Economic Obsolescence
Several of the most successful car (and engine) designs were successful because they were around for a long time. The original VW Beetle is an example and so is the small...
1986-1993 Cadillac Allante: They Got it Right … Too Late
It began with high hopes - and an audacious plan. Unfortunately, it belly-flopped badly... .
By the mid-1980s, Cadillac was still the "standard of the world" - if by "the world" one meant...
Retro Review: 1983-1984 Hurst Olds and 1985–1988 442
Oldsmobile had a long and distinguished history—and suffered a slow, painful death.
The process of mortification began in the early 1980s, when General Motors gutted the formerly independent engineering departments of each...
Cars That Broke Bad (Or just Broke)
Automotive good ideas gone bad range far and wide - whether it's a classic fail like the exploding Pintos of the early '70s - or a late-model train wreck like the Pontiac Aztek.
Here...
Why You Can’t Afford to Not Buy a Classic Car!
If you like cars, you probably like classic cars. Like looking at them, at least.
But if you’re like most of us, you probably don’t own one - because you’ve probbaly never...
The Cost of a Time Machine
The good news first.
You can legally buy a brand-new car without a single air bag or any of the saaaaaaaaafety equipment mandated by the government since the late 1960s.
No back-up camera,...
Trans Am Shaker Scoop Functional Conversion
I have just made my '76 Trans-Am's shaker scoop functional!
First, some background: While all second generation (1970-81) Trans-Ams (well, except the '80-'81 turbo models, which had an off-center hood blister) came with...
Worst Things About Old Cars
There’s a new reason for buying an old car. It’s not nostalgia, it’s not a love for classic lines - though those still come along for the ride. It’s a desire...
Doomed: Chevy SSR, 2003-2006
When muscle cars were legislated off the roads, muscle trucks became a kind of end-run alternative. A way to offer the same basic gear in a form that did not have...
How Uncle Killed Pontiac
The French philosopher-economist Frederic Bastiat wrote about the unseen repercussions of government interfering with the market's natural progressions. In other words, what might have been. Perhaps the saddest four words in...