Shelby’s Gone. Any More Like Him?

Shelby’s Gone. Any More Like Him?

Shelby and the Ford GT40 Caroll Shelby (1923-2012), whom tgriffith wrote about today, was one of the last true Car Guys. There just won’t be any more like him. Here’s why. Shelby’s career began with sports-car racing, and there he made his greatest mark. He could never have created the Cobra or the muscle cars that followed had he not raced for Aston Martin,...

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The Tale of the Round Door Rolls-Royce

The Tale of the Round Door Rolls-Royce

I’ve tangentially touched on the topic of this post, the famous art deco “Round Door Rolls-Royce”, before when discussing Audi advertising and some Detroit history. On my recent trip to Los Angeles to drive a McLaren 675LT (you think Jack Baruth is the only TTAC staffer who can swing the loan of a supercar?), I took the opportunity to visit the newly renovated...

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New Technology Addresses Distracted Driving

New Technology Addresses Distracted Driving

One morning, Sunil Vallath was talking to his wife (then fiancée) on the phone. With both of them being in other countries at the time, conversing over the phone was common. Without warning, Vallath was suddenly thrust into a situation that haunts him to this day. “It still gives me shivers to think of what could have happened if luck had run out on us that...

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From Pebble Beach to Udaipur India

From Pebble Beach to Udaipur India

Recently I was lucky enough to receive an email from a fellow auto journalist named Claus Muller. Claus is a collector, racer and Managing Director of the Munich Café Racers. He wanted to inform me of an article that he had written about a recent trip to India. What he didn’t mention was that the trip was for him to be a guest of his Highness Arvind Singh...

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Winter Car Hacks? Try Good Common Sense Instead

Winter Car Hacks? Try Good Common Sense Instead

Winter has set in across the United States, which is something of which the people of upstate New York need no reminder. When winter snow and ice make their annual return, websites like to give advice on how to deal with the effects on cars. Advice on everything from driving through blizzards to de-icing your car with onions can be found with a simple Google...

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Quick question: Is filming yourself hooning on public roads okay?

Quick question: Is filming yourself hooning on public roads okay?

So the last week or so, the autoblogosphere – not to mention the citizens of San Diego – have worked themselves into an uproar over the video from which the still above was taken. It features some bro tearing around San Diego sans permits in his jacked-up off-road buggy in an attempt to get his sponsors some attention. Coincidentally, we had just run the...

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New York Model A club proves that some kids are still interested in old cars

New York Model A club proves that some kids are still interested in old cars

1931 Model A Roadster, the group’s latest youth restoration project. Those who insist that today’s youth don’t care about cars (and care even less about old cars) could learn something from the Adirondack A’s Model A Ford Club. Since 2012, the Clifton Park, New York, group has completed three Model A Ford builds with the help of 13- to 16-year-olds from local...

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Audi & Skoda Used “Cheat Sheet” Software

Audi & Skoda Used “Cheat Sheet” Software

2016 Audi TT Quattro Volkswagen Group continues its rapid descend this week and this is just the beginning. Last week, it was revealed by the Environmental Protection Agency that Volkswagen Group was deliberately violating the Clean Air Act on their TDI diesel models. The company admitted that 11 million of their cars have been fitted with the software that...

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F.A. Porsche Dies, and Germany Is Winning the Car Wars

F.A. Porsche Dies, and Germany Is Winning the Car Wars

2012 Porsche 911 Cabriolet World War II was of course not the end for Germany, though the country was pulverized. The three Porsches, all named Ferdinand, were still alive, but it was Ferry, son of the founder, who brought the car company to fame and success in the late 1940s. His Porsche 356 took the prototype Volkswagen—created under Hitler in the 1930s but...

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These Three Unsafe Minivans Will Surprise You

These Three Unsafe Minivans Will Surprise You

You assume you’re safe. You’re surrounded by acres of sheet metal and protected by a sturdy steel frame. You’re riding higher than most other vehicles and under the impression that you’re nearly invincible. Your most valuable possessions, including your new 60-inch television, your sporting equipment, yesterday’s leftovers and probably even your children, are...

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Drag Coefficient Nonsense

Drag Coefficient Nonsense

One thing I have learned from my little heart problem, is the importance of exercise. Personally, I don’t exercise at all, but I did learn about its importance from my doctor. I believe that alone is the first step. Instead, I spend my time “flexing my mind” by reading car sites, studying my “Encyclopedia of Automobiles,” solving unsolvable math equations like...

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Buying Used Luxury? Think Twice

Buying Used Luxury? Think Twice

How much are those rings worth to you? Driving a luxury car for the price of a Honda is an appealing proposition. I’ve advocated for it on these very pages. Why would someone spend $25,000 on a new Accord orCR-V when they could have a used Audi A6 or Q7? The benefits make it seem like a no-brainer. For the same money you get more luxury, more brand panache,...

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Who says you can’t race in winter?

Who says you can’t race in winter?

A Ford GT40 Mk I battles a Cobra Daytona Coupe. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been holding out on you. I’ve never discussed my collection of historically significant racing cars, nor have I revealed that I have access to my own year-round testing, development and racing facility. Jim Clark’s 1968 Lotus Type 49. The cars under my stewardship include a...

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