(first posted 10/5/2018) From 1989 to 1997, the Williams-Renault F1 team was highly successful in the Formula One World Championship. But the UK based Williams company was not involved in the development or production of the Renault Clio Williams, introduced in 1993. It was a Williams in name only, as this pitbull of a hatchback was entirely the work of Renault Sport.
(first posted 10/4/2018) Yesterday’s piece on the Camargue garnered a lot of query around a prototype Rolls-Royce it featured. It was hardly familiar to me as well, so I did a bit of digging. This is the SX, an in-house proposal for a downsized sedan prepared in the early 1980s.
Let’s have a bit of fun with fashions today. One more gallery in this series of folks and their period attires, all displayed near some vintage metal of the era. A showcase of the fads of the time, and this time with quite a few photos that almost seem to tell a story.
This is likely the ultimate daydream for many of us. Think about it…if you own an old shopping mall and have just over 2,000 classic cars (that’s no typo), creation of something like The Orlando Auto Museum is something many of us would aspire to do. Like the tourists coming to Orlando, Florida, these 2,000 cars come from all over the world.
Somehow I managed to take several hundred pictures. There was simply that much to see during my four hour visit. To better enjoy the experience, the cars are (mostly) presented with minimal commentary.
Let’s start with the big, white elephant and go from there…
Despite, or perhaps because I live far away from the Big Apple in New York City, their classic Yellow Cabs hold a certain allure. There are not many vehicles left in this age of globalization that so clearly evoke a specific place, and the image of the New York City taxi perseveres in the public’s psyche even amidst the rise of Uber and Lyft.
So imagine my surprise to find three iconic NYC taxi cabs parked in midtown Atlanta. What are the odds of encountering some of the most recognizable vehicles of all time in one place? Plus the inclusion of a modern also-ran successor.
While I’m the guy that happily plunked down money (twice) for what is arguably the most maligned Jaguar model line in history, I draw the line at Rovers, be they of the Land, Range, or just plain Rover Rover variety. A man must have his principles, dontchaknow, otherwise he won’t have ANY money left at the end of the day. However, when I first saw the Human League’s excellent video of “Don’t You Want Me” back in late 1981 that opens with a scene involving a Rover SD1 at night, I was enthralled. Although that only lasted a few seconds after which a black Saab 99 Turbo also entered the scene, and like the American market as a whole, all thoughts of Rover were cast aside.
But forty-something years later, (specifically Thursday), I came across a remnant of that time, one of the 1,200 or Rover 3500 V8s (SD1 in rest of world parlance) that managed to find homes in the United States back in those heady days of 1980-1981. So let’s take a closer look.
(first posted 7/25/2013) If a car ever inspired me to emote and wax poetically, it was the Corvair, especially the second generation that delighted us upon its arrival in 1965. So I’ll try hard to restrain myself (as usual): The 1965 Corvair was the best European car ever made in America. And if that alone doesn’t explain the Corvair’s inevitable failure, let’s just say that in 1965, Americans were eating a lot more Wonder Bread than baguettes. Read the rest of this entry »
(first posted 10/3/2018) My musical tastes match my taste in car shapes, insofar as sitting primarily between 1950 and 1980. But there’s an essential difference between these two life-affirming art forms for me. If I hear something on the radio from my favourite period that I don’t like, say Meatloaf, I switch it off. For me, hearing music I hate is like fingernails down a chalkboard. Can’t stand it.
With cars, I’m more inclined to sustain my gaze on a shape that doesn’t appeal to me. Like the Camargue for example.
What do we have here? None other than a bunch of ’65 Fords for sale in the middle of the Space Age. All nicely aligned and ready to launch in front of the large “Gemini V Sale!” window display signs, alluding to the Gemini V space mission of August 1965.
So, what car of these would you purchase for “Going for the Moon or bust”, as the dealer’s promo suggests?
Wilkommen to the third and final part of the summer roundup of Tokyo’s CC scene. I don’t think the W123 would be in my top three classic Mercedes, but it’s certainly up there in terms of ubiquity. So much so that I will often let one slide – especially the more common saloon. But a coupé? That’s at least worth a snap. Read the rest of this entry »
Last time we looked at pre-1948 modified cars. Let’s cross 49th St. (to use the late Pat Ganahl’s phrase) and see how far we get…
This brings us firmly into the era of the custom. That’s not to say earlier cars weren’t built as customs, but the emphasis tended to be on increased performance. From the late forties, there seems to have been more of a trend to make body changes; engine swaps sometimes seem to have been secondary. Possibly this may be a result of newer tech making for more powerful engines, combined with increasingly overdone factory chromework some of which just begged to be simplified.
My boss arranged a sweetheart deal on a new ’72 Pinto Wagon, Oxford white and tan vinyl interior (’73 Pinto wagon image taken from Craigslist).
Text submitted by Harry Case.
After “Heather” died my father bought a ’71 Mercury Comet for my mother and I inherited her yellow ’69 Torino fastback, the car she had bought to replace the ’63 Fairlane I took to college. The ’69 Torino was a sharp-looking car with a 351 Windsor engine and automatic transmission. It was almost as fast as the ‘63 I had hot-rodded, but much smoother and made the ten-hour trip to school a lot easier.
(first posted 10/3/2018) Some cars have a split personality. It’s all in the front fascia. The headlamps, the trim, the model year changes and the colour all play a part, too. Take the Alfa Romeo Giulia, for instance. If it’s a midnight-blue quad-headlamp like this one, it definitely has a slightly aggressive air, with that slight hoodline frown. But our Giulia’s slightly bigger younger sister, the 2000, lost that edge. Especially in this case.
(first posted 10/3/2018) It wasn’t just Edsel that got creamed in the late 50s. Ford’s huge push to compete mano-a-mano with GM’s three powerful mid-market brands was a two-pronged attack. Edsel would cover the lower-to-middle range (roughly) of that coveted market segment, and Mercury the middle-to-upper range. That involved creating a new larger body for Mercury and the senior Edsels, as well as a suitable new big engine.
As just about everyone above a certain age or who has read the comic book version of automotive history knows, Edsel bombed out completely, and was gone within a couple of years. But Mercury got hit hard too, both from cannibalization from Edsel as well as from many of the same factors that killed Edsel. By 1961, Mercury was back to what it had been almost all of its life: a tarted up Ford. But for a few years Mercury spread its flashy wings and tried to soar; instead it came crashing back to earth.
To think there was a time when “truck people” were a rarity and not the norm, an age that now seems truly distant. Still, that was the reality for decades and before trucks became common in urban areas, some folks were ahead of the trend. Some were even captured in film standing proudly with their vehicles –the theme of today’s gallery, featuring truck folks in the ’50s and ’60s.
