It was basic transportation in the eyes of American consumers. As small a car as you could get, with as small an engine as many of them could remember. The Subaru Justy, which arrived on…
Willys CJ-2A: After Demobilization
It’s 75 years and one day since WW2 ended (technically, it’s “victory day” in several countries today), and one of the defining vehicular legacies of that time is the Willys Jeep. The war changed far…
Fiat 132: Familiar but Forgotten
It wasn’t originally meant to be a “flagship.” When the Fiat 132 was new, it was just the latest iteration of Fiat’s large family car – descended from the old Fiat 1400/1500 and its immediate…
1980 Pontiac Yellowbird: Birds of a Feather
It sure is yellow! And appropriately so, since this is a Pontiac Firebird “Yellowbird,” a one-year-only special model for 1980, obtained by checking off RPO W73. By this time the 2nd-gen Firebird was ten years…
Mazda Navajo: Kentucky, not Hiroshima
“America builds one for the Japanese!” read the headline introducing the Mazda Navajo. It came after almost two decades of American brands offering “captive import” Japanese vehicles (starting in the early 1970s with the Dodge…
1978 Oldsmobile 98 LF9: Distressed Diesel
By 1977 it had plenty of hsitory. Oldsmobile’s flagship Ninety Eight dated back to 1941 (spawned to replace the 1940 series 90) and had ridden GM’s big C-body with Cadillacs and primo Buicks ever since….
VAZ-2106: The People’s Favorite Lada
The definitive version in Soviet times was the VAZ-2106, but there were many iterations of the basic Lada package. What else would you expect from a car with such a long lifespan? The first Ladas…
Harlequin Golf: The Technicolor Dreamcoat
Those colors are unmistakable – it can only be the Volkswagen Harlequin Golf. It’s one of the most unusual special editions ever offered in the USA and proved incomprehensible to Americans. In the end, less…
Škoda 1200 & 1201: Modern for Mladá Boleslav
It wasn’t the most exciting car, but what an evocative photo! The car is a Škoda 1201, an outgrowth of the closely related (and visually almost identical) Škoda 1200. The basic vehicle was the second…
1974.5 MGB/GT: Pull Up to the Bumper
Today’s car is our very own 1974.5 MGB/GT. I hear you asking, “point five?” Yes. Typically, new models are launched in the fall that precedes the calendar model year – but that was only partially…
Alfa-Romeo Junior Z: The Far Out Future
Zagato-bodied Alfas in the 1960s were built for speed. Although Carrozzeria Zagato was generally known for outrageous styling, much of it was modeled on function – Alfa’s TZ and SZ Giulias were beautiful, but they…
Flashback: Bristol Cars, Kensington
It’s a somewhat sad flashback today looking back at Bristol Cars’ old Kensington showroom at a time when Bristol was still owned by the cantankerous but devoted Tony Crook, then in his late 70s. The…