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CONTRASTING VIEWS THIRTY YEARS AGO
“AS ENGINEERING EDITOR,” I BEGAN, “I TAUGHT KIM REYNOLDS everything I knew about road testing. And, as Road Test Editor, he’s learned even more on his own.” This and the following images from...
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THE VENICE GRAND PRIX
NO, NOT A GONDOLA RACE. And not in Italy, but in Venice, California, March 17, 1915. What’s more, I learned about this Venice Grand Prix by leafing through the Winter 1995 issue of Pur Sang, a...
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PUR SANG TIDBITS PART 1
MY COLLECTION OF MAGAZINES includes several of Pur Sang published by the American Bugatti Club. In fact, correspondence in its Thirty-Fifth Anniversary issue, 1960-1995, Winter 1995, prompted “Venice...
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PUR SANG TIDBITS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE ENJOYED SEVERAL TIDBITS from Pur Sang, a publication of the American Bugatti Club. Today in Part 2, we focus on fascinating applications of the differential: one in Bugatti cable braking,...
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A MOGGIE CELEBRATION PART 1
HURRAH FOR MY FAVORITE car magazine celebrating my favorite sports car! The June 2024 issue of Classic & Sports Car observes that “In the past five years, the Morgan Motor Company’s staple line-up...
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A MOGGIE CELEBRATION PART 2
WE CONTINUE YESTERDAY’S CELEBRATION OF MY FAVORITE sports car as detailed in my favorite car magazine, Classic & Sports Car. Today in Part 2, we pick up with C&SC’s Senior Contributor Simon...
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AN ANGLOPHILIC RECOMMENDATION
IF YOU’RE A COLLECTOR OF BRITISH CARS, have I ever got a deal for you! Well, not me, actually, but The New England Classic Car Company. “For more than 50 years,” Marc notes, “we have been dealing in...
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DOES THE SPORTS CAR EXIST?—A 40-YEAR PERSPECTIVE PART 1
BACK IN MARCH 1984, R&T did a comparison test of “Six 2-Seaters” cited recently here at SimanaitisSays. This and following images from R&T, March 1984. Accompanying that comparison test was an...
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DOES THE SPORTS CAR EXIST?—A 40-YEAR PERSPECTIVE PART 2
TODAY IN PART 2 WE CONTINUE RECOUNTING R&T STAFF opinions about sports cars in 1984, with several new comments reflecting four decades of wisdom (or whatever else one accumulates over time). Here...
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SALON: HILL’S DINO THROUGH BERGANDI’S EYES
A “SALON” IN R&T was ordinarily a photographic essay on a classic. But this November 1984 Salon was no ordinary one: The topic was the 1961 Ferrari Dino 156 F1 that Phil Hill drove to the Drivers...
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RALLYING IMPROVES THE BREED
“IT’S GREAT TO DRIVE A CAR,” R&T noted in October 1984, “that’s exactly what it claims to be. Whether you think of it as a rally version of the Montecarlo (tested in R&T in its U.S. Scorpion...
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F-JR FUN—ENJOYING AN ELVA AND AN ENVOY PART 1
“FORMULA JUNIOR IS AN OPEN-WHEEL RACING class,” Wikipedia describes, “first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI (International Sporting Commission, the part of the FIA that then regulated...
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F-JR FUN—ENJOYING AN ELVA AND AN ENVOY PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE SHARED MECHANICAL DETAILS of the Formula Junior Elva and Envoy gleaned from R&T June 1960 and February 1961 respectively. Today in Part 2, we read what the era’s R&T staffers...
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1960 FERRARI 250 GT COUPE—A (SUBTLE) EXOTIC
LAMBORGHINIS, FERRARIS, MID-ENGINE VETTES—and even the occasional neo Bugatti—are seen today here in Orange County, California. There’s no mistaking their exotic nature. Add a classic 1960 Ferrari 250...
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THE LA4’S VIRTUAL GRANDNEPHEW FROM RFPRO PART 2
YESTERDAY, SAE’S SEBASTIAN BLANCO described rFpro’s massively detailed 22-mile digital loop of southwest Los Angeles. I sensed a kinship to the LA4, this city’s downtown route that evolved into EPA’s...
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EVOLUTION OF THE R+T ROAD TEST PART 1
JOHN R. BOND LIKELY CRIBBED the road test idea from Brit magazines. The Brits had been stylizing their presentations since the 1920s; the year 1951 was a pivotal one for R+T (the “&” came in...
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EVOLUTION OF THE R+T ROAD TEST PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN DISCUSSING R+T’s INAUGURAL road tests in 1951. Various formats were assayed, though by midyear a standard format began to evolve. Here in Part 2, road test A-1-51 (the year’s first...
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MY FAVORITE MODEL(S)—AND THE REAL ONE
THE JULY 2024 ISSUE OF Classic & Sports Car and subsequent sleuthing confirm that I am not the only person absolutely whacko about the 1933 Napier-Railton. The fact that I actually drove (!) this...
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ALVIS SPEED 20—A GENTLEMAN’S SPORTING MACHINE PART 1
IMAGINE YOU’RE AN (EVIDENTLY WELL-HEELED) auto enthusiast in 1932. You have enjoyed the likes of Amicar and Bugatti two-seaters, but now there’s the wife and little Artemis calling for suitable...
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ALVIS SPEED 20—A GENTLEMAN’S SPORTING MACHINE PART 2
YESTERDAY, R&T JANUARY 1959 INTRODUCED US to the 1932 Alvis Speed 20. Today in Part 2 we review this luxurious Brit four-seat tourer with tidbits gleaned from R&T’s Classic Road Test No. 24,...
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