History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek March 27, 1995; republished by the author Two of the least frequently noted developments regarding automobiles in France were (a) it becoming illegal to honk one’s horn in Paris except in extreme emergency and (B) Simca’s purchase of Ford of France lock, stock and manufacturing plant in 1955. Simca […]
The De Tomaso Mangusta: The best car in the world, the worst car in the world
History/driving impressions originally published AutoWeek October 26, 1988; republished by the author The De Tomaso Mangusta. All the visual impact of the wrong end of Dirty Harry’s gun. Organic as a cat, fluid as a crayon on the sidewalk on August 15. Slick in the dorsal region and thick in the haunches. Colored Revlon’s best […]
1959 Talbot Lago America: Last of a proud race
History/driving imressions originally published in AutoWeek October 20, 1986 Grand routier. It has that certain sound even on paper, without even being spoken. There can be no doubt that it is French, nor of its meaning, even for someone who doesn’t know the language and even if there is no direct translation into English. This […]
Pure and potent: Two Nash-Healeys
History originally published in AutoWeek July 21, 1986 “We usually start it in second gear. There is a chatter in first that you can adjust out but it only comes back in a month or two,” said F. Winston Johns, my guide for the day for a pair of Nash-Healeys. His was a perfectly restored […]
1934 Brewster Ford: Beauty was more than skin deep, but not to the frame
History originally published in AutoWeek October 9, 1995 The Great Depression was no kinder to the makers of luxury automobiles than it was to most other businesses, and perhaps it was even worse. Cars are, even for the wealthy, a deferral purchase. Remarkably, the 1930s produced some of the grandest motorcars ever made, as some […]
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 you too can have a reasonable facsimile of a proven enduro race car. So says Reeves Callaway, who will take your money and Vette and return to you a Callaway […]
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