STROTHER’S CAR CULTURE
STROTHER MACMINN taught automotive design at the Art Center College of Design for five decades, with disciples throughout the industry. He was also instrumental in establishing Toyota’s Calty Design Research … Continue reading
BARNATO’S BLUE TRAIN BENTLEY(S)
JOEL WOOLF “Babe” Barnato, British financier, international sportsman, one of the Bentley Boys, heir to South African diamond and gold mining wealth, was dining at the Carleton Hotel in Cannes, … Continue reading
BEETLE BITS
A GOOD number of us have recollections of the original Volkswagen Beetle, and a recent piece in the London Review of Books, September 12, 2013, caught my eye. The article, … Continue reading
VANWALL RACE CARS
ENGLISHMAN TONY Vandervell’s business was producing bearings in Acton, West London, but his passion was international Formula One racing. By 1959, when Tony’s health precluded his running these two activities, … Continue reading
B. BIRA
BIRABONGSE BHANUDEJ Bhanubandh does not fall trippingly on the tongue. Hence, auto racing commentators of the mid-1930s through mid-1950s were likely relieved with his sobriquet of B. Bira on the … Continue reading
SEDUCING SPEED
“PORSCHE BY Design: Seducing Speed” is taking place right now, until January 20, 2014, at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina. See http://goo.gl/1oYXkw for a glimpse … Continue reading
GANGSTER CITROËN
THE CITROËN Traction Avant’s place in automotive history is at least four times deserved. It was the world’s first front-wheel-drive steel unibody car. Its production life, from 1934 through 1955, … Continue reading
LANCIA LAMBDA
INDEPENDENT FRONT suspension, a stressed steel unitary chassis, a single overhead camshaft, light-alloy narrow-angle V-4 layout—all in 1922. The car was the Italian Lancia Lambda, built between 1922 and 1931. … Continue reading
TOM McCAHILL
THERE HAVE been lots of automotive journalists over the years, but Tom McCahill was one of a kind. He more or less invented the U.S. road test and certainly enriched … Continue reading
MY FAVORITE FERRARI
I’VE DRIVEN a goodly number of Ferraris in my life. Several of the memorable ones were classics by the time I got behind the wheel. The 212 Export Touring Barchetta … Continue reading
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