Almost 2.2 million were made. It set the template for countless small cars, including legends still with us today, like the VW Golf and Honda Civic. But in the U.S., this little car is all…
Lincoln Continental Mark VI: Unlucky Numbers
Technically, it’s not the only four-door “Mark” ever made, but the 1980-83 Lincoln Continental Mark VI sedan is probably the most famously misunderstood variation of this long line. It is, of course, the brainchild of…
Chevrolet 454SS: Old School Truck, New School Shape
Muscle pickups, briefly popular in the 1970s in the form of trucks like Dodge’s “L’il Red Express,” made a comeback in the early 1990s and the first manufacturer to really unleash them was GM. In…
Fiat Barchetta: Turin’s 1990s Roadster Revival
Sadly, the ten-year run of the Fiat Barchetta coincided with a period when Fiat was notably absent from the U.S., once Turin’s primary market for sporty droptops. When Fiat Auto boss Paolo Cantarella first proposed…
Renault R6: La Régie’s Forgotten Overachiever
Practical, plebeian and cheap, the Renault R6 was a forward-thinking hatch sold in the millions but survivors are very rare today.
TaskRabbit: The Mk1 Volkswagen Golf Van
More obscure than even the early “Swallowtails,” the Mk1 Volkswagen Golf Van might be the rarest of all Mk1s, and one of the most interesting.
1963 Trabant 600: An Early Trabbi Becomes A Car Show Hero
The Trabant 600 was the last of the early series Trabbis and a car still competitive with Western alternatives when new, but it was built for just two years.
Suzuki SC100 Whizzkid: Saving The Best For Last
We saw this Suzuki SC100 Whizzkid almost a decade ago and haven’t seen another one in the States since, but this little car is much more famous in other countries. Built from 1978 to 1982,…
Zaporozhets ZAZ-968A: Ukraine’s People’s Car
While it was often associated with Russia in the west, and indeed it was the most common car on Russian streets before the advent of the Lada, the Zaporozhets was actually built in Ukraine, and…
Nissan Figaro: The Retroest Ride
People seeing a Nissan Figaro for the very first time are always charmed by those cute and happy looks. Few cars look so winsome and even fewer are capable of defying the forces of time,…
Ford Fiesta Mk1: The Blue Oval’s Supermini
“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…
1969-73 Opel GT: GM’s International Sports Car
It must have been an odd sight – a miniature Corvette sitting in a showroom across from herds of loaded Buick land yachts, but the Opel GT was a success for Opel and for U.S. Buick dealers.