1959 ELVA—VRAIMENT, ELLE VA!
“IN ENGLAND, AS IN THIS COUNTRY,” R&T wrote in June 1959, “nearly every amateur ‘special’ builder has more or less grandiose dreams of seeing his machine win race after race … Continue reading
PEGASO TIDBITS PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE LEARNED FROM R&T, November 1954, that Wilfredo Ricart’s Pegaso cars seemed well-nigh unbreakable. Today several other sources contribute to this Spanish exotic’s history. More Pegaso Lore. Wikipedia gives … Continue reading
PEGASO TIDBITS PART 1
READING OLD R&T MAGAZINES is like experiencing a time machine, in this case, back to November 1954. Robert C. Goldich’s “The Flying Horses of Barcelona” was about the Pegaso, Spain’s … Continue reading
PITY THE AUSTIN A-30
AN ASTOUNDING DESIGN LEAP in automobile design occurred in Britain between the 1954 Austin A-30 and the 1959 Morris 850, aka the Mini. Whereas the Mini was innovative in so … Continue reading
MORETTI—AN ETCETERINA OF NOTE
ETCETERINI ARE DIMINUTIVE Italian sports cars, typically snarly Fiat-propelled and charming. I’ve never heard the singular of this Italian noun. But I assume, like macchina, it’s feminine. Thus, perhaps, “etceterina” … Continue reading
AMERICA WANTED A SMALL CAR? THE 1954 NASH METROPOLITAN DELIVERED
“THIS, THE NASH COMPANY ASSURES US,” R&T WROTE IN MAY 1954, “is what the public asked for…. Well, let’s see what the public wanted.” “First,” R&T said, “the public wanted … Continue reading
R&T AND OTHER ART
THE GREAT GARAGE SORTING OF ’22 revealed a bunch of posters among its treasures to be retained. In fact, there’s a file on my iMac’s desktop labeled, prosaically enough, “Posters.” … Continue reading
1954 SUNBEAM ALPINE—DESTINED FOR STARDOM
IN MARCH 1954, R&T MADE quite the prediction: “For comfort-loving Americans who want a certain amount of snob-appeal in their automobile… the Alpine will probably outsell all of its competitors … Continue reading
THE LIMOS’ DEMISE, BUT….
“ONCE THE SYMBOL OF AFFLUENCE, the stretch limo has largely fallen out of favor…,” writes Jesus Jiménez in “The Long Demise of the Stretch Limo,” The New York Times, April … Continue reading
FERRARI TRC—THE ORIGINAL RED HEAD
“ ‘SUITABLY IMPRESSED’ SEEMS HARDLY an adequate expression,” R&T wrote in December 1957, “to describe our crew’s thoughts after testing the newest Ferrari, the 2.5-liter TRC (Testa Rossa Competition).” Here … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 