Archive for 2018
Photo Feature: 1966 Ford Thunderbird
1966 Ford Thunderbird
Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2005 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
In the decade or so since its 1955 introduction, the Ford Thunderbird came to attract a solid following from female motorists. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the 1966 T-Bird convertible featured on these pages was intended to please a lady.
1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2000 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
Throughout his professional life, Carlo Abarth (1908-1979) won acclaim for wringing great amounts of performance from cars with tiny engines. On occasion, these were cars of his own design. More often than not, though, his shops in Turin, Italy, founded in 1949, turned out vigorous vehicles that took as their starting points other manufacturers’ products.
2018 Ford EcoSport Titanium in Lightning Blue Metallic
2018 Ford EcoSport Titanium AWD
Class: Subcompact Crossover
Miles driven: 532
Fuel used: 21.4 gallons
Photo Feature: 1953 Kaiser Dragon
1953 Kaiser Dragon
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2011 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
Henry J. Kaiser was part of the consortium that completed the daunting task of building Hoover Dam more than two years ahead of schedule. No one had mass produced ships until Kaiser built World War II Liberty Ships in as little as five days. Perhaps, then, Henry could have been excused for thinking he could revolutionize car building as well. He must have soon realized that it was a bigger job than expected and that the men running Detroit were smarter than he gave them credit for being.
2019 Mazda CX-5
This preview didn’t go entirely according to plan.
Mazda flew us up to Whistler, British Columbia — site of the 2010 Winter Olympics — to demonstrate its “predictive” i-ACTIV all-wheel-drive system, introduce a newly available turbocharged engine in the CX-5 line, and let us experience all three of its crossovers in slippery, snowy conditions. The first and last, of course, depended on the cooperation of Mother Nature, and she accommodated — a little too generously, as it turned out.
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt in Dark Highland Green
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt
Class: Sporty/Performance Car
Miles driven: 189
Fuel used: 13.1 gallons
Quick Spin: 2018 Lexus LS 500
2018 Lexus LS 500 in Atomic Silver
2018 Lexus LS 500 AWD
Class: Premium Large Car
Miles driven: 408
Fuel used: 23.3 gallons
2005 Ford Excursion
There were two good reasons for the demise of the Ford Excursion, and only one really good reason for it to have been built in the first place.
Addressing the former: Gas prices rose alarmingly during the Excursion’s brief tenure in Ford’s product lineup. Also, there was probably a finite market for 7000-pound SUVs, and what demand there was for such a vehicle had been met fairly quickly in the Excursion’s 2000-05 model-year run.
Test Drive: 2018 Audi Q5 2.0T
2018 Audi Q5 2.0T in Brilliant Black
2018 Audi Q5 2.0T quattro S tronic
Class: Premium Compact Crossover
Miles driven: 293
Fuel used: 12.5 gallons
Oldsmobile Profile Concept
This is an installment in a series of posts looking back on show cars that we feel deserved a little more attention than they got. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept topic, please shoot us a line or leave a comment below.
