CarPort

“Do you still drive a Studebaker?” On the rare occasions when I’m in touch with college classmates this question often comes up. It shouldn’t surprise me, I suppose, because my undergraduate years, 1962-66, are what I call my “Studebaker period.” It started by happenstance. I was dating the daughter of a Ford dealer, and was….
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Few, I suspect, are the carfolk who know that Florida’s Amelia Island is named for the second daughter of England’s George II. Fewer still, I’m quite certain, are those who don’t associate the community near Jacksonville with the southeast’s premier automotive concours d’elegance, worthy of mention in the same breath as Pebble Beach or Meadow….
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It all started aboard the Queen Elizabeth (if the current ocean liner is “QE2,” can we call its predecessor “QE1”?). Donald Healey, the British designer who had been building limited-production Riley-engined Healey Silverstone sports cars, Westland roadsters, Abbott dropheads and Elliot saloons, was on his way to America in search of Cadillac engines to pep….
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Willys-Overland eagerly touted the luggage capacity of the new Aero models in 1952: “24 cubic feet of space – ample for a large family.” They even bragged about the primitive exterior hinges: “outside where they can’t bite into luggage.” That’s quite remarkable for what was a comparatively small car; the Packard Patrician rated but 30….
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Chances are you associate Consumer Reports with boring, sensible cars – transportation appliances. Chances are you also, like me, sneak off to the library to consult their ratings when buying your own daily driver, whether it’s new or, like mine, well used. Yesterday CR opened their test site to the automotive and mainstream media, giving….
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