SWEDISH ADVENTURING WITH SAAB’S BJÖRN ENVALL
IT’S O-DARK-THIRTY, pitch-black along a bridle path in wintery 1991 Karlstad, Sweden. People are savoring sips of akvavit from flasks and waiting patiently behind tape loosely strung between the trees. … Continue reading
ALFA ROMEO 8C 2900B SPECIALE TIPO LE MANS
RAYMOND SOMMER’S straw-hatted participation in the 1938 Le Mans race was cited two days ago. Today I am delighted to follow up with an essay on the car he drove, … Continue reading
LA FAMILLE SOMMER—L’ESSENCE PROPRE
LIKE ENGLISH, French is amenable to multiple meanings, puns, if you will. To describe the Sommer men, father Roger and sons François, Raymond and Pierre, I sought the French equivalent … Continue reading
CRETORS POPCORN AND PEANUT WAGONS
LAST SATURDAY, I ate popcorn during the Metropolitan Opera’s HD presentation of Strauss’s searing Elektra. What’s more, the popcorn came from a theater concession directly related to this fetching bit … Continue reading
STEERING WHEELS I’VE LOVED
I DON’T PARTICUARLY like modern steering wheels. What with their buttons for everything from sound system to phone to navigation to cruise control to voice activation, not to say their … Continue reading
A YORKSHIREMAN’S SPORTS CAR
QUICK, LIST CARS named for planets in our Solar System. If you like, include the Uranus even though it’s a fictional marque from the Grand Theft Auto video game. Next, … Continue reading
THE POTENCY OF COLOR
IT WAS the color scheme that attracted me to the Vulcan American Moth. Its photograph in Classic Airplanes of the Thirties: Aircraft of the Roaring Twenties (Flight, Its First Seventy-Five … Continue reading
WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE ESTORIL
THE APRIL 2016 issue of Saveur, my favorite magazine of cuisine (and travel) brought back memories of Ayrton Senna’s first Formula One victory, the Portuguese Grand Prix, Estoril, 1985. I … Continue reading
SHOW CARS I’VE DRIVEN—MORE OR LESS
CONCEPT CARS are the icing on the auto show cake. These cars embody the latest trends of auto styling. They often hint at products coming soon from automakers. They can … Continue reading
THE FIRST FERRARI F1
A CUTAWAY of a car or aircraft can entertain me for hours. This one of the Ferrari 125 is a fine example. There has been a succession of Ferrari Formula … Continue reading
