Contemporary review originally published in CarBuzzard published March 9, 2006 One might think W.O. Bentley would be proud of the 2006 Bentley Continental GT. It has, to use the original company’s founder and namesake’s words, “long legs.” Seven league boots, perhaps, a great thumping way to put miles in the rearview mirror. That’s the Bentley […]
2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition: Diesel racer
Review originally published in Examiner.com May 2010 Race on Sunday, sell on Monday. That’s been the motto of many auto manufacturers since the dawn of the automotive age. In fact, the first car race in the United States, in 1895, was staged to encourage domestic manufacture of automobiles. It’s no surprise, then, that Volkswagen took […]
1990 Saab 9000 2.3: John Matras traveled to the deep South – Talladega – to test the new engine from the far north
Contemporary review originally published in VW & Porsche and European Automobiles in August 1990 Talladega’s Turn One rises ahead like a 40-footer at the Banzai Pipeline curling off to the left, a ramp of black asphalt with a concrete crest thundering in at 140 mph. It is a deliberate intellectual decision to hold the throttle […]
1967 Jensen FF: American push, British pull
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek August 9, 1982 Do something, I thought. But no, the Jensen FF belied its four-wheel-drive and behaved like a normal car. A very nice normal car, to be sure, but still a normal car. There is the subdued but omnipresent throb of the common Chrysler 383 V-8, barely audible […]
A pair of Porsches: Super-90 and Carrera 2
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek June 23, 1986 This isn’t a history of Porsche. It isn’t history of the 356 or even the 356B. That’s been done and done well elsewhere. What this is is simply a comparison of two Porsches, a 1962 356B Super-90 coupe and a 1963 Carrera 2 Cabriolet. It is […]
The BMW 328 Mille Miglia prototype looked like a winner
History originally published in AutoWeek December 16, 1985 This is a shape, profoundly sensual, utterly female. It is sublime in efficiency, knowledgeable of what must be known, simple and spare like some great rolling Bauhaus woman, a supple stylization of the female form. It has hips. Viewed from above, it narrows from the shoulders of […]
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