History originally published in Sport Compact Car, October 1998 The Fiat Strada arrived in the United States with considerable fanfare and a lot of press coverage. And why not? Fiat had been in this country for a long time. It’s sports cars provided Italian entertainment for those not in Ferrari or even Alfa territory, even […]
1939 BMW 321: From bureaucrat to burgher, the war changed many things
History originally published in AutoWeek, February 28, 1983 It was a fitting motorcar for the professional, this new BMW 321, a good choice for the man of accomplishment. It was August, 1939, and to be able to afford such an impressive automobile was a sign of having arrived at that certain station in life – […]
1988 Lincoln Mark VII LSC: American muscle man in a three-piece suit
Contemporary review originally published in Corridor Today March 15, 1988 I believe that automobiles are something like nouns in romance languages: they have gender. Oh, I know objectively that cars are innate objects made of rubber and plastic and steel but I also know that we talk to our cars. We beg them to start […]
Volvo 122-S and 123GT, Sporty Volvos: Did You Say Peppy, or Preppy?
History originally published in AutoWeek, January 9, 1984 By some strange twist of circumstances, the automobiles produced by one Swedish manufacturer have come to represent a group of people equally defined by alligators, ducks and plaids. This is, we are told, because these people respect a good value and admire the frumpy. They have therefore […]
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 […]
Singer Roadster: The Last Aria of a Dying Diva
Originally published in AutoWeek in August 8, 1983. It must’ve been rather bleak at Singer Motors as 1956 approached. The Birmingham firm predated the automobile as a manufacturer of bicycles, and it entered the motor business in 1901. By 1928, Singer ranked third among all British private car manufacturers. But sales had slackened through the […]
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