History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek September 2, 1985 When Sidney Allard introduced the Allard J2 in 1949, it was to be powered by war surplus Mercury flathead V-8s. It wasn’t a bad engine as flatheads go, producing 110 bhp and certainly better than the flathead English Ford Pivot V-8 of the J1 of 1946-47, […]
Jaguar SS 100: It takes a rare kind of loyalty
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek February 11, 1985 In Syracuse, New York, halfway up the hill in a quiet neighborhood of older homes, is a house much like the ones on either side. Its yard is neatly kept, and out back is a rock garden that, were it summer, would be a floral paradise. […]
MGA Coupe: A junior GT for road or track
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek April 27, 1987 I never quite understood why Julius Caesar wanted to conquer the British Isles. It never seemed quite worth the effort, especially when home was sunny Italy and offered all the vino you could tote to the Forum. It also never made much sense to me that […]
Jaguar Mk V: Cat with a hot landau roof
History/driving impressions originally published August 13, 1984 There is no better way to pave one’s own road to the automotive scrapheap of history than to become known as purveyor of obsolescent crocks. Even in eras of high demand and sellers’ market, such as existed after World War II, it ill behooves a manufacturer to become […]
Lotus 47: Hard to get in, easy to go fast
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek November 12, 1984 Down the hill and out of the right-hand turn, down the straight. Building revs and shift. A glance at the pits to my right, and then the chartreuse letters spelling “Lime Rock” on the pavement flash underneath. For all that I, with eyeballs a yard high […]
Kermit the Bentley: It’s not easy being green
History originally published in AutoWeek December 10, 1984 “Back in the mid-1950s a young man in England named Collin Hiley was apprenticed to Rolls-Royce Aero as an apprentice aero engineer,” Phil Brooks spoke with the practiced ease of one who has told the story before. “On his weekends,” Brooks continued, “he was working for a […]
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