Feature originally published in European Car July 1994 Double overhead cams, tidy handling, Italian style: what’s not to like? Well, how about emissions controls as clumsy and power sapping any on earth? Federal bumpers aesthetic as a double-knit leisure suit on Michelangelo’s David? U.S. smog and safety laws did horrible things to Fiat 124 Sport […]
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 […]
Ferrari Testa Rossa TR250: What but lust and desire can a redhead inspire?
History originally published in AutoWeek January 30, 1984 Let’s talk desire. Let’s talk lust. Let’s talk Testa Rossa. Ferrari Testa Rossa, of course, for no other maker has been so brazen as to borrow the name, as did Pontiac with the GTO. But more specifically, let’s talk 250TR, the V-12, not the four-cylinder which preceded […]
Intermeccanica Italia: Italian-American with an identity crisis
History originally published in AutoWeek April 2, 1984 I was skirting the Virginia shore of the Potomac River on the downstream side of Washington, DC, the Italia’s chino-creased fenders framing the asphalt and vintage geometry of the George Washington Parkway, when the Mustang appeared in my peripheral vision, coming in from an entrance on the […]
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 […]
Lamborghini Espada: Two-plus-two equals success
History originally published in AutoWeek, February 2, 1987 For the large automobile manufacturer, the launching of each new model represents a risk of manageable proportions. Even a Vega or Edsel can be survived. Not so the smaller manufacture. On the slippery slope of automotive commerce, it must continually find a foothold or go slithering into […]
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