Photo Source March 8, 1950 was the birthdate of one of car history’s greatest icons, the Volkswagen Type II, so today we celebrate getting back outside and into nature with a look at the VW Westfalia, the pop-top camper that burst onto the scene in 1968. I have always been tangentially aware of the Westfalia because it [...]
Photo Source In the crunchy Northern Virginia winter, it can be a bit tough to get around. It doesn’t snow often enough or long enough for people to truly prepare, but it does get icy quite frequently. I’ve always been a four-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive kind of guy mainly because I see the need to get in [...]
Photo Source Hello, dear readers! Hopefully everyone enjoyed that annual smorgasbord of Sunday night entertainment; whether you showed up for the game, the ads, the halftime show, or all three, there was quite a lot to unpack. I always look forward to the car commercials because they seemed to go bigger and bigger every year for [...]
Photo Source One carmaker we have never really discussed in depth has a somewhat weird history of badge-engineered vehicles while also maintaining a solid livery of high-end race cars. Opel Automobile GmbH began as a sewing-machine manufacturer, founded by Adam Opel in Germany in 1862 and transformed to a coach-maker and eventually an automotive company. Its [...]
Photo Source Last week, we explored the VW Phaeton, and during that discussion, we touched on the Mercedes A-Class being a catalyst in the creation of that luxury sedan. So, I thought that this week we could dig into the A-Class and its design and popularity as well as the decisions that led Mercedes to dip [...]
Photo Source Back in the early 2000s, Volkswagen chief Ferdinand Piëch was in a battle with Mercedes-Benz over the affordable European car market. Mercedes had just introduced the A-Class at the tail-end of the ‘90s, and Piëch felt the crunch of Stuttgart flexing its considerable muscle in the market. In a somewhat ill-fated response, VW released [...]
Photo Source When I think of Santa Claus getting around the entire world in one night, I think about maximum speed. Santa’s sleigh has to be supernaturally fast to get to all of those houses, and I’m honestly not convinced that there isn’t at least a little bit of time travel involved. That’s why I wanted [...]
Photo Source I wrote on this particular vehicle briefly a few years back, but I wanted to revisit it since its birthday is today, mine is on Wednesday, and I had a particular attachment to this truck in my childhood. On November 30, 1960, the International Harvester Scout was born. My dad owned a metallic gray Scout [...]
Photo Source This past Sunday, November 22nd, was the birth date of the legendary Harley Earl. The first time I ever learned about Earl was during a Corvette commercial in the early ‘90s. The narrator informed the audience that his spirit lived on in the new (at the time) Corvette. Flash forward to the early 2000s, [...]
Photo Source There is quite a lot of talk these days about electric cars and their ability to produce amazing acceleration and speed due to their light weight and the nature of having four electric motors providing power in lieu of one larger engine. But did you know, dear readers, that almost 120 years ago today, [...]