History originally published in AutoWeek July 21, 1986 “We usually start it in second gear. There is a chatter in first that you can adjust out but it only comes back in a month or two,” said F. Winston Johns, my guide for the day for a pair of Nash-Healeys. His was a perfectly restored […]
Innocents Abroad: Phil Stiles and George Schrafft and the Crosley Le Mans
History originally published in Automobile Magazine, June 1993 No one had expected this much of the first timers at Le Mans, not even the entrants themselves. Yet here they were, a couple of American sports car crazies and a highly modified Crosley Hotshot, holding their own against experienced Index of Performance players and slipping past […]
Arnolt-MG: Wacky’s Small Wonder
History originally published in Sport Compact Car. February 1998 Stanley H. Arnolt Jr wasn’t a big man, but to casual acquaintances, he seemed taller than his actual five-foot-ten-inch frame, partly by his high-heeled riding boots and partly by his manner. He liked his nickname, “Wacky,” and seemed to try to live up to it in […]
Ferrari Testa Rossa TR250: What but lust and desire can a redhead inspire?
History originally published in AutoWeek January 30, 1984 Let’s talk desire. Let’s talk lust. Let’s talk Testa Rossa. Ferrari Testa Rossa, of course, for no other maker has been so brazen as to borrow the name, as did Pontiac with the GTO. But more specifically, let’s talk 250TR, the V-12, not the four-cylinder which preceded […]
1959 Deutsch-Bonnet HBR5: Frenchmen team for Panhard-powered bulbous bullet
History originally published in AutoWeek October 15, 1990 Charles Deutsch was the designer and Rene Bonnet made the engines go faster, together these two Frenchmen built cars. The cars they built were built to win races. And win races they did. A never more than semi-formal alliance that began when Bonnet started a Citroen agency […]
Volvo P1900 1956-1957: Volvo’s first sports car
History originally published is Illustrated Volvo Buyer’s Guide (1993) by John Matras It left as quickly as it had, leaving hardly a ripple to mark its passing. Yet for an exotic Volvo, one would be hard-pressed to find a better example than the 1900. The short story of the P1900 began in 1953 when Assar […]
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