History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek January 25, 1988. “Business travelers who want a change in pace in motoring… Sports car owners away from home… Vacationers who consider driving an enjoyable holiday sport.” Lace up your stringback gloves, gentlemen. The Hertz Sports Car Club puts you in the driver’s seat of a GT 350 H […]
A pair of Porsches: Super-90 and Carrera 2
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek June 23, 1986 This isn’t a history of Porsche. It isn’t history of the 356 or even the 356B. That’s been done and done well elsewhere. What this is is simply a comparison of two Porsches, a 1962 356B Super-90 coupe and a 1963 Carrera 2 Cabriolet. It is […]
Ghia-Aigle Grand Sport Coupe: A bit of coachbuilding whimsy from the prosaic Swiss
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek December 12. 1988 Every Italian with a hammer and a tree stump is a body man, and in Italy two tree stumps together is a carrozzeria turning out wild, wonderful and, sometimes, strange shapes. But in practical Switzerland, where one grows up making multijewel watches or pocket knives that […]
Oldsmobile XP-888GT: Oldsmobile’s stillborn sports car
History originally published in Automobile Quarterly Volume 36, Number 2; February 1997 Carmakers usually keep a shroud of secrecy over future products, as it’s unwise to tip your hand in the poker game of the automobile market. Why let the other guy know what you have in hand? Whether smashingly bold or more of the […]
Abarth Scorpione SS: It carries a sting behind it
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek September 16, 1985 Tim Ritter was right. The interior does not suffer gladly the intrusion of large adults. It’s large adults who suffer. Those of us with more modest proportions are merely constrained to one position. There is no room to shift about, to spread out. Leaning forward – […]
Volvos 480ES: The Immigrant that wasn’t
History originally published in Sport Compact Car, December 1997 Of all the “could’ve beens,” perhaps the saddest ever is the Volvo 480 Turbo. Volvo hadn’t built a sports car since the demise of the 1800ES after the 1973 model year. The five mph bumper rule that came into full effect in 1974 would have required […]
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