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Old Motors Old Motors

Automotive History Online

1988 Mazda RX-7 10th Anniversary Edition

Decade: 10th Anniversary Mazda FC RX-7

in Japanese Cars on 02/04/2020 02/04/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

Everybody’s celebrating “100 years of Mazda” this week (though it did not build any vehicles until 1931) so here’s an actual anniversary Mazda – 1988’s 10th Anniversary RX-7. Mazda’s road to recovery from its slump…

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1966 Mercedes-Benz 250SE Automatic

Mercedes W111 250SE Coupe: The Finer Things

in German Cars on 02/02/2020 02/02/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

Even in the long evolution of Mercedes-Benz style, few cars have looked as timeless as the W111/W112 coupes. They were designed 60 years ago, but they don’t look like a car of 1960. The coupes…

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1981 Fiat Brava

Fiat Brava: Could’ve Been a Contender

in Italian Cars on 01/28/2020 01/28/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

A trip to the film archives takes us back today to OldMotors’ very own 1981 Fiat Brava, then just an unloved old car from a largely forgotten make. Better known as the 131, Fiat changed…

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1974 Hongqi CA770

Hongqi CA770: China’s Official Limousine

in World Cars on 01/26/2020 01/26/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

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…

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1978 Volvo 242 GT

Volvo 242 GT: Adding Spice

in Swedish Cars on 01/25/2020 01/25/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

You never hear about it now, but the mid-to-late 1970s were a really rough time for Volvo, both in Europe and North America. One response to trying to improve things was the short-lived but flamboyant…

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1974 Buick Apollo

Buick Apollo: Stuck in the Middle

in American Cars Junkyarding on 01/21/2020 01/21/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

You’d think that a “smaller” car launched just before a fuel crisis would be almost a sure fire hit, but not so with the Buick Apollo. It might have been smaller but it wasn’t “small,”…

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1972 Morris Mini Clubman Van

Mini Down Under: Leyland Mini Clubman Van

in British Cars on 01/18/2020 01/18/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

Eagle-eyed British Leyland fans will also notice that this is not a Mini Clubman estate – although you can be forgiven for the assumption. In fact, it’s not an estate (er, wagon) at all but…

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1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Berlina

Flashback: Alfa 1900 Berlina in Ascona

in Flashback Italian Cars on 01/16/2020 01/16/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

Greetings from 1950s Switzerland! From Ascona, on the north end of Lake Maggiore, to be exact. A pair of Simca Arondes (a Berline and a Grand Large hardtop) face away from us and a Hillman…

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1987 Acura Integra

Social Climber: Acura Integra Mk1

in Japanese Cars on 01/14/2020 01/14/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

It’s fair to say that nobody was quite sure how American customers would react to luxury cars from Japan in January of 1985. In the works since 1981, it was that month that Honda introduced…

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1959 Hillman Husky

Boldly Transatlantic: the “Audax” Hillman Minx

in British Cars on 01/11/2020 01/12/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

It was the MG TC that ignited American interest in imported cars, and of course, primarily sports cars. But in the export-or-die era, it wasn’t long before family fare arrived. The first two non-sporting imports…

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1995 Buick Roadmaster

Twilight of the Giants: Buick Roadmaster

in American Cars on 01/10/2020 01/10/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

After planning for permanently high fuel prices in the early eighties, GM watched as oil prices cratered just as its new front-drive full-sizers were introduced in 1984-85. Following a very strong 1983, Buick sold over…

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1986 Lincoln Continental

The Bustle: 1986 Lincoln Continental

in American Cars on 01/07/2020 01/07/2020 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email

Sometimes you lead, and sometimes circumstances dictate that you follow. In the case of the mid-eighties Lincoln Continental – the first “small” Continental – Lincoln was often labeled a follower. But after being caught out…

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  • Škoda 1200 & 1201: Modern for Mladá Boleslav
  • 1974.5 MGB/GT: Pull Up to the Bumper
  • Alfa-Romeo Junior Z: The Far Out Future
  • Flashback: Bristol Cars, Kensington
  • Peugeot 604: Sochaux’s Chief Executive

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  • It’ll be 25 years ago this fall when Honda first showed the SSM concept car at Makuhari Messe for that year’s Tokyo show. A five-cylinder roadster that looked milled from a single block of steel, it’s taut lines and minimal detailing made for a dramatic look. But that was 1995. After nearly five years of a steady economic slump in which most Japanese manufacturers were hanging on to sports cars designed nearly a decade earlier if they were hanging on at all, few people really thought the car was a serious production idea. SSM stood for “Sports Study Model.” Though Honda already had two sports cars, NSX and Prelude, they were indeed studying it hard. Four years later it arrived as the S2000. The SSM, first shown in Silver and then shown at subsequent shows in Red, was penned by Honda’s Daisuke Sawai, who is still a Honda designer and has subsequently worked on products like the CR-V. The wedge-like styling was understated in typical Honda fashion, particularly the production version. But if the outside was only subtly athletic, the inside was a technological extrovert. The original SSM used a 2-liter, 20V I-5 mated to an NSX-derived F-matic, an early finger-tip shifter from before paddles. By the time of the production S2000, this had given way to a 6-speeder mated to Honda’s F20C four, created just for this car. The VTEC-equipped screamer had a 9,000-rpm redline, something unheard of in a production car and in U.S. trim capable of 234hp at 8,300 rpm. The cylinder walls used Honda’s FRM (fiber reinforced metal) technique to make it longer lasting under the high loads - nobody was quite sure about the service life of a 9K rpm motor. The engine was bolted into what Honda called the “X-bone” frame, an enormously rigid superstructure with outer aluminum panels - it weighed 2,800 lbs. but despite it’s open top was bank-vault solid. It was equal parts fun roadster and track weapon right off the lot. The original #S2000 debuted in late 1999 as a 2000 model, with Sawai’s styling toned down but still quite clearly in evidence. Immediately there were waiting lists. The original AP1 look was facelifted in 2003 into the AP2 with the revised, less peaky, F22C engine.
  • 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 new post-war #Škoda car, but the first one that was available to the general public (more on that later). The 1200 and its two descendants - the 1201 and 1202, are mostly forgotten today outside of central Europe, but they were important cars for Škoda and though slow, they had a good reputation for quality in keeping with its earlier cars. It was a car of a transitional time, and Škoda had already survived a great deal to get it built. Škoda pre-dated cars, and was founded as an arms manufacturer in 1859. It was the later concern of Laurin & Klement that first built bikes, then cars, in Mladá Boleslav on the banks of the Jizera river, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. L&K was bought by the much larger Škoda industrial concern in 1925, becoming Škoda Auto. A new line of mainstream volume cars featuring a unique backbone chassis design was launched in the 1930s that greatly boosted sales. After the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the factory was requisitioned to make war material for the axis powers and repeatedly bombed. Things were hurriedly rebuilt and prewar designs put back into production, just in time for the 1948 communist coup d’etat, which made the country a Soviet satellite. The first postwar Škoda was the VOS, a huge limo built for state dignitaries in tiny numbers, but a new mainstream car was needed. Fortunately two longtime Škoda veterans were there to make it happen - chief engineer Vladimír Matouš and body designer Josef Velebný. Their new car would be as forward thinking as their old ones, and Velebný designed Škoda’s first all-steel bodies with aerodynamic “pontoon” lines. Even the door handles were faired in. The 1200’s mechanicals and backbone frame were evolved from the prewar Popular/1102, but it looked brand new. The aging 1,221-cc version of Skoda’ sold OHV four made it slow, but in 1954 the company added a 45-hp high-comp version and new trim - the 1201. The cars were very well made, and exported to over 64 countries.
  • GM’s migration to fwd began in 1979 with the ill-fated X-cars, led by the Chevy Citation, but they were only the first in a major series of front-drive migrations. About two years later, the smaller J-cars (May, 1981) and the larger A-bodies (staggered intros from Nov. ’81-Jan. ’82) followed. The painful lessons of the X-cars made these later cars better, though they still came in for lots of criticism, fair and unfair. Both would be long-serving, big-selling platforms. Unlike the X’s, which started strong and ran headlong into a buzzsaw of quality, design, and PR problems, the A’s (Century, Celebrity, Cutlass Ciera, 6000) had a slower and lower-profile start, on purpose. Early sales lagged in part because #GM hung on to the older rwd A/G cars, selling them alongside the fwd A’s for the first few years - fwd A-body #wagons did not appear until 1984. The last G sedan wasn’t retired until 1987. The biggest criticisms in the early days of the fwd A’s were that the base engines - the 4.3L Diesel and 2.5L “Iron Duke” four, were rough and weak and that the cars looked too similar - an “old GM” rule often broken in the 1980s. Pontiac’s 6000 was the only A that got much attention from the enthusiast press - and it was mostly good attention, though it seemed to be the slowest seller of the A’s. The top-spec car, the 6000STE, beat the Saab 900 and Toyota Cressida in a Road & Track comparo in 1984 and made Car & Driver’s 10-best list 3 times. The STE used GM’s HO 2.8L V6 and a tighter suspension than the other A’s that drew comparisons to Audi and Saab. The lesser 6000s were more pedestrian, but had most of the STE’s virtues. A woodgrained wagon like this 6000LE was a more typical purchase for a family and the car was a good earner for Pontiac, soldiering on into 1991. What was nice in 1984 was dated by 1990 - and the Iron Duke, tough but rough, was still there drawing no comparisons to Saabs. To keep it fresh, at least visually, the 6000 got a more “aero” looks, monochrome schemes, rims, and plastic cladding. Best of all was the ‘88-’90 STE AWD - GM’s first AWD car and one its best 80s cars, but the slow-selling AWD was sedan-only and $5-7K pricier than a regular 6K.
  • A staple of British roads to this day, the Morris Minor was already a cultural phenomenon even in 1952. It was durable, cheap, and a good handler even if it was quite slow at first. It quickly became a best seller and ultimately more than 1.7 million were made into 1973. The regular Minor was put to rest after 1971, but the truck versions carried on two more years. The car’s and frugal nature made it a natural fit for commercials, but they didn’t happen right away. Although a Minor van was designed as early as 1949, it was 1953 before the Pickup and Van went on sale. Once they were available, they became the default choice for many U.K. businesses (including Royal Mail), and a few overseas too. Designed by a team led by Alec Issigonis, the Minor was arguably his most profitable creation (the Mini is more famous, but also more complicated). Issigonis had worked at Morris since 1936 and immediately became an important part of the engineering team. As WW2 wound down, he designed an advanced small car for the postwar era, codenamed “Mosquito.” It was radical - a space-maximizing unibody with an independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, and a flat four. The car was too far out for William Morris/Lord Nuffield, who also hated the styling), and many features were left on the drawing board for cost or complexity. The old Morris sidevalve engine continued in place of the flat four - but much of the Mosquito remained in the production Minor. Any fears about the car not selling quickly evaporated. Morris/Nuffield and Austin merged into British Motor Corp. 1952 and the old sidevalve was replaced by the Austin A-series, which made the car far faster. The unitized construction complicated plans for commercial versions, so the old Morris Eight-based Z-van served until 1953. The van was the higher priority of the two, but the reworked structure - both now sat on a frame - formed the basis of both. Both came in 4cwt or 6cwt forms. Popular at home, the pickup was one of the first really small trucks U.S. buyers could buy - several years before Datsun or Toyota, and did find a small audience in the USA. Pickups were exported here into 1967.
  • The original #DatsunZ was always going to be a hard act to follow - it is, arguably, the car that put Japanese sports cars on the global map. The Z didn’t come as a roadster like the TR6 or MGC, but it had all the feel and dynamism of a serious sports car and embarrassed certain old stagers. But they were open cars and the Z wasn’t. A cottage industry of convertible conversions for Zs began springing up in the late 1970s, but really hit their stride with the 1979-83 #S130 280ZX. With this car, a number of Nissan’s priorities had changed. For one thing it did not have Yutaka Katayama as an advocate. His success in building Nissan’s U.S. operation (and fathering the Z) had gotten him recalled to Japan for dubious reasons, and may or may not have been forced to retire in 1977. Instead of returning to the sports car roots of the 240Z, the S130 280ZX expanded on the softer, bigger aspects of the late S30s. To cover as much ground as possible, the ZX was larger and plusher - playing to U.S. interest in #coupes as well as sports cars ranging from the RX-7 to the Corvette. To broaden the appeal, factory T-tops were added in 1980. T-tops were all the rage then, thanks to the decline in factory-offered convertibles, and they were a staple of big coupes - from Cordobas to Firebirds. As T-tops went, Datsun’s setup was excellent and well-sealed, but for a few Z-car buyers, that was not enough. Most early Z convertibles were one-offs, but a variety of firms were building them by 1980-81 including Spectra in British Columbia, Giuliano in Philadelphia, Steas Industries in NYC, Z Works in L.A., and a firm called Belvedere Custom Auto, which built 9 or 10 examples for Nissan itself. Most were roadsters with (ironically) Triumph TR-7 sourced soft tops, but the Steas was a four-placer with a basket handle and soft top that mimicked the ZX roofline. The builder of this car is unknown, but 280ZX roadsters are still happening today. They require considerable structural reinforcement, which makes them heavier than closed cars, but they look great. The S130 weighed about 2,900-lbs., and convertibles tend to weigh quite a bit more, so many are built off of the 1981+ Turbo model.
  • Those blossoms mean, as @officialbizmarkie once said, “It’s spring again!” Unfortunately, this is a spring we’ll have to mostly watch from indoors thanks to “the virus.” It’s also going to mean digging into the archives, but this photo was taken on Tuesday - it's probably one of the few recent photos I’ll be able to share for awhile. Since driving it around and taking this picture was pretty much the only good part of my week, I thought I’d share it with you. It’s 1974.5 MGB/GT, one of just 1,248 “rubber bumper” GTs imported to North America before British Leyland pulled the GT from the states. Today on OldMotors.net you can learn all about the creation of the “Rubber” bumper cars and the circumstances in which they came to be. In reality, the bumpers are actually not made of rubber. - The MGB’s story begins in 1962 when it replaced the MGA - it was bang up to date at the time, but ten years later it was getting a little long in the tooth. It was then that the regulatory issues that had first come to bear with the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966 started to really impact car design; both from a life saving and from a cost saving perspective. FMVSS-215, the “Exterior protection standard,” was designed for the latter - many consumers were complaining to their insurers and congressmen about the high cost of relatively minor fender benders. The standard was enacted that forced carmakers to add 5-mph bumpers, which could withstand impacts of that speed with minimal damage. - With the B still selling well but British Leyland committed to the TR7, Harris Mann, Jim O’Neill, and Roy Brocklehurst adapted the MGB to the new regs - inventing urethane-covered steel bumpers that were much more elegant than the ladder frames on a Fiat X1/9 but which were sure to alienate purists. They were to debut for ‘75, but the emissions side of the ‘75 car wasn’t ready yet - so for four months, a hybrid of ‘74 mechanicals and ‘75 bumpers filled in - the ‘74.5. Because the TR-7 had been designed as a coupe and needed a strong launch in the USA, the MGB/GT was dropped from the U.S. line at the end of December. The TR-7 arrived two months later.

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