“Mini cars,” Henry Ford II infamously once said, equal “Mini profits.” Ironically, what he’d have termed a “mini” car turned out to be the Blue Oval’s most important product of the 1970s: the Mk1 Ford…
Browsing Category World Cars
Buick Opel Isuzu: All Dressed Up For Nobody
We love unusual badge-ups, and this one brings together a very odd trio. It looks like an Opel Kadett C, but it’s actually called the “Buick Opel Isuzu.” Confused? Well, all three brands were part…
1987-93 Pontiac LeMans: Partners at Odds
It seemed like a great idea – take a respected small car designed in Germany, where engineers know about good dynamics and quality cars, manufacture it cheaply in South Korea, then sell it in America…
Hongqi CA770: China’s Official Limousine
A Chinese car for Chinese New Year – a 1974 Hongqi (pronounced “Hong-Ch’i,” meaning “Red Flag”) CA770. The CA770 replaced the earlier CA72 in the mid-1960s (though it retained much of the older car) and…
Alpine Fire Brigade: Volkswagen LT 4X4
Hundreds of thousands of VW LT vans were built over the truck’s lengthy lifespan – 1975 to 1996 – but just 1,250 of them were the lifted, go-anywhere 4X4 models. LT stands for “Lasten-Transporter,” loosely…
Jinggangshan: Once Upon a Time in China
In the past 30 years, and in particular the last ten, China’s car industry has grown exponentially. In the mid-1980s China built only a few thousand cars a year, mostly licensed designs or CKD kits,…