CarPort

It starts at $11,590. Yes, the smart car (the makers prefer lower case) has arrived in America. Actually Roger Penske’s Penske Automotive Group has been taking reservations for the smart for about a year; the first cars were delivered last month. I saw my first smarts in Paris in 2001. A two-passenger urban automobile, the….
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Studebaker’s last new bodies came in 1953. In 1956 sedans were given more massive noses and tails in order to look contemporary, but a different approach was called for on the lithe, low coupe body. Instead, a more modest nose- and tail-job was accomplished with very little sheet metal change, just a new “bustle” trunk….
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The French have a word for it: Rétromobile. Having coined “automobile” from Greek and Latin roots in the late 19th Century, they’ve given 21st Century flair to what Americans might unimaginatively call an “old car show.” In its 33rd iteration at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, Rétromobile is an exposition of automakers, clubs and….
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Until 1952 it was, after Austin, the second-best selling import in America. We called them “English Fords,” not “British,” and the company did, too. Imports began in 1948, of the Anglia and Prefect models, with slightly more than 3,200 sold. They were cute, funky and many of them ended up as hot rods and dragsters.….
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