History originally published in AutoWeek June 19, 1989 We have become so accustomed to the radically modified VW – it approaches minor religion status in Southern California, but then what doesn’t?– that it’s easy to forget that in the 1950s the Volkswagen was just another imported car and that buying in imported car was like […]
1954 Cunningham C3 Cabrio: Rocky’s roadster combines race heritage, backyard ingenuity
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek July 25, 1988; republished by the author wealth, Cunningham was able to indulge in a number of interesting cars in the ‘30s. After cutting his racing teeth on MGs, for the 1940 New York World’s Fair Grand Prix he built the BuMerc, a modified 1939 Buick Century with a […]
1929 Nash Model 461 Cabriolet: “The Car with the Twin-Ignition Motor”
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek December 24, 2001 Harold Metzger gently chided me for having chirp the tires of his 29 – Cabriolet. “Well, we certainly know it has enough power to burn rubber!” I had halted on a hill having failed to negotiate a downshift on the non-synchronized gearbox. (One doesn’t get much […]
Ferrari Mondial t Cabriolet Valeo: Now available with the Valeo electronic clutch
Originally published in the 1991 Road & Track Ferrari Special. Suspicion in Maranello is that, with no automatic transmission in the Ferrari line, the market for Ferraris may be limited. Not that it should matter, some say. Those who can’t use three pedals and a shift lever aren’t Ferrari people anyway. Nevertheless, the solution proposed, […]
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 […]
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 – […]
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