Featured | AUTO CARS FANS

Vintage ad: 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am – The Driver’s Car

Posted on Jan 15, 2020 in Featured | 2 comments

Cropped image from 1982 magazine ad. In 1981, Pontiac introduced the third-generation Firebird Trans Am as a 1982 model, the car’s first clean-sheet redesign since the second-generation debuted in 1970 as a 1970 ½ model. Six years in the making, the new Trans Am was smaller and lighter than the model it replaced, and far more aerodynamic. Knowing it couldn’t...

Economical transportation: Studebaker’s bare-bones Scotsman of 1957-’58

Posted on Dec 14, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

Boy have times have changed. Imagine today calling a cheap, stripped-down car a Scotsman? Such derogatory stereotype references would cause all sorts of problems with the manufacturer. But back in the easy going Fifties it was thought of as comical. With Scottish people having long been known as quite frugal when it comes to money, when Studebaker created this...

In Praise of the 6-mm wrench, or “Say Hello to my Little Friend!”

Posted on Nov 4, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

In the past year or so, I have been trying to assemble a complete set of hand tools, filling in the gaps and adding some tools I didn’t even know I needed. You can never have too many tools, right? Right?!?! Wrenches are a simple thing, but in recent years, ratcheting wrenches, “cross force” designs and flex-head models have changed what you might find on store...

Safety First: 1953 Kaiser brochure

Posted on Oct 18, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was a bold upstart in the postwar era, an intriguing partnership between successful industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and veteran auto executive Joseph Frazer that would last from 1946 through 1955. The firm got off to a strong start, selling 200,000 units by early spring 1949, but demand dropped off in the early 1950s, leaving the...

An unlikely champion – Dan Uphoff’s 1972 Datsun 510

Posted on Sep 27, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

Dan Uphoff’s 1972 Datsun 510 at the 2015 Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance. Arthur Hughes didn’t know he was buying a collector car, let alone a legacy, when he purchased the dark blue 1972 Datsun 510 at Brasso Datsun in November of 1971. Nearly 44 years later, the two-family Datsun is well-known among West Coast Datsun (and Japanese car) collectors, and may...

Forty years later, the Chevette can still get better mileage than many new cars

Posted on Aug 24, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

Something about the Chevrolet Chevette still makes it a perennial favorite among those unimaginative authors who feel compelled to pen “worst car ever” lists more than a quarter of a century after it left production, but the fact remains that more than a million of the subcompacts sold in the United States and millions more sold around the globe. Forty years...

The last Tucker assembled from original parts could sell for $1 million

Posted on Jun 11, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

When Preston Tucker’s automobile factory closed, it left behind the makings of more than a dozen additional vehicles, some of them rather easy to assemble, some a little more difficult. Now, more than 65 years later, one of the latter will soon make has made its public debut and become quite possibly the last Tucker to ever be built. UPDATE (19.January 2016):...

Prewar Motoring – Driving a 1935 La Salle through D.C. traffic

Posted on May 4, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

Randy Denchfield’s 1935 La Salle Convertible Coupe. This past May, while driving up to New York City to visit my family, I made a detour to the Washington D.C. area to photograph this lovely 1935 La Salle Convertible Coupe for my forthcoming Cadillac book. Owned by Cadillac collector Randy Denchfield, it’s one of two ’35 La Salles in his collection, and without...

Unsalted: Bonneville Speed Week canceled for second year straight

Posted on Apr 2, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

The day when we will no longer see sanctioned racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats may soon be at hand after the Southern California Timing Association decided on Monday to cancel the Bonneville Speed Week for the second year in a row. The announcement came after weeks of speculation and multiple visits to the salt flats by SCTA and Bureau of Land Management...

Open Diff: What’s your automotive obsession?

Posted on Mar 3, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

1982 Chevrolet Corvette Collector’s Edition brochure. There are cars that are easy to love, at least under the right circumstances. On a sunny day, with the top down, few automobiles are as enjoyable as a light and nimble convertible; in knee-deep snow, a capable SUV can deliver peace of mind (and occasionally, too much confidence); and when one just has to...

The “King of the Hill,” the 1990 Corvette ZR-1, marks its 25th anniversary

Posted on Feb 20, 2019 in Featured | 1 comment

1990 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. Photos courtesy General Motors LLC, unless otherwise noted. In late 1987, rumors of an all-new, high performance Corvette built upon the fourth generation platform began circulating among the automotive press. Dubbed the “King of the Hill,” the secretive supercar was said to be a world-beater, and in March of 1989, GM debuted its...

Which states require ethanol in your fuel? Fewer than you might think

Posted on Jan 18, 2019 in Featured | 2 comments

Earlier this year, Hawaii became the second state to scrap its mandate that all gasoline sold in the state must have a certain amount of ethanol blended into it. Boaters and old-car enthusiasts who believe ethanol poses a threat to their engines cheered this move; at the same time, it made us wonder exactly how all 50 states have decided to legislate...