THE HISPANO-SUIZA ALFONSO XIII
ONE OF the world’s first sports cars was named after an auto enthusiast who was also a king. The Hispano-Suiza Type 45CR, introduced in 1911, possessed everything sporting of the … Continue reading
TRANSLATION (ПЕРЕВОДА)
I HAVE Englishwoman Constance Garnett to thank for my discovering Russian classics. Publisher Random House played a role as well for its striking red cover of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and … Continue reading
A WRIGHT WHIMSY
THE FOLLOWING two fantasy correspondences are offered for your amusement: Wilbur Wright, 7 Hawthorne Street, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. April 11, 1909 My Dear Wilbur, Greetings from the little bathing town … Continue reading
THE FERVOR OF FRENCH FLYERS, 1898 – 1908
FRENCH AÉRONAUTS came this close—no, closer than this—to being the first in the world to demonstrate sustained, controlled, heavier-than-air flight. What about the Wrights? Between 1898 and 1908, there was … Continue reading
HOLLYWOOD MEETS MOTOR SPORTS
A CONFLUENCE of technologies occurred at the beginning of the last century. (How quaint this term “last century” sounds to those of us of a certain age.) The automobile and … Continue reading
CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL…
MICHAEL FLANDERS is best known to me, and perhaps to you, as half of Flanders & Swann, the British duo who flourished 1956 – 1967 as musical satirists. (See “Have … Continue reading
A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES
SHERLOCK HOLMES and his chronicler Dr. John H. Watson shared Christmastime in “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.” This holiday quest involved a jewel sequestered within a Christmas goose. Sherlockian … Continue reading
ON POLITICAL SATIRE
THE HACKING of Sony because of its movie The Interview and subsequent responses bring to mind political satires of 1940, Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and You Nazty Spy! by … Continue reading
1926 DELAGE 15-S-8
THIS IS a tale of car enthusiasts and a very special bitsa, what specialists call a car with “a bit of this and a bit of that.” But what fabulous … Continue reading
POWER FROM OLD SOL
SOLAR POWER is a tantalizing concept. Sunlight is there half the time in many places, free for the asking. Well, not exactly free, with some recent developments very promising and … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 