Doomed: Honda S2000 (1999-2009 RIP)
Race cars make terrible street cars - but every now and then, one will be offered for sale to the general public.
Usually, briefly.
L-88 Corvettes with lumpy solid lifter cams and three...
Retro Review: 1998-2004 Nissan Frontier
It’s not yet a “classic,” but the ’98-2004 Nissan Frontier (and other same-era compact trucks like the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger/Mazda B series) looks pretty good in the rearview.
And in...
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...
Muscle Cars…. And K-Cars
Muscle cars - the original-era muscle cars from the '60s and '70s - don't seem to be as popular now as they were when I was in high school and college...
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...
Muscle Cars Were Slow . . . Part II
I wrote a column a couple years ago (see here) that mentioned an unspeakable truth: Relative to now - classic muscle cars were slow. Back in the day, when the typical passenger car...
Good Names… Bad Cars
The good thing about a bad car name is you've got no expectations. Not much to live up to - and so, little to disappoint you.
Achieva, for instance.
But wasting a good...
Stu Monster and the summer of ’86
It was the summer of 1986 - and muscle was cheap.
My friend since elementary school, Stuart - whom we all called Stu Monster in tribute to his exploits with beer...
High Water Marks: 1973 Pontiac SD-455 Trans-Am
As a guy who reviews new cars, I am often asked which cars are my favorite cars. Almost all of them are old cars - which could be nostalgia but maybe...
Camaro, Challenger and Mustang: Great Cars – But Not Muscle Cars…
The Dodge Challenger, Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang are great performance cars, but they aren't muscle cars. That species is extinct - and there's no bringing them back.
Muscle cars were born...