Just looking at the first-generation RX-7 was enough to provoke speculation about Mazda’s rotary sportster’s appearance as a convertible. The cockpit styling of the first-generation RX-7’s roofline had a break between the body and the roof, leaving a body shape…
English is an efficient and purposeful language, but Italian is more exquisite and elegant. Consider the descriptive and direct term “four-door.” Then consider the Italian equipment: “Quattroporte.” Say it Italian-style, pronouncing the final “e” (as a long “a”), and you…
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…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek July 18, 1994. The hood is narrow, much more so from the driver’s seat them when viewed from outside. The edges are emphasized by the slim fender ridges, sharp as exclamation points. The passenger…
Eager and alert and minus only wings, tail structure and propeller, this Saab 96 resembles a stunt plane, striking in brilliant red paint, contours rounded and aerodynamic, fat tires stuffed into spat-like fenders. The analogy goes beyond external appearances: The…
Originally published in The Complete Road & Track ’97 Car Buyer’s Guide; republished by the author Back in the mid-60’s, a serious sports car had to have its engine in the middle. Lots of reasons were cited for this, things…
Zinn – Eugene “Huey” Zinn, that is – doesn’t exactly spring to mind when the great names of racing are mentioned. Nor does Buick, despite all the money Buick has spent in NASCAR and CART and IMSA lately. If anything,…
It should have been no surprise that in 1978 when Chrysler introduced its first homegrown front-drive subcompacts – the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon – it would follow later in the year with a pair of two-door coupes. Called the…
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek December 13, 1993; republished by the author If you can think of history as waves of rising and falling situations, sentiments and circumstances, then the story of the Dellow makes sense. It was the…
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 Spider. One was that it would be too much like the Mazda MX-5 Miata. The…