioned. Nor does Buick, despite all the money…
History originally published in Sport Compact Car June 1998; republished by the author It should have been no surprise that in 1978 when Chrysler introduced its first homegrown front-drive subcompacts – the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon – it would…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek December 13, 1993; republished by the author If you can think of history as waves of rising and falling situations, sentiments and circumstances, then the story of the Dellow makes sense. It was the…