When it is all said and done, and the final historians write the chapters on personal ground transportation, certain nameplates will be honored while others are forgotten. Among the elite will be Jaguar. Although there are many British nameplates that stand out within the top 10% of the world’s automakers, a vast majority of enthusiasts…
A lot of boys have broken their picks in an effort to build a sports car out of the family sedan. After endless planning and alteration they usually wind up with a hybrid that outwardly resembles a sports car but lacks many of the characteristics that are inherent in true members of the breed. In the…
A little known architect of the Standard Triumph Company in the fifties and sixties was Stuart Peck. Post war most of his career was spent at Mulliners the famous coach builders in Birningham, England. Stuart’s first major job was to produce a full size drawing for the Triumph 1800 razor-edged saloon that would eventually be…
Design work on the twin-cam MG was inaugurated in March of 1953, but the public announcement did not take place until July of 1958—a lapse of a little over five years. Although this is an extraordinarily long interval (two years is normal practice, except for Ferrari, where they do this kind of thing in three months!),…
Originally printed in the 1959 issue of Road Test Magazine The parallels between General Motors in this country and the British Motors Corporation in England are many. Both are the largest in their respective countries, both build close to half of all cars produced at home. Also, both build sports cars. But whereas GM builds…
Originally printed in the 1959 issue of Road Test Magazine In a country like the U.S., where change is often made just for its own sake, not every import which has remained basically unchanged for six years can continue to sell well. Was the Austin-Healey really so good originally, or have refinements kept it abreast…
Back in November of 1955, the car featured on the cover of Sports Cars Illustrated magazine was a 1939 SS100 Jaguar. The man in the driver’s seat was Dave Garroway, first host of television’s Today Show, beginning its broadcast run in 1952. He looks proud of his car, and justifiably so—only 314 of this model…
Without Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, there’d be no Mini. The car’s chief engineer and designer—raised a subject of the Ottoman Empire by his Greek father and Bavarian mother—was widely known for penciling freehand engineering sketches. The stubborn eccentric designed the original Mini by eye and despised mathematics. “You must not mix function with fashion in…
I could never understand why there was such a general dislike of the MGC, which was introduced in October 1967. The “Big” Healey had been a pretty popular and successful sports car, but the MGB’s chassis was far superior, lighter, and handled better than the big brother. I also couldn’t quite figure out why there…
For a car to be produced and sold for nearly half a century, it has to have a lot going for it. The Mini, first launched in 1959, is one of the most beloved cars ever made. During 41 years of production, 5.3 million Minis were sold worldwide. When BMW launched the all-new Mini Cooper…
