Sounds like a sharp car. Any surviving pictures you could post? ... View more

Lincoln did well at the above, albeit with heavy overt and covert factory support, something Hudson and Packard also accomplished, entirely privately sponsored. Unsure why the second paragraph invokes the few hundred Continentals sold annually 1940-48 instead of the tens of thousands of spindly "Ford-and-a-half" 1936-40 Zephyr and 1941-48 Lincoln (Zephyr name dropped after '40) V-12s, which had the least torque per cubic inch of any domestic car, Crosley included. Be refreshing to read a little auto history sans gush now and then. Yes, it's a free country, it's his car, yadda yadda. But what's wrong with a "tribute car" with authentic mechanicals? If such were strong enough to endure the punishing Carrera Panamericana, they just might make it to the local cars and coffee or golf course concours.     The above's as much an "exceptional homage"  to all the aftermarket parts and sources.  Another fakey do retro rod regardless intention.     Any real cars left?  Why no articles about them?  Pertonix and modern slush boxes seem to be the answer to everything.   What's sporting about that, where's the charm, the history?     The soul of an automobile is its drivetrain.  Otherwise, we're only looking at another whats it, however well done.      Given the above's transmission and Suburban chassis bits,  looks like the "victory" as much Olds', Cad's, GMobile's. ... View more

Know it all? Only enough to provide the above perspective; that lockstep genuflecting predates the prancing horse. Pedantic? "Overly focused on small details." None above, only enough fact to make the point. Perhaps given to didacticism enough to suggest the perspective. One involved in arbitrage is an arbitrager, which with mall developer, describes the usual lucred bottom feeders able to buy the latest instant collectible. ... View more

At the risk of popping some balloons, perspective: Enzo Ferrari's o n l y interest in his street cars sold to playboys, playgirls, wannabe racers, was that they funded his sole passion, racing.  This is underscored by a friend's '59 Pinin Farina coupe, a lovely car, and '63 Lusso (the '67 Camaro "borrowed" its lines, as the '55 Chevy copied Ferrari's grille) having the same dash switches, etc. as a Fiat, and no Ferrari ever rustproofed; a stream of tweaked variants for the must-have, latest thing crowd. Do they drive nicely? Absolutely. For their price, they should.  Do they drive three times nicer than a Jaguar, Bristol, Jensen or even some Corvettes? Many period Ferrari owners say the 3- liter engines require overhauls in as little as 30,000 miles. We've seen the same pile on allegiance to Duesenberg Model Js (SJs, JNs), which Fred Duesenberg never wanted to build, preferring something the size of his earlier Model A & X, or that of the concurrent Stutz SV16/DV32. But E.L. Cord bought his company and wanted a cost little object world beater, which the J never was, obsolete two years after its introduction, it taking eight years and several iterations to dispatch 480 of them to Hollywooders and the scions of industrial wealth. The advertised hp was simply to best a limited production Mercedes SSK, its own hp claim bloated. Was a Duesenberg unpassable on a long, straight road? Absolutely. But for quintuple the price of an also hydraulically braked, nine-main-bearing Chrysler Imperial, only 10 mph slower than most Js in road trim, triple the price of a more advanced Marmon 16, only five mph slower, it should've been. Ettore Bugatti preferred a Packard Eight over any of his namesakes for long, fast business trips across the Continent. Ralph Stein and others experienced with both preferred an Alfa Romeo over a Bugatti. Are we suggesting Ferraris, Duesenbergs, Bugattis weren't, aren't exciting cars or that they were no good? Only that wily marketers of any upscale product; furniture, art, clothing, shoes, handbags, automobiles, have long known that a stiff price itself imbues cachet. Really, an auto insurance company playing along with a boutique automaker's temerity in calling its just released, latest model "for collectors?" Hagerty clearly wants some of that glitz by association, hence the stream of articles like the above. What was the last time you heard the expression "downscale?" It's called m a r k e t i n g. LJK Setright's two favorite makes, he knowing something about engineering, aero and auto, were Chrysler and Honda. Hagerty persists with these paeans to mall developers' and arbitragers' flavors of the month, as well as rerunning auction house press releases, better served by Kiplinger's and Forbes, because they're appealing to casual, mainstream "car buffs," as they go after State Farm (who also insures collector cars), Farmers, Allstate, Geico, Liberty Mutual, USAA, Progressive, pandering to owners' egos by calling anything out of the Kelley Blue Book "classic." Too bad Hagerty doesn't run the knowledgeable Don Sherman, Aaron Robinson more often. Apparently cheaper to run breathless me-tooism like the above. ... View more

Most genuine gearheads long thought it funny that previous celebrity ownership, not condition, should boost price. We remember one of the big auto auction houses trumpeting the hole in a '57 T-Bird's seat from Marilyn Monroe's cigarette. Unsure what athletic ability, being able to emote on cue, sing, dance, recite jokes, or inherit money has to do with the merits of a particular car. ... View more

Reread what i suggested, and note the absence of exclamation marks. Your reaction underscores that while most of us with a grasp of 120 years of automobilia know about "muscle" cars, most "muscle" car fans have a narrow view of the panoply of motordom; that Hagerty has and can do much better. Meanwhile, do capital letters and multiple punctuation marks strengthen dissent? ... View more

120 years of unmined automobilia, and we get another Ford vs. Chevy piece. If you're first an insurance company looking to write evermore policies by cynically calling everything out of the Kelley Blue Book "classic" you can't go wrong going for EZ numbers, masquerading as a serious automotive magazine whether print or digital. Now and then, a good article on some facet of automotive history by Don Sherman and Aaron Robinson, but otherwise, expect evermore of the above.   Your reactions, feedback to round robins like the above help Hagerty fine-hone their advertising. Easier and cheaper to mildly entertain the masses than fascinate the classes. ... View more

Hagerty has long since mastered the ability of running press releases as articles, with a veneer of auto history because they're going for numbers, the mainstream, writing insurance policies on anything out of the Kelley Blue Book by calling everything "classic." Expect more of the above as with today's lead "feature," Chevy vs. Ford. How novel. Too bad, because Don Sherman and Aaron Robinson have written some stellar pieces. But it's cheaper for Hagerty to go the above route, and resonates with more suburban "car guys." Hagerty is first an insurance company, not a publisher. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't expect much stretch beyond talking about money, price, "values," "investment potential." A shrewd business model, and apparently working. ... View more

Wow. Have never seen an article about "muscle" cars in Hagerty before. Hagerty usually wastes space covering novel automotive history from the past 120 years, interesting prewar road and grand touring cars from both sides of the Atlantic and Channel. So much more interesting to read about egregious mid-sized slam, bam, thank you, ma'am Motown tin of the 1960s with station wagon engines, teenaged suspensions, dopey decals and racing stripes, esp. with automatic transmissions, power steering, power brakes, you know, "muscle" machines your great grandmother could drive. Such cars reek  charm.      We'd love to read more about "numbers matching" disposable junk from the '60s, especially the "rare" ones (no one really wanted to be caught dead in such moronic fare) fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars,  because, you know, like, um,  who could possibly afford a Pierce Arrow, Auburn 12, prewar Packard, Stutz SV16/DV32, Delahaye, Railton 8, Bristol, big Healey, Aston Martin, prewar Alfa, Lagonda LG6, 1938-39 Overdrive Bentley, 1938-42 Buick Century/Roadmaster, '37-'40 Cad/LaSalle, 1940-41 Chrysler New Yorker/Saratoga, Riley;  any of that boring crap, right?      Yeah, more "Super Bees."    Because let's face it,  who here reads anything beyond car mags and the junk net?  There's nothing more riveting than thrice-told tales, limited scope,  one trick ponies  good for jerking off at stop lights, impressing kids with no grasp of a century-plus automobilia.   Especially when driven by a fat 50- something.    We thought the '33 Terraplane 8 the first "muscle" car?      What's next, a look at must-have comic books, pop bottles, Davy Crockett coonskin caps, Duncan yo-yos? ... View more

Other than vent windows, none, other than the hundreds of soft, muted, understated, adult hues of the '30s and '40s.     Hagerty runs filler like the above because they're not really catering to those of us owning, appreciating the real thing; vintage, older cars,  but to those more interested in reprising styling cues via "collectible" "classic"  redux, retro/trash rods, wheeled whats its.    Other than a veneer of historic profiles,  Hagerty's focus is gathering statistics so they can become another Geico, State Farm, Allstate, Farmer's, etc. ... View more

Or does 427sc  know there's not a scientist on earth not overtly or covertly funded by an energy company who denies the impact of eight billion people all burning some form of carbon on a planet so small the towers of major suspension bridges are out of parallel to reflect the earth's curvature on climate change? ... View more

Good points. Thank you. That's why the scientists cited above agree overpopulation is far and away our biggest problem, despite the consumer-driven media's blackout on the subject. And apparently, Hagerty, who sees more people as more policies. EVs and the rest of it are tantamount to Band Aids on a patient hemorrhaging in the ER. To Al Gore's credit, even he has long since admitted corn-based ethanol a boondoggle. Henry Ford intended his Model T and Fordson tractor, by 1920 comprising fully half of all cars and tractors on the world's roads and fields, to run on agwaste ethanol, as in Brazil,  the only major nation on earth to never have been at war the past two centuries, not that they're angels. Henry Ford thought it "folly" to burn petroleum, which he thought an excellent lubricant. But John D. Rockefeller controlled over 85 % of the nation’s bulk oil shipments, so with that infrastructure in place, prices low as a dime a gallon, Ford went along with gasoline, as did Charles Nash, GM, Hudson, Maxwell, Studebaker, Dodge, Auburn, Reo, Packard and the hundreds of other automakers then in business, large and small. We're all the same DNA, star dust, and who's to say if not born in 1950, 2020 or 2025, might not be born in 2750, 4220, or 16825? There's but a tenth the life in the sea, fount of all life, as in 1950; most of the South American rain forest, what Dr. Helen Caldicott calls "the lungs of the earth,"  Amazon dot gone at present rates of  destruction by the late 2030s, much of that for cattle feed so Americans can save another nickle on a burger;    most mammals not bred for human consumption or companionship  extinct or nearly so by this century's end.   If your kids, grandchildren and great grandchild as thoughtful as you, there's hope. ... View more

Yep, them thar goldarned politicians. Nothing to do with our actions, or those of over a third of a billion people in the US, 8 billion globally. Who elects "the politicians?" Do you vote? Like the man said, "If you don't like the news, make some yourself." ... View more

Yeah, that's it. "The politicians."   Nothing to do with our actions, or those of over a third of a billion people in the US, 8 billion globally.   Who elects "the politicians?"  Do you vote? Like the man said, "If you don't like the news, make some yourself." ... View more

At the turn of the previous century, 40% of all automobiles were electric, 38% steam, only 22% gasoline, so we're only making a belated U-turn. If we're serious about making the world safe for our internal combustion cars, instead of "yeah but" us/them barroom rants, there are two overarching things we should be focused on: A 2019 poll of 11,000 scientists reported in the Nov. 5th Bloomberg.com news showed them agreeing overpopulation is the world's biggest problem, despite the consumer-driven media's blackout on the subject, this up from a 2013 poll of 2,000 UN scientists who came to the same conclusion, their words, "bigger than climate." Contact any member of Congress or the Senate, voice mail, 24/7, at (202) 224-3121, to support UNFPA.org, any and all efforts to make education, contraceptives available to every woman and girl on earth, revise our antiquated, agrarian tax codes from when more babies meant more hands to work the family farm, half of all children dying by age four, to instead encourage only one or two children per family, to adopt if more. Contact the Pope: Twitter feed: PopeFrancis@Pontifex. Email: info@salastampa.va Phone: 390669881022, mail: His Holiness Pope Francis, Apostolic Palace, 00120 Vatican City. Tell him that to not encourage adoption over making more babies at this very late date is immoral. He has time to assure his followers dogs go to heaven, he has time for this. GDP per capita has risen in every nation with declining birthrate since 1950. According to UN and other vetted international studies, animals raised for meat and dairy produce more greenhouse gas than all the world's cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, ships combined. In North America, half of all fresh water, an increasingly limited resource, is consumed by meat and dairy animals. So while you're at it, go vegan, per Drs. Neal Barnard, Caldwell Esselstyn, Dean Ornish, Joel Fuhrman (You Tube them). Being vegan hasn't slowed 77-year-old rodder rocker Jeff Beck nor the world's leading Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton, in the least. ... View more

Regarding the titular amazement, why should we care? ... View more

What's with this "Classic" jazz? How can everything be "classic?" What's wrong with car, nice old car, sports car, road car, luxury car,  swell kitsch, GT, collector car, or, since half those here gathered seem to think car flipping a  way to wealth, "investment opportunity?" Classic is like "awesome." Everything noteworthy or mildly interesting is not "awesome." Calling something barely out of the Kelley Blue Book "classic" fools no one, doesn't boost value, just adds to the dull shrill.    Perspective.  George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, the Beatles aren't classical music, but will endure the ages long as Vivaldi, Chopin, Brahms. Tone it down. You have a thesaurus, a vocabulary exceeding a sixth grader's? ... View more

Thank you. ... View more

Heaven forbid we should tackle the overarching problem, the biggest threat to i.c. cars, what a 2013 poll of 2,000 UN scientists, and 11/5/2019 poll of 11,000 scientists in Bloomberg News showed in agreement, that overpopulation is by far our biggest problem, their words "bigger than climate." According to UN and other vetted studies, animals raised for meat and dairy produce more greenhouse gas than all the world's cars, trucks,buses, trains, planes, ships combined. But easier to play us/them instead of grabbing the bull by the horns. ... View more

Yup, them thar "politicians." Who put them in office, who do they serve? Do you vote? So run for office yourself. Tell us how it goes. ... View more

Yeah,  "Washington."   That's it.   How did  they get there?   You vote?  So run yourself. ... View more

Who are these "politicians?"   Presumably,  you and your neighbors vote? So run for office yourself. ... View more

So you "heard."   "The liberal media." Ever been in a major daily paper's newsroom, studied journalism, know the difference between vetted journalism, news reportage and commentary, read any major newsmagazines, major daily paper? Talking about the news, aka Fox and talk radio, isn't the same thing. When people bandy outrageous phrases like "the liberal media," they invariably get their information from the junk net, talk radio and/or Fox "News." Right. There's a huge conspiracy, and every news gathering organization in the nation other than talk, Fox, Sinclair,  and Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times, somehow part of it.     Of course, the oil  companies have nothing to do with this "greed" and  "artificially inflated gas prices."    Can you read a balance sheet?      Lifelong car  guys Paul Newman, Dave Letterman (co-owns an Indy team, voted for Nader at least twice),  Doc Severinsen, Johnny Carson, James Garner, Andy Griffith, Steve Allen (owned a motorcycle shop in LA) all liberal Democrats.  Yeah, they hated cars, money. ... View more

Thank you. You nailed it. All you have to do is trace oil company history the past century. They love having the little people blame one party over another instead of looking behind the curtain. ... View more

The oil companies will do anything to boost their already obscene profit, so not a partisan issue. But they're glad to have you blaming one party over another so you don't focus on their moves. ... View more

Good article. Don Sherman always gets it right. The title a mite hyperbolic, but not too much, considering the nascent airline industry at the time. I walked the narrow aisle of one of the Tri-Motors, small single wicker seats either side; hilarious, as with the cramped cockpit of a Duesenberg, etc., people so much slimmer then. Porkers so rare they made a star out of Fatty Arbuckle. The Tri-Motor's spartan cockpit you had to see; oil and temp gauges outside, hanging in nacelles from the wings. Had to be fun in a blizzard. ... View more

Bonne balade. L'escargot rapide. ... View more

"The government"  is US.  Anyone can run for office, local, state, federal.  Like the man said, "If you don't like the news, make some yourself."   MTBE was wretched, indeed.  But none of these maladies spring from vacuums.  So can the Madam Defarge routine and get involved. ... View more

Amen squared and cubed. Thanks. The real problem is Americans long spoilt by living on what they see as inexhaustible cornucopia, wanting to "have it all;" drive around in three-ton pigboats gnawing on burgers, guzzling milkshakes while cursing "thuh politicians." Per my previous second of MPH168's attempt to add to Kyle's effort. You're right as rain about ethanol not harming our old cars, but as with modern, vastly superior motor oils and DOT 5 silicone brake fluid, too many down homers want a convenient whipping boy for slipshod work or lax maintenance. ... View more

Too bad we don't have events like Goodwood for real enthusiasts here in the States, instead of janitorial d' nonelegances like Bauble Beach, won 2019 and last year (2020 preempted by Covid) by billionaires. ... View more

Thank you, MPH168, for trying to introduce quantifiable facts on the usual torches and pitchforks forum. Even Al Gore admits our ethanol a boondoggle, environmental waste. Marv68 is right about instead using agwaste, switch grass, as Brazil does, a nation that's never been at war in two centuries, not that they're angels. Henry Ford intended his Model T and Fordson tractor, by 1920 comprising half the vehicles and tractors on the world's roads and fields, to run on agwaste ethanol. But John D. Rockefeller controlled over 85% of all US bulk oil shipments, so with gas a dime a gallon, infrastructure in place, Ford went along. Had he bucked, likely GM, Maxwell, Reo, Chalmers, Auburn, Dodge, Packard, Pierce and the rest of the industry would've followed. While we prefer straight gasoline, none of my prewar Packard, Pierce, Cadillac, Cord, Delahaye, Buick, Railton, Hudson, Lagonda, Auburn pals have had a problem with ethanol gas, these immaculate cars driven not trailered like beached whale carcasses, and tho' slightly off subject, once and for all: inline engines do not "vapor lock." Old Ford, Cad/LaSalle, Cord V-8s can because the carb's smack in the midst of a heat sink. According to a 2013 poll of 2,000 UN scientists and another 11,000 scientists reported in the 11/5/19 Bloomberg News, their whelming consensus is that our biggest by far problem is overpopulation, their words: "bigger than climate." This is the threat to our internal combustion cars. UN and other vetted studies show animals raised for meat and dairy produce more greenhouse gas than all the world's cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, ships combined. If we're serious about preserving a nation, world where we can still take our i.c. alter egos out for a cruise, we should do everything in our power to promote education, contraceptives, adoption,  and a vegan diet, the latter hardly slowing the world's leading Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton, and 77-year-old rocker rodder Jeff Beck. We now return to our barroom rants, already in progress. ... View more

Didn't mention a single German car, but did A-Z.  Plenty of reliable Brit cars; big Healeys, Cricklewood, Derby, Crewe products, but not when worn out, owned by Yanks on the cheap used to Chevies and other prosaics with all the charm of lawn furniture, or various late model Kleenex kars. ... View more

Good points above, well stated, and we should be glad for souls like Miles Collier who preserve taste, quality, the genuine in any endeavor.  Haven't we enough moneyed Bozos?  Thanks for this. ... View more

Whenever we read another paean to muscle cars, we wonder how much do such worshippers know about the 120+ years of automotive history, other than egregious mid-sized '60s Motown tin with station wagon engines, teenaged suspensions, silly racing stripes, dopey decals; good for jerking off at stop lights, one trick ponies. In high school in the day, we ignored or laughed at the bozos driving them. Sports cars where it was at, tho' we watched the Avengers almost as much for Steed's Bentley as Emma Peel. Power steering, power brakes, often as not automatic transmission; an ancient woman could drive these things. Where does the "muscle" part come in?  Golf carts on steroids. The advertised hp was malarkey; “gross” hp taken from engines running on a test stand, no air cleaner, accessories, or exhaust system. What's more important is how much gets to the rear tires/road; in all cases only a fraction of gross claim. Yeah, yeah, it's a free country, enjoy what you will. But the rest of us who know cars at large reserve right to laugh. We've driven them, Pontiac GTO through Charger.  And for cryin' aloud, don't tell us you "can't afford" a Delahaye, Pierce-Arrow, Auburn, Stutz, Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Bristol or anything novel A-Z while boring us with how much money you dumped into a "numbers matching" slam bam, thank you, ma'am tin can. ... View more

Air_and_Water, truer words never said. Ferrari's road cars sold strictly to playboys and girls, half of whom, in the '50s, also considered dreck like Buick Skylarks, Cadillac Eldorados, Oldsmobile Fiestas, Packard Caribbeans; it was strictly wanting to, as the English put it, "cut a dash." They used the same instrument panel switches as Fiats long before Fiat took over Ferrari, none of Enzo's road cars rustproofed; strictly spin offs for jet setters who had to have the latest thing, only to move on after a couple years. A friend owns a '63 Lusso. There isn't much to it other than its high revving sohc V-12, it sorely needing a fifth (overdrive) gear. The most notable thing about it, other than helping Maranello's racing efforts, is the '67 Camaro copied its body, just as the '55 Chevy aped Ferrari's grille. Are Ferrari's road cars then and since fun to drive? Or course. But so are XK Jags and others with more low speed torque,  lacking the drama of high rpm. So now we've got Ferrari SUVs, just like Porsche for decades has sold handbags and sunglasses. Some salute any and everything  run up the flagpole, without knowing why.  Marque allegiance is comical as people rooting for a given city's collection of free agent ballplayers. Absolutely. Enzo would've sold toasters had they funded his true love, racing. The same might be said for Ettore Bugatti. Ralph Stein and others   experienced with both reported Alfa's street cars had the same performance but were more reliable.  According to Griff Borgeson, the wealthy young Count Felice Trossi, president of Enzo's Alfa-Romeo racing team, Scuderia Ferrari, from 1932-on, long familiar with Alfas, Bugattis, and supercharged S series Mercedes -- you've probably seen Trossi's gleaming black SSK boat tail speedster --  was taken with Packard's new V-12 in 1932. Borgeson recounted: "The combination of marvelous performance, along with safety, luxury, and comfort brought about Trossi's enduring conversion to that marque and model. He began collecting them, buying at least two or three a year, each custom body more lavish than the last." The count commuted the 171 miles separating his Biella home from Scuderia Ferrari in Modena in these Packards, Borgeson reporting that "the bravura with which he drove them is the stuff of legend." These 1932-39 Packard Twelves are what inspired Enzo Ferrari's and Gioacchino Columbo's premiere 1947 V-12. The two marques "commanding Ferrari's intense interest," continued Borgeson, were Packard and Bugatti. If you want to know from where Ferrari drew his prancing horse imagery, recall Bugatti's love of "pur sang horse-flesh." Ettore Bugatti preferred a Packard Eight for long trips across the continent to his own road cars. Skip the marketing and buff articles; note what the principals themselves drove. You may've sat in or driven a DeLorean. They are unusable by anyone taller than 5"11 or 6 feet. John DeLorean was 6' 4". Meanwhile, a luxe marque can always sell a junior or more popularly priced model, but it's rare that a premium badge launched by a mass producer has cachet and succeeds. Toyota wisely marketed Lexus as a new brand. We could make snarky remarks as to why anyone would want an SUV or "crossover" in the first place. My girlfriend thinks the latter look like wheeled hamsters in heat, regardless Nissan, Ferrari or Rolls-Royce. She drives a slick little dohc Miata, a premium and very real sports car regardless price. ... View more

Listen to Leeedy above. He speaks the unvarnished truth, enumerates the complete story, and like me, a longtime Packard owner. ... View more

Right. Hard to imagine cash-strapped Detroiters and local businesses allowing $10MM of their tax dollars to be lavished on mere demolition. ... View more

 Is it heresy to be a case-hardened, lifelong autoholic but not care in the least about any racing?  Bump drafting in stock car racing may be a fine skill, even art form. But watching it for 2 1/2 hours? A mutual friend suggested we give an otherwise interesting pal a dog dish and some colored ball bearings or BBs he might twirl reducing his utility bill.  The technology of various race cars fascinating, and it's engrossing to walk through the pits at a vintage race, examine a '30s Alfa, etc.  But watching them go round and round whether oval or undulating course?  No thanks.   Driving an old sports, GT, or "road car," to use a term forgotten today, the latter describing a stock passenger car that was a good distance speed car, giving it its head on an open road--if you can still find one with over a third of a billion people in the US --  now you're talking.  Nothing against racing.  We understand the attraction. Some folks like to watch others have sex.  Just wondering if there are other gearheads who could care less?    Please don't justify your passion with "racing improves the breed."  That's like citing war as spur to technological development.   Just before War II we had the cyclotron (1939), electron microscope (1940), live television broadcast '36 Berlin Olympics, 1939-40 NY World's Fair, fully electronic color TV John Baird, Scotland, August, 1944.     It's human nature to develop, improve, fine-tune.   You want to marvel at ground effects machines piloted by paragons of eye/hand coordination, or those with ability to throw a baseball 90+ mph with surgical precision, or hit same, have at it.     Only wondering if we're allowed to be indifferent but retain our car guy cred. ... View more

Truer words never written. Bump drafting in stock car racing may be an art form, but watching it for 2 1/2 hours? We long knew an otherwise interesting fellow addicted to NASCAR. A friend suggested we give him a dog dish with some colored BBs or ball bearings, suggesting he twirl those and cut his utility bill. ... View more

From theoretical standpoint, you're right. But TonyT nonetheless makes clear the difference 'twixt engine and motor in common usage.  Perhaps if we said "power" instead of energy. Regardless, electric motors, internal (or external, ie steam locomotives) combustion engines. ... View more

Thank you. May the motor/engine distinction register and hold. But in a world where everything out of Kelley Blue Book is a "classic,"  any and everything of minor note "awesome,"   don't hold your breath. We also see weekly press releases here raving about the latest monstrously powerful V-8 or this or that's enormous hp/torque, overlooking that only so much makes it to the tires and street. But since the above is lauding a comic book super hero's latest iteration, why are we surprised? Ever look at the sad sacks behind the wheels of most "super cars," "muscle cars?" 'Nuff said. ... View more

That "Batmobile" was a stock '39 Cad convertible sedan with sidemounts. The "200 mph" Black Beauty of the prewar Green Hornet Republic serials was a stock '37 Lincoln Zephyr coupe with front and rear fender skirts. Captain America in the 1944 flick drove a bone stock '41 Chrysler New Yorker or Saratoga four-door sedan. These were harmless because they were aimed at kids at the Saturday neighborhood movie theaters, unlike the above nonsense. Meanwhile, if you buy the entire Bond movie franchise -- and they were all cartoons from Dr. No onward -- not one of the cars had anything to do with those in the novels, ie '31 4 1/2-liter "blower" Bentley for Bond, one of 50 built that never had success in competition, or an early '50s rebodied Bentley Continental, a 1936-37 Cord "saloon" or Studedillac for Felix Leiter, early '50s Mercedes 300S cabriolet for Hugo Drax (Moonraker). Not that the novels were anything but potboilers to read by the pool. How quickly they forget. ... View more

Terrific, long overdue point.  Such "artsy" kiddie noir an attempt to disguise design and cinematic bankruptcy. ... View more

What does any of that have to do with automobiles?  Aren't there movie/celeb fanzines for the above ponderings? ... View more

As increasingly here at Hagerty. ... View more

Since the majority of mallplex fare aimed at pubescent boys, more mindless action than plot, nuance, complexity to increase non-English speaking box office overseas, why are we surprised? We still hope Hagerty might purvey a magazine, print and online, for adult autoholics, offering more than press releases.   But serving such doesn't decrease profit margins as do  fresh  articles, features.  Since most here gathered jiggy with this arrangement, don't expect change.     Aren't there comic book, fanzine sites enough?        Isn't there enough real world automobilia of the past 120 years to  chronicle? ... View more

Knew an internist whose plate was THYROID, and a nurse whose minivan was ATIVAN. ... View more

Thank you, sir! ... View more

Amen, both of you. Hard to believe, at this late date, with 120 years of automotive history to draw from, that some folks still bow to that if it's European, it must be better nonsense. ... View more

The above article betrays the writer's youth and inexperience, other than commenting on cars far removed from their original intent, element, times. The most devoted owner would hardly use quality and Muira in the same sentence, the Jaguar E-Type not of the quality of the preceding XKs, even Sir William Lyons, while still on Coventry's board, admitting, "We could never get our XK quality up to Porches levels," and Stirling Moss, long before knighted, suggesting "the E-Type is the dumb blonde of sports cars." Anyone stuffing air conditioning in a sports or serious high-speed grand touring car counters the machine's purpose. Roll the windows down partially, or drive minimally attired. What part of "weight is the enemy" don't such folk grasp? As for the idea all of the mere 18 Rolls-Royce Phantom IVs built better served by a lurching HydraMatic, it would seem Mr. Gillogly unfamiliar with smooth clutch and gearbox, silkier than the preceding in knowing hands. No mention that these F-head 346-ci (same displacement as 1937-48 Cadillac L-head V-8) the only straight eight powered R-R ever produced, the engine othewise used in airport tugs, Dennis fire trucks, military vehicles. Perhaps young Brandan should experience a well fettled 1930s Packard or Pierce-Arrow 384-ci inline eight, the latter with hydraulic valve lifters, or a 1940-50 Packard nine-mained 356-ci with manual and overdrive. Context comes in handy. Either have a vintage and/or performance car on its original terms, or stick with less interactive modern fare. Do not sully the former with attributes-- if that's what they are beyond laziness -- of the latter.    Finally, and again: Might we have articles about just cars, regardless of price du jour or decade,   without endless money, money, money talk, as tho' hanging the latest price imbues understanding of a complex piece of machinery?    ... View more