Originally published in AutoWeek 1July 19, 1982 The engine has nicknames. The Blue Racer. The Semi-Hemi. The Blue Crescent. Ford’s Porcupine. But one seem to fit more than others. Shotgun. Ford can call it the Boss 429 if it wants, but Shotgun is the name that best describes the engine – and the car with […]
Ferrari 250GT Spyder California: A Ferrari for the Club, even if the Club is LeMans
Originally published in AutoWeek August 12, 1985 They don’t build elegant race cars anymore. Sophisticated lines don’t mesh with the crunch and thrust of modern racing, where equipage is carbon fibered and monocoqued and wind-tunneled and sponsor-covered and as functionally ugly an IBM PC. But it wasn’t always that way. Once upon a time one […]
Austin Princess limo: It really had all the Aminities
Originally published in AutoWeek December 26, 1983 Item: late in the evening of March 20, 1974 Princess Anne was returning to Buckingham Palace in a royal Austin Princess limousine when some disaffected Third Worlder blocked her car with his, then opened fire. It was a kidnap attempt that failed, and although the Princess (the one […]
Tom Yeager’s Trans-Am Mustang had all the right stuff
Originally published in AutoWeek on February 27, 1984. Wayne Conover bought the car for parts. As the proprietor of Conover’s Cobra Ranch, a restoration shop specializing in Shelby automobiles, he was always on the lookout for Shelby performance pieces, and the ‘66 notch back Mustang was a gold mine. Disguised, maybe, by a hideous black […]
Saab Sonett I: The open sports car the Swedes should have produced
Originally published in VW & Porsche, June 1990 The winter nights around Trollhattan are cold and long and snow is always on the ground. But, in January 1955, in a rented barn a few kilometers out of town, a group of Swedish engineers began building an open sports car. They had permission from Saab, funding, […]
1971-74 De Tomaso Pantera: Ford’s “affordable” exotic at home among the classics
Originally published in AutoWeek, August 7, 1989 If longevity has anything to say about virtue, as it does with, say, the VW Beetle or Citroen 2CV, then the De Tomaso Pantera is pure as the Vestal Virgin’s dormitory and more correct than a spelling bee champion. Few cars first sold in 1971 are still marketed […]
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