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Category Archives: Classic Bits

THE MURPHY-BODIED, R&T-FEATURED, KATHARINE HEPBURN-DRIVEN BUGATTI TYPE 38

INTERESTING CARS OFTEN have fascinating histories. I was inspired to write about the Murphy-bodied Bugatti Type 38 when I rediscovered its Salon article in the March 1956 issue of R&T. … Continue reading

October 27, 2018 · Leave a comment

A PROPER ALPINE DRIVE

I AM EVIDENTLY in good company considering the Alps to be “Mountains of Prominence”. G. Geoffrey Smith, Bentley driver, surely agreed. The first two issues of On the Road, published … Continue reading

October 8, 2018 · 2 Comments

THE AUTOMOTIVE ART OF JEAN-PIERRE BOIVENT

THIS IS A tale of shoulda-bought/woulda-bought, with a happy result. The shoulda/woulda part involves not having the sense to invest in a particular book back in the 1990s. The happy … Continue reading

September 18, 2018 · Leave a comment

PROOFSHEETS, POSTERS, ETC.

SORTING OUT some shelves, I came upon a large cardboard folder preserving two neat posters and several 4/c proofsheets kept for one reason or another. Here they are, with accompanying … Continue reading

September 12, 2018 · 4 Comments

CHEVROLET CORVETTE ROADSTER—1954

WHAT WITH the real mid-engine Vette waiting in the wings (as opposed to R&T’s random speculations back in the old days), it seems most appropriate to look at the original … Continue reading

September 7, 2018 · 1 Comment

SALON: 1931 CHRYSLER LEBARON

I’VE READ some carping about the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance recognizing yet another 1930s automobile as Best of Show. But I beg to differ with the carpers: The 1930s … Continue reading

August 31, 2018 · 4 Comments

WHAT A SWEET LITTLE BÉBÉ!

THE PEUGEOT Type BP1 Bébé was designed by no less than Ettore Bugatti. Though not officially the first Bugatti, nor the first of Peugeot’s cyclecars, the Bugatti-designed Bébé built between … Continue reading

August 12, 2018 · 2 Comments

GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 2

YESTERDAY’S TOPIC here at SimanaitisSays offered details of U.S. gasoline rationing during World War II. Today, a SiriusXM “Radio Classics” broadcast of Lum and Abner describes its effect on the … Continue reading

August 5, 2018 · Leave a comment

GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 1

MY INSPIRATIONS for tidbits about World War II rationing came from several sources. Reading a social history gave “Eating Brit-Style, the 1940s,” an Anglo flavor of WWII culinary matters. And … Continue reading

August 4, 2018 · 1 Comment

THE AMERICAN AUTO FACTORY—A MINI HISTORY

THE AMERICAN AUTO business began some 120 years ago. What was originally small-shop, hand-made, one-off fabrication evolved into a highly automated, complex, internationally integrated industry. Olsen and Cabadas’s fine 2002 … Continue reading

July 29, 2018 · 5 Comments