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Sakichi Toyoda was born in Japan 145 years ago today on February 14th, 1867. By all accounts a hard-working entrepreneur, Toyoda's greatest success was building a small business manufacturing textile looms. That business ended up growing into a company that, for two years beginning in 2008, became the world's largest automaker. That company is named Toyota. We've always wondered: Why the change from "d" to "t"? More »
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These days vintage Porsches are high dollar collector items, but in Bavaria in 1955 they were merely tow vehicles for some crazy skiers. This vintage video takes a look at "the world's most dangerous sport" which evidently involved being towed around a track by motorcycles, Volkswagen Bugs, Porsche 356s and even a Porsche 550 Spyder. More »
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If this electric car had caught on in 1932, our roadways would have looked very different. Instead of little boxes sitting on four wheels, the roads might have been filled with giant hamster wheels that rolled over us as we drove. More »
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The Virginia Department of Transportation has put three large collections online of archival photographs detailing life and work on Virginia's roadways. We picked out the nine best photos to give you a sense of the years the state spent adjusting to mass motorization. More »
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If you were looking for a sports car in the early 1960s it appears Coyle-Hampton Motors in El Cerrito, Ca wouldn't have been a bad place to start. We can't find one item on their lot that wasn't a little bit interesting or exotic even when it was a used car. More »
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At the height of the muscle car wars in 1969, car companies were doing some new and interesting things in order to make their models stand out. More »
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With Saab's official passing this past week it seems only appropriate to look back at the reflections of the quirky Swedes from a literary great and one time Saab salesman. Kurt Vonnegut owned and operated Saab of Cape Cod until it closed in 1961 in West Barnstable, Ma giving him plenty of time to reflect on the one of a kind nature of an old Saab. More »
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Hunting game and racing cars are generally pursued as separate pastimes, but not by Tazio Nuvolari at the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, where, as evidenced by a severed head, he did both with great aplomb. More »
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One hundred years ago yesterday — December 14th, 1911 — Roald Admundsen and his team of Norwegian explorers became the first humans to reach the South Pole, pulled by sled dogs. But it wasn't until 1963 that the first production car landed on Antarctic shores, a mostly-stock VW Beetle known as "the Red Terror." This is its story. More »
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Auto Union's Grand Prix racecars of the 1930s were the greatest the world had ever seen. But few know the story of the road car that shared all the motorsports tech with those spectacular racecars. It was called the "Type 52," and it almost became the world's first modern supercar. More »
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Considering the assortment of strange vehicles that came out of Soviet Russia, it shouldn't come as a surprise some of the promotional pictures used to advertise these cars were also a little weird. More »
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With today's news of the Dodge Dart's return in 2013, we think it's appropriate to take a look back at the history of this Mopar small car. Who better to take us there than David Zatz and the Allpar team. Here's their annotated history of the little Chrysler that could. — Ed. More »
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In 1965 popular television was full of secret agents, guys wearing cowboy hats and friendly witches—so it makes sense that is who Chevrolet chose to introduce their new cars that year. More »
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The basic principles of hydraulically-assisted power steering have stayed the same for decades. Even today this Army-produced clip about how a series of pumps and valves help point the wheels is just as relevant and informative as it was for skinny-armed recruits back in the Fifties. More »
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This video, put together by the University of California in the late 1950s, has a straightforward agenda: explain how car crashes and seat belts work, and why wearing the latter helps you survive the former. The message resounds clearly to this day. More »
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Nothing says 1980 like a car lot with almost nothing someone in the cult of the automotive obsessed can drool over. Times were dark in the automotive world in 1980—the malaise era was in full swing and there weren't many cars to get excited about. More »
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Ford introduced the Econoline to the world in 1961 as the truck with a new shape, new design and new name. Based on Ford's compact Falcon, the Econoline was available as a "panel truck" work loving, fun loving "station bus" and our personal favorite, the pickup truck. More »
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The basic principles of automobile internal combustion engines have remained the same for decades. Even today this endearingly goofy clip of gasoline going from tank to exhaust fumes is just as relevant and informative as it was for aspiring moonshine runners in the '30s. More »
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In the immediate postwar era, when automatic transmissions were still somewhat unusual and mysterious, the U.S. Army used its significant training skills to teach the troops about how spinning oil between two sets of paddles can move a truck. More »
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Nothing says it's 1970s like the line of custom vans sitting in front of Hayward Dodge in Hayward, Ca. We found this gem while looking through the awesome gallery of vintage car dealerships where we found yesterday's picture of Lancaster Lincoln Mercury. More »
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They may have just been used cars back in 1962, but the lineup in front of Lancaster Lincoln Mercury has certainly aged well. Given the opportunity, the chances of us leaving Lancaster Lincoln Mercury without at least the red '58 Desoto and the '57 Plymouth wagon shown here would have been slim to none. More »
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This is a photo which will never be taken again. Not only does it show two Formula One drivers holding their own umbrellas instead of being protected from the elements by a massive entourage, but the guy on the left would go on to become a three-time world champion while the guy on the right was but a silly Dutch lord racing his Porsche at the Nürburgring for the sheer hell of it. His name was Carel Godin de Beaufort, and they competed in the same race. More »
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Watch as Garner, Bondurant and Car and Track head to Orange County Raceway in this television footage from 1971. Not only is this vintage clip featuring "movie star and car buff" James Garner cool, as host Bud Lindemann explains "it's a driving lesson for all of us". More »
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Detroit's ad machine — back when it ran on brown liquor and slathered on Old Spice without a touch of irony — used a not-so-subtle play on America's rigid gender roles to sell the country on automatic transmissions. The ladies, you see, can't be bothered to shift on their own. More »
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Ever stumbled across a "pickup truck rally" on your way through the woods to go hunting? We haven't either, but behind the wheel of a 1978 Jeep Pickup truck you would be ready if you did. More »
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Few people know Ford experimented with turbine engines designed as possible replacement for diesel power in their large commercial trucks back in the early 1970s. More »
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Got to get away? Feeling in the right kind of mood? You could be coming down with a case of the Mustang attitude, as shown in this commercial from 1985. More »
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Although the small car trend was still fairly new in 1970 as Car and Track host Bud Lindemann explained, manufacturers had already had small cars on the drawing boards for a while by then. More »
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The golden age of supercars were heady days in the West, where there were actual people who could comprehend and buy them. But what was it like to look at the Ferrari 512 and the Lamborghini Countach in a world of planned economies and Trabant futures? An ongoing project explores the automotive dreams of Communist Hungary. More »
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In June 2010, we published a feature by the Hungarian auto historian Pál Négyesi on Hungary’s ruefully creative postwar microcars. The post has had quite the afterlife! In December, the story of the Balaton and the Alba Regia was published in the print edition of The Economist, and an expanded version of the microcar story is now available as a Kindle book. Go get a copy and enjoy the fantasy ride in a gullwing Fesztivál—without the smell of pig’s blood and chicken feathers. More »
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A few weeks ago, I took a day trip to Berlin for some avant-garde currywurst and a short walk along the Spree river. Imagine my undercaffeinated surprise, then, when an airport bus dropped me off in the middle of Budapest airport’s tarmac in front of a plane from a ’60s theme movie—and instead of presenting me with a photo opportunity, I was ushered inside to face its Lilliputian cabin. More »
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This spectacular photo was taken on October 2, 1948, at the first race weekend held on a converted British bomber station whose name you’ll recognize: Silverstone. More »
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For 1971 AMC's Javelin was completely redesigned inside and out. Already a radical departure from AMC's traditional styling, the Javelin received all new sheet metal for 1971. All the changes were not in the looks department either, according to Car and Track host Bud Lindemann the AMC offered many surprises on the track. More »
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While Car and Track was best known for wringing out the newest super cars and poshmobiles on their test track, the show was ultimately concerned with all things automotive. More »
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It might not have been the panacea that VW needed to hypo it's sales charts, but the 1974 Super Beetle featured in this vintage Car and Track road test was undoubtedly an air-cooled Volkswagen. Even with a new suspension system and slight cosmetic changes, the 48 horsepower was, in the words of host Bud Lindemann, "noisy and not enough". More »
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Before drifting made its way into the mainstream, the always on top of new trends Jeremy Clarkson went to investigate the underground phenomenon. More »
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The Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has a mind-searing array of classic racecars, from Formula 1 rides of the '70s to a 1911 Fiat. For your listening pleasure, here's the sounds of Saturday's race for 1963-66 GT cars washing the air of central California pure with their thunder. (And my apologies — the video was cut off on its first upload; this version actually includes the race.) More »
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"If you like cars and in particular appreciate styling this 1971 Dodge Charger has to grab you"—at least that's what Car and Track host Bud Lindemann thought. The host was excited that "somebody finally had enough originality to build a car that doesn't look like it came off a GM drawing board". As this vintage road test footage proves, the 71 Charger wasn't just a looker—it had it all in the muscle department and was quite a performer on the track. More »
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If you want a classic GT350 Mustang from the 1960s, you can wait for one to emerge from trash-filled sheds — or you can pay Oklahoma's Classic Recreations to build a like-new Shelby GT350 out of a '65 Mustang for $119,000. More »
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If feasting your eyes on one Group C Porsche is impressive, seeing 15 in one place is unbelievable. That is however exactly what happened at this year's 2011 Salon Prive event in London. This impressive gathering of Group C Porsches is truly spectacular and represents a significant portion of the company's racing history. All 15 cars had never been seen together before this event. More »
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