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Category Archives: Classic Bits

RACING PEUGEOTS, 1912–1913 PART 1

WHAT WITH Peugeot’s scheduled return to the U.S. market, let’s celebrate this French automaker’s racing heritage. Highly recommended sources: “The Racing Peugeots, 1912–1914,” Profile No. 73, by William Court, in … Continue reading

May 23, 2019 · Leave a comment

ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM I OWNERS—UNIQUE BLOKES, EVERY ONE

THE 1925 NEW PHANTOM was Rolls-Royce’s second 40/50 model, the first 40/50 coming to be known as the Silver Ghost after its 1907 demonstrator example. There have been successive Phantoms … Continue reading

May 16, 2019 · 1 Comment

THE CARS OF DONALD HEALEY

I HAD A SECRET crush on a high-school math teacher who drove an Austin-Healey Hundred. This recollection came to mind while I was rearranging my Automobile Quarterly collection, far from … Continue reading

April 23, 2019 · 6 Comments

THE BUGATTI TYPE 35 ENGINE—POM’S VIEWS

LAURENCE EVELYN WOOD POMEROY, “Pom,” for short, was an English motoring journalist who wrote one of the great books of automotive technicalities, The Grand Prix Car, published in two volumes, … Continue reading

April 9, 2019 · 4 Comments

A DIMINUTIVE V-8 KNOWN AS OTTO VU

WE TEND TO think of V-8s as big engines: Even the “small-block” Chevy had displacements ranging from 262 cu. in. (4.3 liters) to 400 cu. in. (6.6 liters). The 427 … Continue reading

March 30, 2019 · 2 Comments

BENTLEY’S WINGED BRETHREN

GIVEN BENTLEY’S EMBLEM, it’s no surprise that this classic marque was photographed with other winged companions. On the Road was Bentley Motors’ magazine in the 1930s, and in 2003 Dalton … Continue reading

March 29, 2019 · 1 Comment

ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER GHOST

THE FIRST SILVER GHOST, Rolls-Royce chassis no. 60551, wasn’t initially an official model name. The moniker “Silver Ghost” was given to a particular 1907 Rolls-Royce, back when “motors,” as automobiles … Continue reading

March 7, 2019 · 3 Comments

THE ARGYLL—AN EDWARDIAN MOTOR CAR WITH A TRICK UP ITS SLEEVE(S) PART 2

YESTERDAY, THE CONCEPTS of single- and double-sleeve-valve automotive engines were discussed. Today in Part 2 we’ll focus on the Scottish Argyll marque, the high point of which came between 1910 … Continue reading

February 14, 2019 · 9 Comments

THE ARGYLL—AN EDWARDIAN MOTOR CAR WITH A TRICK UP ITS SLEEVE(S) PART 1

THE ARGYLL CAR traced its discontinuous Scottish heritage from 1899 to 1908, 1910 to 1914, 1914 to 1932, and a more recent usurpation of the nameplate from 1978 to around … Continue reading

February 13, 2019 · Leave a comment

SINGER LE MANS REPLICA—ANOTHER STUDY HALL PROJECT PART 2

YESTERDAY IN Singer Le Mans Replica, Part 1, we learned how George Singer’s bicycle works evolved into sporting motor cars that eventually got swallowed by the Rootes Group and the … Continue reading

January 30, 2019 · 3 Comments