Take a good look at this image, because it’s something that’s absolutely extinct today. It’s from a 1976 Vanden Plas 1500—a fancificated version of the generally miserable Austin Allegro—but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is that this is a premium, luxury car, full of leather and carpet and wood and a so…

I really like Citroën’s commercial trucks, and I get why this 1969 brochure would want to use a high-tech com-pu-ter-ized typeface like that, but you’d think you’d save the compu-talk for something other than “very comfortable cabin.” That part doesn’t really need computers. Those knee-windows, though, that’s…

The 1965 Opel Diplomat V8 had a very nice rear indicator light solution, I think. They even sort of look like little arrows! That’s some classy turn indicating. It’s the equivalent of approaching a person, placing your hand on their shoulder in a warm and comforting manner, fixing a caring and determined look right…

There’s something especially wonderful about the “Handling by Lotus” badge on a little pickup truck. Especially one called a “Jumbuck.” But Proton has the right idea here—just because you may be delivering boxes filled with remaindered orthopedic stockings, does that mean you somehow don’t deserve Lotus-tuned…

This 1958 Ford Escort Spacewagon has a nice design here with the underfloor area reserved for the filthy things like tires and tools and maybe found badger carcasses, but brings up a question: should the split tailgate have been divided at the floor line? should the upper hatch been longer to reach the main floor, and…

I think this image is from a short-lived theme park in the 1970s where everyone dressed up in lederhosen and traditional European peasant garb, ate fruit outside, and drove Honda Civics around cobblestone streets. I think Disney bought it and incorporated it into Epcot or something.

Brazil is pretty amazing because they’re the only country that’s ever really managed to make work, at scale, a liquid fuel infrastructure other than gasoline or diesel or natural gas. And, the fuel they came up with is not just completely renewable, it’s sweet: sugar cane alcohol. I’ve written about the sugar-booze Fus…

This is a really lovely and bucolic Renault 4CV ad, and it finally explains why the car’s nickname was “L’Agneau Effrayant”  or, in English, “The Lamb Frightener.”

Welcome to the first real work week of 2020! Damn, it feels so futuristic in here, so to counter that, I’d like to present this Nissan Verita as a reminder that with the right stuck-on headlights and little chorme bits, modernity can be twisted to feel like the past. I’m okay with that.

I’ve sent a Telex off to the folks in Weissach to secure my allocation for a Porsche-propelled airplane engine to slot into the nose cone of my experimental craft. Sure, I could have gone with a Rolls-Royce, but I need some proper aircooled flat-six exhaust notes when I’m soaring high above all of you plebs.

Just want to give the various automakers of the world a little heads up that, should they decide to give completely blood-red interiors another go in 2020, I’m down for that. 

Back in the mid-1950s, Packard had technology to keep ghosts from sitting on your lap and falling asleep or climbing on your shoulders while you were in the car. Where is this tech today?

I can’t honestly say that Oldsmobile is a car brand I actually miss, but I do have to donate props where due: these guys had a pretty damn good selection of wheel options back in 1987. I don’t think every one of those was available on every model, but you know, still. 

Hey! Did all you followers of X have a fantastic Xmas? I sure hope so. If you got a lot of books as presents, I’d like to call your attention to this page from a 1958 NSU Prinz brochure, which reveals that the doors can essentially function as little libraries. Look at that door! That’s a whole coffee table-sized book…

We’re about to enter the Zone of Several Holidays, a magical time near the anus of the year, and, as per tradition, we must ask the dapper Colonel Yearend for directions. In our 1932 Opel. Thank you, Colonel, and a satisfying Year Termination to you, too!

I happened to see a tweet from our pal Team Radar Love showing this amazing Citroën BX 4 TC Group B homologated rally car for sale, and the picture of the dashboard stayed my gaze like a bag of chowder dropped from a parking garage roof. It’s both logical and chaotic all at once, and I love that even though they…

It’s about to be The Holidays, so please enjoy this image of an Oldsmobile 88 Holiday Sedan, complete with a local straw-hatted thug cheerily threatening a well-dressed drunk as a woman sits in the car, happily petting her genetically-engineered chrysanthemum-terrier hybrid animal. Enjoy, friends, enjoy! 

Reminder: The Lexus LC500 exists and looks outstanding, every day.

Far too many brochures for vans and cargo vehicles just assume you know what the hell you want to shove into all that space. Back in 1965, Volkswagen wasn’t taking any chances, and made sure to give you some good options of crap you could fill your van or truck with. I’m disappointed one of these isn’t just a huge…