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 in northern Wisconsin. In between, the asphalt runs through Centralia, Illinois, which, at least Before California, was about as close to the US center as a city could be. Some […]
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 […]
Lotus 23: Choice of Champions
Originally published in AutoWeek September 17, 1984 Spectators at the 1962 Nurburgring 1000 could scarcely believe their eyes. A little Lotus from the under-two-liter class was leading the race, literally running away from the field on a rain-dampened track. Bruce McLaren, in an old Aston Martin DBR1/300, had been the only other leader in the […]
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 […]
Porsche 904/6: Don’t call it a conversion
History originally published in AutoWeek December 31, 1984 Henry Payne’s Lincolnesque frame slouches in the fiberglass driver’s seat, the steering wheel down between his knees, his big hands on either side of the wood-rimmed circle. It’s odd that he should look-– or even be – so comfortable in the 904’s small and Spartan cockpit. Outside […]
1959 Deutsch-Bonnet HBR5: Frenchmen team for Panhard-powered bulbous bullet
History originally published in AutoWeek October 15, 1990 Charles Deutsch was the designer and Rene Bonnet made the engines go faster, together these two Frenchmen built cars. The cars they built were built to win races. And win races they did. A never more than semi-formal alliance that began when Bonnet started a Citroen agency […]
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