History originally published in AutoWeek October 10, 1983 Christopher Columbus, as every schoolboy knows, discovered America by accident. He was actually trying to prove a point, that the earth was round and that China could be reached by sailing west as well as East. Columbus didn’t reach the Orient, but at least people stopped worrying […]
1977 Porsche 924: New appreciation for the Porsche they loved to hate
History originally published in AutoWeek August 19, 1991 It’s the Porsche everyone loves to hate. By what’s been said and written about the original Porsche 924, one would think it had square wheels, power by Vegematic and styling only a Kommissar could love. Even with the enthusiastic cooperation of the Porsche Club of America, it […]
Armed and Crazy
Feature originally published in Truckin’ March 1983 The energy crisis, while also affecting things like the price of home heating oil, along with the dual whammy of smog regs and increased insurance costs emasculated performance cars, created the custom van craze. Some of the most fuel-thirsty vehicles available were heavily adorned with, well, everything including […]
1951 Mercedes-Benz 170S Cabriolet: Playing survivor
History originally published in AutoWeek September 24, 2001 Allied bombing had done its best to destroy the ability of the Third Reich to wage war. Mercedes-Benz, according to estimates made in the spring of 1945, suffered about 70 percent damage to his automobile assembly plant at Untertürkheim and 85 percent to the coachbuilding facility at […]
Is the 2016 Buick Avista concept the next Pontiac Firebird?
News report originally published in CarBuzzard on January 15, 2016 If Hal Needham made a movie with the Buick Avista in a starring role—a Smokey and the Bandit for the new millennium—it would have the semi full of Coors is replaced by a luxury motorhome making a run from Napa to Texas…for all the California […]
Maserati Bora: Manly, yes, but she’ll like it, too
History originally published in AutoWeek August 29, 1983 It’s a bullet, big bore and Magnum-packed, a missile, ICBM for the Interstate, pregnant with malice. It has the shape of motorized malevolence and the punch to back it up. The Maserati Bora is surely the most masculine, most testosterone-loaded design ever to come from the pen […]
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