The article made me smile with reminiscing.  I was 7, in 1964, when my dad bought me my first model car - a '64 Ford Galaxie fastback hardtop, with a space for batteries and four headlights which lit up!  I had a weekly allowance of $2 back then, and most models were $2 to buy, and by the time I was 12 I even had my own model making desk in my bedroom, which was pretty cool to my friends, who also made models!  By the time I left home for the Air Force at age 18, I had 200 model cars in my collection.  When I came home after basic training and school, on my way to England for my first tour, I went home to find my mom had thrown all but two or three of my cars out.  "You're not a kid anymore, what's the problem?"  I think a lot of moms did that, otherwise some of the more rare models would be less rare these days.  I never did tell mom how much value those models would have had in decades to follow.  I still have one 1966 Mustang promotional right here in my office, but that's the only one I still have from that timeframe.   ... View more

Look at a map at plugshare and you might find what I've seen.  Virtually no public chargers to speak of outside of major cities and towns in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, New Mexico, etc etc.  I have an 84 mile range commuter EV and in winter, I won't even drive it to the nearest public charger 20 miles away but only charge it from home.  I'm not sure this EV will work well for people in fly-over country, but probably is only useful for folks in Europe with much closer proximity between "boondocks" and "cities".  I remember seeing a Tesla up top of Glacier National Park which sat for days.  I think the owner had to have it taken away as he or she had completely depleted the battery getting up the mountain.... what happens in the middle of nowhere when tow trucks refuse to go more than 75' off paved roads?    ... View more

Wow, what a run!  Super fun.  When I visited the UK and went to Portmerion (where The Prisoner TV series was filmed in 1967), lo but we pulled up in our rental BMW 320i and what did I see in the parking lot?  A Caterham Seven!     ... View more

I owned a Citroen Dyane when I lived in England and it was a hoot to drive.  It shared the basic chassis with the 2CV, and had a 602cc twin which later 2CV's also had.  The top rolled back, both bench seats could be removed "for a picnic."  It rode extremely well, but body roll was incredible - though I never felt unsafe.  It wasn't even that loud at 70 mph (which took a considerable time to get up to).  Amazing cars.   ... View more

Funniest car ads I ever saw, were from a dealer.  The "Trunk Monkey" series.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW8iAVwt_Yc   "I don't do probes."   ... View more

Just bought a "caddy" and I don't mean a Cadillac, for our little RV trailer.  Haven't used it yet, but yeah.... it will come in useful.  Hilarious and serious at the same time, this article.  Due to extremely outrageous annual tag taxes in Michigan for motor homes, we sold ours and got an ultra light RV trailer with shower and toilet.... yay.  Pay once (forever) for trailer tags, done.   ... View more

Lovely cars, much better than given credit for (or often times, not even known by folks who say they're car guys/gals).  I wish I'd bought one instead of the BMW I did get (and regretted, then sold at a loss).  I'd probably still have the Lexus...   ... View more

Even with the prior BMW bones, Rolls-Royce seems to have been able to really engineer a Rolls-Royce.  I was lucky enough to see a Silver Seraph at Hagerty HQ's drum along with an older Rolls-Royce, and was smitten by the Seraph.  Here's a wonderful, short 5 minute video of a road test of the Seraph from 20 years ago.  It's hard to believe the Seraph was introduced 22 years ago, "only the 9th new Rolls-Royce in its history."   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T_1BzMQn3w ... View more

Well said.  I look at the Toyota Century, and despite its size, I see what Packard might have been had it survived.  Unabashedly comfortable, reliable, discreet and luxurious.  Not sporting.  Genesis G90 as well, but of course the Toyota is hand-built at a level which Rolls-Royce gave up when it set up a sort of a mass production facility in Goodwood (compared to what the cars had been of course), plus the Toyota (and I'm sure the G90) are - um, actually reliable.  What a novel idea.   ... View more

A full AMC line-up.  No SUV's, car.  Hear me out.  AMC was purchased by Chrysler in 1987, so could be resurrected.  Just as Plymouth could be.  There's a dealer network, called Jeep?  You know, the company AMC bought in 1970?  Back in 2008, Hot Rod magazine did an April fools spoof, but to be honest, the cars don't look too bad!  When the SUV craze ends (and it will some day), people will be wanting CARS again.  Build them in the USA, you know, AMC stands for AMERICAN MOTORS CORPORATION.  http://nspmotorsports.blogspot.com/2010/02/future-amc-concept-cars.html   ... View more

A friend of mine was in the US Army in the late 1950's stationed as military police, on the road to West Berlin, so the road was fenced in since it was through East Germany (this, before the formal wall was built).  He says they would be stationed at a spot to guard the fence, and there'd be East German soldiers on the other side of the fence.  Sometimes there'd be small gates.  Sometimes East German soldiers would come through just for a smoke and a visit.  He told me one East German soldier (who could not regularly get cigarettes) bummed a smoke, which was proffered, so lacking several hands - he just handed off his military rifle for my American friend to "please hold" while he smoked!  My pal says he just examined the rifle, and was in total shock, handed it back after the friendly encounter and the East German guard had to get back to work - on HIS side of the fence.    ... View more

1933 Volvo Venus Bilo.     ... View more

IKA Torino in Argentina, was a facelifted Rambler American with ex-Kaiser Jeep overhead camshaft "Tornado" inline six.  (IKA stood for Industrias Kaiser Argentina).  1960's-1970's.   It's cousin, the Willys Aero, a recycled sedan from 1952-1955, was beautifully restyled by Brooks Stevens for Willys do Brazil.  Early 1960's-1970's.  Strangely enough, it became a Ford later...      ... View more

Others tried various "alternative rotary" engines over the years, the most interesting one was the Isuzu rotary introduced around 1964, never built.  It was sort of an inside-out Wankel with the figure 8 as the rotor and 3-sided chamber, with seals in 3 places inside the chamber rather than on the rotor!  When asked at the Tokyo auto show in period, the engineers could not describe how it worked!   ... View more

I agree with you Jack.  This self-driving dream has been around so long, it predates me.  This is a GM movie from 1956, predicting gas-turbine cars with self-driving by "19 and 76".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx6keHpeYak  Listen carefully for the comment by the hotelier about "pre-digested food" ?!  Yikes.  I'm glad this predicted future didn't come to pass...   ... View more

Nice article, James.   ... View more

Wow!  Good thing I saw this article.  If I'd seen the car on the street first, I probably would have driven into a ditch after craning my neck.   ... View more

1937 Plymouth, according to what I see in my Standard Catalog of American Cars by Kimes and Clark.   ... View more

Chrysler Turbine car.  I've been fascinated by that car since I was 6 and it first came out.    Toyota Century V12.  Just to cruise around in total luxury without people outside-the-know realizing what it is.  Non-ostentatious.  But wow, luxury.     1964 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk, black, red interior, supercharged, four speed, power front disc brakes, air conditioning, power steering, no radio.  I'd want to listen to the supercharger and that great 289 Stude V8.   ... View more

Most people aren't un-young enough to recall that the reason rust didn't completely kill the reputation of Japanese cars in the USA and Canada when they were newly introduced, is because American and Canadian and other imported cars rotted before your very eyes, if you lived where roads were salted or cheek by jowl of the sea.   ... View more

Only because I'm a fan of the Chrysler Turbine Car will I mention the somewhat terrible movie from 1964, The Lively Set, starring James Darren, Pamela Tiffin, and Doug McClure.  It has some interesting race scenes with some actual race drivers of various types actually doing some driving.     ... View more

But wait.  Pontiac V8's from 1955 through about 1958 or 1959, used reverse cooling.  How can GM steal a concept THAT THEY'D  HAD IN PRODUCTION DECADES EARLIER?     ... View more

Luce R130, mid 1970's RX4 hardtop, the Cosmo 3-Rotor, Autozam AZ-1 and RX-8, I love them all!  How do I chose?   ... View more

Cool footnote about  Bill’s Toyota and how it came about.  I always wondered how much it cost to start a dealership for a then very minor player in this era.  I was nine in 1966, and a gas station owner set up a Toyota dealership in a rural town west of Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula where I lived.  Then a hailstorm came.  My dad went to look at a new hail-damaged '67 Corona, and passed, got a new Rambler American instead.  Dad said the dealer-owner explained that he only sold the Corona because they had the best chance of selling, and the Toyota franchiser even told him that.  He only had to carry one set of parts for one Toyota line that way.... Never knew whether this dealer flourished or folded.....   ... View more

GM succeeded with Corvairs 10 years earlier!  Though one of them is still out in the swamp, I believe two or three got through the Darien Gap!!!  With a lot of help....   ... View more

Well it must be raining in my office, as my eyes are wet.   ... View more