Where does one land when combining a long history of Italian flare with good ol’ American engineering? Sometimes you’ll land on a masterpiece like the De Tomaso Mangusta or Bizzarrini Strada. Occasionally you conjure up a gem like the Nash-Healey. Even more rare are the shockingly beautiful mid-20th-century concepts from Chrysler and Ghia.
In other, stranger times like the go-go-let’s-get-some-blow 1980s, you come up with the Cadillac Allante. Continue reading
Last week’s trip to Europe has me contemplating all sorts of next moves related to the things automotive in my life. Really, there are 2 considerations: upgrade the Accord Hybrid to something modern and fun with all of the bits and baubles that one expects with a new car, or buy something fun as a weekender – ostensibly in place of the recently-acquired Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel – that may even be well-positioned to start appreciating if looked after. Truth be told, as dull as the Honda is, I cannot deny the benefits of using the carpool lanes to commute from Fairfax, VA to Washington, D.C. every day. It easily saves me an hour a day. That leaves me looking at the classics.
With the inbreeding that has run rampant through the automobile industry for the past couple of decades, what looks like one brand of car is really something else. For example, Mazdas and Volvos are Fords, Saabs used to be GM, but now they’re nothing, Minis are BMWs, and an Indian car manufacturer now owns Jaguar. Perhaps the most disconcerting of all is that Bentleys are now Volkswagens and Rolls-Royces are now BMWs. Yup. Messrs. Rolls and Royce are turning in their graves at this very moment. The Rolls Silver Spirit/Spur/Dawn and comparable Bentley Eight/Turbo R/Mulsanne were the last of the big cars from Crewe actually designed and built by real British people. They still build them, but now the engineering is all German, and for my money loses a little in translation. Find this last of the old-school Rollers here on eBay in Franklin, Kentucky for $14,500 or best offer.
