The Simca Vedette began life as the Ford Vedette – and its history is as complex as a Château Latour red. This Vedette Trianon, the base model at the time, dates from 1955, a period…
The New Wave Eighties: Renault Fuego
The Renault Fuego was old news by 1985, and definitely *not* a success in the U.S., where survivors are very rare now, but it was a nice car to drive and had a style all…
Modern Vanning: Toyota HiAce 4wD
In its first few years, it was only a Toyota, but the 4th-gen HiAce van has been in production in various countries since the spring of 1989 and is still being churned out in fair…
Baby Cadillac: 1932 Chevrolet Landau Phaeton
99% of the photos you see here are originals, but sometimes it’s nice to show something else – and today we’re time traveling to NYC circa 1940. Photog Stanley Mixon took this shot on Washington…
Rotary Madness: Mazda RX-3 Wagon
Mazda’s first U.S. dealers, in Oregon and Washington, opened in April of 1970, and a regional office in Seattle soon followed, with a small HQ in Compton, California not too far behind. Toyo Kogyo sold…
The Fancy Small Car: Nash Rambler
Later on, “Rambler” and AMC would become synonymous with “economy,” and it’s true that the original Nash Rambler was economical, but it was much more of a small premium Nash than a bare-bones economy car…
Airborne Armor: Land Rover 1/2-ton Lightweight
It’s a Land Rover alright, but of a very particular kind – it’s called the “half ton lightweight,” although it’s actually not as light as the name or materials used would imply. The story of…
Good Old Days: 1973 Oldsmobile 98
It could be described as the postwar American car mantra – “longer, lower, wider,” even if the trend arguably began in the 1920s. The proportions of “standard” American cars grew progressively larger and lower-slung after…
Arachnophobia: Fiat 850 Spider
Fiat intentionally designed the 850 Spider to be a “first” sports car for buyers who wanted something cooler than a 600 or 850 sedan, but were still on a tight budget. Being tiny and cheap…
Twists and Turns: Volvo 1800ES
The Volvo 1800 spent most of its life as the attractive coupe made famous by “The Saint,” but in a twist that could characterize only this car, 11 years into its life it got a…
Triumph Stag: The Complicated Web
What became the troubled Triumph Stag started off as a simple request from Giovanni Michelotti to Triumph design chief Harry Webster. Michelotti had strong links to Triumph and wanted a donor car for use in…
Alfa Romeo Milano: Raising Arese
The Alfa Romeo Milano was unique to the United States, or at least the name was. Everywhere else it was the Alfa 75, and the House of Arese’s replacement for the first “Nuova Giulietta,” which…