Posts from ‘Video’
Classic Car Ads: Safety
JJD Twin Tyres
I haven’t heard much about how “safety sells” in recent years. Automotively, we’ve moved on from safety—in general terms—to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). ADAS systems include things like blind-spot alert, rear cross-traffic alert, pedestrian detection, and lane-keep assist. Really, stuff we should all be pretty good at by now—without help.
Favorite Car Ads: 1975 Triumph TR7
1975 Triumph TR7
Though I was already reading car magazines in 1975, I have a clearer memory of the TV commercials for the Triumph TR7 than I do the print ads. That said, I recall the print ads, too, and they had a profound impact on my development as a car guy.
1974 International Scout
Volkswagen recently launched a new vehicle division that will focus on building fully electric pickup trucks and SUVs. Dubbed ‘Scout,” the first products that will be sold under this marque are slated to debut for the 2026 model year. They will, at least for now, be exclusively designed and sold in US market.
Classic Car Ads: Electric Cars
General Motors EV1
A fun fact shared often in the automotive media is that electric cars fairly handily outsold gasoline-powered vehicles in the earliest days of the automobile era. Around the turn of the century, 40 percent of American automobiles were powered by steam, 38 percent by electricity, and just 22 percent by gasoline. (Granted, we’re only talking about a few thousand vehicles here, since the entire industry was in its infancy.)
1983 Cadillac Seville
The song “Driver’s Seat” would be British pop band Sniff ‘n’ the Tears biggest hit. Released in 1978, the tune would chart in several countries, and would provide period top-40-radio listeners with a needed reprieve from the disco music which then dominated the airwaves.
1941 Ford, and a clown
I don’t know when it was that stand-up comics began telling clown jokes. I want to say I was fully an adult before it was brought to my attention—by those stand-up comics—that the whole clown thing is pretty weird. I recall a local shock jock dedicating considerable attention to the whole clown-as-a-career thing.
1972 Plymouth Fury
Question: What would large-coupe drivers of the Seventies and Eighties drive today? Answer: Not large coupes, because there aren’t any. I suppose there’s still the Bentley Continental and the BMW 8-Series, but that’s not really what we’re talking about here.
First Look: 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V
2023 Cadillac Escalade-V
Today, Cadillac officially unveiled a high-performance version of its Escalade full-size SUV. Cadillac is in the midst of becoming a pure-EV brand—company executives have announced that Cadillac will not be selling any internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles by the year 2030. Before then, however, the GM luxury division is giving gasoline engines one heck of a send-off by offering some serious high-performance models. The 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing are ensuring that Caddy’s ICE performance sedans are going out with a bang, and now the Escalade-V looks poised to do the same for the brand’s SUVs.
1959 Chevrolet 3100 Fleetside
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2018 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine
American servicemen learned the value of four-wheel drive with “jeeps” during World War II. In the postwar era, Willys sold a civilian version and a larger 4×4 pickup. Meanwhile, Dodge added a heavier-duty Power Wagon four-wheeler.
2023 Z06: Corvette Goes DOHC…Again
2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 engine
Save for the car’s first three model years, a V8 has been the only engine configuration available in the Chevrolet Corvette. And, in the name of traditional design and in general defiance of technological “over-sophistication,” the V8 engine found in the ‘Vette has always been of an overhead-valve design. Well, almost always.
