History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek January 7, 1991; republished by the author. Two years after the end of World War II, with most of Europe still rubble and craters, young Omer Orsi presented the Maserati A6/1500 at the Geneva Motor Show. The war had certainly reshuffled the cards but not destroyed the deck. There […]
1942-43 M4A3 Medium Tank: As a Yank Tank, Sherman’s strength was in numbers
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek August 24, 1994 Five seconds. That’s how much time a GI had to exit a burning Sherman tank, if he expected to get out of it alive. Inadequately armored and undergunned compared with its German adversaries, the Sherman M4A3 Medium Tank burned –even out-and-out exploded—much too often. Though that […]
1950 Saab 92: Simple two-stroke served as bridge from aircraft to cars
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek August 23, 1993 Whirring like an Evinrude, the little Saab gathers up velocity hand over hand. There’s no tachometer, so shift points come by ear. The column-mounted lever moves with typical reluctance, shafts and levers falling into place. Up, forward and up, first gear slides into second. Down on […]
Triumph 2000 roadster: It was anything but a Triumph
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek June 17, 1985 If ever there was an automobile company with a death wish, it was Triumph. Seldom has a manufacturer so eagerly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, run headlong into blunders, or persevered in an incorrect course and survived to fumble yet again. But this is […]
Is Today’s Jeep Still a Jeep? The 1991 Jeep Wrangler doesn’t forget 1941 Jeep MB war vet ancestor. That’s good and bad.
Contemporary review/history originally published in AutoWeek April 22, 1991 So the Jeep is 50 years old. For a motor vehicle, or for just about anything else, going strong at age 50 is quite an accomplishment. It’s safe to say that just about everything half-a-century old is either lost and forgotten in someone’s attic or is […]
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