Classics : Car News And Reviews

There was a time when 2-door, 4×4, body-on-frame SUVs were widely available. These days, pretty much all we’ve got in the US is the Jeep Wrangler, and the forthcoming Land Rover Defender 90. But if you long for something with more of a retro style, check out this 1979 Plymouth Trailduster that’s headed to the Barrett-Jackson 2020 Scottsdale auction without a reserve price.

Tucker automobiles were some of the most extraordinary and distinctive cars ever created, but sadly, the bootstrapped car company didn’t last long in the face of big business, and in the end, just 50 of Preston Tucker’s aerodynamic sedans were ever built.

A massive typhoon had just blanketed the majority of Japan in torrential rain, and shortly after letting-up, my wife tells me that we were going shopping. Unsure as to whether anything would be open I opted to tag along, secretly hoping to discover another interesting Japanese automobile.

The Hudson Motor Car Company was a Detroit-based car company that built sedans and coupes from 1909 until 1954, until they eventually merged with Nash, to become part of AMC. Now Jonathan Ward and the restomod experts at ICON have transformed a classic 1949 Hudson Super Six Coupe by giving it modern internals, and refining it’s striking art deco looks.

Shelby, Corvette, and even Triumph are highly recognized names in the world of classic cars. But one name that doesn’t get mentioned often – at least not in the circles we run in – is the Sunbeam Tiger.

While the latest models of the Dodge Challenger and Charger are impressive, there’s still something so perfect about their classic 1970s incarnations. Take, for example, this beautifully-restored 1973 Challenger R/T, featured by Hagerty Classic Cars. It looks just spectacular in red and black, and there’s nothing quite like that baritone muscle car exhaust note to remind you that you’re alive.

Fiat is discontinuing sales of the smaller 500 in the United States. So instead of throwing a fit over the demise of the little Fiat 500 and its feisty Abarth doppelgänger, let’s take a look at the vehicle that first sported the triple digit badge: The aptly named, “Fiat Nuova 500.”

Having operated from 1928 to 1961, Chrysler’s DeSoto nameplate is but a distant memory, though the company did manage to turn out quite a few cars during its lifetime. One of the more impressive designs to emerge from DeSoto was the Adventurer II, a concept car shown in 1954.

Traveling to auto shows, we get to see a whole lot of cool and unusual concept cars. They may serve as inspiration for production vehicles, but the majority of them never go into production themselves. Once such concept was the Porsche Tapiro.

Designed back in 1967 for the London Motor Show, the Bertone Pirana (also known as the Jaguar Pirana) was gorgeous 2+2 coupe that started out as a Jaguar E-Type. The car was designed to show that Bertone could match the offerings of Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Maserati.

Serious car enthusiasts will tell you, there’s nothing quite like a pop-up headlight. These design relics not only gave cars more of a “face,” they offered a great way to improve aerodynamics while driving during the daytime, while still offering illumination at night.

Designed by the inimitable Pininfarina, this gorgeous concept car embraced the best of Italian sportscar design, while sporting the almost always daft underpinnings of Fiat’s Abarth division. The one-off prototype was based on the chassis of a Fiat Abarth 2000 Sport Spider, but clearly had a dramatically more impressive body design than its sibling.

Porsche fans, get ready to check out one of the most droolworthy collections of cars on the planet. At any given time, the secretive White Collection houses somewhere around 65 different Porsches, ranging from classics from the 1950s, all the way up to modern-day supercars from the German sports car maker.

Auto designers certainly fell in love with wedge-shaped cars in the late 1960s. With many of the best known examples of the wedge design coming out of Europe, it’s no surprise that at least one bears the Alfa Romeo nameplate.

I have a real love for Ford Mustangs of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and if money were no object, I’d love to have a Boss 429 in my garage. This beautiful beast from RK Motors Charlotte should do the trick just fine.