History/driving report originally published in Special Interest Autos August 1990 Timing is everything, or at least as important as talent or skill. Being there at the right time means as much as having the right stuff. Just ask any Acapulco cliff diver. Or Carroll Shelby. Shelby freely admits that he wasn’t the first to come […]
Bahn-bound Buick: Bulgari takes on the Bavarians in a ’70 Skylark GS-455
Originally published in AutoWeek November 26, 2001 Warning: BMWs and Mercedes drivers on the autobahn, you’re about to experience “Detroit iron” in a way you never known it before. Nicola Bulgari, third-generation scion of the Italian jewelry company that bears his family name, will soon do it to you in a Buick. In collections in […]
Lotus 23: Choice of Champions
Originally published in AutoWeek September 17, 1984 Spectators at the 1962 Nurburgring 1000 could scarcely believe their eyes. A little Lotus from the under-two-liter class was leading the race, literally running away from the field on a rain-dampened track. Bruce McLaren, in an old Aston Martin DBR1/300, had been the only other leader in the […]
America’s first rotary: Curtis-Wright Mustang
History originally published in AutoWeek June 4, 1984 A little-known chapter in American automotive history began in 1958 in a small white building on the Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, grounds of Curtiss-Wright, the aeronautical firm with roots dating back to the air pioneers of America. In that building, Dr. Max Bentele and Charles Jones made America’s […]
Mazda Cosmo Sport: RX-7’s honorable ancestor
History originally published in AutoWeek May 7, 1984 The thrill was back, they told us, and how right they were. Emissions controls, beginning in the 1968 model year, had gradually turned most new cars into performance eunuchs. But Mazda was different, and the power of its Wankel engine made the phrase “rotary rocket” part of […]
Renault 8 Gordini: Semi-rhapsody in blue
History originally published in AutoWeek April 16, 1984 Saying “Gordini” in France is like saying “Shelby” in America. Not only do both names mean automotive performance, but if you don’t stretch the analogy too far, there are similarities between the careers of the men behind the names, Amedee Gordini and Carroll Shelby. Each had begun […]
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