So just where did Toyota sell its first car in the United States?

Posted on Sep 27, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

Inside Holt Motor Co. in Los Angeles. In 1958, a little Japanese car called the Toyopet showed up in California. It got ridiculed. It got amazing mileage. And by the end of the year, it got about 288 sales. Who exactly made the first of those sales, however, remains a mystery, one which Toyota itself can’t resolve even though several entities have laid claim to...

Homeland Security to return seized Land Rover Defenders to U.S. buyers

Posted on Jul 15, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

1995 Land Rover Defender 90. Last July, agents from the Department of Homeland Security, working with local law enforcement, seized more than two-dozen Land Rover Defenders from owners across the United States. All had two things in common: none was originally sold in the United States, and all were imported by Aaron Richardet, a North Carolina man with a...

A 1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS comes home

Posted on Jun 23, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

The now-restored 1969 Camaro RS/SS, back in the Kern family. In 1969, as my dad, Mike Kern, was finishing up his tour in Vietnam, he ordered a 1969 RS/SS Camaro from the local dealership in his hometown of Olney, Illinois. He ordered the car the way he wanted it, with the 300-hp 350 V-8, a four-speed manual transmission, no power steering, no spoilers, a color...

Chrysler’s “Customer Driveaway” Tag

Posted on Apr 14, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

Eccentricities regarding our vintage cars make them all the more interesting to discuss. Once you have thoroughly gone over the color combination, trim, drivetrain equipment, options, documentation and overall condition, little things like unique tags and markings keep the adventure alive. This came to mind when I photographed and wrote a drive report on a 1954...

There’s only one original Mad Max Interceptor and it’s not in Australia

Posted on Mar 10, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

With Mad Max: Fury Road opening at theaters everywhere this weekend, we thought it appropriate to run a piece on the real star of the first two movies. This article comes to us from Myles Kornblatt, curator, Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection. Myles contributes to multiple publications as well as AutoMinded.com. “She the last of the V-8s. She sucks...

Racing Heroes – Junior Johnson

Posted on Feb 17, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

Junior Johnson at the Riverside 500 in 1965. Photos courtesy Ford Motorsport, unless otherwise indicated. Editor’s note: This piece comes to us from new Hemmings contributor Steve Thomas. Ripping down a barely-paved county road in the mountains of North Carolina with revenue agents closing in isn’t what you’d typically think of as training for one of American...

Former Studebaker assembly plant begins $17 million transformation into high-tech center

Posted on Jan 22, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments

Renderings by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. As early as this fall, new tenants could start moving into the last remaining Studebaker assembly building in South Bend, and though the new resident may not have anything at all to do with the auto industry, the owner of the massive building has said he plans to keep its history in mind during its...

Five quick, easy, low-buck (or free) garage tips to make working on your car easier

Posted on Dec 2, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

While working on a recent tech story for Hemmings Muscle Machines, I was reminded of a few of the things that I do or use in the garage that can make certain projects a bit easier to complete. I’m providing them here so you can benefit from them, as well. At the same time, we can open a dialog for you to share some of your garage ideas to help the rest of us....

Should I do a color change on my vintage car?

Posted on Oct 24, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

My 1967 Buick Gran Sport in Verdi Green. I recently wrote a blog on a Pink Mist 1968 chrome-bumper GTO (The Rarest GTO you may have never wanted ) that asked whether its rarity, color and chrome bumper would persuade or dissuade you from buying it. Some responders said that they liked the pink and would retain the color. Others said they didn’t and would just...

Are the days of pole-mounted old cars numbered?

Posted on Sep 15, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

Used to be – back in the days when distinctive vehicles could be had for cheap or free – if you wanted to really attract the eye of passersby to your place of business, you slathered some house paint on some old car, stuck it up on a pole, and became an instant local landmark. But those landmarks are slowly disappearing and it seems we may in our lifetimes see...

Who remembers aftermarket add-on automotive computers like the Zemco CompuCruise?

Posted on Aug 3, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

Zemco CompuCruise ad. As a young teenager in the early 1980s, I was already a car guy, despite the fact that I was still too young to drive one. I read car magazines and worked on (more like ruined) the family cars to learn more about repairing and mildly modifying them, adding things like gauges and open-element air cleaners. Simple upgrades I could get away...

The car with the most gadgets: Lincoln X-100 could’ve become the Continental

Posted on Jul 22, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

Photos courtesy The Henry Ford, except where noted. According to one estimate, more people saw the Lincoln X-100 concept car than any other Ford concept car before or since. Ford trotted it out just about anywhere it could: dealership openings, freeway openings, ice cream stand openings, you name it. But that was during the mid-1950s, when the car was new, and...