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...
Air-Cooled Oddballs
Cars used to be like motorcycles still are (for now). You could even buy them with air-cooled engines, just like you can still buy bikes with air-cooled engines. No radiator to...
The Shitbox, Fondly Recalled
The late and very great Brock Yates coined the term.
Shitboxes.
They don't make them anymore - not really. Modern economy cars are not shitboxes.
A shitbox is something like an '80s-era Ford Escort...
Old School Economy: Chevy Chevette (1976-1987)
In some ways, the Chevy Chevette had a lot in common with a new Mercedes - or similar high-end luxury car.
It wasn’t, for openers, front-wheel-drive. Like the Benz, the 'Vette was...
Automotive Icon: De Tomaso Pantera, 1971-1993
Say Pantera - and most people think '70s. Maybe '80s.
Not 1993.
But they made them all the way into the early Clinton years. Not many. But as late as '93, you could still buy...
Old Muscle Ruled . . . When New Cars Sucked
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...