Europa Archives - America's Car Blog By John Matras

Bentley by Bertone

Originally published in Automobile, June 1992 Stanley “Wacky” Arnolt’s industrial empire included, almost as a sideline, sales and distribution of chiefly British cars and sports-car…

Saab Sonett II: Different strokes from Swedish folks

History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek June 9, 1986 Bound in this white plastic projectile I dance on the offset pedals and coax the stubborn…

Meskowski dirt car: AJ Foyt’s training wheels

History originally published in AutoWeek July 30, 1984 Highway 51 rides the backbone of America. The southern end is anchored at New Orleans, the other…

1978 Dodge Li’l Red Truck: A red-hot hauler

History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek March 2, 1987 Overlap, overlap, overlap, the V-8 whispers, telling secrets about its camshaft, gently rocking the truck with…

Ginetta Regeneration (Ginetta G4 and G12, Ginetta G 12 and Ginetta G 32)

News report originally published in Road & Track Exotic Cars Quarterly, spring 1991; republished by the author Ginetta, the tiny British firm that has been…

BMW 2002 Cabrio: Taking the lid off a beefier Bimmer

History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek November 19, 1984; republished by the author Putting the top down. It’s a delight, it’s a fascination, it’s a…

1991-95 Hyundai Scoupe: The coupe scoop

History originally published in Sport Compact Car in September 1999 Hyundai already had made a name for itself selling cars, the penny-squeezing Excel and the…

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…

Dancing With Valves: Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo versus Isuzu Impulse RS

Comparison review originally published in the Road & Track Performance Cars 1991; republished by author Some people might not consider the Isuzu Impulse RS versus…

Honda CVCC: Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion

History originally published in Sport Compact Car January 2000 In the early 70s, carmakers were staring at impending emissions regulations and the OPEC fuel embargo…

Model T speedster: Hot rod of an earlier age

History originally published in AutoWeek February 16, 1987 The crackle of the exhaust was like nothing you’ve ever heard, popping and snapping it idle, booming…

Alvis 4.3: John Bull to the core

History originally published in AutoWeek, February 13, 1984 Full square against the wind, it couldn’t be anything but British, tradition-proud and built in the time-honored…

Fairlane Fantasy: 1970 Ford Fairlane 429 Super Cobra Jet

Feature originally published in Popular Cars August 1983 One of the most persistent and surely universal automotive fantasies is the finding of some rare and…

1958 Dual-Ghia 400 Prototype: This show car reached the road, but not production

History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek May 5, 1995 When Eugene Casaroll, owner of Dual Motors, decided to go into the car business, he wanted…

2017 Fiat 124 Spider Lusso quick drive review: Mostly familiar but different

Contemporary first drive review originally published in CarBuzzard, Nov. 1. 2016 There were two things we were worried about with the new 2017 Fiat 124…

1956 Morgan Plus-4: Old-fashioned at birth, it was a winner right out of the box

History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek March 28, 1988, republished by the author The banjo-strung Blumel’s Brooklands steering wheel is close, good for huddling for…

1980 Dodge Omni 024 De Tomaso: Phony Label but Still Avant Garde

History originally published in Sport Compact Car June 1998; republished by the author It should have been no surprise that in 1978 when Chrysler introduced…

1973 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham: Gas crisis! What gas crisis?

History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek December 3, 2001; republished by the author You could play tennis on the poop deck of this thing. And…

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…

Callaway’s LM—as in “Le Mans”

News report originally published in Car and Driver October 1995 Here’s the deal—bring an LT1 Corvette and at least $80,000 to Old Lyme, Connecticut, and…

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Bentley by Bertone

Saab Sonett II: Different strokes from Swedish folks

Meskowski dirt car: AJ Foyt’s training wheels

1978 Dodge Li’l Red Truck: A red-hot hauler

Ginetta Regeneration (Ginetta G4 and G12, Ginetta G 12 and Ginetta G 32)

BMW 2002 Cabrio: Taking the lid off a beefier Bimmer

1991-95 Hyundai Scoupe: The coupe scoop

Volvo 122-S and 123GT, Sporty Volvos: Did You Say Peppy, or Preppy?

Dancing With Valves: Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo versus Isuzu Impulse RS

Honda CVCC: Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion

Model T speedster: Hot rod of an earlier age

Alvis 4.3: John Bull to the core

Fairlane Fantasy: 1970 Ford Fairlane 429 Super Cobra Jet

1958 Dual-Ghia 400 Prototype: This show car reached the road, but not production

2017 Fiat 124 Spider Lusso quick drive review: Mostly familiar but different

1956 Morgan Plus-4: Old-fashioned at birth, it was a winner right out of the box

1980 Dodge Omni 024 De Tomaso: Phony Label but Still Avant Garde

1973 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham: Gas crisis! What gas crisis?

Singer Roadster: The Last Aria of a Dying Diva

Callaway’s LM—as in “Le Mans”

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