History originally published in AutoWeek August 3, 1992 Who would have believed that Toyota, maker of the 1959 Toyopet Crown, would have become the international automotive juggernaut of today? Toyota products have been almost immovable from the upper reaches of customer satisfaction studies. In 1959 America, they were often simply immovable–except by tow truck. Toyota’s […]
1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz: What the rich folks drove while you were at sports car races
History originally published in AutoWeek September 19, 1988 It was the product of an era when the best the average man could hope for was a big cigar, a buxom blonde and a Cadillac convertible. It was, for 1958 at least, the popular conception of the signs of success, conspicuous at its conspicuously consuming best. […]
1956 Chrysler New Yorker: Styled in a flight of fancy, but the power was very real
History originally published in AutoWeek October 31, 1988 Chrysler called it “Flightswept” and although 1956 didn’t bring the ultimate in befinned automotive extravaganzas from Chrysler styling chief Virgil Exner – memories of the Chrysler Airflow were still too recent to rush into things – the trend was definitely set. Advertisements showed the cars not very […]
Pure and potent: Two Nash-Healeys
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 […]
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