Contemporary review originally published in Road & Track Special Sports & GT Cars 1992 If two years seems like a short lifecycle, that only shows you how tough the competition is. Though major re-skins used to be an annual affair for American car builders, that was a long time ago. It’s almost a surprise, then, […]
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 […]
Mercedes-Benz 300SL: The class of ‘54
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek October 15, 1984 At 90 mph on the sparsely traveled two-lane highway, the big Mercedes is at ease, loping along, as comfortable as a Divine Right king in an election year and twice is safe. I am securely fastened in the passenger seat by the wide lap belt, and […]
1982 Lancia Zagato: A car we should have loved more
History originally published in AutoWeek June 26, 2000 You should have regrets, America. But Italy, it’s partly your fault as well. A car with pretty, if somewhat quirky styling, a lusty dohc engine and supple ride and handling should have found greater favor. But by 1982 the Italian automobile industry in America was limping with […]
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 […]
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 […]
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