Blame Ralph Nader for the emergence of car safety as a selling point over, you know, something sexy like horsepower. It’s hard not to. His explosive book Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile exposed the motor industry’s apparent disregard for the well-being of those driving its wares; that its products crumpled like beer cans in accidents; that they didn’t handle as well as they might; that the bottom line counted for more than the lives of their customers.
The irony is that this exposé probably wouldn’t have been so widely publicised had Detroit’s Big Three not tried to smear the crusading lawyer (and so ineptly). His work directly (and indirectly) led to the implementation of improved safety standards, but only after Congress and the major US motor brands had locked horns.
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On your Mark VII
In our sixth instalment of the Continental story, we’re looking at the seventh iteration of the Continental Mark series: the evergreen Mark VII, a powerful, aerodynamic coupe that looks as fresh today as when the covers were first pulled off 37 years ago…
Mercury Cougar
A ‘posh’ Mustang? It could only be the Mercury Cougar …
Chrysler Concept 70X
Safety as a marketing concept for cars? Well, Richard Heseltine reckons we have Ralph Nader to thank for that. This month Richard examines a concept vehicle that was a direct result of the sudden interest in vehicle safety after Nader’s campaigning…
Stock or modified?
Evans debates the merits of keeping your classic in factory condition or adding upgrades to make it more suitable for today’s roads
HEAVY METAL COLLECTION
With a bit of luck we might be able to fly to the US again by the end of the summer. If Los Angeles is on your itinerary, then make sure you include the Petersen Museum for a very special exhibition that’s been extended due to the pandemic. Keith Harman explains why…
Patience is a BARRACUDA 1970 Plymouth Barracuda
We’re often reading about people who have an ideal car in their mind, and who wait decades until that dream becomes a reality. We meet another beautiful dreamer, Tom Aspinall, and his Detroit-inspired dream from Mother Mopar…
1960 Cadillac Sedan De Ville Johnny Cash's CADILLAC?
Country crooner Johnny Cash famously sang about a Cadillac created by a worker at the Cadillac factory – One Piece at a Time – as he, errr… took bits of car home over a period of years to create a car… but was it a ’60 or a ’61 or a…?
1929 Lincoln Limousine NICE JAG MATE!
It’s not often we come across a Gatsby-era luxury car that has been in the UK since the roaring Twenties and with the same owner since 1966! Meet Derek Brown’s magnificent 1929 Model L seven-passenger Limousine…
Idaho Red!
This early 1965 Ford Mustang still looks to be wearing most of its original paint and proves the point: it’s only original once!
DREAM BOAT
This absolute dream of a drive that’s travelled three times across the Atlantic proved to Mark Spaulding that his DeSoto is definitely a ‘keeper’…
My Endless SEARCH for American FASHION
When I started my career, I saw the potential for an American style that was beautiful, uncomplicated, and singular. Where has it gone?
Maintenance Masters
Pilots without them are just pedestrians with sunglasses and cool jackets.
LAST SCREAM OF THE JIMMY
In 1954, when Oliver needed a powerful diesel to one-up their competitors, they went to General Motors.
E3 The $500 Billion Bias Problem
How an unfair property-tax system blocks the building of Black wealth
Hernan Bas
A Certain Southern Gothic
STATE POLICE DROPS PHONE APP THAT MAKES TEXTS DISAPPEAR
The Michigan State Police told officers to remove a phone app that keeps no record of outgoing text messages, a newspaper reported this week.
THE IN-BETWEENER
This Budget-Built Nova Turned Into a Pro Touring Terror.
midtown misses you
new york’s business district is half-empty. every other big city has a similar problem. developer aby rosen is still planning a bright post-pandemic future.
Shifting Gears
Detroit pivots to next-generation mobility and other new industries.
What Is Cylinder Head Swirl and Tumble, and Why Is It Important?
We think of electronic engine management systems and multiport electronic fuel injection (EFI) as primarily responsible for the improved air/fuel distribution and performance as Detroit clawed its way back in the mid 1980s, but—good as they were for that day—initially the new electronics were just Band-Aids grafted onto carryover engine designs. The big change started in the 1990s, when the OEs started tinkering with cylinder head design to induce swirl and tumble in internal combustion engines.